Top 5 Memorable Family Vacations

Ohana at Disney World

The kids are out of school and you are looking for a family vacation that will make lasting memories. You know the kind, the ones you will talk about at Thanksgiving 20+ years from now.  Over the past decade, since my son was 4 years old, our family has been blessed to visit many memorable places during our travels. Read on to learn about our family’s top 5 memorable family vacations. 

Disneyland & California Adventure Our Best Tips

My family spent 3 days and 4 nights in Anaheim, California in June 2018.  Being the Disney fans that we are, the entire time was spent at Disneyland & Disney's California Adventure. Read on to learn our best Disneyland tips.

Disneyland Lodging

One of the most expensive parts of a vacation is lodging. When you visit Disneyland you have many choices from which to choose. You can stay in a Disneyland hotel or you can choose from any number of chain and locally owned hotels in the area.

Disneyland Transportation

So you have decided to take a vacation to Disneyland.  Now the question is, how will you get there?  Living in Texas, driving to Disneyland was not a feasible option for us. It just takes too much time to drive nearly 3,000 miles round trip. 

Disneyland Tip 6

FREE or Really Cheap Souvenirs:

Did you know you can get a FREE button at Disneyland's City Hall & California Adventure's Chamber of Commerce? Yep, they give away birthday buttons, anniversary buttons, "I'm Celebrating" buttons etc... Stop by either location & pick up your FREE souvenir.  Make sure you wear your button because sometimes you get a surprise FREE Dole Whip like I did on my birthday one year at Disney World. 

Make sure you bring pennies & fifty cents so you can collect pressed pennies from around the theme parks.  These souvenirs take up little space and will last forever, much like your Disneyland memories. 

Disneyland Tip 5

A FREE souvenir is available at California Adventure.  Take time away from the crowds & the rides by attending a drawing class at the Animation Academy. This 30 minute tutorial will teach you how to draw a Disney character.  You will leave with your drawing.  Make sure you bring something to store the drawings in such as a paper towel roll to help protect the drawing during your day at the park. 

Disneyland Tip 4

The FastPass for Disneyland Fantasmic is separate from the rest of the theme park FastPass system. If you want to make sure you have a spot for the Fantasmic performance, make sure you head to the FastPass kiosk located in Frontierland near Frontier Landing early in the day. The Fantasmic FastPass go pretty fast & once they are all gone, they are gone! 

Disneyland Tip 3

With Disney MaxPass you can only select FastPass options the day you visit Disneyland Resort. You can only select one FastPass at a time.  You CAN reserve a Disney California Adventure ride while in Disneyland and vice versa. For those of us who like the Magic Band at Disney World this will be quite the adjustment... You mean I actually have to wait until I enter the park to choose my FastPass options? I will be interested to see if I like MaxPass as well or better than the Magic Band at Disney World...

Update After Disneyland Trip:
After our trip to Disneyland we decided we liked Disney MaxPass.  The system worked flawlessly for us.  It was simple to use, we just accessed the app & began making FastPass selections as soon as we entered the park. Make sure you take portable battery chargers so you can keep your cell phone charged for making MaxPass selections.

NOTE: Your admission ticket must be scanned for you to be able to begin making selections.  I tried making selections while in line to get in. It would not allow me to do so until I had my ticket scanned. Once scanned it worked anywhere between Disneyland and California Adventure as long as you have park hopper tickets. 

The cost was $10 per person per day & it was well worth it! An added bonus was you had access to the Disney PhotoPass for FREE! You just go up to a Disney photographer located throughout the parks & have them take your picture.  You then can download the photos from the app for FREE! You even have download access to the pictures taken while riding certain rides (Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Radiator Racers, etc.) that have a camera. 

For those of you who decide MaxPass is not something you need, don't worry you can still get FastPasses for free using the old ticket system. Just be sure to wear your running shoes as you will be running from ticket kiosk to ticket kiosk throughout the parks. 

Disneyland Tip 2

Disneyland Week 2 Tip:

When booking your hotel for your Disneyland vacation, consider staying at a non-Disney hotel.  Some of the "other" brand hotels are closer to the theme park than the Disney hotels.  If you are visiting Disneyland on a budget, the "other" hotels will certainly help keep you on a budget. You can save a considerable amount of money over Disney hotels.  Keep in mind though, you will lose the Disney magic of not staying in the Disney themed hotel.  The BIGGEST drawback is you will not have access to Magic Morning hours at California Adventure.  ONLY Disney hotel resort guests have early admission to California Adventure...

Happy Planning!

Disneyland Tip 1

Week 1 Tip: Save money on your Disneyland trip by purchasing Disney gift cards from Sam's Club.  Use the gift cards to purchase your tickets, souvenirs, etc. I saved about $150 on my trip!

Disneyland!

Hey guys! 1gr8vacation is ready for a new adventure.  We are headed to Disneyland!  Subscribe to 1gr8vacation so you do not miss a single post. Each week I will post a tip of the week about our upcoming Disneyland trip.