I thought the changes made to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland a few years ago were pretty good overall. The pirate ship battle scene area is particularly improved, with the thicker fog, improved lighting, and new audio track completely transforming the scene.

Everybody probably already knows about this, but you can apply what you paid for the tickets you’re currently using towards an Annual Pass if you buy it while you’re still in the park. This summer, Disneyland ran a deal where you could buy a three-day park-hopper pass for $99 that had no blackout dates but had to be used within a set time frame. On our third day we applied the full $99 to SoCal Select passes for only $50/pass additional cost. Not a bad deal, considering pretty much the whole summer is blacked out if you buy the SoCal Select passes up-front.

The Bug’s Life themed kids area at Disney’s California Adventure is about twenty-eight-thousand times better than the Toon-Town area at Disneyland. The giant plants that tower over you are eerily spectacular at night when they’re lit from below and cast a greenish glow over the area. Heimlich’s chew-chew train is easily the best ride I’ve been on at California Adventure.

Angie caused every young, childless couple within 100 meters to immediately decide to have children. She’s at her best when well-rested and surrounded by amusing things to look at. There are lots of amusing things to look at when you’re at Disneyland.

Disneyland is getting a whole load of people taking them up on their free birthday admission deal. There are birthday buttons all over the place there. If you go on your birthday using an annual pass, you can get a gift card worth $72 instead. Nice. Spend $149 for a year of amusement and if your birthday happens to be on a non-blackout day you get $72 of free merchandise in the deal.

Ana surprised me with her fearlessness, begging to go on Splash Mountain for the first time and being completely unfazed by the drop at the end. It’s now tied with Jungle Cruise for her favorite ride. Shortly after surprising me with her fearlessness she reverted to five-year-old form and stared wide-eyed during the entirety of Small World. I love this age.

The Grand Californian is a really pretty hotel. The design is amazing, I could sit in the lobby for hours. The beds are so comfortable it’s ridiculous. But sitting on the balcony, surrounded by the upper-reaches of pine trees having a late-night conversation and glass of wine with Julie while the kids slept inside was worth it all by itself. Just the thought of fighting our way out to the parking structure and driving home after a late night at the park has been enough to keep me from staying too late with the kids in the past. It was really nice to get to see Fantasmic and the fireworks show this time.

When we took the kids to Disneyland a couple times over the last few years, they were definitely less than thrilled. I think this was due to a number of factors, including overly-warm, overly-crowded days and too many itinerary concessions made to people who weren’t the same age as them. This time, I was delighted to see that they have completely changed their mind. I’ve missed being a Disney fan boy who goes multiple times per year. Looking forward to spending lots of Furlough Fridays (aka “F-days”) at the park this year.

Categories: entertainment, kids and parenting, los angeles, travel
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