We're going to Disneyland!

One thing about me, I will try to get a Disney trip in any way I can. So, when my spouse said we were going to be going to San Diego for the National Women’s Soccer League Championship I knew I had a golden opportunity. I opened up Google Maps and lo and behold! Our AirBnB in San Diego was only an hour and a half from Disneyland! It was so close how could we NOT go?! What I had presented as a day trip to Anaheim quickly turned into a two-night, two-day trip to the Happiest Place on Earth. 

We had booked our January 2023 Walt Disney World trip through our friend Pat at MouseMaster Travel but for this trip we booked it ourselves through the Disneyland website. The Disneyland Resort (DLR) consists of two parks (Disneyland Park & Disney California Adventure), three resort hotels (the Disneyland Hotel, Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, and Disney’s Paradise Pier), and one outdoor shopping area (Disney Springs). There wasn’t a ton of availability at the hotels on property. I think it was because it was Veterans Day weekend and the first weekend of Christmas decor.  Even though the odds were against us, we managed to score a room at the Disneyland Hotel in the brand new Discovery Tower. Technically, Discovery Tower is a DVC property but because it hasn’t sold many of its rooms due to its recent opening we were able to snag one! I’ll have another post all about this hotel at a later date.

When buying our tickets and planning our visit we decided to do a half day at Disney California Adventure followed by a full day at Disneyland Park. I had never been to California Adventure, and didn’t have a huge desire to go there so I figured a half day would be plenty. Park reservations were still required when we purchased our tickets and we made reservations for California Adventure on Sunday and Disneyland Park on Monday.

Part of my story as a pooh-sized Mouseketeer is that I have mobility issues. Because of this, I decided to rent an ECV (Electric Conveyance Vehicle). Giving myself the permission to use a scooter at a Disney park was a game changer. It allowed me to not have to worry about how I could physically handle getting around the parks! We rented through ScooterBug and it was really smooth. In my upcoming posts about Disney California Adventure and Disneyland I’m going to talk more about accommodations for ECVs and wheelchairs on attractions and ride queues.  

The plan for our Disneyland trip was to drive from San Diego to Anaheim on Sunday in the morning and do a good chunk of the day at California Adventure. However, our plans quickly started to change. My spouse, Jackie, was able to snag us character breakfast reservations at Goofy’s Kitchen at The Disneyland Hotel for 11:30am. I love a good character breakfast and I especially LOVE Mickey waffles so I was psyched! This did cut into our park time a little bit but I was ok with that. And obviously we were in sunny, warm California instead of cold Massachusetts so we absolutely needed to spend time at the pool. So what we thought was going to be a half day at California Adventure turned into an evening at California Adventure. More about our time there in a future post. 

Nothing was going to keep me from having a full day at Disneyland and we were up early that Monday morning and in the park by 8:30am. It was my turn to grab character breakfast reservations and I managed to get us in at the Plaza Inn with Minnie and friends. There is seriously nothing better than starting your day with Minnie waffles and Joffrey’s coffee. The rest of our day at Disneyland was obviously magical and I can’t wait to tell you all about it.

I tried to convince Jackie to stay an extra day but their stupid job got in the way (just kidding about their job being stupid. They work for a wonderful company!). Teary-eyed, we packed up and left for the airport to head home. We don’t have another Disney trip planned for 2024 but I’m certain we will make it there!