Gearing Up For Christmas

Although Disneyland is great to visit all year round, there is always one time of the year where I love it just that much more. Christmas!!! If you only have one chance to come to Disneyland through out the year I would highly recommend you come during the holidays. The smell of fresh baked cookies, cakes and other holiday treats, the dazzling display of sparkling christmas lights, the sounds of carolers, christmas bands and choirs through out the park, and most of all the beautiful giant tree that welcomes you as you walk in. There are so many things to see other than the regular stuff you can do on the daily basis through out the year. Make sure you stay until after the special fireworks show that they only put on for the holidays and experience a winter wonderland of snow falling down on the Magic Kingdom. Obviously they can't use real snow but eye friendly soap suds look just as good. So make sure you get there early and stay until the end to experience the magic of the holidays at The Happiest Place On Earth

Food! Pizza Port

Just like any other amusement park that has a good amount of people going to it, you’re going to find out really quickly that everything is a lot more expensive than in your local stores. Anything from a full course dinner…..to a churro from a cart, if you’re not careful and mindful about what you get you can be pretty overwhelmed. Now, not all places to eat are going to cost you an arm and a leg and that’s where Pizza Port comes in.

Pizza port is located in Tomorrow Land near Space Mountain. You can easily spot it if you look for the giant rocket in the front of the restaurant. This place is great for a cheap lunch if you’re tight on cash. The average price for a big slice of pizza and a soda is about $11 or so. Now considering that some places can go up to $20 a person it’s actually a pretty good deal! They not only have pizza, but serve an array of salads and pastas as well. In my opinion this place is meant to resemble pizza planet even though they don’t really do a Toy Story theme.

And honestly it would be a awesome idea to just build a tunnel over or under the walkway to Space Mountain into the arcade and just call it Pizza Planet. You can even make the tunnel look all future like with Toy Story stuff surrounding it, but that just me.

The food is actually not bad as well. The salads are all really big and can fill you up by them selves. The pizzas are huge and are more than enough to fill one person unless you have a huge appetite like me. Which is why whenever I eat there I always get a cookie just in case lol. They do give you one free refill so don’t worry about saving your one cup of soda until the last drop.

The overall atmosphere of the place is great and kids will have a blast there and around the restaurant, as there is plenty to do there. You can go to the arcade near the Space Mountain exit, or you can play with the floating ball in front of the restaurant (although beware that you will get wet because the ball is being suspended by water). All in all this place is great if you want to just come and have a good cheap lunch and you have people that love Tomorrowland, which other than New Orleans Square, is one of my favorite places to visit in the park.

HAVE FUN!!!!!! After all its PIZZA! Whats Better Than PIZZA lol
NOW SOME FUN FACTS ABOUT PIZZA PORT(From hiddenmickeys.com)

http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/Disneyland/Secrets/Tomorrow/ReddRocket.html

Pizza Port sits right where "Flight To The Moon" and the "Mission To Mars" attractions sat. The rocket is actually left over from the attractions.

Show!!! Fantasmic

If your looking for a show that involves the whole 9 yards in regards story, characters, state of the art sound and lights as well as amazing pyrotechnics (fireworks) in an open stage then Fantasmic is the show you don't want to miss.

        This is my favorite show of all time and have seen it every time I have gone (except for this one time that my girlfriend got sick and we had to go)  . If you are going to visit the park with kids then they will love this show because at one point or another they will see one of they're favorite characters either ball room dancing on a boat or battling a giant fire breathing dragon on a island. This show has something for everybody.

        If you want a really good seat then I recommend going early and saving your spot. Go as far forward as possible and try and get the spots where you have to sit down, especially if you have small kids with you. If you have to stand many people begin to put their kids on their shoulders and block the view for the rest. After talking with many of the disney cast members they say that the less crowded spots, although not centered to the island, are more towards The Haunted Mansion (In the picture on the right the Haunted Mansion is the big white building all the way at the left of the pic). Don't worry about not being centered as the show actually revolves around the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer Island so where ever you sit, as long as its near the water, you can see the whole show. The boat in the picture on the right demonstrates how the show moves from one side of the river to the other.

There are two showings a night during the summer, and if there is more than 50,000 people i believe there is a third showing. If you go to the 8:30 showing it is a little harder to find a good spot because the park is still pretty crowded and you should get there at least by 7:30 or earlier and wait for the show to start. If you do decide to watch this showing then you have an option to stay were you are and watch the fireworks show that starts after Fantasmic over the Castle. Of course section in front of the castle is the best spot to see the Fireworks show but the rivers of America is just as good. 

The show is completely centered around Tom Sawyer Island where the cabin is in the middle of the water. There are water projections all around so everybody can experience the show the same and the characters ride in boats around the river so everybody can see them. The reason sitting right in the middle is the best is because you have a great view of the cabin which is where the the show has its most dramatic moments.

I hope you love this as much as I do but I know your kids will not stop talking about it for weeks to come. =)

FOOD! Blue Bayou

My favorite place to eat by far in the whole park has to be the Blue Bayou located inside the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride in New Orleans Square.  The Filet Mignon that they serve there is AMAZING! Along with the Blue Bayou Potatoes and the salad its well worth the $40.00! I heard that "Steakhouse 55" inside the Disneyland Hotel is also really good but I haven't been there yet. 
       The reason love Blue Bayou so much other than the food is because it can be a blistering summer day or the coldest winter day outside, but once you go inside you are instantly transported to a perfect summer night in the back yard of a old New Orleans mansion. Complete with the passing river and hanging circle glow lanterns it really does make you forget at least just for a second that you are no longer at Disneyland. 

       This is why I love Disney, they put so much energy into making every aspect of the park something that you can talk about and wish you were back in after you leave.
       Word of advice though, even though the river really adds a unique touch to the atmosphere having river front seating isn't for everybody. The passing boats with the people riding the ride can be very distracting. Now if you have kids it can be a good way to get there attention away from playing with the utensils on the table and give you some peace because they will wave at every boat passing by. But if you are there with your date then the boats waving at you and trying to get your attention every 10sec can be really annoying. Thats why I said NOT FOR EVERYBODY. 
       But other than that there is nothing to complain about. Make sure to make reservations because trying to get a table on the day you go with out them can be near impossible. For reservations call 714-781-DINE (3463).
      For complete menu selections for this restaurant and other restaurants along with other great money saving tips and trip planning go to:
     http://www.themouseforless.com/tripplanning/menus/dl/bluebayou.shtml
Trust me you will love this place.

Why Disney?

Why is it so impossible for people to believe that I prefer Disney to Six Flags or Knotts?!? I never said I don’t like those places its just that honestly after going there a couple of times there is nothing left to do. The thing that sets Disneyland apart is the fact that the rides are the second thing you look forward to not the ONLY thing to do like at other places. And yes I know that other places have shows and extra stuff too but nothing to gloat about.

I’ve had Disney passes for the past 5yrs now and honestly its still my favorite place to go with people. I mean think about it, where else can you go to a place that spends millions of dollars to present hundreds of rides, restaurants, shows, parades and games? If you have somebody else that has a pass(which these day’s its actually a lot of people if you live near Anaheim) then you instantly have a conversation starter, bam, new friend. Obviously im talking to the older crowd that goes to Disneyland and if you think Disneyland is just for kids HA!

Originally yeah it was really just a giant playground for kids made by the biggest kid Walt Disney. Now a days with bigger rides, fancier restaurants, the fact that they serve alcohol (California Adventure) it has become a more adult friendly place to be on a Friday night, which brings me to my next point. If you find somebody you kinda been crushing over and you find out they have a pass, Disney makes for the perfect first date. For one its not going to burn a hole in your pocket…..well kinda, its only if you know how to explore the park for cheap.

You can look stuff up online on how to explore Disney for really cheap. “Disney On A Dime” is a good book to grab if you’re going  to DisneyWorld but you can apply a lot of the tips and tricks to Disneyland. And Ill talk about my tips and tricks for not only exploring Disney for cheap but how to get somebody to go with you as well (which out creeping them out)

The point is that there are hundreds of things to do at Disneyland and if you have some fun with it and try to explore the park away from the rides themselves then you can discover something new every time you go to the park. For example did you know that

Walt Disney had an apartment made for him when the park was constructed so he could look over his guests? Also did you know that at one of the Train stations the Telegraph message that you hear (meant to be a decoration and to set the atmosphere) isn’t just random sounds but the inauguration speech Disney said on Day 1 when the park opened. Also when the Matterhorn was being constructed the city of Anaheim would not let them build it as high as they wanted it without it having a purpose for being that high, so they decided to put in a basketball court (from the free-throw line to the basket I think) on the top of the mountain.

This is just the beginning of the different cool fun facts that Disney has. Lets see Knotts or Six Flags have beat them in that. Because really other than the rides….what else do they have? Lol