Tag: vacation

Disneyland Trip 2017

We are a Disney family and go every year.  Our Disneyland Trip for 2017 didn’t disappoint one bit.  This trip was a little different from our normal Disneyland family trips, as it was an adults only trip.  My brother Kelly Summers has wanted to go back to Disneyland for a long time.  The last time he was there was 52 years ago when he was about 12 years old .  That’s right, a LONG time ago.  So we decided the first week of October would be the week.  I told him to just relax, and I would plan the trip.  I actually use Getawaytoday.com to line up the hotel, and the Disneyland tickets.  They just make it simple and everything is paid for when you get to your destination.  Not only did we visit Disneyland, but we also went to the beach and to Old Town San Diego. In Old Town San Diego, there is a Mormon Battalion Museum that is very fun.  Adults and children alike will enjoy this interactive museum. You follow several members of the Mormon Battalion through their journey out west.  As you can see from the pictures we had so much fun.

San Clemente Beach, CA

Mormon Battalion Museum-Old Town San Diego, CA

Disneyland-Anaheim, CA

http://www.getawaytoday.com

http://www.disneyland.com

http://www.springhillsuites.marriott.com

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving in Disneyland


Thanksgiving in Disneyland?  How about Thanksgiving dinner with the characters?  WELL, that is exactly what we did this year.  This magical vacation had been in the planning for 3 years as a whole group of family members were going to be descending on Disneyland.  We saved, planned, saved, planned, saved and planned some more.  My granddaughters even made a list of what they wanted to see and do.  We anticipated this trip, couldn’t wait for the months/years to pass by.  FINALLY, the time came for us to pack our bags and head to the airport.  Some of us arrived many days before the others as we had other things that we had added to our trip.  I will cover that in another blog.  Eleven of us in all descended on Disneyland.

Our first day at Disneyland it rained, rained and rained some more.  It did’t hamper us at all.  Disneyland is so fun and magical a little rain can’t stop us.  We are a Disneyland family.  We rode ride after ride, waiting in lines, eating our pineapple spears and dill pickles, still delighting in our magical vacation.

On Thanksgiving day, we had reservations to eat Thanksgiving dinner with the characters at Paradise Pier in the PCH Grill, where we feasted on a fun buffet and had Minnie Mouse, Stitch, Micky Mouse, Pluto visit our table and sign autograph books.  The grandchildren were in heaven.  Their faces were lit up as they waited patiently for the next character to join our table.   Even the 18th month old wanted a “hug” from all the characters and was shouting it out with such love.  We adults smiled from ear to ear watching the kids have so much fun.  This wasn’t your traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  The buffet had pork roast,turkey,salmon,potatoes, pumpkin ravioli, just to name a few, hotdogs for the kids, corn on the cob, and I’m not even sure what all the deserts were as I was too busy enjoying the fun my grandchildren were having.

We have eaten at PCH Grill in the past, and it has never let us down.  The atmosphere is so friendly.  The waiters and waitresses are so friendly and willing to get you whatever you need.  A huge shoutout to them as they are always working really, really hard.

Our last day in Disneyland was loaded with trying to fit everything in that we wanted to do.  HOWEVER, in the later part of the afternoon, the rain decided to come again.  This time we bought Disneyland ponchos for everyone to wear, so we could keep going.  Which we did for a little while until we were too cold and wet.

We are a Disneyland family, and visit it quite often, some of us more than others, but some of us try to get there at least once a year.  Disneyland you have been so good to us and will visit you again.

Fuji mini instant camera-review

So I purchased this Fuji mini instant camera to take on our Disneyland family vacation last month.  The thought behind this was the grandchildren would have a character sign their autograph books, I would take a picture and we would put them immediately in the autograph books with double sided tape.  We called this the “magic camera” as the picture would develop right before their eyes.    In theory this was a really good idea.  However, it was a major FAIL!

We went into Disneyland with so much excitement with 5 grandchildren looking for the Disney characters so we could get autographs and pictures.  As we all know most of the characters are outside in Disneyland, and our first character picture came out awful as the Fuji mini instant camera flash went off EVERY time we would try to take a picture.   It didn’t matter what the camera setting was on, the flash went off causing all of the outdoor pictures to over expose. We would make sure the setting was for outdoors, and still the flash would go off. We tried this time and time again with no success.  This was pretty disappointing for my grandchildren showing them and explaining that the “magic camera” wasn’t working as we hoped it would.  The only time the Fuji mini instant camera worked, was when we were indoors at the restaurants where we ate with the characters, as the flash was needed indoors.

Hopefully there were enough phone camera’s to capture the moments to add to the autograph books later.

I will keep this little camera for indoor activities that we will take pictures for and hang them up on our family wall.  But for outdoor activities, we will have to depend on other cameras to capture the moments.

Unfortunately, I will not be recommending this product to anyone as it was a major disappointment to me and my grandchildren.  This is strictly my opinion and I am not being paid for this review.