Disneyland 2012

I just returned from a 2 night, 3 day trip to Disneyland.  Hard to believe my last trip was December 2009! Of course, I have plenty of Disneyland reviews on my website: Disneyland Reviews; but there is always something new or different to note from each visit.  So I will go over those points here.

We checked in around 11am and were very surprised and happy to learn that our room was ready.  We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel since it has recently been completely renovated.  Our room was in the Fantasy Tower, which is the Tower with the Main Lobby.  I had never stayed in that tower either!  We had a great view of the renovated pool area with the Monorail Water slide!

The rooms are very nice and are decorated very tastefully with the Mickey Mouse subtleties throughout, I personally loved the Mickey Mouse hand sconces in the bathroom & the Mickey Mouse faucet handles!  The beds were very comfortable, although I'm not used to sleeping with a 9 year old and not only kicks in her sleep, but is also a bed hog!   I managed. Nothing to complain about with the room at all.

As for the park visits.  I was able to experience the new Little Mermaid ride in California Adventure, it was cute and true to Disney story-telling form.  I also got to watch "World of Color" for the first time.  We made reservations in advance for the pre-fixed dinner at the Wine Country Trattoria which also gave us reserved section viewing.  It was well worth doing.  The dinner was very good and we ended up with water side viewing (a.k.a. the "wet zone")- but all in all, we didn't get too terribly wet, it all depends on which way the wind blows!   I am really looking forward to my next visit when I can see the new CARS land that will be opening up this summer!  From the pictures and what I could see from the ferris wheel's areal view, it is going to be pretty awesome!

In Disneyland Park, there really wasn't anything new to experience since my last visit with the exception of the revitalized STAR TOURS ride.  It is no longer the Endor Express.  It sill has some Star Wars references & characters, but it is much more high tech and also in 3D.   The "ride" resembles a bit of the Soaring over California feel, all in all- I think they did a fantastic job of revitalizing this ride.

We had decent weather considering it was February, of course anything goes in Southern California- we had sunshine, a tiny bit of rain and some pretty cold nights- so layered clothing was the way to go! All in all a fun visit!

Disney's Aulani Resort

Just returned from a wonderful 4 night getaway to Oahu to check out the new Disney Aulani Resort.  It's a pretty amazing place.  I have written a full review of the resort, available through this link:
REVIEW OF DISNEY AULANI RESORT

Now that review is the official "resort review" - but as far as my personal vacation experience...here goes.  I traveled to Oahu with my husband, best friend Diane, her husband and two older kids- ages 9 and 6.   Overall, we had a pretty laid back couple of days enjoying the warmth of the Hawaiian sun and ending each day with a beautiful sunset viewing before heading off to dinner.   We played in the water park, floating along the lazy river on inner tubes and went down the water slides over and over and over again.  True bliss!   We spent hours lounging and just staring out at the beautiful ocean with the sunshine beaming and warming our bodies.  Heaven.

Ko'Olina Resort area has a wonderful path along the ocean front which equals close to a 3 mile walk and it was very nice to take a few power walks with Diane.  We should have been doing that daily, but didn't get motivated until half way through our stay.

We enjoyed great "family time".  It was actually quite nice to not have to be anyplace or on a schedule other than to figure out where to go for dinner each night.   It was a lot of fun for Bill & I to have some quality one-on-one time with Brynn & Nolan.  So often we are with them with other families and they have their playmates, but for this trip they had Mom, Dad & us!  They had so much fun that when we left (3 days before they were going home), Nolan cried saying he didn't want us to go home and Brynn pouted asking "who is going to go down the water slide with me now?"  We even received double kisses & hugs when we were leaving!  Warms my heart!

Aulani is a great place to go and just "be"- you really don't have to do anything but enjoy the beauty found naturally in Hawaii!