April 26, 2012

The Disneyland Resort : My Laughing Place

For my first post I wanted to explain why I love the Disneyland Resort and why I think you might too. There are many reasons to love Disneyland. For some people, it is about the food. For other people, it is all about the attractions. There isn't any one reason I love the Disneyland Resort. To me, Disneyland reminds me of everything good about being a child and that I don’t have to stop being a kid just because I am growing older. It reminds me to seek adventure and new frontiers, to remember the value of friendship and fantasy, to learn from the past and from history and yet to always look to tomorrow. I love that people from all over the World come to Disneyland and can learn so much about America and California.

My Disneyland trips are even more magical now that I can take my son there and see it again through his fresh young eyes. While we have some family rituals, we try to do new things on each of our visits. Our Disneyland rituals include passing out Disney Dollars to random strangers (wearing official birthday buttons of course) in honor of their birthdays and glowsticks to children for nighttime entertainment. We like to take funny pictures with the characters, regardless of our age. We take tours to learn more about the resort and always look up to see the light in the window of Walt’s Apartment when entering Main Street U.S.A. During one of our last trips, we made the "Grand Circle Tour" of the park on Disneyland's Presidential Parlor Car, the Lilly Belle, which was affectionately named after Walt Disney's wife, Lillian. My then 4-year-old son “drove” the Mark Twain Riverboat from the wheelhouse and had a blast sounding the loud horns that were then heard throughout the park. On a recent trip, we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Disneyland and were even able to have our holiday dinner on Christmas Eve at the exclusive Club 33 which was decorated beautifully for the holidays. While visiting the Disneyland Resort, we always prefer to stay onsite in order to feel completely immersed in the Disney magic throughout our entire stay and we consider the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa to be our "home away from home". In short, we ALL have a lot of fun together at Disneyland as a family, just as Walt Disney had first envisioned it so many years ago.

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About Beth Thorpe:

My family and I are currently living in California's beautiful Napa Valley. After attending University of the Pacific and studying English and Film Studies, I worked in construction administration for several years before becoming a stay-at-home parent and freelance travel writer. I discovered my love for travel planning and exploration in 2004 while planning my honeymoon. The nearly month-long trip took us to New York City for Christmas followed by Amsterdam, Brussels, London, Paris for New Years Eve and then numerous locations throughout Germany. My favorite place to explore is the Disneyland Resort and, if I'm not there, I am planning my next Disneyland trip. While I have always loved all things Disney, my passion for Disneyland peaked when we brought our son there for the first time on his birthday. Over the last few years, I have helped numerous friends and family members make the very most of their Disney Parks vacations as well as visits to California and beyond. I'm currently planning upcoming trips to both the Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World in Florida and I look forward to connecting with my readers about their own travels and adventures.



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