The Happiest Place on Earth

“Growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.” Walt Disney

The Happiest Place on Earth, also known as Disneyland. The place where dreams come true and magic comes to life. The place your favorite characters live and play, where you can fight the dark side, soar on rides through your beloved childhood movies and even hug Mickey Mouse himself. The land of Happily Ever After.

If you know me, then you know our family loves Disney (even after both my husband and I worked for the company for a combined 18 years). So it might not come as any surprise that for my birthday this year I decided that I wanted to go to Disneyland. But this time I did not want to go for just the day, I wanted to surprise our kids and spend the night at one of the hotels and make it into a little “staycation.” We had actually never stayed at any hotel, let alone a Disney hotel, with both kids before and we thought they were finally old enough to enjoy the experience (and this would be my first time at a Disney hotel as well. I know, I know, enter shocked sounds here).

It was an amazing trip. Even though it was only for one night, we made the best of our time. We arrived at the hotel early, enjoyed the pool and had a great dinner at The California Grand.

We were even able to see the fireworks from our balcony (this was a huge bonus since the baby is not old enough to stay up that late).

The next day we were able to go into the park for the extra “Magic Hour” which is totally awesome (hotel guests are able to enjoy an entire hour before other guests are allowed to enter). Then when the park started filling up and getting a bit hot we actually took the kids back to the pool for a couple hours and finally topped off the trip with a special dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen.

It was honestly one of the best times we have ever had at the park with the kids. Enjoying the hotel, pool and park was the best birthday present (not to mention the hubby had flowers, cake and decorations in the room when we arrived). It made us super excited for possible vacations as a family in the future, and of course we will always consider Disney one of our top choices! Not only does it hold a special place in our hearts, but to see the magic light up the eyes of our children makes us gleam with joy.

“Laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, dreams are forever.” Walt Disney