Celebrate Today ~ Disneyland Tips & Tricks

[trip style = sun + family] {more pics below}

Celebrate Today On a recent trip to Newport and Laguna California, going to Disneyland wasn't part of the plan, but when I realized it was only 20 mins from Newport, my husband and I thought we'd revert to our inner child for the day. When our GPS instructed us to pull up to one of the many parking lots, we were greeted by a big sign exclaiming "Celebrate Today." Yes indeed, we would celebrate today, how apropos since that just so happens to be the mantra of my EARLY 30s!

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Two Kids in Adult Bodies We only had a day, so we strapped on our backpacks, wore comfy clothes and runners, and conquered the park like two kids in adult bodies. As an adult, your experience at Disneyland is different: you think about best practices for conquering the parks, download the best Disney apps for ultimate efficiency and ask your social network about their best tips and tricks.  In other words, you don't just goand eat breakfast with Mickey like you did when you were a kid. You're grown up now, which means you plan then go, starting at Disneyland and strategically ending at California Adventure, so you can relax with a glass of California wine!

Disneyland Strategies

• Time of Year
  • Try to go in low or shoulder season (fall and winter).
• Parking
  • Disney's lots are plentiful and massive, take a pic of your lot and the aisle/row, so you don't forget your car's locale.
• Best Practices
  • Go early, take breaks, stay late (this is if you only have 24 hours, but if you're there for a multi-day trip, many of the same tips and tricks apply, except for your breaks involve going back to your hotel and chilling).
• Rides
  • Use the early/late philosophy. In other words, go to the most popular rides early morn (opening - 9.15ish), and later at night (8 - close) especially during shows, that's when you'll encounter the smallest lines.
  • People say to hit the rides during the afternoon parade. Note that in high season at least, rides were still not very empty at this time.
  • If you get motion sick, or just want to give your brain a rest, break up the big/fast rides with rest, refueling and main street browsing.
  • The Fast Pass is your friend. Use it to get into the popular rides!
  • If you're there as a small adult group or duo, using Single Riders saves HOURS.  Follow signs closely, you enter most rides with Single Rider access via the exit! For example, there were 2 -3 hour lines for Splash Mountain and Indiana, and doing Single Riders we got on the rides within 5-10 mins!
  • For rides that post pics like Splash Mountain, if you don't want to buy the picture, take a picture of the picture. See mine below, it's not like I'll frame it, but at least I have the memory...
  • The busiest Disney rides are still Indiana, Splash Mountain & Autopia.
  • Don't forget about the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean. Disney classics!
• Day-of
  • You can bring in a modest amount of your own drinks and food. Do this, it's helpful to have water and an energy bar when you're spaced out from space mountain while waiting in a 45-min line for the nostalgic Autopia ride!
• World of Colour
  • California Adventure's newest light show (think Vegas' Bellagio fountains meet an Under the Sea Calypso) World of Colour only has good viewing if you secure a Fast Pass to one of their three nightly shows. As soon as the parks open, get one at the Grizzly River Rafting ride, or, if it's 8pm and you realize you don't have a pass, buy a picnic at the Sonoma Terrace and your Fast Pass is included!

Eating & Drinking

• Make reservations at restaurants like
  • Disneyland: The Blue Bayou, Cafe Orleans, Big Thunder Ranch BBQ, Plaza Inn and Carnation Cafe
  • Cali Adventure: Ariel's Grotto, Wine Country Trattoria
  • Reservations: Call Disney Dining at (714) 781-DINE or (714) 781-3463.
• Adult Bevs
  • Disney doesn't serve alcohol but California Adventure does!
• Healthy Eating
  • There are healthy options like pickles, fruit and salad, but most of the food at the parks are deeply, deeply fried!  At the end of the day, you end up feeling fairly deep fried yourself.  But really, when in Rome...
• Recommendations
  • Breakfast - either eat your own, or have a Mickey-shaped waffle at the Carnation Cafe.
  • Snack - Dole Whip = heaven on earth at the Adventureland Tiki Bar, & Corn Dog (like you've never tasted before) in a cart at the end of Main Street!
  • Lunch - The Monte Cristo Sandwhich at the Blue Bayou (deep fried sandwich with cheese, turkey & ham which you slather raspberry jam onto) is semi-weird but out-of-this-world good. Giant portions. We were full with one shared serving.
  • Dinner - Wine Country Trattoria
• Tips
  • Use lunch and dinner as your opportunity to sit down, chill out and enjoy. Both options I've recommended above have table service---you'll spend a lot, but the rest and retreat from the hustle and bustle is well worth it!
  • If you don't have any restaurant reservations (don't worry neither did we), but still want the full-on Disney culinary experience, go to the Blue Bayou around 3.30pm when lunch is clearing out and dinner is about to start at 4pm. But don't leave it too late, the Monte Cristo isn't on the dinner menu!
  • The to-go picnics offered by the Sonoma Terrace at Cali Adventure are pretty decent and include a World of Colour Fast Pass. They come in a branded World of Colour reusable shopping bag,  as if you needed another one of those.

Disneyland Essentials

• Comfy clothes & shoes ~ trust me ~ opt for function over fashion
• Sweater and/or scarf for at night, even in summer, it really cools down at night
• Hat
• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen
• Backpack or cross-body bag
• Phone/Camera
• Gravol (you might want it after the California Screamin' ride, I know I did...)
• Small water bottle, healthy snacks (the only healthy thing you'll eat all day...)

Pictures {The Magic Kingdom}

{Splash Mountain picture of a picture. The girl behind me was hard-core, she'd been on the ride 25 times in two days---she rode a lot at night and as a Single Rider.}

{Fave Ride: Jungle Cruise}

{Us....at at Kodak picture spot}

{Classic Disney: Big Thunder Railway}

{Love, Love, Love everything about the vintage, whimsical design of this ride}

{Check out the Glow party at Cali Adventure---entertaining}

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Related Content Disneyland Apps Newport in a Nutshell Low Key Laguna

Low Key Laguna

[trip style = beach + sun]

Laguna is the kind of place where people walk into the neighborhood Whole Foods grocery store with I-just-went-swimming-in-the-Pacific kinda hair, wearing only a bathing suit, mini cover-up and flip flips.

{more pics below}

Only an hour away from LA, Laguna feels the opposite of glitzy. Its low key vibe, coupled with the constant rhythm of waves lapping---and occasionally crashing---into shore sooths your mind, body and spirit into a slower pace of life.

With beaches that go for miles and lifeguard stations regularly dotting the shoreline, Laguna is a quintessential California Beach town with a few surprises up its sleeve.

On a five-day trip to Cali, we stayed in Newport for the first three and Laguna for the second two. The slower and less flashy pace of life Laguna offered was an excellent way to unwind and cap-off our California visit.

Laguna Surprises

• Bohemian vs High-Brow. Yes, it’s arty and bohemian, but there’s also an ire of expectation seeing as the beachfront properties range from $2.5 million for a 1000sf condo to $31 million for a custom 5-room mansion. With beach entrances throughout the swanky beachfront neighborhoods, parking police lie and wait for people who mis-park in these neighborhoods.
• Whaling Wall. Wyland, the 54-year old artist who found fame painting whales on canvas and buildings takes up residence in Laguna.  His home/gallery are on the ocean side of the PCH. No wonder he keeps on doing ocean-inspired art, the Pacific is right in front of him!
• Artsy Fartsy. The Art scene in Laguna is budding to say the least. With galleries on every street corner, there's a piece for everyone's taste.
• Catch a Wave. Just down from the main beach is where the surfers, skimboarders and stand-up paddle boarders congregate---right in front of a string of beachfront condos and homes that make you wish you grew up in the OC. Surprisingly, these activities aren’t reserved for the young---people of all ages share and ride the waves.
• Eating Out.  Here are some of my favorite locations:
  • Breakfast - Occupying a home built in 1917, the cute Cottage Restaurant has been serving food for the last 35 years. Expect fast, efficient service and decent food in a lovely outdoor setting. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
  • Coffee/Snack - Just off the beach, C'est La Vie had the biggest chocolate and cinnamon pastry twists I'd ever seen! The pastry and desert selection was seriously decadent!  Coffee wasn't too shabby either.
  • Lunch - We usually skipped lunch or snacked on items from Whole Foods.
  • Happy Hour - I don't think there's a tourist or local who leaves Laguna without eating or drinking at Las Brisas.  With one of the best restaurant views in all of Laguna, this giant mexican restaurant always seemed busy. Always.  Sit on the patio at 4pm to soak-up the views and enjoy top-shelf margaritas, and chips and guacamole.  The guac is to die for.
  • Dinner - Finish off your day at 230 Forest.  This funky eatery and martini bar is right in the centre of town. Look out, the crab cakes were surprisingly filling.
• The Beach. One refreshing feeling in Laguna is how the locals are just as excited---if not moreso---about the beach than tourists. Locals and tourists co-exist on the same beaches and do so in harmony.  Laguna is welcoming no matter where you go.
• The Little Hotel that Could.  Yep, there's the brood of high-end hotels like the St. Regis, Montage and The Ritz within 15 mins of laguna, but why not stay at  a locally run hotel?  I'm already planning on returning to The Tides.  Located one street up from the beach on the PCH, this simple hotel is well maintained and its owners are more than accommodating and helpful.  Spend time at the pool, the Inn's BBQ bar area or roast marshmallows and hotdogs in the outdoor fireplace.  See my review here.

Pictures {The coast}

{Beach right in front of town, not all of Laguna's beaches were this busy}

{Wyland Gallery}

{The Cottage Restaurant}

{C'est La Vie Restaurant and Cafe's giant baked goods}

{Las Brisas Restaurant's ummmm guac}

{230 Forest}

{Tides BBQ bar}

{Tides pool}

{Tides fireplace}

Newport in a Nutshell

[trip style = beach, sun & sightseeing]

It was 6.10pm. Landing in California last Thursday, my eyes fought with the sun pouring into the plane's window, and I peered out to what appeared to be a giant lifeguard station. How apropos. Welcome to California I thought. Turns out, the lifeguard station was actually the Long Beach Airport. Only in California do they build airports to look like lifeguard stations. Immediately I relaxed and remembered one of my favourite jingles: I'll be out there having fun, in the warm California sun!

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A Chocolate Welcome I love welcome treats, and though they are not a regular occurrence in my hotels rooms, it is nice when they are there. While staying at The Fairmont Newport Beach they kicked it up a notch with a treat laden with a white chocolate surf board perched in faux brown sugar sand. As if the welcoming couldn't be any better, there was an orange tree on my balcony.

Close to it All Most people opt to stay near the beach in Newport (which I've done in the past at the Balboa Bay Beach Club), but I stayed at the Fairmont because of my philosophy that it's good to collect points with one hotel group. I knew the property was in Newport's business district, but I didn't know the hotel was only 10 mins from South Coast Plaza and Fashion Island shopping centers, 12 mins from the Beach and 20 mins from Disneyland. There was even a shuttle if you didn't feel like driving. See my detailed review of the Fairmont Newport Beach here.

Disney The morning after we arrived, we daringly chose to indulge in Disneyland during high season. Normally, I try to avoid high season at all cost, but we were only 20 mins away, so thought we should give it a try. After all, aside from my magical gr. 4 visit with the fam, the last time I was there was gr. 11---only a few years ago!  See Disneyland Tips & Tricks here.

Shop After a 12-hour encounter with the happiest place on earth, we were ready for a day of relaxation. But first, like any sane Canadian visiting the US, we hit the shops at South Coast Plaza. After an almost too successful encounter with the mall, we retreated to the hotel for some R + R. Sunning on our balcony, I got distracted by the still-maturing orange tree. I wanted to pick off a fruit and stick a straw in it for some fresh juice, but refrained because I wasn't sure if the tree was largely decorative or for guests to ponder picking off fruit. I'll never know.

Back to Reality A little bit hungry from not eating that orange, upon the recommendation of my dear friend who lives in LA, we dined at Roy's (Hawaiian fusion cuisine). The staff's constant alohas and soft ukulele background music gave me a triple shot of Hawaiian Isles relaxation. Funnily enough, rather than ordering a mai tai, I savoured a glass of California wine. At that moment, it hit me. Both my wine glass and my cup overfloweth smelling, swirling and tasting the natural beauty of the beachy location and the novelty of an orange tree in a close-to-it-all town. To me, this was Newport in a nutshell.

Recommendations Shopping South Coast Plaza - this giant mall has everything, including discount retailers like Loehmann's and Norstrom Rack. Fashion Island - the people watching is amazing---oh and the shopping is good too. Shopping with a view of the ocean, it doesn't get more OC than this...

Eating Roy's - if you want to channel your inner Aloha eat here. If you want to channel your inner accountant, eat during happy hour Sun-Fri 4.30-6.30pm for $5 drinks and appies. Rose's - we drove by this place on Sunday morning and stopped in our tracks. Our instinct was right, the line-up extending out the door was no mistake, the baked goods and breakfast bagels looked and tasted incredible. For the record, I've never seen a bigger cinnamon bun (probably 20cm in diameter). I was too chicken to eat it---one day when I'm not on a beach vacation.

Do Balboa Island- walk or bike around Balboa island and gaze at the unique homes, browse the quaint shops and indulge in their famous salt water taffy and chocolate-covered frozen bananas. I did this once before with my LA friend mentioned above, but apparently it doesn't get old.

[photo credit: all photos my own, except for the night shot of Fairmont, © Fairmont Newport]

Alaska Air to Fly from BLI to HNL

[trip style = sun + beach]

Not that I need convincing to go to Hawaii, but........

Normally I don't do two posts in one day, but this news is way too exciting to wait and share!  It was just announced that Alaska Airlines will fly out of Bellingham Airport to Honolulu with service starting January 7th.

What about Allegiant? Originally I suspected that Allegiant would make this annoucement first, but Alaska's seen the light and knows that people from both Vancouver and Seattle will travel to my fave border town in search of lower fares and sunnier horizons!  I was almost certain the Bellingham airport was undertaking MAJOR renovations to the terminal and runway for Allegiant's planned service to Honolulu, but we'll have to wait and see if this low-cost carrier decides to launch their service out of Bellingham or elsewhere.

Tickets Ticket prices will be announced tomorrow. According to a Vancouver Sun article, Alaska's VP Marketing notes "I can tell you the fares will be very, very attractive. It will be among the lowest fares you can find to get from the West Coast to Hawaii. We'll have some terrific prices."

Sand Dunes & Firsts in PEI

[trip style = sightseeing + beach] {more pics below}

PEI was the last stop on my get to know Canada better trip. For all you Regis & Kelly fans, no, I didn't plan on being there at the same time, but the timing worked out well and it was impressive to see Canada get so much coverage on the program!  The Gentle Island was a gracious host to the show and its fanatics, and the local buzz was laced with pride----and why not---PEI has a lot to be proud of!  From kitschy tourist attractions like Santa's Woods and natural wonders like sand dunes rolling into the horizon, Canada's smallest Province is the perfect location for a family getaway!  Ironically, I experienced a lot of firsts on my last Eastern Canada stop before returning to the West.

Firsts in PEI

• saw and gently treaded on sand dunes like you'd see in The Hamptons imagery. Gorgeous!
• wanted to take a picture of every lighthouse (and that's a lot).
• tried scallops and mussels (was scared of their slimy-ish consistency before, but I've been converted)
• hung out at a red-sand beach
• drank wine out of a fish-shaped bottle
• saw farmers' fields that trickled into the ocean
• travelled over a 12.9 km bridge

Returning As I bid PEI adieu from the Confederation Bridge, I vowed I would return to eat at more of the seaside restaurants, bike the confederation trail, spend lazy days at one of the many white- or red-sand beaches and maybe get around to visiting the Anne of Green Gables site.  Next time...

PEI Highlights {The first vista we saw when our ferry from Nova Scotia was docking. Exactly what I'd expected!}

{First stop: PEI's only winery: Rossignol, to taste their varietals and buy a fish-shaped bottle of Isle St Jean White.}

{Charlettetown's harbour area at sundown.}

{Second day we spent road-trippin' and discovered a parking lot on a beach in North Rustico.}

{This gorgeous setting was right in front of our car as we pulled onto the beach.}

{North Rustico gift shop.}

{More of the town.}

{Road trip stop # 2: Red sand cliffs on the East Coast.}

{Artsy shot.}

{Us.}

{Road trip stop # 3: dunes near Cavendish.}

{Front side of the dunes.}

{More of Cavendish Beach Park.}

{Road trip stop # 4: you know, just another trypical road-side view.}

{The money shot: most GORGEOUS lighthouse setting I've EVER seen.}

{Fishing town near the lighthouse.}

{Lobster Traps.}

{Enjoying a refreshing lemonade in Victoria by the Sea before crossing into New Brunswick to fly home. Set in the town's old grocery store/post office, don't let the Landmark Cafe's quaint appearance fool you, the food is to die for.}

{The Confederation Bridge--built with a slight curve so drivers are more likely to pay attention and less likely to have accidents.}

[photos by @tripstyler]