DisneyLand...they think of everything!

J and I set out to DisneyLand and California's Adventure Park on Black Friday, November 27! We thought that this would be a better day to go on because many people were out shopping or still recovering from Thanksgiving and so there would be less people there than on maybe a Saturday or regular weekend! We pre bought the 1-Day Park Hopper tickets through my teachers union for a cheap price and had the fanny pack (that I bought earlier that morning at Black Friday madness) packed up and ready to go.

We set out on our adventure. The drive was about 1 hour up to Anaheim, CA from our house and there was a convenient exit, Disney Way, that took you straight from the highway to the parking garages and resort parking for the theme park and Downtown Disney.

During our experience at Disneyland we had a few Eureka moments and epiphanies. The following is our list of all the amazing things that Disneyland and CA Adventure Park have, as well as our Do's and Don'ts in order to have an optimal time at the most magical place on earth!

Props to Disney for:
-Hand Sanitizer : in the midst of Swine Flu, they had hand sanitizer stations outside every ride when you exited and by all major eating facilities!

-Overall Very Friendly: each employee was super nice and helpful

- Warm Water in bathrooms for hand washing: when we left the park that evening I had to use the bathroom one more time before the ride home. It was pretty cold outside and I was dreading washing my hands with the freezing cold water. But, to my surprise, the water was pleasantly warm and made my hand washing experience much better!

-Photo Passport Card: you can get it for free from any gift shop or an employee who is taking pictures. They scan your card when they take a picture of you with a character or at a prime photo destination. This card has a bar code that links online to their website. When you leave Disneyland you can go home and view all the pictures they took of you during your visit and then have the option of buying them or editing them to say "Merry Christmas" or "First visit", etc. The card is reusable and we can bring it back next time we go to Disneyland to add pictures to our photo passport. The employees will also take the same picture with your personal camera, so you don't have to buy their pictures. Even though, most of the time their pictures turned out better than our camera.

-Fast Pass: Is a must. Basically it waits in line for you, while you can be riding another ride. It is a ticket that you get with your Disneyland park ticket. You insert it into the machine by the ride area and it prints out another ticket with a time for you to come back to ride the ride. When you come back at the later time, you by pass all the waiting in line and go directly to the front of the line for the ride. It is awesome! Great for rides like Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Screammin' Roller Coaster Ride, and other long line rides.

-Equal Opportunist Employer. I met a Deaf man. He was working in the candy shop and we had a nice little chit chat. He was also fluent in other countries sign languages, such as Mexican Sign Language. It was very impressive! Deaf people can be bilingual too!

-2 people is Best!: We learned that traveling with 2 people in your party is much better than larger groups such as 3 or 4 or 5. Lots of families are bigger and all want to ride the ride at the same time in the same cart or raft. J and I just had two, so when there were other smaller families or 2 or 1, they always needed 2 more to fill the cart, so they would ask for groups of 2. It seemed that we were the only two, always, and we got to cut past about 10 or 15 groups of people per ride because of our small numbers!

-Bobsled Ride at DisneyLand is the best!: This ride is in a bobsled through a dark mountain. You get to sit two to a seat with your partner between your legs on this ride. It's also nice because you get to cuddle up and be close to your loved one and sit in between their cozy legs! The whole ride is in the dark so there is maximum time to sneak a kiss or two!

Do's:
-Bring a fanny pack: it's better than a backpack, because you can keep it on your person/body during most rides. It can slide around to accommodate the different seat straps and safety bars that come down over your lap.

-Bring Snacks and Drinks!: They do allow food and drinks in the park. I wish I would have known that before hand, because we waited in many long lines and I wish I had a snack. It also saves money because you don't have to spend $4 or $3 for a popcorn or ice cream for the kids when they are hungry. Food wasn't priced as bad as I thought, but if you pack from home, there are many places to sit and eat. They also have lockers to put your cooler in if you don't want to carry it around all day. Or you can leave the park (be sure to get your hand stamped) to eat at your car and come back.

-Buy Tickets ahead of time!: saves you time, rather than waiting in line when you arrive at the park to buy tickets. Also, there are cheaper deals online and through companies to save money! If you are a teacher in a union, go through TSA (for California teachers) or other union affiliates for cheap deals. We saved $24 per ticket!

-Hit up Disneyland first in the morning!: (if you have a park hopper pass) Then hit up the CA Adventure Park in the afternoon. You can always go back to Disneyland in the evening to see the parades and fireworks. We learned that more people with small children go to Disneyland and it was a lot more crowded than the Adventure Park. So we suggest going to Disneyland first thing in the morning and riding all the rides, as it will be less crowded.

-Use the convenient Disney Way freeway Exit!: Follow the easy signs from the freeway to the park entrance. They even have convenient ramps to enter back onto the freeway when you exit the park. Make sure if you are going back to San Diego to take the SOUTH ramp and not the North Ramp to LA.

-The artistic designs for rides and props for rides are amazing!: The artists who work for Disney really think of everything. Down to the smallest detail, they design the most amazing art and props for the rides. On Big Thunder Mountain Railroad check out the small little rattlesnakes and turtles that heads move and tongues hiss on the sides of the ride.

-Uniforms!: Disney treats their employees well. Each uniform was very nice and differed for each ride. They all matched the themes and accommodated for weather changes. As the temps dropped in the evening, the workers had coats, hats and gloves that matched with their outfits.

Do NOT:
- Ride any water rides at NIGHT!: In the winter months, when the temps drop significantly at night when the sun goes down it is not the best idea to ride a water ride. You will get soaked and you will be freezing, since the sun is not out to dry you off. We suggest riding most water rides first in the earlier day time when the sun is out! Or to bring a change of clothes.

Overall, we had the most amazing time at Disneyland and CA Adventure Park! We can't wait to go back again! Everything was amazing and perfect! Disney never seizes to amaze us!

Black Friday...never again. Ok, well maybe one more time.

After last years madness at Target at 6am on Black Friday, I swore I would never go out shopping on Black Friday again. We went to target in Chandler Arizona to get DVD's for practically pennies. There was a list that my brother and J wanted to buy so we went to see what we could get our hands on. The place was beyond capacity and people were pushing and screaming. They had these aisles full of DVD's and people were grabbing every which way to get their hands on a DVD. All I remember is screaming, I found "Knocked Up" to my brother and J who were three aisles over, grabbing at DVD's themselves.

When we made it out with only bruises and a bit of accidental assault we found our way to the check out register where we waited for another 20 minutes in line. The total cost of the steal of a deal DVD's wasn't nearly worth the time or suffering we had endured. That morning on November 27th, 2008 I swore I would never participate in Black Friday shopping again.

Well...Never Say Never, because that didn't happen. I ventured out at 5:00am this year for a little Black Friday shopping experience. I wanted to go to Victoria's Secret to get the free bag with products in it if you spent $60. I didn't have a problem spending the money, as I had a list of things I wanted to buy for myself and others for Christmas. I woke up at 4:50 and drove straight over to VS, where it was CLOSED. The store didn't have any hours of when it would be open, so I checked online on some blogs and read some different times people had been saying. The VS I went to was not in a mall, but in an outside shopping center. The shopping center was vacant, so when I pulled up at 5:00am and the parking lot was empty I was upset. I had no idea when they were going to open. I thought maybe 6:00 am, so I went over to the Sports Authority in the shopping center across the street.

Sports Authority opened at 5:00am, so I stocked up on some Door Busters! I bought a bag of 20 Penn tennis balls for the dog for $4.99! A steal of a deal. I bought J a new official size Nike NFL football for $10! And I bought a sleeping bag that could endure 30 degree low weather temps for $9.99! And a fanny pack for our DisneyLand adventures later that day. I was pretty happy with my purchases.

Afterwards, it was only 5:30 and VS probably wasn't opened yet, so I walked over to Target and looked for some door busters. I decided to not impulse buy and there wasn't anything we really needed. Except for the big screen TV that J insists we need. Except he is only buying a Sony Bravia, so those other cheap knock-off brands at Wally World or Target won't cut it. I decided I didn't need a mini slow-cooker or blender or toaster for $5 and $10, I already had all those.

So I drove back over to VS shopping center, and this time saw a few more cars in the parking lot. There were 2 cars parked in front of VS store front, so I got really excited that they might be opening at 6. I waited in my car with the other women patiently waiting in their cars. This time there were some employees in the store working, so my hope went up! Then, 5:59 came, and the doors were still locked. Then, another car pulled up with two girls in it. Then, 6:00 came, and no one came to open the doors. Then, it was 6:07 and still no one opened the doors or went in. Then, I thought maybe the doors were unlocked and I should just go try the door. Then, a couple of ladies came walking by the outside store front and they stopped to peak inside the store. They wandered around the store front, and finally yelled into the windows at the employees to ask what time they open. The lady yelled back 8:00 to make sure she had heard the employee correctly, and then my heart sank and broke into a million pieces. I had woken up at 5:00 thinking a store would be open and then I wasted an hour driving around and shopping to not even get to shop in the original store I wanted. I was pissed.

I drove home immediately, and got back into bed. Then, at 6:30 the alarm went off. It was time to go to DisneyLand. I had not gotten my VS free bag with products and I had lost out on 2 hours of sleep. I was beyond pissed. J promised me that on our way out of town we could stop at the mall and go to the VS there, in hopes I hadn't missed out on the opportunity for the free bag!
Luckily, we made it to the mall by 8:00am and I was able to secure my free bag at VS with all the contents inside! The mall had opened at 6am and so did the VS at this location. Now I know for future reference to go to the Malls instead of the stand alone outdoor shopping centers, because the stores open earlier.

I'm not going to swear I won't go out shopping on Black Friday again, because we all know what happened last time I said that. I also noticed that I was the only person out shopping without a shopping buddy or partner when I went solo at 5:00am earlier that morning. I think my moral and spirits would have been higher had I been with my shopping partner, my husband J, to laugh off the whole situation. Maybe next year....

Sonic Drive-In comes to San Diego

Ok, so the Sonic is not technically in San Diego or Carlsbad. It is actually in Vista, CA, which is about 8 miles or a 15-minute drive from our house. The closest Sonic to us previously was in Mission Viejo, LA area. As I was driving to work yesterday I heard about the new one opening in Vista. I told J... and we agreed on a date night to Sonic to get some tots, a chili-cheese coney and a nice cool slush. We followed the Garmin's directions specifically and made it in record timing. Not knowing what to expect, since they had just opened the day before...we were mesmerized by the amount of people waiting in lines and standing outside the walk up-and-eat area. We drove around the block 2 times and there were signs everywhere that said, NO SONIC PARKING. Then we waited in a line for 10 minutes for a guy to tell us we had to drive to another line where the wait was like 60 minutes for eat-in-your-car service. They had a "staging area" for the drive-thru area, where you had to wait in a line till there was room for you to move over to the drive-thru line. It was insane. We didn't think that many people knew about the joys of Sonic or appreciate it like we do, but apparently we were wrong. Maybe there was a mad rush because it was a new restaurant. No one will ever know.

We were pumped to eat, but didn't want to wait in the hour eat-in-your car line (even though it defeats the whole purpose of the Sonic drive-in). Anyways, we found a parking spot a few blocks away and walked over to the walk-up area. They had 6 different order boxes in place, but of course only 2 were taking orders and working. The lines were 10 people deep. We stood in the line and watched some teeny boppers look at the menu, then text on their sidekicks, then look back at the menu and then laugh about their order for about 5 minutes. Then, they realized you have to PUSH THE BUTTON to order and a person will "talk to you and take your order". (God bless the younger generation.)

We contemplated our options. It was 5:45 pm. Hmm. We eat now at another restaurant or we wait another hour before we even order/get our food. It was tempting, but what was even more tempting was the fact that we hope to be in Texas for Thanksgiving in two weeks and there is literally a Sonic on every street corner and there is not a "staging area" with a 60 minute wait. We decided we can eat at Sonic in Texas and we were too hungry to wait in line. We settled for Wendy's instead.

I think the highlight of the night was at Trader Joe's after dinner while doing some light grocery shopping when the free sample guy came around with the Peppermint JoJo's. The most delicious holiday treat, exclusively from TJ's! We each had two cookies and then went looking for the box of cookies on the shelf around the store. They were no where to be found and after asking two store clerks, we soon learned they were sold out. (But still handing out free samples as a mean nasty cruel joke.) You don't give someone a sample of something and get their hopes up and taste buds happy and then tell them you don't have the product they just tried. The free sample guy did this exact thing to us tonight. So after he apologized, he gave us two more JoJo's each to make up for his cruel mistake. We have to go back tomorrow now, when the shipment comes in to stock up on our favorite minty holiday cookie.

I'm so happy for the upcoming holidays and all the little treats and small joys, such as Peppermint JoJo's, that make the holidays so merry and bright. Yay for TJ's our favorite store, even though tonight they are on my bad list.