Ways to Make Disneyland Less Expensive

Planning a trip to Disneyland? Your children will love it. Your wallet, however, may be cringing already! Family travel can get expensive very quickly, especially when a theme park is involved. Here are some ways to make Disneyland a little less expensive. How to save money on tickets If you live in Anaheim, California, you won’t have much difficulty finding a discount on tickets to Disneyland. There are “Disneyland Good Neighbor” hotels that can legally sell tickets at a discounted price. If you live elsewhere, you can take advantage of the discounted tickets by booking a hotel stay in one … Continue reading

Couple Visits Disneyland Every Day in 2012

At the end of 2012 I came across an interesting post on the official Disney Parks blog: a couple visited Disneyland every single day in 2012.  On December 31, Jeff Reitz and Tonya Mickesh received special gifts personally from Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Tom Staggs.  It was a typical fancy Disney ceremony: as the two made their way down Main Street, Staggs was waiting for them to present their honors in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle. Their honors included being made honorary citizens of Disneyland, and a stay in the Disneyland Dream Suite, a luxury apartment off the … Continue reading

Finding Fantasyland Website Mini-Game

Now that Fantasyland is about to debut, I received an email in my Inbox: an invitation to take a Hero’s Journey to discover the new Fantasyland.  This was per my sign up from the New Fantasyland website. Taking the Hero’s Journey doesn’t tell us a lot about the new Fantasyland, but it’s a cute story nonetheless.  Visiting the site sucks guests into the story, telling about how the villains came to Fantasyland, stole powerful talismans, and obscured them with their magic (which just so happens to take the shape of a big puffy purple mist, just like in Disney-ABC’s “Once … Continue reading

Disneyland Good Neighbor Hotels

Disneyland and Disney World aren’t identical. One of the big ways they differ is in size; Disney World is much larger than Disneyland. Because of this there are far fewer hotels at Disneyland than Disney World; I can think of dozens in Orlando, but Disneyland has only three: the Disneyland Hotel, the Grand Californian, and Paradise Pier. Disneyland makes up for that by teaming up with several local Anaheim Hotels as part of its Good Neighbor program. A Disneyland Good Neighbor Hotel isn’t officially a Disney hotel. Anyone can stay at them without going to the park (though I suppose … Continue reading

Disneyland Developing New Fantasy Faire

I’ve come to a conclusion: the Disney parks are almost like a living organism. They’re constantly changing and evolving. Maybe equating them to something that’s alive is a bit of a stretch, but the idea that they never stay the same, that there’s always something different or new happening or in the process of doing so: that’s definitely accurate. When the famous founder of your illustrious company was known for his innovation, you don’t have much choice but to constantly do the same if you want to uphold his legacy. The latest update announced for Disneyland, not long after the … Continue reading

Wintry Fantasies at the Disney Parks

Disneyland’s new Fantasy Faire doesn’t open until March 12, but details are starting to emerge about what the attraction will entail.  It draws some inspiration from Disney World’s Fantasyland expansion; the Faire as a whole will take the form of a medieval village.  That reminds me a lot of Belle’s village at the new Fantasyland. That shouldn’t be too surprising, because the Fantasy Faire is an expansion of Disneyland’s Fantasyland.  It’s not as large or ambitious as the one at Disney World, but it’s still going to be similar.  Unlike the one in Orlando, however, the one in Anaheim won’t … Continue reading

A Beastly Glimpse Inside Disney’s Enchanted Forest

Beast’s Castle, still under construction The official Disney Parks blog has posted a ton of videos lately about the Enchanted Forest section of the new Fantasyland expansion. Given that that’s the area that will feature “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast,” I can’t resist highlighting them. Most of the recent sneak peeks have all been about the latter. The earliest videos all previewed the Be Our Guest restaurant. If you’d like to have a meal in the world of “Beauty and the Beast,” this restaurant will be for you. It’ll open with three dining rooms in the middle … Continue reading

Disney on Ice 2012-2013 Season

A new year means a new group of Disney on Ice shows debuting for the public. All right, I know we’re over halfway through the year, but so many interesting things have been happening with Disney so far in 2012 that this got pushed back to the list. Plus, it’s unlikely that, given how new most of these shows are, they’re going anywhere for a while. Speaking of shows that aren’t going anywhere: Disney on Ice: 100 Years of Magic is still going strong. It started in 1999 to commemorate the Disney legacy, and although it’s sometimes toured under a … Continue reading