Eating in the Parks...Part Two! Have a seat!

I am anxiously counting down my next trip to The Happiest Place on Earth!  We are heading there in May and will be there over Mother's Day weekend.  One sad point about our upcoming visit is that my absoulute FAVORITE restaraunt will be closed.  I thought of saving this place as my last restaraunt on this post, but it is so fabulous I believe it deserves to be mentioned first...  The Carnation Cafe! 

The Carnation Cafe will re-open in time for the busy summer season.  When they re-open they will feature both indoor and outdoor seating.  Reservations are highly recommended if you don't want to wait a while. This is a must visit cafe for their loaded baked potato soup.  I also love their chicken croissant sandwich, their salads and shepherd's pie.  The kids love the make-your-own peanut butter paint pallete.  If you are visiting, like we are, during the renovation visit the Jolly Holiday Bakey and Cafe where they may be serving a few of the favorites.  One other unique opportunity at the Carnation Cafe is to take a picture with Oscar Martinez.  He is the longest tenured cast member at the Disneyland Resort.  57 years and counting. 

Ok, enough about the fabulous Carnation Cafe, there are also some other great options.  Another one of our favorites is The Plaza Inn.  They have delicious fried chicken and delectable pot roast.  One thing I love about The Plaza Inn is their portion sizes!!!  We can purchase one meal for each adult and have enough food to share with our kids and not have to buy them their own meal.  If your kids are older, you can still save a bit of money by buying one meal to split between them.  Also, you can't pass up the delicious desserts at The Plaza Inn.  The French Market has some good Pot Roast and Chicken dinners as well at a good price (considering you are in Disneyland)The last favorite sit down place is Rancho del Zocalo.  This place serves up some delicious Mexican food in good portion sizes at a decent price.  Stay tuned for my next post, which will help you get some good ideas on character dining and World of Color dining options. 

Eating in The Parks...Part One...quick eats!

Our family are die hards when we head to Disneyland!  Once we get there we have no plans to head back to the hotel until bed time.  This gives us two options.  Packing a lunch, stuffing it in a locker and eating at one of the few tables right outside the front gates...not gonna happen!!!  So we eat in the park.  In fact we find it to be part of what we love so much about visiting the Disneyland Resort.

Both Disneyland and California Adventure have some fabulous options for food. I am not going to pretend like there is anywhere inexpensive to eat in the parks, but there are places where you get more for your money.  The first mistake that is often made is thinking "I'll grab something cheap like a burger and fries".  The quality and quantity of the food at places like the Tommorowland Terrace of Village Haus restaurant are not worth the price. Another place to avoid eating is in Toontown. The hot dogs and sandwiches at Daisy's and Clarabelle's are definitely some of the worst values in the park. 
If you want a good burger and fries I recommend Hungry Bear Restaurant in Critter Country where they feature burgers and good southern classics as well as a new favorite sweet potato fries, or wait until you spend a day at California Adventure and head to Taste Pilot's Grill.  The burgers are good, they have ribs, salads and chili cheese fries to die for!!!   If you just want something quick to eat and get on your way there a few fabulous options for that in both parks.  In Disneyland, Edelweiss Snacks sells delicious chimichangas, huge turkey legs, corn on the cob and yummy frozen juices.  Both parks have great locations for one of my favorites...hand dipped corn dogs!  This is one of the best deals in the park.  For just over $6 you get a delicious (and rather large) corn dog and a bag of chips.  These can be found on Disneyland Main Street at the Little Red Wagon or Stage Door Cafe and at California Adventure at Award Wieners or Corn Dog Castle. If you are feeling like you need something healthy to cleanse your arteries there are carts around these areas that sell fresh fruits or veggies and you would want to plan a couple extra bucks for this.  Other quick meal options are fries and chicken fingers at the Stage Door Cafe and Golden Horseshoe, delicious soups and/or sandwiches and salads at Harbour Galley and Studio Eats.   

A few of our MUST VISIT eating establishments that fall in the quick foods category are first, the Pacific Wharf Cafe. I love their cheddar broccoli soup in a huge sourdough bread bowl!  They also have a good selection of other soups, salads in a bread bowl and fantastic sandwiches on sourdough bread.  I also love their cookies and brownies!  Our other fave, and ironically we just discovered this a few years ago, is the Bengal Barbecue. We love, love, love the bacon wrapped asparagus, the veggies on a skewer as well as the barbecued beef and chicken skewer options.  I also thoroughly enjoy the bread sticks.  This is a great place to grab one item for about $3 a piece or mix quite a few together to make a meal.  This place does not seem to be a favorite for the kids but they do love the Mickey Mouse pretzel with cheese dipping sauce. 
Stay tuned to my next post to see some our favorite places to sit down, relax and enjoy some good food at a good value (for being at Disneyland, that is).

The FASTPASS!!!

I absolutely love all the looks I get as I am walking quickly through the FASTPASS line on my favorite Disneyland attractions, while the onlookers in the standby line look at me with anger and disgust!  I always think to myself, "they could have got a FASTPASS too!" 
There seem to be many that do not know that FASTPASSES do not cost money and are fairly easy to obtain.  FASTPASSES are available for many popular attractions such as Space Mountain, Star Tours, Big Thunder Mountain, Soarin' Over California, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and more.  During slower times some attractions will not have FASTPASS since it is easy to get right on.  During busy times FASTPASSES will run out, so get them early in the day. 
FASTPASSES will tell you an hour of the day to come back to that attraction.  The time to come back will be posted at the FASTPASS distribution area.  If you plan accordingly you can hold up to three FASTPASSES at a time.  You will want to obtain your first FASTPASS early in the day and then as soon as that FASTPASS is eligible for use you can get another FASTPASS before hopping on your ride.  If, you end up with times that match up well, and the hours all fall within a short time of each other, you can get a third FASTPASS before you go ride either of your first two.  Now, there is some planning and thought that goes into getting your FASTPASSES and it does require a small amount of running around the park, but we try to obtain FASTPASSES in the same area.  If you are extremely adventurous the rules for the first FASTPASS needing to be ready to use before you get another one do not apply from Disneyland to California Adventure.  So, if you feel like you want a little exercise you could hold multiple passes for both parks all at the same time. I do not personally recommend this unless you are there with just a group of adults or teenagers and you just want to hit all the big attractions and you only have one day to do it. 
Ok, so now you are thinking "this FASTPASS thing sounds awesome, but how do I get them?"  When you come to Disneyland you are given your paper Park Hopper passes.  You take these to the area near the attraction that says FASTPASS DISTRIBUTION, you then put in your PARKHOPPER ticker (one for each person) and it will spit out a FASTPASS ticket for you.  You then give this ticket at the entrance to the attraction that will say FASTPASS RETURN.  It's as easy as that! 
One last thing for those of you visiting the parks with younger kids who are not yet able to ride the bigger attractions, you can use the Rider Switch Pass.  To obtain this pass you talk to the Cast Member at the entrance to the attraction.  You must then show them the child to obtain the pass.  The pass is good for up to three riders.  The first rider(s) will take the pass while the remaining rider(s) stay in the standby line and after the first rider(s) exit the remaining rider(s) access the ride through the FASTPASS line.  You may obtain one rider switch pass that will be good for all attractions on the same day. 
HAPPY RIDING EVERYONE!!!

What do I do first?

If you have never been to Disneyland, haven't been for a really long time, or just get overwhelmed with all there is to do you may ask: What do I do first?
This is not a simple question to answer.  The possibilities are endless and there are many factors to determine, such as, how many days are you staying?  What are the ages of the people with you? and what types of attractions are most important to you? 
There are a few things to be aware of that may make the trip more enjoyable.  If you are traveling with young children your priority will most likely be to head to Fantasyland first.  For us this is a typical starting point.  Most park hopper passes include an Magic Morning entrance to the park that is good for Fantasyland and some Tommorowland attractions.  The Magic Morning entrance can be used once per visit and is only available on four days of each week, but the days do change so it is important to check the daily park calendar which you can do online at Disneyland.com up to 60 days before your arrival.  When we use our Magic Morning we head straight to Fantasyland and hop in the line for Peter Pan.  However, no matter how quickly you get there the line is usually up to 20 minutes by then.  Our typical order of things is to go on Peter Pan, Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland.  All the other attractions in Fantasyland tend to have shorter lines.  Another option is to get in line for Peter Pan and have a member of your party get fast passes for an attraction in Tomorrowland such as Space Mountain or Star Tours.  During busy times these two fast passes go quickly.  If Fast Pass is a new term to you stay tuned to subsequent posts where this will be discussed at length. 

If you are going to the park on  a non Magic Morning day, and are not planning to visit on a Magic Morning day, I still recommend heading directly to Fantasyland. We had a nice surprise during our most recent visit to Disneyland in October. We have annual passes and don't qualify for Magic Mornings so we were at the gates as the park opened.  We thoroughly enjoyed the welcome as band music played up and down Mainstreet, U.S.A and Cast Members were there with Mickey hands to wave and give high fives.  This welcome just added to the excitement of the magical feeling you already feel when you enter Disneyland. 
Now, as a disclaimer to my suggestions here...I am personally not all about rushing into the park and anxiously trying to get everything done like a check list.  I am a strong proponent of enjoying the feeling and mood, the excitement and happiness that is found by just being in Disneyland.  So, as a side note, I may suggest that your first day is spent just enjoying the mood and feeling of the park, but if you are staying for a few days and you get worn out, day three or four may also be a perfect time to just pull up a bench on Main Street and take in the mood.

Mommy, I want that!

I am sure any of you who have visited Disneyland with your children hear them say "I want that!" There is no question that the park is set up with merchandise around every corner and smartly advertised to make kids want it all.  Now, I am not going to claim that I have found a way to stop my kids from saying those adorable little words, but I have found a solution for a fun, inexpensive souvenir that also keeps the children busy and entertained as they wait in the long lines of Fantasyland.  Drum roll please...PIN TRADING!  I am sure that you are thinking that this is not all that inexpensive, but it can be.  Before our last Disneyland trip in October we ordered a large amount of trading pins off of ebay.  Because we don't care about collecting anything specific the set of 50 pins was a mismatched assortment that only cost $30 with free shipping.  This gave each kid about 15 pins (we shared with other kids that were there).  When we arrived at the park we bought each kid their own lanyard and one special pin that they picked out.  (A total of about $15 per kid).  My kids are age 5 and 8 and they loved it!  If you are not aware the "cast members" at the Disneyland Resort have to trade pins. The kids would get so excited to go up to cast members and look at their pins.  My son made it a goal to collect anything with Chip n' Dale or Mickey on it.  While my daughter had a great time finding many different Princess and Minnie Mouse pins.  I am certain that this pin trading will only keep them entertained for a few more years as we visit the park but for now it is a great way for them to have a little fun and save a little money!

Find your happy place!

We all need to escape from the real world every now and again, we all need to find that special place that we can go to leave the real world behind for a while. As a mental health counselor I am often helping my clients find their "happy place". I have definitely found mine at "The Happiest Place on Earth"! My goal with this blog is to help others make the most of their time at the Disneyland Resort by cluing you in on the less known tips and tricks when you visit. I hope this blog will be entertaining, as well as informative. So, tune in soon for my first list of helpful hints for best places to eat, attractions not to miss and best times to visit. See ya real soon!