{"id":94608123,"date":"2012-11-28T10:41:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-28T10:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/family-travel-holidays-are-magic-at-disneyland-and-disney-california-adventure\/"},"modified":"2016-04-12T14:30:01","modified_gmt":"2016-04-12T14:30:01","slug":"family-travel-holidays-are-magic-at-disneyland-and-disney-california-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/family-travel-holidays-are-magic-at-disneyland-and-disney-california-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"Family Travel: Holidays are Magic at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Family<\/div>\n

Santa Mater!<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know how Disney does it.\u00a0 Without fail, no matter what mood I am in when heading to the park, no matter how many times the kids have to step out of line to head to the restroom, no matter the late afternoon crankiness and hungry tummy grumbling, Disneyland is pure magic.\u00a0 I get warm fuzzies just thinking about Disneyland; my most recent holiday trip to both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure is no exception.\u00a0 The holidays are the perfect time for your first or your 100th visit \u2013in spite of the often busy crowds; the park is overflowing with holiday cheer and magical experiences.<\/p>\n

Disney California Adventure <\/strong><\/p>\n

Although I\u2019ve been to Disneyland numerous times around the holiday season, 2012 was my first visit to Disney California Adventure for Christmas.\u00a0 With the park\u2019s opening of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street this June and the completion of a massive mega-million dollar renovation, I am pleased to say that Disney California Adventure now possesses that Disney \u201cje ne sais quoi<\/em>\u201d that leaves you feeling happy, delighted, and warmly close to your loved ones.<\/p>\n

Buena Vista Street, which welcomes guests into the park, is beautifully adorned with vintage 1920\u2019s holiday decorations reminiscent of the time when Walt Disney arrived to Hollywood.\u00a0 A beautiful 50-foot Christmas tree stands at the end of the street at Carthay Circle. Your little ones can share their wish list and snag a picture with Santa at Elias & Co., the main store along Buena Vista Street.\u00a0 Live Christmas music echoes through the streets as performers sing your favorite Christmas carols, even inspiring unplanned and unrehearsed families sing-alongs!<\/p>\n

Holiday Cars Land is incredible.\u00a0 Kids and their parents alike will fall in love with the whimsical car-themed decorations from air filter garland, tire wreaths, and quite a few interesting Christmas \u201ctrees\u201d made from tires, cones, radiators, and more.\u00a0 I know pretty much nothing about actual cars but found the d\u00e9cor to be perfectly fitting and totally fun.\u00a0 Cars Land, of course, features three brand-new rides, numerous shops and eateries, and the chance to meet & greet with Lightning McQueen and other local Radiator Springs celebrities.<\/p>\n

The entire park is in the holiday spirit.\u00a0 Additional holiday offerings inside Disney California Adventure include the holiday-themed \u201cMad T Party\u201d and \u201cWorld of Color\u201d water and effects show.<\/p>\n

Disneyland<\/strong><\/p>\n

Holiday festivities exude from almost every nook and cranny of the original Disney Park.\u00a0 Disney\u2019s beloved \u201cA Christmas Fantasy\u201d parade is back, and while I typically hate parades, I will stop everything I am doing to watch a Disney parade.\u00a0 I love getting a glimpse at my children\u2019s faces as the next float rounds the bend.\u00a0 There is a sweet innocence in watching a parade, and the Christmas version of Disney\u2019s spectacular showmanship will have you believing in Santa & his elves once again.<\/p>\n

I first rode \u201cit\u2019s a small world\u201d Holiday upon its original opening in the late 1990s.\u00a0 I was only a teenager and was grumbling about the line and how lame of a ride this was going to be.\u00a0 Flash forward to 2012 and my eight-going-on-eighteen year-old daughter was following in my footsteps.\u00a0 She begrudgingly waited in line for the \u201cbaby\u201d ride as a requisite duty for having a little sister to entertain.\u00a0 Once on board, the scowl dropped and kept dropping as she discovered what I did many years ago – don\u2019t assume you are too old for anything Disney.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a small world\u201d Holiday is cheerful, delightfully entertaining, and mesmerizing.\u00a0 She loved it.\u00a0 I loved it.\u00a0 We all left the ride with the hugest smiles imaginable.\u00a0 Everyone does.<\/p>\n

At Haunted Mansion Holiday, Jack Skellington, from Tim Burton\u2019s \u201cThe Nightmare Before Christmas,\u201d has taken over the house and has filled it with his eccentric Halloween\/Christmas mash up.\u00a0 Fans of the movie will love it.\u00a0 My kids weren\u2019t familiar with the film but did find the bright lights and bold paint to be a bit of a relief from the typically darker Haunted Mansion.<\/p>\n

I recommend visiting the Jingle Jangle Jamboree in Big Thunder Ranch.\u00a0 Disney characters roamed the area interacting with kids: my girls got to sit down and color a few crafts with Pluto and snap some pictures with Mickey Mouse and even Santa.\u00a0 Live seasonal music fills the open air, and numerous games, crafts, and activities are available including a few petting zoo areas.<\/p>\n

The crown jewel of the Holidays at Disneyland Park takes place nightly in front of Sleeping Beauty\u2019s Winter Castle.\u00a0 Not only does the view down Main Street look sublime, the castle itself lights up in a majestic show of lights and sparkles three times a night.\u00a0 Be sure to check out the last show, just before \u201cBelieve\u2026in Holiday Magic,\u201d the fireworks extravaganza.\u00a0 I have shed more tears during Disney\u2019s carefully orchestrated and wonderfully thought out pyrotechnic shows than I care to admit.\u00a0 Topping off this nightly show is a SoCal rarity- snow!\u00a0 The nightly snowfall takes place over Main Street, near \u201cit\u2019s a small world,\u201d and in New Orleans Square.\u00a0 Don\u2019t miss it!<\/p>\n

The Holidays at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure run now through January 6, 2013.
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\nphoto: Courtesy of Disney<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Santa Mater!   I don\u2019t know how Disney does it.\u00a0 Without fail, no matter what mood I am in when heading to the park, no matter how many times the kids have to step out of line to head to the restroom, no matter the late afternoon crankiness and hungry tummy grumbling, Disneyland is pure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94608123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-interests"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94608123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94608123"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94608123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97175977,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94608123\/revisions\/97175977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94608123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94608123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94608123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}