Well we have successfully returned from our very first Disneyland trip. The whole time I am walking around bewildered as to how much money the fine folks at Disneyland are making off parents like me who just want to give their children the best. To give them this dream vacation that will be etched in their memories forever. Prior to going I had quized my circle of room mothers & soccer moms, neighbors and family members and asked them for the low down when traveling to disneyland, and unanimously their top three recommendatiosn were: #1 to stay on site if possible, #2 to get our girl’s hair done at Libby Lu’s and #3 to book the Princess Lunch. Amazingly they were absolutely right! We stayed at the disneyland hotel which was alright, personally I thought it was pretty dated but the convenience of it out weighed any design expectation that I had, Libby Lu which is this shop for girls 4-15 with every Hanah Montana item you can think of, cute girlie clothes and they offer make overs.. SPA treatments for little girls. Yep I sat there in my target tshirt and 5 year old shorts watching my 4 year old & 6 year old get their nails painted, and hair and makeup done. Now you might think thats a bit too much but IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT.. THEY LOVED IT! They also loved the princesses and the lunch they offer at Ariels Grotto is the best. The price was high but I felt like we (our kids) got our money’s worth. Oh and did I mention the entire park was immaculately groomed and cared for, we were wondering when on earth they have time to care for the grounds and that they must have little elves that come out at dawn and groom the place because you never see groundsmen working, all you see is that everything looks so beautiful and well kept.
Now, as I walked thru the down town disney area with my 6 year old, my four year old and my husband I kept thinking why has no one ever written a book called the “Basic Survival Guide for Disneyland Newbies” I sware I still might go to LuLu and write my own little ebook on it - i think you could make a fortune. Or disneyland for Dummies. The amount of parents that were there just catering to their kids every wish and dream amazed me. In tough economic times, money really didn’t seem to hold anyone back. The place was packed and the prices were far from reasonable. But once again the old marketing motto of being the Happiest Place on Earth prevailed. Because for a few short days you forget about the balance in your bank account, you forget about traffic, about your job back home, your blackberry and your connection to the outside world. All you know is that goofey or mickey could be up around the corner and you better have your camera ready and charged, your signature book ready and hurry to get in line before “they” take a break. oh and don’t forget to get your fast pass for space mountain and Indiana Jones. It’s the only way to go… Now I personally haven’t been there for some 30 years and never had heard of a fast pass but it’s brilliant and a HUGE time saver. You go to the ride you want and get tickets ahead of time it tells you when to come back and then you get to cruze by all the people standing and waiting because they hadn’t planned ahead and didn’t have a DISENYLAND RIDE STRATEGY!
Being on Weight Watchers back home was hard enough but there was no realistic way for me to stay on track with my points in disneyland The Happiest Place on Earth.. where fresh battered corn dogs, cotton candy and ice cream stare you right between the eyes around ever bend in the Disney park. Needless to say.. 6 pounds later, exhausted and broke we came home. Home to our little abode that felt like paradise. It’s been a week now and the kids haven’t talked much about the trip since and you wonder what all the effort, time, energy and money was spent for and then you remember it’s because you love your children and you want to make them happy!! We did have a wonderful trip but we wont be going back anytime soon. There are so many other wonderful family experiences to be had first.
Now the challenge is to get back into work mode so that we can afford our next vacation. I wish I had had my mobile twitter set up before the trip .. twitter is really a great way to check in with friends when you don’t have time to email, call or write. And yes Twitter can be a very useful tool in marketing your business. In the days to come I will be covering the following topics… Facebook, my space, video marketing, twitter, social bookmarking. These are things that are essential in WEB2.0 and if you don’t know what any of those are you might just be living under a rock. It’s time to get on board with these social networking tools because they will become common place to everyone soon right now I’d say it’s for those that are ahead of the curve and I want to be helping you be one of those folks that can be leaders not followers in the world of communicating via the web.
Disneyland vacation, family time, Family Trips, Oregon Kids Activities, Surving Disneyland