Remember when I told you all we were packing for a Disney cruise? Well, we went. And it was awesome! We all felt a little overwhelmed before we left because this was a BIG bucket list trip for us. I decided to take copious notes to share with fellow Disney cruisers who may feel the same way. Here are the in-the-know Disney Cruise Line tips to help you travel like a pro.
We’re headed to Castaway Cay on the Disney Dream for four nights of exploring the Bippity Boppity Boutique, Millennium Falcon, AquaCoaster and more. To prepare, we questioned every cast member and experienced cruise-goer we could find to tell us what to pack for a Disney cruise.
Pixar Pier has now been open for a month. That means that just four weeks ago, my family was invited by Disneyland to be among the first people to enjoy Incredicoaster! We played games, cut loose on Pixar Pal-A-Round and indulged in animated apertifs.
Chelsea and I met at college in Los Angeles, but in our six years at UCLA we never made it to the epic Hollywood Sign hike. The internet wasn’t as flush with advice back then. Every time we tried asking around about how to get that epic picture, we were given conflicting instructions. We were told that the Hollywood Sign hike required a journey through private property, or it was closed, or it was painfully difficult. Thirteen years later, we decided to finally decipher this trek – with four kids along for the ride. Just like Indiana Jones and his lesser known tale, The Toddlers of Hollywood Hill.
Hooray, it’s summer! The season of pool parties and beach bashes. In the midst of everyone’s celebrations, however, it’s a sad fact that this is when the majority of childhood drownings occur each year. Most tragedies surprisingly don’t happen in pools or bathtubs but rather in lakes, streams and oceans. Open water safety is a critical consideration this time of year.
When visitors ask how they can get a glimpse of historic Hollywood, there’s one property that everyone in the area immediately refers to. The Garland. Previously in use as Gene Autry’s horse ranch, Beverly Garland’s husband bought it and built a hotel that originally had water beds and shag carpet that the maids cleaned with rakes. True story.
Our imagination truly is one of the greatest driving forces in our lives. It conjures, creates, augments, stores, and helps us feel the intangible. All things past, present, and future can be toyed and tinkered through our imagination’s fancy. It can be born of nothing at all, almost suspended in the ether or rooted in something inspirational. Standing in the here and now, our imagination can take us to a whole other place and time. Oh a South Dakota road trip. All with just a little thought.
Every parent strives to give something to their child that will improve their life. Every parent also strives for simplicity. We always run the chance, throughout everything we do, that it may somehow explode into a swirling vortex of hectic chaos. There’s one thing I know about chaos: it’s…uh, chaotic. So where does that leave us as far as unique and fun experiences for our children?
Great Wolf Lodge invited us for a visit a couple weeks ago, but Nate got called into work at the last minute. I was momentarily panicked about being alone at this epic indoor waterpark with four little kids, but I realized that the situation was more or less the same as usual. Once you find yourself outnumbered as a parent in a big family, it’s chaotic fun no matter what the specific balance is! I rolled with it, and soon realized that Great Wolf Lodge had a TON of cool things specifically catering to big families like our own.
Visit California recently reached out to me for my experience and expertise to help spread the word about National Plan for Vacation Day. They wanted my take and advice on helping people better use their unused vacation days. I love traveling with my kids – especially in southern California – and proposed a plan that they loved and agreed to sponsor for our blog. So this is my take on how to use those stowed away vacation days to improve your standard of living!