Disneyland Trip: The Business of Disney

 David and I had so much fun breaking down and analyzing all of the details of "The Business of Disney". We have opinions, and whether they are correct or not, we enjoyed forming and discussing them. Here are some of our thoughts: 

-Disney has done such an incredible job of marketing itself as a key component of "Childhood". Whenever we would tell people that we hadn't taken our kids to Disneyland they were consistently aghast at our negligence. I think most people think that a Disneyland trip is a requirement for an un-traumatized childhood. This is obviously not true, but I would be lying if I didn't feel some relief in checking off that box in the "childhood leading to well-adjusted adulthood" area. Like, "Yes, we homeschool and have chosen almost every path alternate to mainstream decisions - but we took our kids to Disneyland so they'll have that at least." (Note from David - I think the most surprising thing is more the expectation of people that you go multiple times to Disneyland as if that is also expected and the fact we had never gone was crazy). 

-Disneyland is expensive but does a fantastic job of making you feel like they are doing you a favor for allowing you to spend your money on their stuff. I wanted to break down our budget a little more: 

-We spent $1,704 on park tickets for our family of 6 for three days. 

-We budgeted $300 for one meal at the park each day and $150 for snacks at the park, we didn't end up spending that much(only about $200) but we only ate a meal on Tuesday evening, and even that was mostly supplemental chicken strips and fries. However, it was a significant effort for David to talk me out of dropping $400 on a princess breakfast for me, Lydia, and Lucy or $500 for a character dining meal for our family.  (Note from David - Surprisingly, I actually felt like the Disneyland food prices were very reasonable, I felt like the food we got was quality and was not so expensive compared even to Lagoon). 

-I also talked myself out of booking Lucy a slot at the Bippity-Boppity Boutique where they give the little girl a makeover and she gets to pick a fancy princess dress. ($300 - I'm not sure that we shouldn't have done this after all!) 

Disney Actual
3 Day Disney	1704
Homewood	878.6
Parking	140.4
St George	140.41
Food at Park	212.38
Souveniers	236.38
Gas	237.35
Beach Hotel +pk	154.11
Photopass	26.85
Travel Food	267.85
Pre-Vacation	200.36
Grand Total	4198.69
less F.Econ	3962.31

Once you've been convinced to go to Disneyland and you finally arrive, they do a good job of following through on their end of the (very expensive deal). 

They make Disneyland feel different than almost anywhere else you can go. There is a sense of magic when walking down Mainstreet, and the way they make each land different from each other makes the whole experience feel really cool. When you walk into Cars Land it feels like you walk into a whole different world, it's incredible. They have subtle background sounds/music for each land and when you're walking between lands the background music changes so subtly you don't even notice until you're fully immersed in the next land. I even read that they pipe in different scents for each land (which was particularly interesting because I just finished the book "Life in 5 Senses" and it was cool to identify how Disneyland implants itself to all five of your senses.)  (Note from David - One of the things I most appreciated in Disneyland was the ride length. Most rides were much longer than a typical roller coaster and I do feel like that really added to the experience.)

Disneyland is not just the rides, but the experience. The environment. The character dinners. The food.  

They create so much value in the food that people go to Disneyland just for the eating experience - and almost anyone who has gone to Disneyland has specific food items that they rave about (*churros*). Our favorite foods were: the Banoffee Pie, the Turkey leg that we pulled apart and put on rolls for sandwiches, the mac and cheese from the Cozy Cone, the raspberry macron, and our secret tip: the super-cheap breadsticks at the Jolly Holiday Bakery. 

They keep Disneyland SO clean. We were consistently impressed at the cleanliness. There were cast members everywhere making sure it stayed very tidy. We never saw any garbage on the ground, and only once did I see someone sweeping up popcorn - but other than that I never saw any spilled food or anything. Day 2 in DCA, I watched a cast member emptying the never-overflowing garbage. She opened the metal bin, pulled out the garbage, replaced the liner, and proceeded to wipe down the entire interior and exterior with a cleaning cloth. I was impressed. When it rained our last day, they even had people whose job it was to sweep the water away so you didn't end up with deep puddles in the walkways. 

Overall, we believe Disneyland's marketing team is the best that there is. They have succeeded in creating and marketing an experience that exudes nostalgia, happiness, and accomplishment. Is it over-commercialized? Yes. But inside the park it didn't feel that way. It felt immersive and that made it even more fun. We probably wont ever be the family that goes every year- but we do understand the societal love for Disneyland a whole lot more than we did before. 

Disneyland Trip: Backstory & Final Thoughts

I have so many things to say about our Disneyland trip, I barely know where to start.



David went to Disneyland once when he was 8 years old (October 1992). I couldn't find any Disneyland pictures of David, but this picture of their white van was taken in 1993. The San Diego picture was taken in 1989, but it's one of my favorites of little David and his family.


I went to Disneyland when I was about 14 (2002). I was a part of a dance company (Girls Club Elite) and we had the opportunity to travel to Disneyland and dance on one of the stages there. In a gift that I didn't fully appreciate at the time but am almost overwhelmed by now, my parents agreed to fund my dance trip to Disneyland and they also decided to take our family to Disneyland two weeks before so that all of the family would have the experience first. I didn't learn until later that this was possible because of a generous gift from my Grandma and Grandpa Walker. When my Grandma and Grandpa Great (Kimba Rollins and Ellis Colvin Walker) passed away in 2001, my grandparents took $10,000 out of their inheritance to give to each of their children. There were no strings attached and they were able to use that money to pay for us to go to Disneyland as a family. This was such a neat experience for our family and now as an adult, I appreciate the trip even more.  



Fast forward to August 2023 when my Grandpa Walker (Ellis Ramon Walker) passed away. My grandma (Verla Tingey) had passed away in 2016.  A few months later, my parents reached out to us to tell us that they wanted to do the same thing for us that had been done for them: share $10,000 out of their inheritance with each of their children because they knew it was what Grandpa wanted (and they are kind and generous people). It is such a generous gift and we are so grateful for them and my grandparents. We talked about many things we could do with that money, and ultimately decided that we wanted to use half of it to take our family to Disneyland. 

We have never really been big Disney people. Lydia wasn't particularly interested in princesses and I didn't want to push them on her. Of course, we watched many Disney movies but we never really got into them. When people would ask us when we were taking the kids to Disneyland we would respond that it wasn't high on our priority list. There are so many places to visit and so many cool things to see. Our kids wouldn't even really recognize the characters AND they were so young that it didn't feel like a good use of our time/resources. However, this past year Lucy has fallen in love with princesses and wears a princess dress as her day's outfit more often than not. 

Lucy had been asking me things like "Where do all the princess live in real life?" and "Can we go to princess-world?" I don't even think she knew was Disneyland was - but it just felt like this was the perfect age to go. Lucy was old enough (and just barelllllly tall enough) for almost all of the rides but Lydia was still young enough to experience Disneyland as a child not a teenage. The kids love amusement parks and I knew they would love this. 

Additionally, it felt really nostalgic to me to use the money from my grandparents the same way that my parents did. That may seem silly, because there are a lot of things that we could have used the money for - but for whatever reason this just felt like it was the right thing to do. 

We wouldn't have gone on this trip without that money and we would have missed the perfect window to take our kids to Disneyland. It really was perfect timing for our family for more reasons than one and I'm so grateful for the trip! 

FINAL THOUGHTS 

-We purchased Disneyland tickets in December because there was a $50 kid ticket sale (usually more than $100 per day). We weren't able to use the tickets until the very last week of the available dates, which we must have had in common with everyone else because the place was PACKED. Before we left, people told me to prepare myself because Disneyland was busy. While I was there I definitely agreed with them, but didn't think more than "Wow, Disneyland IS busy." But when we got home we saw a bunch of Disneyland pros talking about how the days we were there were by far the business days since 2019 (precovid). It was even more busy than normal because it was the last week of the kid tickets and the first week of the DCA Food and Wine Festival that they hold in March. Even so, because we had the DAS pass for Lucy, we were able to ride every single thing we wanted to ride and we had plenty of time for food and shows and all the things. 

-We budgeted $4,000 for 3 days at Disneyland, 1 beach day, and 3 travel days. We spent $3962 and the kids spent an additional $236 of money they had saved from their Family Economy. I felt so good about ending up so close to out budget. Disneyland is an expensive vacation, but I felt like we did it well and got our money's worth out of the things we chose to do. (More details in "The Business of Disney" post.)

Disney Actual
3 Day Disney	1704
Homewood	878.6
Parking	140.4
St George	140.41
Food at Park	212.38
Souveniers	236.38
Gas	237.35
Beach Hotel +pk	154.11
Photopass	26.85
Travel Food	267.85
Pre-Vacation	200.36
Grand Total	4198.69
less F.Econ	3962.31

-I mentioned before, but the DAS pass made a huge difference to us. It allowed us to ride significantly more rides than we would have been able to otherwise. It made the whole thing less stressful for so many reasons. I don't feel guilty for using the DAS pass because I was completely honest when applying and the cast member cheerfully gave us the pass. However, sometimes I did feel like it was a gift that was more than expected and I did feel a little awkward sometimes. It was a boon to us for many reasons: Lucy didn't have to wait in the sun, we could plan our schedule without running all over the park, we could spend our time more efficiently (scheduling a ride with a 90 minute wait time, then going on a bunch of smaller rides while we waited or eating lunch in the shade, etc..), we didn't have to navigate lightning lanes. We could only use the DAS for rides that Lucy could go on, so we didn't do it with Indiana Jones or the Matterhorn and even though Lucy rode Smugglers Run the first time (earning a prize from her big ride bag) she hated it so much that when Caleb wanted to go again they waited through the whole line. It was fine, but it made me so incredibly grateful that we didn't have to wait for ALL of our rides. Only a few weeks after we got home they changed the DAS requirements and I'm pretty sure Lucy won't qualify anymore. Thats okay though, because we had it for the days that made a difference to us and we are grateful! 

-We probably won't go back to Disneyland for a long time - there are just so many neat places to travel to! But maybe we will go again right before Lydia graduates (Lydia 17 and Lucy 10?) that would be really fun, but who knows. 

-David's mother, Sue, passed away in January. Even though she'd been sick for a long time, it seems like it happened so fast and it was incredibly difficult for our little family. I will treasure the Thursday afternoons we spent with Sue and loved watching all of the princess movies with her in preparation for our Disneyland trip. Just days before she passed away we watched Cinderella together in her bedroom. I regret that we never told her that we were going to Disneyland (we hadn't told anyone because we hadn't told the kids, yet) because she would have been SO happy and so excited for us. We didn't know at the time, but this trip was just what we needed after several months of so much grief and sorrow. It was good for us to have something to look forward to and something happy to experience. We love Sue and miss her so much, but we know that she would have loved seeing all of the pictures and hearing about this trip. Pictures below are of when Cal and Sue went to Disneyland with the Renchers in 2009. We didn't get to go to Disneyland with them, but we are grateful for our trips to Phoenix and to the Redwoods with them.

 

-Overall, we just really enjoyed this trip. I can see why people love going to Disneyland over and over because we just barely scratched the surface of the magic that Disneyland can offer. The kids did a great job and we all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. We planned the perfect amount to be prepared and also be flexible. I don't think that you can force something to be a core memory - but I do know that this trip was good for our family and we loved it so much.  

-I asked David what he would add and he said "Just to add how much I enjoyed being with the kids and how much fun we had. We really loved this trip." 

Disneyland: Our Favorites

-David-
Park: California Adventure

Ride: Rise of the Resistance
(2nd choice: Radiator Springs Racers, Toy Story Mania)
Food: Banoffee Pie & Turkey Leg & Mac and Cheese

-Shantel-
Park: California Adventure

Ride: Mickey's Runaway Railroad
(2nd choice: Big Thunder Mountain or DCA Swinging Ferris Wheel)

Food: Cocina Cucamonga - Birria Tacos or Mickey Raspberry Macron

-Lydia-

Park: California Adventure (both)

Ride: Goofys Sky School
(2nd choice: Radiator Springs Racers, Rise of the Resistance, Big Thunder Mountain, Toy Story Mania)
Food: Tiki Hut Dole Whip & Chocolate Banana

-Austin-
Park: California Adventure

Ride: Rise of the Resistance
(2nd choice: Goofy's Sky Coaster or Smugglers Run)
Food: Ice Cream Cones

-Caleb-
Park: Disneyland

Ride: Smugglers Run
(2nd choice: Space Mountain)
Food: Churro 

-Lucy-
Park: Disneyland

Ride: Chip and Dale's Gadget Coaster
(2nd choice: Big Thunder Mountain)
Food: Mickey-shaped Pretzel

Disneyland Day 6 and 7: Beach Day and Travel Home

The only thing we would change about this trip, is switching our beach day with our last Disneyland day. But other than that - we wouldn't have changed anything! We woke up on Thursday, had a slow morning while getting everything cleaned up at our hotel and then headed to San Diego (La Jolla Beach) for the afternoon. 

. 

We hoped that by driving all the way down to San Diego, the weather would be few degrees warmer. It was, but it was still pretty chilly at the beach. The kids played in the sand, but didn't get in the water very much. I spent most of the time sitting on a blanket snuggling children. (Note from David - Lydia and Austin were still happy to spend the day playing in the water and I spent most of the time running in the Ocean with them). 

We stayed for a while but decided to head back to a hotel in Carlsbad to swim there (i.e. hot tub). We swam in the pool, ate baked potatoes in our room for dinner, and went to bed happy and exhausted from our big week. 

We woke up early the next morning and got on the road just as they were setting out the beginnings of the continental breakfast, allowing us to grab a few items. We drove the remaining 10 hours home (704 miles) in one day. The kids were great in the car and even though it was a long drive, we made it in good time. (I finished all three books I had been pushing to get through for my book club, which was a huge win!) 

We will write a final wrap up post for our trip, but I just want to express how good this trip was for us and our family right now. We made some great memories and had a wonderful time together. I'm so grateful we were able to go and even though things weren't perfect (like a cold beach day) we were happy together.

Disneyland Day 5: Disneyland Part 2

As I mentioned in the last post, the kids loved California Adventure so much that they wanted to go back there for our last day - but because you have to make a reservation for the park/day you want to use your ticket we weren't able to swap (I'm not sure that I would have wanted to, anyway because there were things we hadn't done at Disneyland yet, but we did consider it). We also spent a significant amount of time trying to figure out if we could push our Disneyland Day back one more day because we had planned a beach day for the following day but we could really have used a break day in the middle. I think this is the only thing that I would have changed about our Disneyland trip- I would have done D, DCA, Break Day, D. My friend told me that her family goes to the park from 9-5 every day and even when I told her we typically go to Lagoon from open to close, she advised me to have different expectations. But our family just goes and goes and goes! We were there at open every day and we stayed until it was dark each night. It was a lot, packed in through the course of the whole day, but it was perfect. Our kids did amazing and there was very, very, very little conflict. They were cheerful, kind, patient, and flexible. Even just reflecting back on it I am filled with so much gratitude for these incredible kiddos and their good attitudes and for the experience we had here together. 

Thats not to say that everything went smoothly this day because it didn't. It rained. A lot. 

It dumped rain on us for most of the day and it was WET. We were cold and wet and soggy and it was still SO busy! To be fair, we had a wonderful morning and were able to squeeze in 10 rides plus a lunch at the Tiki Hut before the rain started. We knew the rain was coming and we were watching the storm roll in on our weather app, counting down the minutes. We mostly managed to hit all of the rides that typically get shut down when it rains. We were in line for Autopia, the last ride on our "pre-rain" list when it started sprinkling. I was able to get Lydia and Austin into their rain jackets and we got everyone else into their rain jackets right after the ride - right as it started pouring rain. (This was about noon.)

The rain didn't let up for the rest of the day. We hoped that it would help clear the park out, but it really didn't. It was our last Disneyland day and we wanted to make the most of it. 

Official notes from the day:

Total Rides - 19

Total Steps - 19,986

Wednesday-DL
Left at 7:01, 7:28 at Park
Indiana Jones (David Austin Caleb Lydia)	8:20
Cartoon Spin (Caleb Lucy David)	8:30
Matterhorn (Shantel Austin Caleb Lydia)	8:45
Teacups x. 2 (Lucy x everyone)	9:20
Gadget Coaster	9:47
Space Mountain	10:17
Star Tours
(Lunch at Tiki Hut)
Buzz Astro Blasters
Submarines
Autopia
Monorail (RAIN STARTS!)
Thunder
RISE
Snow White (Shantel Austin Caleb Lucy)
Matterhorn (David Lydia)
Mickeys Railroad
Rain Parade
Indiana Jones (Shantel Austin)
Smugglers Run (David, Austin, Caleb, Lydia)
Sleeping Beautys Castle (Shantel Lucy)
Shopping + Souveniers
Movie Palace
7:45 on the shuttle home
19,986 Steps - 8.96 miles

We left the park earlier than we had either of the other two days. (Monday-home by 9:16, Tuesday- leaving at 9:34, Wednesday- on the shuttle home at 7:45). That was okay though. It was still raining pretty heavily, Lucy was cold, and was were pretty satisfied with our experience! 

Notes from the day: 

-The only time Lucy had a meltdown the entire trip was at the end of the day after she fell asleep in the stroller (in the rain) while the big kids went on Smugglers Run one last time (Caleb's choice) then woke up cold and miserable. Poor girl!  

-The big kids loved the Star Wars rides, especially Rise of the Resistance which was a new ride with some really amazing special effects. (Our kids were so funny, because they got really caught up in what technology could create effects like that.) We went on Smugglers Run, which Lucy was just barely tall enough and she had to sit all the way on the other side of the cabin by herself - poor girl was so scared! I told her that she didn't have to ride it again. The other kids really liked it. 

-We knew that we wanted to stay together as much as possible and so we pre-purchased a bunch of "Disney Prizes" for Lucy to pick after she went on a big ride. The other kids were good sports about Lucy being the only one to get prizes, but she was still a little small for the big rides and did a great job being very brave so we could all stick together. 

When we got home, the kids talked us into letting them go out into the hotel pool one last time. It was dark and it was still raining, but we sat in the giant hot tub and it was the perfect end to our busy (and cold) day.