Disneyland Recap – Day 1 Laguna Beach

At last, here’s the recap of our three night/four day vacation to California/Disneyland that we took in May. Yes, we just took Mia to Boston in March when it was cold, but we couldn’t pass up this Virgin America deal to LA. What I thought would be a warm beachy vacation turned out to be a Princess trip, thanks to Doug (who’s never been to Disneyland or Disney World). The fact that Mia is only 2 ½ years old and does not require a park ticket definitely helped in the decision to go on this trip. That’s a $188 dollar savings on park tickets and an additional savings on the character meals!

These two CPAs never travel without a deal, so here’s what the costs came down to:

$178/ticket for round trip airfare from ORD-LAX – Thank you very much Virgin America sale. We also are pack masters travel light and didn't incur any luggage fees. Mia called it the purple airplane. Doug on the other hand, thought the swanky music at the gate, purple uplights and black leather seats reminded him of sex.

$0 in hotel stays – For all three nights, we used points for both Marriott and Hilton hotels in Anaheim, which were near the Convention Center and not in the Disneyland Park. Both hotels looked updated and were right across from each other, so switching over and transporting our luggage one time was no biggie. Catching a $2/pp shuttle to the park was also easy peasy.

$40 shuttle – to take us from the hotel to the airport (LAX) on our last day.

$350 park tickets – for two adult 2 day park hopper tickets. Kids under 3 are freeee!

$75 1 day car rental – Since we wanted to make our first day a beach day, we rented a car from LAX, immediately found the nearest In N Out, drove down Pacific Coast Highway, stopped at Bristol Farms for a bathroom break and to pick up some picnic foods and made our way to Laguna Beach to hang out and have dinner. We then drove 30 minutes to our hotel in Anaheim where Doug returned the car nearby.   

Mia’s first encounter with sand. As expected, she was not a fan. I am so glad I took this picture. J

Nothing some juicy watermelon can't fix. And the fact that she did not move from my belly/the towel afterwards.

We didn’t get in the water since we didn’t have more than a few hours to play, but I did dip my toes in and basked in the warm California sun. There seemed to be a bit of seaweed washed up on the sand (which you can see here), so not the cleanest beach I’ve seen.

Mia enjoyed the nearby swings. She didn’t want to go on the actual playground though because it had sand.

Dinner at The Deck – We had a 5pm dinner reservation (given our two hour time difference with a 2 year old). They had a high chair for us, but if it were later in the evening, I probably wouldn't feel comfortable with a child here (not because it was rowdy, just because there were no other kids). I was craving a fruity beach drink to kick off my vacation, but the mango margarita was not good. To eat, we had mango shrimp ceviche, crispy mahi tacos and chorizo, shellfish, chicken paella which were all just ok. The main selling point here is their view, which really is right up against the water. At least there was also live music to improve my overall dining experience.

More on Disneyland tomorrow!