Melissa H. is on her way to Disneyland later tonight, so she answered a few questions for us about her trip.  We’ll be doing this before most trips that any of us take.  If you have certain questions that you would like to see asked on this type of post, please let us know in the comments.  Enjoy:

How many days will you be there and how many people are you going with?

This trip is a shorter one for me as I am only going to be in Disneyland for about three and a half days. Unfortunately, now that I am a working adult I can only get two personal days at work, so I had to make it back in time to be able to work on Monday morning. The rest of my family will be there for either 4 days or 5 days depending on the time that their flight leaves.

I am super excited for this particular vacation, because my mother’s side of the family is taking a trip together. All together, there will be 13 of us: 6 aunts and uncles and 7 of us cousins. We range in age from 52 to 9 months old, so it should be quit the exciting trip!

Do you have a basic plan of what you’re doing? If so, what does that look like?

We have been to Disneyland plenty of times, so my family has a basic plan for going through the parks. We usually spend our whole first day just over at Disneyland, attempting to do as much as possible (and often times getting all of it done). Our second day we spend entirely over at California Adventure hitting as many rides and attractions as possible. The rest of our vacation we hop back and forth between the parks hitting our favorite rides over again. Thankfully, this is supposed to be a fairly calm time of year so we should be able to get everything done at least once!

Because we are going with young children on this trip, we will start off in Fantasyland and then work our way up to some of the bigger thrill rides. We like to take it slow so that kids can get used to the rides before getting thrown onto a roller coaster. It makes for a pretty nice and smooth transition without throwing too many of the little ones out of their comfort zones.

Is there anything specific you want to do on this trip that you don’t usually do at Disneyland?

I can’t think of anything too specific that I really want to do that we don’t usually. I would have to say though that because we are going with younger kids, we will probably take much more time to watch shows and find characters than we usually do. This is one of the things that my family has tended to ignore now that we have gotten older and know what we really like about the parks.

What are you most looking forward to, even if you do it every time you’re there?

I had to break this question up into several categories because there are just too many things that I am really looking forward to.

Rides: I am really looking forward to going on Pirates of the Caribbean. The last time I was there this ride was closed and it just felt wrong to not go on it. Something about the sounds of and smells of this particular attraction are just needed in order to make my trip feel complete.

Shows: I am so, so, SO looking forward to watching Fantasmic! This is my favorite show at any of the Disney parks. Something about it is so magical and heartwarming – just listening to the soundtrack for it can get me super emotional.

Food: I am addicted to Dole Whips from the Dole Stand right outside of the Tiki Room. These are the most heavenly little pineapple treats. I must have at least one (or two or three) during my trip.

If you need help planning your trip or have any questions about a possibly Disney vacation, please leave us a comment or send us an email at wanderingindisney@gmail.com.  Thank you for reading!