Where Magic Happens

This past Friday, I embarked on a magical journey to Disneyland with my friend, Kelley, with a little detour to the Anaheim Packing District as well. We started out the day bright and early and headed over in the midst of a bit of rain. As we got into the park, however, it of course cleared up and the fun immediately began. The weather was quite odd the entire day, actually. Standing in line for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, I took off my jacket every time I was in the sun and immediately put it back on when I was in the shade, so it was one of those kind of days.
The first part of the day, we just walked around taking photos and we rode a couple of the kiddie rides like Snow White’s Scary Adventure before heading out for lunch outside of the park.

For lunch, we went to the Anaheim Packing District. I had never been to the Anaheim Packing District [for obvious reasons] which turned out to be only a 10-minute drive from the park. Upon walking up the stairs, I fell in love. It’s inside of what appears to be a refurbished warehouse and the entire design is very industrial and woody. This place is packed with almost every type of cuisine you could think of. Seriously, it has Vietnamese, Japanese, soul food, Italian, Indian, American and a bar upstairs called Hammer where I enjoyed a London Mule. On this day, there was also a live jazz band playing Christmas music and an awesome set up where you could sit and watch the band from a swing set or from whichever restaurant you were eating at. I loved the open space and the accessibility of everything. I would definitely be here all the time if I lived in Anaheim.

We went back to the park after lunch where we walked off our food and watched the Frozen stage show in Fantasy Faire. I still haven’t seen the movie, but the stage show was pretty entertaining. For the rest of the day, we managed to get a schedule going as we walked from ride to ride according to our time slots on our fast passes. It got pretty windy and cold toward the end of the day, but it didn’t stop us from having a blast. I finally got to ride Indiana Jones Adventure and the new Hyperspace Mountain (which was amazing). As usual, I enjoyed Haunted Mansion the most as it never fails to impress me with the amount of detail that goes into the decorations outside as well as the ride inside. The highlight of the night was watching Fantasmic which is a water show that features scenes from Disney’s Fantasia 2000 in a story about Mickey using the power of imagination for the greater good. It was so impressive and it also featured all of the Disney princesses, princes and most of the villains. This definitely made up for the fact that it was too windy for the regularly scheduled fireworks. All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better time at the happiest place on earth.

“All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them”
– Walt Disney

Reader’s Note: If you’re looking to go to Disneyland in the near future and you know you’ll spend an entire day there, GET THE FAST PASSES. A lot of your time is spent in lines throughout the day even when you’re getting food. This way you can return to the more popular rides at a designated time and cut the line while being able to enjoy rides with shorter lines or shows throughout the park.
Also, eating in Downtown Disney is a much cheaper option than eating in the park and you will get better food. I highly recommend Earl of Sandwich!