Happy Place Hodgepodge - July 13, 2014

Pictures!
Because when it all boils down to it, isn't that one of the best parts about any Disney blog, be it about The Land or The World?

One of the best parts about operating and writing at Days in the Park has always been, and will always be, noodling through all of the pictures we have of our adventures and letting you, our loyal readers, in on the fun.

I could wax poetic about them all day long, but since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll let them speak for themselves, with maybe just a tiny bit of diatribe thrown in for good measure.

Hope you enjoy them!

The fantastic DJ Missy B drops the beats on a regular basis at the Mad T Party in Hollywood Land, Disney California Adventure Park

On any given night (every night during summer schedule) and weekends (during the offseason) you can find the Mad T Party Band (Hatter, Alice, Dormouse, March Hare, Caterpillar and Cheshire Cat) covering some of the best songs from all musical eras, 4 times a night!

A little attention from Alice during the Mad T Party? You just might be lucky!

I was actually able to stand and watch as the bride-to-be climbed down from her very own carriage on her way to her fairy-tale wedding at the Disneyland Hotel. It was an amazing moment! Too bad I wasn't invited...

My view from back in May during my weekend birthday celebration at the Disneyland Hotel's Trader Sam's. It's an excellent view, with great food and drinks, and it's just a great place to chill, especially with a great breeze blowing by. Highly recommended!

Another shot from Trader Sam's on my birthday; I highly recommend getting the appetizer bonanza that has a little bit of everything! This was a lesson in reading for me, because upon initial inspection, I read these as "Chinese Long Balls", but man, were they yummy!

Because even at 1:30 in the morning during a 24 hour day, while waiting in line for some fabulous Mickey's Chicken and Waffles at the Plaza Inn, the texting never stops! (with l-f: Michelle, Jason, Amy & Jennifer)

The texting is done; it's time to eat!

Goofy's Kitchen Button Giveaway Winners!

Last week at Days we sponsored a quick, easy giveaway for our readers which included three winners walking away with buttons from Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel. Everyone seems to love Disney buttons of any kind (I have quite the collection myself), and we did indeed have several people enter for their chance to win one.

So without further ado our three winners were:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The winners of the Goofy's Kitchen Buttons were Becky Rosales, Mark Dunsmore, and Cindy Myers. If you are one of the winners, please send an email to me at chad@daysinthepark.com and we'll work out all the details to get your button to you, either via mail or hand delivery at The Park if you live close enough.

Thank you to everyone who entered and stay tuned - we have more fun giveaways in the coming weeks and an even bigger one next week!

Thanks again for reading and entering!

Welcome Back Wednesday: Button Giveaway!

Well, today's "Almost Wordless Wednesday" is a very special one. With our self-imposed break in recent months, it went completely unnoticed by yours truly that Days in the Park recently celebrated its third birthday! Fanfare, balloons, and confetti everywhere!! It seemed, since it's such a monumental occasion (hey, someone has to keep buying the domain), and we've recently begun the process of blogging again more regularly, that we should do something to celebrate and give something back to all of our readers, and yes, we still have some! I can't tell you the number of times just since Monday alone that someone has told me they're glad to see me back, and you know what? Doggone, it's good to be back! So, in the spirit of the Season, and the blog being back, and all that rot, for the remainder of December I'm going to be hosting what I'm calling (look at the top) "Welcome Back Wednesday"s, and I will be, you guessed it, doing a button giveaway each and every week from now through the end of the month. Why buttons, you may ask? Because they're cheap, cool, and they make awesome souvenirs!

The Magic of the Disney Parks: The Disneyland Hotel

People talk all the time about the magic of the Disney Parks. People on the outside of Disney fandom might not really know what that magic is all about, or whether it even exists or is just a fancy tagline to sell tickets, but for those of us who spend a lot of time in the Parks, we really believe in that magic.One of my favorite times of the year is the weekend that I actually get to spend a night at the Parks and one of the hotels that's actually on the Disneyland property. Since the entire family are annual passholders, we really have no need to stay in hotels in order to visit Disneyland. However, if we do decide to spend a weekend at the park, most of the time we just simply stay at a hotel off property. And I don't say it to be a slight against the pricing of the Disneyland Hotel properties, but for the most part they are just a little bit out of our normal price range, especially when we do pay for the annual passes each and every year. But one of the perks of having a wife who is a teacher, is that teachers and students go to conferences. And in this particular case, the conference takes place at the Disneyland Hotel so one night a year we get to stay there basically for free. Can you say score?