In Honor Of A Park Blog Hop...

This article was originally printed near the end of last year.  It has been brought back to life (and re-edited slightly) in honor of Babes In Disneyland's Blog Hop today.  Enjoy!

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Hi there!  My name's Chad and I make up one half of Days In The Park, a friend and friend combo who enjoy spending many of our days in, you guessed it, The Park.  Or, if you want to get all technical about it, Disneyland Resort.

I currently reside in Rancho Cucamonga, California with my wife and three little boys roughly a half hour or so from Disneyland, though I am originally from lower Alabama, which is, of course, much closer to that other Disney Resort; somewhere in Orlando, if I remember right.

When I look back trying to figure just when and where my love of all things Disney first took root, I think I probably really have my parents to thank, and I didn't even set foot in one of The Parks until I was 17 years old.  My earliest memories of Disney are of myself sitting in my living room watching Pooh's Corner on The Disney Channel.  I grew up watching anything and everything Disney that I could, and not just the animated classics.  Movies like The Gnome Mobile, The North Avenue Irregulars and The Apple Dumpling Gang were among my favorites.  If the Disney name was attached to it, I watched it.  And it really was a genuine decision on my parent's part to make sure that I watched decent things on television, and Disney sure seemed to fit that bill.

Then when I was 17 my parents, who had saved for years for the vacation, took our family to Walt Disney World for the first (and so far only) time.  I'd like to say I fell in love with the place right then and there, but the years have made much of it blurry.  However, the feeling I remember having those five days has so far been unparalleled in any other vacation I have ever taken.  It made that much of an impression.

I had then wandered in the wilderness for about 14 years, getting married and beginning to have children in the interim, when on a whim my wife and I decided to take our first trip to Disneyland together, and also on a whim decided to become Annual Passholders.  The rest, as they say, is history.

I'm still relatively new to The Park, and still relatively new to the blogging world, but I would gladly put my passion and heart for it (though not necessarily my knowledge) up against anyone else's.  I love The Park, and I love spending as much time there as I can.  And I hope that comes through on our blog.  We'll never match up with many of the other sites out there in terms of information, or "breaking news", but we do aim to be genuine.  And we hope the genuine fun and hilarity we have on our trips to The Park show up in all that we write.  We believe that it does, and we hope that you'll see it, too.

We hope that you'll take the time to poke around some, and that if you like what you see you'll keep coming back!  We'd love to have you continue to visit The Park with us!

Me, my parents, and my first 2 little boys outside Sleeping Beauty Castle -- 3 gens of Disney fans passing the magic on

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"Almost" Wordless Wednesday: A Blast From Our Past

Just had to post this picture of one of the youngest Days In The Park family members during the 50th celebration.  Always brings a smile to our faces.

Happy Thanksgiving!

From our family here at Days In The Park to all of you, we wish you a very happy Thanksgiving with all of your own families.  Unless of course you aren't living in the United States in which case we have nothing.

Be sure to tell your family and friends that you're thankful for them today.  And take a moment to pause at the table and count your many blessings, like Annual Passes for example.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Lucas is VERY thankful for his Annual Pass

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The Friday FastPass: The Family Make The Trip

I suppose for most people, Disney is about families.  Even if you are single, or just spend a lot of time in The Parks by yourself, you can't help but notice families and be surrounded by everyone else's family.  In a way, it's kind of thrust on you.

Last week I wrote a little introduction to myself (and my introduction to Disney) in my post along the Magical Blogorail.  For me, my Disney experience began, and I'm sure will end one day, with my family.  As a kid, my parents were huge Disney proponents and my favorite television shows and movies were all Disney oriented, save Star Wars, and even that has a Disney tie-in.  The best vacation of my life was when I was 17 and my parents took me to The World for the first time.  I'm planning my own trip back there with my parents, my family, and my sister's family sometime in 2012.  We can't wait.  

Now that I have my own family, well, you can see how important an aspect of any Day In The Park that is to me.  I could spend hours (and do sometimes) just scrolling through old pictures and remembering all the magic we've had at The Parks.  For us, the ability to be Annual Passholders has truly been a blessing, and it's something we enjoy immensely.

Chad and Fam in the Disney Animation Building (2006)

    

Chad's wife and kids outside Monsters, Inc. in Disney California Adventure (2010)

Not just my own immediate family, either, but we really do see each and every one of us here (all two of us!) as family.  Mark and I didn't just fall into this by accident.  We've spent a lot of time together over the years, and we've logged countless in The Parks together.  We may not be blood, but there's no doubt we both kind of view each other like brothers, so when we're there, we're family; no question.

The really cool thing, though, is that Mark also does get to spend time at The Park with his own "real" family.  Being able to spend time in The Parks with our own immediate families, as well as each other, just adds to the wonder of it all.

Mark and his niece Christyana enjoy the fireworks at Disneyland

Amazingly enough, it doesn't stop there, either.  Neither one of us really knew what to expect when we started our website.  I guess we figured the most we could hope for was to gain a small amount of readership over time, and maybe a comment or two here or there.  Maybe just get something out there that someone enjoyed reading.

When I initially signed up for Twitter, it was solely for the sake of advertising.  I'd never been on Twitter before, and I didn't even know how the whole thing worked (What's an RT?  What does that @ symbol mean?).  

What I discovered, and very quickly I might add, was that there is a thriving community, a family, of Disney people alive and well and raging on Twitter.  If anyone had told me beforehand that we would meet such wonderful people and make such good (and true!) friends through our website, I would probably have scoffed at the notion.  

Yet, there you are.  Our family has indeed grown.  Over the past several weeks we've met and spent many hours with some of the people we've met through our website.  It's been nothing short of amazing.  People talk about Disney Magic and Disney Family all the time, and to see it in real life and watch it at work is just astounding. 

We should be upfront about this, too.  I'm not an extrovert.  Typically I abhor crowds and I'm not into meeting new people at all.  I'm incredibly shy and don't usually do well around new people.  I challenge you though to ask any of our new friends if they could tell that about me.  I've had nothing short of an all-out blast the last few weeks, and I have our new friends to thank for that.

Chad (l) and Mark (r) with Rosemary from FindingMickey.com

Chad and Lynnette outside the Plaza Inn on opening day for the Holidays

Chad, Julie (f-l), Amy (r-r) and Jenna (r-l) riding California Screamin' - Disney California Adventure

I guess that I'm learning as we go along just what it means to be a part of the Disney family, and that it doesn't have to stop with our own immediate families, either.  

There's plenty of room for everyone in our family.  

It helps to make each and every Day In The Park just a little more magical than it might be otherwise.

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DitP Perspective: Disney Princess Fantasy Faire

Note:  Here at the DitP headquarters, most of our team is made up of guys.  As such, we had to ask ourselves, for the sake of any moms with little girls who might be in attendance, "Who wants to tackle The Princess Faire?"  Well, when we discovered that Mark had not only been there once, but a whopping four times, the decision was easy.  How's that for democracy?

I would just like to point out, before I begin, that I've never gone to The Princess Faire alone.  I've always gone with my niece.

Anyone who goes to The Park with a little girl knows that they will, at some point, want to see a Princess.  As a result, much of your day can often be spent looking for one of those Princesses, who always seem to be residing in another area of The Park.  Either that, or they're closing up their lines just as you walk up.  

Well, a few years ago, someone finally had the good sense to bring all the Princesses together under one roof.  And just where is this enchanted place, you may ask?  Well, if you head through magical gates of Sleeping Beauty Castle (or around either side of it; either way would work) and head towards the back of Fantasyland, there you'll find the Disney Princess Fantasy Faire right across the way from It's a Small World.

Now, what does this Faire offer, exactly?  

First, as you walk through the Faire, you'll be treated to meeting three random Princesses.  You never know who you're gonna get; much like Vinylmation.  But even though it is random, your daughters (or sons; even boys love the Princesses) will be very happy.  Some of the Princesses that might be at your picture taking disposal are:  Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Mulan, Belle, Pocahontas and Jasmine (per Disneyland.com).  If you're a parent who loves to take a bazillion pictures of their child, then the scenery is just right for you.  In fact, the entire Princess Faire has amazing scenery that any photographer would love to be able to utilize in any of their photos, but especially photos in which their own children are involved.   

Second, with a little luck and some magical pixie dust, you just might have the opportunity to join one of the three random Princesses in a ribbon dance (I'm starting to believe that everything over there is random) or listen to a story narrated by a Princess herself.  Story time is more of a relaxing part for both parents and children, as you listen to a random princess (see!) tell her enchanted story to you.  My niece's favorite is Snow White; she loves how perky her voice is.   

Last, but certainly not least (trust me), is the Princess Gift Shop.  Here you can decide to buy your daughter an extreme Princess make over (also available at the Bippity Boppity Boutique), or have your son transformed into a valiant knight.

So there you have it.  If you have small children who love character meets and having their picture taken, the Disney Princess Fantasy Faire might be just the place for you.  Just be sure that you have your camera and autograph book (if you have one) at the ready, because it makes the line go faster and that is always appreciated.

Enjoy!

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Magical Blogorail Introduction

Hi there!  Welcome to our website and our very first post along the Magical Blogorail.  We're the second stop along this month's Loop, and we hope if you're here you've come to us from Beth's post over at A Disney Mom’s Love of Disney.  If not, be sure to check her out!

My name's Chad and I make up one half of Days In The Park, a friend and friend combo who enjoy spending many of our days in, you guessed it, The Park.  Or, if you want to get all technical about it, Disneyland Resort.

I currently reside in Rancho Cucamonga, California with my wife and three little boys roughly a half hour or so from Disneyland, though I am originally from lower Alabama, which is, of course, much closer to that other Disney Resort; somewhere in Orlando, if I remember right.

When I look back trying to figure just when and where my love of all things Disney first took root, I think I probably really have my parents to thank, and I didn't even set foot in one of The Parks until I was 17 years old.  My earliest memories of Disney are of myself sitting in my living room watching Pooh's Corner on The Disney Channel.  I grew up watching anything and everything Disney that I could, and not just the animated classics.  Movies like The Gnome Mobile, The Seventh Avenue Irregulars and The Apple Dumpling Gang were among my favorites.  If the Disney name was attached to it, I watched it.  And it really was a genuine decision on my parent's part to make sure that I watched decent things on television, and Disney sure seemed to fit that bill.

Then when I was 17 my parents, who had saved for years for the vacation, took our family to Walt Disney World for the first (and so far only) time.  I'd like to say I fell in love with the place right then and there, but the years have made much of it blurry.  However, the feeling I remember having those five days has so far been unparalleled in any other vacation I have ever taken.  It made that much of an impression.

I had then wandered in the wilderness for about 14 years, getting married and beginning to have children in the interim, when on a whim my wife and I decided to take our first trip to Disneyland together, and also on a whim decided to become Annual Passholders.  The rest, as they say, is history.

I'm still relatively new to The Park, and still relatively new to the blogging world, but I would gladly put my passion and heart for it (though not necessarily my knowledge) up against anyone else's.  I love The Park, and I love spending as much time there as I can.  And I hope that comes through on our blog.  We'll never match up with many of the other sites out there in terms of information, or "breaking news", but we do aim to be genuine.  And we hope the genuine fun and hilarity we have on our trips to The Park show up in all that we write.  We believe that it does, and we hope that you'll see it, too.

We hope that you'll keep coming back each month for the blogorail to see where it stops next!  And, should you want to come back every other day as well, then that'd just be alright, too.

Now that you know just a little bit more about me and Days In The Park, we hope you'll continue on the Loop to our next post with Crystal & Bryan at Crystal & Bryan at Walt Disney World.

Me, my parents, and my first 2 little boys outside Sleeping Beauty Castle -- 3 gens of Disney fans passing the magic on

And feel free to check out any other stops along the Loop.  See you next month!

A Disney Mom’s Love of Disney

Days in the Park

Crystal & Bryan at Walt Disney World 

Disney Babies Blog

Cooking with Mickey

Meet the Magic

Growing Up Disney

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Days In The Park Is A Family

I was talking with one of our Twitter friends last night, and the topic of kids (and having kids) came up.  It was honestly fun going back and forth about whether said friend should have children or not.  But ultimately, she said that "right now" they (she and husband) just felt like it wasn't in the cards (though someday) and they just enjoyed their freedom too much at this point.  

And I can totally respect that.  I certainly don't look down on anyone with those feelings, at all.  There was once a time when I felt the same way (although, at that time, Disneyland had nothing to do with it).  Your children deserve 100% of what you have.  My wife and I weren't ready at one point in our marriage, and we knew having them before we were totally ready would be wrong, so we waited.  Sometimes I feel like maybe we didn't wait long enough!

But now, it's kind of funny looking back.  Although I do go to The Park without them sometimes, I can't remember a time when my overall Disneyland experience didn't involve my children.  If I hadn't begun having children, quite honestly, I might still be waiting for my first trip into the 'Happiest Place on Earth'.  Having children, and my love for my children, helped me love Disneyland even more than I would have initially, as hard as that might seem to believe.

I'm not a perfect dad in The Park.  Truthfully, sometimes they drive me slap bonkers.  Threats of never bringing them back fill the air, and I wonder what demon possessed me to make me bring them.

But when I have moments like the one below, and my family is all together and ready to enjoy whatever magic is in the air on any given day, it all makes sense.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.

The Elliotts riding the monorail into The Park

~Chad

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