A few weeks ago, Rachel and I headed out for our 2018 summer vacation to Portland, Seattle and Disneyland for 9 days. We ended up spending 3 awesome days in each location. Check out Part One Here and Part Two Here. Today…our time at Disneyland!

After almost a week in the Pacific Northwest, we flew down to Anaheim, California for the final 3 days of our trip. We were very excited to have some time at Disney, especially since this trip we would be staying at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel (GC). We have never stayed on property at Disneyland, so we this was definitely a first! Plus, the GC literally backs up to the California Adventure theme park, which meant we could skip the front of the park lines and use the gate from the hotel!

Now I could spend a lot of time talking about how awesome each of the 3 days were at the parks…but honestly that would end up being way too long or needing separate posts. So in order to keep it on the shorter side, I’ll just hit the highlights…

• Pixar Pier The pier at California Adventure had just opened with a new theme of Pixar. And friends…it was absolutely amazing! From the merchandise and music playing in the background to the amazing food and overall theming, everything was near perfection!

• Pixar Pier Food/Sweets The food/sweets deserve a second mention at Pixar Pier. Everything was just so good. We even got a reservation for lunch at the Lamplight Lounge. Sooooo good! And the theming of the restaurant was amazing!

• Parades/Shows We love the Paint the Night parade! It’s probably our favorite entertainment that Disney puts on in all the parks. Plus, we scored a great spot for the parade! We were also able to catch the afternoon Pixar parade and evening castle show in Disneyland. All of the shows/parades were just wonderful!

• Disney and Running Friends We have made some great friends through the Disney and running communities. We were able to have some great time with our friends AJ & Ivie and Tony & Kelley, along with Linzie. It was a great time getting to catch up with them!

• Cast Member Friends and Family 5K We ended up getting to run the Cast Member Friends and Family 5K the last morning of our trip, since AJ is a cast member for Disneyland. We ended up starting right on Main Street USA and running through both parks.  Unfortunately, runDisney races aren’t currently happening on the West Coast, so it was wonderful getting to run through the California parks again while the races are on hiatus.

Disneyland and California Adventure hold a special place in our hearts. We spent a few days of our honeymoon at these parks over 11 years ago. And while quite a bit smaller than the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, we just love being at the Disneyland parks. The rides, food, theming, weather and overall atmosphere really make this a yearly trip for us.

All in all, we had a wonderful summer vacation. So many wonderful memories at each of these places! Until next time…