Back From Debtneyland

We are back from Disneyland and I’m happy to report that we had a great time!!  My daughter was overwhelmed by the place when we got there but slowly started to acclamate to the place.  I haven’t been there for a long time and was amazed at all the changes.

One thing that didn’t surprise me was how expensive everything was.  We used a few coupons but 10% off of ridiculous is still ridiculous.  One meal at a buffet cost us over $200 for 5 adults and 3 kids.  Adult prices were over $35 per person.  Was the food that good?  Nope.  It was all about the characters that came around while the kids were eating.  They could have been serving dirt and the kids would have still had a good time.  As for the adults, we just ate the mediocre food and smiled a lot.  I must admit I really enjoyed seeing my daughter get so excited to see Jasmine (a Disney princess) & Goofy.

We had a few drinks while we were down there as well.  Each margarita set me back $8.50.  Yeah.  Ouch.  I have to admit they tasted pretty good, but certainly not $8.50 good.  I had pretty much decided that we weren’t going to worry about money while we were there.  I don’t think I would have had nearly as much fun if I’d been trying to watch every penny.  We were very fortunate because my aunt paid for the entire trip except for about $40.  That included park admissions, staying at the Disneyland hotel and all the food while we were there.  In fact, we wouldn’t have spent a cent the whole time we were there except that I overindulged on the margaritas a couple nights.  It was worth every penny.

We did a little shopping while we were there too.  When you stay at the Disney resorts, the path to get to the park is saturated with restaurants and shops, most of which are Disney themed.  We went shopping in the “Princess” store and my daughter found about 100 things she just had to have.  Luckily we’ve long since gotten her used to the fact that she can’t always have what she wants.  The “dress up” Princess dress that she just loved was $60.  It could not have cost any more than $5 to make and ship over from China.  Talk about profit margins.  We couldn’t bring ourselves to spend that kind of money on a silly dress that I know she wouldn’t wear more than a few times.  Instead, we spent about $60 on her over the course of 3 days letting her buy smaller items.  She was just as happy and we felt like we got more mileage out of the 60 bucks.

We flew via Alaska airlines there and back.  On both flights, the flight attendants took time out to announce that we could receive bonus miles if we were to sign up for an Alaska airlines credit card.  Every time I fly on Alaska I listen to the same sales pitch.  I’ve yet to see someone ask for an application, although I’m sure people do.

All in all, it was a great trip.  We’ve been getting a good night’s sleep for the last couple nights as we catch up on our sleep.  My feet are slowly feeling better (we walked a TON) and it just feels good to be home.  We took lots of pictures and have great memories of our trip, so I think it was money well spent.  (And it’s even easier to say that when the whole trip cost us $40).