Disneyland #1: Birthdays

I'll just warn you now that this whole week is going to be filled with Disneyland posts! I'm going to talk to death about it this week, and then next week move on! Each day I plan on...

1. Posting several pictures-for the benefit of Dan and grandparents
2. Posting Disneyland tips for your benefit
   

TIP: In case you don't know, Disney is offering free admission to either theme park on your birthday! We were going for 3 days, so we purchased 3-day hopper tickets which were extremely cost effective, especially for military. The great news is that if you have an annual pass or a muti-day ticket (i.e. 3-day hopper) on your birthday, you get to choose 1 of these 3 other exciting birthday gifts:

• A birthday FASTPASS® exchange card+ for a certain number attractions at both Disneyland® Park and Disney's California Adventure® Park; or
• A birthday fun card (gift card) in an amount equal to the price of a 1-Day/1-Park ticket
• A 1-Day/1-Park ticket for you to use any time until your next birthday.

The third day we were at Disneyland was my birthday, so I picked option #2, This meant that I got a $69 gift card which I used this to buy our souvenirs. When I registered, I got a birthday pin, and the rest of my party got the "I'm celebrating" pin. I was told Happy Birthday all day long by every Disneyland "cast member" (employee) and total strangers visiting the park. Very festive. Timothy gave me the postcard pictured (paid for by me, of course).

The bag below was my present to myself! Of course these types of bags are everywhere these days to encourage a "greener" world, and for $3 this was cute, practical, and will always be a fun reminder of our trip.

Since this was the first time my kids had been to D-land, I knew I wanted to buy Mickey Mouse ears for them. So here are some tips about those...

If you buy mouse ears, I recommend going to The Mad Hatter shop on Main Street in Disneyland. This store has the full selection of mouse ears and build-your-own mouse ears. Here's how it works:

• Pick a hat (15-20 options)
• Pick a set of snappable ears (15-20 options)
  
• Place appliqued stickers anywhere on your hat you wish (every character you can imagine)

Yes, you pay for each item, so if you let your child pick a ton of stickers then it could really add up. However, Timothy's custom hat with 3 stickers was only $4 more than Samantha's pre-made hat, and I think much cuter and personal. Samantha had to have the color red, and none of the red build-your-own mouse ears looked very feminine.

You can get their names stitched on the back for free, and while they do that they also heat the stickers so they stay on the hat for good! You can pay $7 for a nicer stitching, but we like "free"! I don't know if you can tell, but Timothy's ears are holographic:

Here are some Mad Hatters:












My 2 little Mouseketeers: