Edwin Villanueva

For my third trip to Disneyland in as many weeks, I’m staying with my brother who booked the presidential suite at Worldmark by Wyndham in Anaheim, CA. This place is awesome! 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, stainless steal appliances, lcd’s in each bedrooms, hardwood floors, etc.

My sister, Ellen and friend, Rona, flew down to Orange County on Friday for a relaxing weekend away from their families and to celebrate Rona’s birthday. I met up with them to help celebrate her birthday at Disneyland on Saturday. We spent 14+ hours at the park so I’m crazy tired this morning.

This is the first of three trips to Disneyland that I will be doing in the up coming weeks. It was also the first time I had gone to Disneyland in many years and from what I remember they added quite a few things. One thing that didn’t change is the amount of fun I still have there. Since we went fairly early, we were able to get on a few rides without much waiting. We hit rides like, Indiana Jones Adventure, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and my favorite, Splash Mountain. A quick tip for Splash Mountain, if you WANT to get wet, sit in the front.

As I mentioned earlier, a few things had changed at Disney since the last time I was there. They renovated and added a few attractions. They also added the FASTPASS Service. Basically what the FASTPASS Service does is allows you to enjoy the rest of the park while it saves a spot in line for you.

Here’s how it works:

1) Look for the FASTPASS distribution area near the entrance of select attractions.
2) Check the “Return Time” display which gives you a span of time during which you can explore the Park before returning to board the attraction.
3) If the “Return Time” is adequate, place your Admission ticket in the machine and it will provide another ticket with the Return Time printed on the ticket. Enjoy the rest of the Park and return at the provided Return Time.
4) Go back to the FASTPASS line at your return time and present the FastPass ticket to the host and enjoy the attraction with minimal wait.

Not all rides have the FASTPASS so make sure to check which attractions have the service here. You can aslo read up on how to maximize the use of the FASTPASS service, here, here, and here. Since I will be going to Disney a couple of more times in the next couple of weeks, I will definitely put some of the tips to good use.

Thanks Ellen and Rona for a great day at Disneyland! I had fun talking and laughing with you gals and I enjoyed all the awesome treats and sweets we had. I’m still recovering from the chocolate chip cookie hot fudge sundae I had for dinner!

The San Diego Wild Animal Park is…WILD!

I would totally recommend going here instead of the San Diego Zoo if you had to pick and choose. The first time I went to the Zoo at Balboa Park, it was hit or miss if I would actually see the animal in their exhibit. At the Park, I didn’t have that problem. At least not on this trip.

The Park offers many different options for you too see the animals. I chose to walk around the park to witness the 3000+ animals in their natural environment. There are many exhibits such as The Nariobi Village, Condor Ridge, Heart of Africa and my favorite, Lion Camp.

The park also offers different tours to see the exhibits and to interact with the animals. These tours have an additional fee which you’ll need to check when you first enter the park. Some of the different tours include: Journey Into Africa – A tour ride that will take you into the wilds of Africa to observe animals in their naturalistic environment. Rolling Safari – A unique two hour tour that takes you on an off road path using Segway X2. Photo Caravans – A Safari tour where you get a unique opportunity to go into the heart of the Wild Animal Park and feed giraffe’s or rhinoceros.

When my family comes down to visit in late May, I’m definitely taking them here and will undoubtedly do one or two of these tours. For this trip, walking gave me the best opportunity to take some great photos of the park and animals. Here are a few of my favorites.

Enjoy!