5 Reasons To Visit Pixar Pier

As you might have heard, Paradise Pier at Disney California Adventure is getting a makeover this summer.  Starting June 23rd, guests who visit the Disneyland Resort will be able to enjoy Pixar Pier.  Here, you'll be able to experience thrills, laughter and memories with all of your favorite Pixar pals.  If you're not sure what Pixar Pier is all about, I'm here to give you the scoop!  I've partnered with my friends at Get Away Today to give you 5 reasons to visit Pixar Pier.  Keep reading for an exclusive promo code to use on your next Disneyland vacation package, just for Sunshine & Munchkins readers.

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How To Make Disneyland Affordable For Your Family

One of the biggest problems I run into when it comes to planning and booking a vacation is how I'm going to pay for it all upfront and still get the best deal.  How many times have you been browsing deal sites or get an email about a great vacation package only to realize that you have to put down a huge deposit or pay in full in order to lock in the price?  In most cases, this isn't a realistic or affordable option.  If you're anything like me, I like to research the heck out of everything when it comes to planning and booking a vacation, but in the search for the best deal, sometimes I actually miss out on it thinking there might be something better along the way.  BUT, I've got some great news for you and it's called the Layaway Lock-In Program by Get Away Today.  My friend Lexi works there and has offered to share the details on this amazing program.  Read below to find out more!

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Hiking In Pioneer Park In St. George, UT

Last summer, my family and I did a big family vacation with my husband's parents and all his siblings and their kids to St. George, Utah.  With kids ranging in age from 17 to 2, finding an activity that everyone would enjoy was a bit of a challenge, but ultimately we decided on hiking.  St. George and the surrounding area is famous for its beautiful and unique red rock formations.  I've visited St. George more times than I can count, but hadn't spent much time hiking the trails found all around the city.  However, we did find an awesome little place called Pioneer Park.  We had so much fun that we visited two days in a row and it was a real hit with everyone in the family.

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Planning a Day at Disney's Hollywood Studios

When my husband and I were planning our trip to Orlando, almost everyone we talked to asked us the same question, "Which park are you going to?"  I would have loved to hit up all of them, but time didn't allow for that so we had to choose just one park.  If you didn't know the title of this post, you might guess that we went to Magic Kingdom or Universal Studios. *wink*  But instead, we chose Disney's Hollywood Studios.

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Character Dining at the Garden Grove Restaurant

I have been a Disney fan for as long as I can remember.  I have so many happy memories of watching Disney movies with my sisters, my first trip to Disneyland as a kid and our first trip as a family to Disneyland with our own kids.  One thing I remember clearly from my first trip to Disneyland was standing in line to get the autographs and pictures of the different characters all over the park.  My sisters and I loved this almost as much as the rides because it made the experience so much more real to us.  So when we were booking our trip to Orlando at the Swan and Dolphin Resort and I found out they had a character dining experience, I knew I wanted to go.

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My Stay at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort

A little less than two months ago, my husband sent me a message that he'd been invited to go to a training event in Orlando.  Jokingly I replied, "Can I come?"  His response: "I can ask."  As it turned out, I could come and the minute I heard 'yes', I was searching online for the best flights, calling family members to ask if they could watch our kids and dreaming of sunny Florida.  (I'm a planner, remember?)  Midway through the day I asked my husband if he knew the name of the hotel they were putting everyone up at: "Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort".  Um, what?!  That's right my friends.  We were going to be staying at a WDW hotel and I was doing a happy dance in my living room.

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{Free} Printable Packing List

A couple of weeks ago, I shared that I would be going to Orlando this month for a much needed vacation with my husband.  This will be the first vacation he and I have taken together that is more than an overnight since our first child was born over 5 years ago.  As you can imagine, we're pretty dang excited!  My goal at the beginning of this week is to get all packed up and ready to go.  I am a list maker and so it should be no surprise that I have made a packing list for myself to make sure that I don't forget anything I need to take with me.  Some people have the attitude that if they forget something, they can just pick it up wherever they are going.  If that is you, then awesome!  But I am totally a planner and that kind of stresses me out.  So, lists.

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9 Things I Wish I'd Known Before Going to Disneyland the First Time

In a previous post, I talked about what I learned as I planned our family's first vacation to Disneyland.  We went and had so much fun and now that we are back, I have more tips to share that will make your experience at the park even more magical and stress-free.

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5 Quick Tips for Visiting Disney California Adventure

My family and I recently got back from our first family vacation to Disneyland and California Adventure.  We had two day park hopper tickets so we jumped around a little bit between parks.  This worked well for my family because it allowed the kids to experience both parks.  I also found that most rides at California Adventure had shorter lines and rides that allowed more riders so even if the line was a little long, it moved fairly quickly.  We didn't spend as much time at California Adventure as we did at Disneyland, but there were a few tips I wanted to pass along for first timers.

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Disney Countdown Chain

Last October, we took our first family vacation to Disneyland!  It was so much fun and the kids loved it.  I hadn't been to Disneyland in about 15 years so I was excited to go too!

Since this was a somewhat last minute trip, I didn't have as much time to build my kids (mostly my daughter) up to it as much as I would have liked.  Like most kids her age--she was 3 at the time--she doesn't fully understand the passage of time.  To help her with this (and to save my sanity!), I made a simple Disney countdown chain.  We've used countdown chains before to help her learn how time passes (see this post here), so I knew that making one again would be a successful way to count down to our trip.

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7 Things I Learned Planning Our First Family Trip to Disneyland

We recently went on our first family vacation to Disneyland.  The last time I went to Disneyland was about 15 years ago when I was in junior high so I didn't do much planning (besides finding ways to make money to spend).  In addition to this being our first vacation to Disneyland, it was also our first big family vacation with our kids.  While trying to figure it all out, I didn't really know where to start, so I turned to Facebook and asked my friends for their best Disneyland vacation planning tips.  Then I went to my Disney Pinterest board to look through my saved pins.  I was working within a short time frame (less than 2 weeks to plan it all out) so I needed to get as much information as possible as quickly as possible.

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The DOs and DON'Ts of Planning an Extended Family Vacation

A few months ago, we approached my husband's family about doing an extended family vacation as a way to have some family bonding time and create fun memories.  Out of the six kids in his family, four live in the same state as us and within a 30 minute drive of us and each other.  His parents are also local, so we see them fairly regularly.  However, two of his other siblings and their families live in two different states, so we don't see them very often, maybe once or twice a year and it is a rare thing to have everyone together at the same time and place.  Everyone was excited about it, but then the holidays came and life got busy and it got put on the back burner.

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