2010 Vacation, Part I- Disneyland Hotel

We had a really fun vacation in July and I'm excited that I finally have the time (well, kinda :)) and got the pictures uploaded to blog about it! The evening of July 13th, we started the drive to California. We did this hoping the boys would sleep most of the trip, and it worked for the most part. At least, it did on the way out there. Joel and I switched off driving and we drove straight through to Anaheim. Once there, we checked in for our 5-night stay at the Disneyland Hotel. A gentleman from Ault, CO checked us in and gave Christopher and I birthday balloons, which Christopher still says was his favorite part of the trip. Wow, I can get a balloon anywhere! He also gave us both birthday buttons to wear and Christopher a signed picture from Goofy. We then went up to our room on the 3rd floor of the main building. I believe it was room 2105.

DLH is a great home away from home. We ended up so glad that we had decided to stay there. It was really convenient with 2 small kids to have the option to take a break in the middle of the day and not have far to go "home" at night when we were exhausted. There were other benefits too, the whole "enhanced magical experience" and all of that. It was nice to really do Disneyland once and take the time to explore everything.

Here are some highlights from the hotel:
Cameron with my balloon. Christopher claimed the orange one, so I got purple, which was fine by me. It ended up pretty much being Cam's anyway! Doesn't he look so happy?
This is the hot tub. I'm not sure why we spent any time there, cuz it was HOT, but I seem to recall that was the only place we could find to put our stuff down one of the days. Anyway, notice Ariel in the backround :)
The main pool is Peter Pan themed. Well, more Hook themed, but it's all from that movie :)
I know it's kind of weird to put pictures of just waterfalls and stuff, but the grounds of the hotel were really pretty, and soon they're tearing it all down to expand the pool area, so I wanted to remember what it was like while we were there.
They also had koi ponds which will be sacrificed for the new pool, which I'm sure will be amazing. But so is what they're losing.

The TV cabinet. I took pictures of almost every square foot of this room. I am sparing you most of it :)
Mural in the front lobby. Love it!
Just before you walk into the lobby. There are a couple of my boys on their way in.
The very front of the hotel, which is pretty plain without the Mickey statue. It's interesting to note (for those who may not be as Disney-oriented as we are). That unlike WDW, this hotel was not built as a Disney resort. They had to buy it and "Disneyfi" it. Considering this, they did a great job. But it's definitely different than the Disney resorts we're used to.

They are currently renovating this hotel and making it awesome. I really wanted one of the new rooms, but since we only paid ONE arm and ONE leg, it was not to be. It's OK, still loved it! Goofy hangs around the lobby and the pool a lot, and it was fun to just randomly see him around. It's right next to Downtown Disney, and to get to the 2 parks you can either walk thru Downtown Disney to the main entrance they both share; or just walk thru a little bit to the monorail (which takes you into Tomorrowland), or across to the Grand Californian which has a private entrance in to DCA for the resort guests. Like I said, very convenient and helpful!