215: Oceanside, CA and Disneyland

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Spring break is almost here and on this episode Kim and Tamara share their experience on a girls’ trip in Oceanside, California and then their mother-daughter trip to Disneyland with their girls.

If you want some inspiration for a SoCal getaway, be sure to listen in!

To escape the cold and gray skies in the north, Kim and Tamara met up in Oceanside, California (hosted by Visit Oceanside) for a girlfriend getaway. Oceanside is located about 40 miles north of San Diego and is easily accessible by train or car.

This laid-back surf town is a great under-the-radar spot for a girls’ trip with beautiful beaches, great dining options, and fun activities.

You can read all about Kim and Tamara’s experiences in Oceanside on:

After Oceanside, Kim and Tamara were joined by their daughters for a mother-daughter trip to Disneyland.

Full Episode Transcript

[00:00:00.000] – Kim

Today, we’re sharing about a new hidden gem we just discovered in Southern California.

[00:00:16.720]

Welcome to Vacation Mavens, a family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips. To get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suicase, and Tamara from WE3 Travel.

[00:00:31.510] – Kim

Tamara, we just returned from another trip together. It’s funny. I feel like sometimes we go forever without seeing each other, and then all of a sudden we’ve seen each other both January and February back to back trips, practically. Good to see you recently. Now we’re back online chatting from Coast to Coast.

[00:00:49.620] – Tamara

I know. I’m excited because we’re going to get to see each other again in April. I have to tell you, just having that one week in California that we just spent together, it just brightened up winter so much for me. I think it needs to be an annual thing, right?

[00:01:04.610] – Kim

I’m good with that for sure. I was definitely happy to escape the cold and rain of Seattle. I know you were escaping a brutal cold snap in the Northeast, so I’m all for signing up for more February sun escapes.

[00:01:21.320] – Tamara

There’s just something so special about spending time together. It’s so hard these days to get together with friends. Even if they live nearby, coordinating schedules, you tend to have these little snipp of time, like, Let’s take a walk together. Let’s meet for coffee, something like that. You try to squeeze it all in and you’re talking, talking, talking. It’s just so nice when you can travel together because it gives you more time. You’re having new experiences together, plus you’re catching up on life and you’re just sometimes getting into discussions or topics that you might not even otherwise touch on. I just feel like it’s such a great thing for friendships. I know that we’re privileged at this stage in our lives to have a little bit more flexibility in our schedules. Obviously, with what we do, we can just naturally travel a bit more. But it would be something I would just encourage people to think about with their friends and trying to plan a girlfriend get away or a girls trip. I always like, do you call it a girls trip or a girlfriend get away?

[00:02:24.120] – Kim

Yeah, it is a good question. I mean, it doesn’t… I mean, I don’t know. It’s a good question, but I agree 100 % that I think it’s really good for especially moms, I would say, but women in general, you need to connect with your friends and make time for yourself where you’re not responsible for someone else or taking care of someone else. You can really take that time to just be in the moment and rediscover your passions and things that you enjoy. Like you and I taking eight million sunset pictures because we both just love that moment of the day.

[00:02:59.300] – Tamara

I think without anybody sighing.

[00:03:03.140] – Kim

Yeah. No one in a hurry, no deadlines. No, I agree. I think it’s a great thing to do. So we should definitely tell our listeners where we discovered and where we went because I don’t think a lot of people think of Southern California, and we all know LA and all those different places, but this was a little hidden gem, and I think you and I both fell in love with it.

[00:03:23.420] – Tamara

Yeah, I will say so. Kim and I just went to Oceanside, California, and it is about 100 miles south of LA and about 40 miles north of San Diego, and then also not far from Anaheim and the whole Orange County area. There’s tons of different ways to get there places to fly in. As soon as we pulled into town, we were like, I’m going to like it here. It just had that feeling right away. Maybe it was just the sunshine, but I could tell right away that we were going to like it. I love that it has that quiet, laid back feel without being one of these, I don’t know. There’s so many places that you hear about for a girlfriend get away. It’s just a little overdone, a little crowded. You might see people with their sashes and their bachelorette parties. This is not that vibe at all. It’s just easy to get to. I mean, I flew into LA. I found this amazing flight deal where it was only $200 to fly from Boston to LA, which was what prompted the whole trip. And then you were able to fly into San Diego.

[00:04:28.440] – Tamara

But then there’s also all those Orange County airports that you could potentially fly into. But if you don’t want to have a car, because everyone’s scared of driving around LA area, especially. And it is a lot of highways and things to deal with. If you don’t have a car, you can just hop on the Amtrak, and is like an Amtrak surfliner, I think it is, that goes right into downtown, right next to the nicest hotels. So it’s so super easy to get to. Yeah.

[00:04:53.140] – Kim

And I think they were even saying, if you do fly out or if you do fly into San Diego or LA, you can easily take an Uber or bus if you’re really doing the budget thing and get to the Amtrak stations pretty easily in both of those airports. And then you just hop on the surf line and you’re able to come in. And like you said, the Amtrak drop off is right there in the heart of Oceanside. Makes it very convenient if you’re trying to be car free.

[00:05:18.580] – Tamara

Oceanside, before I went, I had talked to someone from the tourism board and I knew a couple of things about it. Number one, I knew that they had a pier and it was on the ocean. Obviously, it would make sense of Oceanside. Wow. and then I knew that it was home to where the Top Gun house was, which is the house that was featured in the original Top Gun movie as where the character, Charlie, who was played by Kelly McGill is, where she lived. And honestly, I knew it was near some military areas like Camp Mendleton, and there was some shopping and things. I really didn’t know a lot about it. So when I was expecting, I don’t know, I wasn’t sure what I was expecting from a beach town, but I wasn’t expecting it to feel just so much of a cool vibe to it. I had so many really nice hotels and upscale restaurants, but then it was also diverse and it had a lot of more casual places. I feel like when you’re in Southern California, each town has this different vibe to it. And some of them are like, That’s a beach surfer town.

[00:06:22.250] – Tamara

And this is a very upscale town and everything’s high end boutiques and fancy dining and stuff. And this is somewhere in between, more on the surf town, but still plenty to draw you there if you weren’t surfing. Would you agree?

[00:06:38.960] – Kim

I would agree. The word I would use is just approachable. I felt like it was very approachable for all walks of life in a way. I mean, there were great restaurants where you’re going to spend 20 some odd bucks, but there was also enough places where it’s just hole in the wall, go grab a coffee, grab some tacos. I felt like it was just very approachable. And it felt like there were locals that were there, as well as not a lot of tourists, but definitely some tourists because there’s two massive hotels. So it just had a nice mix. I just feel like it was approachable. It wasn’t too ostentatious or luxury that you felt like you were going to be spending an arm and a leg, but it also was not the rougher, grungier coastal towns that I’m used to a lot in Oregon and Washington, which is a lot of hole in the wall and just industrial feels. So it’s very much not like that. So I really liked it. I enjoyed it.

[00:07:34.520] – Tamara

I think one of the big thing, as we were talking to people, we learned a little bit about the history and we learned that a couple of decades ago, it was more rough and tumble downs than town and it had more.

[00:07:46.140] – Kim

Of a.

[00:07:46.980] – Tamara

Blue collar and military feel. So you didn’t have quite the same thing that you have today, but it’s been really, I don’t know if you’d say revitalized, but it’s had a definitely Renaissance. And so with that comes these new properties, these new hotels. And I think that that’s part of what gives it this feeling is that you have these new properties and new restaurants that have this beautiful modern esthetic versus sometimes when you’ve had the beach towns, you get the motels and stuff like that. It actually reminded me a little bit of Gulf shores and Orange Beach in Alabama, just in the way that it’s a beach town that has a lot of fresh, new feel to it and really good food spots and stuff.

[00:08:33.380] – Kim

Yeah. The food scene, I think, was really… It was definitely on point for the food scene. I just want to go ahead and build on what you were just saying because I think one of the coolest experiences for both of us was getting to talk with the founder of the Sunset Market. Oceans side has this thing called a sunset market that they do every Thursday night. Of course, it’s at sunset, if that’s not obvious enough. I think it runs, what is it, from 4 to 9, 5 to 9, something like that.

[00:09:00.670] – Tamara

I think it was five.

[00:09:01.680] – Kim

To nine. Okay, five to nine because they also have Thursday farmer’s market the same day, of course. And the Thursday farmer’s market is earlier that afternoon and then everything gets cleaned up and like you and I were Chuckley in some booths, we think they just moved to a new spot down the street. But the Sunset Market really was the brainchild of this organizer, Kim, and we were able to tour with him and his passion and love for the fact of what this market represents. Then understanding what it did for the city of Oceanside, attracting a tourist vibe and upscale properties was really quite interesting. I’m sure you have some stuff to share about that.

[00:09:40.940] – Tamara

I just couldn’t believe as we were walking through it, we saw them setting up earlier in the day. And as we were starting to walk through, I couldn’t believe how many people were there. And you and I were saying to each other, they bring in this crowd every week. 51 weeks a year. This is what a festival.

[00:09:56.060] – Kim

Hopes.

[00:09:56.480] – Tamara

To draw in. And they’re like a once a year thing. So it just shows what a community it is and how important it is for the community. And it draws from, I think you said 60 to 90 miles away, people will drive in for it. So it’s really, it is a thing to see. So if you’re going for a weekend, I would say go in on Thursday afternoon. So you can be there for that and just stay an extra day because it was great. We had some really delicious food.

[00:10:22.240] – Kim

Really delicious food. And that’s one of the cool things they make a point of is making it a very, I don’t know, melting pot of different cuisines. T hey try and really make sure to support maybe, you know, like the food truck vendor idea, but people who maybe don’t have restaurants or don’t have food trucks but have this amazing cuisine and these great local recipes or something like that that they can share with large groups and helping train some of these people on how to feed at a, you know, large mass limited resources under a tent canopy. It’s amazing what some of those guys could do. I mean, that I still think, what was it, a Burria? I can’t even remember what it was that I had that was like the Crispy carne asada. It wasn’t carne asada, was it? I think it might.

[00:11:09.500] – Tamara

Have been El Pastore, but it was so delicious. El Pastore, thank you. Something special that he.

[00:11:12.730] – Kim

Did for you. I was like, What’s the other one? Yeah. Oh, my goodness, it was so delicious. It was just really cool. Then I know you had some tie. Some pad tie.

[00:11:22.890] – Tamara

Pad tie, right? Yeah. I think it’s really… Whenever I see a fair or festival like that, I’m always like, Is the food going to be all fried this and fried that? Just the same old stuff that you would see at every street fair. And this was not. They definitely take a lot of time to curate those different vendors from food from around the world. And even like the Pad Thai that I got, they were like, You can pick from Pad Thai from four different regions.

[00:11:46.270] – Kim

Of Thailand.

[00:11:47.230] – Tamara

The Northern. Yes. So that was so cool. That was super interesting. And I saw an oyster truck. There were bail bonds. There was somebody like, grillingling giant steaks. We had beignets. It was just such a good variety. Yeah, definitely worth going. We’re worth making sure you’re there on a Thursday if you go to Oceanside.

[00:12:06.160] – Kim

I agree. I do think we were there mostly during the weekday, and I’m sure that attracted… It allowed us to have a little bit more laid back feel because it sounds like they definitely probably get weekend city traffic from San Diego or LA of people coming to spend their weekends there. So if you’re wanting to avoid the crowds, I think doing a midweek trip and including a Thursday is definitely works really well.

[00:12:30.360] – Tamara

Because it was nice and chill for us. I will say the other, I’m sure you were going to get to it too, but the other amazing mind blowing experience that we had in Oceanside was when we went on a Dolphin and whale watch. I think both of you and I, we’ve both done whale watches. I was happy to go and I was thinking, well, maybe I’ll see something that I don’t see in the Atlantic because I haven’t done one in the Pacific. But I like getting out on the water, a chance to be on a boat in the sunshine. It’s all good. And so we start heading out and he starts talking about dolphins and how there’s more dolphins in Southern California than the.

[00:13:10.750] – Kim

Whole rest of the.

[00:13:11.210] – Tamara

Entire world combined. And how they have these… For every Dolphin you see, there’s six that you don’t see. And so we’re starting to then see a couple of dolphins. And you and I have been on a trip, even in the Florida Keys, where we saw three Dolphins and we were like, oh. And everyone’s rushing to the side of the boat and you’re so excited. This was insane. And you guys, probably some of you saw it on our Instagram, but we ran into a mega pod of Dolphins, which was like thousands of… It’s over a thousand Dolphins.

[00:13:42.280] – Kim

Over a.

[00:13:42.590] – Tamara

Thousand, yeah. And it was like the sea was just boiling. It was just churning with dolphins just jumping everywhere, swimming next to the boat. It’s like you didn’t really need to fight for a position to be able to see because they were everywhere.

[00:13:58.180] – Kim

Yeah. honestly, it was amazing.

[00:13:59.830] – Tamara

It was one of the best wildlife experiences I’ve ever had. I just couldn’t believe it was one of those things where I’m like, you cannot wipe the smile from my face because just seeing animals like that makes me happy.

[00:14:10.920] – Kim

It was just insane. It was so crazy. They were just everywhere. Then when we were leaving at that one time and they were talking about the stampede, and it was just this amazing wall of dolphins all jumping in the same line of line of the pot or whatever, and they were all coming towards us. It was just awesome. I actually really enjoyed. We went on I can’t even remember Oceanside Adventures, right? Is that the one we went on? I remember when we had lined up, we were like, Oh, it’s going to be crowded. But like you said, that was a perfect experience where it was not a problem finding, getting a view and being able to move around. The boat was nice and I think the whole experience was just good. It was a nice catamaran boat. I guess it was catamaran, wasn’t it? I can’t even remember now, but very open seating at the bow and everything.

[00:15:01.490] – Tamara

They had good guides. You chatted for a while with one of their naturalist guides and tons of information about the wildlife. You always worry about that a little bit when you’re going on some type of adventure like that. I know that there’s rules about how close you can get. He made sure to tell us the dolphins love swimming next to our boat and being in front of it and playing and you cannot hit them. They will always stay ahead because it was something that you’re like, Oh, my gosh, the right underneath.

[00:15:31.720] – Kim

I know. I was a little worried about them. We weren’t necessarily just idling along. He was driving normal and the dolphins all came and they were just playing and they were saying the echo location helps them know exactly where the boat is and where the boat’s going. So there’s no danger. I thought, Oh, because otherwise you wouldn’t… I’m glad they told us that because I would have been so stressed. But yeah, it was awesome. It was definitely one of the highlights. I loved how… I think this is another shout out for Oceanside is that we, to go to our whale watching, we needed to go to the Harbor, which is a little ways up, but we were able to easily walk along the little pier ocean front, and then we wove through a neighborhood a couple of times to be able to get to the Harbor, but it was not a bad walk at all. I mean, it was, I don’t know, 20 minutes, 15, 20 minutes, but I think…

[00:16:21.020] – Tamara

Yeah, it was like, it might be a mile.

[00:16:23.090] – Kim

Yeah, it’s just so I loved how everything was so easily accessible to us. The whole trip, everything we did. We went on to one side of the town and we went and saw museums and restaurants, and then we did a wine tasting, and then we were able to also walk down to the Harbor where we could have rented… It was a little chilly, but we could have rented kayaks. It was really popular there. But we did the whale watching, and it was fun. I just liked how everything was so easily accessible.

[00:16:49.900] – Tamara

Once we parked the car because we did drive, because I had already had a car from when I was up in LA, we didn’t touch it again until we left and I loved it because I was not a fan of driving the big rental car that I had, so I was more than happy to just leave it in the garage and it was all good. You mentioned wine tasting and I feel like that was something that is a bit of a surprise because you don’t really think about Southern California for the wines as much. I know that there’s Santa Barbara and Temecula and other places that have, but there were quite a few or at least a couple of wine tasting rooms, but then a few breweries as well. Then cocktail bars. They have this whole thing called O sips. Oceans side, they shorten to O side. They have O sips. Basically, it’s like a little website where you check in to different places that are participating and you can get a discount. Maybe like a…

[00:17:46.820] – Kim

Did we have a free free wine tasting flight? Yeah, we got the free.

[00:17:49.080] – Tamara

Wine tasting. Buy one, get one free wine tasting flight. Yeah, totally. And others were like little discounts. And then if you check in enough places, you can also, if you stop by their visitor center, get some prizes like a coaster or tumbler or something like that. But it’s a cool concept to get people to explore a little bit more. And I was really pretty impressed by the scene when it comes to if you wanted to try some wine or beer or cocktails and also the decor of all the places that we went into. Again, it felt like very just on trend, like on point. Some of them had live music, some entertainment. Nothing felt like run down or hole in the wall. If you wanted to find those places, I’m sure the Marines that come down, they can find those.

[00:18:36.880] – Kim

There’s lots of barber shops, I will say that. Right next to the surfing museum is also a military supply store. So it is funny. You can definitely see that it’s a military town, but I would say otherwise, you would never really know.

[00:18:49.380] – Tamara

Yeah. Well, you and I never got to go back to the ax throwing bar that we walked by and consider doing for a minute.

[00:18:53.920] – Kim

Yeah, that’s right. That looked like it would happen in place that one night.

[00:18:58.340] – Tamara

If there were some people from the military and there I would have been pretty embarrassed with my throw, I’m sure.

[00:19:05.400] – Kim

I think it’s probably fine.

[00:19:06.440] – Tamara

But yeah, that part was pretty impressive. I mean, you mentioned food already. Did you have any favorite places that we went to when it comes to food or drinks?

[00:19:15.910] – Kim

I think it was all really cool. I would say three things that shout out in my mind are just rooftop bar experiences. Even we saw sunset two times. The one was the cocoa cabana on top of the roof where we stayed. Then the other one was the rooftop mission specific hotel, which is just the fact that we got to have yoga rooftop there by the pool, which was probably… Our teacher was amazing. The atmosphere was amazing. It was the perfect way, I think, for both of us to start our day. So we had that. Then later that night, we went with our friend Mary and had drinks up there for sunset. It was just so good. I would say rooftop sunset bar drinks is amazing there. Then probably I really liked the switchboard with the Hawaiian fusion. I loved their Brussels Sprouts. They were so yummy. T he lettuce wraps I had were just on point. P robably those, but I also loved the craft Coast tackle place. But what about you?

[00:20:11.640] – Tamara

The switchboard to me was so fun because number 1, it’s just this tiny little place that’s part of the Fin Hotel, which was a site where they used as a communication center during World War II. T hey actually have some old switchboards there, and that’s where it got its name. But the food to me, I don’t have Hawaiian fusion at home. We’re very East Coast, so we have different influences that I think that you get on the West Coast. And so that to me was really exciting. But I am just such a sucker for brunch, and I just loved the different brunch places that we went to. Everything from there was toasted gastro brunch. Toasted with sauces. They had really everything from all kinds of toast, obviously, to we had stuffed French toast, and then there were eggs Benedict.

[00:20:58.420] – Kim

Lots of crazy mimozes. multiple most options.

[00:21:01.820] – Tamara

Good brunchy cocktails there. But even just the bakery that was up the street from where we stayed, Petite Madalyn, they had an amazing… All I had was a croissant because I was like, I’m so full. But the croissant was amazing. It was just so delicious. So yeah, I.

[00:21:15.880] – Kim

Think.

[00:21:16.760] – Tamara

Definitely if you’re a brunch person.

[00:21:19.560] – Kim

And I loved Piper. Talking about your decor on point, we had brunch at the Seabird restaurant at their restaurant, Piper, and I loved how it looked in there. I loved their lobby. It was so beautiful. Another one of the ones I agree, brunch was amazing. And then we got parlor donuts that one time, which could count as a brunch too. Oh, my goodness, those donuts. I’m like, I’m.

[00:21:37.940] – Tamara

Thinking of all this.

[00:21:38.520] – Kim

Food we ate.

[00:21:39.580] – Tamara

I loved those donuts. They’re layered doughnut, like a cr donut, so it’s not as cakey or heavy. I loved it. I actually picked up a couple, and then Hannah and I had that after our long day in Disneyland, which I’m sure we’ll talk about in a second. But yeah, well, we mentioned a couple of hotels. I think we should also just shout out some of the properties that we enjoyed and then also where we stayed. So there’s lots of options for people.

[00:22:09.270] – Kim

I agree. I think that if you’re looking for luxury and oceanfront views, there’s definitely two amazing properties right there, and that’s the Mission Pacific and the Seabird. But we were put at more of a boutique, very urban feel property that was a little more inset in town, and it was perfect location for the sunset market, for sure. So you can go ahead and share about that, T amara.

[00:22:33.460] – Tamara

Yeah. All of them are really within very short walking distance of each other, so they’re really convenient. But we stayed at the brick hotel, and so that’s a boutique property. I think like 10 rooms. There’s no official check in desk. It’s like self check in, but it’s in a historic building. So you have those exposed brick walls and just really nice decor, big sunny rooms, spacious. If you’re looking for that boutique hotel feel, I would just say if you are a light sleeper, there’s a couple of tips that I would give you. One would be maybe not to get the room that’s facing the front because that lets in a lot of sunshine, so you might want to bring in a sleep mask or something. The other is that they have a rooftop bar and then right behind it there’s a brewery and then right next to it there’s a cocktail bar. So you definitely get a lot of late night music and talking and things. So if you’re an early to bed person, you probably also want to bring some earplugs. But I mean, I love the decor and they also have an oyster bar.

[00:23:36.620] – Kim

Restaurant on the first floor.

[00:23:39.370] – Tamara

It’s just such a great location and really beautiful decor, cool vibes, nice people, the little bit that we did interact with them. Anyway, it’s a slightly different feel than I think maybe your more traditional upscale. One thing I wanted to mention when I looked things up about the seaboard is I saw it’s a Hyatt property.

[00:24:00.820] – Tamara

Just for people that are looking to use Hyatt Point, there’s also Windom right there in town.

[00:24:06.240] – Kim

I saw the Windom there.

[00:24:07.530] – Tamara

Yeah. A couple of other chain properties. T hey’re also really big on vacation rentals. I feel like a lot of times for families or for groups, like a girlfriend get away, a vacation rental is really nice because then you can cook and you can hang out together all in one main space. There’s definitely tons of different options depending on what your budget and interests are.

[00:24:30.920] – Kim

I would say even like the Windom or there is a Spring Hill suites there for Marriott people. But like you said, the mission Pacific and the seaboard, you’re still ocean side and there’s a train track that runs there as well. I think no matter where you stay, you have to be mindful. I mean, I experienced this in Santa Barbara where they’re like, Oh, yeah, we’re right next to the ocean, but we’re also right next to the train track. So you just have to be aware that if you are a sensitive sleeper, whenever you’re staying in certain environments, it’s always a good idea to wear earplugs. I don’t do well with earplugs, but I’m trying to do better about white noise machines and stuff like that. But yeah, I just loved the brick hotel. I thought it was a great feel. They didn’t have coffee in the rooms, but they had a coffee curate down in the lobby, and so I could go get my morning fix every morning. That was really awesome. I’m sure Tamara appreciated that I wasn’t trying to smuggle the coffee maker into the bathroom at 6 AM while she was still trying to sleep.

[00:25:27.160] – Kim

Because she, Tamera does, I don’t know how many of you know this, I’m a coffee addict, and it’s not even good coffee. I just need the caffeine fix in the morning to get my day started and Tamera cannot stand the smell of coffee. When we share rooms, I always feel really bad and guilty when I need the coffee fix. But anyways, yeah, I just loved it. I’d highly recommend it if you’re looking for a getaway or even it doesn’t have to just be girlfriend get away. It’s a great couple get away. We forgot to mention the California surf Museum is also right there and it looked like it was going to be this tiny little spot. They have some really cool exhibits in there. They have Bethany Hamilton’s board that has the shark bite, and they also have some stuff from Kelly Slater. So if you at all know anything about surfing, it’s a cool thing there as well.

[00:26:10.480] – Tamara

Well, it’s definitely a destination for surfers. We learned that the USA surfing team, Federation, whatever, that they use Oceans side as one of their training grounds. But they have really good waves. So it’s definitely really popular. And those different months where they have either amateur or professional competitions as well, which I can imagine would be super cool to watch.

[00:26:34.020] – Kim

Well, we just had fun. We walked out on the pier and there’s always surfers around the pier. So it’s really fun. It’s like another form of people watching. It’s like surfer watching. So it was definitely cool.

[00:26:46.870] – Tamara

So hopefully we’ve inspired you to check out Oceanside. It was definitely new to us and it’s a place I’d be happy to go back to. So I just love discovering little places like that. But after we left Oceanside, we drove up to Anaheim and we had what came together as a totally awesome day at Disneyland. It all started because when I got that cheap flight out to California, I was thinking, Well, what if I flew Hannah from Arizona over to California to see so that we can hang out together? I found a cheap flight then and she had signed up for a trip to Disneyland in November with her school but then got a strep throat at the last minute and couldn’t go. So I was like, Oh, would you want to come out and meet me and go to Disneyland? And then, Kim, you were coming to meet me. And I was like, Well, do you want to go to Disneyland with us? Because I know you’re trying to get down there more and cover a lot of Disneyland. And I’m like, We can be your guinea pigs of what it’s like to be a first Timer at Disneyland.

[00:27:50.240] – Tamara

And then last minute, we had another person join us.

[00:27:53.190] – Kim

Yeah. So it was so cute because we had been talking about the trip, and it was literally, I think, Monday, and I had mentioned that I really wished Lizzie could join us and especially because Tamara and I are not thrill ride people and Hannah is a little more open to riding some of the rides. I looked at flying Lizzie out, but I saw that the airfare was going to be like 600 plus dollars and I just didn’t think that that made a lot of sense. Then Tamara made this slight comment about, Oh, too bad. Do you not have any points that you could use? I totally forgot about all the airline points that I just… I horde them for epic trips, but I got online and looked and I was able to get Lizzie to come in and it worked out. But I could try and get her in almost the same time as Hannah. Unfortunately, her flight got delayed, but we were able to locate a Shake shack and get Hannah some food before we picked up Lizzie in LA, and then we headed into the parks with them the next day.

[00:28:49.890] – Tamara

It was so fun. I’m so glad that it worked out like that because number one, obviously, we’re good friends. It’s nice that our daughters finally get to meet because they’ve heard so much about each other. They’re born in the same month. They have so much in common in so many ways. And we’ve shared so many things over the years, so it’s just nice for them to get a chance to hang out. But then because Lizzie likes riding the coasters and I do not, so I was very excited and I was more than happy just to stand there while they went on ride after ride because just to see them being happy. Kim was the awesome mom in that she was constantly scoring us the next Genie pluses. It was really funny when we had linked all of our tickets together, even though we obviously purchased them separately. But then we’d go through the turnstiles and I’m like, Kim, did you get all of us? It was like following around mom. It’s really funny because I never get to be in the situation where I’m not the one leading.

[00:29:47.140] – Kim

I was just going to think that.

[00:29:48.710] – Kim

I didn’t realize that because even in our own trips, Tamara takes the point so many times and I always feel a little guilty about it. I’m glad I could give you a short little couple of hours of you get in to relax and just follow the leader.

[00:30:03.450] – Tamara

It was funny, though, a couple of times that we split up and you’re like, Oh, we’re here. I’m like, Okay, you realize we don’t really know where that is? Because you guys have obviously been so many times and we e had been to Disney World a few times, but we’re not hardcore Disney people. And then we had never been to Disneyland, so this was all new to us. I know that you love your Disneyland, and I will say that you’ve convinced me why. I feel like especially for someone that is only going for one day, to be able to maximize it by the parks being right across from each other like that and just much more accessible feeling. I actually just love the fact that I could stay off site for a third of the price and walk there without having to worry about paying for parking or waiting for a shuttle that comes once an hour at this amount of time and lining up. And all of that hassle that comes with Disney World, because Disney World, I don’t think we’ve ever stayed on site. We’ve stayed in partner hotels, like from Disney Springs or ones that had a shuttle, but we’ve never actually stayed on site.

[00:31:10.880] – Tamara

And even if you do, it just still depends on what park you’re going to whether or not that’s easy. It was definitely a joy. We spent 15 crazy long hours, which I think for you, you were like, No, this is not how I do it. But your daughter was driving a lot of that, though. Yes. She was very happy to do it. She was so happy.

[00:31:34.460] – Kim

Lizzie’s one of her favorite places. She is a little Disney lover. She just loves the rides. She loves the theming. It’s so funny because she literally just has joy when she’s in that park and knows that she’s doing something fun next. It’s really funny how much it resonates with her. I’m sorry if that makes us dumb or low class to some people, but for some reason, for her, it’s her little joy place.

[00:32:00.410] – Tamara

Don’t say that.

[00:32:02.780] – Kim

I know some people judge Disney and think people who go to Disney are just stupid and they’re wasting money because it is stupid expensive. You and I talked about that. For your one ticket for one day, it was more than what you paid for your airfare to California.

[00:32:13.260] – Tamara

That killed me. That’s wrong. But I don’t mind doing it every now and then because it gives my daughter joy. Would I do it for myself? No, it doesn’t give me that joy. I don’t like crowds. And honestly, the way that you manage it by having the Genie Plus and constantly cycling through those, you have to be on top of it. Because if I was waiting in a 45 minute line to go on, it’s a small world. I’d probably want to jump. It’s just really… And it was also funny for me because you have such nostalgia around it. And so you’re like, Oh, I want to go in it’s a small world. And I’m just like, Well, that’s creepy. Well, look at that. And then I’m there in the little car with you and I’m like, Stop being such a cynic. I’m so Gen X cynical, but I’m like, Why are the Vikings wearing sombreros? But it’s just funny because the rides have come so far and the new rides, like riding like web slingers and obviously the Rise of the Resistance, Millennium Falcon. Any of those newer rides are just so well done that I’m like, Why do you keep this other stuff around?

[00:33:26.880] – Tamara

It’s just such… And why do people still wait in line for it? But that’s just because I don’t have those same feelings. But for me, it’s a joy to give my kid joy and what I want. But luckily, she’s just as joyous to be in places beyond Disney.

[00:33:46.130] – Kim

Yes, exactly. Yeah, no, of course. No, I agree. I think that’s awesome. I realized now, because we were over there and I don’t know for people who don’t know this but it was like Genie Plus was immediately available for us to use. It was just a free use for me for us to go on It’s a Small World and there’s Disney characters in our It’s a Small World. I don’t know about the Disney World one because I never wait in the line for that one. However, I realized now we never did Pirates, and I think Disneyland Pirates is really fun. T hat was one that I still to this day was coming home going, Man, shoot, I didn’t get them on our Pirates. But yeah, I would have rather us go on Pirates than It’s a Small World, trust me. But anyways, I’m glad that you guys.

[00:34:28.990] – Tamara

Did it. We definitely didn’t get to any it. We didn’t get to everything, but we did a number of things twice, and that made the kids really happy. It was fun. For me, getting to see Galaxy’s Edge, I’m like, That’s all I care about? It’s funny because we did the rides together, and then you guys split off to get food, and we spent some more time exploring Galaxy’s Edge. We’re in this little store looking at all the little plushies, and out of the corner of my eyes, I see the Mandolarian walking by with Grogu in his little sling. I was literally like, oh. And I ran away from Hannah to get in front of him because I knew he was coming through that crowd. And then I’m like, Well, you just totally left your kid to go see a character. I’m saying character in quotes because it’s obviously not the real thing. Then I’m like, Well, she’s 18. She’ll find me. Then I got some pictures.

[00:35:21.330] – Kim

Of them. No, it’s totally the way it is. I think that’s one of the things that Disney can do for anyone who’s into media. There’s those moments of just childhood giddiness that adults were so cynical and we’re so busy and we’re so stressed that we forget. S ometimes I think that’s what brings it home to me is getting to see Dale. I’m like, Dale, and knowing that it’s Dale and not Chip, and I know how to figure that out. Seeing him in our age, I’m saying him, but who knows what’s under the costume, but engage with us and try to jump up on the curb. Then we all have to clap for him because he made it. Little things like that. It’s just fun. It just brings this stupid little gitty childhood joy. That’s probably what it’s about for me.

[00:36:08.550] – Tamara

I think it’s the immersiveness of it. That’s why we loved the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and Universal because we’re such Harry Potter fans. And to go and see something brought to life that you’d only see on a screen or in the pages of a book, it’s just fun to feel like you’re part of that world for a little bit. So the escapism of that. I definitely like it. Just to me, just screen out the crowds. But I was honestly really surprised that for a Saturday, I mean, understand it’s February and it was not President’s Day weekend. We obviously tried to avoid that on purpose. It wasn’t too bad, except for that central area where there’s the carousel and a lot of the little kiddy rides, that was crowded. But everything else was really not too bad. I have had my moments at Walt Disney World where I’m just like, Why do people walk so slow? And how do I get around everybody? And also, we’ve often gone to Disney World in June. We’ve been there twice in June and once in September or October. So being in a place… I was actually cold, but being in a place where I’m not just wel turing and wanting to pass out is also really a plus.

[00:37:20.160] – Kim

That’s always a positive. Any travel in general.

[00:37:24.300] – Tamara

Low.

[00:37:24.590] – Kim

Bar. I remember walking around Italy in 40 degrees Celsius temps and I was like, How do you even appreciate anything anymore as your sweat is running into your eyes? But no, it’s good. Well, I’m glad that you guys got to have an experience. I’m glad that I finally got to take charge and share it with you. I think it was funny when you saw… The biggest thing I knew that I wanted you to see was how close together California adventure and Disneyland are. That’s one of the reasons I’ve always liked that is because when the girls were young, we used to do two or three day tickets in the parks, and then we would go have a beach vacation for the other two or three days, or we’d go somewhere else. It’s so nice being able to spend your week vacation, not just doing Disney. I feel like with Disney World, there are a lot of different parks and everything’s so spread out nd then you want to do universal as well. Sometimes you’re stuck going, Oh, I use my entire week to go theme parks every day. And that’s just exhausting. That is one thing I really like about Disneyland is that you can do it on a shorter trip.

[00:38:28.840] – Tamara

Yeah. And that was something that as soon as we walked into the Esplanade, Hannah was like, Wow, the rate there, the rate across from each other. Not even with any prepping, that was her first reaction. I very much thank you for leading us around and helping us find our way and figure out the best ways to maximize our Genie Plus.

[00:38:51.320] – Kim

Investment, which you did. Your $280 ticket.

[00:38:54.350] – Tamara

My God.

[00:38:56.230] – Kim

Just so everyone.

[00:38:56.900] – Tamara

Knows, that’s what.

[00:38:57.560] – Kim

We paid.

[00:38:58.800] – Tamara

If I had to pay that much… If I was paying 200 and some already just for the ticket, I forget how much the Genie Plus add on was, but you’re paying so much for the ticket that if you’re only going one day, I would definitely still do Genie Plus because otherwise you’re not fitting hardly anything in. I can’t imagine doing it otherwise. It pains me to have paid that much for tickets, for sure, but I’m glad that we did it in the way that allows us to get the most out.

[00:39:28.280] – Kim

Of our day. Especially with the kids being into roller coaster rides and stuff, it definitely made a difference.

[00:39:35.910] – Tamara

Cool. Does it make it better that you spent 15 hours there? You really maximized it.

[00:39:41.220] – Kim

I know. Well, I think for me it was… I realized that I’m so spoiled with taking breaks that I forget we never do sit down restaurants and sit down eating. I didn’t think in advance to book anything for us because it’s not something I like to spend my money on because I always say if you’re in the parks, maximize your time, and then little things like that. We always just do quick service, grab and go type food where you just sit quickly and shovel stuff into your mouth and then you’re on the way. But I definitely realized that for all of us, it would have been really good to have a nice sit down hour long meal break. But we figured it out. We made it work. But that was the only thing I would say is that I have. It’s one of those things where you get so used to what you do that I forget what it’s like to do a full day and you definitely need a sit down meal when you’re doing.

[00:40:29.680] – Tamara

That full day. Well, and the other thing I will say is that for all the Disney people that might listen to this, we debated rope drop. Kim asked Hannah, how do you feel about getting up early to get there for rope drop. I think Hannah was a hard no. I forget her exact phrase because she was like, Dislike entirely. I don’t remember her saying something like not excited.

[00:40:54.920] – Kim

Yeah, excited or something.

[00:40:59.120] – Tamara

And I don’t want to blame her. She’s just, they’re flying in. They’ve had a full week of college. They don’t feel like getting up. Well, at least mine didn’t feel like getting up at 6 30 or whatever to get there. But we arrived right at 8 30 where the park it opens at eight. And I found it super easy. There was no crowd walking in. I walked behind like, maybe four people to get through security, and then we went through the turnstiles. It was so easy versus the thought of being in a column of people funneling into security with people all around me. And then the turnstiles. And then the turnstiles. I do not like crowds like that. I would much rather miss out on something than have to deal with that crowd. So I was really happy that we were able to thread that needle and still have a really grateful day without having to be there.

[00:41:50.600] – Kim

Well, and part of that was because we did have Genie Plus. We were starting it… I mean, for people who are Disney freaks, you’ll know this, but we were starting it at Disneyland, not California Adventure. Tamara was willing to pay for things like radar springs, little things like that. There was a few reasons. I knew the questions to ask. Once we figured out where it was, the priorities were then we knew how to make it all work. So it worked out. But anyways, yeah. Well, so that was our little trip. And now we’re back in our… Tamara, our weather is so miserable. It’s supposed to get to 20 degrees overnight next week. I’m like, Why? Why? That darn pucks a 20 fill.

[00:42:28.180] – Tamara

Yeah, it was 60 degrees here when I got back, which was insane. It was like a hundred degree switch, basically. But the other night it was… Actually, Saturday morning I was going to meet a friend to go for a walk and I woke up and I’m like, It’s a real feel of 18. Do we have to walk or can we just meet for breakfast? Meet for… Yeah, exactly. So I’m in that stage. But yeah, hopefully it will start to change. I think we are expecting some rain and or snow possibly this week, but we didn’t even have a bad winter and I’m still over it. I know. Yeah. I’ll look forward to seeing you in sunny Arizona in April.

[00:43:04.080] – Kim

In sunny Arizona in April.

[00:43:06.500] – Tamara

What do you have in between, though?

[00:43:08.300] – Kim

I am going to Florida at the end of March for a conference about cruises.

[00:43:15.400] – Tamara

I am going to Vermont at the end of March, so I will not be hitting the palm trees, but it’s still one of my favorite states. I just have such a f ection from growing up and going up there all the time because my grandmother and aunts and uncles went up there. So I’m going to go actually also do a conference, but also a little bit of exploring as well. So stay tuned for those things.

[00:43:37.640] – Kim

Stay tuned. We’ll check back in with you guys when we’re next able to connect our schedules and get together again.

[00:43:43.640] – Tamara

All right. Take care.

[00:43:44.610] – Kim

Safe travels. Talk to you later.