The holidays are in full swing at the Disneyland Resort, and magic is in the air!

Santa Mickey and Minnie Claus are ready to make your holiday wishes come true — or at least help you enjoy a churro. They’re givers.

Tune in next week for more holiday fun from the Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World.

This post is part of UpTake’s Friday Family Series. If you would like to see your family vacation photo here please submit it via the contact link in the sidebar, subject line: Family Photo.

Photo: Whit Honea

It’s beginning to look a lot like Halloween! If you live near (or plan to visit) Disneyland between now and Halloween make sure to check the schedule for Mickey’s Halloween Party. It’s scary fun (not really scary).

I’ll write more about this later — I’m still in a sugar coma at the moment.

UPDATED: Link above is to full coverage.

This post is part of the UpTake Friday Family Series.

Photo: W. Honea

This past weekend I attended the D23 Expo in Anaheim, CA to see what all of the hullabaloo was regarding the event. Turns out, said hullabaloo is well-founded.

D23 is the official fan club of all things Disney, and while the event offered a number of perks and benefits to its members, expo tickets were available to the general public (now at Disney prices!).  All were welcome to enter.

The expo featured panels, sessions and meet and greet opportunities with Disney brass, legends and stars. For instance, in a two hour period I was a few feet away from John Lasseter, Kermit the Frog (the REAL Kermit the Frog), Miss Piggy (the REAL Miss Piggy), Jason Segel, Robert Downey, Jr. (actually, all of the Avengers minus Captain America and the Hulk, yes that means the beefcake from Thor and Scarlett Johansson were also there), Billy Crystal, and the cast and artists behind a number of Disney favorites, be they parks, movies, Marvel, Muppet or Pixar. It was really impressive. Also, churros. Read More »

The best way to make Disneyland, and life, more enjoyable: jazz hands.

How to survive Disneyland? That seems kind of silly, doesn’t it? Isn’t surviving Disneyland the same as enjoying Disneyland? I should think so. However, there are some among us (you know who you are) that feel otherwise. They look at a day in a crowded theme park like the rest of us look at a day in the DMV — long lines, too hot and very expensive.  Man, the DMV sucks.

Disneyland, thankfully, doesn’t. To turn that frown upside down I am offering some helpful tips for creating a Disneyland vacation that should make even the most cynical crack the occasional smile (someone buy that person a Grumpy t-shirt). Churros not included. Read More »