This past weekend my mom had to attend a conference down in Anaheim, CA so I decided to tag along and spend my final free summer at Disneyland. We arrived late Friday afternoon so didn't much besides eat dinner and wander around Downtown Disney. Saturday I spent 15 of the 16 hours they were open at Disneyland and made it through all three doors of the Indiana Jones ride in 3 tries (breaking my previous record of 7 tries). (I also made my sister jealous by letting her know Saturday was apparently unofficial "Star Wars" fan day at Disneyland.) Sunday, since I had spent the previous day at Disneyland, I decided to spend the day at Disney's California Adventure. I got there when they opened and headed straight for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. I was in the third or fourth group of people to go on the ride and when I got off I noticed a couple of official Disney people standing around the exit. I didn't pay much attention to them since I just figured they were checking on the cast members running the ride. However, shortly after I exited the gift shop, they pulled me aside and started asking me questions (mainly if I'd been on the ride before). I talked to them a bit about the ride and my previous trips to Disneyland/World and then they asked if I worked for Disney/knew anyone who worked for Disney, if I was over 18, and if I had government-issued ID on me. A little confused, I answered their questions (no, yes, yes) and then they told me about Disney's Year of a Million Dreams. Apparently Disney is giving away a bunch of prizes this year to people who go to their parks. Some of the prizes are small (like a special pair of Mickey ears) and some are big (like a Disney cruise). Once they finished explaining, they informed me that I had won one of the bigger prizes. My prize: a night in the Disney Dream Suite in Disneyland above the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
I was a little skeptical at first, thinking I had to sign up for something (like an annual pass), but nope - they're literally giving these things away. (Although I will have to deal with taxes later.) So I figured why not? If my mom didn't want to join me (you could have up to 5 guests), I figured I'd just spend a night in a nice suite in Disneyland. So I signed away all my rights the paperwork and accepted my prize. (Can I just say that it was pretty fitting that as I was signing the legal stuff "Seize the Day" from "Newsies" started playing over the loud speaker? I think it was a sign.) Along with a night in Disneyland, the prize included a welcome in New Orleans square by a jazz band (I declined), an opportunity to be the grand marshal of the current parade (again, I declined but made a family from Sydney, Australia very happy since they were chosen after I declined), an opportunity to watch the parade from a reserved spot (that I accepted), dinner at the Blue Bayou restaurant the Pirates of the Caribbean ride goes through (I accepted), an opportunity to watch the Fantasmic! show from the balcony of the suite & have the spotlight on us for a few seconds (I accepted since I declined the grand marshal position), an after-hours tour of Disneyland (we accepted), and a character breakfast the next morning (both my mom's and my first character breakfast even though we've been to both Disneyland/World before).
We checked into the suite Sunday afternoon and holy cow, there are no words to describe how freaking amazing it is. I was a little afraid to relax/sit on anything it was so nice. And, since it's Disney, there's a clock that makes things happen in the main room every hour (music, figurines moving, etc.), buttons in both bedrooms to make things move (a train goes around one room and the other one is "Peter Pan" related), and in the bathroom, a button that makes stars appear in the tile over the bathtub while music plays.
They gave us robes & slippers to wear during the after-hours tour and while they let us keep the slippers, we didn't get to keep the robes (which I'm disappointed about since they were really comfortable). There was also a fancy chocolate display which we saved for my dad (although my mom tipped the box over a few times on the way home so it doesn't look so nice now), an engraved crystal fuit bowl with the date of our stay & our name, an autograph book for getting the characters' autographs, and a Year of a Million Dreams stuffed Mickey.
Overall I have to say this was my best trip to either Disneyland or Disney World ever. I'm tempted to never go back since I don't think anything could top this. Unfortunately, now it's back to the real world which means trying to find a relatively cheap, decent apartment in an expensive city.
Disclaimer: If anyone from Disney finds this post, I read through all the stuff I signed and I didn't see anything that said I could not take/post pictures of the suite. If there is and I missed it, let me know and I will take them down immediately.
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