in 2020, the life of my 10 year passport is coming to an end. so before I renew it for another 10 years filled with international travel, I’m going to let it rest, and My friend kristina & I decided to take on a new feat:

becoming disneyland annual pass holders & attempting to go every month of 2020.

Yup you read that correctly!

Yes I know, I have been to almost every Disneyland Park in the world (Kristina has actually been to them all). All I have left is Tokyo Disneyland. I’ve even run 3 Disneyland half marathons in 3 different parks, one of them being in Paris Disneyland. Surprisingly though, there’s actually a lot we still hadn’t experienced in our home park: Disneyland California & California Adventure.

So with my passport expiring, we thought, why not put the money I normally put towards international travel towards an annual pass & doing everything we’ve never experienced in Disneyland. So for $599, we got the Disney Flex Passport in hopes of attending Lunar New Years in California Adventure, Disney After Dark events throughout the year, Christmas (at least not in the last 10 years), and other Annual Passholder perks like discounts on food & merch.

So what better way to start of our year as Annual Pass (AP) holders, than with Christmas & a few months after, the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge! We were planning to start our AP mid December, but the announcement of AP exclusive pre-sales for 2020 Disney After Dark, had us becoming AP members on the 1st of December!

DAY 1: GALAXY’S EDGE FIRST IMPRESSIONS

On the first night we landed, checked into our hotel & headed straight to Downtown Disney for dinner. Then it was time for the surreal moment of heading to the ticket booths to pick our actually Annual Passholder cards! We were lucky enough to meet up with our friend Paul in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. It was nice to walk in & then skip out on fireworks… just because we could.

DAY 2: DISNEY BOUND

On our first full day, we bee-lined to Star Wars: galaxy’s edge right at park open & rope drop.

First timer tip: head for the Adventureland entrance. By the time we got to the back of the park (at the other entrance by 100 Acre Woods), the line for the Millenium Falcon had wrapped back around to the Adventureland entrance & had reached 50 minutes. We waited for about 15 minutes before we sat there were almost no people in the single rider line, so we jumped the line & was on the ride in 5 minutes tops! With that ride out of the way by 9am, we were free to relax for the rest of our trip.

If you couldn’t tell, I Disneybounded this time a mix of Christmas Mickey & Minnie from main street!

As this is our year of Disney, I wanted to make the most of experience. It was funny though, because as we sped walked into the park at open (towards Star Wars), I could feel the presence of a lady coming up on my right side. I thought she was speed walking to the same thing I was, but she just wanted to scream “WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR SWEATER?” As I kept speed walking with purpose, I yelled back “I MADE IT!” And that was that. She stopped speed walking haha. Guess she wasn’t headed towards Galaxy’s Edge after all.

The other big eventful thing of the day, was our anticipation of the Christmas World of Color show. To ensure optimal seating with minimal waiting, we purchased the dining package at Wine Country Trattoria in California Adventures. For $50, it includes a 3-course meal, a drink & special up front seating for the World of Color show that night. Not bad!

Day 3:

spoiler alert: I forgot to set my alarm clock, and therefore overslept, but my hair wasn’t mad about it though.

As any good friend should, I let Kristina head into the park at open. I got ready as fast as I could & was in by 9:00AM. Today was our more relaxing day & I has excited to rock my new peppermint ears!

And of course, we were excited for characters!

California adventures: Mickey’s Happy holidays parade

If you’re a fan of seeing characters, one of the other fun things to enjoy, was that California Adventures had a brand new holidays parade, with all new original songs. And I’m telling you, it’s definitely character packed. I spent days after trying to find the songs online because I loved it so much.

DAY 4: The Last Day

With 95% of our to do list done, it was nice to have our last day a chill relaxing one. That last 5% just comprised of meeting Christmas Goofy, in front of his house in Toon Town. I caught a glimpse of him the night before but unfortunately he was on his way out for the rest of the day.

In my opinion, his Toon Town outfit for Christmas, was way better than the Main Street outfit. There’s just something about the blue and red combo that’s too aggressive for me & not Christmas-y enough. It’s ok though, because we were ready today & were first in line!

What’s the trick for characters?

Ask a cast member what time the character you want comes out next & where. You’re TECHNICALLY not allowed to start a line for a character that’s not there yet. so about 10 minutes before the time that that character is SUPPOSED to come out, loiter in the surrounding area & keep an eye out. When you see the character come out, just start walking in their direction and follow them as they make their way to their location. Also keep an eye out for the cast member that will be their “handler,” because they will start the line. stick close & you’ll be at the beginning of the line! And boom! Short wait time!

After Goofy it was time to head California Adventure. All the holiday decor in Disneyland is pretty cute, but for us, Christmas in Car Land is the most beautiful & photogenic!