Easter is definitely one of my favorite holidays. I love when the whole world awakens in spring and the flowers and trees come out of hiding again. I love the reason we celebrate and the joy that lives in my heart during the season. The only thing better than celebrating Easter is celebrating it at […]

Thanks, once again, to Focused on the Magic for hosting this week’s Disney Wordless Wednesday!  It’s the first Wednesday of February, so this week’s theme is your calendar shot for the month.  This picture was taken several years ago at the Koi ponds at the Disneyland Hotel, which were unfortunately taken out as part of […]

One thing I remember quite vividly from my first trip to Disneyland is the giant “shadowbox” displaying Disney memorabilia at the entrance to Disneyland, as part of the 35th Anniversary celebration. To my knowledge, the collection debuted for this anniversary, but if you have more facts about it, please let me know in the comments! […]

My Vinylmation obsession collection is reaching all new heights with the many new releases hitting DisneyStore.com lately.  But, my favorite piece arrived yesterday… the 9″ Retro Disneyland vinyl, part of the Park #5 series.  I LOVE this vinyl.  The colorful blocks remind me of the light-up wall at the now-long-gone Fantasy Waters show at Disneyland Hotel, […]

I suppose this one can’t all be blamed on changes to the Disneyland Hotel, but the view from those well-loved balconies had certainly transformed over the years.  The first time I stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, we got a “lagoon-view” room in the Bonita Tower.  Sadly, there are no lagoon views these days, nor is […]

Scavenger Hunt Sunday started EARLY!  We were up, registered, and waiting for the hunt to begin long before I would normally get up for work. 🙂  Clue book in hand (but still securely sealed), we waited for the official start.  The teams were broken into three groups – one group started in Disneyland, one group […]

Looks sunny… Things are looking brighter than ever here at Rays of Disneyland!  A huge thanks to all the new readers who have come here from NaBloWriMo.  Welcome… I hope you stay and play awhile. 🙂  NaBloWriMo really got the ball rolling here and November will continue with near daily updates.  Here’s the plan so […]

Before Downtown Disney offered innumerable menu choices, the Disneyland Hotel served up its own assortment of enjoyable restaurants.  My favorite was the cult-classic Monorail Cafe.  If you are unfamiliar with the Monorail Cafe, it was an up-beat diner situated across from the Monorail station.  However, one of my favorite Disneyland Hotel memories was at Stromboli’s […]

When Downtown Disney at Disneyland opened in 2001, my excitement was for a new park, a new hotel, and a new shopping district was tempered by my disappointment in the changes made to the Disneyland Hotel.  The renovations began in 1998 and by 2001 gone were the only remaining buildings from 1955, the Monorail Cafe, […]

Welcome to NaBloWriMo, Rays of Disneyland style!  For those of you that aren’t familiar with NaBloWriMo, it’s a challenge to write one blog post a day, every day in the month of October… YIKES!  I’m going to do my best to keep up, so here’s the plan: Mondays will continue my Classic Disneyland Hotel series, […]