A Disney Christmas

To me, there's nothing better than spending a day at the Disneyland Resort during the holiday season - even if it's cold and rainy! Last week, we shared a wonderful day as a family and got to experience a few new things that had never seen or done before.

The first thing we did was purchase these awesome rain ponchos for everyone:

The ponchos did a great job protecting us from the rain!

All of us...Pinga is in there somewhere.

If you think you can't enjoy Dole Whip in the rain, you are wrong.

We got to attend a super fun reception, which had lots of games, character meet and greets, coloring, dancing, yummy snacks and other activities like face painting and a caricature artist. This was also the perfect way to dry off from the rain!

Beautiful Setup

Yummy "Frozen" cupcakes!

Bean showing off his skills

Coloring was a big hit

Allow me to take a minute and talk about Pinga...Pinga is the sweetest and most loving little girl. She's also quite wary of strangers and takes a while to warm up to you. She has never let a costumed character touch her - until now. She expressed interest in taking a photo with Daisy, and even gave her a hug afterwards. This is just a small example of the Disney magic radiating throughout the parks.

This is also the first time Pinga agreed to get her face painted. At first she didn't want to do it, but when I said she could have something sparkly on her face, she immediately wanted to do it. Another success!

What's a trip to the Disneyland Resort during the holidays without Santa? Elias and Company at Disney California Adventure Park has a wonderful Santa for children to meet, and without much of a line either.

Christmas time also means you can catch A Christmas Fantasy parade, which is Disney holiday splendor at its best. It's a Small World Holiday and Haunted Mansion Holiday are also decked out and tons of fun. We also visited the princesses in Fantasyland, which was a huge hit with Pinga. Bean even got in on the action!

Rapunzel and Flynn Rider!

Something we had never checked out before, but did this time because it was rather chilly outside, was the Innoventions attraction. We were impressed with the interactive exhibits and how much there was to do here. So glad we visited!

A little gaming

Suiting up as Iron Man. Bean LOVED this.

We ended our incredible Disney day with a viewing of World of Color - Winter Dreams. It's hosted by Olaf the Snowman from the movie Frozen, which we all loved. And if you thought that Olaf couldn't get any "cooler", he does. He is magnificent here, and I got a little teary eyed at the end.

If you need just one reason to visit the Disneyland Resort for the holidays, this is it.

*Thank you to Disneyland Resort for inviting us to experience holiday time.