I may not be a very social and extrovert person but I do have a close knit group of true friends who are always there to support me. While visiting one of my friends living in my town for dinner, I was playing with his kids while his wife was serving dinner. Though I am not too good at handling kids, I could easily connect with his kids – an 8 year old daughter and 6 year old son. I had promised them that I would take them to Disneyland for a vacation without expecting it to happen anytime soon.

But, things didn’t turn out as I expected and my friend and his wife had to go to another city to visit his ailing mother. They did not want to take their children as it would be difficult looking after them while they do rounds at the hospital. So they left both their kids at my place and the kids immediately reminded me of my promise. (Now, I realize why it is said that present day kids are smart and intelligent). I could not and did not want to dishearten the children by saying that we could not go on a trip. They were too excited to see their cartoon characters come to life. But I did not have enough money to afford a 3 day vacation at Disneyland and was unsure what to do. Then I decided to go ahead with the trip and manage things within a budget.

I was glad to know that the grocery store, where I purchase my household needs, offers discount Disneyland tickets to its preferred member (and luckily I was one of them). We used my car for driving to Disneyland as the distance was not much and the drive with the kids made it even more entertaining. Also it was not a public holiday o r the peak season, so we could expect lower rates at the park. For staying during the trip, I was able to find a budget hotel in the areas surrounding the resort. The biggest advantage was that it had a shuttle connecting to Disneyland and offered breakfast. Though I would have loved to look for accommodation at Disneyland itself, the rates there were higher than my budget. So, we would have a hearty breakfast at the hotel and then catch a shuttle to reach Disneyland. I also carried some pack snacks along for the kids simultaneously avoiding eating at high priced restaurants at the park. I bought a refillable mug for the kids which they enjoyed using it to get free refills of beverages. Disney has so many things to offer that we felt even three days seemed less to cover the entire thing. We visited one of the two entertainment complexes that had free admission and also Downtown Disney. We spent our last afternoon at the beaching building castles and enjoying dips into the water.

I was too pleased to visit this ‘Happiest Place on the Earth’ and satisfied that I did not break the children’s hearts of going to this dreamland.