The most Magical Place(s) on Earth

I’m back! Hope you’ve all been well and are getting those turkeys ready for my third favorite holiday of the year, Thanksgiving😊 The only holiday where it is remotely acceptable to make a whole bunch of food that will inevitably end up in the trash and to drink after your aunt that you haven’t seen in ten years asks you who you’re voting for in the 2024 election. But in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I just want to say that I am super grateful for those of you who read these posts week after week. We’ve gotten to the point where I no longer force anyone to do it, so if you’re still reading them of your own free will (or you have notifiications on to alert you when I post), thank you for being an awesome friend. Without being too cringey, having a blog has always been a dream of mine and even if it’s a super small thing barely anyone reads, it’s still nice to live that dream.

Cringey note aside, let’s get into some travel stories from Disneyland and Las Vegas! I am thinking of starting a category of this blog titled “Lost in Transit” since I do enjoy traveling so much… so that will probably happen sometime in the immediate future. Like I said, we ended up not going to Vancouver, but I will definitely be planning that once I’m back in Seattle during the spring months (Oh, yeah- I will be back in Chicago for 1.5 months in a few days), so look out for that too.

Starting with Disney- this was a seriously epic trip. I owe a lot of that to my personal tour guide, Yami, who dealt with retelling me the story of Star Wars at least five times since I refuse to watch it. On that note, if you’re planning a trip to either of the Disneys- I would HIGHLY recommend the following tips to ensure you and your travel partners have a great time:

1.) Set a budget

I know, I know, what a lame first tip. BUT, I am not kidding: Disney drains your money like some sort of vacuum. Between Disney and Vegas, I’m not even sure where we spent more money… but I would say they were equally evil in forcing me to sell my soul. $40 for mickey mouse ears, $20 for a plastic margarita cup, $50 for a magnetic Grogu (whatever that is, I’m told its from star wars)…. Be warned.

2.) Don’t be lame like me and buy/wear a cool Disney sweatshirt

I’ve never been to Disney, let alone Disney when its cold, but this time around, I wore absolutely nothing of Disney content to both Disneyland and Universal. For universal, though, Yami thankfully had a closet full of Slytherin clothes she lent me, but don’t be lame like me. The first sweatshirt I saw that I wanted, the girl next to me told me that it was the one the entire park had. I refused to spend money on it and then broke down 5 hours in and bought myself the sweatshirt. Point being- buy yourself the damn sweatshirt.

3.) Download the Disney app

Yami knew that my #1 one thing I wanted to do was see a bunch of random princess characters, but we could not figure out where they would be and the only time I got close to seeing one was when I screamed that I saw Aurora and Yami looked at me point-blank and told me it was a five year old in an Aurora dress. I quieted down after that. By the end of the day, we realized all of the character sightings were found on the app… so use that, I guess.

4.) DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, get drunk before riding the Millenium Falcon

Yeah…. This is probably the highlight of the entire day. Yami and I went to the star wars cantina, drank some fancy beverages (by the way, DO day drink in a Disneyland park), and then hobbled over to the MF, where we were asked to pilot the ship. I had been expecting an ordinary ride where you do nothing and reap the benefits, but unfortunately, this ended up being the one ride where you actually DO something. Luckily, another nice couple there piloted the ship while Yami and I acted as the shooters, but unluckily, they were also drunk….so our ship crashed badly and R2D2 (I think that’s that robot things name) told us that we were some of the worst crew he had ever seen.

5.) DO get a Genie Quick Pass Thing

Yami insisted that the way to do Disneyland correctly was to get one of those “fancy-cut-in-line” things, and while I was skeptical that we would need it on a Friday, this is the one thing we definitely did right. Let’s just say I am very ambitious and wanted to make it to every CA adventure and Disneyland attraction, and we would not have made it to that ridiculous goal without our Genie Pass.

6.) Arrive early to the Fantasmic Show

Because of #5, I had scheduled five attractions for the end of the day, forcing us to run between Space Mountain, The Haunted Mansion, and the Fantasmic show. I will now make the point that I believe Fantasmic to be the most worth-it think at Disneyland…that is, unless you get stuck behind a tree like Yami and I did. Because we only arrived 5 min prior to start, we stood behind a huge oak tree (ugh, why can’t they just cut them all down….LOL) which made it kind of hard to spot Mickey, the Evil Queen, and anyone else of importance.

7.) The Haunted Mansion…..ISN’T actually haunted

Yeah… I don’t know how else to say this except that I spent the entire day telling Yami I had been gearing up and bracing myself to conquer my fears and go on this ride, and I couldn’t figure out why Yami didn’t seem scared in the slightest for it. Turns out it’s just a “Nightmare before Christmas” reenactment (would you be surprised to find I haven’t seen this movie either), and not scary at all. So I WILL be suing for false advertising….

8.) WATCH the movies

So two weeks before leaving for this trip, Yami discovered I’d never seen: Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Pirates of the Caribbean, Monsters Inc, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars, Inside Out, and pretty much any other Pixar movie. She gave me homework to watch those movies, and I can confirm that does indeed make the experience better.

9.) Don’t compare Disneyland to Disneyworld

Yeah….I was expecting Disneyland to be just as large, surprising, and versatile as Disneyworld. The only thing I think it measured up to was the money spent there. After doing both, I would say that they’re just two very different experiences. Land brings more of the nostalgia. While the castle isn’t anywhere near as cool, it is an amazing blend of different Disney stories and it’s also the original. Which I guess is pretty cool or whatever.

10.) Bonus: If you have braces, do not eat caramel apples in line with nothing but a plastic knife

I guess this one is just for the Yamis of the world, so I won’t drain it. Just 10/10 do not expect me to babybird any caramel apple for you because I’ve learned this isn’t very effective…at all.

So there we have it- Disneyland for the win. But what of the city that never sleeps? What happened when my mom and I tackled Las Vegas? Well here are the Sharon Zavlin Top Ten Las Vegas tips:

1.) Check the weather before booking open air jeep tours (or ten times a day, for everything)

I used to doubt my mom checking the weather every ten seconds, but if visiting Vegas in the middle of November taught me anything its…to question absolutely everything. And that wind + a jeep going 100 mph up a mountain = a recipe for disaster. Though if you do end up freezing your tits off in Vegas, there’s always the certified Zavlin method- find some $5 shots of Jack Daniels and Fireball on the strip and take them (or sip if you’re my mom) to get warm. The exact convo between my mom and I went like this :

Mom: “Wow $5 shots! People must be buying a lot today to get warm.”

Me: “Mom….I HIGHLY doubt many people buy shots in Vegas for the purpose of getting warm”

2.) FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING, go see The Mentalist at V Theatre in Planet Hollywood

This was EPIC- we basically watched this guy read a bunch of randos minds(sadly, though, not my own). It was only $30 and the highlight of my entire trip, so do yourselves a favor and fly to Vegas right now to see that show.

3.) Pick wisely for Cirque Du Soleil

On the other side of the coin, be mindful which shows you see if you’re interested in a circus show, since Vegas offers close to a million options. This time around, we saw Ka, which my mom enjoyed, though the storyline left me a little bit confused and a little bit close to taking a nap. If you’re a fan of the Beatles, I would hands-down recommend Love, an acrobatics show to the Beatles music, or even “O” for some water acrobatics.

4.) Go try “Flights” in Planet Hollywood resort

If you’re an indecisive menu-orderer like me, Flights will be your dream come true, so listen up Libras. This place gives you the chance to pick drink flights of Mimosas, Martinis, frozen Daiquiris, and Margaritas for only $15 (basically $15 to get drunk, which absolutely no one in Vegas will give you), followed by flights of your favorite foods, like shrimp, meat skewers, and even salads. And then get a dessert flight after…. A real dream come true.

5.) Worth a gamble?

Yeah this isn’t advice but more of a warning- those Vegas slot machines, and most of the games as well, are rigged. I think Blackjack is your best chance to win something, but I managed to not win this either. And if that doesn’t convince you of my misfortune in gambling, I put a bunch of chips in roulette on Red 16, having a strong inkling that it would fall on that number. I was wrong…but guess what number fell out next time around? RED. FREAKING. 16. That $140 would have been nice… it still hurts.

6.) Get yourself a huge slushie alc beverage the size of half your body

After seeing everyone and their mother with one of these, I fell pray to my own curiosity and got one. Second to flights, the best way of attempting to get drunk on a budget in Vegas. That’s all that needs to be said.

7.) Sing along at Harrods Piano Bar

12/10 experience, so I would definitely recommend living in this area, and I would also recommend trying out this bar. With dueling piano battles between the men and ladies and awesome singers all night, my mom and I couldn’t force ourselves to leave. One of my favorite moments of the trip for sure.

8.) Don’t underestimate the power of marketing and sales

In line with #5, everything in Las Vegas has a purpose, and that purpose is to get you to waste money at the casinos for no reason. Remember that the next time you find yourself running from one end of a hotel to the other, trying to figure out why it couldn’t just have an exit door or something.

9.) Don’t attempt an escape room with only two people

My mom and I did an escape room. We….didn’t make it out. The guy told us two people was plenty. It….wasn’t. 10/10 would recommend more people….so stay tuned for when the entire family gets together and conquers an escape room.

10.) Go see the complimentary shows, and take advantage of the city (right back)

Perhaps despite #8, Las Vegas is truly an incredibly on-the-rise, beautiful city. I had a phenomenal time with my mom going to all of the complimentary shows and people watching old people go broke at the casinos, so take advantage of all of that. Enjoy Vegas for exactly the showstopper that it is.

Ultimately, both Las Vegas and Disney/Universal were super legendary, fun experiences, especially back-to-back. They’ve definitely worn me out- or maybe that’s just the being at Seatac airport four times in two weeks (which is definitely four times too many) and surviving the great war for Taylor Swift tickets…. So I think it is time to take a nap and count down the days until I’m back home in Chicago.

Thanks for following along as always… and I hope your families, friends, and YOU have a happy, healthy, special Thanksgiving holiday.