Category Archives: Vacation

iPad Mini Giveaway: Jenny Tsa & Ivan Lai– Cruise Planners

Posted on by

Jenny Tsa & Ivan Lai – Cruise Planners

By Erin

Besides horses, traveling is another passion of mine that I just can’t ever seem to get enough of.  Ever since I was in high school I grew a love for cruises. The second my friend popped in a video from Disney Cruise Line on what a Disney Cruise had to offer, I’ve been hooked ever since!  After many years of saving up my nickels and dimes I was able to finally go on my first Disney Cruise after I graduated from college in January 2005 with the dear friend  of mine who had originally shown me the Disney Cruise Line video back in high school! Here is a small handful of photos to get you as excited about cruising as I am! You know what would also make cruising even more exciting? Wining a new iPad Mini to document all the good times on the cruise!

Bon Voyage Drinks! I truly cannot wait to do this again!

Our Ship! The Disney Wonder. For my next cruise, the Disney Fantasy is what I have my eye on.

Cinderella!  Many Disney Princesses await you on a Magical Disney Cruise!

Disney’s own private island, Castaway Cay! Such a beautiful sight. There is an ADULT’s ONLY beach too! Talk about paradise.. :)

Beautiful sunset in the Bahamas!

Disney Gift Cards I’ve been saving up from Birthday Gifts and Christmas Gifts since 2008 so I can go on my next Disney Cruise! There are 31 of them here so far… it’s all I’ve asked for, for the last 4 years!! I will be contacting Jenny and Ivan soon to book my 7 day Disney Cruise to the Caribbean!

Now that you are hopefully in cruise mode, let me tell you a little bit more about Jenny Tsa and Ivan Lai and the AWESOME iPad Mini Giveaway you probably came here for!

Jenny Tsa and Ivan Lai are based in San Gabriel Valley: Cruise and Land Vacation Planners. 

I’m helping Jenny Tsa & Ivan Lai who are cruise planners from www.FunCruisesForYou.com promote an iPad Mini giveaway. I am more than happy to help them out with this as anything having to do with travel or cruises (especially Disney Cruises) is something that I am deeply passionate about. Someday when I am ready to retire, it is my ultimate goal to go on one of those Around the World Cruises. I will for sure be looking up help from Jenny and Ivan when the time comes to help me get the best deal for that trip!  They don’t charge a fee for their services and will make your vacation plans effortless by hooking you up with the best deals out there.  A customized package is designed based on your travel preferences. Jenny and Ivan’s top priority is to help get you the most out of your travel investment by extending round-the-clock service while defining your travel needs precisely.

Jenny and Ivan are graciously sponsoring a giveaway for their Facebook Fans!

To enter the iPad Mini Giveaway, just click here:

iPad Mini Giveaway!!!

It is super easy to enter through Facebook, and for each friend you refer you’ll get an additional 5 entries! The giveaway will be held as soon as they get 500 fans, so hurry on over and enter! The sooner they reach 500 fans, the sooner you could be holding that iPad Mini in your hands. Open to US Residents ONLY. +21 years.  ;-) GOOD-LUCK!!

 

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Jenny Tsa & Ivan Lai – Cruise Planners (www.FunCruisesForYou.com). Horsing Around In LA is not responsible for sponsor prize shipment. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I cannot wait to go on my next cruise!

Cars Land at Disney California Adventure Park

Posted on by

If you have not yet been to Disney California Adventure Park, then you should make sure to put that on your list of things to do the next time you are in the Orange County or Los Angeles area. If you are an annual pass holder like myself, then what are you waiting for?? If you are sadly blocked out for the summer, then make sure to go the first day you are able to! It is well worth it. Disney got it right and did a marvelous job designing this land, tailoring it so that there is something for everyone here. It’s NOT just for kids…. ;-)

This was my first time to California Adventure since they finished construction on the park and opened up Cars Land, so I still have much left to explore and see myself. This is a list of my “Must-Do’s” and “Must-Sees” thus far while you are in the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. FAST PASS/RIDES– if you get to the park early enough in the day, as soon as you enter the park make sure to get a Fast Pass for the Radiator Springs Racers ride! Otherwise if you get there later in the day like we did around 6:30pm, go eat dinner first. The line will die down a little bit and it will save you at least an hour or so! The line for that ride was 195 minutes when we got there. After we had some dinner and drinks and looked around a little, the line had died down to 120 minutes! Notice the wait time listed on the right tire! LOL ;-) *Radiator Springs Racers is an AWESOME ride, so make sure to hit up that ride! It’s especially awesome when your car wins like ours did! ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. FOOD & DRINKS– Be sure to try some of the amazing food and drinks offered in Cars Land! We ate at Flo’s for dinner and then grabbed some treats at the Cozy Cone for the long line awaiting us at Radiator Springs Racers. I had a vegetarian potato bake with pasta salad. It was very light and refreshing for a warm evening. My friend had some Sangria (they have a few wine choices at Flo’s to choose from), which I had a taste of. It was pretty good! My FAVORITE drink I found though was at the Chili Cone Queso at the Cozy Cone! They have a Vodka Pomegranate Limeade drink, can you say YUM!!!!??? You MUST try it. The Chili Cone Queso was good too, and I am not even a Chili person. So that says a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. LIGHTS AT NIGHT– Be sure to stick around until the sun goes down to see how awesome Cars Land is at night when it lights up! It is sure to awe you, and will give you tons of photo ops for you photographers out there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. DJ Dance Party– Perfect for kids, or if you just want to listen to the music, people watch and enjoy a drink outside by Flo’s it’s fun for everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. STARBUCKS– You can use your pass holder discount AND your Starbucks card to get your Starbucks fix at California Adventure. The mark up on price isn’t too horrible either. There was about a 32 cent difference between what my Grande Mocha Frap would cost me at the local Starbucks near my house and what it cost at Disney.

6. TREATS– You MUST try some of the delectable treats offered in the shops on Buena Vista Street, the main street when you first walk into California Adventure. Chocolate Covered Brownie Truffle Micky Ears? Don’t mind if I do!! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is just a tiny glimps of what Dinsey California Adventure has to offer. I hope to add more to this list as I get a chance to explore the place more in depth. Will you be making a trip to Cars Land anytime soon? Or maybe you have gone already? I’d love to hear all about it!

LA Girl In Minnesota… Guest Post from Jamie–> Minnesota Girl In LA

Posted on by

I had also asked Jamie, over at Minnesota Girl in LA  to write-up a post for me since I am visiting her home state of Minnesota right now! Here is her wonderful post about fun things to do and see if you are ever in the state of 10,000 lakes… Minnesota!! :)

Erin asked me to write about my favorite Minnesota places since she’s out visiting there right now.  Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve had to sit down and think about some of my favorite places from the state I grew up in.

I grew up in the Twin Cities area, to be more specific, the southern suburbs.  Think Lakeville, Apple Valley, Eagan, Burnsville area, or south of St. Paul.  
Some of my all-time favorite places in Minnesota were:

  1. Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

Just being able to walk along these gardens during the winter or even the spring time to see what artists would create, or more so, try to pin point what they were thinking was enjoyable for me.  And of course, the iconic Cherry in the Spoon Picture.

 

 

 

 

 

Cherry and the Spoon

  1. Lake Calhoun

I loved to rollerblade, and often, during the summer I would go to one of the popular Minnesota lakes to rollerblade around.  Lake Calhoun became my favorite the year before I decided to move away, but Lake Nokomis was another favorite of mine.

 

  1. Cosetta’s Italian Deli

I love Italian, and one of my favorite restaurants to visit in Downtown St. Paul was Cosetta’s.  It was a very well-known restaurant and deli, and no matter what time of the day it was there was line for their food.  They also had a shop where you could take home some of your favorites.  

 

  1. My favorite museums included the St. Paul History museum, The Science Museum, and The Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

 

 

  1. Mall of America

The biggest mall in the United States was the Mall of America.  This mall even had an indoor amusement park inside, what isn’t there to love about it?  I use to take the bus after school to just hang out at the mall.  Most likely I was a huge part of the reason why a curfew time of 7pm was given to children under 16 years old of age every Friday and Saturday evening.  

 

  1. St. Anthony Falls

It was just a truly beautiful area along Minneapolis to walk along, and of course see the hydraulic falls in action.

 

  1. Minnehaha Falls and Fort Snelling Area

These places were pretty close to one another although they were usually different visits.  The Minnehaha Falls area is a very beautiful area, and of course I loved driving around the houses in the area because they were a sign of the times, and the houses had a ton of character.  

 

 

 

 

 

Fort Snelling Area

  1. Grand Ave.

This place had some pretty great shops and boutiques to walk through with some great eateries.   You can’t go there without stopping in the Grand Ole Creamery.  Amazing ice cream served up for you.

 

  1. Uptown

Another fun little area with shops and boutiques to walk and browse through.  

   10. The North Shore

During the weekends, if I could, I would love taking the 3 hour drive up north to head to Duluth, MN.  I loved looking out at Lake Superior, and of course driving even further north along the north shore.  This was truly my zen place of Minnesota.  I didn’t get up there often, but anytime I did I was instantly relaxed, and my stress disappeared.  These were just some of my favorite things to do in Minnesota, the place I grew up in.

 

 

 

 

 

North Shore