Uncategorized | SoCal Savvy Mom

Sep 13
2014

Pumpkin Station is the fall activity the whole family will enjoy! Choosing a pumpkin is one of my child’s favorite things to do around Halloween time (besides all the candy of course!) Pumpkin Station has five locations throughout San Diego with locations in Del Mar, Mission Valley, El Cajon, National City and Chula Vista.

With fun rides, slides, play centers, petting zoos and much more the kids will have a ball! Pumpkin Station has a variety of pumpkins, gourds, corn, corn stalks, and pumpkin carving kits. All locations open on September 26th this year with the exception of Mission Valley which opens on October 3rd.

Please note the Circle Buzz deal is not valid at the Rancho Bernardo or Bonita farm locations. But all locations mentioned above will accept the voucher.

On to the deal… for only $16 you will receive a $32 ride package at Pumpkin Station. This is an amazing deal, hurry and purchase one now, it has sold out in the past few years. For more information or to purchase this deal click here.

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Sep 12
2014

Disney Cruise Line… Disney Dream

by Nicole Connerley

The Disney Cruise Line and our trip on the Disney Dream. This is NOT a paid post this was our vacation (one of many vacations) this vacation was a cruise my amazing mother in law took my son and I on. We are not selling anything, just sharing our experience.

It is exactly as it sounds, it truly is a dream aboard the Disney Dream Cruise ship. SoCal Savvy Mom set sail in March of 2014 for a 4-night Bahamian cruise. As soon as you enter the terminal you know this is not an ordinary cruise. Everything is Disney, and I do mean everything, I have never seen Mickey ears in so many different ways than on the Disney Dream.

Upon entering the ship, you are greeted by your family name and all the crew members clap and welcome you aboard. As if that wasn’t surprise enough, the whole gang there to greet us. Mickey, yep he was there, Minnie, yes her too, Goofy, him as well, Donald was there too and you encouraged to have your pictures taken with them. My child is a little weary of characters he always has been, and rather than force him to take a picture my mother-in-law and I decided we wanted our picture with Goofy!

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Disney sends you all the information you need to plan your trip months before hand. One of the things they mentioned was your state-room may not be ready when you board the ship, however you are welcome to start enjoying the pools. We wore our bathing suits onboard so we could go straight to the pool while our state-room was being prepared for us. The Aquaduck is an amazing enclosed slide and also our reason for choosing the Disney Dream. Disney has different ships with different highlights, the Dream cost a little more but was very worth it.

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The AquaDuck water coaster boasts a thrilling 4-deck drop and safely carries guests over the side of the ship and back.

AquaDuck is the first water coaster on a Disney Cruise Line ship—or, for that matter, any cruise ship—setting the standard for height, length and excitement. It was our favorite thing to do together while on the Disney Dream because it was so exciting! For a full length video of the AquaDuck in action click here. Make sure your child is tall enough before you board, children must be at least 42 inches tall to ride with an adult or 53 inches to ride by themselves.

When choosing a state-room there are many options on the Disney Dream. The options range from a standard inside room to Royal family suite with concierge. Because my child was 7 at the time we set sail my husband did not feel comfortable with us having a room with a verandah. We decided upon the Deluxe Family Oceanview Stateroom, and we were very overjoyed when we saw our stateroom. The room was larger than we thought it would be, we had more than enough room for everything and everyone. Disney thought of things you will need that you have never thought of before!

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The split bath allows for multiple people to use the facilities at the same time. The full bathroom includes a vanity, sink and full tub/shower, while the half bath has a vanity, sink and toilet. Both luxurious and practical, most of the staterooms have round tubs with a built-in seat, a rain-style shower and a hand-held showerhead—perfect for bathing children.

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This is part one of our series on the Disney Cruise Line, the items touched upon in this article are reasons for choosing the Disney Dream and your state-room. Next we will discuss the food options not just for children but the delicious meals for adults. We will also go into detail the adults only areas on the ship including the spa which we were lucky enough to have a few treatments in. The last and most important in our series will be about the on-board entertainment and the kids club that my child never wanted to leave.

Aug 17
2014

Summer Movies in the Park Aug & Sept.

by Nicole Connerley

Summer Movies in the Park

Summer Movies in the Park is a perfect chance to relax and enjoy a safe and special night under the stars with your family. Arrive early to pick out a good seat! Bring blankets or low back chairs to sit on while you enjoy the movies. Bring a picnic dinner for your family to share as well.

Movies are all rated G or PG, the top movie this summer is Frozen (if you have a little girl this has been the movie for over a year!) Movies like Monsters University, Planes, Rio 2 and Despicable Me 2 are also top favorites this year. Each movie is at a local park all over both the city of San Diego and San Diego County. All movies start at dusk (approx. 15 minutes after sunset). Movies are subject to change. For more information visit the event website here. See below for the movie/park nearest you:

Universal City	08/22	Frozen Doyle Community Park	Click Here	PG
San Marcos	08/22	Frozen Woodland Park	Click Here	PG
Southcrest	08/22	Monsters University Southcrest Community Park	Click Here	G
San Diego	08/22	Planes USS Midway Museum	Click Here	PG
Ocean Beach	08/22	Rio 2 Dusty Rhodes Park	Click Here	G
San Diego	08/23	Despicable Me 2 Tecolote Community Park	Click Here	PG
Carmel Valley	08/23	Frozen Carmel Valley Community Park	Click Here	PG
Poway	08/23	Planes Poway Community Park	Click Here	PG
Lakeside	08/23	The Lego Movie Lindo Lake Park	Click Here	PG
Ocean Beach	08/29	Frozen Ocean Beach Elementary	Click Here	PG
Lemon Grove	08/29	Frozen Lemon Grove Park	Click Here	PG
Otay Mesa	08/29	Frozen Silver Wing Neighborhood Park	Click Here	PG
Rancho Bernardo	08/29	Monsters University Rancho Bernardo Community Park	Click Here	G
Rancho San Diego	08/29	Planes Hilton Head Park	Click Here	PG
Lakeside	08/30	Frozen Sycamore Goodan Ranch	Click Here	PG
Oceanside	08/30	The Lego Movie Junior Seau Pier Amphitheatre	Click Here	PG
La Jolla	08/30	The Little Rascals Save the Day La Jolla Community Park	Click Here	PG
Otay Mesa	09/06	The Lego Movie Montgomery Waller Community Park	Click Here	PG
4S Ranch	09/06	The Nut Job 4S Patriot Park	Click Here	PG
University City	09/12	Monsters University Standley Recreation Center	Click Here	G
National City	09/12	Muppets Most Wanted Kimball Park/Little Padres Field	Click Here	PG
San Diego	09/12	The Little Mermaid Waterfront Park	Click Here	G
Julian	09/13	Frozen Jess Martin Park	Click Here	PG
Ramona	09/13	Mr. Peabody & Sherman Dos Picos Regional Park	Click Here	PG
San Diego	09/13	Rio 2 Cabrillo Heights Park	Click Here	G
Mission Beach	09/27	Up Santa Clara Recreation Center	Click Here	PG

Aug 11
2014

Stroller Strides Anniversary

by Lauren Moisant

Get an amazing workout while hanging out with your baby and meeting new “mom” friends. I can’t say enough great things about Stroller Strides. I started in January when my baby was 4 months old. I lost all my baby weight, met a lot of great people and it gets me out of the house every morning. My baby loves socializing with his new friends while I’m sweating it out.

To celebrate their 13 year anniversary, Stroller Strides, FIT4MOM, is offering a $13 registration, a $79 value for the whole month of August. With almost 30 locations, they are all over San Diego. Click here to find a location near you. The first class is free, so there is no excuse to check it out.

Jul 25
2014

Giveaway – The Circus is Coming to town!

by Lauren Moisant

Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Presents LEGENDS!

Behold the living legends! Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® brings the unbelievable to Children Of All Ages in an all-new show – – Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Presents LEGENDS. Experience unimaginable family fun, as amazing performers from around the globe perform awe-inspiring feats of daring, spectacles of strength and thrills of wonder to summon the mythical and mysterious creatures of the past: a Unicorn, a Pegasus and a Woolly Mammoth! Join us for an unforgettable family night of legendary proportions! Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Presents LEGENDS!

Coming to San Diego Valley View Casino Center Aug 7-10.

Show Dates & Show Time:

Thu, Aug 7 7:00PM
Fri, Aug 8 11:00AM , 7:00PM
Sat, Aug 9 11:00AM , 3:00PM , 7:00PM
Sun, Aug 10 1:00PM , 5:00PM

SoCal Savvy Mom is excited to share our giveaway for a Family 4 pack of tickets!

To enter leave a comment on Socalsavvymom.com post or like this at Socalsavvymom Facebook page.

Tickets start at just $10 for opening night, this is an affordable family memory everyone can enjoy.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey host an animal open house free to any ticket holders. Opening 90 minutes before the show begins you may see all the animals and meet some of the stars of the show. There is also an all access pre-show which begins an hour before show time, which allows you to participate in fun interactive experiences. Want to learn how to juggle? Or find out how do they balance on top of the tightrope. You may even see the Ringling Bros.majestic Asian elephant’s paint a one-of-a-kind masterpiece and meet the Ringling Bros. Clowns, who are guaranteed to keep audiences roaring with laughter!

To purchase tickets for opening night or any of the amazing shows click here.

Jul 20
2014

Summer Fun at Knott’s Berry Farm

by Nicole Connerley

Knott’s Berry Farm is fun for everyone! This past weekend we were invited to see all of the Summer Fun going on at Knott’s Berry Farm and we loved it. The new Camp Snoopy has three new rides this year including my son’s favorite the Linus Launcher. Kids lay on Linus’ blanket and relive a classic Peanut’s moment as Snoopy grabs the blanket and launches kids up to 10 feet in the air.

Knott’s has a new video to show you just how fun this ride is, along with the other new rides at Camp Snoopy. To see the video click here.

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The next ride was Pig Pen’s Mud Buggies, my son loved the all-terrain vehicle. But what he really loved was the bouncing, spinning and the bumps on this ride. Tons of giggles and laughing was happening on this ride!

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We pretty much hit up every ride in Camp Snoopy…. Flying Ace (flying with Snoopy) Timberline Twister (a mini roller coaster) Rapid River Run (think white water rafting, without the water) Camp Bus (large school bus ride) and what visit would be complete without the High Sierra Ferris Wheel! Once we hit up almost everything in Camp Snoopy we headed over to the Fiesta Plaza were we went straight to the Hat Dance. The picture below is my son and I waiting in line for the Hat Dance ride. He was so excited upon learning he was tall enough to go on without me he asked if I could just watch him, I of course let him go by himself, he felt like such a big kid!

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Next we went on the ride you can’t miss while at Knott’s Berry Farm, its a tradition, the Calico Mine Ride! It was actually one of Knott’s first rides back in the 60’s, of what life was like for miners in the 1850’s. Earlier in the year this ride shut down for five months for a renovation and you can delinatley see all the changes, and it is pretty remarkable.

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During the summer Knott’s Berry Farm offers special Summer Shows, our favorite was an ice show called Snoopy Unleashed! The show is about Snoopy and him wanting to do and go where he wants… unleashed! All of the performers are on ice-skates, and wow they are incredibly talented! At one point one of the performers is hanging 40 feet up in the air! There is fun music and singing accopmanying the show. Snoopy Unleashed is only during the summer months, it is also a great place to cool off during the warm summer days, the show runs now until August 24th.

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The opinions in this article are my own. I do not work for, or with Knott’s Berry Farm, nor do I have any official relationship with them. I have a relationship with GigaSavvy, for whom I create original editorial content.