Do you remember the first time you went to Disneyland? If you were a kid at the time, you probably remember it as being larger than life . . . the big castle in the middle of the park, the rides that made you feel like you were in another world, characters like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, no longer in a cartoon but right there, alive and in person, walking around and posing for photos.
Mike and I had a chance to return to Disneyland in July for the first time in about 20 years for both of us. I have to credit our fantastic experience to good friends we visited before we went, who gave us two-day passes and mapped out everything we needed to do and see before we got there . . . everything down to indulging in the HUGE piece of chocolate cake at the Golden Horseshoe Saloon in Frontierland.
The first thing that struck me was that everything at Disney is so much smaller than I remembered it . . . the castle in the middle is actually pretty small, the rides are still fun but not quite as scary, and the park itself is contained in a much smaller space than I thought it was.
Here are some other impressions . . .
. . . My favorite attractions were in California Adventure, the park next to Disneyland -- the Toy Story ride, Screamin' California, Soarin' and the Aladdin show. The Aladdin show alone was worth the trip. It's a shortened version (45 minutes) of the Broadway show. Very well done with a genie who, no kidding, outdoes Robin Williams' humor in the movie.
. . . Many of the oldies at Disneyland are still the goodies. Pirates of the Caribbean, for one, is still pretty cool. I remember being freaked out by this ride as a kid. When I was little, I hated anything remotely dark or scary. The ride now has Captain Jack Sparrow (a very realistic image of Johnny Depp) in several places along the way. I think this one will remain one of my favorite rides at Disney. An oldie that is NOT a goodie, though, is the Jungle Cruise. I have fond memories of that when I was a kid, and those fond memories will stay in my "kid" brain. The Jungle Cruise experience as a grown-up wasn't quite the same.
. . . Space Mountain is also still quite the thrilling ride. It's hard to believe this ride is so old. It opened in the 60s and has since gone through several updates. It remains the most unique roller coaster I've ever been on.
. . . Fantasyland (it was called Storybookland when I was little) transported me back to my childhood, with Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo, Peter Pan, Small World and more. We didn't go on any rides in this part of the park (the lines were amazingly long with no Fast Pass option--see below). But we walked around, took lots of photos and recalled a lot of memories from when we were kids.
. . . Some of the newer and most popular rides weren't as big of a deal as I thought they would be. The special effects that went into the Indiana Jones ride are amazing, but the ride itself was too short, really jerky (it mimicks an off-road jeep ride) and left me feeling like, "That was it?" I was glad we did this one early in the morning and only waited about 15 minutes.
. . . Disney has really done its guests a huge favor with the Fast Passes. These free passes reserve you a time to get in line and cut down on the wait time by a lot in some cases, especially with the popular rides like Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, etc.
. . . There is something to be said for just strolling around, people-watching and otherwise just taking it all in. Disney is an amazing place. When you leave, you really feel like you've spent the entire day transported to another world. That was Walt Disney's purpose in creating the park. He called it the "happiest place on earth" and wanted it to be a place where children and parents would enjoy being together.
I have to say our trip turned us into even bigger Disney fans. We've loved Disney movies for years. We went a little crazy and bought too many Disney stuffed animals while were at Disneyland. (We have plans to put up a shelf to display them all.) Now we are talking about going to Disneyworld, where there are even more theme parks to enjoy. We'll get there, I'm sure.
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