This and That ...

So Disneyland - what's in for adults huh? Do adults have anything to do at all at DL? What if I'm not that much into cartoons? With these and several other questions bothering me at the very thought of visiting Disneyland, I kept postponing the trip telling myself I'll go once my kids grow up, yes "grow up" which would be several several years later. Anaheim is just 1.5 hours from where we stay, so one fine day I decided to visit Disneyland at Anaheim, CA come what may. Quickly browsed through the park website and saw the list of attractions and thought again, should we really go? Instantly closed the browser and told myself - no research this time, if I read any further, I might never visit so let me just go and explore Disneyland.

A little background about me:

- I don't once tune in to a cartoon show on Television
- I never watch any animation movies
- the only disney characters I know of are Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Winnie, the Pooh

and yet, I had fun at DL!



So having spent a whole day at disneyland, I can assure you that disneyland is not just for kids, and adults can have fun too. Its not only a home of the cartoon characters we grew up watching, but there are some thrill rides, slow rides, fireworks and in general, the park carries a colorful, happy, festive look that you just want to sit back on the side-walk and enjoy. I have a huge list of traveller's tips for you when you plan a visit to DL. The park is huuuuuge, and the density of population is quite high (much more than Universal Studios and Sea World) even on a regular weekend. If you just have a day to spend at Disneyland Resort, Anaheim,

1. do your homework right. Look at the list of attractions on the park website and make a short-list of what you find interesting. Inside the park, all you have is a park map and never ending lines of queue at most attractions. So, there's no point wasting time on something not worth seeing. This is the most important step of your DL trip preparation. There are too many places to visit inside Disney, so if you fail to do this step, you would end up wondering what to see, and what to skip at each and every attraction.
2. make the best use of the FastPass service. On your trip list, add a star next to the FastPass attractions. When you decide to do a thrill ride or something else with a FastPass, go grab a pass for that asap. That way you can avoid the long queues and cover other smaller attractions during the FastPass wait-time.Make the optimal use of your time inside the park.
   
3. for adults without kids, I suggest you visit Tomorrowland first. Its got a bunch of rides, and a futuristic place called Innoventions that's worth a visit. Once you're done with Tomorrowland, you can walk across to Adventureland, Frontierland and the New Orleans Square. Those are all the not so kiddish zones of Disneyland. Leave Fantasyland and Mickey's Toontown to the end.
4. atleast do a quick walkthrough the toontown. Everything there is so damn cute and pretty. Exactly like what we see on cartoon shows.
5. make sure you find yourself a good vantage point for watching the night show, Fantasmic. Its one of a kind laser-fountain-fireworks show that you don't want to miss. Now there are two night shows - Fantasmic at 9 and the regular fireworks show at 9:30. You can't catch the best view of both unless you stay till 10:30 for the repeat show. If fireworks behind the castle are what you're interested in, find a spot on the main street. People literally sit there like 2-2.5 hours in advance for the fireworks.
   
6. Celebrate, the Street Party. Another fancy event, but ask the park staff for the exact show time and if they anticipate any delays. When we went, the show was delayed by half-an-hour, waste of time :(
7. there is a whole strip of hotels right across the road from Disneyland. Next time, when we plan to visit, we'll make sure we stay there for the night. That way, you can comfortably tour the entire park in a day as the park is open from 9am-12am.
   
8. not all events are scheduled on weekdays. So take a look at the park calendar before scheduling a trip to DL.
   
9. finally, unless you are visiting So. Cal during holidays, DO NOT VISIT DISNEYLAND DURING HOLIDAYS/LONG WEEKENDS. We went on a regular weekend and the queues were crazy, about 80min wait time at some attractions. Isn't that insane? 80min is the time it takes to drive from Disney to my house. :) I'm sure I wouldn't even be able to do 20% of the park had I gone during holidays.
   

Posted by Manjusha at 4:46 PM  

Labels: travel anaheim, travel california