How many here have been to Disneyland?

[Kay7979]

The first time I went to DL was about 15-20 years ago. Gee I feel old to say that! I was on a bus tour of California, Nevada, and Arizona with an international group that included lots of people from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa etc. I had a great time at DL even though we only had about 6 hours there. I went again for a couple days about 8 years ago, not exactly sure what year it was, but I got to try the new Indiana Jones ride: LOVED it! It was nice to have the leisure to go back through the whole park at a relaxed pace. I would like to go again in a couple years. It's a long way from NY!

 

[Jungle Skipper]

I went to Disneyland back in the Summer of 2001 with my roommate on the College Program. Our CP had just ended and we were both going to stay on full time at WDW and wanted to take a vacation beofre our new roles started (we told our managers we had to return home for some clerical reasons and would return in a week.

We found cheap plane tickets and a dirt cheap (and scary) little hotel nearby DL. Had an absolute BLAST! I Loved Disneyland! something about it just felt some magical..the compact nature of DL just felt so intimate...like we were being hit with magic all the time.

At first I thought..wow..the castle..its so....tiny.

I remember the first day, we walked into fantasyland I saw Captain hook and Mr. Smee running through fantasyland being chased by Peterpan, Wendy and a group of kids....so cute..so magical..I will never forget that.

I reccommed eating at the Blue Bayou, the restaurant inside Pirates.

As for the attractions...I felt a lot of them were more advanced and seemed to be more freshthan the ones at WDW...probably because Imagineering is right there at DL..so I imagine it gets a lot of extra attention.

Hope you enjoy DL...I cant wait to go back!

Jungle Josh

 

[Jungle Skipper]

Originally posted by Dan Murphy
I recall, 'tacky'.

Oh and I agree with Dan here...the surrounding area was very tacky...not slums..just tacky. some of the hotels were just nasty...like the one i stayed in. It was creepy...but what should i expect for $40 a night...ahh college days...

 

[PKK/MJK]

DH and I went to DL for this first time last November. We really enjoyed it. DL is so much smaller--not only in the size of the park but also in the proportions of the buildings, Castle etc. When we walked in, the park seemed so familiar and yet at the same time soooo different than WDW. Small World is beautiful on the outside!! When we were there all the Christmas lights were up--oh, so pretty. Haunted Mansion was all decorated for the holidays in a "Nightmare before Christmas'' theme. That was great!! Wish WDW would do something like this. I agree that Pirates is better at DL--and the restaurant you ride through serves great food. Both Mr. Toad and Indiana Jones were closed--very disappointing.

Some of you know that my DD is a CM at WDW and is 'very close friends' with several of the Princesses. At WDW the rules are VERY strict regarding 'character integrity' but this didn't seem to be the case at DL. For example, we saw Snow White with bright blue eyes (instead of chocolate brown) and Ariel with dark brown eyes (instead of blue). This would NEVER happen at WDW!!!!! (think contact lenses). Talked to several DL CM's and discovered that many of their rules are less stringent. Somehow, I was surprised by this. The CM's were all very nice though and did a good job.

DL has an interesting variation to Fantasmic although seating is the pits. You can 'purchase' special seating for both Fantasmic and MSEP though--you get drinks and dessert or appetizers along with the better seats. This was nice.

DH and I had a wonderful time at DL and hope to return someday.

 

[RedxPanda]

Originally posted by grinningghost
Is the surrounding area around DL really that bad? Slums? Or is it just "touristy"?

meh, DL is smack dab in the middle of Anaheim, so there's the parks and then 2 inches past disney lines is a normal city.
So, there isn't as much as an ooh and ahh about entering Disney Territory.
its southern california, they don't have as much room to work with there land is $$$$. it's also right off I-5, so its very full of hotels and a convention center is near it as well.
touristy stuff is spread all over the place down there...so its not exactly touristy, just a strangely mixed environment.

Jungle Skipper: i've stayed at one of those kinda grody hotels as well oh yes the college days

oh, and i went to CA around the time it first opened, its alright... a park hopper would be worth getting to visit this park.
the HW backlot is like a mini disney-mgm studios. and the boardwalk area is fun, the coaster is great! only one solid loop, not scary at all, and they play fun music in the headrest while u ride. its a cute park.

 

[vernon]

I visited DL Cal last December and was quite disappointed. I can see why Walt decided to have another go at the idea. There are some decent rides about in DL itself but I just felt it was so much smaller and less impressive. Even the buildings on Main Street are noticably to a smaller scale, like a toytown.

I thought California Adventure was a real let down, very few decent rides and more importantly, to me, there was much less to tie it into Disney, it would have been so easy to have included a lot of hidden Mickey's into the design, but they didn't. IMHO it looks like a park, built on the cheap, with minimal thought put into it and with the thought that at some stage it might be sold off to a third party to realise some cash.

 

[Beast fan]

DW and I were there in 1996. Since DW and I had honeymooned at WDW in 1995, it seems like all we did was compare WDW to DL. That said, we had a really good time at DL and will consider taking our children there in the near future.

Dave

 

[WDWLVR]

It has been a couple of years, but yes I've been to Disneyland and love it. Especially now with Downtown Disney and California Adventure. We plan on going back late next year to celebrate the 50th.

The thing i like best is that you can really feel Walt's influence there. You are walking the same streets he rode and riding the same rides. Love it!

 

[jx3smom]

I've been there only once and that was Christmas 1970.

 

[Feralpeg]

I've been there several times, although not in recent years.

 

[MinnieM21]

I've been going to Disneyland every year since I was 5 and am now almost 20. Sometimes I go twice a year! I would suggest going during Christmas time. They decorate the haunted mansion in the Nightmare Before Christmas theme and oh my, you have to see how beautiful Small World is! They put all of these beautiful lights on the front and well words can't even describe how beautiful it is!

I would recommend staying at the Disneyland hotel for your trip to Disneyland, I always stay there and I love it.

Oh yeah and I haven't been to WDW yet, I'm going in December!

 

[minniecarousel]

I LOVE Disneyland! We were just there in June and plan to go back in December (I've never been there right before Christmas). They decorate Haunted Mansion in the Nightmare Before Christmas theme and It's a Small World gets a ton of Christmas lights.
California Adventure has some nice touches too. Don't miss Soarin' over California, California Screaming rollercoaster, Who Wants to be a Millionaire & Tower of Terror!
The area right around Disneyland is (believe it or not!) better than it used to be. Most of the near-by motels have been renovated. It is not anything like the area surrounding WDW! Inexpensive motels are right across the street from the plaza between DL & DCA - then onto Downtown Disney (Which has some wonderful restaurants.) However, staying at one of the 3 Disneyland hotels is a plus! (The Grand Californian is a beautiful example of Arts & Crafts architecture.)

 

[cinmell]

Yes, I've been to DisneyLand 3 times and I liked it but I prefer WDW.

 

[piglet too]

I actaully only been to Disney Land. I went once as a baby, once as a teenager and than DH and I took our oldest the month before he turned three. I really like it, and plan to go there again, but WDW is going to come first!

 

[SeaSpray]

I've been to DisneyLand. I was in California visiting a friend and we went just for the day. It was fun, as I recall. I just didn't feel the same excitement that I feel at Disney World.

 

[herc]

I have only been to WDW twice but I have been to DL 20 some times. I like them both but DL feels more like home since that is where I first went.

 

[ShuisFan584]

I've never been outside of the East Coast if that answers the question. I love WDW and have always wanted to visit Disneyland to see what it's like. I want to go sometime in the future but I don't know how I'll deal with an 8 hour flight!

 

[Amberle3]

I love, love love Disneyland

I was there about once every 7 years until I hit my 20's, then averaging about once every 3 years, and since 1999 it's been at least once a year.

I love practically everything about the park.

I wasn't too thrilled with DCA when it opened, but it's been slowly coming into it's own. It's got some pretty big expectations to live up to, but it's been doing okay.

If I have my figures right, Disneyland itself is larger than the MK at WDW.

And I have no doubt that when I go to WDW again next year I'll be comparing the two, but I'll be trying to keep in mind that they weren't meant to be carbon copies. They're similar, but are supposed to be different. Not much incentive to visit both if they're the same!

I love the intimate feeling of DL. WDW was obviously built to hold a larger capacity than DL. But I've also thought of it the same as a bistro compared to a big restaurant. They both have their advantages and their disadvantages. You can't expect to have the same experience in each type of place.

I was working a travel agency when DCA opened, and my yearly visit came about a few months after. My manager (the supposed authority on all things Disney in the city) asked me for my impressions of it, since she knew almost nothing about DL and DCA at all. I told her the highlights, and the key points. A few months after that she was in the LA area and spent *1 day* at Disneyland & DCA (combined). First of all, I was horrified - her business is selling Disney to people, she hadn't been to DL in years and had never been to DCA. When I asked her what she thought of DCA she kind of shrugged and said it was okay but she didn't see the appeal of it and wouldn't be recommending that her clients spend any time there. The total time she spent in the park? Less than 1 hour. They didn't go on any of the rides, they did see some of the park at all, they just walked in, looked around, and left.

So when I was saying things like "You know, the little puns and in-jokes they have throughout DCA just crack me up. Some of them are so subtle and some beat you over the head" she had no idea what I was talking about. And when I talked about Soarin' over California, she had no idea what kind of ride it was (thought it was a motion simulator). I had to stop talking to her about it, I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her.

When I go to DL/DCA (or really almost any place else) I have to try and look at things from two different perspectives. One is the TA, carefully evaluating and noting things, taking pictures of everything (drives DFi nuts that I have to photograph every hotel room we're in before he can touch anything). And from that perspective I see things like areas that need cleaning, traffic control that needs to be better, etc. But I also make myself try and forget that I'm a TA, forget any worries and stresses, and just be a KID.

One of the most amazing abilities that kids have is that they can be so fully "in the moment". Nothing else matters. Doesn't matter if it's a good time or a bad time, nothing else matters. I really envy that. It's so easy to get wrapped up in all the garbage going on in life, that often you overlook the moment. So when I'm in a Disney park, I try to let everything go. I step through the gates and take the words of Walt Disney to heart: "Here you leave the world of today and enter the world of Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Fantasy". So I still grin when I see characters. And I love the hitchhiking ghosts. And I love how every area of the park has unique sounds, and smells.

Disney does a fantastic job with their parks. They're not amusement parks, they truly are THEME parks. And if you let them, if you let go of the pretenses and the attitudes and the grown-up-ness (while still keeping a healthy amount of respect) they'll totally envelop you. In a very, very weird way - especially with Disneyland - being in a Disney park is almost like being hugged by Walt himself, because so much of him is there.

Was the odd and disjointed enough, or should I continue rambling?

 

[Towncrier]

I lived in SoCal in the early 1980's (for a couple of years) and, believe it or not, I only visited Disneyland once for a couple of hours one evening. It wasn't until I moved back to Ohio that I actually took a vacation to Disneyland. I was on a business trip and was allowed to take my family along. Sue and I spent the day at DL with our 2yo son and 3 month old daughter. We had a spectacular time. In 1997, Sue and I found ourselves passing through Los Angeles, so we decided to stop and spend a couple days at Disneyland. I remember it well. We got to the park when it opened at 6AM and were there when it closed at midnight. We even got to meet a Disneyland celebrity of sorts that day. Bob Penfield was the last original castmember to retire from Disneyland. We tracked him down and spent 15 minutes talking to him on the eve of his retirement. It is one of the most magical Disney moments and I will always cherish the memory.

So I figure I have spent a grand total of about 36 hours at Disneyland. Just enough to make me want to go back again as soon as I find myself on the right coast to do so. Enjoy your trip to "the original".

 

[barbeml]

DH and I went to San Francisco in 1999 to visit friends for a week. As soon as I knew I was going to be in California for the first time ever, I said "We have got to go to Disneyland!"

Mid week, we left Frisco and headed south. Checked into hotel late, got up early and spent one absolutely perfect day in the park (no CA at that point). Gorgeous weather, light crowds (it was September, I think). We were thrilled to find Dole Whips there too! Also, one of my all-time favorite Disney restaurants is the Blue Bayou.

Have fun!!!!

Barbe