The Little Things

[HaveCourage&BeKind]

What are the little things you like to do at Disneyland or DCA? Where are your favorite spots to just enjoy the park atmosphere and/or character/people watching?

(ASD info dump overshare incoming...) I'm born and raised in LA, but live in NC now. I've been to Disneyland & DCA more times than I can count from 1983-2003. I'm from the time of $99 annual passes and watching DCA being built from a viewing platform (then those APs jumped to $119 for both parks!), the skyway, rocket rods (loved them, but I deeply miss the people mover), OG Fantasmic! , decoding in the Indiana Jones line, and maybe possibly but definitely not admitting to still having a neon apple from the Snow White ride... ANYWAY...my point is, I have lots of wonderful memories and I love what Disneyland & DCA were, what they are, and what they will be. For my upcoming two day visit (a Monday and Tuesday) in late October (spouse is attending a conference there), I'd like to seek out the little experiences since I won't have my kids nor my non-Disney spouse weighing me down with cruise directing their experience (yeah, I said it!). Please share any and all of your favorite little things!

 

[KPeterso]

I love the flag retreat ceremony and try to go anytime I am at the parks. It currently is at 4:15 in Town Square and is when the Security Honor detail lowers the flags. It honors all current and retired military as part of the ceremony. And the Disneyland band and Dapper Dans provide music (most days - I believe they do not always perform on Wednesdays and Thursdays (or maybe it is Tuesdays and Wednesdays). There are a lot of regulars who attend and I have made friends with quite a few of them over the years, but always looking for new guests to join us. For best viewing, I try to be at the area between 3:30-3:45.

 

[HaveCourage&BeKind]

This is great! I've never done that and will definitely check that out. Thank you!

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

For me its all the bits of Disney History that most people walk past.
Main Street - The Lamp Posts, The Brick Wall, The Native American statue
Frontierland - The Petrified Tree
Adventureland - The Little Man of Disneyland

I usually do rope drop to late at night without an afternoon hotel break, so over the years Ive found lots of places to have a quiet chill time in the afternoons.
Harbour Galley
The seating area at the back of Edelweiss Snacks
The seating area at Boardwalk Pasta

My rope drop morning hack is to get coffee from the shop in Tropicana Hotel, about half the price or more than Starbucks without having to wait in line.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I love the little extras around the parks...

Like the party line phones where you can listen in to the "conversations."



Or the recordings you can hear coming from some of the windows, like at the Painless Dentist.

 

[Aspencreek]

I had half a day solo in the park a few months ago (S.O. was in zoom meetings at the hotel) and got to experience some time doing exactly what I felt like. After a few rides (Big Thunder, Space Mtn, Jungle Cruise) I decided to slow down and do some of those more casual things. What I enjoyed most was the Castle Walk-Through of the Sleeping Beauty story, 3 or 4 loops on the Mark Twain (ride on top level, exit, board immediately for another lap), and then a long snack break near the Haunted Mansion where I could hear to exterior HM music while simultaneously being able to smell Churros (doesn't get any more classic DL than those 2 things at the same time!)

 

[mdmost]

The seating area at the back of Edelweiss Snacks

This exactly.
The Castle Walk-Through
The walk behind Harbour Galley to Tiana's where you get the great view of the drop
Riding the Mark Twain
Riding the Main Street vehicles round trip
Riding the train all the way around.
Taking the monorail roundtrip
Looking at all the window displays on Main Street and Buena Vista Street
Finding all the popcorn grinders at each popcorn stand (Clown, Frontier Man, Ghoul etc.)

 

[DizMe]

One year I walked around and looked up. I noticed all of the varieties of lights, for instance, and started taking pics. The ceiling in the Golden Horseshoe, what you see when you walk through Adventureland (looking up), what you see from a teacup on Alice, etc. It was pretty fascinating.

I can't remember the details but someone will, I'm sure, but there's a spot where there are 3 or 4 different fences that meet from different rides/areas. It's pretty cool. There is also "the little man of Disneyland" in FL. I like to notice things that are easy to miss or not on the radar, like different types of doors, lights, flooring, and stuff like that.

You can probably guess that I have gone a lot and am not generally in a rush to do rides.

 

[hardcorestitch]

Lots of stuff.

-Drink $4 Coke… yes Coke at Disney is much more magical and calories don’t count in Disney…
-Pop in random stores and see their merchandise
-Watch Disney cartoons on DisneyNOW while in a standby line
-Eat as many Mickey shaped items as possible… yes I will be skipping non-Disney hotel breakfasts when I’m on my way to any Disney park…
-Take off my shoes while in a show… that’s my midday break, I don’t do breaks offsite or park hopping…

 

[Kit Jackson]

Since it seems it like you know Disneyland pretty well and other people have mostly covered that park, I'm going to mention something at DCA. I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I absolutely love walking through CarsLand at night with all the neon wonder. It's magical to me. I haven't been there for the "Sh-Boom" moment, but it's on my bucket list. I also love walking through CarsLand during daylight as well.

 

[Diana ZP]

Interacting with cast members- there is a wonderful person that does the roving reporter in DCA, she is dressed up from the 40's and is the BEST! She is a fountain of information about anything Disney, has wonderful stories and really makes your visit so fun!

 

[Louis63]

My favorite spot is one of the benches underneath where the monorail crosses BuenaVista St. usually the characters will stop and chat for good minute, very relaxing.

 

[Pluto468]

Fun post! Some of my favorite little things:

Riding the Main Street vehicles
Riding the Mark Twain and Columbia
Quiet time on Tom Sawyer Island
Walking down Main St. and looking in the shop windows
Sitting at Jolly Holiday and having coffee and a snack
Relaxing upstairs at Hungry Bear
Stopping to watch the bands and meet characters
Going to Snow White's wishing well and making a wish

 

[DizMe]

If you'd like to check out the famous "3 Fences of Disneyland," they are to be found over in the monorail/submarine area. They sometimes get paint updates but it's kind of cool that they all meet up in that spot and are from different eras. The metal mesh one on the left is from 1959 during the original submarine/monorail days. The aqua-ish fence is from the 1980s, and the black (sometime dark blue) one is from 1999. At least, that's what I read!

Most people would have no interest in that fun fact, but Dis people are not most people.

 

[JoanneAZ]

-I love the park at night.
-All the lights on Main Street.
-The lights over the Mad Tea Party.
-Sitting on the train station side of the Haunted Mansion and watching the “ghost light” wander from window to window.
-The different lanterns on Peter Pan, especially the one on a hook like Captain Hook’s.
-Riding Storybookland, especially at Holiday time.
-Noticing the faces on the outside beams of the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.
-Riding the train full circle tour.
-The Halloween tree in season.
- Seeing the three fairies on the Sleeping Beauty sculpture by the castle.
-Hearing Snow White from the wishing well.
-Listening to all the entertainers: The DL Band, the Bootstrappers, the Pearly Band, the Dapper Dans, etc.
-All the noises of the park: the hippo shots from the Jungle Cruise, the Voodoo woman in NOS, the various noises of Toontown.

 

[mdmost]

I should've added:
Watch the Dapper Dans performance on Main Street
Flag Retreat ceremony
Sit on the porch next to Main Street
Stand near Snow White's wishing well next to the waterfall. She sings every now and then.

 

[Aspencreek]

I haven't been there for the "Sh-Boom" moment, but it's on my bucket list.

What is the Sh-Boom moment?

 

[JoanneAZ]

What is the Sh-Boom moment?

In Cars Land at dusk they play the song Sh-Boom as they turn on all the neon in the land. Just one more bit of Disney magic

 

[BriannaRuth]

One year I walked around and looked up. I noticed all of the varieties of lights, for instance, and started taking pics. The ceiling in the Golden Horseshoe, what you see when you walk through Adventureland (looking up), what you see from a teacup on Alice, etc. It was pretty fascinating.

I can't remember the details but someone will, I'm sure, but there's a spot where there are 3 or 4 different fences that meet from different rides/areas. It's pretty cool. There is also "the little man of Disneyland" in FL. I like to notice things that are easy to miss or not on the radar, like different types of doors, lights, flooring, and stuff like that.

First, OP, yes!! My kids will be 21 and 25 on our upcoming trip and they now know how I "do" Disney almost as well as I do so I'm hoping a little less of the minute to minute planning will be on me this year. Same for my non-Disney spouse. I'm looking forward to spending some time on my own in the parks.

DizMe -- Wow, I think you're my Disney twin. Looking up in DL is the best. I have so many pictures of lamps! It's amazing the lengths they've gone to in order to make each attraction so immersive. That's a lot of what I like to do, notice the details. The lighting is different from ride to ride, the handrails, you name it. And the bathrooms! I have many pictures of the inside of Disneyland bathrooms (which is tricky because I always try to wait until no one else is in the bathroom because they'd probably think I was weird for taking a picture inside a bathroom). My husband loves to make fun of me always stopping to take a picture of some seemingly random object. Which I admit I never do anything with, but they're like my collection. I don't remember the name of it, but there's a little store next to Splash (not Pooh's corner) that has some very cool stuff if you look up -- old-fashioned sewing baskets and things like that. I assume it's still there since they redid a lot of that area, but not sure.

I didn't know about the 3 Fences but will now have to find them!