How could we pass up the chance to go to one of the most famous and memorable places in Southern California? All I can say after my visit to Disneyland is: wow! It definitely is one of the most magical places on earth.
To start with:
Disneyland is famous for their rides, but also the shopping, entertainment, and atmosphere. The nighttime entertainment is spectacular. Starting with the 50 year anniversary electrical parade. The parade had floats from all different Disney movies, with characters and princesses on them.
My personal favorite was Cinderella, which included a great canopy of dancers, the lit up clock tower, and of course, Cinderella in the pumpkin carriage.
The Rides
There are so many rides at Disneyland! However, there are no giant coasters or upside rides. The best ride I went on was the Indiana Jones Adventure.
You ride along in a tall jeep, which twists and turns and takes you through scenes in the movie. You race across the rope bridge over the lava and go down many small drops. The thrill is endless! The best part of that ride was near the end, you are traveling down a tunnel, when all of the sudden you look up and you see Indiana Jones hanging from a rope and the enormous bolder about the smash you! There out of nowhere, whoosh! You drop down right under the bolder. I highly recommend that ride.
Other rides we ventured on were: Big Thunder Mountain, Matterhorn Bobsleds, The Smuggler’s Run, Star Tours, It’s a Small World, Mark Twain Riverboat, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Disneyland Monorail. They all were so fun.
You might be wondering, how are you able to do all that plus shopping, eating, and shows? Look no further than the Genie+ pass. Only $20 per ticket and it is absolutely worth it. In Genie+ you can book specific time slots to go on rides and you get to cut through right into the fast lane. There is almost no waiting. It saved us many, many hours of waiting in long lines.
Main Street, USA
One of my favorite places was Main Street. There is so much to do! There are lots of boutiques to shop at for souvenirs, along with Disney’s most famous store, Emporium. The Main Street atmosphere was phenomenal. There was the band performances, dancers, carriage rides, balloons and characters walking around.
I found that one of the most common souvenirs, along with the Mickey ears, were many backpacks that come in dozens of dozens of designs. There were ones with designs for each specific land, glittery ones, leopard print, Minnie Mouse designs, and so much more. The Disneyland jewelry is also very special, and reasonable pricing.
Star Wars
One of the newer lands is the Star Wars land. From the moment you walk in you are in the movies. Everything looked so real! It was a perfect replica of the movie sets
The Star Wars rides have some of the longest lines (120 minutes!), but are definitely some of the coolest ones. This is where the Genie+ pass comes in handy.😉
In every land there are people dressed up as characters, gift shops and at least 2 rides. Each land is decorated to the extant. New Orleans had lots of music and restaurants viewing the water, Fantasy Land had many princesses and the rides were more kid-geared, Frontier Land and Adventure Land were similar, with lots of Rocky Mountains and fruit stand, Tomorrow Land with all it’s lights and Star Wars with all the costumes and spaceships.
Disneyland is definitely a full day adventure; we were there from about 8 to 9:30.
I have to say that every moment was amazing and special and there is no place like it!
Cheers for Walt Disney!
That sounds so fun! I enjoy reading your blogs and getting to keep up with you from a distance 🙂