Our family took a trip to Disneyland this week. It was the Monday after spring break for most local schools, and crowds were light (although I was hoping the park would be even less crowded). A work colleague had given my wife tickets, so we only had to pay $11 for parking (regular adult admission: $66, child admission (ages 3-9): $56).With the Finding Nemo submarine ride having just opened last summer, we made a beeline for the lagoon in Tomorrowland, only to find a long queue of 1 1/2 to 2 hours. We headed instead to the Dumbo ride in Fantasyland, where our children got the rare privilege of riding with Donald Duck and Goofy (one each) in the Dumbo elephants. Then we rode again with our kids, and then headed to the Peter Pan and Mr. Toad dark rides and the Mad Tea Cups before making our way to Toontown (Mickey Mouse's house and Toontown Spin) and then the Disney Princess Fair.
Later we headed back to Tomorrowland and waited about an hour to ride the Finding Nemo submarines, enjoyed the Buzz Lightyear rides several times and the Astro Orbiter. Then we rode the train through the Grand Canyon and dinosaur animatronics to Frontierland, where we headed for the Winnie the Pooh ride to find it shut down for maintenance issues, found the Pooh meet-and-greet already closed, and then worked our way back to Main Street stopping at the Tarzan Treehouse and Enchanted Tiki Room. After watching the Parade of Dreams (still impressive after four viewings), we exited the park and headed home.
Here are some thoughts and general advice for visiting Disneyland with kids:
* Even with the park crowds light, you can spend the whole day (9 AM - 7 PM) doing stuff that young kids would enjoy, and not even make your way to the adult crowd-pleasers like Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones, or Pirates of the Caribbean.
* Just because an adult might think a preschooler might enjoy a ride (like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride or Roger Rabbit's Toontown Spin), that might not necessarily be the case. Use your child's intuition ("that looks really scary"), or work your way up from less scary and intense rides (e.g. the Jungle Cruise) to more intense rides (like Pirates of the Caribbean).
* A lot of young kids find giant costumed characters somewhat disturbing (just like Santa Claus in the mall). Don't force it on your kids just to take a photo to send to your relatives. A crying child doesn't make for a good photo anyway.
* Most girls of a certain age will really, REALLY enjoy meeting Disney princesses in person, getting their autographs, and taking pictures with them.
* Since most young kids won't last a whole day running around at Disneyland, it helps a lot to have a stroller for those long walks from land to land and ride to ride. Even with a superwide stroller, you will be able to navigate the park without major problems.
* When you get to someplace like Fantasyland where there are multiple attractions you want to visit, just park the stroller next to a ride (don't worry, yours won't be the only one there) and ride the rides you want. Just be sure not to leave any valuables in the stroller.
* Sometimes the park staff will move strollers if they are blocking traffic. It helps to have something distinguishing on your stroller so you can find it easily later in the mass of strollers.
* For the parades and other shows like Fantasmic, you will get a better seat if someone in your group can go early (an hour or more) and reserve seats in a good location. In Main Street, the sidewalks are narrow and because of crowd control, the staff won't let you stop so you often won't be able to see the parade if you show up at the last minute.
* Don't forget to write down where you parked your car. Nothing is worse than being tired and having your kids cry while you hunt through the parking lot for your vehicle.
