A Great Destination For All Generations
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I had been pretty neutral on all things Disney while I was growing up, and as a young adult I didn't seek out any Disney entertainment. I had been to Disney World once when I was eight or nine, but that was pre-Epcot and all I remembered was loving Peter Pan and hating Space Mountain. But in 2006 when my kids were five and two, I had the chance to go to Disney World again. This time, it was a whole new ...
A Guest Literally Pulled The Sword Excalibur From The Stone
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Legend tells of the Sword in the Stone, a weapon that can only be pulled from its resting place by the new king. For decades that sword has rested in front of King Arthur's Carousel at Disneyland, and now, it appears we have a new leader, because somebody apparently pulled the sword from the stone.
A few days ago the sword, which sits in front of the carousel, went missing, and while it was ...
A Guide To Fireworks
Disneyland fireworks are a spectacular way to end your night at the Happiest Place on Earth. There 's nothing quite like seeing Tinkerbell fly through the sky and sprinkle the air with her pixie dust.
Read on for an overview of Disneyland fireworks shows, where to view them, and how to stake out a great spot on your next visit!
Fireworks Shows at Disneyland
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A Guide To Old And New Holiday Traditions
In its first holiday season since the COVID shutdown, Disneyland celebrates the return of beloved traditions and introduces new ways to make memories with live entertainment, festive foods, themed merchandise, wintertime decor, new characters, and more.
Merry Traditions
Guests are invited to experience the return of “A Christmas Fantasy” Parade as well as the “Believe… In Holiday ...
A Guy A Girl And 366 Straight Days At Disneyland
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If, like Jeff Reitz and Tonya Mickesh, you go to Disneyland oftenvery oftenyou know that asking for a roast beef melt made without horseradish, as opposed to a roast beef melt with horseradish removed after the fact, will require a ten-minute wait at the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe. You know that, if conditions are right, you may ride in the wheelhouse of the Mark Twain Riverboat and help steer. You know ...
A Land Of Dreams And A Land Of Fears
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My blessings are too many to count, so instead, I count the things I'm gonna miss when I die.
Originally, my list was made up of mostly family and friends. But then I started adding things like sex and Haagan-Daz, fried green tomatoes, Lucky Charms and pork chops, jump shots and over-the-shoulder catches, Chopin and Al Green, and before long, my miss-list was larger than my blessings-list.
Today ...
A Little Night Light
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Here's some advice for those Disneyland purists who have been howling over "Light Magic," the new show unveiled this month as a replacement for the venerable Main Street Electrical Parade: It's different from its predecessor, and entertaining in its own unique way. Deal with it!
Life is about change. Hey, Walt embraced it. Even Disneyland needs to make an occasional tweak to acknowledge advances in ...
A Little Night Magic
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Is that a can of "New Coke" that Mickey Mouse is sipping as he trips the light fantastic in the Light Magic show, Disneyland's new "streetacular" parade, which started rumbling through Fantasyland and down Main Street last week?
When some Disneyland patrons pronounced themselves underwhelmed by the attraction during its first preview excursion -- comparing it unfavorably with the Main Street Electrical ...
A Look At Cafe Daisy And Good Boy Grocers
The revamped Mickey 's Toontown is set to open on March 19, 2023, and Disneyland has made sure everyone has access to snacks and more when visiting this area of the park with two new eateries: Café Daisy and Good Boy! Grocers.
Café Daisy
Nosh on diner classics concocted by acclaimed culinary expert, Daisy Duck, at this new quick service location named after her.
Serving up ...
A Look Back At Disneyland Circle D Ranch
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While the Millenium Falcon is going to land on the Big Thunder Ranch at Disneyland, some of the backstage areas north of there, including where the Resort takes care of its horses - the Circle D Ranch are going to be home to a large part of the Star Wars Land expansion.
The story of the Circle D Ranch
Way before Walt Disney bought the property that would become Disneyland, horses and other ...
A Look Back At Matterhorn Bobsleds Submarine Voyage And Monorail On 60th Anniversary Of Disneyland Rides
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It was 60 years ago this week that the first wave of E-Ticket attractions swept into Disneyland with the debut of Matterhorn Bobsleds, Submarine Voyage and the monorail as the Anaheim theme park underwent its first major expansion in June 1959.
With the help of U.S. vice president Richard Nixon, Disneyland introduced three new attractions on June 14, 1959 that helped usher in the E-Ticket era ...
A Magic Day
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A magician can pull a rabbit out of a hat, he can cut a woman in half, and he can even make a grown man disappear-I've seen it. But I can't say I really believe in magic. That is, I didn't believe in magic until my wife and I recently took our son to Disneyland.
Going to Disneyland is a major deal to me. My parents took my siblings and I to the "happiest place on Earth" once a year when we were kids. ...
A Magical Change To Character Meet And Greets
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If you're content with a photograph and a quick hello from Minnie Mouse when visiting Disneyland, prepare to be blown away on your next visit to the parks. That's because for the first time ever, Disney's characters are speaking - yes, actually speaking - directly with park guests.
In an unexpected debut at Disney California Adventure this past week, a new "talking" Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse, and ...
A Magical Experience Takes Flight
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It was as if Tinker Bell flew in from Neverland and sprinkled some of her fairy dust as pure magic occurred for some very special kids Thursday.
Eyes sparkled and smiles beamed while 81 children with life-threatening illnesses and severe physicial disabilities explored Disneyland. And when Dreamlift came to a close, they had forever touched the hearts of those who shared the day with them.
"The ...
A Mane Attraction Trots Out A Fresh Look
The heart of Disneyland park? Just about every guest would name something that means a lot, in their own mind, whether it is a particular ride, or memory, or cast member, or experience.
But there's neigh, er, no way to deny what's at the physical, easy-to-see heart of Fantasyland: It's the King Arthur Carrousel, one of the first attractions to debut at the Happiest Place on Earth back ...
A Mickey Mouse Operation?
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Are Disneyland and Walt Disney World complex artifacts from the 1950s? University of Minnesota art history professor Karal Ann Marling that they reflect America's post-war culture. For instance the them parks targeted baby boom child-centered mobile families and used buildings that are uniform in color and design like a typical suburban subdivision. She likens them to a series of movies in which the ...
A New Horse Working On Main Street Meet Bert
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If you notice the horse-drawn streetcars at Disneyland, you might notice a big gray fellow that 's a recent addition to the fleet that 's been transporting guests up and down Main Street since opening day in 1955. His name is Bert, and he 's the latest horse to become a cast member in Anaheim.
We had some questions about Bert and here are the answers Disneyland provided:
Q. What ...
A New Tomorrow Lands
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In 1955, Tomorrowland was one of Disneyland's most popular attractions. House made of plastic, flying saucers and other items in the park showed Walt Disney's vision of what 1986 would be like.
Over the years, that vision became less cutting edge and more, well, cheesy. But thanks to a two-year, $100 million face-lift, Tomorrowland is back in the future business.
The Anaheim, CA, park now looks at ...
A Park With A Powerful Spell
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Disneyland opened on this day in 1955. For five decades, the Anaheim attraction has worked its magic on our culture and transformed the entertainment industry.
To build his dream theme park in Anaheim a half-century ago, Walt Disney borrowed against his life insurance policy and cashed in property, including a vacation home in Palm Springs, to pay the $17-million construction bill.
When the ...
A Perfect 48 Hours Of Eating At Disneyland Resort
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Theme park food normally brings to mind wilted hot dogs and sad soft serve cones, but Disney cares far too much about its culinary program to stoop so low at its original park. The perfect 48 hours in the Happiest Place on Earth are filled with much less junk food than you'd anticipate, with generous options for strong cocktails, sit-down dinners that don't disappoint, and plenty of unique eats that'll ...
A Rare Character Debuts At Oogie Boogie Bash Halloween Party
“I 'm looking for a rabbit,” he says, sinister gaze peering down from his perch in a grimy back alley. “You wouldn 't happen to know where the rabbit might be, do you?”
Judge Doom, the villain from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” a character played by Christoper Lloyd in the 1988 film, made his first-ever Disneyland appearance at opening night of Oogie Boogie Bash on Sept. 4. And he was out for ...
A Really Weird Experience The Oddest Places Readers Have Ever Been Stuck On Rides
There 's one moment on the Haunted Mansion - my favorite ride, my only must-do on any given Disneyland day - that I absolutely dread. Sometimes I close my eyes, sometimes I just avert them to focus on something more agreeable to my sensibilities, sometimes I just fix my gaze, staring down my own demon in grotesque horror.
It has absolutely nothing to do with a ghost.
The spot I ...
A Restless Dreamer And A Prolific Creator
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As Disneyland launches its 50th birthday celebration, it seems appropriate to consider the founding father who turned his last name into an enduring brand and created a media giant that bestrides the planet. Walt Disney, as many have noted with varying degrees of accuracy, was not always the kindly, genial Uncle Walt who cared only about making children laugh. He was much more complex and more interesting. ...
A Ride On Disneyland's Reimagined Attraction
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A ride on Disneyland's reimagined attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean, leaves one singing the Yo Ho song as never before. The overlay is, in a word, terrific.
Timed to promote this summer's sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the 39-year-old attraction, located in Disneyland's New Orleans Square, takes place before Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) recaptures the title ship in the ...
A Secret Dining Experience Fit For Royalty
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Disneyland aficionados already know about the exclusivity of Club 33. But for a taste of that Disney high life, non-members can enjoy an exclusive dining experience at the park.
While it's not cheap, it certainly fits the price tag.
Just upstairs from the park's Pirates of the Caribbean ride sits 21 Royal, sporting a name and setting fit for a Disney princess. The 19th century inspired venue is ...
A Sneak Peek Inside Rehabbed It's A Small World Ride
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Disneyland's "it's a small world" opens Friday with new characters, new boats and even a new "Spirit of America" scene before the ride's grand finale.
The it's a small world ride has been virtually untouched since it initially opened in 1966. Other than routine maintenance and yearly Christmas decorations, nobody has taken time to redesign the classic ride, which is still extremely popular among ...
A Special Kind Of Weird
Howard Johnson 's Anaheim branch hotel is less than half a mile from the Disneyland Resort, a roughly 8 minute walk. The hotel also has a webcam pointing at various spots at the Resort. The main spots are in Disneyland, with the Matterhorn acting as Sleeping Beauty Castle, so to speak, having the whole mountain and a zoom in on one of the Bobsleds. The mountain is featured prominently in the overview of ...
A Special Way To Experience A Classic Attraction
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage is one of Disneyland 's more unique attractions, located in Tomorrowland. In this attraction, Guests can embark on a submarine to discover the secrets below the surface of the water and go on a journey to find Nemo while encountering other memorable characters from the film Finding Nemo.
However, this attraction includes some stairs into the submarine, which may ...
A Spirited Outdoor Expansion Will Soon Materialize At Haunted Mansion
When you've famously housed 999 Happy Haunts for over 50 phantom-filled years, you can expect that there will be some need, from time to time, for the sort of expansion that allows for a little more wiggle room.
Of course, the Haunted Mansion has plenty of wiggle room - that stretching room, for instance, seems especially spacious, as does the gleeful graveyard - but the outdoor areas ...
A Spoonful Of Sugarforward Into The Past At Disneyland's Storybook Memories Exhibit
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Every now and then, as you're digging around trying to find some old tax papers in all those boxes crammed into your garage, you'll stumble across some forgotten but potent artifact from your childhood. It could be the teddy bear you carried everywhere when you were 5; it could be the Star Wars lunch box that mysteriously vanished when you were 6; it could be some Popsicle-stick dragon you made when you ...
A Sprinkle Of Pixie Dust
"Fantasyland" is said to be Walt Disney's favorite Land. And it's tough to blame him. "Sleeping Beauty Castle" welcomes you, as both the main entrance and park icon. "King Arthur Carrousel" was built in 1875 and operated in Ontario, Canada from 1922 until 1955 when it was relocated to Disneyland. Until 1975, only one horse was white, and now all of them are. Merlin hosted a ceremony that determined which ...
