Disneyland: not just for the kids

Think you need to be a child to have fun at Disneyland? Think again. In fact, our guest blogger Melanie Hearse reckons she and her hubby had a much better time than many of the kids (and the stressed out parents!) they encountered.

I’ll be honest, the sheer volume of ladies of a certain age contentedly wearing Minnie Mouse ears irked me in the same way grown women wearing Hello Kitty clothing in public does, but that aside, the three days spent pushing our way through Disneyland did not disappoint.

Since our last visit twelve years ago, Disneyland has added a whole second park – you can either walk in the gates on the right and visit the traditional Disneyland, or you can walk across the way to your left and see the newly created, and largely still under construction, Disney California Adventures. We opted for the best of both worlds.
Old school – Downtown Disney

From the second we walked in flashing our three day pass, the crowds, the loud Disney-esque music and the scrumptious smell of hot popcorn and pretzels ticked all the right boxes.

Lucky I don’t mind crowds!”

Some quick tips for the uninitiated:
• Make the most of your ‘one magic morning’ – a three day pass includes one for free, and get in an hour before the hoi polloi to avoid the serious queues on all the rides.
• Pre-pick what rides are on your ‘must-do list’ and get straight to it. We crammed in Splash Mountain, It’s a Small World and the Pirates of the Caribbean before the rides hit their customary 90 minute to two hour wait. Success, I’d say!

As the popular rides started to fill up, we jumped on the Disney Express and took a much needed rest as we chugged along the outskirts of the park (mentally compiling a list of rides to run to early the following morning). The hours flew by quickly as we walked around the park, taking in all there was to see.
New and still improving- Disney California Adventure

It’s a bug’s life. Good, classic fun.”

If you don’t mind kiddie rides and hate queues, my top tip is to skip over to the California Adventure side of the park in the late afternoon – lots of the rides have shorter queues, especially in the Bug’s Life section.

The ‘watermelon’ ride, as we dubbed it, involved a trip through a variety of half eaten plastic foods (and the world’s most annoying voice over!), but the teacups and the swirling noodle box rides were good classic fun.

Onwards and upwards, we walked up to the massive area that recreates Coney Island with a mammoth rollercoaster and ferris wheel ride, and plenty of great restaurants. Be warned though the queues in this area border on 90 minutes plus.
As a health conscious lass, I did find the offerings a little on the greasy side (I guess you don’t go to Disneyland to eat diet friendly foods), and the coffee isn’t great, but I did manage to find some healthier options.

You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy Disneyland, in fact I think adults are better placed to be patient with the queues and soak up the adventure for what it is (no tantrums included).

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