Magic

Disneyland California: More than 50 years of fun

By CARY ORDWAY

Now more than 50 years old, the mother of all theme parks - in fact, the only Disney park that Walt Disney ever got the chance to personally visit - just keeps packing them in. Current attendance figures are classified, according to a Disney spokesman, but they will say that more than 500 million guests have visited the Anaheim, California park. About half of those guests come from California.

For all intents and purposes, Disneyland California was `born` back in 1955 when visionary Walt Disney bought up enough Anaheim acreage to create what Disney likes to call the "Happiest Place on Earth." Disneyland actually is somewhat different from its sister parks like Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. They do share many of the same rides but, while Walt Disney World is located away from the city on a sprawling landscape, Disneyland California is tucked into far less acreage in an urban setting. That requires creative use of the space available, especially as the park continues to add new rides and attractions to keep guests coming back.

Disney likes to refer to Disneyland as a "walking resort" that is easily visited on foot. The larger parks are a little less pedestrian-friendly and take a little more time to get around to see all the attractions.

In 2001, Disney added the California Adventure theme park adjacent to Disneyland and the area now includes three hotels as well as Downtown Disney, a special shopping area adjacent to the parks. While at first the California Adventure park had a certain separation from Disneyland with its own themes, attractions and identity, the general feeling of guests was that they would like to see more of "Disney" at the park - hence, a visit today to California Adventure is likely to include much more exposure to life-size Disney characters roaming the streets just as they do at Disneyland California.

On Main Street, the Opera House that used to feature the Abe Lincoln show now offers a film called Disneyland, the first 50 Magical Years that is hosted by Steve Martin - who, incidentally was once a Disney employee in the magic shop. The pre-film area includes several exhibits and memorabilia including a model of how Disneyland looked in 1955.

The new Parade of Dreams now includes one of the largest casts ever of Disney characters. And the fireworks are bigger and better - Remember Dreams Come True now features close-in pyrotechnics and other changes in the choreography that add to the fireworks' "wow" factor.

In Tomorrowland, a new ride called Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is like a real life video game. It allows you to sit in a small space vehicle where you will have a ray gun which can be used to project a beam of light toward various robots and other animated characters, producing a final score for you at the end of the ride.

Another new attraction is ASIMO, the world's most advanced humanoid robot that appears daily in the Honda ASIMO Theater. The 15-minute show features the robot's technical capabilities such as talking, walking forward and backward, turning smoothly, balancing on one leg, dancing and climbing stairs.

The park offers advice to those planning a Disney vacation who want to minimize long waits in line. These work for all California theme parks, but especially for Disneyland California.

Arrive early. It's best to buy tickets online or get Disney vacation packages. Package holders can enter an hour earlier through the Main Street gate. On our recent visit we noticed that, between the hours of 8 and 10, the park had much fewer people and lines were almost non-existent.
Once in the park, get a guide map and have a general idea of what attractions you want to visit - then plan a route. Make your way around the park, and avoid jumping from one side of the park to the other.
If there's an especially popular attraction, try visiting that attraction during traditional meal times when the lines drop off somewhat. This works to a degree - but our experience during a summer weekday was that lines were still relatively long during mealtimes.
Find out what time the parades and fireworks shows are and visit the busy attractions then. Guests line up for those shows at least 30 minutes in advance.

The most popular attractions at the park are the Indiana Jones Adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean, Matterhorn bobsleds and Big Thunder Railroad, and Space Mountain so plan carefully when visiting any of these attractions.
Take advantage of FastPass. Certain attractions have a FastPass kiosk where you can insert your bar-coded ticket to print out a boarding pass. The pass will have a one-hour window of time for you to come back and join the line which generally reduces waits from upward of a half hour down to just a few minutes. We can testify to this time savings; the only problem is that the park won't let you get another FastPass until the time for your first FastPass has passed. Some FastPass tickets - especially those issued early to mid-afternoon, required as long as six hours before we could return, although our first of the day let us come back in less than two hours.

AT A GLANCE

WHERE: Disneyland California is located in Anaheim, about a half hour's freeway drive southeast of downtown Los Angeles.

WHAT: Disneyland California is the original theme park, conceived by Walt Disney and opened in 1955. The park offers rides and attraction for visitors of all ages and has been steadily adding new attractions since it began. A Disney vacation is at the top of the list for many youngsters.

WHEN: Any time of year. There's no question that visiting during the school year is going to result in fewer crowds and less time in line, especially if you visit during a weekday. But in summer, weekdays are nearly as busy as weekends, as this is one of the most popular California theme parks.

WHY: There is nothing quite like a Disney vacation and Disneyland California has withstood the test of time to become an all-time favorite vacation destination for families and kids of all ages.

HOW: For more information on Disneyland California, phone (714) 781-4565. Click here for recommended Disneyland lodgings.

OTHER DESTINATIONS: If Disneyland is your kind of California vacation, be sure and check out our other articles on Marine World, Gold Country, Bodie, the Delta King and California river rafting.

Click here for more great California vacation ideas!

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