Our Favourite Things at Disneyland

Disneyland Resort, anaheim

HEY STRANGERS!

Disneyland is the original Disney theme park. Opening in 1955, Walt’s Magic Kingdom in Anaheim California is one of happiest places on Earth. After several visits, we’ve pulled together our top 5 favourite things at Disneyland!

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Roaming Characters

Disneyland has the unique feature of roaming characters, meaning you can be sat eating lunch in Fantasyland and have Pinocchio and Geppetto wander past you! It’s great seeing the characters in their themed lands, making the experience so immersive. One of the best lands to see characters, in my opinion, is Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge as the immense theming and roaming characters in this land make it feel like you’re truly on Batuu! This also means you don’t have to wait in mega-long lines to see the characters, they’re just out and about meeting guests!

This is also a great way to introduce young children to the characters as they don’t have to interact if they don’t want to but seeing the characters wandering around might help with the anxiety they feel when meeting them face to face.

Walt’s Presence

You can really feel Walt Disney’s presence and influence at Disneyland. From the rides he worked on to the design of the lands, you can see his famous attention to detail in every inch. The sense of nostalgia is strong in Disneyland and you can even see Walt’s personal apartment above the Main Street Fire Station.

There’s something very heart warming about walking around Main Street USA at night and seeing the lamp in the window of the Main Street Fire Station, an everlasting homage to Walt, welcoming him home each night as if it’s stuck in time. Something we would love to do one day is the “Walk in Walt’s Footsteps” guided tour, where guests get to follow along from Walt’s first conception of the Disneyland park, right down to his final visit.

The Classics Do It Better

Disney Park classics like Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, It’s A Small World and Haunted Mansion are all so much better at Disneyland. Similar to the last point, you can feel Walt’s personal touch on attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and It’s A Small World in the quality of the attractions!

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Orlando and Paris versions of the classic Disney attractions but the Disneyland versions really shine in comparison. The theming around the Big Thunder in Disneyland is so much more immersive, Space Mountain doesn’t give you whiplash and Pirates is so much longer and has fun hidden drops!

Fantasmic!

From the giant pirate ship to Steamboat Willie driving the Mark Twain, Disneyland’s Fantasmic is on another level! The viewing area around the Rivers of America isn’t quite as easy to navigate like the Hollywood Studios version of the show but our TOP TIP is to watch the night’s second performance, mobile order a hot cocoa from the Stage Door Cafe and sit in the cafe’s patio seating area. You can get mostly unobstructed views whilst resting your feet after a looooong Disneyland day!

The viewing area for Disneyland’s Fantasmic is the only thing that really lets this show down in comparison to the Disney World version. Unless you get there over an hour early you can pretty much kiss a good spot goodbye. A lot of people will plant themselves on the bridge over the Pirates of the Caribbean entrance, others will camp on the ground in front of the Rivers of America to get a good view and once those spots are gone you’re somewhat left with the bottom of the barrel. You don’t need a head on view but it definitely helps, so be sure to follow our Stage Door Cafe hack to snag some great seats!

Wondrous Journeys

Wondrous Journeys is Disneyland’s new firework show in celebration of the Disney100 Years of Wonder anniversary! The show is similar to Magic Kingdom’s Happily Ever After which pulls at your heart strings with powerful imagery, music and of course, fireworks! Be sure to arrive early as Disneyland’s hub is small and fills up quickly, especially spots with unobstructed views of the castle. The Disneyland hub has a lot of trees which are gorgeous in the daytime but when it comes to the fireworks they’re incredibly inconvenient. We would suggest either parking yourself right in front of the castle for the best views of the projections, or if you’ve seen the show before, head to the Main Street Railway Station and sit on the steps/wall/benches in that area to enjoy the projections down Main Street and a great view of the fireworks!

We saw this show for the first time during our trip last month (March 2023) and I think Pooh Bear said it best, “can’t we go back to page one and do it over again?”.