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Disneyland is given the name “Happiest Place on Earth” by its own founder Walt Disney, except if you are here on Christmas Day, you will realize it is probably also the “Crowdest Place on Earth”. Usually I would avoid crowded places and, in a way, I was really dreading being here on such a busy day. However for the sake of Grace, here we are! It was personally my second time there and of course I had to bring my daughter to experience the things I had experienced when I was younger.
Without further ado I present, the debatable, Happiest Place on Earth!
Entrance
Fantasyland – Small kiddie rides
Fantasyland was our first stop, just walk through Sleeping Beauty’s castle and we are there! The first 45 mins felt like eternity but it gets better after a couple of rides.
I didn’t get shots of most of the rides in Fantasyland because they are usually smallish, the lighting is usually bad and things move quickly. Also flash isn’t allowed.
Parade time 1 of 3
Nearly every thing shuts down before a parade, so we caught glimpses of it while in queue.
Small Small World Ride
AKA Grace favorite. Filled with animated dolls from around the world, a catchy song and Grace loved it!
Lunch break
Expensive theme park food, but at least it is delicious! I highly recommend the bacon sandwich.
Tiki tiki house
This attraction is a perfect example of Disneyland as a whole: Fantasy, animation (in the form of fancy animatronics), music and entertainment!
Indiana Jones’s Jungle Cruise
This was one of the rides specially decorated for the season and the queue was extremely extremely long. If we played 101 Things You Could Do While Standing In Line, we would have been at #99. That said, I love this ride a lot and it was worth every minute of queueing up for it.
Up Tarzan’s treehouse
For a really good view!
Setting sun at Toontown
The sun was setting quickly and the temperature dropped dramatically. We were determined to stay until 9pm for the fireworks. The sun was setting and we decided to take a break from rides as Grace was tired and my dad looked pretty green (he suffers from motion sickness). Things transformed in the night and it was pretty, but it makes it super hard to take nice sharp photos.
Haunted Mansion
Haunted Mansion is all decked out for Christmas too. This is my favourite ride, almost 20 years ago and it still is! Despite the name, it is actually not very scary at all. Imagine the coolest animatronics and holographics high on drugs and you get the Haunted Mansion.
After almost 7 hours of going from ride to ride and walking around the park, Grace finally tanked. Time for a power nap until the fireworks.
Toon Town
Suitable for young children who like to pose for pictures with their favourite cartoon character. We were there at nearly closing time and got onto a last minute ride. We also had the most expensive Hot dogs in the world for dinner. At least they’re hot!
Firework Magic Time!
After being delayed for nearly 30 mins due to poor weather, they finally announced the fireworks. Let me tell you, don’t ever leave Disneyland without the fireworks unless it is due to bad weather. Especially during this season the fireworks is like three times longer and better. It took our breath away.
– video coming soon! It’s huge and I’m trying to get it up! –
Parade time
Okay, to be honest, this is our THIRD parade! Yup, we were too tired tired to fight through the massive crowd after the fireworks and the next parade was just 30 mins later so we decided to sit down and wait for it. The last parade was the best because the park was now only half-full and you get a great view of everything.
So was Disneyland worth it on their busiest day of the year? I think so!
It actually wasn’t that bad of an experience as a adult and a parent. The visitors here were generally polite and not so “shovey” . Trust me, living in Asia, I have been to worse, much worse. But people do tend to get into ALL your photos and every queue seems to take twice as long. They also break the rides down twice as much! It took quite a bit of determination to get through most of the park and we were naturally exhausted at the end of the day. That said, Disneyland is still magical, any day of the year! Grace is still talking about it months later and we can tell it makes an impression on her.
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