The Happiest Place

When my daughters learned I was planning to do a post about Disney they were horrified.  You can’t knock Disney they cried. I assured them I wasn’t going to knock it, or make any nasty sarky comments – as if I would – it was just going to a brief report on our recent day out – a sort of guide to Disney for the uninitiated.

Quite frankly I’ve done enough Disney since we’ve been here in America.  Years ago when the kids were small we took them to Orlando for two weeks and had such a great time we didn’t want to go home.  But it was different then – America was a novelty and when you go somewhere on holiday it is very different from actually living there.

Now here in Pasadena, we are just a mere 40 minute drive away from the original Disneyland park at Anaheim.  We spent a day there when we first arrived in America 18 months ago and had a lot of fun; we went again when daughter No 1 visited for our first American Christmas, and again had lots of fun. But I’ve done it now.  I had no real desire to go back and we’ve never succumbed to the lure of buying the Southern California resident discount annual pass.  That would just be too much fun.

However, being suckers for punishment when my daughter and her visiting college friend expressed a desire to go  the Happiest Place in the World, we gave in and set off to Disney once more. There are two parks at Anaheim – the traditional Disneyland and the more modern California Adventure Park.  A two park in one day hopper ticket costs about $100 dollars each and for a mere $10 more we could have upgraded to a two day pass which really was something of a bargain.  However,  due to the closeness of the expiry date of the offer it meant we would have to returned for the second day within the next few weeks.....to the sales assistant's surprise, we decided to decline.

In order to get the most out of a trip to Disney you have to plan your day with military precision.  Get there early and choose your rides carefully.  Yes I joined all the other moms rushing into the California Adventure Park when it opened at 10 am to bag a ticket for that evening's Magical World of Colour Light Show whilst dad and the kids whizzed around in the other park on something fast and exciting.  But that’s what you have to do.  Fast passes are included with your admission and if you use them wisely on the more popular rides you can usually avoid too long a queue – anything with less than a 30 minute wait don’t bother to waste your fast pass.

Once inside the parks, you are a captive audience, which is why they can afford to give away those annual passes and hopper tickets at such a bargain.  Don't  forget it's $15 every time you go to park your car and Disney food  is expensive and it's hardly cordon bleu, but then again you don't go to Disney to  waste precious time sitting down to eat. There are no McDonalds or Pizza Huts in the park offering you a cheaper alternative – everything is Disneyfied.  Disney burgers, Disney fries and yes there are Disney salads and even quite substantial Disney meals, but it’s not cheap.   The gift shops are full of memorabilia which everybody buys but nobody really needs.  It is all beautifully laid out and very tempting - go on just  another Disney bottle opener please......

We did resist the urge to purchase the Mickey Mouse ears or other Disney apparel as worn by about 90% of all visitors.  Every time I visit Disney I never cease to be amazed at the sight of middle-aged American couples dressed in full Disney regalia, proudly displaying a large collection of pin badges reminiscent of over-grown boy scouts. I can’t get my head around the idea that anyone without kids would actually want to go there either, let alone for a hen party or a honeymoon.  But they do.

Now don’t get me wrong, Disney really is a great day out. There is a lot of walking around; a lot of  patiently standing  in line  and a lot of "awe that's so cute" moments going on.  The Magical World of Colour Light Show was impressive and the nightly fire works are always good.  It is fun place; it brings out the inner child in you, and it’s what America does best.   Disney resorts are huge well organized operations, the parks are always very clean, very manicured, the staff plentiful, helpful and polite. The rides are mostly fun, rather than exhilarating, and for kids who have been spoon fed the Little Mermaid since birth its  wonderful. Funnily enough my kids have never wanted to wait in line for Snow White’s autograph, or have their photo taken with Goofy or Cruella De Ville but there were plenty of others who do.

 

Yes there is something very magical about walking through those gates for the very first time and seeing Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, but at the end of a very (expensive) day out is it really the happiest place in the world?

Disney is a huge corporation which brings pleasure to millions but at the same time its sole purpose in life is not to make us happy but to make it's shareholders mega-million bucks.  Too much fantasy and you lose track of reality.

Were we happy?  No I was completely exhausted, had a thumping headache and couldn’t wait to get home.  So glad we didn’t take that two day pass upgrade.