Jan 2001 Travel Story

Archives - January 2001 Travel Story

Karl, Justin and Mickey Mouse
by Kim S.

We recently made our first annual family trip to Disneyland with my 4-1/2 year old, Karl and my almost 2 year old, Justin. Since this was the first visit for both kids, my husband and I decided before we left that we would have no adult expectations, that we were going entirely for the kids' enjoyment. It was much easier than we thought with the variety of rides and activities offered that appealed to both young children and adults.

We checked into a room at the Disneyland Hotel on the 9th floor. While it was nothing out of the ordinary, the highlight for Karl was the wake-up call from Mickey Mouse each morning. We also discovered that we could see a 10pm water and light show from our room that took place on the hotel grounds. By opening our windows, we could also hear the music and narration that went with it. I would recommend the concierge service offered while staying at the hotel. It is worth the extra money, as it provides a continental breakfast each morning, wine and munchies in the afternoon, and cookies and hot cocoa in the evenings. Also, they provide bottled water, cans of soda and juices throughout the day. One of the best reasons to use the service is the opportunity to see the 9:45pm fireworks over Disneyland from the concierge room. They turn down the lights, open all the curtains on the floor to ceiling windows, and pipe in the introduction by Tinkerbell and the music that accompanies the show, all the while offering hot cocoa, coffee, tea and cookies.

The Disneyland 3 day flex pass is great deal. It lets you visit Disneyland 3 days within a 5 day period. We spent a short time there the first evening we arrived, a full day the next, and until about 3pm on the day we left. This was just enough time to exhaust the kids, not to mention ourselves. I recommend looking at the park map before going in to get your bearings and to be able to map out which rides and attractions are appropriate for your children. A stroller is very helpful, and if you didn't bring one, Disney rents fairly nice ones for $7 a day.

Characters are tough to get to if you are too polite. You can wait in line at specific times and places to get autographs from your favorite characters, or just hope for chance meetings like we did. Neither of my kids were frightened and loved being able to hug & kiss their "friends". We saw Mickey and Minnie, Pluto, Chip & Dale, that Rosie O'Donnell monkey from Tarzan, Cinderella, Belle, and many more.

As for the rides, we hit most of the kiddie rides right off. Unfortunately we missed the Dumbo ride and Alice in Wonderland. In Toon Town, be sure to get a Fast Pass for the Roger Rabbit car ride. You can wander around for an hour, and then waltz onto the ride no more than 10 minutes after checking back in. In Frontier Land, be sure to allow at least an hour for Tom Sawyer's Island. There are caves to explore, rocks to climb, forts to defend and trails to follow. They even provide picnic benches in case you want to lunch there. And, don't under estimate your kid's sense of adventure. On the recommendation of another family with a 4 year old, we rode on the Pirates of the Caribbean - both of my boys loved it! Do beware of Toads Great Adventure ride - it was a little creepy, even for me.

We can't wait for next year, when we can go with Karl on some of the more adult rides and check out the new theme park. One final consideration - if you can go during a school week and avoid any weekends, do it. The crowds and lines are terrible on weekends, which just seems to make kids crankier and fussier. They're at Disneyland to have fun, not spend hours waiting in lines!