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Ambivalent About Disneyland: A Family Trip

Posted on by Shanna S Mathews-Mendez

Ambivalent About Disneyland

Let me begin by saying that I do not dislike Disneyland. I know that there has been controversy, especially in my (liberal feminist) circles, over princesses falling for the princes, the artificiality of happily ever, and the massive amounts of cultural appropriation and revisionist history, not to mention the blatant “fleecing” of customers. I get it. I’ve heard the message. And I remain actively ambivalent about Disneyland.

On the one hand, Disney is over the top with the happily-ever-after-every-moment-is-friggin-magical narrative. On the other hand, we can all use a little magic in our lives. I have a five year old, and we live in California. I feel, as an idealist/realist, that I would be doing her a cultural disservice by insisting she not enjoy Disney because <insert outrage here>.

To that end, I have slowly introduced the Disney movies I find appropriate for a small girl. She first watched Merida shoot arrows and change her fate when she was three. Then she sang along at the age of four to Elsa and Anna as they battled with self discovery and made sacrifices for love. Finally, at five, she fell in love with the bold and brown skinned Moana: “Mama!” She exclaimed, her eyes bright. “She looks just like me!”

Along the way she worried over Nemo’s fate, she flew to infinity and beyond with Buzz and Woody, and she still falls in love over and over again with the fairies in Neverland. But most of all, Winnie the Pooh has been a staple in our house from the very beginning. Our house still has A.A. Milne quotes on the wall in stencil from her third birthday party, almost three years ago.

Disney has its magic, and I have gradually revealed that magic to my daughter. And she has breathed it all in like pixie dust filled air. Folklore quotes Einstein as having once said that if you want children to be intelligent, read them fairytales, and if you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairytales. I am not sure if he actually said that, but I am sure it is true.

Our Trip

So, we drove down from our home in the Bay Area. I planned for years to take Celaya after she turned five. I don’t plan on going back often, so I wanted the her to remember her first time.

I bought the whole damn kit and caboodle. I booked us four nights at the Paradise Pier Hotel, I got three day park tickets, magic morning, breakfast with characters, you name it I booked it and paid for it. It is not cheap, not by a long shot, but I knew that going in.

I chose Paradise Pier Hotel for two reasons: it is the cheapest of the three hotels in the resort (we wanted the resort experience), and you can book a room with a theme park view. I plan on going back every few years, so I started at the bottom and will work my way up. Next time we’ll stay in the Disneyland Hotel, and then finally at the Grand California Hotel and Spa. I wanted to be able to look at all three accommodations with clear and comparative eyes.

Paradise Pier Hotel

So, I’ll break it to you gently: this hotel is not worth the price. Was that gentle? It is just a hotel. You can stay at a hotel just as close to the park for half the price with more amenities. There is nothing magical about the Paradise Pier Hotel. The one perk we had we didn’t even use, entry into the park one hour early. I have no intention of hustling my entire family up and out of bed, fed, and ready to get on rides by 9AM. No thank you.

Don’t get me wrong; it isn’t a bad hotel. It is just a hotel. No big deal. I am looking forward to seeing what Disneyland Hotel has to offer in a couple of years, and if it will reignite the magical hotel experience I was hoping for.

Character Breakfast

Remember, I am a novice. I have no idea what the hell I’m doing in Disneyland, so let me tell you what a huge gigantic shock it was for me to get a bill close to two hundred dollars for our buffet character breakfast at the PCH Grill downstairs from our room.

Huge!

It did not occur to me to look up the prices as I figured it would be expensive. I did not, however, figure it would be that expensive to have Stitch come to the table and fist bump my 26 year old brother or have Daisy nod at my daughter.

And the food was bad. The eggs tasted like water, as did the gravy that came with the biscuits and gravy. It was an all around mediocre, overpriced experience, and not a good start to our trip.

In stark contrast was the breakfast at Ariel’s Grotto in California Adventure. The restaurant is in a lovely location, right on the water, across from the ferris wheel. The princesses are all super sweet and adorable. The food was really good, and the service was excellent.

The price was the same for both breakfasts; one was more than worth it, and one was not even close.

Disneyland

Disneyland is a freaking nightmare for parents of small children. The lines are long, the days are hot, there is very little seating in some areas, and the service in most areas is genuinely sad. I did not meet many employees in the park who seemed happy or magical. They mostly seemed kind of over it all.

To note: I am a breastfeeding mother of a crawling, very mobile, infant. There are huge swaths of areas where I just cannot put my baby down. No grass, no soft padding, not even open concrete to let her roam. As much as my daughter loves to be held, she also wants to move move move. She simply could not do that in Disneyland.

Some of the rides are fantastic, though. Celaya adored the Winnie the Pooh ride, going three times total, and we all loved the Haunted Mansion; the line moves shockingly fast on that one. Celaya had a great time in the tree house with her uncle, and the kids had a ton of fun on Tom Sawyer’s Island.

Toon Town is probably the best for really small children. I could put Matilda down to roam a bit in the play areas and Celaya enjoyed wandering and exploring that section of the park without having to stand still in line.

The food in Disneyland is okay, nothing to write home about. The prices are not bad.

I would say my favorite part of Disneyland is the shopping, both on Main Street and in the little shops around the different lands (I picked up some great jewelry in Pandora behind the Blue Bayou restaurant), and the nightlife. We loved Fantasmic and the fireworks show afterward.

Next time we go, I will likely plan on sleeping in and enjoying the pool and Downtown Disney much longer during the early part of the day, and heading over to Disneyland for late afternoon and evening fun.

California Adventure

This, honestly, for me, is where it’s at. It could easily be because we spent Monday in California, but this park was much more laid back, the lines were shorter, the people seemed friendlier, and the atmosphere in general just felt more like, well, living in California.

I already raved about Ariel’s Grotto. We also loved Cars Land. Celaya is a huge fan of Mater, has been for years, so wandering into this world was truly magical. The favorite ride of everyone was the Soarin Around the World ride despite it having the longest line.

The kids also had fun on the outdoor obstacle course.

Hollywood Land was great because Celaya got to meet and get signatures from Spiderman, Thor, and Loki! Talk about excited. We also picked up a couple of T Shirts with Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy and a few action figures to boot. We are huge Marvel fans, so California definitely wins for that if for nothing else.

The rides seem much more mellow for a little girl afraid of roller coasters, as mine is. She enjoyed the jelly fish, the dancing cars, and soaring over the world.

We stayed for the World of Color show, and I would say that alone is worth the price of entry. My daughter said it was “spectacular.” Next time, I will be sure to do dinner at Ariel’s Grotto and get reserved seating for the show. Dinner at the Elena of Avalor courtyard was actually really good for being prepared food; I would definitely eat there again.

Overall, I’d say I prefer, for small children, Disney’s California Adventure, so much so that I will get a four day pass next time, so we can have two days in each park.

Downtown Disney

I cannot say enough about Downtown Disney. That is really where the magic is at. My kid could have stayed in the Lego Store all day, and I could have sat outside with regular coffee refills from the Starbucks next door for just as long.

The people are all friendly, the shopping is amazing, and the food is great. We ate at Tortilla Jo’s, The Original Sandwich, and Jazz Kitchen. All of the food was worth the price, which was, honestly, not bad.

We also saw Thor: Ragnarok on its opening weekend at the AMC theater located in Downtown Disney. The theater is large and clean, the snacks all tasted fresh, and the staff was super accommodating to a mother standing in the aisle and bouncing a sleeping baby in an Ergo front pack while Thor, Hulk, Loki, and Valkyrie worked together to defeat the fantastically ferocious Hela. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, go.

Downtown Disney is a world unto itself, a truly magnificent one.

Final Thoughts

Will I go again? Yes, I am still ambivalent about Disneyland, and I still plan on going again. I did not expect the whole experience to be a stunning one, and it wasn’t. I am a parent of small children talking about a crowded theme park. The best part of the trip for me was the four days in Laguna Beach after Disneyland.

But, it was absolutely stunning for my five year old. Celaya had a blast, and that, really, is what I wanted all along. I’ll put up with quite a bit for my daughter to be as swept away as she was by it all.

She collected signatures, she traded pins on her lanyard, she stood patiently in line, and she ate every single bag of popcorn, churro, and ice cream cone she could get her little hands on. I am looking forward to going back for her, and I know it will be just as magical for Matilda.

And, in the end, that is my takeaway. Disneyland, California, Downtown Disney, the resort, all of those things are magical when we put on our rose colored glasses. I am a jaded woman looking forty dead in the eye. I left my rose colored glasses in a lock box in a cave somewhere back in my twenties.

Fortunately, watching my daughter’s eyes light up over and over again gave me a new pair of glasses, the kind that are rose colored for my children. The kind that make me bite my tongue at a rude employee, that make me point out sights she wouldn’t otherwise see, the kind that make me say “yes” to everything she reaches for in the park. I want her to see the world as magical. And what better place to do that then in the most magical place on earth?

Magic is, after all, what we make it.

33 thoughts on “Ambivalent About Disneyland: A Family Trip”

  4. I appreciate your raw honesty. It gives a good idea of what to expect instead of being shocked that I didn’t get the experience that I’ve been hearing about. Thank you!

    Reply

  5. Good honest review. I guess I’m in the minority since I have never taken my kids to Disney World or Disney Land! We’ve been to theme park type places but never Disney. The guilt hits me every now and then, but I didn’t go until I was high school myself.

    Reply

  6. I’m not a huge pro or anti Disney but you’re right the look on our children’s faces beats anything. My hubby doesn’t like Disney but I know he’d do a cruise just for them. Thanks for the review of the different activities

    Reply

  7. I haven’t been to Disneyland, but I’ve been to Disney World several times. I am interested to see how the parks differ. We hope to go in a couple of years. Most of the time, we’ve loved our Disney World experiences, but we have had a couple of less than magical moments. We still love to go, though!

    Reply

  8. Good post, Shanna! I will definitely forego the expensive character breakfasts if I ever go back to a Disney park. When I was five, my parents took me to Disneyland and to this day I remember virtually nothing about it. But, I am thankful in retrospect that they were the kind of parents who would take me there!

    Reply

  10. I kinda expected to be told that you hated your Disney experience and was ready to defend my love of it, but was pleasantly surprised at how impartial you were. I went through the struggles of crawling/toddling babies who wanted to be out of their stroller while at Disneyland and I totally feel your pain on that one. There are definitely some Disney experiences that are better than others. And I’ve never actually paid for any of the character dining. But after your review, I’m totally putting that on the list of things to do. Thanks for your honest thoughts!

    Reply

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