Haley Kluge
One of my favorite Disneyland memories was spending an evening at 21 Royal, the private dining experience located in the “dream suite” above Pirates of the Caribbean. It was 2023, and I went with family and friends, and from the moment we arrived, it felt like stepping into a hidden part of the park. The apartment was completely ours for the night, and every room — cozy sitting areas, elegant bedrooms and the stunning dining room – were filled with Disney magic and detail. You can even take photos in the ornate bathtub (but no shoes in the tub allowed). We enjoyed cocktails on the balcony overlooking New Orleans Square, then sat down to a multi-course dinner created by chef Gloria and paired with wines selected by their sommelier. The service was seamless, and the menu was customized just for our group — the food remains the best I’ve ever had. It was a truly special way to experience Disneyland – private, personalized and unlike anything else in the park.
Favorite ride : Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Disney tip: The Starbucks inside the park typically has long lines and doesn’t accept mobile orders. Instead, if you need your Starbucks, stop at the Downtown Disney location on your way in — it allows mobile ordering and is much faster.
If you want to focus on efficiency, learn how to maximize your Lightning Lanes. As soon as you book a return time, tap “modify” on the app and refresh repeatedly – earlier time slots often become available. With a little patience, you can usually snag a much earlier window, sometimes even one that lets you ride immediately.
Jenelle Riley
Don’t judge me but I love the kiddie rides – I don’t need my stomach in my throat on a big drop or crazy speeds to enjoy the atmosphere. So even at the age of (redacted), I love to visit Disneyland and hop on the more demure rides. But the last time (2019), I went on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, I ended up in hell. Literally. For some reason, this family-friendly jaunt in a 1900s jalopy takes you through the beautiful English countryside and London before you crash into a train tunnel and are sent to hell, complete with fire, devils and a demonic judge. I have no idea what this has to do with “The Wind in the Willows,” the story upon which the ride is supposedly based, or what riders did to deserve this sentencing, but there you are. (This random pivot to Satan’s lair has inspired many conspiracy theories but my favorite is that the engineers just ran out of space/ideas.) The last time I visited Mr. Toad’s, an extra layer of weirdness was added when the ride actually broke down and stopped – just as we had entered hell. Things came to a halt before a voice-over told us we would have to disembark the ride. So we stepped out of our cars and literally walked through hell before taking an exit door back to the happiest place on Earth
Favorite ride: Anything but that sadistic Pixar Pal-A-Round Swinging Ferris wheel with the gondolas that drop. The only ride at Disneyland to provide barf bags.
Disney tip: Disneyland has literally the best corndogs in the world. Also, the churro carts all have different kinds of churros than one another – you can find toffee, tropical and fruity cereal at different stands.
Carole Horst
The first time my two daughters made their first solo “sister trip” — without me or my husband — to Disneyland was when they were 9 and 13. It was Christmastime, and we dropped them off in the morning and picked them up when the park closed. We were nervous but they texted every hour and knew to go to a cast member if they needed help. But Disneyland is a place of happiness and comfort and above all safety. My now-adult kids had a great time being independent and it kicked off a tradition that includes sister trips to not only Disneyland but also treks to the Magic Kingdom parks in Florida.
Favorite ride: The Haunted Mansion. So perfectly done, from the visual tricks to the minutest detail. The storytelling begins when you are waiting in line, snaking through the gardens, then waiting in the magically elongating room, through the attic packed with action and the crescendo of the ghostly ball. And you end up with a friendly hitchhiking ghost!
Disney tip: On Main Street, check out the names of the proprietors painted on the windows of businesses, as they are all people who worked closely with Walt Disney on the park.
Michael Schneider
As an Air Force brat, my family frequently found itself in Los Angeles as we shipped off to or returned from overseas homes in locations like the Philippines and Hawai’i. Those L.A. stopovers always included a visit to Disneyland, and those trips to the park remain fond family memories. So when I had kids of my own, Disneyland was on that parenting bucket list.
My eldest son Evan’s first trip to Disneyland, however, was memorable for an entirely different (and sad) reason. In November 2006, my parents were in town and Evan was about to turn 3 — the perfect time to take him to the theme park for the first time. And since it was his inaugural visit, we wanted to give him the full experience — starting with the Disneyland Railroad. (Also, he was very much in the peak “choo-choo train” demographic at that moment.)
I grabbed Evan, my wife Maria, my parents and some friends (who brought along their daughter, same age as our son), and just as the park opened, we headed straight to the train. It was a hit (well, except maybe for the dinosaur section — kinda scary for a preschooler, we found out). Then, as we left the Main Street train station to really get the day going, Maria noticed something: The diamond in her wedding ring had fallen out.
Panic. We raced back to the train, which hadn’t left yet, and searched the car. We looked at the grounds around the station. Combed through morsels of sand in that area. Nothing. Engagement ring diamonds may be expensive, but they’re still small — so it could have been anywhere.
I filed a report with Disneyland’s lost and found, knowing that locating the diamond would be virtually impossible. This is also when I called my insurance agency and realized “losing a diamond at Disneyland” was not covered by my policy. I had proposed to Maria with that ring in November 2001; in my head, I tried to find solace in doing the math, amortizing the five years we at least got out of that expense before losing the jewel.
Maria didn’t love my quip, “Does this mean we’re not married anymore?” After an hour of our failed search — and with two kids in tow, desperate to see Mickey and Goofy — we had to cut our losses. Were we going to be miserable all day, or would we put on some mouse ears and watch our son have a blast at Disneyland? We sucked it up, and I’m still amazed at how much we’re smiling in our photos from that day — even though that was definitely the costliest trip we ever took to Disneyland. And I still wonder if someone else is telling the story of the lucky day they found a diamond on the ground. At least for them, that would absolutely make it the Happiest Place on Earth.
Favorite ride: Space Mountain. Not Hyperspace Mountain, I love it when Space Mountain is in all of its 1970s glory, complete with loud jazz fusion soundtrack. It’s what we thought space travel would be like circa 1977, and I still wish it was that way.
Disney tip: The beignets at New Orleans Square always include a seasonal variety — pumpkin spice in October, peppermint in December, etc. Get it. My favorite treat in all the Disneyland park.
Todd Longwell
When my towheaded daughter Tristan, then 4 years old, tried on the “Alice in Wonderland” dress in the Disney store in Downtown Disney, the salesperson turned around, put his hands to his face and exclaimed, “Oh, my God! It’s Alice!” He wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Whenever she’d wear the dress to Disneyland (or the Grove) – and it was often, because we were annual passholders – she would inevitably attract the attention of Japanese tourists who would point, shout “Arisu!” (Japanese for “Alice”) and snap photos of her. Today, she’s a 22-year-old journalist writing for the Glendale News Press and still obsessed with Disneyland.
Favorite ride: Pirates of the Caribbean
Disney tip: If you need a break from the crowds and/or the heat, duck into the air-conditioned environs of the Main Street Opera House to take in the audio animatronic wonders of “Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln” or the new “Walt Disney – A Magical Life,” which will be playing in rotation when then attraction reopens on July 17.
Jazz Tangcay
My favorite Disneyland memory has to be spending Christmas 2024 at the park with my wife. We were spending the holiday at home and with most of our friends out of town, we didn’t have plans. As someone who loves Christmas, I was looking for a place to feel the holiday spirit and suggested we go to Disneyland. My first-ever visit to Disneyland was in 1992, when I was visiting L.A. for Christmas. I remember it being one of the most special feelings ever. I wanted to create something magical with my wife.
We did it all, from the Haunted Mansion, to Pirates, Dumbo and Rise of the Resistance. We watched the Christmas parade, and seeing Santa on his float was truly the most Christmasy thing to experience, and I found the holiday spirit at the park. Flying over the park on Dumbo as high as we could go, seeing the park all lit up in Christmas lights, was truly special and many memories were created.
Favorite ride: Pirates of the Caribbean. That water smell!
Disney tip: The app is your best friend to plan out your day. And don’t forget to hydrate!
Terry Flores
Terry Flores with daughter Lauren Flores on Casey Jr. ride at Disneyland about 1993 or 1994
Plustek
Disneyland has always been a special place for our family. It was a trip to Disneyland in 1989 that was my first real date with the man who I would later marry. While we rode all the rides that day, it was on the Matterhorn in the early evening that I knew I was in love. I can’t say exactly why it happened there, but I was smitten by the time the ride was over. We have so many more special memories of Disneyland as our family grew. And it all started on the Matterhorn.
Favorite ride: Big Thunder Mountain
Disney tip: Go to the park on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Park staff told us once that Monday is the busiest day because people think it won’t be crowded.
Cynthia Littleton
As a kid growing in Pasadena, trips to Disneyland were a regular part of life. But I never appreciated what a privilege that was until I saw the park through my son Ben’s 5-year-old eyes.
Ben, now 24, was schooled from an early age in classic Disney cartoons from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, thanks to the great Disney Treasures DVD sets. He still knows Donald Duck’s theme song by heart, and he still loves now-obscure characters such as Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow and Peg-Leg Pete.
His father and I took a stealth approach to Ben’s first trip to Disneyland. We gave it no fanfare. We just told him we were taking a weekend trip. When we pulled up to check in at the Disneyland Hotel, Ben’s eyes bugged out when he saw a giant fiberglass Mickey Mouse statue outside the entrance.
From there, every step we took seemed like it was infused with pure magic. Ben was in awe watching the Disney-verse come to life right in front his eyes. Dumbo, Peter Pan, Snow White and other kid-friendly rides in Fantasyland are never as much fun as when you’re squeezing in to that seat next to your own child. (Whatever you do, don’t skip Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride).
But what really makes Disneyland special — what sets it apart from other theme parks, for me — are the things you don’t expect. The barbershop quartet roaming around Main Street. The pirate fight that breaks out in New Orleans Square. The friendly fiddler who tells funny stories and shows off rope tricks in Frontierland. The considerate cast member who helps you pass the time in line for the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage by asking trivia questions.
It’s these elements that make Disneyland more than a collection of rides. It’s a place that is somehow removed from time and (most of) the harsh realities outside of its gates.
As Walt Disney famously declared on the day the park opened in July 1955: “To all that come to this happy place, welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future.”
He was right. When I watched Ben graduate from college in May, I saw the face of the kid who was so proud to finally drive an Autopia car all by himself. I saw the kid who tried to hide his nervousness every time the anteroom began to stretch at the Haunted Mansion. I heard the squeaky voice that would sing the Enchanted Tiki Room songs as if on a recorded loop.
These were priceless moments of heightened experience for Ben and his parents. Days spent at Disneyland are some of the happiest memories I have of Ben’s childhood. That’s a gift we’ll both treasure for the rest of our days.
