Disneyland

[BRDof3...Rob 40]

I'll admit to being a bit sentimental about it. My first Disney trip was to The World when we lived in Florida, but my first trip as an adult was when we took the kids to Anaheim in 2004. We had so much fun we went back again the next year.

It's smaller and more landlocked, so it couldn't sprawl as much. But, somehow all the non-Disney stuff around it made it even more fun. I just wish we had made it to the science museum that we passed coming in from the airport.

Who's been to DL, and do you ever want to go back?

[KC5GRW...aka...Mike 1]

I've been to DL 4 times now. Twice as a kid, once when I was a young single guy, then Christmas 2008 with the family. I really like Disneyland, it has special memories for me. I'll probably be back, but WDW is our favorite.

[JMonroe 0]

Our first Disney trip was Disneyland, back in 1975.  We'd grown up watching Disneyland on Sunday nights, and the Mickey Mouse Club after school.  This was the trip of a lifetime!  I think our book of tickets was about $15.  Back then we traveled on a shoe string budget.  We were tent camping in the mountains and day tripped down to Anahiem.  Our entire trip budget, from WI to CA and back, was about $400.  Gas prices were rising at the time (the first gas crisis) and ranged from the upper 30 cents to mid 40 cents most places, although we saw 75 cents on the CA coast, someplace between LA and San Francisco.  We 'blew' $50, between the two of us, that day at Disney, and were using a credit card for gas to get us home.  We, of course, had to buy a few more ride tickets and we enjoyed meals and snacks at on site venues.  I remember one meal was at the Mexican cantina, don't remember the others.  We thought the Pirates ride was worth a second E ticket, but most rides we did once due to both time and budget restraints.  Our travel companions were ready to leave at 5 PM but we quickly put them straight on that.  We planned to, and did, close the place down!

That was the first of about half a dozen Disneyland trips over the years.  Far fewer than the 30 plus trips to Disney World, the distance and expense of getting there being much of the issue.  We've combined most of our return trips with short stays in Las Vegas.  Airfare to Las Vegas has historically been much less than going directly to CA, car rental was often much less too, and it is only a 4 hour car trip between the two, unless you detour through Big Bear, which we've done.  One of our best trips happened to be on my wife's 50th birthday.  She was treated like royalty by all the Disney staff all day long, was even pulled out of the crowd at a musical performance in the French Quarter area.  One of our favorite Disney rides is the Indiana Jones ride, exclusive to Disneyland. 

Those of you that know both parks (Disneyland and The Magic Kingdom) know there are a lot of other differences, many of them subtle, that make the Disneyland trip worth while.