Disneyland
The southern California theme park is Disney's original, the one baby-boomers grew up yearning to visit. For us, it's the best, cleanest and most enjoyable theme park around - and we've visited a bunch.Walt Disney wanted to create a place where parents and kids could do things together and Disneyland offers plenty of chances to do just that. Most rides are on the gentler side and you'll also find shows, parades and daily fireworks in summer. And if you don't want to do any of that, just take a kid or two and watch them have fun.
Disneyland is a place where you can wear a funny hat all day and not feel silly about it, its landscape engineered to keep anything outside from intruding on your experience.
Next door to Disneyland is California Adventure, a separate theme park with a growing collection of rides based on animated films.The parks are flanked by Downtown Disney, a shopping, dining and entertainment area.
Disneyland is in Anaheim - east of downtown Los Angeles.
Pros and Cons
We like Disneyland for its cleanliness, friendly employees and overall fun factor. Unlike other area theme parks, they don't have extra-fee attractions that raise your cost - and they don't charge for a line-busting FastPass, either.On the downside, busy-day lines can be long and tickets to the theme park of your dreams cost a lot.
People who like the big, fast, extreme thrill rides may find Disneyland too tame and some folks who have been to the Disney parks in Florida think it's too small.
More About Disneyland
If you want to go, find out how to buy Disneyland tickets onlineIf you need more information, check the Complete Guide to Disneyland. It will tell you about hours, how to get tickets, admission discounts, how to get there and the best time to go.
Take a photo tour of Disneyland to see what it's like.
See where it is on a map. It's the blue-colored balloon.
