Marking a magical milestone

Otago Daily Times

19-05-2025

As Walt Disney's pioneering Magic Kingdom gears up for its 70th anniversary, Mike Yardley unleashes his inner child in Anaheim.
I'm a child at heart. In my book, nothing can reawaken your childhood quite like the escapist innocence, magic and sparkle of Disney. Recently I reacquainted myself with the enchantment of Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. If you're sizing up a Disney vacation, 2025 is a milestone year to swing through the Mouse House, because Walt Disney's original magic kingdom will be celebrating its 70th anniversary. A fitting tribute will debut on Main Street USA with the first Walt Disney Audio-Animatronics as part of a new stage show, "Walt Disney — A Magical Life."
Full details of the milestone celebrations are yet to be revealed, but you can expect nostalgic nighttime spectaculars, returning parades and reimagined entertainment. If you're a history buff like me, a great way to immerse yourself in Disneyland's heritage is to book a place on the Main Street Story Tour, with behind-the-scenes stories and a visit to Walt's legendary apartment above the Disneyland Fire Station in Town Square. It's one of the enticing extras you should add to your Disneyland experience.
Over 800million visitors have trawled through Disneyland since 1955. Hosting up to 140,000 daily guests, one of the biggest dilemmas is where do you start, after passing through the gates? Billowing queues soon form for every ride, so I suggest you head straight to Toon Town and line up for a personal photo inside Mickey's House with the mouse himself. Rinse and repeat, right next door with Minnie Mouse. Do this early, and you'll only have to wait about five minutes to get snap-happy. Toon Town is also home to one of the latest crowd-pleasing attractions, Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway.
Photo opportunities abound with a host of cartoon and big-screen characters, all over the parks. Some characters will be foot-loose around the parks, or you can take your turn getting selfies with a cast of characters around Disneyland's Town Square, and Royal Hall, Buena Vista Street, Pixar Pier and Avengers Headquarters are the best meet-and-greet character haunts in California Adventure.
What are the do-not-miss experiences? Avengers Campus, a Marvel-themed land, is the biggest recent addition at Disney California Adventure. Avengers Campus features WEB Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure, a truly stunning interactive attraction featuring Spider-Man. Some of the original rides, reaching back to 1955, are still truly enchanting, like the Disneyland Railroad, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, It's a Small World, King Arthur Carousel, Mr Toad's Wild Ride, Peter Pan's Flight, Storybook Land Canal Boats, Mark Twain Riverboat and the iconic Mad Hatter's Tea Party spinning teacups. The Matterhorn Bobcats, Haunted Mansion and Indiana Jones Adventure should also be on your checklist.
Across at Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, definitely take a ride in the Millennium Falcon and be left agog at Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, as if you've been thrust into a full-throttle battle scene against the First Order. Disney's California Adventure is action-packed with big-screen movie hero and blockbuster cartoon attractions. One of my favourite rides is Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: Breakout. But there's a reason the queues are even more biblical in size for Radiator Springs Racers, as you zoom the undulating red-rock desert landscape of Cars Land. Start your engines! It's a rollicking ride in overdrive — and my runaway favourite.
Take advantage of Lightning Lane access. Save time and skip the standby line with Lightning Lane passes on the most in-demand attractions, with considerably shorter queuing time. The way it works is you book a time to ride, via the Disneyland app. The multi-pass is available for a host of rides in both parks, while you can buy a Lightning Lane Single Pass for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Radiator Springs Racer.
Great eats? There's only so many churros and Mickey Mouse waffles you can gorge on, right? Feast on New Orleans-inspired dishes at the recently opened Tiana's Palace, inspired by Disney's animated flick, The Princess and the Frog. It's a newly reimagined quick-service restaurant. Try the 7 Greens Gumbo, a beef po' sandwich and the gorgeous lemon-glazed beignets. For nostalgia buffs, head to the Golden Horseshow in Frontierland. It dates back to the park's 1955 opening — Walt and Lillian Disney celebrated their 30th anniversary here. You can still see Walt Disney's private box upstairs to the right of the stage. The interior of the saloon took its design cues from the 1953 Doris Day film Calamity Jane. The menu includes traditional American favourites like chicken tenders, funnel cakes and ice-cream floats.
Another 1955 original is the Carnation Cafe, located on Main Street USA. Try the home-made meatloaf and Walt's chilli. I'm also a big fan of the Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe, on Main Street. This Mary Poppins-themed restaurant offers deli and cafe-style food items like fresh pastries, sandwiches and sweets. Munch merrily on some Matterhorn Macarons. Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo is known for being one of the best Disneyland restaurants in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. This restaurant is themed to that of a "farm fresh" style restaurant but in a galaxy far, far away.
For great character dining, Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel is an insatiable hit, with a supporting cast of characters like Pluto, Aladdin and Jasmine, Chip & Dale and Pinocchio. How could you say no to a peanut butter and jelly pizza?
Throughout the day and after dark, there's a slew of parades and the fireworks extravaganzas to take in, too. If it sounds exhausting, yes Disneyland can zap your energy. Don't try packing everything into one day. Your race against the clock is a recipe for stress. Buy a multi-day pass, whether it be two or three days, so you can strike out in the parks at a more leisurely, relaxed pace. I was struck by how many young families I saw in the late afternoon, in meltdown mode. So many children looked frenzied, as the post-sugar hit tantrums hit fever pitch and panicked parents tried to cram more experiences into the fading light of day. That's not a holiday and it's certainly not fun. Extending your stay is going to cost more, but it will be worth every cent!
Stay on-site. It will eliminate the stress entailed getting to and from the park. Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa is the most luxurious of the hotel offerings, beautifully designed with nods to the early 20th century arts and crafts movement and the woodsy lodge finery of Yosemite National Park in the soaring lobby and atrium. But it's also a superb place for extra-pampering. Plunge into a world of aquatic thrills in the Mariposa, Fountain, and Redwood outdoor-themed pools! An enormous waterslide extends from a redwood tree trunk. There's a vast range of accommodation options to please all tastes, but the greatest amenity of Disney's Grand Californian Hotel is undoubtedly its proximity to Disneyland and direct entrance into Grizzly Peak at Disney California Adventure.
This entrance makes it the closest hotel to any Disney theme park in the United States. It's also an incredibly short walk to Disneyland Park (either through Disney California Adventure or Downtown Disney). This is a huge benefit, especially when coupled with your early entry perks. Guests who are checked in and staying at one of the Disneyland Resort hotels can take advantage of 30-minute early entry to a designated theme park every day of their hotel stay. Get a jump start on the crowds and head straight to Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land!
Try not to lose your cellphone. Of all the places in the world to misplace your phone, Disneyland wouldn't spring to mind as the ideal locale. However, my misadventure opened my eyes to the Herculean lost and found operation that happily hums behind the scenes at Disneyland Resort. Disney employs a vast cast of lost and found workers, who trawl the parks retrieving thousands of left-behind items and set about reuniting them with their owners. In my case, after a moment's inattention, my cellphone was duly picked up, dispatching to the sorting office and returned to me several hours later, after I filed a lost item form. Fun fact: of the tens of thousands of items that are handled by the lost and found department each year, that includes over 40,000 hats, 20,000 pairs of sunglasses and 8000 cellphones. The repatriation rate is remarkably high. And apparently the Matterhorn Bobsleds ride is notorious for parting people from their cellphones!
Finally, if you want to accentuate your Disneyland Resort experience, dodge the peak seasons. For Kiwis planning a post-Christmas holiday in Anaheim, January, February and March are the quietest months for park visitors. In contrast, July and August are jam-packed. Mid-September to mid-November is also a quieter period, although the Halloween season spikes visitation. And try to book your visit for weekdays (particularly Tuesdays and Wednesdays) which are considerably less-trafficked than the weekends.