When my children were small we went to Disneyland in Anaheim quite a bit. We also visited Disney World once. Of all the visits to Disneyland, the FIRST one was truly magical. The first time we saw Sleeping Beauty Castle, the first time we climbed into the Dumbo ride, the first time we had our pictures taken with Mickey and Donald … sigh … it was truly memorable. I can still remember how excited my kids were when they first saw Chip ‘n’ Dale scampering around. I like the Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted House, and, yes, It’s a Small World (just to get out of the heat for a while). And how can you get that tune from Main Street Electrical Parade out of your head? My kids couldn’t get enough of Autopia. They would spend all their time there if we let them! And the Disney animation films are true classics: Snow White, Bambi, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland. Disney has truly made its impact on family entertainment.
I grew up 20 minutes from Disneyland and have been at least 60 times. I love the park, though I’m not a huge fan of Disney movies, Black Beauty and Fantasia excepted.
My favorite things about Disneyland:
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My sister getting stuck on the track of The Haunted Mansion after she jumped out of her seat and forced them to stop the ride.
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Swinging the Skycart back and forth to freak passengers out on the way to Fantasyland (and watching pot smokers get busted when they got off the ride).
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Trying to make people barf on the Teacups.
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Learning that Disneyland has a real jail.
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The caramel apples!
Awww. Now I wanna go to Disneyland!
It was Tink? It was cool. Too bad there aren’t instant replays in real life.
What are APs?
They’ll get my E Ticket when they pry it from my cold sticky fingers.
Annual Passes.
Wishful thinking, I’m afraid. 
By the way, for those people who really like Disney World, I recommend that you read this book. It’s a fun futuristic sci-fi book that takes place primarily in Disney World. Nothing earth shattering, but still fun.
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Disneyland just because it was a hell of a gamble. Walt could have easily sank his career and everyone else’s along with it if it hadn’t caught on. IIRC, it was built in a year (sorry, no cite, just going on memory), which is even more mind-boggling to me.
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Their partnership with Pixar. Stellar storytelling, plus getting people to see the possibilities of computer animation.
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Their own animated movies, which for years was the gold standard of animation.
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Pirates of the Caribbean ride…for sheer atmosphere this one is hard to beat (though Indy, Space Mountain, and Haunted Mansion are right up there, too). The one at Disneyland is longer than the one at Disneyworld, so I prefer it.
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The TV show that used to come on Sunday nights. For years this was THE family show. (Of course, we had a black and white TV, so the wonderful world of color was lost on me for years.)
Now I want to see that fireworks display they have up now!
I know. I let my AP lapse (getting too expensive), but now I’m thinking it’s time to renew.
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The parks
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Fantasmic!
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The Little Mermaid
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The Lion King Parade
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Drinking my way around the Epcot World Showcase
Lessee…
- The Emperor’s New Groove - it seems like it was just a throwaway little movie, in some ways - but it’s so freakin’ funny. It’s just about the funniest movie I’ve ever seen.
- Fantasia - Wow. It didn’t awaken in me a love of classical music, sad to say, but the music that’s in it, the imagination and imagery applied to it, is phenomenol.
- Space Mountain - somewhere, there’s a roller coaster that a wuss like me can ride, and enjoy.
- Epcot - some years back, I had a day and some spare cash, so I went down by myself. I figured I, an adult male, would get bored and leave by early afternoon.
I closed the park. I was just lost (in a good way) there, and didn’t even notice the time spent. - Releasing the Miyazaki films, without changes. Apparently, at least with Spirited Away, they were expecting Disney to change things, but it was the Disney side that insisted on keeping the original visions of the films, and grand films they are.
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Pirates of the Carribean (ride) I saw this on Disney’s Sunday program just after it was built and started a Simpson’s-esque campaign of bothering my parents until they agreed to make a visit to my California cousins that year’s vacation. I was scared out of my seven-year-old wits by the drop at the start and now every time I ride that ride I’m seven again.
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Thunder Mountain Railway – great atmosphere. More like the old west than the real old west.
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Disneyland Railroad – I’m a RR fan and the collection of old steam engines running around the park is one of my favorite things about visiting.
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The Jungle cruise – Inspired me to get a riverboat captain job at Six Flags Over Texas when I was in high school.
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Beauty and the Beast – In 1991 our second daughter was born and, feeling that our first daughter might be feeling a little neglected, I took her to see Beauty and the Beast. She was almost three and it was her first movie-theater movie and she was enthralled. As we left the theater she looked up at me and said, “Thank you for the movie, Daddy. I had a wonderful time.” She’s a senior in high school this year and I’ll remember that moment until the day I die.
Curate
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**The Theme Parks ** - except for some recent additions, they always manage to take you into a new world and surround you in a fantastic setting.
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The Music - whether it is atmosphere/attraction sounds, special event/parade/show tunes or film music, theses sounds always remind me of the times when I first experienced listening to them at the theatre or in the parks.
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The Cast Members & Imagineers - without them, the parks would just be another Six Flags
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The Films - From the adapted stories (Cinderella, Snow White, et al.) to distribution deals (Pixar, Studio Ghibili), the company knows how to market and promote its films.
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Mickey Mouse - I’m not a big character fan but I must admit that I still like Mickey and his pals. Something about seeing kids smiling around them at the parks. I see more than a few adults smiling too! Remember, it was all started by a mouse…
SHAMELESS PLUG TIME: A little hobby of mine… http://www.jtcent.com
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Pirates of the Caribbean. The ride. Not the movie, although I love that too.
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California Adventure. The park adjacent to Disneyland. California Screamin’ is one of the best “old-style” roller coasters I’ve ever been on. Yes, I know that it’s modern.
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The Haunted Mansion. The ride. Not the movie because I wasn’t that fond of the movie.
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Finding Nemo. The movie. I will never get over how incredibly cute Nemo’s little facial expressions are. And his little voice. And his little gimpy fin.
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Fantasmic was an awesome show! The last time I was at Disneyland before this past summer, when I took my boys, was when I was about nine years old. The Electric Light Parade and the fireworks were the nightly entertainment, and I remember them both with great fondness. The Fantasmic show is a truly appropriate replacement.
Neat site! The pictures of the Tower of Terror have me jonesing to go back to Tokyo DisneySea once it opens. TDS is my favorite Disney park (which in retrospect makes me wonder why I didn’t include it in the list in the OP). And Pooh’s Hunny Hunt at Tokyo Disneyland is just amazing. I couldn’t believe that the wait for a FastPass was an hour long when I went, but then I actually rode the thing. It was actually worth standing in line alone for an hour and a half in December. Twice.
TMBG did a version of this?!?!?!?
Where did you find that?
How cool…
Chuck
My folks got invited but didn’t go. The fools… 
What is club 33?
Only the greatest place I will go to someday when I am rich beyond my wildest dreams.
(Anyone can feel free to correct or add to what I’m saying here).
I’m not sure if you’ve ever been to Disneyland, but there is a not very clearly marked door right next to the Blue Bayou restaurant in New Orleans Square (right near the exit to Pirates); the door has a “33” above it.
This used to be Walt Disney’s place to entertain friends, visitors, etc. Now, Club 33 is a private restaurant where members pay an amazingly high amount of money to be members of. I believe that, for an individual, there is something like a $2500 sign up fee, along with a fee of $2000 a year (or something like that). There is also a 2-3 year waiting list to become members.
What do you get for your money? Well, you can make reservations whenever you want (how far in advanced is dependant upon what level of membership you opt to pay for) and bring whoever you want. You’d think the food would be free for that price, but no: you still pay $50 a plate (sometimes more, sometimes less) for the food. I’ve heard the food is great. Along with the purchase of food, you get free admission to the park and (I believe) free parking for all in your party.
I think you get free “Club 33” match books or something or another along with your meal. Club 33 is also the only place in Disneyland that serves alcohol.
If you aren’t a member, you can still go if a member makes a reservation for you under their name. Also, dinners at Club 33 are often auctioned off for charity (often going well into $500+).
Does that help?
This is the photo of the old door, I could swear it is red now.
More info on membership benefits.
Any dopers members? Anyone wanna make a poor, Bakersfield girl’s dreams come true? 