Travel Tuesday: 8 More Things I Never Knew About Disneyland as a First-Time Parent

In 2015, we took Dahlia to Disneyland for the first time and were amazed by how much we were actually able to do. And now that she’s a year older and completely obsessed with the movie Frozen, we decided to take her again during our Holiday break before work gets crazy for Jason and I.

During this trip, we brought my mother-in-law who was super helpful and also gave us some tips and ideas that we never even knew about! Her insight was great and made for an even more special trip for her and her only granddaughter.

We spent two days trying to knock out everything we thought a two-year-old princess-obsessed girl would want to do and I’d say, we accomplished a ton. And yes, she was such a happy camper!

With that said, here are 8 more things we didn’t know about Disneyland as first-time parents:

(Missed my first 8 things? You can find my article here: http://www.dearestdahlia.com/?p=2235)

1. I didn’t know that if you dress up like a princess, they treat you like one (and the one you’re dressed as).

I know this may sound crazy, but I, myself, wasn’t the kind of girl to get dressed up in dresses when I went to Disneyland, I was the kind that matched my older sister and whatever she wore. (Thanks, mom!) But nowadays, it seems as if all the little girls are dressed up.

From the start, everyone kept referring to Dahlia as the princess she was dressed as and lucky for her I brought her Elsa dress and a Princess Sophia dress I got at Target for $2!! Score!

She was loving it!

The workers really made her day special and to top off our last night there, while having dinner at the Plaza Inn, a nice young woman who was working at the restaurant gave her a Mickey Mouse cupcake complementary telling us they had extras in the back. These small acts of kindness made this a special trip for our little princess.

2. I didn’t know you could actually walk inside Sleeping Beauty’s castle 

I know what you’re thinking; really Joanne? Yes – I had no idea! And neither did my husband, so I wasn’t the only one. My Mother-in-Law took us into the castle in an entrance I never knew was there and we walked through to find these special displays that told the story of Sleeping Beauty. I mean, I have been to Disneyland plenty of times and even as a child, but I honestly had no idea and maybe my parents took me at some point in my life but if they did, I didn’t remember.

This was sort of a mind blowing experience for Jason and I as his mom zipped us through the castle just before they closed it down.

3. I didn’t know we’d actually meet so many characters & princesses and sometimes those “Wait Time” signs are FALSE. Be sure to ask!

Let me tell you, I don’t know how many characters and princesses we saw but seeing the Frozen characters and Mickey Mouse were probably Dahlia’s favorites (or maybe my own, but she seemed to love it!).

What great about California Adventure is that they dedicate a space to meet Elsa and Anna and the very first thing we did when we got into the park was to meet these two. But then we heard it was only Anna and not Elsa and we still decided to stay even though Elsa is Dahlia’s fave. 

 Then, as we were leaving the park, it hit me that maybe, just maybe, Elsa would be there at the end of the day. I ran back inside and asked the worker with a glimmer of hope if she was there. And voila….

  
  Dahlia was completely star struck when meeting Elsa and froze a bit (no pun intended, well maybe a little bit) but not more than when she got to meet the mammal himself, Mickey Mouse.

We actually didn’t know we were going to meet him and saw that the sign outside of his house in ToonTown said the wait would be 60 mins. Womp Womp! So, instead, I just told Dahlia that we would take a few photos inside the house since we didn’t see anyone. We literally kept walking and walking through when all of a sudden an employee pops out of the door and asks if we would like visit Mickey. And our 3 minute tour became a meet and greet with the man… 

  
Again, star struck and completely unprepared to meet Mickey and don’t always believe the signs! So, be sure to ask an attendant.

4. I didn’t know that the Tiki Room was a thing.

When entering Adventureland, I always walked passed the Tiki Room or maybe I was always distracted by the Pineapple Dole Whip just in front of it. So, when my Mother-in-Law told us she thought Dahlia would enjoy it, we initially were not on board but at the end of our day, we passed the Tiki Room again and decided to go.

Can I just say that this really was great for Dahlia and her age.  It was something completely unexpected and I also found out that the Tiki Room has been there since my Mother-in-Law was a little girl so it was one of the originals that have been there a while.

5.  I didn’t know that you could dine and meet characters, so I looked it up and made reservations.

When talking to a friend about our trip, she mentioned that we should dine with the characters and right away, I went to look it up. There are some unbelievably expensive prices for some of the character dining so choose wisely. We decided to do the Ariel’s Grotto, because it didn’t seem as pricey and got a later “lunch” time which was actually closer to dinner which was great because they only do character meetings during lunch, not dinner.

Each three course meal was $40 and as we entered, Dahlia got her photo taken with Ariel. Hooray! And while we were eating dinner, we met Rapunzel, Jasmine, Tiana and Cinderella. This was a great experience and I’d definitely do it again.              

(Want to meet princesses and don’t want to do a luncheon? No problem! In Fantasyland, there was an actually space to meet princesses and waited only about 10 mins. to meet four of them: Belle, Jasmine, Snow White and Ariel. So, you’ll see just as many as the luncheon without paying extra.) 

        

We also made a few characters throughout the parks that Dahlia wanted to take a picture with and didn’t wait more than 10 minutes even during the Holiday week.     

     

 6. I never knew how different the Holiday decor made the park.

I love the Holidays and any chance I get to see Holiday decor, I’m all for it. I really enjoyed all the different changes they made to the park from the rides to the food and drinks. The Jungle Cruise was probably my favorite as they changed it to the’ Jingle Cruise’ and added so much fun to the decor and dialogue the tour guide gave us. She gave us all a good laugh and one not to miss.

The Haunted Mansion’s decor also went above and beyond and anything to make it less scary for our little Dahlia helped out! Glad she made it through. She probably really enjoyed It’s A Small World including their light show on the castle itself where it changes to a gingerbread house. Amazing! There are so many things to see including the gorgeous trees, decked out castles and parades galore. It’s the most wonderful time of the year!   

  
   
And as far as food and drinks, I was really impressed by what California Adventure had to offer. It was like a Holiday Haven for Food, Drinks and Snacks. They added these pop up kiosks around the park that each had a different Holiday theme; Latin, European, etc.. We were drawn  to one kiosk that had hot spiced bourbon apple cider, Holiday cookie decorating kits for kids, and snacks. It was fun walking around to see what each kiosk had and I probably could’ve gotten something from each one!

7. I never knew how amazing the Peter Pan ride actually is.

As I grew from a child to adult, I always skipped Fantasyland and opted for the ‘big kid’ rides. So, now as a parent, I am appreciating all the little rides I used to avoid and have rediscovered them. One ride that blew me away was the Peter Pan ride. First off, the line never gets shorter — we kept walking passed it to see if the line would go down and it finally got to about 40 min. which we thought was doable. Everyone says this is their favorite ride including my Mother-in-Law who says that it was one of the original rides and was always ‘different’ compared to the others. I’m so glad we went on it and appreciate it more as a parent to see the smile on Dahlia’s face as we flew…        8.  I never realized how amazing the live shows are.

I have mentioned the obsession Dahlia has with the movie Frozen and when I found out that they actually had a live show at California Adventure, I knew we had to go. They only have a couple of showings throughout the day and people get there early! We got there 30 minutes beforehand and just made it the top balcony. I suggest getting there even earlier if you want to get good seats. This show was amazing! We sang every song, the costumes were amazing, the actors and actresses sounded just like the characters in the movie and overall, very impressed. It also was an hour show, so definitely worth that ticket price!

  

   
In addition to watching Frozen, we also saw the Disney Junior show and Dahlia loved it! So cute and a must do if you have a little one.

   
We had such a great time and I can’t wait to go back to keep rediscovering different things as a parent. Cheers!