The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (13 page)

Children skip, laugh
, and sing—and so do some adults!  And speaking of skipping, this is as good a place as any to mention that
there is no running at Disneyland
.  Guests can stroll, skip, laugh, sing, and ride thrilling attractions, but
not run
.  It’s one of
Disneyland
’s safety mandates, and if you forget it and break into a run during your visit, a Cast Member will remind you the rule.

As everyone approaches the entrance plaza, t
here’s a heady, sometimes anxious energy in the crowd.  Cheerful
Disney
tunes play over loudspeakers discretely camouflaged among the foliage and on the light posts.  Plants and flowers cast their scent into the morning breeze.  Everything is sparkling and clean.  Cast Members smile warmly.

If you approach via
Downtown Disney
, the scents of kettle corn, bacon, scrambled eggs, croissants and fresh-brewed coffee fill the air.

However stressed you might have been on the flight, drive or train ride
to the resort, whatever real-world cares have been plaguing you, very quickly you feel yourself slipping into a more relaxed mode.  If this is your first visit to the resort, you understand intuitively and immediately that you are entering a
magical
space.

Note that t
here are a couple of checkpoints to cross
before
you are able to enter
Disneyland Park
or
Disney California Adventure Park
.  If you’re prepared, you’ll negotiate them in a flash, and begin your
magical
experience long before less-prepared Guests.

Bag
/Stroller Search Checkpoint

Even–or, perhaps, especially–at the happiest place on earth, security matters.  Guest and Cast safety is, in fact, the key consideration of all
Disney
Cast Members. 
Safety
trumps the other key
Disney
values of
courtesy
,
efficiency
, and
show
.  If Guests and Cast Members aren’t safe, nothing else matters.

That’s why
Disneyland
Cast Members search all bags and strollers before allowing Guests on property.  When approaching the property, you will see a queue (or multiple queues) stretching from one or more green tents lining the entrance.  Pick a line, any line.  Though queues sometimes look long,
Disney
management typically places efficient, no-nonsense Cast Members at these search checkpoints, so the lines move rapidly.  And your anticipation of the fun ahead, and conversations with your friends or family, can make the wait time pass quickly.

Be prepared: 
have your bags open and/or unfastened
so that when it’s your turn, Cast Members can rapidly inspect your bags and wave you forward.  Strollers are also searched, so unzip/unsnap any pockets or pouches on your strollers so they’re open for easy inspection.

The
checkpoint Cast Members will be courteous (it’s part of the
Disney
training, and
Disney
tends to hire naturally warm people) but these particular staff members seem to be selected more for their efficiency and seriousness of purpose than for their friendliness.

The resort’s dress code, once famously restrictive, has relaxed substantially over the decades.  That said, you
still aren’t allowed to wear anything offensive into the park.  Don’t wear obscene or profane T-shirts, hats, jackets, etc. Don’t wear anything that’s too revealing.  (If in doubt about whether an item is offensive or too revealing, find something else to wear.)  Adults,
don’t
wear costumes, even if you’re supposed to look like a
Disney
character.  You can, of course, wear
Disney
T-shirts, hats, etc.  And on
Dapper Days
, you can wear vintage clothing (generally from 1910-1960’s).

What do m
ost
Disneyland
and
DCA
visitors wear?  Clothing or accessories featuring
Disney
images and slogans, hundreds of which are available at the many
Disneyland Resort
stores.  Children
are
allowed to wear costume-like items like wear
Jack Sparrow
hats,
Princess
dresses, and so forth.  Everyone needs to wear shirts and shoes, as shirts and footwear are required for all Guests.

The
Cast Members in the bag/stroller search lines are primarily looking for weapons, explosives, chemicals, and alcoholic beverages.  I was halted briefly in summer 2010 because a Cast Member found a little bottle of perfume in my pack and was suspicious.  Was it lighter fluid, a dangerous chemical, or a little flask of vodka?  None of the above, as I was able to demonstrate, just an innocent bottle of fragrance.  Some Guests get annoyed when Cast Members search their bags and ask questions, but it’s for the safety of every Guest and Cast Member at the resort.  If for some insane reason you were planning to bring weapons, explosives, chemicals, or alcohol into the parks–
don’t
.  Neither you nor the items will be admitted.
Did You Know?
 
Wrapped packages are not allowed on property
because a wrapped package can contain prohibited and dangerous items.  If you’re attending a party on property at which gifts will be exchanged, instead of wrapping the presents, drape them in tissue paper and place them in a gift bag.  The Cast Members at the search checkpoint can easily lift the tissue paper to inspect the bag’s contents.  If you absolutely
must
give a wrapped gift, store it in one of the lockers immediately outside the
Downtown Disney
search checkpoint and present the gift later, outside the parks’.

Ticket Booths

Congratulations—you made it through the bag check!

Now it’s time to buy your tickets (unless you already have an
Annual Passport
or pre-printed tickets).  Once past the bag/stroller checkpoint, you’ll see a collection of small, cream-colored huts with pink-and-red shingled roofs, four on the east side of the central plaza, and four on the west.  These are the
Disneyland Resort
Ticket Booths
.

If it’s
an off-time (very early in the morning, the middle of the afternoon, or late at night), few booths will be open and lines will be short.

If it’s a peak entrance time
, most of the booths will be open, but due to the crowds, lines will be long.  Find the queue that looks shortest and/or most efficient to you, and take your place in line.

Prepare to be patient.  For many
Guests, this is their first visit to the parks.  They’re excited, confused, in some cases overwhelmed, and have a million questions when they get to the ticket window.  The ticket booth Cast Members are trained to be efficient but also to do their best to answer all Guest questions and provide superlative customer service–and that can take time.

Use your
wait time in line to chat with friends and family members in your party, make and fine-tune your plans for the day, formulate your own questions for the ticket Cast Member, and just enjoy the lively
Disney
music that’s playing throughout the area.  Remember, you’re on vacation–even if it’s only a day-cation.  Relax and ease into a vacation rhythm.

The
Disney
ticket and
Annual Passport
prices are clearly posted on all the ticket booths.  There are a range of price points and it can be confusing for first-time visitors, so if you haven’t researched ticket prices prior to your visit, study the prices while you’re waiting in line, and don’t be shy about asking questions once you’re at the ticket window.  Ticket booth Cast Members are there to help you choose the ticket or pass that’s right for
you
.

Disneyland
Park
and
Disney California Adventure Park
are expensive, and become more expensive every year.  This is a real-life example of “you get what you pay for.”  The quality and safety and
magic
of both parks require a huge staff, a lot of resources, and high operating costs.

The parks are expensive—but they’re a good value.  Because o
nce you have your ticket or pass, you can enjoy every attraction and show in the parks, except for the
Frontierland Shootin’ Exposition
in
Disneyland
and
DCA
’s pay-to-play
Games of the Boardwalk
.  You can ride all of the parks’ attractions, including the most popular,
E-Ticket
attractions such as
Space Mountain
,
Indiana Jones Adventure
,
Dumbo
,
Pirates of the Caribbean
,
“it’s a small world,”
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
,
Soarin’ Over California
,
Radiator Springs Racers
,
California Sreamin
’, and
Grizzly River Run
, etc., all day and night if you want to.

With your entrance ticket or pass y
ou can watch all shows, including parades and fireworks, as part of the overall entrance fee.

In other words,
though the price of admission is steep, you get a lot of value for what you pay.  Your only extra expenses in the parks will be food and souvenirs.

I
must confess that I’m always surprised when Guests in the ticket line blurt out the prices in shocked, sometimes outraged voices.  I’m certainly sympathetic to Guests on a tight budget, since I’m often on a tight budget myself, but in this day and age, with information available online and via telephone, there’s no excuse for “sticker shock”.  How can you go to the happiest
and
most expensive place on earth without checking the general price range in advance?

Guests can g
o online before their trip to familiarize themselves with current
Disneyland
ticket and pass prices, or if they don’t have a computer, they can call a travel agent or
Disney Vacation Planner
.

Even if you don’t decide which
ticket or pass you want until you’re actually standing at the ticket booth window, at least you’ll have an idea of the price points to expect.

What you choose
to purchase should make sense for you and your companions.  Are you only interested in
Disneyland
?  Or are you wild to experience attractions in both parks?  Is this a one-day trip, a three-day trip, a week-long trip?  Will you be visiting the resort again this year?  How often?

If you
’ll be visiting the park(s) more than twice in one year, investing in an
Annual Passport
probably makes sense.  Frequent visitors who use their
Annual Passports
literally save hundreds, sometimes even thousands of dollars over what they would’ve paid for a ticket each time they visited. 
Annual Passes
also give
Passholders
10 – 20% discounts on most food and merchandise in the parks and
Downtown Disney
, and a discount on stays at the
Disneyland Resort Hotels
.

Annual Pass
ports
are purchased at the ticket booths or online, and then inside the parks
Disneyland Photographers
snap your picture and electronically load the photo onto your plastic, bar-coded pass.  Once you have a pass, you won’t have to stand in line for tickets again for a whole calendar year, unless you visit on a
Blockout Day
and need a
Blockout Ticket
.

Be sure to mention
to the ticket booth Cast Members if you are an active member of the military, or a military spouse, or a military retiree, or a member of the National Guard or a reservist.  Persons associated with the military might receive special discounts on
Disneyland
hotels, tickets, or passes.

Whatever
option you choose, once you have your ticket or pass, you’re that much closer to the most fun you’ve ever imagined! 
Did You Know?
  When it opened in 1955, and for many years afterward,
Disneyland Park
charged an entrance fee of $1 and then sold separate tickets for each of the attractions.  Separate tickets were eventually consolidated into ticket books, with tickets ranging from “A” designation for simple attractions, like the
Main Street
Vehicles
, to “E” rating for headliners like the
Matterhorn Bobsleds
. 
Alice in Wonderland
required a “B” ticket,
Dumbo
a “C” ticket, and the
Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland
a “D” ticket.  Today, one single park ticket or pass covers all entrance, ride, and show fees–a much simpler arrangement!  Some
Disneyphiles
fondly remember and even collect the original tickets and ticket books.  Facsimiles of the original ticket books can be purchased at resort shops like the
Emporium
on
Main Street
.