California Adventure: Disneyland Day One

What can you say about visiting the place you had spent a childhood pining for - a place you thought of visiting only in your dreams? The one and only - the ORIGINAL - Disneyland Anaheim.

After a relatively anxious night's sleep, we trotted down the road from our hotel and entered that magical gateway. I remember other early-risers also barrelling towards the entryway, and although it was winter and extremely low-peak, I still found myself wanting to break into a run as family after family, on jet-powered feet, seemed to stream right by us.

Taking a deep breath, we finally reached the baggage check, then it was through the electronic turnstiles with out tickets (which produced a tinkerbell soundbyte!) and we were in. In!! Standing there, oggling our map, unable to decide which direction to go in, kids swatting the map, squealing with delight, parents peering around in confused awe. It was one of those moments in time I'll never forget.

Of course, Disneyland is beautiful. It's so clean and so stunningly created and kept, you could lick the ground and it would taste like lollipops. From memory, I think we jumped straight on the train near the entrance and just cruised around in a daze, oggling.

Our first stop was, of course, Fantasyland, because that's where The Castle is. I cried, yes I did. And then I marvelled at how much smaller it is in real life. Like the Monopoly board when you get it out as an adult. Didn't it used to be so big, your arms couldn't each across?

There was no way I was going to pass my first moments in The Land without a ride on the teacups - and no one else was complaining. I was in childhood bliss. It was actually happening. Bugger the kids and what they were enjoying (PS: I think they were enjoying!) it was all about ME! Weeeeeeee!

Then, it was next stop and absolutely my Number One reason for our visit to Disneyland, beyond all else - It's A Small World.

You can imagine, then, the dark cloud that descended and wrapped itself around my heart and soul when we discovered it was closed. Yes, that too was a life moment for me. Devastated. Absolutely and utterly crushed.

But the appearance of Minnie soon cheered us up. We quickly hotfooted it to Toon Town - what an absolutely incredible place. It's like walking inside an actual cartoon - so gorgeously done and just so so thrilling for the kids. I love how real life characters are constantly available to kids, too - here is Ella with pal Minnie, and here is Goofy swallowing Riley's head for breakfast...

Then it was just a load of eye-boggling, gravity-defying, rib-tickling, childlike fun and wonder...

Inside Mickey's house and in Goofy's garden...

In the dog pound and making some important calls and post some vital letters on the streets of Toon Town...

Then off to Tomorrowland for a peek at the future...

Before gamboling around for a non-stop fest of fun...

Then what better way to end Day One at the happiest place on earth than with a parade? During winter, fireworks displays only happen a few times a week, so be sure to check with the website what days they will appear. All hotels in Anaheim have Disney schedules available.

Hot Tips: You can buy Disneyland tickets from anywhere in the world, online. You just need to print them out at home and bring along; save queueing on the day. We cannot recommend enough going to Disneyland in winter. The queues were virutally non-existent, and the only ride we waited more than 10 minutes for was the new Finding Nemo submarine ride (which is AMAZING!). Every other ride was either walk-straight on or a few minutes' wait. Don't forget to take advantage of the fast pass tickets that allow you to book in a time slot and return to take the ride with minimal wait time.

California Adventure: The Streets of San Francisco - Day One
California Adventure: The Streets of San Francisco - Day Two
California Adventure: The Streets of San Francisco - Day Three
California Adventure: The Streets of San Francisco - Day Four
California Adventure: Carmel-on-Sea
California Adventure: The Big Sur
California Adventure: Santa Barbara Day One
California Adventure: Santa Barbara Day Two