THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH PART 1: FANTASYLAND
Written: Oct 15 '00 (Updated Oct 15 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Everything about Disneyland was great!!!!
Cons: none, after all, this is the happiest place on earth.
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| SherLesa's Full Review: Disneyland |
We just returned home yesterday from our 7 day trip to "THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH". It was the first time for me and my children to see the wonders of Disneyland, and the second trip for my husband. He went when he was 4 years old in 1977, and he said that so much has changed from the time he was there, and it gets better every year.
I wanted to do an 8 section review, one section on each of the "lands" in Disneyland
*MICKEY'S TOONTOWN
*CRITTER COUNTRY
*ADVENTURELAND
*FRONTIERLAND
*NEW ORLEANS SQUARE
*TOMORROWLAND
*FANTASYLAND
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST
*MAIN STREET, U.S.A.
I wanted to make a comment on the staff at Disneyland. The people that work here are so polite, and friendly. They asked us how many people were in our group, and seeing how there were 9 of us, they would make sure we went on the same ride together instead of being split up, even if it meant waiting for the next ride, and letting people that were behind us in line going before us. If we ever had a problem, they were always quick and friendly in helping us out.
The first section, I will give my review of Fantasyland, and try to give you all of the information you need on what is in this section of DISNEYLAND.
Fantasyland is the biggest "land" in DISNEYLANd that has the most rides, and the funnest rides for the kids.
Located in the middle of DISNElAND right behind Sleeping Beauty's castle.
The first ride we have is ALICE IN WONDERLAND On this wonderful childs ride, you go down the rabbits hole in a catapiller shaped car and thru Alice's bizarre journey. You see the whole story of Alice in Wonderland unfold before your eyes, that will both make you laugh and scare you. You will see Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, the garden of flowers, the March of the Cards, and the ever explosive QUEEN OF HEARTS!!! Be prepared for the "UnBirthday cake" at the end of the ride. Children under 3 must be with an adult to go on this ride. It takes about 8 minutes to go thru this ride with a waiting time of about 20 minutes if the line is long.
After Alice in Wonderland we have the CASEY JR. CIRCUS TRAIN On this ride, you travel via Circus train in cars with bars on them marked "Wild Animals", "monkeys" and the like. you CHUGA CHUGA CHUGA your way around the Story Land Canals that show you a miniature size of some of the Disney stories. You go up the hills and across bridges to get a higher view of the stories. It takes about 10 minutes to go on this ride, with a waiting time of about 30 minutes if the line is really long. Children under 3 must be with an adult to ride this ride
And now for one of my childrens favorite rides. the DUMBO FLYING ELEPHANT RIDE On this fun ride, you are riding on Dumbo's back, and he takes you up, up and away. You control the ride so you determine how high or how low Dumbo fly's. This ride is about 8 minutes long, and the wait is about 35 minutes if the line is long. CHILDREN UNDER 3 MUST BE WITH AN ADULT TO RIDE THIS RIDE.
In FANTASYLAND there is the Fantasyland Theater. Here you will hear top notch musical productions of famous Disney songs. We kept walking by the Theater at wrong times, so we did not get to see a production. My children were upset about that one, and I still hear about it.
Next we have PETER PANS FLIGHT You fly in a Pirate's ship bound for NEVER NEVER LAND You see scenes from the Peter Pan story, including Captain Hook about to be chomped on by an alligator. And as always, Tinker belle is seen here and there thru out the ride. You will hear the "You can fly" song in the background, and make sure you look down at the twinkleing lights of London while on the flight.
And on PINOCCHIOS DARING JOURNEY Jiminy Cricket will be your guide to follow Pinocchio from the dark side of Tobacco Rd. to the Toy shop and his loving dad Geppetto. You will see how the villans, Gidnon, and Foulfellow capture Pinocchio and turn him into a Donkey to be sold, and you see all of the other poor donkeys in cages. This ride takes about 8 minutes, and the wait is about 35-40 minutes if the line is long. CHILDREN UNDER 3 MUST BE WITH AN ADULT TO RIDE
Next we have the famous ITS A SMALL WORLD We went on our vacation October 7th thru the 14th, and on October 10th, they closed the ride for refurbishing, getting it ready for "ITS A SMALL WORLD HOLIDAY". It will re-open on November 3rd to the public. We got to go on this ride the day before it closed, and I am so glad we did. This is my Mother-in-laws favorite ride in Disneyland, and she was so happy to get to see it before it closed. This ride opened in 1966, a salute to all of the children in the world. You get in a boat and you ride thru with Dolls from every country singing the song "It's a small world" in English, and in the language from the different countries. From America to Mexico Hawaii and so on. It really sent the message that we are all equal. My only complaint with this ride is....It was flat cold in there. They must have had the A/C on high, because I actually got goose bumps from it being so cold and couldn't wait for the ride to end so I could get outside in the sun. The ride is about 10 minutes long, and the wait is about 25 minutes if the line is long. CHILDREN UNDER 3 MUST BE WITH AN ADULT TO RIDE.
This ride gave me goose bumps when I heard the story of how it came to Disneyland. It is the KING ARTHUR CARROUSEL. This ride has 72 White prancing steeds that were hand carved and hand painted. This Carousel was abandoned for over 60 years at the Catalina Islands. The Disney crew refurbished it, repainting it and making it a beautiful addition to Disneyland. The turntable for the carrousel was made around 1875 and it came from Canada. Most of the horsed were hand carved in Germany. And if you get lucky, you will board the carrousel when the marching band does, and they will play while you ride, and you get a longer ride than normal....hehe.
Next we have the MAD TEA PARTY You ride in the tea cups that go round and round. You can either enjoy the ride without spinning, or do as my husband did, spin as fast as you can trying to make your partner sick. We spun so fast that everything was out of focus, and everyone was laughing at me. How nice and loving was that?? I had to sit there for a few minutes after the ride was over until the spinning in my head stopped. The wait in line was only about 10 minutes because it was not very long, and we went on it 3 times. CHILDREN UNDER 3 MUST BE WITH AN ADULT TO RIDE
Take a tour of SLEEPING BEAUTY CASTLE This castle has stood over Fantasyland since 1955. It is surrounded by a moat, and you have to walk over the draw bridge to enter. There are two beautiful white swans swimming in the moat, and we also spied a turtle splashing around in the shadows. Walk along and revisit the story of sleeping beauty.
Here is the only scary ride in Fantasy land. The MATTERHORN BOBSLEDS The children have to be at least 3 years old to ride, and be with an adult. I do not suggest this ride for anyone with children that do not like roller coasters. My son does not like them, and he cried the whole way down saying he wanted it to stop and let him off. There are noises played in the background, that sounds like wind whistleing thru the caves, and bats, and that scared him as much as the ride did. You go pretty fast and there are some sharp turns, and steep drops. It was completed in 1959 and towers 14 stories above Fantasyland. If you are lucky, you will catch a glimpse of the Abominable Snowman.
Here is one of my favorite rides.....MR. TOADS WILD RIDE You take a reckless joyride with an inept driver ( a Mister J. Thaddeus Toad) and you crash thru a fireplace, and you can actually feel the heat from it, you almost hit head on with a train, and you go thru the pub. My neice was "driving" the car, and I teased her thru the whole thing about her driving, and she giggled thru the whole thing.
and next is SNOW WHITES SCARRY ADVENTURES We were warned that this ride was a little scary, but my daughter and my niece (3 and 4 years old) loved it. You will see before your eyes, the queen transform into the ugly old woman that offers the poisoness apple to Snow white that puts her in a deep sleep until the handsome prince comes along and gives her a kiss that wakes her up. You will see the loving and oh so cute Seven Dwarfs singing songs.
Board a boat and take a nice quiet ride on the STORY BOOKLAND CANAL BOATS. You cruise around the canals to see the miniature scenes from the classic Disney films. This is also where they CASEY JR TRAINS chugs around. And to make your heart beat faster, you float right into the mouth of a huge whale (from PINOCCHIO) and watch as it blows water out its blow hole.
AND FOR YOUR DINING PLEASURE........
There are so many places to eat in Disneyland that offer different kinds of food. In Fantasyland, they offer you the VILLAGE HAUS RESTARAUNT. The decor of this restauraunt is from the Pinocchio movie, and it serves hamburgers, pizza, salads, and Mouseket meals. The mouseket meals usually go for $3.99 for a hot dog, fries or chips and a drink. The hamburger meal is about 6.99 for a HUGE hamburger, fries or chips and a drink. All of the restaurants in Disneyland have treats to eat. They are usually a HUGE chocolate chip cookie, or a chocolate brownie. If memory serves, the brownies were 1.39 and they are oh so nummy.
<TROUBADOUR TREATS</B> offer hot dogs, nachos, pizza, ice cream and mousketmeals. the hotdogs are 4.99 for a foot long hot dog, bag of chips and a drink. If you order chocolate milk, you have to pay an extra 1.34 that is not included in the price of the mouseketmeal. This eatery is located right outside of Fantasyland Theater.
and for the ladies we have.... SHOPPING!!!!!!!!!! THE TINKER BELLE TOY SHOP offers everything for your little princess. From collectable dolls, Disney Costumes, (the Tinkerbelle costume was $55 if you were wondering, plus $16 for the shoes and $12 for the wand....but it was OH SO CUTE!!!) Disney mini bean bag plush toys, and vidios. If you are lucky, you will get to meet Tinker belle as she tells stories to the boys and girls.
MAD HATTER Offers every hat you can imagine. You can get hats with characters on them, (we got GRUMPY - one of the seven dwarfs- for my Father-in-law) princess hats, baseball caps, straw hats, etc..... And when you purchase your hat here, they will embroider the hat with your childs name for free. We bought our kids the famous Mickey Mouse ear hat for $5.49 and had our kids names stitched in Yellow on the back.
PRINCESS BOUTIQUE This is THE shop for little girls. Everything your princess desires is here. They have pink shirts with Snow White and Cinderella on it and the word "Princess" above their pictures. It carries all of the costumes, wands, jewelry and slippers your princess could ever want.
LE PETIT CHALET GIFTS This little shop is at the base of the Matterhorn ride and it sells whatever you will need for your trip up the hill.
IT'S A SMALL WORLD TOY SHOP This shop has everything from Hot Wheels, Barbie dolls to Disney Toys. I was a bit dissapointed that it didn't sell more things with the "Small World" theme to it. My mother-in-law loves small world and we heard they had music boxes that play the song in it, but they were no where to be found. (maybe that's a good thing, my daughter sand Small World all the way home on the plane, I'm surprised no one complained!)
STROMBOLIS WAGON This little shop sells gypsy souvenirs.
CANDY CART This cart sells a sweet treat for the royal family. NO toys or anything like that here, just sweets for the sweet tooth.
All thru disneyland you will find vending carts, from popcorn, cotton candy ($3), Churos, watter bottles, pop, soft pretzels in the shape of Mickey Mouse and ice cream.. My husband found this little hot dog cart that sells hot dogs on soft pretzel buns. They are a whopping $4 a pop, but they are so good, it makes my mouth water thinking about it, and he is so stingy, I only got a bite or 2 out of the 6 he bought the week we were there...LOL
Well, this is the end of my review on Fantasyland, I will be doing more reviews on the rest of the "lands" in Disneyland, and if I have forgotten anything on this review, I will go back and edit it for you... I hope this review has been helpful to you on planning your trip, I did alot of research on the internet at www.disney.com before we went, and I took notes while we were there on costs and what not. if you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I will answer them for you.
Thanks for reading and have a great day.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
SherLesa
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Location: Southern California
Reviews written: 48
Trusted by: 8 members
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