Christopher Rowe

I think as an adult, one goes to Disneyland to get back in touch with their inner child. For just one day, you can unshackle yourself from the daily burdens associated with being an adult and get lost in the simple joys that can only be experienced by youth; whether it is going on rides or experiencing the magic vicariously through the smile of a child.

This is the third time I have been to Disneyland. The first, back in 1997 I was still a kid, living the magic. The second time I was a good few years older, 2005. I remember looking at Disneyland through the eyes of an adult, wondering if the magic would still be there. I recall, the day was ending, the parade had just started its way down towards town square, a giant Christmas tree was in the middle, Christmas music floating through the air, mum just exiting a store with hands full of last minute shopping, and the magic of it all washed over me like a wave – this was a truly magical place – the inner child joy had found me.

Now, in 2012, I entered into the EuroDisney park. Drawing a crowed right in the middle of the square was Goofy dressed as Santa, a tall Christmas tree lit up behind him. Walking through the square was like walking back in time. The only thing missing was that magical buzz I thought to myself. I shook the thought off with a smirk, buzz or no buzz, this was still really cool. Christmas carols floating gently over the breeze, then something else, something that caught me by complete surprise; it started to snow. There I was in the middle of Disneyland, giant Christmas tree in the middle of the square, me all rugged up, coat, scarf and gloves, walking through a snow fall with Christmas music in the background.

That magical moment washed over me as it did the times before. The snow fall only lasted minutes, not surprisingly really since checking the weather forecast only this morning, snow was expected in Amsterdam later in the week, so if it was to snow anywhere it wouldn’t last very long. I then looked down at my arm, the magical moment came to a stretching halt; the snowflake on my arm was nothing more than a fine cluster of white bubbles. In true movie magic style, the snow was staged. Kudos to the person who thought of it though, for a few brief moments everyone in the square, myself included experienced a magical ‘Disney’ moment.

One of the advantages to visiting Disneyland in the off season, indeed in 6 degree Celsius conditions the queues for the rides are not very long, 5 minutes tops.. though this could also have something to do with the fact that if one queued any longer they would probably freeze to death and be wheeled away to the giant underground freezer to keep Walt Disney (who is supposedly on ice) company.

On the topic of advantages, one for the adults, never underestimate the short attention span of the younger minds.. I forget which ride we were queuing up for, but it was after lunch, and the park was probably at its busiest. Because of this our wait time had blown out from 5 minutes to 10 minutes (hello Walt!), as we waited in queue on the upper level I noticed a foray of Disney characters enter the park, including Minnie Mouse, Chip & Dale and a few others. I quickly called out to Michelle in a loud enough voice so that others in the line could hear us and ran over to the railing to take a closer look. Just as I did, all the children in front of us broke formation from the queue and ran for the railing also – their parents having no choice but to chase after them. Michelle and I then quickly advanced up the line and our queue time was back down to 5 minutes!

We had a brilliant day in the park, a full day at that too, going on most of the rides, with the exception of Indiana Jones which had turned from an awesome Jeep journey dodging boulders into a racing roller coaster. The only real disappointment was the Star Tours (Star Wars) simulation; although I could still vaguely remember the dialog from my first encounter in 1997, the majority of it was spoken in French and therefore a lot of it was lost in translation.

All things considered though we had a great time, the EuroDisney is a very good substitute for the real deal in Anaheim.