Disney Traditions (06/22/06)

Do you have specific traditions you follow when you go to a Disney Resort? I do, and thought I would share them with you so you could see what other people do each trip to a Disney Resort. Since I have been only to Disneyland, it is the park referenced here, but please feel free to comment on your own traditions as I enjoy reading them!

Now that Disneyland has an additional park, Disney's California Adventure a new tradition has become very important to me. The tradition is simple. I MUST enter Disneyland first. While I love California Adventure for all it offers, I insist upon going into Disneyland before entering the second park. This tradition may become a complication on our trip next week. We don't get into Los Angeles until 2:15 and have 7:00 priority seating reservations for the Princess meal at Ariel's Grotto. If time permits, we are going to check into the hotel, stop at World of Disney for an autograph book for Alex and then go into Disneyland. If time doesn't permit, we will skip World of Disney because I simply must enter Disneyland before going into California Adventure, even if that means going in, seeing Sleeping Beauty Castle and then leaving to go to dinner.

This brings me to another one of my Disney traditions. After entering Disneyland the first time each trip, I absolutely must go through the left tunnel. I try to do this every single time we enter Disneyland, but due to crowds I don't force the issue after the first time. Of course, before going through the tunnel, I must stop and read the plaque above the passageway. Sure, I own the plaque, but seeing it at Disneyland makes me cry every time. The plaque reads:

"Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy"

The words just don't seem as special here as they do right before you go under the tunnel and enter Main Street U.S.A for the first time.

Knowing that I enter through the left tunnel, you must also know that I exit through the left tunnel (from Main Street) each time. And again, this tradition may fall by the wayside if we are among the mad throng to leave Disneyland because we have stayed too late.

A new tradition I have that came about once Disney's California Adventure was built is Ice Cream. Yes, that very simple treat loved by millions of people is one of my favorite treats while at the Disneyland Resort. I even have a favorite little place to get the ice cream, and do each time we go, sometimes once a day! The place is Catch A Flave which is located on the way to Paradise Pier. Here they have soft serve ice cream with flavors 'woven' onto the edges of the ice cream ridges. It is absolutely fantastic and I am always happy to get the butter pecan flavor.

My husband and I were talking the other day about another of our traditions that came about simply by accident. Many years ago, in fact, the first year Fantasmic! premiered at Disneyland we were going to make reservations for Blue Bayou (this was way back when you made same day reservations) when the man in front of me asked about Fantasmic! balcony seating. Of course, I had to inquire when it was my turn, and I quickly found out that we could watch this show from the balcony at the Disney Gallery. We bought tickets that day and in all our trips since then we have done the balcony with the exception of one trip. This is a tradition we have kept without even realizing that it is a tradition.

Is it tradition for me to always watch parades from the same place while at Disneyland? Maybe it is, or maybe it is just a great spot. In either case, we always sit in the same general area for parades. We always eat at Goofy's Kitchen at least once. I could probably think of a hundred more traditions, but don't want to bore you!

So, what traditions do you keep when you go to a Disney Resort? Let me know, as I would love to hear.

Leanne


You can chat with Leanne at our disney forums where she is known as Tink.

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