Bucket List: Disneyland

This past October we took the kids to Disneyland. It was the first time for my two younger kids. If you haven't been to Disneyland in while, it's changed. It certainly wasn't the Disneyland I remember as a  kid and it's even changed a bit in the 4 years since I last visited.

One mega shocker was the price. Last I went it was about $90 for a 2 park 1 day for each pass. Now it's $170 each. Yikes!

Another disappointment was when I was a kid, all the Disney characters walked around the park. The illusion was that was where they lived.  It was great seeing random characters walking around the park and even the parking lot where I remember was the first time I met Goofy as a child.

Even four years ago there were still many characters all over the park but they had 'guards' and you had to wait in line. It wasn't bad really. The lines were organized and everyone got to say hello and you could still get all the autographs if you really tried. However, that wasn't what was happening when I went. To be honest since it's was the Halloween season with just a week before trick or treat time I was expecting to see more villains roaming around. But that didn't happen. In fact we only saw two at a distance and a sign for Micky and Minni Mouse in Toon Town. This was a huge disappointment and being that I went on a Sunday so it wasn't like it was a midweek slow down either.

Another disappointment: Line cutters. What can I say? I can easily forgive little kids hopped up on sugar who are practically shaking from excitement. But that wasn't what was happening. These were grown ups, many dragging along kids with them to sneak into rides. This happened on nearly all the rides (and no they did not have the fast track passes.)

The employees would wrinkle their noses, people would complain, but the cheaters would jump in a seat all smiles and they would get away with it. It was like a game to them. The rides operators would roll their eyes but let them get away with it. Only once on the tea-cup rides did I see two groups of line jumpers being kicked out and asked to go to the back of the line. Those people were easily in their mid twenties and far past the age of being seen as just a bunch of stupid teenagers.

Over all it was still a great time. Now I know a lot of people put Disney down for being money hungry, blah blah blah. But really, can you put a price on this?

It was so worth the high-way robbery price tag.