A lot of Baguette’s peers have been to Disneyland–many of them, more than once. My parents first took me when I was four, and we had annual trips until we left California a couple of years later. I’ve been a handful of times since, as a teen and as an adult (most recently with Mr. Sandwich and one of my college friends, about seven years ago), and it continues to be an amazing experience.
Baguette is four, and we have no plans to take her to Disneyland. It’s not that we have any objection to Disneyland. It’s more that we’re not even remotely sure that she’ll like it.
She’s just started to discover Disney movies, and she’s really only interested in Frozen. While she does know Mickey and Minnie, I’m not sure she sees them as anything more than two of her (many) plushes.
Disneyland is crowded. It has innumerable lines. While there is a program to accommodate people with physical disabilities and special needs, I haven’t yet figured out how it works, and it still sounds as if there is a lot of line-standing and coordination required to navigate the program and the park.
Will Baguette like any of the rides? Will she be okay with having a lap bar that holds her in place? Will flying on the Dumbo ride completely terrify her? Will Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride be a little too wild? Will Snow White’s Scary Adventure give her nightmares that she can’t tell us about? After all, this is a kid who won’t even ride one of the moving animals on a carousel.
Also? Disneyland is freaking expensive. $96 each for Mr. Sandwich and me, and $90 for Baguette. That’s $282, and we haven’t parked. Or eaten. Or bought a single souvenir. $282 and a drive that isn’t short, for a day she may find frustrating and frightening.
We’ll wait. Disneyland isn’t going anywhere. Plus, that gives us time to save up for it. Because entry will probably be $500 for the three of us by the time we’re confident about her readiness.
Photo by Andy Castro, via Flickr. Creative Commons.
I’d definitely suggest waiting till she’s older. There’s no rush. It’s a lot of sensory input. In your prep process, there are helpful websites and blogs that give you the scoop on how to “manage” Disneyland, like lines and shows and hidden corners. I’d also suggest going for a two-day visit. More expensive, I know, but you can go back to the hotel for a rest and a nap or a swim during the most crowded part of the day (or when a breakdown–adult or child–seems likely). I’ve done it both ways, and the two-day is really the less stressful way to go. Save up!
I’ve been wondering about the two-day visit–it does cost more, but it might be a better experience since there isn’t the pressure to Do Everything In a Day.
It REALLY takes the pressure off! Especially if you can take the Monorail to your hotel. Easy peasy. If you are not planning on going frequently, it’s better to save up and make it the most relaxing visit you can.
Ah, the Disney debate. Know when I went for the first time? On a high school band trip. I do not feel that I missed any great experience of childhood by not going. Now that Kidzilla is in school and thanks to media input everywhere (this is why I limit TV exposure, I’m sure of it) there has been interest expressed by Kidzilla to see this magical place (eye roll). Do I think she would enjoy it? I sure do. Do I think we’re going to haul it to Florida for that kind of cash anytime in the immediate future? Not really. We’ll get there – when the time is right for all of us.
I absolutely understand your concerns about it being worth the effort right now for Baguette. I love the suggestion from cloudsinthenightsky for a two-day visit – makes perfect sense to me! We go to a much smaller-scale amusement park about 90 mins from home with Kidzilla and she absolutely loves it, but I often wonder if it would be worth exploring an overnight trip for exactly those reasons.
Good luck whatever you decide to do!
We’re about 90 minutes from Disneyland (depending on traffic), and also Knott’s Berry Farm and a kid-sized amusement park that I only recently learned about–they are all in close proximity to one another. Both Knott’s and the kid-sized park are much more economical, so I suspect that we’ll try her out on amusement park rides in one of those settings.
The reason I went as a child was that back then, in the age of the lettered tickets, my grandfather worked for the state and was able to get discount tickets once a year. Disneyland wasn’t in my parents’ regular budget back then, either.
We took J for the first time for his 4th birthday. He loved it, but even without special needs, it was DEFINITELY sensory overload. You might consider trying a smaller theme park before Disney, just to see if it’s even worth attempting. (We’re right by Legoland, so we started there–it’s MUCH smaller, much more made for little kids, and much less overwhelming, IMO. If you have something like that by you, that would be where I would start.).
I think that’s probably what we’ll try. I don’t remember having sensory overload myself, but (a) it was 40 years ago, (b) I wasn’t Baguette, and (c) we had a kid-sized amusement park not too far from us, so I already had some familiarity with the idea of rides, if not the scale.
When did Disneyland get so flipping expensive? We used to be able to get in for 1/3 that price!
I answered my own question on this website. The ticket price has DOUBLED in the last decade.
https://www.jansworld.net/DL_Tickets.html
We did Disney (World) as a family, with my mom, in January — the kids still talk about it & how they want to go back. But, the excitement for Disney is, really, no greater than the excitement than they have to head to the neighborhood park.
At four & three, I think my kids were too young . . . I plan to make another vacation out of it (sneaking in a Run Disney run) in the next few years, when they’re old enough to ride the rides that they’d want to ride and really *get* the magic.
That, of course, is the other thing–there are quite a few rides that Baguette just can’t go on yet, no matter how she feels about lap bars.
As a Disneyland resort frequent flyer, I can tell you that there are lots of things that might be tough for kiddo with special needs, but there are also a bunch that might super delightful. You can get a special assistance pass from City Hall (inside DL) the day of, and that should help with line waiting (you use the accessible lines/areas). Small World and Winnie the Pooh (DL) and Little Mermaid (CA Advenutre) are my daughter’s perennial favorites.
Thanks! I fear Small World with her. She is so good at memorizing.
Sorry to sound like a fuddy duddy, but you will never ever find me at Disneyland again. Ever. I just….can’t.
And I will live a full life if I never go to another football game again. We each have our breaking points.
We didn’t take our kids until Pumpkin’s 6th birthday. Petunia was 4.5. We’ve sort of made it a 6th birthday thing, although the timing of Petunia’s birthday is less fortuitous for Disneyland trips. (Pumpkin’s falls during spring break most years.)
Our kids loved Disneyland, and I’m sure they would love it even more now. But I feel like I want to make it a special trip, not a “we do that all the time” trip. Legoland, on the other hand…. (My husband is a Lego fan.) You know… does Baguette like Lego at all? If she does, Legoland might be a good place to gauge whether she’ll like or hate amusement parks. It is generally less crowded, and even if she hates the rides, they have a fun duplo-inspired playground and building centers, and of course mini-land. And since it is in Carlsbad, it wouldn’t be *too* far for you guys. Just an idea. There is no real reason to find out what Baguette thinks about amusement parks!
We need to get her Duplos back down. She’s great at building towers, but hasn’t gotten beyond that. But Legoland might be a good test case as well.
My cousin who lives in (the) OC says that there are times that Disneyland is a lot less crowded. They have one of those local passes that they can go for free anytime they want because they paid up at the beginning of the year, so they treat it like a playground.
For us though, we don’t go to amusement parks because I dislike them immensely but sometimes relatives will take our kids places, so DC1 has been to Disneyland and Legoland and Seaworld and 6 flags etc. DC2 hasn’t been to any, to my knowledge.
And yes, I found the small world ride to be incredibly traumatic back in the day. That song NEVER LEAVES. Ack. I CAN HEAR IT NOW.
The only advantage of taking her now is that she’s in day care and not regular school, so we could go on a weekday. Even so, it’s enough of an undertaking and an expense that we’re not likely to do it any time soon.
and they got rid of the disability passes that help kids with needs get to the front of the line (or did they change this back? I keep hoping they will change it back….) sigh. i hope baguette gets to experience this, IF she wants. I so want baguette to enjoy.
They do have a system, but my understanding is that it’s not as user-friendly. I am extremely skeptical about the extent of that fraud. I’m sure it happened, mind you, but I’m dubious about how much of it actually happened.
I would wait till she meets the height requirement for most of the rides anyway. Woe to the person who makes a child wait in line for a ride they can’t ride on.
You make an excellent point.