My 3rd Visit to Disneyland Park
Just 2 months ago, a friend and I were in Anaheim to go to Disneyland’s 70th anniversary with a 4 day park ticket. I was last here in 2022 and before that it was 2015. They had a special Canadian resident rate for a 3, 4 or 5 day park visit. There was also an option to add park hopper or lightning lane to our tickets but we did not. We end up getting the 4 day park ticket for $355 per person. I already pre registered for DAS and we were ready to go.
Getting There
Staying at Portofino Inn & Suites, it was only a 10 minute walk/stroll to the entrance of Disneyland Park. There was also a CVS and a 7-Eleven store on the way, so we would stop by everyday to get drinks and snacks before heading to the park.
was a quick 10 minute walk/stroll from our hotel to the park
This would be my 3rd time ever visiting Disneyland. Here is a recap of what we did on day 1 of this 4 day visit. I also included in the subtitle where each event/activity/ride could be found in:
Central Hub
(Mainstreet, USA)
We are in Mainstreet, USA as soon as we enter the parks. With DAS already pre registered, it was automatically in my Disneyland app. After buying my MagicBand+ we saw the iconic Sleeping Beauty castle and the Partners statue at Central Hub which is at the end of Mainstreet.
Partners statue
The Partners statue is Walt Disney himself holding hands with Mickey Mouse. The Sleeping Beauty Castle is all decorated in the 70th anniversary colors of pink and blue. Even though there were lots of people taking pictures in front of these two places, it didn’t seem as busy as my last visit.
Sleeping Beauty castle in 70th anniversary decor
King Arthur Carrousel
accessible chariot bench
my view during the ride
“it’s a small world”
(Fantasyland)
“it’s a small world” was our next ride since it was right next door. This is another classic ride as it opened in 1966 and is a slow moving boat ride featuring little animatronics singing and dancing to the song, “it’s a small world”. It does get repetitive but am glad this boat is wheelchair accessible and no transfer is needed.
wheelchair accessible boat ride
The boat ride was very smooth as you float along in the dark watching the bright displays coming by. Leaving the ride, we did get to see the last bit of the Pearly Band marching and playing their instruments.
very smooth boat ride
The Celebrate Happy Cavalcade
(Mainstreet, USA)
The Celebrate Happy Cavalcade is a short 5 minute mini parade made especially for Disneyland’s 70th anniversary celebrations. It runs twice a day at 1:30PM and 2:45PM on the parade route. We saw the first showing as it was almost starting when we finished the “it’s a small world” ride.
“Celebrate Happy”
The highlight of this parade was the appearances of Duffy and ShellieMay, two Disney characters who are very popular at the Asian Disney parks. It was neat seeing them here in North America as I last saw them at Tokyo DisneySea back in 2016.
ShellieMay and Duffy does appear
The cavalcade also had Mickey Mouse and friends. Everyone was dressed in their 70th anniversary outfits and were dancing to the anniversary’s theme song “Celebrate Happy” by the Jonas Brothers. This song was repeated a few times during the cavalcade but never got annoying. It was a short show but definitely worth watching.
Mickey’s Toontown
Even though this was my third ever visit to Disneyland in the past decade, this will be my first visit to Mickey’s Toontown. We were either busy or the entire area was closed for a year for refurbishment. It reopened in 2023 and was redesigned specifically to accommodate special needs children.
center fountain at CenTOONial Park
The whole town was very bright and colorful and was very accessible. We took pictures at the center fountain and got to visit both Mickey and Minnie’s house to get pictures with them. I was even able to skip the line with my DAS pass for Minnie’s house since the line was so long to see her.
used DAS to get a pic with Minnie
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway
(Mickey’s Toontown)
The rides in Mickey’s Toontown all requires transfer so there are no wheelchair accessible rides in this land. I really enjoyed Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway ride back in 2021 at Hollywood Studios that I wanted to be transferred again for this visit.
had to get lifted/transferred to get in ride vehicle
The entrance to the ride was different from Disney World, but the pre show and the actual ride itself was pretty much exactly the same. The ride uses a trackless system and was never really fast or scary. We both enjoyed this ride a lot, the cast member let us ride it twice. My friend then rode Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin before we both left the land.
one of my favorite rides and we got to go twice in a row
Mark Twain Riverboat
(Frontierland)
We headed back to Frontierland to ride the classic Mark Twain Riverboat ride. Knowing that we had 2 full days at Disneyland, I wanted to make sure I go on every single accessible ride. This ride opened with the park opening day in 1955 and requires me to just wheel on the riverboat and just park anywhere I wanted.
easy to get on riverboat
It was a slow moving ride and it was great to see the sights as it goes around Tom Sawyer Island. I could only stay on the main deck as there are only stairs to the upper 2 decks. Hope this ride doesn’t get replaced as the Magic Kingdom version of this ride just closed down for an expansion of Cars Land.
good view at the front
Ship to Shore Marketplace
(Frontierland)
Right next to Mark Twain Riverboat was Ship to Shore Marketplace. My friend got us some chimichangas and a turkey leg to share. Prices were quite reasonable and the food was quite good. We ate this while waiting for our next DAS ride selection.
chimichangas and a turkey leg
Pirates of the Caribbean
(New Orleans Square)
Pirates of the Caribbean was the next ride that we went on. I remembered going on this ride at Disneyland Paris and wanted to go again here. This Disneyland version is a lot older and the duration of the ride is a bit longer.
my friend had to lift/carry me on to the boat
This dark boat ride was nice and smooth throughout and required my friend to lift and transfer me into the boat. There were 2 small drops during the ride and that was not scary at all. I would definitely ride it again.
some of the pirates during the ride
Haunted Mansion
(New Orleans Square)
The next ride we did was in the same land as our last ride. Haunted Mansion opened in 1969 and is a dark ride where guests ride doom buggies and go into several different rooms of the haunted mansion. This ride required my friend to lift and carry me into the doom buggy.
had to be lifted/carried on the doom buggies
This ride really had cool special effects as we see ghosts and goblins appear throughout the ride. It never went fast or upside down and was a smooth ride throughout. This was my first time ever riding this ride and I liked it so much that we got to go twice in a row.
got to ride this twice in a row too
Disneyland Railroad
(New Orleans Square)
The Disneyland Railroad ride opened in 1955 along with the park opening. With about 6.6 million passengers each year, it has become one of the world’s most popular steam powered railroads. There are 4 stations: Mainstreet USA, New Orleans Square, Mickey’s Toontown and Tomorrowland. All stations are wheelchair accessible except the Mainstreet USA station.
at New Orleans Square station boarding on the accessible car
We boarded at New Orleans Square and had to board at the exit where there was a ramp. Once I boarded the accessible car, we went on the 18 minute roundtrip ride around the park. It was great to relax for a while as we get to look at the sights and there were even some cool scenes as we go through tunnels.
can get some great views of the park
Fantasmic!
(Frontierland)
For the rest of the night, I only watched shows and didn’t go an any more rides. Fantasmic! was showing at either 9:05pm or at 10:30pm. We chose the earlier show since there were other shows we wanted to watch. We arrived a bit early so we could get a good spot in the accessible viewing area.
went a bit early to get a good spot in the accessible viewing area
This show started in 1992 and is a nighttime spectacular featuring fireworks, characters, live actors, water effects, fire, music and mist screen projections. I have previously seen this twice before and enjoy it every single time. The show is about 25 minutes and my eyes and ears were wowed the entire time.
so cool
Wondrous Journeys
(Main Street, USA)
Wondrous Journeys is a projection mapping and fireworks show that debuted in January 2023 for the Disney 100 Years of Wonder celebrations. It has been reworked for Disneyland’s 70th anniversary celebrations starting May 2025. It was on at 9:35pm so we had to quickly go from Fantasmic! to Wondrous Journeys.
didn’t get the best views so we went again the next day
We didn’t get the best view of the images on the Sleeping Beauty castle or the fireworks so we planned to get a spot for this earlier on our visit the next day. This show was abut 15 minutes long and it was great seeing characters like Moana, Hercules and the Hunchback. The classic Disney music playing long with the projection matched perfectly.
Paint the Night Parade
We weren’t able to watch the 8:50pm showing of Paint the Night Parade so we went to see the 10:50pm showing of it. We had a lot of time after Wondrous Journeys so my friend went shopping while I held our spot in the accessible viewing area. This amazing parade show was about 20 minutes long.
went early to get a good spot
The floats are all lit up with thousands of bright LED lights. There are so many characters and so many lights it’s hard to pick a favorite. I did like the Cars float and the Mickey Mouse one. I had a great view of the entire parade and it was so great that we might watch this parade again the next night.
so many LED lights per float
We then quickly went to Star Wars Galaxy Edge so my friend could ride Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run while I just admired all the spaceships lit up in the night. We took a few pics in front of the lit up Sleeping Beauty Castle before heading back to the hotel for bed.
parade is so amazing we went again the next night
Final Thoughts
My friend and I enjoyed Day 1 of 4 of visiting Disneyland for its 70th anniversary celebrations. By the time we left the park it was already 12:30am and we have been at the park for 13 hours. It was my 3rd time ever visiting Disneyland and with my DAS pass, we did a lot in the day. There was so much to do at this park that we still have Tomorrowland and a thorough visit of Star Wars Galaxy Edge for day 2. Look for that post soon.
another pic from Paint the Night parade
