{the disney dream} disneyland park

The Disneyland Park is your quintessential Disney park, and for me, is always the one which holds the most charm. It IS Disney. It has the castle, it has the gorgeous old-fashioned Main Street USA, it has all the different themed 'lands' with all the different rides, you can watch shows, you can meet and greet the characters, it has the beautiful parades, it has the magical fireworks. It is what Disney is all about.

The 'Disney Magic on Parade' was absolutely enchanting. As long as I live I will never forget the excited look on the children's faces as they waved at all their favourite characters while screaming their names and clapping along. There was the moment when Rich spotted King Louis from The Jungle Book and turned into a little boy again for a few seconds. The moment when Minnie waved right back at our little man and I thought he might just combust. And the moment when having searched for Tinkerbell for the entire parade, our little missy spotted her cheekily waving out of the back of the very last float... she waved at her until she was completely out of sight.

And the nightly 'Disney Dreams' show is definitely not to be missed. A spectacle of music, light, lasers, water, projections and fireworks, all with the castle as the backdrop; it is an utterly magical way to finish the day. Until our Disney holiday, our children have never been to a proper fireworks display (poor deprived children, I know!) and my goodness did the get a heck of an introduction. It was St Patrick's Day while we were away, so they had put on extra St Paddy's fireworks which was an extra special treat. 'Disney Dreams' is breathtaking... even Rich said as much, which is praise indeed. It's a walk through your old favourite movies, and the technology that creates it is amazing.

We were lucky to have five days at Disneyland, and of those days we visited Disneyland Park on four of them. It is packed full of things which are age appropriate for younger children and our two quickly found favourite rides which they would ask to visit as soon as we handed over our tickets and walked through the turnstiles each day. "The tricky-tocky boat ride" also known as It's A Small World was a firm favourite with the beautiful boy (which made a certain Mummy very emotional, because it has always been one of my favourites too and it was amazing to see him so in love with it). The beautiful girl had a massive soft spot for Mad Hatters Tea Cups... which is kind of what you think of when you think of Disneyland Park I think, so she clearly has good taste. The Buzz Lightyear ride deserves a mention, simply because I don't think I've ever seen my two boys have as much fun as they did shooting targets together while riding through neon world. Meeting Rapunzel was a highlight for me, mainly because it was such a big exciting moment for our little lady, I've never seen her so excited, so enchanted; she's more naturally cautious of the unfamiliar, but she strolled up to Rapunzel and threw her arms around her, asked her where Pascal was and then basically hardly took her eyes off her the whole time we were with her. So much of our time there deserves special mention for one reason or another, we made amazing memories in that park which I know we will never forget.

 ^ giddy excitement at all times is kind of requirement

 ^ yes I'm wearing a Mickey Mouse t-shirt.. yes this is pretty much compulsory

 ^ you'd never have guessed it was her favourite ride, would you?

 ^ not sure what the two of them were doing, but it was a cute little moment

^ happy smiles all around

If you missed my first Disneyland post, then you can find it here. And there is lots more still to come, so apologies for all the holiday spam.