For most parents, the idea of what we think will happen and the reality of how it turns out can span a canyon. Fact is: my kids watch the Disney Channel, they’ve heard about the theme parks, and they’re at the right age to appreciate the experience like I never could. Is it not the fate of all parents to want to give their children the opportunities they never had? This year is Disney’s 100th Anniversary, and the stars were aligning. At the hint of the possibility of a visit, my kids got excited, my resolve loosened, and I felt an intense curiosity to find out if I’d got it wrong all these years. Booking our trip over the Fourth of July weekend, I suddenly became more anxious about visiting a theme park than swimming with stingrays in Bora Bora. 

There’s no wrong or right way to travel, there’s just a style that suits your personality. I personally love an experience that unfolds itself in real-time, allowing me to tune into the spontaneity and relish the unexpected. Disneyland, I quickly learned, demands a far more coordinated approach. The Disneyland app is essential to planning your day, finding your way around, reserving your meals, and booking attractions in advance. Friends who have braved this trail before me insisted that I go for the Genie Plus – a $25 USD per person daily add-on that allows visitors to use fast lanes and avoid monster line-ups. They were right. Within the first couple of hours in the park, the Genie Plus felt like we had Nexus airport privileges, flying throughout the day, skipping huge queues while muttering, “that’s the best money I’ve ever spent!” Still, nothing quite prepared me for the scale, organization, efficiency and pixie dust of the Disneyland dream machine.

“It’s important for you to realize,” advises my wife, “that this is not for you, it’s for them.” She’s reacting to the look of exasperation on my face when my daughter takes her place in line to meet Chip and Dale (surely sweating buckets in their furry garb). It’s a look I see on many parents in the park, no doubt buoyed by the same justification. It’s not about the adults.   Disneyland is all about putting smiles on our over-sugared youth, kids who have yet to slip on the banana skins of modern cynicism. Kids still believe in the power of Fairy Godmothers, that lamps can grant wishes, that superpowers are real, and dreams do come true. This, after all, is the cornerstone of the Disney brand. Of course, kids don’t think about the extravagant cost of getting here: the flights, the park fees, the hotel, the 25-dollar grilled cheese sandwich and the futility of lining up for an hour to have a six-minute ride. Kids naturally live in the moment and can just go with the flow. In Disneyland, that flow washes them from one mind-blowing attraction to the next, immersing them in Star Wars, Mickey Mouse, Pixar, and Marvel legends.  Move over Avengers: parents who bring their kids to Disneyland are the real heroes here.