"Childhood Memories" a Anaheim Travel Page by Hopkid

I grew up just a 25-minute car ride from Disneyland and we went at least once a year during my childhood. Sometimes twice. I've seen photos of me in a stroller at Disneyland with my parents which would put my first visit somewhere around 1963 or 1964. I can also very vividly recall getting separated from my parents when I was around 4 years old. My mom says she found me at the Lost Children office at the top of Main Street with a melting ice cream cone in my hand. She said I started sreaming bloody murder and balling as soon as I laid eyes on them.

In those early years and well into the 1970s, you got an attractions ticket book. The book had a certain number of tickets graded A through E. The best rides (e.g., the Matterhorn, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.) required an E ticket. You'll sometimes hear someone use the phrase "E ticket ride" or some such when referring to a hairy experience. Of course there were more A tickets than E tickets in the booklet. One had to strategically decide which rides were to be ridden during that day's visit.

As I got older the ticket books were replaced by the unlimited ride policy which had been in place since the opening of rival Six Flags Magic Mountain up I-5 in Valencia. We also went more often during our high school days, mostly going on weekend nights as a social outing. Rita actually worked there first in the juice bar at the Enchanted Tiki Room and then as a waitress at the now defunct Tahitian Terrace (now Aladdin's Oasis). In fact, Rita's sister, brother, and brother-in-law all did stints at the Magic Kingdom. And now you have Fast Passes and many more attractions (Indiana Jones Adventure, Star Tours, Splash Mountain, etc.), some of which have replaced old familiar ones (Tarzan's Treehouse used to be the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse), and some that have been outright deactiactivated (Skyway, People Mover).

But Anaheim isn't just Disneyland and Disney like I've been told Orlando has become. Anaheim is home to the California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, a member of Major League Baseball's American League West. It is also home to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim of the National Hockey League. But I do have to admit that the major attrations in Anaheim are Disney-related. Besides Disneyland you have it's counterpart, California Adventure, and Downtown Disney, which is an outdoor shopping mall. The rest of Anaheim is a sleepy land of suburbia.

My tips here will initially focus on some things that visitors to the Magic Kingdom may not know about or might overlook during a hectic day running from attraction to attraction. I hope they are helpful!