The Happy Trip

What's the happiest place on Earth? Why Disneyland of course. And what can be better than visiting on Disneyland? Visiting 5! Sounds crazy? It probably was. But I've always wanted to do something like this ever since I was a little kid. Almost every year we'd make plans to go to Disneyland, but we always ended up postponing it due to some reason or the other. And so last year, I planned all of my vacations around Disneyland in 5 different cities around the world. It was a great opportunity to not only do what I'd always been planning to but also get to visit 5 cities that I've always wanted to visit.

Disneyland calls itself the happiest place in the world, but to keep visitors happy in its five locations across the globe, each theme park is tweaked to cater to local cultures and tastes. Outside of the two original resort areas in the United States, Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida, the Disneylands in Paris, Tokyo and Hong Kong offer subtly different selections of food, rides and layout to make the millions of visitors each year feel at home.

Entering Disneyland really does make you feel like a little kid in a candy store. There's just so much to do and see that its hard to decide which way to go first. After doing several happy dances and letting out excited squeals, getting many weird glances from the other tourists in the process, I finally calmed down a little and set about exploring every section methodically.

Every Disneyland is built around the same structure modelled around the original Disneyland California, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, Critter Country, Fantasyland and Toontown with slight variations.For example, Tokyo Disneyland contains seven separate lands, five of which are identical to Anaheim Disneyland: Tomorrowland, Adventureland, Critter Country, Fantasyland and Toontown. The other two have slight variations; the World Bazaar is covered by a glass roof and Westernland adopts a cowboys and Wild West style similar to Frontierland.

I think visiting Disneyland once is on everyone's bucket list, but to be able to visit 5 of the most popular ones was literally like living in a dream for a year. I think no matter how old we get, there's a little kid inside all of us which comes alive in Disneyland.

All in all the trips could not have been better. We wish we could've stayed longer and explored all the cities we were in, in greater detail but it was a bit of a rush so we'll save that for the future. If visiting Disneyland is your priority, there are plenty of resorts inside the parks and different kinds of passes available depending on what you want.

Disneyland Resort-Anaheim Ca

This is the first and original Disneyland resort consists of 2 theme parks namely Disneyland Park and Disney’s California Adventure. The whole Disneyland in Anaheim is extended in 510 acres and employs about 20, 000 cast members. We explored 8 exciting lands that really do bring to life Disney and Pixar stories and characters through amazing attractions, entertainment and dining! The 2 most recent additions—Buena Vista Street and the awe-inspiring Cars Land—join the themed lands of Condor Flats, Grizzly Peak, Paradise Pier, Pacific Wharf, "a bug's land" and Hollywood Land. With so much to do day and night, Disney California Adventure Park definitely has something for every person who comes here. The first Disneyland is said to have been personally supervised by Walt Disney himself and it is clearly evident in every little detail of the theme park. I danced with my favourites like Cinderella and Snow White, ate till I felt sick and went on all the rides twice. The fireworks and the sound and light show at night was the icing on the cake.

Disney World

Disneyland in Florida is HUGE. To see the theme park in its entirety will take you more than a week. There are four main theme parks, two large water parks and a Downtown Disney area, plus more than a dozen resort hotels on site. We sped through the theme parks that were similar to the ones in California and just focussed on the Hollywood Studios, which was a truly fantastic experience. Magic Kingdom Walk into the Magic Kingdom, and you'll be looking at your childhood. Right in front of you is Cinderella Castle shining in the sunlight. You may meet Mickey Mouse, take pirate lessons from Captain Jack Sparrow or ride in teacups and on elephants. The Magic Kingdom is made up of seven separate lands, each with a different flavor. Space Mountain is here, as well as the Hall of Presidents and It's a Small World. There is a parade every day and fireworks every night. Epcot The symbol of Epcot known around the world is a giant geodesic sphere. This sphere graces the entrance to Disney's "Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow," and holds rides and exhibits on the history of communication. Epcot is divided into two different parks. The first part you come to when entering is Future World. Dedicated to technology and innovation, Future World is home to Mission Space and Soarin', two of the most popular new rides in Disney World. Go over the bridge in the center of Epcot, and you reach the World Showcase, home of 11 different country pavilions. Each pavilion has exhibits from its home country, along with restaurants, shops and entertainment. Cast members working in the World Showcase are citizens of the pavilion country in which they work. Talk wine with French waiters or enjoy a pint in a real English pub. The atmosphere is entirely authentic. Disney's Hollywood Studios Disney's Hollywood Studios is a park dedicated to movies, adventure and adrenaline. Act as an extra in the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, try to win on American Idol, and watch a stunt

Disneyland Paris

After excitedly entering Disneyland Paris, which opened in 1992, visitors are greeted with an arcade that features a small replica of the Statue of Liberty – a gift from France to America in 1886, making it a fitting introduction to Europe’s only instance of this American theme park. The covered arcade is one of two on Main Street, replacing the open spaces of its counterpart in California, and offering essential cover from the cold and rain that typically hits Paris. As you venture further into Disneyland Paris, you will see other changes. Gone is Tom Sawyer’s Island – a staple of the US theme parks – since the character is little-known in Europe. Instead there is Discoveryland dedicated to European visionaries, such as Leonardo da Vinci with the Orbitron attraction, a rocket ship ride in the style proposed by the Italian inventor; and Jules Verne with Les Mystères du Nautilus, an attraction that lets visitors walk through the rooms of Captain Nemo’s submarine, as featured in Verne’s novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The great artists of cinema are revered in CineMagique, a theatre show unique to Paris, featuring French director and actress Julie Delpy on screen with synchronized live actors. And the character Remy, a French chef rat from the Disney cartoon Ratatouille, will be given his own ride in 2014, titled Ratatouille: Kitchen Calamity, complete with an attached restaurant to match the cartoon’s fine-dining kitchen.It is also the only Disneyland in the world where you can enjoy an alcoholic drink with your meal; a French meal without a glass of wine would make for the unhappiest place in the world.

Disneyland

The small Hong Kong Disneyland, opened in 2005, incorporates feng shui and traditional Chinese elements into its design to attract tourists from mainland China. Feng shui balances the elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water to create positive energy, and these elements can be seen throughout the theme park. Rocks represent stability and prevent good luck from flowing away, so two gigantic boulders have been placed at the park’s entrance to stop energy from flowing out of the resort. Water stimulates fortune and wealth, and the park is full of lakes, ponds and streams -- not to mention the large fountain featuring Disney characters placed at the main entrance of the park. The main gate of the theme park has been positioned in a north–south direction for good fortune, and as you approach the entrance, look out for a sharp bend in the walkway. This was put in intentionally to stop good qi (energy) flowing into the nearby South China Sea. Other items that are missing are clocks in the gift shops (so no Mickey watches!), because in Cantonese and Mandarin “giving a clock” sounds like “going to a funeral”. Green hats are not available to buy (sorry Peter Pan!) because of a Chinese expression that a man wearing a green hat is cheating on his wife (the relatives of prostitutes were forced to wear green hats in ancient China). What you will see is a lot of is red, a lucky colour according to Chinese culture. Look for liberal uses of painted accents on the buildings on Main Street, USA. When you are done counting, have a dim sum lunch, something Hong Kong is famous for. If you want to try dumplings with a Disneyland flavour, go to the Crystal Lotus restaurant where the dumplings and steamed buns are formed in the shapes of characters from Disney films, such as Duffy the Disney Bear (a character that exists only as a product, but who is very popular in the Asian market), Chicken Little of the eponymous 2005 film, the three-eyed Little Green Men from the Toy Story movi

Disneyland Tokio

Opened in 1983 and larger than the original Disneyland California, Tokyo Disneyland is the third most visited of any theme park in the world after the two Disney parks in the US. Like Walt Disney World in Florida, Cinderella’s Castle is located at the centre of the park, rumoured to have been chosen because the princess’s qualities of duty and a strong work ethic would resonate more deeply in Japanese culture than Sleeping Beauty, whose castle is featured in the centre of Disneyland California. But like karaoke, which originated in Japan and is a country-wide obsession, Disneyland gives the often-reserved Japanese people a place to unleash their rowdy side. In Tokyo Disneyland, even adult visitors will sing, clap and dance along to the internationally themed live shows, such as the Latin-American vibes of Minnie Oh! Minnie or the street show Jubilation!; it is a level of audience participation that would be a rare sight in the US. Similarly, the food offered at Tokyo Disneyland is noticeably different from the US, infusing both Chinese and American flavours with Japanese cuisine. To refuel between rides or while waiting in the lengthy queues, you can buy a steamed bun -- originally a traditional Chinese delicacy with hot, sweet or savoury fillings -- from Boiler Room Bites in Adventureland. The usually round bun is in the shape of Mickey Mouse’s head, with the iconic mouse ears filled with teriyaki chicken. The donburi, a traditional Japanese dish that consists of rice and savoury toppings, can be ordered with US flavours like taco meat (spiced minced pork), creole chicken or shrimp patties instead of teriyaki meats. This is then topped with cabbage and an egg, just like you would find in any donburi eatery in Japan. If you are still feeling peckish, try some popcorn with local flavours, such as soy sauce with butter from the popcorn stands next to the ImageWorks photo studio in Tomorrowland or Café Orléans in Adventureland, or Japanese curry from the stand next