Adult Disney

Despite the television advertisement in which the parents of adult children go to Disneyland without them or the grandchildren, most people visit the Mouse Kingdom with people shorter than Disney characters. I visited Disneyland and California Adventure with three other adults this spring, three of us verging on the big 40, one a few years over the 0. I'm here to report that attending Disneyland with friends could be the best experience you have of Mickey's world.

But...I'm here to warn you as well. Our trip was booked through a wonderful online agency, physically located in San Diego, called cityhelper.com. But the package came from a company called Gogo Travel Tours, and this is the company to beware. We arrived at the Holiday Inn in Anaheim with no trouble, picked up our Alamo rental car -- a very nice, new model midsize Buick -- and discovered we didn't have the Disneyland passes in our folders. This should have been checked before, but because we had a delightful trip to San Diego booked through cityhelper in 2000, and the packets appeared to be complete, we were negligent.

Justin Hall, the travel agent, attempted to get the people at Gogo to remedy their error. The following morning, scheduled to be our first day at the park, he reported to me that they refused to do anything. I telephoned them in New York, and only after threatening to sue the company for fraud did I discover that all they had to do was fax the information to the Disney group tour office. It took 13 hours to get them to admit that, however -- on their own, they offered no solution but that we should lose nearly $500. Justin Hall stayed awake one entire night trying to remedy the error. I sent him flowers when we returned, but that doesn't make up for the needles hours lost. This is a company that doesn't care about customers, about repeat business, or about maintaining any kind of rapport. They should be avoided at all cost -- even if their initial cost is less than other packagers.

There is one other point to make here. Travel insurance would have replaced the Disney passes -- which doesn't let Gogo out of their responsibility, but it is a good idea. It also covers cancelled packages, which cannot be reimbursed otherwise. Always inquire about adding it when planning a trip.

The California Adventure has gotten bad press in print and web reviews. My team enjoyed it greatly; it is a one-day park, and can be easily navigated. It has a number of superior restaurant experiences, most of them pricier than those found in Disneyland. Our favorite rides were the river rafting and Soaring Over California, with the latter getting the highest rating and the Hollywood Limos running a close third. The best show is the 3-D Muppet Adventure, but the entire park is a delightful mock-up of various sections of the state. Hollywood is particularly clever.

The other new attraction at the Disneyland complex doesn't get as much press as The California Adventure because it is, in essence, a giant shopping mall. But Downtown Disney isn't an ordinary place; it is designed as a series of streets and plazas, with shops along the sides and restaurants in the plazas. It includes a movie theatre and nightclub, and a little open-air cocktail lounge. This is definitely a place for adults, though we noticed a lot of teenagers like it as well. The shops are expensive; the first is an enormous Disney store that features the most artistic and expensive items (apart from cell prints, which can run up to several thousand dollars) the park has to offer.

Check out the beautiful and aromatic Sephora store and the wonderful art gallery, Hoi Polloi. Other than that the whole area has a peaceful ambiance which is surprising considering the number of people who visit it every day.