WARNING: The Not So Good

WARNING: If you feel Disneyland truly is the greatest place on earth, do not read this. You will feel sorry for me, or angry at me for posting this and I don't want Disneyland to come between me and any of my friends. Here's the part of my posting where I will justify why I do not want to return to Disneyland for a very long time.

First and foremost, I am not a crowds person. Waiting in snake rope lines for anything longer than 10 minutes with 2 squirmy kids seems insane. It might very well have been the day of the week we went, but I cannot even imagine being there during peak time or a weekend.
Second, Amelia, Philip and I are not roller coaster people, but we fear Ben is. Yes, even the kiddie rides terrified Amelia. The second ride we went on that was to set the mood for the day was "Mr Toad's Wild Ride". We chose this for the close proximity and the short line plus from the outside, it looked fun. You sit in an old fashioned buggy type car and drive around London, or so the sign says. It is really loud and very dark, with flashes of light and scary psychedelic characters. We will learn that is the problem with most of the "kiddie rides". Disney stories are freaky and the characters are just as creepy. Amelia screamed almost the entire ride and most of the subsequent similar rides through out the day. I was holding her and squeezing her tight to try and appease her and I could feel her little heart ready to jump out of her chest. Knowing that, we decided to skip most of the rides that may have scary characters or go in a tunnel. Hmm, what do you go on then?? Ah yes, the ever nice cheerful dumbo ride. You go up and down and around in a cute little elephant with a nice waterfall and a cheery song. And it's outside, so no creepy tunnels. A great ride for skittish Amelia. Keep in mind, this is our second ride to take her on. I decided to watch this one so I could feed Ben and take their pics and video. After waiting for 30 minutes, finally they get on, and what does Amelia want, to get off. The ride lasts for about 60 seconds. So you have approximately 1 minute of waiting time for 2 seconds of fun. (Side story: When we finished the Dumbo ride, we headed across the street to have lunch. When we were done, we started walking towards the Dumbo ride because it is the only direction you can go. We told Amelia we are going to go on more rides and she stops, points her finger at Phil, and in a very angry and loud voice states, "NO DAD, I DON"T GO ON THAT ONE" pointing to Dumbo. We both cracked up while trying to assure her we would not go on it again) Philip has just brought to my attention that this includes the time it takes to get up to speed and slow down to get on and off the ride and that was not much fun, which changes your ratio to a lot less desirable. (you figure it out) This leads right into our next category.
Third, you are constantly trying to maximize your fun/money ratio. Luckily, our ratio was much better since you get in free for your birthday, children under 3 are free and when you buy a ticket you get to come back a 2nd day for free, so the overall cost was very reasonable for 2 days and 4 people. But when you go back to the line/ride ratio it's grim. For example, the "It's a Small World" ride is a classic. We went to it and the wait was like 45 minutes. We went somewhere else and came back at dusk (a really pretty time to be there) and the line was much shorter, so we went. This ended up being Amelia's favorite ride. But back to our scenario, if you hypothetically waited in the line for "It's a Small World" for 45 minutes, went on the ride, disembarked and found your stroller again, you have spent 1 hour on 1 ride. And you have the song stuck in your head for the next 24 hours. Depending on your feelings about this song, the ratios can vary drastically. The wait time for most of the non-kiddie rides (Pirates of the Caribbean, the Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, etc) were always about 45 minutes.
Fourth, Philip felt like if he didn't have the kids with him at all times, he was some creepy old man at Disneyland watching the kids. Needless to say, he did not use the restroom the entire day.
Fifth, Amelia has no idea or interest in Disney characters unless they are a Pixar Disney character (Nemo, Cars, Monsters, etc). We kept trying to teach her that the "mouse" she kept seeing is named Mickey.