5 Magical Reasons Why Disneyland is for Adults!

One might ask: Is Disneyland for adults? Absolutely! Who says kids get all the fun? After spending a full day at Disney’s California Adventure Park (DCAP) and Disneyland, we can confidently say that the best age for Disneyland is ANY age!

Disneyland is perfect for a bachelorette party, a corporate event, a romantic date, or a weekend getaway—you name it! There are so many exciting things to do at Disneyland for adults that you will be booking your next trip to the Happiest Place on Earth by the end of this post.

Going to Disneyland is easily one of the best things to do in California. From the delicious and iconic snacks to the thrilling rides, boozy Disney-themed drinks, dressing up, and, most importantly, embracing the Disney magic to feel like a kid again. Here are all the reasons why Disneyland for adults will be one of the best trips ever!

Feeling Young Again at Disneyland

There is something truly magical about going to Disneyland as an adult. All the stress and worries of the world seem to disappear as you step into the Happiest Place on Earth and completely lose yourself in all of your childhood surroundings.

It is a place where you can relive the joy of your youth when beloved characters like Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto come to life right before your eyes. For any lifelong Star Wars fans, seeing Stormtroopers walk by is enough to send you into full geek-out mode.

As an adult, you start to truly appreciate every little detail that brings your fondest childhood memories back to life. For us, the place inside Disneyland that made us feel young again was Mickey’s Toontown. It literally felt like stepping into Disney’s iconic 2000s multiplayer online game, Toontown—man, that game was the best!

Toontown truly comes to life with its whimsical architecture and fun, interactive attractions, like the Dog Pound, where you can pretend to bend the rails and escape from jail. It’s also home to Disney’s most beloved characters—Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. So you are almost guaranteed to find them roaming around Toontown, adding to the magic.

Drinking at Disneyland for Adults

Alcohol at Disneyland? Yes, please! The addition of alcohol has made Disneyland for adults more appealing to many.

Walt Disney was adamant about not serving alcohol in his parks, fearing it would attract a rowdy crowd to the Happiest Place on Earth. However, Disneyland began serving alcohol in 2019, and with much success, alcohol is now served in several restaurants.

Unlike Disney World, where you can stroll with a drink in hand, you can only consume alcohol at the restaurants that offer it in Disneyland and California Adventure.

At Disneyland, you can grab signature cocktails at Carnation Café, River Belle Terrace, Café Orleans, Blue Bayou, and Oga’s Cantina. Oga’s Cantina, in particular, is a bar with an extensive menu of alcoholic and non-alcoholic vibrant drinks that are out of this world—though some can overly sweet.

At California Adventure Park, you can find alcoholic beverages almost anywhere, making the park more adult-friendly. A few Instagram-worthy Disney cocktails are at Carthay Circle Lounge, Lamplight Lounge, Alfresco Tasting Terrace, Karl Strauss Biergarten, and Bayside Brews.

Similar to Oga’s Cantina, Pym Tasting Lab is a bar with a vast alcoholic menu, including a mini beer flight. You can also find beer floats at Clarabelle’s and soft-serve ice cream with a splash of booze at Adorable Snowman Frosted Treats.

Eating Iconic Snacks

Another reason why Disneyland is for adults is because of its food. Since we found more culinary options for adults than we did kids meals, Disneyland truly caters to adults. Of course, you have Mickey and Minnie ears on everything to delight the children, but honestly, they delight adults too.

One entree you cannot miss in Disneyland is the bread bowl. The bread bowls can be found at Royal Street Veranda or Pacific Wharf’s Cafe in California Adventure Park. Options of soup inside your sourdough bowl are almost endless at both locations, but a few favorites include clam chowder, steak gumbo and a secret menu item, mac n cheese!

The bread bowl is baked fresh from Boudin Bakery’s famous Sourdough Bread located at The Bakery Tour in DCAP. You can even tour the bakery to watch the process of making the famous sourdough bread bowl.

Of course, we have to mention all of “Our Sweet Adventures” we tasted throughout Disneyland and California Adventure Park. As a former pastry chef, I was highly impressed with Disney’s culinary creations. Everything we tasted was absolutely delicious—even a simple ice cream bar was better than I ever expected.

There are so many delicious desserts in Disneyland. A few favorites were the classic Dole Whip at Tiki Juice Bar, Raspberry Rose Mickey Macaron at Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe, Apple Pie Caramel Apple at Candy Palace or Trolley Treats (DCAP), and Hand-Dipped Ice Cream Bars at Clarabelle’s (DCAP).

Best Disneyland Rides for Adults

Yes, a lot of rides at Disneyland are very family-friendly, but there are also some epic rides at Disneyland for adults too! As a Star Wars fan, I always wanted to know what it felt like to go into hyperspace and now I do! Even though it was a 3D simulation ride, we had a blast (no pun intended) at Disneyland’s Space Tours.

My favorite Disneyland ride for adults is Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission BREAKOUT! at DCAP. This ride combines the series’ characters with fun music and turns it into an epic dark-drop tower. A great part of this ride is that it will never get old because it has six different scenarios, each with its own song.

Another amazing Disneyland ride for adults is the Incredicoaster, also at DCAP. It is a classic steel rollercoaster with thrilling turns and laser beams chasing the world’s favorite Incredible super-baby, Jack Jack.

Of course, we cannot leave out the most classic Disneyland ride for adults of all time, Space Mountain. Here are a few more of the best Disneyland rides for adults, including ones at Californian Adventure Park: Indiana Jones Adventure, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Haunted Mansion, Radiator Springs Racers (DCAP) and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Since these rides are also popular, we recommend gauging the wait times using the mobile app and grabbing FastPass – two of the best Disney hacks to utilize your time wisely.  

Lastly, you CANNOT MISS the World of Color at California Adventure Park. We have seen the famous Bellagio water fountain show and the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc in Barcelona, but nothing has impressed us more than Disney’s World of Color.

Disney turns a water show into a cinematic masterpiece. They combine water with color, music, and theatre. So do yourself a favor, when you first walk into DCAP, get your FastPass for World of Color for some of the best seats in the park. The show starts at 8:15 pm after the park closes.

Adults Dressing Up at Disneyland

Adults love to dress up in Disney cosplay just as much as children. However, Disney theme parks have a very clear rule: adults are not allowed to dress up in full costumes or masks to represent Disney characters.

This rule is primarily for safety reasons, so children do not mistake a Disney employee dressed in character for someone else. So how do adults dress up in Disneyland? By Disneybounding.

Disneybounding means adults dress up in everyday outfits with a stylish and creative touch to represent a particular character. It is the most ingenious idea to engage adults. Hence why Disneyland is for adults more and more every day.

Adult Disney fans are going crazy for Disneybounding because of the endless creative ideas in which to dress up. Let’s use my favorite Disney character Goofy for example. To dress up as Goofy one could wear blue jeans, an orange v-neck with a black vest and a green baseball hat.

So as you can see, it is easy to be inspired by your favorite Disney character and still dress up. I have heard that adults will visit Disneyland just to dress up as their latest Disneybound creation. Moreover, you can also count Halloween at Disneyland to be one of the best times for adults to dress up and enjoy!

Check out two of my fabulous childhood friends participating in Disneybouding. Can you guess which characters they are dressed up as?

Have I convinced you that Disneyland is for adults too? I hope so because it is truly the Happiest Place on Earth!