Romance Wanderlust: Disneyland Resort

Romance Wanderlust - a yellowed and burnt edge map with a compass in the corner, with Romance Wanderlust written across itSummer is here, and many of us flock to Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. I’ve been to Disneyland with little kids, and it was delightful. It was even pretty romantic in the sense that watching my sweet husband carry our exhausted daughter all over the park warmed my cold little heart. However, it’s easy for me to picture going with my husband and having a truly romantic time with just the two of us.

I’ve yet to try a romantic Disneyland trip, but never fear, for the Internet has many thoughts on how to make Disneyland a destination truly worthy of Romance Wanderlust. Although I’ve been to Disneyland, this is neither a review nor an endorsement, just some gathered ideas from the web.

Step One: Find a Place to Stay

I live in California, where getting up at dawn, driving for six hours, staying at Disneyland until closing, and driving all night to get home is a classic tradition. It’s cheap, but there’s nothing romantic about it. For the purposes of Romance Wanderlust, let’s assume that you are rolling in dough and therefore you opt for a multi-day Disneyland trip with a stay in a hotel.

When it comes to staying at Disneyland, the classic choices are Disneyland Resort and the Grand Californian Hotel and Spa. Let’s pretend that you have unlimited amount of money to play with, because while money is not romantic it sure does make creating romantic ambience easier, especially at Disneyland. At the Disneyland Resort, you’ll want to spring for a themed suite. May I humbly suggest the Fairytale Suite, a room so unabashedly romantic that looking at pictures of it made me lightheaded. It has a canopy bed (of course) and a full view of the fireworks. This is the kind of room where the price isn’t listed on the website because if you have to ask you can’t afford it. It comes with perks galore and a very nice bathtub. I’d never leave.

The fairytale suite at Disneyland resort, featuring a canopy bed and a lounge that looks out towards the fireworks show
The lounge is facing the window so you can snuggle while watching the fireworks.

Speaking of the Grand Californian, it showed up often as a romantic place to stay, and it has a lobby with a fireplace and a bar where you can relax with a drink or a meal. There’s a fancy restaurant there as well where, among many other things, you can order something called “Diligently Selected Cheeses.” I guess “Carelessly Selected Cheeses” is what you call the contents of my fridge (string cheese, cream cheese, shredded mozzarella, and an old brick of cheddar). Anyway, the lobby, bar, and restaurant seem like calm, cool, quiet places to relax in the hot and overstimulating world of Disneyland, which would truly be a blessing.

gift basket contents include personalized towels, rose petals on the bed, flowers
I hear rose petals are classy, right?

You can, of course, order flowers, gift baskets, and romantic desserts to be delivered to your room. You are staying in the Fairytale Suite so you might as well go all out!

Step Two: Eat Dinner

The park is most romantic at night, and if you try to go for a full day you’ll be worn out. I mentioned the restaurant at the Grand Californian and their cheese. People also suggest the Blue Bayou, the restaraunt located in the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride. Carthay Circle, in the California Adventure Park, is 1920s themed and has private booths and balcony tables with a view of the fireworks.

Blue Bayou Restaraunt with candles on the tables and tree growing out of the floor
The Blue Bayou

By the way, one time my sister-in-law and I grabbed some beignets and hot cocoa (it was November and the park gets chilly at night in the Fall) from a little spot near Pirates of the Caribbean (maybe Café Orleans, but I’m not sure). The kids and the Dads were doing something or other and we had a few minutes to just sit and relax. It was absolutely delightful. So I recommend saving some time to relax on a bench or a chair with your beignets and just watch people go by. If it’s warmer, do the same thing only with Dole Pineapple Whip. You won’t be sorry, and one thing Disneyland does well is provide a lot of lovely places to sit down.

Step 3: Smooch!

Please recall that not only are there are lot of people at Disneyland, but there are also a lot of cameras. Don’t do anything that wouldn’t mind being leaked to the web someday.

Keeping that in mind, the topic of where to make out at Disneyland has not gone unexplored by the Internet. The Haunted Mansion is a clear winner among people who count these things. Peter Pan’s Flight is a good one, too. The Astro Orbiter is a beauchairs lined up for Disneyland wedding in front of castletiful, gentle ride with snuggling opportunities. Of course, if you aren’t shy, there’s always Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.

If things go so well that you decide to get married – well, that’s a topic for a different post. Suffice to say that yes, you can ride to your wedding in Cinderella’s Carriage and have your wedding in the forecourt of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. Sleeping Beauty is my least favorite fairytale of all time and these photos STILL make me practically pass out. I’m helpless against them.

If you’ve had a romantic time at Disneyland, let us know in the comments. Meanwhile my family has to run out to the bank and change all our passwords and pin numbers before I wreak financial havoc on us all.

Comments are Closed

  1. Laurel says:

    Former resident of Orlando here. I worked with a lot of people who worked at the Disney & Universal theme parks as teenagers. Your warnings about cameras watching everywhere are justified. I heard a lot if stories about what security cameras caught, especially on rides where people thought being in the dark meant they couldn’t be seen.

  2. SB Sarah says:

    Laurel: When I was editing this, I thought the same thing. Disney sees everything.

  3. marjorie says:

    My husband proposed to me on the Skyway to Tomorrowland twenty years ago, and got me a placeholder engagement ring — a Mickey head made of three cubic zirconia — on Main Street.

    The Skyway to Tomorrowland is now closed. The former entrance is stroller parking. I choose to think this is not a metaphor.

  4. Lora says:

    My husband and I went to Disney World for our first anniversary. We had a wonderful time doing everything from riding the Dumbo ride at midnight during extra hours to sneaking into the hotel hot tub after it was closed to watch the fireworks from there. The most romantic spots were easily in Morocco at the Epcot world Showcase. It was a gorgeous, if cheesy case of cultural appropriation. I got a henna tattoo, we kissed on the bridge in front of the fake eiffel tower…it was glorious.

  5. Katie C. says:

    My husband and I are huge Disney fans! We went to Walt Disney World in Florida for our honeymoon in 2007 and have been back 7 times since then (we don’t have kids). There are tons of romantic things to do – a lot of nice upscale restaurants at the resorts, you can book a private Fireworks cruise to watch fireworks from either the Magic Kingdom or Epcot on your own boat with just you and the boat’s captain (we did this on our honeymoon), carriage rides at two of the resorts and the boardwalk at night at Disney’s Boardwalk Inn is lit beautifully for an evening stroll. At Disney World there are also two highly detailed mini golf courses which are fun to do at night. On our honeymoon at one the restaurants in the Magic Kingdom where we had a lunch reservation, the staff decorated our table with confetti to congratulate us!

    One year I ordered a custom decorated anniversary cake from the pastry team at the resort where we were staying – so cute!

    I could go on and on and on because I am a Disney super fan…

  6. Jennifer in GA says:

    Our favorite romantic Disney “thing” is to go to the Food and Wine Festival at EPCOT! Our anniversary falls during Festival time, and we’ve gone twice. We have a great time tasting food from all around the world (in portions convenient for sharing!) and people watching.

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