Disneyland is known as the happiest place on earth, a place where everyone can escape reality. Many people go to Disneyland for the attractions and characters, but other Disney fanatics go for all the little hidden gems throughout the park. When Walt Disney was creating Disneyland he wanted to have little secrets that only certain people knew about. He wanted the visitors to have a little scavenger hunt while walking around the park. 

There are many Gems at Disneyland throughout the park that are hidden in plain sight. The first one is a fancy restaurant by the name of “Club 33”. Club 33 is a very nice place to eat located just above the “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride in New Orleans Square. When walking out of the Pirates ride you see multiple doors, the door leading to this place is blue and looks kind of run down. You go through this door and walk up a lot of stairs to get to the lounge. This restaurant is by membership only, many celebrities have memberships and go to eat here a lot. The best part of this hidden restaurant is it has a perfect view of the “Fantasmic Water Show ” that takes place every night. 

The next secret spot in the parks is “Sleeping Beauty’s Castle”. There are so many different things that go on with this spectacular castle. The first thing is the attraction that is actually IN THE CASTLE. When you cross the castle into Fantasyland, on the left there is an open door. If you walk into the castle you will go through Sleeping Beauty’s whole tale. This is a fantastic experience because you get to experience each piece of her story. The second hidden event that happens in this castle is you will see the Evil Queen pop out of the very top window. This only happens about every 20 minutes and stays for 10-15 seconds so it is easy to miss it. Seeing the Evil Queen can be an exciting experience because it will bring the story to life and create more of that Disney Magic. 

When walking through the park you see the very famous “Haunted Mansion”. This is another attraction at Disneyland that has many different features hidden by Walt Disney. As you are waiting in line and you see the pet graveyard you probably think that it is just props and is not anything real, sadly you are mistaken. Walt wanted something that would honor the workers’ pets so he decided to make an actual pet cemetery except it is on the back wall of the mansion. Many visitors ask the cast members to go access it, some days they will say yes others they will say no. The other hidden secret of this attraction is there is an actual bullet hole in the ballroom scene of the ride. Nobody really knows how it got there. There are suspicions that a little kid with a slingshot may have caused it. To cover it up the imaginers decided to put a giant spider web over it to create a dramatic and haunted effect. 

The last hidden secret that Disneyland does not want you to know about are the cats roaming around. If you haven’t noticed there are no rodents at the park. Disneyland has released about 200 cats throughout both parks to keep the mice and rats away. Most of the cats are nocturnal so you probably won’t see them during the day. Sometimes when you are on the tram from the “Mickey and Friends” parking structure, you will encounter them in the bushes. Walt Disney hated rodents and wanted them nowhere near his dream (aka creating Disneyland).

In the end, Walt Disney wanted to create somewhere that is exciting, fun, and the happiest place on earth. As these little gems or messages are hidden throughout the park it makes it more exciting knowing you do not have to go on the rides to have fun at the Disney Parks. Next time you go to Disneyland make sure you keep an eye out for the hidden gems.