Disneyland: The Funniest Place on Earth

It’s often called “The Happiest Place on Earth” and everyone knows, you can’t fully appreciate happiness without laughter. After my recent trip to Disneyland, here are the most comedic attractions, scenery and activities in the park – past, present and future.

The Mad Hatter

Nothing beats a Disney park cast member who really gets into their character. On one trip, my family went to a character breakfast (always a good source of entertainment and interaction with the characters, especially for kids) and the guy playing The Mad Hatter was really into performing his character: using a manic voice and mannerisms. He had my dad in stitches, cracking joke after joke. That’s how it’s supposed to be done!

Billy Hill and the Hillbillies

These guys are amazingly talented musically and with their comedy. It’s one of those hidden treasures in the park that I don’t think enough guests take advantage of. The quartet play a number of blue grass songs, all while exchanging instruments and adding funny bits to their show. A highlight is when Billy Hill somehow gets his bow stuck up his nose and when he uses fake teeth to fully get into character.

Ride photos

No ride is ever the same, especially if you end it different each time. Trying a host of poses and actions as you come to the finale of rides like Splash Mountain, Space Mountain and California Screamin’ can add a whole new element to your vacation. Some favourites of my family: everyone pretends they’re asleep; doing the YMCA; each person chokes the person in front of them and a personal fave of mine was when my brother would slip his finger up his nose without letting anybody know this is what he was going to do. It usually stopped other guests in their tracks at the viewing screens.

Jungle Cruise tour guides

This one is hit or miss. Sometimes you end up with a really good guide who has a lot of energy and tries some material you don’t hear every ride and other times, you end up with someone who’s going through the motions and following their script to the letter. Guests can sometimes play a role in the guides comedy, as on my most recent trip a number of Japanese tourists starting standing in the boat and we believe they thought the animals were real, causing the guide to ad-lib some very funny lines.

Captain EO Tribute

I know this show wasn’t originally intended to be funny, but over time, Michael Jackson became such a parody of himself, that you can’t help laughing throughout the entire presentation. A crowning moment is when Hooter, the crew member who messes up every mission sneezes at the end and Jackson goes “Oh, Hooter” or something to that effect and let’s out his famous girly giggle.

Character breakfasts

As I mentioned earlier, character breakfasts are a great attraction to get a nice filling meal (usually buffet style) and also get a chance to interact with some of the characters. Some fun characters I’ve seen before were Chip and Dale, Stitch, Tigger and Winnie the Pooh, among others. A highlight from vacations past for me, was when me and my cousin were kind of grinding Pooh Bear’s gears and asking him how a bear omelette would taste!

Muppet Vision 3-D

My fondness for the Muppets has been stated on a number of occasions, so I won’t go into details again. Suffice to say, this show is pretty good. The 3-D gags are fun, if not a little lame, but that’s kind of what you come to expect from the Muppets. It’s your usual fare with Fozzy telling jokes that get ridiculed by Waldorf and Statler, Beaker getting beat up by one of Bunsen Honeydew’s inventions and The Swedish Chef destroying the entire theatre with a cannon. You know: same old, same old.

Turtle Talk with Crush

Kids and adults alike will love this show. Crush, the wave riding surfer dude turtle from Finding Nemo is your host, as he introduces you to his environment and answers a select number of audience inquiries. Once, a friend asked Crush about the BP oil spill and how he felt about it and without missing a beat, Crush answered the question as kids in audience looked to their parents to explain what was going on and those parents looked at our group with not-so-pleased faces.

Audio animatronics

This phrase was coined by Walt Disney himself, to describe the animated electronic characters that are featured throughout so many of the park’s attractions. Some very popular ones are Capt. Jack Sparrow and many of the other swashbucklers on Pirates of the Caribbean; Captain RX-24, C3PO and R2-D2 on Star Tours; Brer Rabbit, Bear and Fox on Splash Mountain; and Indiana Jones on The Indiana Jones Adventure.

Making fun of other guests

Sometimes you just have to take a couple shots at some of the guests you see in the park. From the ones who are hideously dressed to the losers who feel the need to bring their Bluetooth headsets into the park with them, there are many targets for a verbal assault. How else should you pass time in the line-ups?

Make your own comedy

There are a number of ways to do this: Ask characters funny or bizarre questions and see how they react. Wear goofy costumes, such as Mickey Mouse ears or other funny hats. Take pictures of random cast members who made your experience fun – there was one guy we found over a couple vacations and took updated photos of. Finally, get drunk enough to get chased around by park security, sneak into the park and black out for two hours… oh wait, that was something only done once and should not be repeated again.