Adventureland After Park Closing

When Disneyland's open late, it's always fun to be one of the last riders admitted to Pirates of the Caribbean. When it's over, your park exit route leads through an Adventureland that's been closed for nearly twenty minutes.

After Hours: Pirates of the Caribbean

Here's one Disneyland tip to remember: enter Pirates of the Caribbean one minute before closing. You just might get a boat to yourself (and have empty boats ahead and behind). Twenty minutes later, you'll exit into a strangely deserted and wonderfully dark, quiet incarnation of New Orleans Square, Frontierland and Adventureland.

The simple, quiet fun of seeing Disneyland after closing, if only for a wonderful few minutes, makes staying past midnight worthwhile despite aching feet and heavy eyelids.

The entry to Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean is secretive and understated to begin with; after closing it's absolutely poker-faced. A first-timer could mistake the place for a shop or restaurant. Who would guess these simple doors lead to a moonlit bayou and the most epic-length theme park ride on Earth?

I think a lot of life-long Disney fans get hooked during quiet moments like this.