Meanwhile, Disneyland Still Has Old Magic Touch

I had this already written in my head, even before going out to Disneyland on Thursday morning. Already written, complete with gag lines.

Such as, now Disneyland knows how it feels to be Knott’s Berry Farm.

Such as, “Disneyland, the Loneliest Place on Earth.”

That had to be the story line, given that Disneyland is 46 years old and the brand spanking new California Adventure theme park was opening Thursday, surely relegating Disneyland to afterthought status for the first time in its history.

In other words, Disneyland wouldn’t even be the happiest place on the block.

Well . . . not so fast on that angle.

True, there were no lines at Splash Mountain. None for the Jungle Cruise. Maybe five minutes at Space Mountain. You were not brushing elbows with another human every second of your visit.

But anecdotal observations from concessionaires and ride operators indicated that Disneyland crowds were about average, if slightly below, for a February weekday.

So people did not forsake Disneyland. But even that is only part of the story. Talk to people at the park and what becomes obvious is that the grand dame of American amusement parks probably never will take second fiddle to anything.

Not as long as people like Alma Uribe are willing to come down from Santa Barbara, as she did Thursday with her sister and their three children, to be first in line to get in and spend the day in Mickey Mouse’s domain.

Why Disneyland instead of California Adventure 100 yards away? I ask her. “All the characters,” she says. “And my son likes to see Mickey Mouse a lot. We all wanted to be here because it’s my son’s birthday. This is like the magical place for the kids.”

Her niece, 10-year-old Iris, echoes that. “I love Mickey Mouse a lot and wanted to come here,” she says. “I brought Mickey Mouse a Valentine’s card.”

That accounts for grade school kids, but how about Joe Salemi? He’s 83 and could have just as easily gone Thursday to California Adventure. Instead, he and his daughter, granddaughter and 21-month-old great-grandson took in Disneyland. Salemi, vacationing from Hot Springs, Ark., even got his picture taken in Toontown with Goofy.

His granddaughter, Gigi Barclay of Tustin, says the family still gets excited every time it pulls into Disneyland, even visiting at least once a month. She estimates she’s been to the park 30 times.

That, of course, is Disneyland’s unmistakable badge of merit--that people return again and again, and go out of their way to do so.

Case in point: Steve Rogers of San Diego, who cooked up with his wife a plot to surprise daughter Mollie on her eighth birthday. They acted as though they’d missed a freeway turn in San Diego on the way to taking the kids to school Thursday; instead, they kept chugging to Anaheim.

“We decided to ditch school and come up and avoid the crowds on the weekend,” Rogers says, as he and Mollie wait and watch for Mom and brother to emerge at the peak of Splash Mountain.

I ask about the appeal of the new park. “They’re still at the age [his son is 12] where Disneyland has more attraction for them,” Rogers says of his children.

So, I ask, you and your wife are just doing your duty by accompanying them?

“We were just commenting on that,” Rogers says. “We said we were doing it mostly for the kids, then we realize we’ve been coming here since we were kids and have so many fond memories and realized we enjoy it more than the kids do.”

That’s what prompted Margie and Russell Wood to drive in from Moreno Valley with 9-year-old son Kyle. “We’re 40-year-old kids,” Russell says. “I gotta have the rides, that’s the whole thing. I thought it was going to rain today; I didn’t want to work. We’re kind of playing hooky. I think everybody’s got a little kid in them, and this place brings it out.”

“I could come here every day,” Margie says. “We’ll go to California Adventure, but after the newness dies down.”

When I ask why they opted for the old instead of the new, she says, “The history. It’s the original.”

And don’t think the Disney people don’t know it.

For that reason, says Disney employee Julie Ferreira, Mickey and Goofy won’t be moving to the new park.

“This is where they are, this is their home,” she says. “They’ll visit the other park on vacation, but this is where they’ll spend their time.” And when Mickey does visit the other park, she says, “he’ll be wearing vacation garb.”

Talk all you want about Disney magic and Disney fantasy, but it’s that reality of Mickey Mouse’s appeal that keeps the old park going, and probably always will.

Caroline Wardrop made her first trip to the park Thursday--from Scotland. She had 4-year-old son Ross in tow, having just toured the Toontown Fire -Department with him. “He really wanted to see Mickey Mouse’s house,” she says. “He’s been there twice already this morning.”

So it went on another sunny day at Disneyland, compliments of the spirit of Walt Disney, Ferreira suggests.

Sure, some of the visitors may have thought lines would be long at California Adventure. Sure, they were happy to come to Disneyland during an off-peak time. Sure, some eventually will visit California Adventure.

But that doesn’t fully explain why adults were willing to plunk down $43 to get into Disneyland yet again.

It doesn’t fully explain why Lilli Versteeg of Huntington Beach brought her three middle-aged Belgian cousins and 95-year-old mother to the park Thursday.

“They wanted to see the real Disneyland first,” Versteeg says. “You have to see Mickey and Minnie. These are characters we grew up with. And this is where they live.”

What that says is that it’ll take more than a trendy new theme park next door to knock Mickey from the throne.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626-1697, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com.