Disneyland

If you're thinking of visiting a Disney park in Anaheim this summer, be warned that the price is about to jump by between $7 and $150 depending on the ticket deal. The annual summer price hike for tickets to Disneyland and the Disney California Adventure Park were announced Friday and take effect Sunday. For example, a ticket for one day at either Disneyland or California Adventure had cost $80 for parkgoers who are 10 or older. The new price, starting Sunday, will be $87, up nearly 9%. The biggest increase will hit people who buy the premium annual pass that includes parking.

If you're thinking of visiting a Disney park in Anaheim this summer, be warned that the price is about to jump by between $7 and $150 depending on the ticket deal. The annual summer price hike for tickets to Disneyland and the Disney California Adventure Park were announced Friday and take effect Sunday. For example, a ticket for one day at either Disneyland or California Adventure had cost $80 for parkgoers who are 10 or older. The new price, starting Sunday, will be $87, up nearly 9%. The biggest increase will hit people who buy the premium annual pass that includes parking.

I've been to Disneyland hundreds of times over the last two decades and have been writing the Funland theme park blog for about four years now. As a result, people are always asking me how to do everything at Disneyland in a single day. The short answer is you probably can't. It can be a struggle for even hard-core fans with military assault-like strategies. The longer answer is there's lots of ways to maximize your time in the park and get on the most rides possible. PHOTOS: How to do Disneyland in a day So in honor of Disneyland's 24-hour Leap Day celebration , here are my seven tips for tackling Disneyland in a day: Tip 1: If you're trying to get the most out of your day at Disneyland , I always recommend arriving just before the park opens in the morning, staying until the park closes at night and taking a long break in the heat of the afternoon at your hotel pool or cocktail bar. It may sound like a long day, but you'll get more done in the first two hours and the last two hours of your day than if you spent 15 hours straight at the park.

I'm such a sucker for anything having to do with mountains -- hiking up them, watching climbers ascend  them, snapping pictures of them -- that even phony peaks give me a thrill. Disneyland announced Tuesday that the Matterhorn Bobsleds, the iconic roller-coaster-type ride that's been closed since January for a redo, will have mountaineers once again scaling its slopes when the ride reopens June 15. "Having real mountain climbers on the mountain is a tradition started by Walt Disney in 1959 when the attraction opened," communications manager Shawn Slater writes on the DisneyParks Blog . Fans seem pretty happy with the news: "I remember during the 50th Anniversary they had Mickey scaling the peak!

The new Star Tours attraction that will soon debut at Disneyland adds several layers of 3-D realism to the 1980s-era simulator ride, making the experience less like watching a movie and more like being in the middle of the action. I took a few preview rides Friday at Disneyland on the updated attraction, which offers 54 possible storylines, and I found myself wanting to jump back in line after each galactic journey. Photos : Concept art of Star Tours: The Adventures Continue at Disneyland and Disney'sHollywood Studios Dubbed Star Tours: The Adventures Continue , the " Star Wars " -inspired ride officially debuts June 3 at Disneyland in California and opened Friday at Disney'sHollywood Studios in Florida.

Disneyland will celebrate Leap Day on Wednesday by offering late-night shows, music, food and character meet-and-greets while keeping the Anaheim theme park open for 24 hours straight. RELATED: 7 tips for tackling Disneyland in a day As part of the One More Disney Day marketing campaign, both Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom in Florida will open at 6 a.m. local time on Wednesday and operate until 6 a.m. Thursday. Here are the highlights planned for Disneyland on Leap Day: > Free limited-edition mouse hats handed out to the first 2,000 visitors entering the park at 6 a.m. (Lineups begin at 10 p.m. Tuesday)

For the last few weeks, after Disneyland has closed its gates for the night, a team of workers, including eight divers, has labored through into the morning in Frontierland and New Orleans Square, ferrying building materials to Tom Sawyer Island and sinking support structures into the floor of the surrounding "river. " Meanwhile, at corporate headquarters in Burbank, Laura-Lee Hartung has been combing through her list of a select 700 guests, checking such details as whether Disneyland's catering chef has prepared a menu that meets the needs of a visiting girl with certain food allergies.

Shortly after Christmas, the same question arises every year: What are we going to do on New Year's Eve ? Here's what some California amusement and theme parks have planned for the last night of 2011: Disneyland in Anaheim will stay open until 2 a.m. with live bands, DJs and midnight fireworks. Across the way, Disney California Adventure will remain open until 1 a.m. with the ElecTRONica dance party and a midnight showing of "World of Color," the nighttime water spectacular.

When the last Jungle Cruise boat docks for the night and lights fade to black on Sleeping Beauty's Castle, the real work begins. At lush Pixie Hollow, gardeners don miner's headlamps as they begin uprooting stubborn weeds. On Main Street, custodians scrape chewing gum off the sidewalk. And over at Mickey's Toontown, painters sand and recoat chipped handrails. Few see it happen, except perhaps for the dozens of feral cats that emerge from their hiding places to prowl the park after hours, stalking rodents.

With frosty mugs of Butterbeer raised in a toast, Universal Studios Hollywood officials announced plans Tuesday to bring the wildly popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter to the California theme park. Details were limited but officials did say the California park would see a Hogwarts Castle and visitors would ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the marquee attraction at the Florida park. Wizarding World will be built within the existing California theme park, but it was unclear if the new land might be located at least partially on the studio's back lot. > Photos: Top 10 Wizarding World of Harry Potter rides and attractions Wizarding World proved an instant hit when it opened in June 2010 at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure theme park.

It won't be signed Willy Wonka, but there's a new golden ticket going around. For the first time in a decade, Disneyland has opened membership to its exclusive Club 33, the secretive, members-only restaurant hidden in New Orleans Square. Members will also be able to relax in a new private pad at Disney's California Adventure: 1901, named for the year Walt Disney was born. Disney officials announced that a limited number of memberships would be offered in honor of Club 33's 45th anniversary and the completion of a major, five-year expansion project at California Adventure.

The owners of the Battle of the Dance dinner show had hoped to catch the wave of tourists from nearby Disneyland with family-friendly entertainment boasting European dancers and a gourmet meal of smoked salmon salad, filet mignon and a "decadent" dessert. But when the paying customers failed to materialize in the numbers foreseen, they cut the number of dinner shows, amped up the volume and turned to a different crowd. There was a "topless DJ," go-go dancers and an appearance by an adult film performer to entertain late-night partygoers in Anaheim's manicured resort district.

The new knock 'em, sock 'em Transformers ride at Universal Studios Hollywood is an immersive, in-your-face experience that ranks among the top theme park attractions in the world. PHOTOS: Behind-the-scene tour of Transformers ride The Transformers 3-D ride is now in technical rehearsal mode at the movie theme park, meaning the ride can open or close at any time in advance of the May 25 grand opening. I got my first ride on the new attraction over the weekend and found myself only slightly let down from my astronomically high expectations.

Cedar Point plans to turn the Ohio theme park's Million Dollar Midway into the $6-million Luminosity nighttime spectacular complete with lights, lasers and fireworks tied to a stage performance with DJs, dancers and drummers. PHOTOS: Luminosity nighttime spectacular at Cedar Point Debuting on June 8, the 40-minute Luminosity: Ignite the Night stage show will be followed by a pyrotechnics finale that leads into a DJ street party designed to turn the midway into an enormous dance floor.

Half of Southern California travelers plan to visit at least one theme park this year, according to a recent poll by the Automobile Club of Southern California . If Disneyland is the destination, here's a hotel deal from Red Lion Hotel Anaheim with some nice freebies and a nice price: $79 a night. The deal: This offer would work well for families with young children who don't want to worry about driving back and forth to the park. The hotel is a block or so from Disneyland, and a resort shuttle stops at the front door.

Disneyland had to close its gates for several hours during its 24-hour Leap Day celebration when after-work crowds overwhelmed the Anaheim theme park. Traffic on the Santa Ana Freeway was backed up for four miles Wednesday night as the main Disneyland parking structure swelled to near-capacity and frustrated visitors sat in gridlock on streets leading to the park. The 24-hour Leap Day event, which ran from 6 a.m. Wednesday until 6 a.m. Thursday, saw more than 3,000 Disney fans lining up 10 hours before the gates opened in hopes of getting free commemorative Mickey Mouse ears.

The owners of the Battle of the Dance dinner show had hoped to catch the wave of tourists from nearby Disneyland with family-friendly entertainment boasting European dancers and a gourmet meal of smoked salmon salad, filet mignon and a "decadent" dessert. But when the paying customers failed to materialize in the numbers foreseen, they cut the number of dinner shows, amped up the volume and turned to a different crowd. There was a "topless DJ," go-go dancers and an appearance by an adult film performer to entertain late-night partygoers in Anaheim's manicured resort district.

Disneyland's nighttime fireworks regularly delight thousands of park visitors, but for Benito (Benny) Ramirez, the show means it's time to go on alert. Ramirez, 54, who will take over as the theme park's fire chief March 1, primarily will be involved with safety and prevention. But with Disney's elaborate fire-breathing shows, such as "Fantasmic," there's always the possibility of trouble.

Disneyland will celebrate Leap Day on Wednesday by offering late-night shows, music, food and character meet-and-greets while keeping the Anaheim theme park open for 24 hours straight. RELATED: 7 tips for tackling Disneyland in a day As part of the One More Disney Day marketing campaign, both Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom in Florida will open at 6 a.m. local time on Wednesday and operate until 6 a.m. Thursday. Here are the highlights planned for Disneyland on Leap Day: > Free limited-edition mouse hats handed out to the first 2,000 visitors entering the park at 6 a.m. (Lineups begin at 10 p.m. Tuesday)

I've been to Disneyland hundreds of times over the last two decades and have been writing the Funland theme park blog for about four years now. As a result, people are always asking me how to do everything at Disneyland in a single day. The short answer is you probably can't. It can be a struggle for even hard-core fans with military assault-like strategies. The longer answer is there's lots of ways to maximize your time in the park and get on the most rides possible. PHOTOS: How to do Disneyland in a day So in honor of Disneyland's 24-hour Leap Day celebration , here are my seven tips for tackling Disneyland in a day: Tip 1: If you're trying to get the most out of your day at Disneyland , I always recommend arriving just before the park opens in the morning, staying until the park closes at night and taking a long break in the heat of the afternoon at your hotel pool or cocktail bar. It may sound like a long day, but you'll get more done in the first two hours and the last two hours of your day than if you spent 15 hours straight at the park.