Just sitting in the airport waiting to fly home, and put some thoughts together about what we loved, liked, and what could have been better after a week+ at the Disneyland Resort. We stayed at the GCH.
Summary: amazing trip. Everyone young and old had a great time.
Bottom line is the magic definitely exists at Disneyland Resort and, biggest surprise of all, there is most definitely a “Disney bubble” if you stay onsite.
Here are our general thoughts, will probably go into a bit more detail in some other posts.
Thanks to everyone here for all the amazing tips and information that helped make our trip so magical!
Disneyland 2019
Loved: Galaxy’s Edge (Smugglers Run/Savi/Droid Depot/Cantina), Fantasyland (always magical), River Belle Terrace Fantasmic Premium Dining (we had a table right on the rail), Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout (amazing, never laughed so hard in a ride before), Napa Rose (pricey but amazing), Grand Californian Hotel (location and /pool), Wine Country Trattoria (amazing value), Cars Land (impresses us every single time - also the Luigi dancing ride was a hit with the kids), Cafe Orleans (amazing taste and value), Carnation Cafe breakfast (amazing taste and value and love the location on Main Street), Hyperspace Mountain (better than the normal ride in some ways), Storytellers character breakfast (went early around 7:30 and got to see all the characters multiple times), Plaza Inn character breakfast (tons of great characters and decent food), Package shipment back to GCH (a nice convenience), Carthay Circle dinner (amazing pork chop), Mandarin Spa (too bad it’s closing!), generally the close proximity of everything at Disneyland is amazing, the Disney “bubble” definitely exists at Disneyland, Walk in Walt’s footsteps tour, the accommodation at Turtle Talk after my son did not get called on - CM followed us outside and asked if she could make it right - next show they called on my son second (FYI he is on the spectrum and cried hard after he was the only kid not called in during the first show we attended)
Liked: Steakhouse 55 (food was good but almost as expensive as Napa Rose), Carnation Cafe dinner (good but not great, decent value though), padded seats on Matterhorn (finally!), walkways were not as busy as before, Disneyland fireworks (good show but missed seeing Tinkerbell fly)
Could have been better: Blue Bayou (poor service and could not see food), FastPass entrance control (every fastpass line is a logjam where the guests scan their barcodes), no Star Tours variance (got the same ride 3x), Autopia (behind slow driver), Storytellers dinner (no longer offers a menu), Droid Depot lack of items in stock (droid backpack and personality chips), temperature in Grand Californian main area (way too cold), need more accessible laundry location in GCH, would have preferred a locked off bathroom area in GCH room, no drink service at Plaza Inn (missed kids with characters three times when getting own drinks) and had to tell CMs that coffee was out, Indiana Jones sound and ride elements (could not understand Salah or Indy, some rooms seemed like they were missing elements), could not take CBD oil into parks, line at GCH store was always long, World of Color needs a new show (same as 2014), no Rise of the Resistance ride
Summary: amazing trip. Everyone young and old had a great time.
Bottom line is the magic definitely exists at Disneyland Resort and, biggest surprise of all, there is most definitely a “Disney bubble” if you stay onsite.
Here are our general thoughts, will probably go into a bit more detail in some other posts.
Thanks to everyone here for all the amazing tips and information that helped make our trip so magical!
Disneyland 2019
Loved: Galaxy’s Edge (Smugglers Run/Savi/Droid Depot/Cantina), Fantasyland (always magical), River Belle Terrace Fantasmic Premium Dining (we had a table right on the rail), Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout (amazing, never laughed so hard in a ride before), Napa Rose (pricey but amazing), Grand Californian Hotel (location and /pool), Wine Country Trattoria (amazing value), Cars Land (impresses us every single time - also the Luigi dancing ride was a hit with the kids), Cafe Orleans (amazing taste and value), Carnation Cafe breakfast (amazing taste and value and love the location on Main Street), Hyperspace Mountain (better than the normal ride in some ways), Storytellers character breakfast (went early around 7:30 and got to see all the characters multiple times), Plaza Inn character breakfast (tons of great characters and decent food), Package shipment back to GCH (a nice convenience), Carthay Circle dinner (amazing pork chop), Mandarin Spa (too bad it’s closing!), generally the close proximity of everything at Disneyland is amazing, the Disney “bubble” definitely exists at Disneyland, Walk in Walt’s footsteps tour, the accommodation at Turtle Talk after my son did not get called on - CM followed us outside and asked if she could make it right - next show they called on my son second (FYI he is on the spectrum and cried hard after he was the only kid not called in during the first show we attended)
Liked: Steakhouse 55 (food was good but almost as expensive as Napa Rose), Carnation Cafe dinner (good but not great, decent value though), padded seats on Matterhorn (finally!), walkways were not as busy as before, Disneyland fireworks (good show but missed seeing Tinkerbell fly)
Could have been better: Blue Bayou (poor service and could not see food), FastPass entrance control (every fastpass line is a logjam where the guests scan their barcodes), no Star Tours variance (got the same ride 3x), Autopia (behind slow driver), Storytellers dinner (no longer offers a menu), Droid Depot lack of items in stock (droid backpack and personality chips), temperature in Grand Californian main area (way too cold), need more accessible laundry location in GCH, would have preferred a locked off bathroom area in GCH room, no drink service at Plaza Inn (missed kids with characters three times when getting own drinks) and had to tell CMs that coffee was out, Indiana Jones sound and ride elements (could not understand Salah or Indy, some rooms seemed like they were missing elements), could not take CBD oil into parks, line at GCH store was always long, World of Color needs a new show (same as 2014), no Rise of the Resistance ride