Christin82
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2017
Even though our first official post-closure Disneyland trip is scheduled for November, my family and I couldn’t resist doing a one-day trip today since we were in the area visiting Universal and Knotts. Since so many helpful people guided me in my last-minute planning last night, I figured I would report back on how the day went.
I ended up following the advice to park at Garden Walk, and it worked out great. We left our hotel in Glendale around 5:20 am and got into Anaheim before 6. We went to Starbucks, got gas for the drive home tomorrow, parked, talked logistics for the in the car, loaded up the stroller, and then walked at a leisurely pace to the Harbor entrance.
I noticed some differences right away: the security line was much further back than it ever used to be at 7, and they didn’t open the security lines as early as before. While we waited, we got a boarding group for ROTR easily, which was a pleasant start to our day.
Once we got through security, we noticed the far-right line at the turnstiles was REALLY short, so we hurried over and were among the first few in the park. We stopped to get DAS for my 4-year-old son who has a temperature-regulation issue that makes him very prone to heat stroke if he doesn’t take breaks in air-conditioned areas. It was a pretty easy process to get and use the pass, but over the course of the day, I noticed that the plaid folks at the kiosks were much nicer than the one at city hall who told me that DAS is only for cognitive disabilities but that she would reluctantly approve it.
Disneyland was pretty packed overall today, but we brought our own breakfast and lunch and were able to do A LOT, even with breaks! We rode Space Mountain and Star Tours, then Pirates, Thunder Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, and Splash. We got stuck on the Pooh ride briefly. Next, we headed to Galaxy’s Edge for ROTR and Smuggler’s Run. After that, we took a break in the Lincoln building to cool off.
At that point, we hopped to CA Adventure and rode Soarin’ followed by Guardians. We got a return time for Cars and had dinner at Flo’s, but then Cars broke down, so we rode Soarin’ again instead, followed by Toy Story. We tried to do Little Mermaid, but it broke down while we were in line, so we rested in Philharmagic and then headed back to Disneyland to do Thunder Mountain and Pirates again. By then, it was about 9:15, so we headed back to the Garden Walk and called it a night.
All in all, it was a magical day full of fun, but pretty hot and crowded. Since I’m a teacher, I can’t vacation very easily year-round. Summer is sometimes the only option, so if we might not be able to get the DAS pass next time, we may have to go during winter only, at least until fast passes are back, otherwise my little guy won’t be able to handle it. Still, what a GREAT day we had in the happiest place on Earth!
I ended up following the advice to park at Garden Walk, and it worked out great. We left our hotel in Glendale around 5:20 am and got into Anaheim before 6. We went to Starbucks, got gas for the drive home tomorrow, parked, talked logistics for the in the car, loaded up the stroller, and then walked at a leisurely pace to the Harbor entrance.
I noticed some differences right away: the security line was much further back than it ever used to be at 7, and they didn’t open the security lines as early as before. While we waited, we got a boarding group for ROTR easily, which was a pleasant start to our day.
Once we got through security, we noticed the far-right line at the turnstiles was REALLY short, so we hurried over and were among the first few in the park. We stopped to get DAS for my 4-year-old son who has a temperature-regulation issue that makes him very prone to heat stroke if he doesn’t take breaks in air-conditioned areas. It was a pretty easy process to get and use the pass, but over the course of the day, I noticed that the plaid folks at the kiosks were much nicer than the one at city hall who told me that DAS is only for cognitive disabilities but that she would reluctantly approve it.
Disneyland was pretty packed overall today, but we brought our own breakfast and lunch and were able to do A LOT, even with breaks! We rode Space Mountain and Star Tours, then Pirates, Thunder Mountain, Winnie the Pooh, and Splash. We got stuck on the Pooh ride briefly. Next, we headed to Galaxy’s Edge for ROTR and Smuggler’s Run. After that, we took a break in the Lincoln building to cool off.
At that point, we hopped to CA Adventure and rode Soarin’ followed by Guardians. We got a return time for Cars and had dinner at Flo’s, but then Cars broke down, so we rode Soarin’ again instead, followed by Toy Story. We tried to do Little Mermaid, but it broke down while we were in line, so we rested in Philharmagic and then headed back to Disneyland to do Thunder Mountain and Pirates again. By then, it was about 9:15, so we headed back to the Garden Walk and called it a night.
All in all, it was a magical day full of fun, but pretty hot and crowded. Since I’m a teacher, I can’t vacation very easily year-round. Summer is sometimes the only option, so if we might not be able to get the DAS pass next time, we may have to go during winter only, at least until fast passes are back, otherwise my little guy won’t be able to handle it. Still, what a GREAT day we had in the happiest place on Earth!
