disndatworld
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2006
In 2018 DW and I went to DL for the first time (we are avid WDW fans) and I shared a generally negative sentiment about our visit here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/1st-visit-just-1-word.3712353/
Anyway, we just went back for 1 day and I wanted to just share a little a on this DL forum. What did we think this time after saying we'd likely never return? We really did LOVE our day.
We planned a trip with our entire family (We're East Coasters) for 10 days to California: 5 Days in SoCal 5 Days in Monterey Bay Area. And we reserved our 1st full day for Disneyland! I purchased 1 day tickets & hoppers & Genie+ which is really kind of an expensive "rate" for 1 day, but we wanted to maximize since we had only the 1 day. DL and I were not 100% sold on going, but our (now adult children 18-25) definitely wanted to go and experience DL.
We entered California Adventure just after rope-drop, and were able to experience everything we were interested in. We used the paid Lightning Lane for Radiator Springs Racer otherwise, our Genie+ LL for other attractions. We rode Grizzly River Run, Guardians, Incredicoaster (3x - maybe the best "ride"), Soarin' and maybe a couple others.
Around lunchtime, we headed to Disneyland Park. We caught 1 or two rides before our DR at Cafe Orleans which was 6 out of 10 I would say. Between us we had the the Gumbo for appetizers, Roasted Chicken, Short Rib, and Crème Brûlée for desert.
For attractions, we were able to catch Big Thunder, Buzz Astro Blasters, Indiana Jones, Jungle Cruise, Matterhorn, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, Rise of the Resistance and maybe 1 or two more.
We really had a great time exploring together and laughing. DL LOVED Incredicoaster. She was diagnosed with Breast Cancer last year, and it's been a tough year. She is Cancer Free!!! but it has been a rough patch for sure. She just kept asking to go back for more fun on the coaster, and we all had a blast. We did have to drag her on Grizzly... and she was right: we got wet!!! But it wasn't too bad, and we laughed a lot.
Guardians really competes well with Tower of Terror at WDW. I'm not a big Guardians fan, but something about the "vibe" of the ride made it a lot of fun, and the drops were great. It was a nice highlight for comparisons of the attractions. Other comparisons:
- Pirates is GREAT in both WDW & DL
- Space Mountain is smoothing in DL and we might have enjoyed it better out West
- Jungle Cruise: WDW seems better. We were a little disappointed in our guide. He just didn't know how to land "Dad" jokes. Comes so natural for me lol
- Big Thunder - Prefer WDW but very similar experience
- Soarin' - Had ZERO punch for us in DL. Maybe because the video is the same (except for the ending) and EPCOT has such few rides it had less punch
- Rise of the Resistance: Our best attraction experience ever, possibly. Not because of the ride, but there was a hyper-excited rider who was in our group and I think he truly believed he was with the Rebel Alliance.
Well - no matter what, this forum deserves to hear how good the Parks you love are loved by us from the other side of the country. Beautiful weather & low crowds the day we visited helped a lot. And so did having our entire family & an open mind.
Add me and our entire family to the list of those who love the Disneyland Parks!!!
Anyway, we just went back for 1 day and I wanted to just share a little a on this DL forum. What did we think this time after saying we'd likely never return? We really did LOVE our day.
We planned a trip with our entire family (We're East Coasters) for 10 days to California: 5 Days in SoCal 5 Days in Monterey Bay Area. And we reserved our 1st full day for Disneyland! I purchased 1 day tickets & hoppers & Genie+ which is really kind of an expensive "rate" for 1 day, but we wanted to maximize since we had only the 1 day. DL and I were not 100% sold on going, but our (now adult children 18-25) definitely wanted to go and experience DL.
We entered California Adventure just after rope-drop, and were able to experience everything we were interested in. We used the paid Lightning Lane for Radiator Springs Racer otherwise, our Genie+ LL for other attractions. We rode Grizzly River Run, Guardians, Incredicoaster (3x - maybe the best "ride"), Soarin' and maybe a couple others.
Around lunchtime, we headed to Disneyland Park. We caught 1 or two rides before our DR at Cafe Orleans which was 6 out of 10 I would say. Between us we had the the Gumbo for appetizers, Roasted Chicken, Short Rib, and Crème Brûlée for desert.
For attractions, we were able to catch Big Thunder, Buzz Astro Blasters, Indiana Jones, Jungle Cruise, Matterhorn, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, Rise of the Resistance and maybe 1 or two more.
We really had a great time exploring together and laughing. DL LOVED Incredicoaster. She was diagnosed with Breast Cancer last year, and it's been a tough year. She is Cancer Free!!! but it has been a rough patch for sure. She just kept asking to go back for more fun on the coaster, and we all had a blast. We did have to drag her on Grizzly... and she was right: we got wet!!! But it wasn't too bad, and we laughed a lot.
Guardians really competes well with Tower of Terror at WDW. I'm not a big Guardians fan, but something about the "vibe" of the ride made it a lot of fun, and the drops were great. It was a nice highlight for comparisons of the attractions. Other comparisons:
- Pirates is GREAT in both WDW & DL
- Space Mountain is smoothing in DL and we might have enjoyed it better out West
- Jungle Cruise: WDW seems better. We were a little disappointed in our guide. He just didn't know how to land "Dad" jokes. Comes so natural for me lol
- Big Thunder - Prefer WDW but very similar experience
- Soarin' - Had ZERO punch for us in DL. Maybe because the video is the same (except for the ending) and EPCOT has such few rides it had less punch
- Rise of the Resistance: Our best attraction experience ever, possibly. Not because of the ride, but there was a hyper-excited rider who was in our group and I think he truly believed he was with the Rebel Alliance.
Well - no matter what, this forum deserves to hear how good the Parks you love are loved by us from the other side of the country. Beautiful weather & low crowds the day we visited helped a lot. And so did having our entire family & an open mind.
Add me and our entire family to the list of those who love the Disneyland Parks!!!
