BagOLaughs
Well I ain't evil, I'm just good looking
- Joined
- May 29, 2015
Hi everyone,
A bit of background first I think! I'm just back from a 5 night trip to Disneyland Resort from 18th May - 23rd of May. This visit was the final 5 nights of my honeymoon (with my husband of course) and we'd spend the previous 10 nights in Maui and Oahu in Hawaii. We're from the UK and this was our 1st time on the West Coast and Hawaii, which also means our 1st trip to Disneyland. We've been to Disney World and Disneyland Paris many times before (and I'd been to Tokyo Disneyland). Here are my thoughts on what I thought was really great and what I thought were not so great about Disneyland.
We'd got a 5 day ticket to Disneyland so we could do things at a slower pace and not have to rush around. We stayed in the Hyatt House hotel and walked to the park every day.
Great things!
Intimate is totally the word I would use for Disneyland! Is it smaller than the Magic Kingdom in WDW? Yes, but the level of DETAIL is amazing! I absolutely loved the feel of this park. Every single corner is crammed with theming and real antiques. I loved the party lines in the Starbucks, the 1 cent picture wheel things on mainstreet shops. Its that level of detail which makes me love the Disney parks. Even though both parks are slap bang in the middle of a major metropolitan area, once you're inside the gates, you'd never know. The Disney bubble is alive and well in Disneyland.
Fireworks - oh my goodness. Remember Dreams come True, is IMO the BEST DISNEY FIREWORKS EVER! I've seen fireworks in 5 different Disney parks and this is now my favourite (previously this was Illuminations in Epcot which is now my no#2). I loved the perimeter fireworks and the castle projections. I loved the theme of the fireworks was based on the lands of Disneyland and not movies. I must admit I was in tears at the beginning and end of this show. Happy tears of course!
Closeness of hotels - I loved being able to walk from a non-Disney hotel to the park in 10-15 minutes. The Hyatt was a really nice hotel and we had a lovely king size bed. We didn't use the swimming pool so I can't comment on that.
Matterhorn - This was my most surprising ride! I was expecting a not that exciting steel coaster but actually I was laughing all the way around. We went on it 4 times in total, twice on the left track and twice on the right side. I also got to go on the front of the train on both sides of the track. The Yeti animatronic's through out the ride was fun and very quick, smooth motions.
Cars Land, Bunea vista street all of California Adventure - I was expecting this park to be not that great (excluding Cars land) and the newly rejuvenated areas but actually I liked all the areas. I loved the 'great parks' near Grizzly River run and the Air field where Soarin' was. I even liked Pacific wharf even though it does feel like a food hall in a mall. I think Disney have done a very good job at improving this park, even though I never visited it before the work was done. I think our time was split 50/50 between both parks. World of colour was amazing as well! That show is beautiful.
Overall I enjoyed Disneyland greatly. You can feel that Disneyland was Walt's park and the authentic-ness was amazing. Disney California Adventure also had some great 'modern day' Imagineering.
Not so great things...
Our trip was great but not perfect here are the things which I thought were not so great.
Refurbs - now this one I knew about in advance but darn it we were so close. In total we missed out on GoTG breakout, Indiana Jones, Railroad, Monorail, Fantasmic, Tom Sawyer Island, River boats were all down. Paint the night was replaced by Electrical Main Street parade. We missed out on GoTG and Indiana Jones by 3 days
I guess we'll just have to go back again! 
Crowds! - again I knew it was going to be busy because we visited over a weekend and 2 Grad nights but I was surprised about the level of crowds. I don't know if it was because that's what its always like or because so many of the rides were in refurb or because it was over the weekend. Maybe all of the above but it was crazy busy!!! 120 minutes for Matterhorn and 180 minutes for Radiator Springs Racers. Even at 11pm at night the queues were still huge!
People - now this is a bit sensitive and just so you know I'm talking about some specific things I saw. I don't know if I've just been lucky in the past but I've never seen this sort of behaviour at any Disney or Universal park, EVER. It happened at Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters, my Husband and I had decided to watch the ride and the CM's were finishing up loading. One of the CM's was talking to a guy in one of the cars. I have no idea what was going on but I think she was trying to get him out of the car for what ever reason. I had turned around to talk to my DH and then we both hear a raised angry voice and the guy in the car was aggressively shouting and swearing at the CM. He then got out of the car and squared up to her and got in her face. He was still swearing and being very aggressive. He then stormed off. Never before have I seen such behaviour! This was disgusting.
I saw lots of queue jumping, the type where one person would be in line and then 10 others would join once near the front of the queue.
I also saw a 3 person family in front of us in the fasspass line for Star Tours. They pushed past the CM when he asked for their tickets. They gestured as if they didn't understand English and kept walking. The CM just let them go. We gave our tickets to the CM and when we caught up with the family they were all smiling as if they'd duped the system. Maybe they were smiling at the theming... maybe.
Overall the trip was great and I loved the parks. I would like to go back, maybe in the winter when it might be a bit quieter.
A bit of background first I think! I'm just back from a 5 night trip to Disneyland Resort from 18th May - 23rd of May. This visit was the final 5 nights of my honeymoon (with my husband of course) and we'd spend the previous 10 nights in Maui and Oahu in Hawaii. We're from the UK and this was our 1st time on the West Coast and Hawaii, which also means our 1st trip to Disneyland. We've been to Disney World and Disneyland Paris many times before (and I'd been to Tokyo Disneyland). Here are my thoughts on what I thought was really great and what I thought were not so great about Disneyland.
We'd got a 5 day ticket to Disneyland so we could do things at a slower pace and not have to rush around. We stayed in the Hyatt House hotel and walked to the park every day.
Great things!
Intimate is totally the word I would use for Disneyland! Is it smaller than the Magic Kingdom in WDW? Yes, but the level of DETAIL is amazing! I absolutely loved the feel of this park. Every single corner is crammed with theming and real antiques. I loved the party lines in the Starbucks, the 1 cent picture wheel things on mainstreet shops. Its that level of detail which makes me love the Disney parks. Even though both parks are slap bang in the middle of a major metropolitan area, once you're inside the gates, you'd never know. The Disney bubble is alive and well in Disneyland.
Fireworks - oh my goodness. Remember Dreams come True, is IMO the BEST DISNEY FIREWORKS EVER! I've seen fireworks in 5 different Disney parks and this is now my favourite (previously this was Illuminations in Epcot which is now my no#2). I loved the perimeter fireworks and the castle projections. I loved the theme of the fireworks was based on the lands of Disneyland and not movies. I must admit I was in tears at the beginning and end of this show. Happy tears of course!
Closeness of hotels - I loved being able to walk from a non-Disney hotel to the park in 10-15 minutes. The Hyatt was a really nice hotel and we had a lovely king size bed. We didn't use the swimming pool so I can't comment on that.
Matterhorn - This was my most surprising ride! I was expecting a not that exciting steel coaster but actually I was laughing all the way around. We went on it 4 times in total, twice on the left track and twice on the right side. I also got to go on the front of the train on both sides of the track. The Yeti animatronic's through out the ride was fun and very quick, smooth motions.
Cars Land, Bunea vista street all of California Adventure - I was expecting this park to be not that great (excluding Cars land) and the newly rejuvenated areas but actually I liked all the areas. I loved the 'great parks' near Grizzly River run and the Air field where Soarin' was. I even liked Pacific wharf even though it does feel like a food hall in a mall. I think Disney have done a very good job at improving this park, even though I never visited it before the work was done. I think our time was split 50/50 between both parks. World of colour was amazing as well! That show is beautiful.
Overall I enjoyed Disneyland greatly. You can feel that Disneyland was Walt's park and the authentic-ness was amazing. Disney California Adventure also had some great 'modern day' Imagineering.
Not so great things...
Our trip was great but not perfect here are the things which I thought were not so great.
Refurbs - now this one I knew about in advance but darn it we were so close. In total we missed out on GoTG breakout, Indiana Jones, Railroad, Monorail, Fantasmic, Tom Sawyer Island, River boats were all down. Paint the night was replaced by Electrical Main Street parade. We missed out on GoTG and Indiana Jones by 3 days
I guess we'll just have to go back again! Crowds! - again I knew it was going to be busy because we visited over a weekend and 2 Grad nights but I was surprised about the level of crowds. I don't know if it was because that's what its always like or because so many of the rides were in refurb or because it was over the weekend. Maybe all of the above but it was crazy busy!!! 120 minutes for Matterhorn and 180 minutes for Radiator Springs Racers. Even at 11pm at night the queues were still huge!
People - now this is a bit sensitive and just so you know I'm talking about some specific things I saw. I don't know if I've just been lucky in the past but I've never seen this sort of behaviour at any Disney or Universal park, EVER. It happened at Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters, my Husband and I had decided to watch the ride and the CM's were finishing up loading. One of the CM's was talking to a guy in one of the cars. I have no idea what was going on but I think she was trying to get him out of the car for what ever reason. I had turned around to talk to my DH and then we both hear a raised angry voice and the guy in the car was aggressively shouting and swearing at the CM. He then got out of the car and squared up to her and got in her face. He was still swearing and being very aggressive. He then stormed off. Never before have I seen such behaviour! This was disgusting.
I saw lots of queue jumping, the type where one person would be in line and then 10 others would join once near the front of the queue.
I also saw a 3 person family in front of us in the fasspass line for Star Tours. They pushed past the CM when he asked for their tickets. They gestured as if they didn't understand English and kept walking. The CM just let them go. We gave our tickets to the CM and when we caught up with the family they were all smiling as if they'd duped the system. Maybe they were smiling at the theming... maybe.
Overall the trip was great and I loved the parks. I would like to go back, maybe in the winter when it might be a bit quieter.
