Just returned from Disneyland trip, happy to try to answer any questions.

[wishiwasindisneyjen]

We just returned from a trip the week of 1/8. Flew in/out of LAX, stayed at Grand Californian both the regular side club level and a 1 bedroom DVC room. We visited Disneyland one day and CA Adventure two days using Genie+. Had some highs and some lows and a lot of rain. Happy to try to answer questions if I can to pay back for all the help I've received from you all before my trip.

Notes:

• Adults only trip, no kids
• We did not rope drop
• We only ate a few meals in the park, none were memorable, some were terrible (Blue Bayou, I'm talking about you)
• Rainy park days can be a lot of fun (and less crowded)
• The new-ish entrance from VGC to CA is excellent

 

[senoragilbert]

Wow, sounds like a very REAL trip. Curious about how bad your Blue Bayou meal was. Was it lunch or dinner and was it the food, the service, the setting, or all of the above that was a swing-and-a-miss?

 

[Pluto468]

I hope you had alot of fun on your trip!

One question. What time did you get to the parks and how were ride lines when you arrived?

We normally rope drop but our arrival flight gets in really late, and 1 of our mornings will be after Princess nite which goes until like 1am. So between those 2 things we might not be able to rope drop at all this trip and I'm wondering what to expect as far as wait times. Thanks!

 

[wishiwasindisneyjen]

Wow, sounds like a very REAL trip. Curious about how bad your Blue Bayou meal was. Was it lunch or dinner and was it the food, the service, the setting, or all of the above that was a swing-and-a-miss?

I should have known and cancelled prior to going since I had read quite a few poor reviews lately but we kept our lunch reservation. First, there were at least seven cast members standing at the front for check in. We got our notification that our table was ready and we walked up to them and one kind woman said to head in, then another very crabby lady told us to stop and that they had to do all this check in stuff on the ipad. It just all seemed unnecessary and she was not friendly at all.

The table was fine and our service was excellent, but the menu is lacking and I didn't feel there were a lot of options. We ordered the winter salad, the scallops and we shared the Creole Roasted Chicken. While the salad had good flavor, it was literally a pile of lettuce with ONE grape sliced in half with a tiny bit of cheese on top of the grape. The scallops were fine. The chicken was terrible. It said "roasted" but it had this very hard (almost like over-fried) skin on it and the chicken inside was just not good. The rice was just a wet mush. We both ordered a soda and they were $6 each. That's even steep for Disney standards.

We didn't eat the chicken and once we left we went to Jolly Holiday and got a grilled cheese which was very good. We've been to BB many times in the past and had a decent meal but after this trip, we won't be back.

 

[wishiwasindisneyjen]

I hope you had alot of fun on your trip!

One question. What time did you get to the parks and how were ride lines when you arrived?

We normally rope drop but our arrival flight gets in really late, and 1 of our mornings will be after Princess nite which goes until like 1am. So between those 2 things we might not be able to rope drop at all this trip and I'm wondering what to expect as far as wait times. Thanks!

Overall we had a very good time. Most days we got to the park around 9-9:30am. At Disneyland we had no issues getting on rides using Genie+ with very short waits. Our first day at CA it was raining so there were no lines at all and G+ was almost not needed, but some rides were not operating (Radiator, Luigis, etc). The second day at CA the park was packed and even with G+ we had trouble getting on rides without a long wait. Some rides were 65+ minutes when we got there with G+ return times well into the afternoon.

 

[Chickinvic]

Wow, sounds like a very REAL trip. Curious about how bad your Blue Bayou meal was. Was it lunch or dinner and was it the food, the service, the setting, or all of the above that was a swing-and-a-miss?

We ate at Blue Bayou on our trip (mid-November) and it was very good. Service and food.

 

[Pluto468]

Overall we had a very good time. Most days we got to the park around 9-9:30am. At Disneyland we had no issues getting on rides using Genie+ with very short waits. Our first day at CA it was raining so there were no lines at all and G+ was almost not needed, but some rides were not operating (Radiator, Luigis, etc). The second day at CA the park was packed and even with G+ we had trouble getting on rides without a long wait. Some rides were 65+ minutes when we got there with G+ return times well into the afternoon.

Thanks!

 

[heidijanesmith]

DD and I are going for her work trip Feb 12-15. We have never been to DisneyLand, but are WDW vets. DD will have 1 full day and 1/2 day. I will have 2 full days and 1/2 day.

Should we purchase Genie +? We used it everyday at WDW in Sept (pretty slow time).

We are most interested in the rides that are unique or different versions than WDW rides.

We will not do any character greets or sit down eateries, we just really want to focus on park time.

Any tips or advice would be wonderful.

 

[Mle8308]

DD and I are going for her work trip Feb 12-15. We have never been to DisneyLand, but are WDW vets. DD will have 1 full day and 1/2 day. I will have 2 full days and 1/2 day.

Should we purchase Genie +? We used it everyday at WDW in Sept (pretty slow time).

We are most interested in the rides that are unique or different versions than WDW rides.

We will not do any character greets or sit down eateries, we just really want to focus on park time.

Any tips or advice would be wonderful.

You might not need it every day that you go, however I would consider it for the days you go with your DD, since time is more limited. If you do rope drop, go to Fantasyland and ride the attractions without Genie+, which is most of them. Lines were short (and I was there in busy October) until about 10:30am. We finished Fantasyland by then and started using our lightning lanes for attractions booked at park entry (you buy Genie+ once you are in the park). Some goto Galaxy's Edge for rope drop, but it's exactly the same as at WDW, so we did not start there. We also found the single rider line for Radiator Springs Racers to be really fast, not so much for the Incredicoaster. And get the churro toffee, at any candy location, you won't regret it!

 

[heidijanesmith]

You might not need it every day that you go, however I would consider it for the days you go with your DD, since time is more limited. If you do rope drop, go to Fantasyland and ride the attractions without Genie+, which is most of them. Lines were short (and I was there in busy October) until about 10:30am. We finished Fantasyland by then and started using our lightning lanes for attractions booked at park entry (you buy Genie+ once you are in the park). Some goto Galaxy's Edge for rope drop, but it's exactly the same as at WDW, so we did not start there. We also found the single rider line for Radiator Springs Racers to be really fast, not so much for the Incredicoaster. And get the churro toffee, at any candy location, you won't regret it!

Thank you for the great info!

 

[DonnaDavid]

We were there during the same period. Sunday the 8th was the last day of the holidays and it was as crowded as I expected. We had genie plus and we rope dropped; we got a lot done. We arrived a little later on Monday but were still there before rope drop. We got a lot done and went back to the hotel in the afternoon when it started raining. I collected several lightning lane passes while at the hotel, but we never went back to the parks because it was raining and I noticed that the lines were relatively long. Someone I talked to felt that the longer lines were due to several of the attractions closing due to rain and driving everyone in the parks to the attractions that were still open. It was raining on Tuesday but we had prepared and were wearing appropriate clothing. Tuesday was one of our better days because the parks were relatively uncrowded.