My daughter (8) and I spent Thanksgiving week at Disneyland and had a wonderful time. Thought I'd give a quick report from the perspective of native Floridians who have annual passes to the World and go there several times a year. We've only been to Disneyland once before, when DD was 5. I wanted to do something different this year, and we just moved to Texas, so since we were halfway between the two, we opted for Disneyland.
We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and took the Disneyland Express from LAX. Everything worked smoothly with that, and our room was ready when we arrived. We were in the Adventure Tower, so closest to Downtown Disney, which was very convenient. DD immediately changed into her swimsuit and headed for the pool. She liked the monorail slide and the whole pool area was really well done.
We had a wonderful trip. We are Disney people, DVC owners and platinum cruisers, so pretty much anything Disney and we are happy campers. I'll just note a few things that were different for us, some on the pro side, some on the con side.
The characters were great. I think the level of entertainer they are able to get in California is overall better than Central Florida. Particularly enjoyed our interactions with Anna and Elsa, Ariel at the Princess meet and greet and Captain America.
The entertainment was really good. The two guys at the Royal Theater were wonderful. Very talented performers in the parades as well. Aladdin the Musical was fantastic.
Liked seeing some of the different rides. The holiday theming for Small World and Haunted Mansion was really fun. Neat to get to ride Snow White again, though it was a tad different. DD loved Alice and Indiana Jones. Pirates was definitely better. Big Thunder was way better. She also really liked the Tarzan's Treehouse, which brings me to my first downside...
No play area! We really missed having a place to just let her run and play. Each of the parks at the World has something like this, but other than the treehouse, and I guess Tom Sawyer's Island (but I can't just let her run around while I relax there) we never found anything quite like the Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Construction Zone, Mission Space or Dumbo play areas that the World has. Those are so nice to let little ones just run around and enjoy while Mom rests, lol. I did miss that.
Our lunch at Ariel's Grotto was pretty good, and dinner at Carthay Circle was quite good. We enjoyed the novelty of eating inside Pirates at Blue Bayou. But, overall, I thought the food was pretty average. I think this is because with the World, I know where to go to get the items we really enjoy, so if I want pizza, we hit up Via Napoli and if I want steak, its Le Cellier. I guess I had in mind that California would have better food, but it was really just the same Disney food, and sometimes, even fewer choices, particularly on the kids' menu. Though, churros were everywhere! DD did love the corn on the cob. That was a welcome addition.
CarsLand is amazing. Really, really well done. We loved Radiator Springs Racers. Bodes well for if they ever get around to Star Wars Land at DHS. On the other hand, the rest of California Adventure looks like DinoLand from AK and Hollywood Studios had some weird lovechild. It is fairly charmless and didn't really feel Disney.
The CMs were great. Really nice, and seemed to genuinely care about the park and what Disney means. I think I felt that more at Disneyland than I've ever felt at the World. Partly, I think this is just because the World has to hire so many more people. You just can't be as choosy. One thing I did miss was seeing CMs from all over the US and the world. That is kind of cool at the World. I like being able to say that I've visited their hometown or something. At Disneyland, everyone was from Southern California! Still, they were really fantastic.
Ride breakdowns...oh my. I don't know if it was because of capacity due to Thanksgiving week or just our bad luck, but goodness. Just thinking off the top of my head of the ride breakdowns that happened while we were on the ride or in line for it (not including those that we just walked up to and were closed), there was: Radiator Springs Racers, TowMater's Jamboree, Alice (twice), Casey's Train, Splash Mountain, Indy, Winnie the Pooh and that spinning zephyr thing at California Adventure.
Ok, the castle is tiny. I know, I know, but it just is. I want to put it in my pocket. And the fireworks are off to the side instead of behind it! Speaking of fireworks...really Disney? That was it? Short show. I haven't timed it or anything, but it seems the ones at the World last longer. Maybe that's just because they do the show on the Castle itself where they project the images and all as a part of the fireworks, I'm not sure. We did like the walk thru part of the Castle telling Aurora's story. I think Disneyland Paris gets this right though...big castle and a dragon underneath...that's just neat.
We had a week there, and so really got to do everything we wanted pretty much as often as we wanted. This was great for DD, who could cheerfully ride Alice over and over. I'm not sure if I'd want to go back again for that long though, at least not to just do Disneyland. There really isn't anywhere near the amount to do as at the World. I'm not sure that value for money wise, it is the best way to go for that long of a stay, though we really had a blast. One issue was that we could only get 5 day tickets. For our sixth park day, I had to buy single day tickets, so another $180 because Disneyland doesn't sell anything other than an AP beyond 5 days. That was just annoying. Doesn't exactly encourage longer stays.
Overall, we really had a wonderful visit. I'm not sure when we'll go back, but I'm glad we did it. Loved seeing the original park that Walt built and you could definitely sense a different feel to the place.
Looking forward to our visit to the World for Christmas!
We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and took the Disneyland Express from LAX. Everything worked smoothly with that, and our room was ready when we arrived. We were in the Adventure Tower, so closest to Downtown Disney, which was very convenient. DD immediately changed into her swimsuit and headed for the pool. She liked the monorail slide and the whole pool area was really well done.
We had a wonderful trip. We are Disney people, DVC owners and platinum cruisers, so pretty much anything Disney and we are happy campers. I'll just note a few things that were different for us, some on the pro side, some on the con side.
The characters were great. I think the level of entertainer they are able to get in California is overall better than Central Florida. Particularly enjoyed our interactions with Anna and Elsa, Ariel at the Princess meet and greet and Captain America.
The entertainment was really good. The two guys at the Royal Theater were wonderful. Very talented performers in the parades as well. Aladdin the Musical was fantastic.
Liked seeing some of the different rides. The holiday theming for Small World and Haunted Mansion was really fun. Neat to get to ride Snow White again, though it was a tad different. DD loved Alice and Indiana Jones. Pirates was definitely better. Big Thunder was way better. She also really liked the Tarzan's Treehouse, which brings me to my first downside...
No play area! We really missed having a place to just let her run and play. Each of the parks at the World has something like this, but other than the treehouse, and I guess Tom Sawyer's Island (but I can't just let her run around while I relax there) we never found anything quite like the Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Construction Zone, Mission Space or Dumbo play areas that the World has. Those are so nice to let little ones just run around and enjoy while Mom rests, lol. I did miss that.
Our lunch at Ariel's Grotto was pretty good, and dinner at Carthay Circle was quite good. We enjoyed the novelty of eating inside Pirates at Blue Bayou. But, overall, I thought the food was pretty average. I think this is because with the World, I know where to go to get the items we really enjoy, so if I want pizza, we hit up Via Napoli and if I want steak, its Le Cellier. I guess I had in mind that California would have better food, but it was really just the same Disney food, and sometimes, even fewer choices, particularly on the kids' menu. Though, churros were everywhere! DD did love the corn on the cob. That was a welcome addition.
CarsLand is amazing. Really, really well done. We loved Radiator Springs Racers. Bodes well for if they ever get around to Star Wars Land at DHS. On the other hand, the rest of California Adventure looks like DinoLand from AK and Hollywood Studios had some weird lovechild. It is fairly charmless and didn't really feel Disney.
The CMs were great. Really nice, and seemed to genuinely care about the park and what Disney means. I think I felt that more at Disneyland than I've ever felt at the World. Partly, I think this is just because the World has to hire so many more people. You just can't be as choosy. One thing I did miss was seeing CMs from all over the US and the world. That is kind of cool at the World. I like being able to say that I've visited their hometown or something. At Disneyland, everyone was from Southern California! Still, they were really fantastic.
Ride breakdowns...oh my. I don't know if it was because of capacity due to Thanksgiving week or just our bad luck, but goodness. Just thinking off the top of my head of the ride breakdowns that happened while we were on the ride or in line for it (not including those that we just walked up to and were closed), there was: Radiator Springs Racers, TowMater's Jamboree, Alice (twice), Casey's Train, Splash Mountain, Indy, Winnie the Pooh and that spinning zephyr thing at California Adventure.
Ok, the castle is tiny. I know, I know, but it just is. I want to put it in my pocket. And the fireworks are off to the side instead of behind it! Speaking of fireworks...really Disney? That was it? Short show. I haven't timed it or anything, but it seems the ones at the World last longer. Maybe that's just because they do the show on the Castle itself where they project the images and all as a part of the fireworks, I'm not sure. We did like the walk thru part of the Castle telling Aurora's story. I think Disneyland Paris gets this right though...big castle and a dragon underneath...that's just neat.
We had a week there, and so really got to do everything we wanted pretty much as often as we wanted. This was great for DD, who could cheerfully ride Alice over and over. I'm not sure if I'd want to go back again for that long though, at least not to just do Disneyland. There really isn't anywhere near the amount to do as at the World. I'm not sure that value for money wise, it is the best way to go for that long of a stay, though we really had a blast. One issue was that we could only get 5 day tickets. For our sixth park day, I had to buy single day tickets, so another $180 because Disneyland doesn't sell anything other than an AP beyond 5 days. That was just annoying. Doesn't exactly encourage longer stays.
Overall, we really had a wonderful visit. I'm not sure when we'll go back, but I'm glad we did it. Loved seeing the original park that Walt built and you could definitely sense a different feel to the place.
Looking forward to our visit to the World for Christmas!
