tweak89
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- May 4, 2010
Well, we are back from our first trip to Disneyland Resort (at least as adults). Although we had a few ticket issues they are covered here where I will continue to comment as needed. This thread will cover everything else. I will highlight points I feel would be useful to other WDW vets on their way to Disneyland in blue! The party consisted of just me and my wife. So here goes!
Day 1
We had an uneventful late flight from Houston to LAX. We had booked the Disneyland Resort Express through Southwest Vacations along with everything else for this trip. The shuttle (bus) was on time and the staff was quite friendly. We were the first stop on their route. Check in was east at Paradise Pier. We asked for a park view room (we booked standard) and they said none was available. To our surprise or room (908) had a splendid view looking out over California Adventure, so maybe "park" view means Disneyland??
Our room and our view:
Day 2
After some confusion about what park was actually available (see the thread mentioned above for details) for Morning Magic we tackled Disneyland. With early entry we had the park to ourselves. We knocked out the majority of rides that we wanted to get on in just a couple of hours and spent the rest of the day exploring and riding everything we missed in the morning rush.
Here are some thought on some of those rides:
Space Mountain: On of our favorites at this park and WDW. The ride queue definitely goes to WDW with the game screens to take the edge of off long waits. The queue at DL is much too plain and LONG and OUTSIDE!! But, the ride itself is DL all the way. Just felt more fun is how I can best describe it.
Indiana Jones: We rode this one three times over the course of our trip. It did seem to break down a lot, but we loved it.
Star Tours: Being a Star Wars nut I naturally love this one. The ride and queue are virtually identical. I like the setting at Hollywood Studios with the AT AT out front. The gift shop also goes to it's Florida counterpart as it is themed (Tattooine Traders).
Pirates: DL all the way. The ride is longer (starts with the modern day swamp area and features an extra drop. Everything seemed fresher as far as the animatronics and scenery.
Matterhorn: We rode both sides and liked the left side better. Seemed a smoother ride, but that's just us.
Peter Pan: This was actually our first ride of the day. This on also goes to DL. The scenery overall just looked better and cleaner that at WDW.
I think the only rides we didn't end up on were the Storybook Canal Boats, the rockets in Tomorrowland and the kid coaster in Toontown.
We really enjoyed the park. We found some of the layout strange (why is Pooh's ride tucked so far out of the way in a "land" that doesn't seem to fit (IMO). We also wish the photopass photogs were more plentiful. Perhaps it's a seasonal thing??
After a long day at the park we caught the tail end of the fireworks and ended up watching WOC from our room.
Wide open in the morning and staying through the night:
More to come.....
Day 1
We had an uneventful late flight from Houston to LAX. We had booked the Disneyland Resort Express through Southwest Vacations along with everything else for this trip. The shuttle (bus) was on time and the staff was quite friendly. We were the first stop on their route. Check in was east at Paradise Pier. We asked for a park view room (we booked standard) and they said none was available. To our surprise or room (908) had a splendid view looking out over California Adventure, so maybe "park" view means Disneyland??
Our room and our view:
Day 2
After some confusion about what park was actually available (see the thread mentioned above for details) for Morning Magic we tackled Disneyland. With early entry we had the park to ourselves. We knocked out the majority of rides that we wanted to get on in just a couple of hours and spent the rest of the day exploring and riding everything we missed in the morning rush.
Here are some thought on some of those rides:
Space Mountain: On of our favorites at this park and WDW. The ride queue definitely goes to WDW with the game screens to take the edge of off long waits. The queue at DL is much too plain and LONG and OUTSIDE!! But, the ride itself is DL all the way. Just felt more fun is how I can best describe it.
Indiana Jones: We rode this one three times over the course of our trip. It did seem to break down a lot, but we loved it.
Star Tours: Being a Star Wars nut I naturally love this one. The ride and queue are virtually identical. I like the setting at Hollywood Studios with the AT AT out front. The gift shop also goes to it's Florida counterpart as it is themed (Tattooine Traders).
Pirates: DL all the way. The ride is longer (starts with the modern day swamp area and features an extra drop. Everything seemed fresher as far as the animatronics and scenery.
Matterhorn: We rode both sides and liked the left side better. Seemed a smoother ride, but that's just us.
Peter Pan: This was actually our first ride of the day. This on also goes to DL. The scenery overall just looked better and cleaner that at WDW.
I think the only rides we didn't end up on were the Storybook Canal Boats, the rockets in Tomorrowland and the kid coaster in Toontown.
We really enjoyed the park. We found some of the layout strange (why is Pooh's ride tucked so far out of the way in a "land" that doesn't seem to fit (IMO). We also wish the photopass photogs were more plentiful. Perhaps it's a seasonal thing??
After a long day at the park we caught the tail end of the fireworks and ended up watching WOC from our room.
Wide open in the morning and staying through the night:
More to come.....