texasgingerbread
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2015
Just left...thoughts from a first timer (WDW vet):
FOOD:
Best Drink: Pomegranate Piranha Lemonade from Bengal Barbecue and Raspberry Mango Lemonade at Blue Bayou
Best Grab and Go: Chile Lime Corn on the Cob & Turkey Leg from Edelweiss Snacks
Best Snack: Bacon Wrapped Asparagus at Bengal Barbecue, Churros, and of course Mickey Bars
Best Food: Breakfast at Plaza Inn (I know it's odd to put breakfast on here but the omelets here were amazing) and Beef Gyro Platter at Paradise Garden Grill
Worst Meals: Pizza from Village Haus (no flavor) and Spicy Steak from Bengal Barbecue (I wouldn't recommend the chicken either but it's not the worst)
Worst Drink: Mint Julep (sorry guys it takes like Scope to me)
Worst Grab & Go: Kids Burgers anywhere...make sure and order them the adult Angus burger or you'll get processed meat (I think...it's gross whatever it is.)
Worst Snack: None...all were good.
Disappointment: Never made it to Cafe Orleans.
RIDES:
1. Pirates and BTMRR are sooooooooo much better than WDW! And when I say better I mean you just cannot compare them. Totally different rides! Amazing.
2. Not impressed with how much the rides went down. I get that it's old.
3. Hyperspace Mountain was amazing!
4. I never want to ride Roger Rabbit again! Puke. Not good for motion sickers.
5. Cars Land theming is so fabulous!!!!!!!!
6. Loved riding Toad and the all the classics. It brought back my childhood!!
7. Park hopping and sending runners for FP was exhausting. Between 24,000-31,000 steps on the fitbit and these were short hours!
CROWDS:
Not too bad, obviously heaviest on Friday. I expected Thursday to be slower than it was. Still ride times weren't bad but the sidewalks were so jammed packed. I don't ever want to experience "busy" here.
DINING RES:
I would do Mickey's at PCH Grill and Minnie's at Plaza Inn again in a heartbeat. We loved doing the 10:40am on a 9:00 opening because we had gotten to gates at 8:00 that day so boys were ready to eat again and then we ended up eating in the off hours the rest of the day which helped tremendously with lines. We also felt more rested taking that break at that time. BB is a once for us. The food was meh, atmosphere amazing though! WCT was meh. They did cook my scallops to perfection. Food was just average overall which was our expectation so no let down there.
JEDI TRAINING:
If you are wanting to do this I would plan on being there in the first cluster of people at rope drop. You can do this two ways. 1. Line up with Tomorrowland people but cut into the ramp at Galactic Grill and go down the steps and turn left. 2. Line up with castle walkthru (Peter Pan people) but cut right and walk by Matterhorn. NO ONE is on this route and you could really book it and beat the masses coming from Tomorrowland IF you are a fast walker. We were about 10th to sign up and it took 20 minutes! Meeting Chewy and Kylo Ren at this time were both walk ins (not a single person in front of us) and my hubby ran and got Space and Buzz FP. Space return time was 10:50.
LINING UP:
There are lines obscured by trees outside turnstyles. Sometimes that people have not even started a line for. This helped us every day. One day that line was splitting into 3. It goes so much faster!
ENTERTAINMENT:
1. Loved Mickey and the Magical Map!
2. Loved all 3 parades!
3. Loved fireworks but Wishes still has my heart.
4. Loved WOC - would see this again and again. Fab!
5. Tangled super cute show. Boys really enjoyed.
6. Newboys show was great! Loved Mickey and a quick Minnie sighting.
7. Green Army Men show was a little disappointing. What happened to the costumed faces? They just painted their faces green.
OVERALL:
I really, really enjoyed DL and don't feel like it's a "one time thing". I would definitely return here without hesitation. On the "off season" only though. Watching the projections on IASW was probably one of my favorite things...I didn't expect it to be so awesome but that is my huge favorite takeaway. I would skip Main Street and def view from here but that's me and what I thought unique to DL. Since the castle is so different I didn't find the draw here so IASW holds my heart. The nice thing about DL is combining it with all that California has to offer. Lovely state and great trip!
Thanks for all your help disers!!! You expertise, input and answering my many, many questions made this such a smooth trip. We LOVED Disneyland and cannot wait to return. Seriously yall are amazing and I'm so grateful for this forum.
FOOD:
Best Drink: Pomegranate Piranha Lemonade from Bengal Barbecue and Raspberry Mango Lemonade at Blue Bayou
Best Grab and Go: Chile Lime Corn on the Cob & Turkey Leg from Edelweiss Snacks
Best Snack: Bacon Wrapped Asparagus at Bengal Barbecue, Churros, and of course Mickey Bars
Best Food: Breakfast at Plaza Inn (I know it's odd to put breakfast on here but the omelets here were amazing) and Beef Gyro Platter at Paradise Garden Grill
Worst Meals: Pizza from Village Haus (no flavor) and Spicy Steak from Bengal Barbecue (I wouldn't recommend the chicken either but it's not the worst)
Worst Drink: Mint Julep (sorry guys it takes like Scope to me)
Worst Grab & Go: Kids Burgers anywhere...make sure and order them the adult Angus burger or you'll get processed meat (I think...it's gross whatever it is.)
Worst Snack: None...all were good.
Disappointment: Never made it to Cafe Orleans.
RIDES:
1. Pirates and BTMRR are sooooooooo much better than WDW! And when I say better I mean you just cannot compare them. Totally different rides! Amazing.
2. Not impressed with how much the rides went down. I get that it's old.
3. Hyperspace Mountain was amazing!
4. I never want to ride Roger Rabbit again! Puke. Not good for motion sickers.
5. Cars Land theming is so fabulous!!!!!!!!
6. Loved riding Toad and the all the classics. It brought back my childhood!!
7. Park hopping and sending runners for FP was exhausting. Between 24,000-31,000 steps on the fitbit and these were short hours!
CROWDS:
Not too bad, obviously heaviest on Friday. I expected Thursday to be slower than it was. Still ride times weren't bad but the sidewalks were so jammed packed. I don't ever want to experience "busy" here.
DINING RES:
I would do Mickey's at PCH Grill and Minnie's at Plaza Inn again in a heartbeat. We loved doing the 10:40am on a 9:00 opening because we had gotten to gates at 8:00 that day so boys were ready to eat again and then we ended up eating in the off hours the rest of the day which helped tremendously with lines. We also felt more rested taking that break at that time. BB is a once for us. The food was meh, atmosphere amazing though! WCT was meh. They did cook my scallops to perfection. Food was just average overall which was our expectation so no let down there.
JEDI TRAINING:
If you are wanting to do this I would plan on being there in the first cluster of people at rope drop. You can do this two ways. 1. Line up with Tomorrowland people but cut into the ramp at Galactic Grill and go down the steps and turn left. 2. Line up with castle walkthru (Peter Pan people) but cut right and walk by Matterhorn. NO ONE is on this route and you could really book it and beat the masses coming from Tomorrowland IF you are a fast walker. We were about 10th to sign up and it took 20 minutes! Meeting Chewy and Kylo Ren at this time were both walk ins (not a single person in front of us) and my hubby ran and got Space and Buzz FP. Space return time was 10:50.
LINING UP:
There are lines obscured by trees outside turnstyles. Sometimes that people have not even started a line for. This helped us every day. One day that line was splitting into 3. It goes so much faster!
ENTERTAINMENT:
1. Loved Mickey and the Magical Map!
2. Loved all 3 parades!
3. Loved fireworks but Wishes still has my heart.
4. Loved WOC - would see this again and again. Fab!
5. Tangled super cute show. Boys really enjoyed.
6. Newboys show was great! Loved Mickey and a quick Minnie sighting.
7. Green Army Men show was a little disappointing. What happened to the costumed faces? They just painted their faces green.
OVERALL:
I really, really enjoyed DL and don't feel like it's a "one time thing". I would definitely return here without hesitation. On the "off season" only though. Watching the projections on IASW was probably one of my favorite things...I didn't expect it to be so awesome but that is my huge favorite takeaway. I would skip Main Street and def view from here but that's me and what I thought unique to DL. Since the castle is so different I didn't find the draw here so IASW holds my heart. The nice thing about DL is combining it with all that California has to offer. Lovely state and great trip!
Thanks for all your help disers!!! You expertise, input and answering my many, many questions made this such a smooth trip. We LOVED Disneyland and cannot wait to return. Seriously yall are amazing and I'm so grateful for this forum.
It sounds like you had an amazing time.
I can see where it would be bad if you aren't used to it. I think I only like it because I used to get it with my mom when I was a little girl. Now, I get it with my adult daughter. However, while I love buying one to share, it actually makes me light headed if I drink too much. I think it's too chock full of chemicals for me or maybe it's the high fructose corn syrup... idk.
