12 Parks in 16 Days - Disney Parks Around the World Trip Report

[*WDW*Groupie*]

@Rimmit ITA about the value of the unlimited VP at the Tokyo Parks -- I will be sad if they discontinue offering this VP! We also had it and never worried about lines for rides. We didn't get much value out of the drinks because I prefer to drink water (but the bubble tea at Momma Biscotti's in TDS was delicious and I also had some kind of chocolate strawberry drink from a food truck in TDS near to ToT that was really good). My favorite rides were Frozen (rode 3X), Peter Pan (only rode 2X because motion sickness prevented me from riding a 3rd time) and BnB (we rode 2X). The only frustrating thing we found with the unlimited PPs was in the line for Star Tours after the relatively short 'priority access' (PA) line we were lumped together with the regular line and this resulted in a 40 min wait. I also found the PA line for Splash Mountain frustrating -- I would've rode it a 3rd time but didn't want to wait almost 30 minutes in the PA line.

I'm envious that you got to stay at the Grand Chateau. I wasn't able to snag it when I booked our VP in August and found the FSH rather plain. But the breakfast at FSH was pretty good, much better than what we had at the TDH in 2019. Glad that you had a CSR that spoke English there -- no one at the front desk at the FSH spoke English. I'm going back to Japan next January and hope to snag a VP at the Grand Chateau. Curious how you got your booking -- I was online exactly when the rooms were released and the GC and theme park views at the FSH were already sold out for our dates.

I was going to bring home the blanket, but had no room for it in my carry-on, so we got 2 of the little stuffed Mickey Mouse clip-ons. My ds is going to give 1 of them to his best friend's 6 yr old son. I brought home all 4 shopping bags (we got 2 each night). Interesting that you had the metal amenity kits at the MiraCosta -- the amenities were sealed in little plastic bags at the FSH (makes me glad that I brought home the metal ones from TDH in 2019). Also no body lotion in our room -- I asked at the front desk and was told they don't offer it -- they offered me a tiny bag of Japanese (facial) skin care instead (which would do nothing for my the dry skin on my arms and legs).

I think you'd be fine on one of LePonant's new ships -- the stabilizers are excellent. We had the lowest category stateroom and I chose the lowest deck in the middle of the ship (and our view was amazing -- plus we spent most of the time that we weren't onshore or in lectures in the lounge so why pay for a more expensive stateroom?). The friends that we met booked one of the most expensive staterooms on the highest deck and they had items flying off the shelf in their bathroom during Drake Shake. Actually the ship closed the restaurant and lounge on the top deck because the plates and glasses were sliding onto the floor and breaking. The whitecaps were over the dining room windows and I'd say more than half the passengers (and crew) missed meals for 1.5 days. But neither dd nor I nor our friends experienced any motion sickness (but we took the meds before entering the Drake). I found it kind of fun tbh; yet I can't handle the spinning tea cups so go figure.

My goal is to take the Nat Geo Endurance to the South Pole in one of their single cabins....one day.

 

[Karebear]

The Zipair flight was quick and uneventful. I would be totally content to fly them again for the price. The service is exactly what you’d expect as in there is no service so there is no surprise there. They were very attentive to help me get the WiFi working on my phone so I could order some bottled waters. EVERYTHING is done via WiFi, and if you can’t connect then they will bring an iPad to you to help you order. I did miss the service of a true business class, but for the price you really can’t ask for much more.

I am researching a trip to Japan with people flying from both LA and San Francisco and so was interested in your review of Zipair. I noticed you flew into SF and not LA. Was that just due to point availability or is there some other reason you did not fly directly to LA? Just curious as I am in the planning stages of this trip. Thank you!

 

[Rimmit]

@Rimmit ITA about the value of the unlimited VP at the Tokyo Parks -- I will be sad if they discontinue offering this VP! We also had it and never worried about lines for rides. We didn't get much value out of the drinks because I prefer to drink water (but the bubble tea at Momma Biscotti's in TDS was delicious and I also had some kind of chocolate strawberry drink from a food truck in TDS near to ToT that was really good). My favorite rides were Frozen (rode 3X), Peter Pan (only rode 2X because motion sickness prevented me from riding a 3rd time) and BnB (we rode 2X). The only frustrating thing we found with the unlimited PPs was in the line for Star Tours after the relatively short 'priority access' (PA) line we were lumped together with the regular line and this resulted in a 40 min wait. I also found the PA line for Splash Mountain frustrating -- I would've rode it a 3rd time but didn't want to wait almost 30 minutes in the PA line.

I'm envious that you got to stay at the Grand Chateau. I wasn't able to snag it when I booked our VP in August and found the FSH rather plain. But the breakfast at FSH was pretty good, much better than what we had at the TDH in 2019. Glad that you had a CSR that spoke English there -- no one at the front desk at the FSH spoke English. I'm going back to Japan next January and hope to snag a VP at the Grand Chateau. Curious how you got your booking -- I was online exactly when the rooms were released and the GC and theme park views at the FSH were already sold out for our dates.

I was going to bring home the blanket, but had no room for it in my carry-on, so we got 2 of the little stuffed Mickey Mouse clip-ons. My ds is going to give 1 of them to his best friend's 6 yr old son. I brought home all 4 shopping bags (we got 2 each night). Interesting that you had the metal amenity kits at the MiraCosta -- the amenities were sealed in little plastic bags at the FSH (makes me glad that I brought home the metal ones from TDH in 2019). Also no body lotion in our room -- I asked at the front desk and was told they don't offer it -- they offered me a tiny bag of Japanese (facial) skin care instead (which would do nothing for my the dry skin on my arms and legs).

I think you'd be fine on one of LePonant's new ships -- the stabilizers are excellent. We had the lowest category stateroom and I chose the lowest deck in the middle of the ship (and our view was amazing -- plus we spent most of the time that we weren't onshore or in lectures in the lounge so why pay for a more expensive stateroom?). The friends that we met booked one of the most expensive staterooms on the highest deck and they had items flying off the shelf in their bathroom during Drake Shake. Actually the ship closed the restaurant and lounge on the top deck because the plates and glasses were sliding onto the floor and breaking. The whitecaps were over the dining room windows and I'd say more than half the passengers (and crew) missed meals for 1.5 days. But neither dd nor I nor our friends experienced any motion sickness (but we took the meds before entering the Drake). I found it kind of fun tbh; yet I can't handle the spinning tea cups so go figure.

My goal is to take the Nat Geo Endurance to the South Pole in one of their single cabins....one day.

The unlimited VP was clutch, and they announced it just in time for our vacation. If you read this thread, I have linked to another thread in the Tokyo board where I revealed my booking tips. I practice over 100 times, and really learned some quirks of the system. 12/31 for GC was crazy competitive, but we lucked out and got one. I was getting nervous as I failed the previous day for 12/30 practice run and I had gotten it I think 8 times in a row at that point, so I lost some confidence, but managed to get it. If you don't win it then, watch the cancellations. Lots of buyers remorse I've noticed and GC rooms pop up more often than a lot of other rooms.

There are no VPs with GC. We booked that prior to our VP. I heard FC is kinda bland. I did not find GC bland at all. I was very happy with it, but you don’t get a VP there. From my understanding once the FS passport goes away, they will allow a GC guest to schedule one time each for the FS rides I believe. Either that or you can just buy more attraction passes to cover the FS rides.

Everyone in GC spoke decent English impressively including the restaurant there.

I heard from other people that the tins seem to be hit or miss. Seems another cutback.

The first day 1/1 the DPA lines in TDS were kinda slow to be honest. Typically at least 15 minutes. 1/2 we were at TDL and they were better but still not great and really depended on the ride. Splash mountain was super fast for us. 1/3 they were super fast at TDS, except for our last ride of the day, Frozen and it was 30 minutes.

We left behind soooo much stuff. Probably at least 12 plastic cups, 60 amenity kits, tons of bags, all our VP stuff except the blanket. My daughter really wanted the blanket so we made space for it. I just kept all our room keys from all the hotels and some documents and that was about it. We coulda filled an entire luggage with all the freebies we left behind.

Yeah, every expedition in the south I've been on in the south, half miss dinner at least.

I want to do the 40 years of victory to the North Pole. Also if they ever bring them back, I'd like to do the circumnavigation of Antarctica, but I haven't seen that offered in 14+ years.

I recommend doing the Snow Hill Island if you can. The emperor penguins are soooo amazing to see, especially their chicks. It was the most amazing experience, and it's one of the few things that's on my HAVE to repeat list before I die. They don't offer it every year, but it's truly amazing and I highly recommend it if you can go. Issue is I think Quark is the only operator for that right now, and I know you don't like quark.

 

[Rimmit]

I am researching a trip to Japan with people flying from both LA and San Francisco and so was interested in your review of Zipair. I noticed you flew into SF and not LA. Was that just due to point availability or is there some other reason you did not fly directly to LA? Just curious as I am in the planning stages of this trip. Thank you!

So that is a very long story how we ended up in SFO. I had been monitoring the flights to go live for Zipair for literally 6 months and they released off cycle and I missed the release date. When I realized that they were live so was a day late from release and they were sold out for LAX. I was screwed and no way to get back from Tokyo in biz that was remotely affordable. Then I realized they didn’t release SFO yet or SJC. I set up a web monitoring service, to notify my when the website changed so I knew the moment they went live and managed to book those. Long story short, we messed up and it was the only option that got us back in a lie flat seat without breaking the bank.

What questions do you have about Zipair? Happy to answer any questions.

 

[Rimmit]

Nearby is Star Tours which is the exact same as every single other Star Tours and the very original Star Tours. Dave and Nathalie had basically been graciously serving as our personal guides so far today, and had not been going on many rides due to the lines, but Star Tours was a short 15 minute wait so we all go on it together. The boarding area here definitely pales in comparison to the Tokyo version.

This was the very first time we got the Ahsoka ending with the Purrgils which are the space whales so that was a treat. Per Dave he says that is the same ending every single time right now, so I guess Disney is really pushing Disney+ right now.

We then decide to leave and head over to California Adventure as we plan to end our day in Disneyland as it closes at midnight. We cross the turnstiles, and have officially completed our 12 park challenge.

It felt pretty anticlimactic to be honest, and I think part of that is that we had been to Disneyland and California Adventure before so it wasn’t something new. It was kinda neat to think we did do all 12 parks over a course of 16 days though. I was looking for someone with some buttons so we can get a congratulatory button, but didn’t see anyone and didn’t feel like waiting in line at guest services.

It’s about lunchtime and we are all getting hungry now so we start to walk over to eat at Sanfransokyo Square. We pass Grizzly mountain on the way.

Sanfransokyo is the fictional city where Big Hero 6 takes place.

This area was previously known as Pacific Wharf prior to its retheming in August 2023. It’s basically a big outdoor food court with multiple food options. Lucy and I went to the Lucky Fortune Cookie for some chicken teriyaki and potstickers. Kendall, Dave, and Nathalie went to Aunt Cass Cafe where they all got a bread bowl with mac and cheese. It takes a while to find a table, but we eventually stalk one down and eat our food. The potstickers and chicken teriyaki were pretty good, and I enjoyed it. The mac and cheese and bread bowl did not disappoint either, but it is pretty hard to mess up mac and cheese.

Of note, we are starting to get messages from friends back home that we our area is getting funded with snow. There’s not much we can do about that now, but it could definitely impact our travel plans when we fly home tomorrow. We’re supposed to get between 12-14 inches, but we know just how accurate the weathermen are. We’ll just have to hope the planes keep flying and they can get the roads cleared up enough for us to get home from the airport. I do a quick check of our Ring camera at home, and yep, it’s piling up fast.

Radiator Springs Racers is right next to Sanfransokyo Square so we head there next.

The Lightning Lane lane is only about 10 minutes so we have a short time to check out the queue which has some fun details.

This is basically the same ride as test track with some minor track differences and significant thematic differences.

Everyone has their own opinion, but I find it superior to Test Track in nearly all facets. The beginning is truly stunning and feels just like a drive through the canyons in the movie.

Really the only thing that test track really beats Radiator Springs Racers, is that in the final part of the ride, Test Track tops out at a much faster speed so it is more thrilling in that aspect.

It is just an incredibly well themed and beautiful ride and a ton of fun.

We then walk back through Sanfransokyo Square to get to Pixar Pier.

We hadn’t been to Pixar Pier since it was rethemed from Paradise Pier and I was VERY skeptical how the infusion one Pixar into a Victorian Era boardwalk would work. I thought it would be incredibly cheesy and a cheap way to infuse more IP into the parks. In all honesty, I didn’t hate the retheming. It was actually tastefully done, and minimally intrusive, and for the most part actually made a reasonable amount of sense.

Our next ride is the Incredicoaster.

We have not been on it since it was rethemed from California Screamin’. Much like my skepticism for Pixar Pier, I held a great deal of skepticism for how they were going to incorporate the Incredibles into this coaster.

I must say, I was again wrong. The Incredible theme works way better than I anticipated, and the ride was a blast as always, and one of the best roller coasters in all of the Disney Parks, and at this point, we’ve basically done them all, with only Big Thunder Mountain in Disneyland remaining.

Toy Story Mania is next up as it is also in Pixar Pier.

This ride is probably the most thematically coherent with the Pixar Pier theme, and in all honesty, was probably one of the reasons they thought of the idea as it was here before they ever rethemed the area. It is identical to all the other Toy Story Mania’s with zero differences. I got the worst score I’ve had this vacation. I think despite there being ample time between parks, I could feel my arm fatiguing more quickly. You can only pull that plunger so fast, and I think my fast twitch muscle fibers were just burned out.

Angry Dogs is nearby. We do not buy an Angry Dog, but I find the name and stand quite amusing as does Lucy.

As we continue to walk around Pixar Pier we enter Bing Bongs Sweet Shop.

They have some really cute food items here.

We don’t buy any as we aren’t that hungry right now, but Lucy does buy a slushy and some candy.

 

[KEK1]

I'm not sure, because I seem to be on a temporary ban at this time because someone was asking if I was part of a points and miles facebook group and because we referenced the group within the group we got banned. Kinda random to be honest. It's like Tokyo Disneyland planning or something like that. I have the hotel booking info if you want me to message it to you. It's very extensive, and I could win 100 percent of the time for slower dates and a bout 85 percent of time for peak dates. Actually, I might just post the info in the international park forum, as that would be pretty relevant information I'd think.

The Unlimited DPA is called the "enjoy attractions even more" package, although they tend to change the names everyone and then. It was expensive, but not absurdly so when you compare to US Parks at $3281 dollars for two adults and 1 one child. That included one day at TDS and TDL, unlimited use of the DPA lines, two nights at the Miracosta Venice View room, two breakfasts at oceano, unlimited pop or soup, some freebies like a popcorn bucket and some other stuff and Happy Entry. You can drop the price notably if you don't stay at the Miracosta. Keep in mind this was also from 1/2-1/4 which is the MOST EXPENSIVE time to go, as it's just as busy as WDW during that week if not even more so. It is the highest possible price you could be paying and we also got a room that would cost around $700 a night during that time. I know most bloggers have done the math and you are obviously paying notably more for the VP, and it runs like $1000 dollar premium or around there for the convenience of a VP. For me that extra $1000 dollars was well worth every dime just to ease not having to deal with Happy Entry, potentially not getting the rides you wanted which is a strong possibility for Fantasy Seas rides, and also the ability to sleep in and not have to stand outside the park freezing for 1-2 hours to make sure you get in early enough to book a DPA BEFORE they run out for the day for a ride, and the FS rides don't have a standby queue. You need to either get a standby pass which is free to be allowed to stand in line OR buy a DPA. Both of those can run out within minutes of the park opening, before you ever even cross the turnstile even if you arrived before park open.

Now during non peak times, this is less of a problem, but when we were there, ride times sometimes hit 220 minutes for things like Beauty and the Beast, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Soarin' and some others, so to me it was totally worth it, but everyone has different priorities when planning a vacation so there is no right or wrong answer.

Wow. No way will my husband agree to pay that. Thanks for your detailed reply, much appreciated!

 

[Rimmit]

Wow. No way will my husband agree to pay that. Thanks for your detailed reply, much appreciated!

No prob. Price is really highly variable based on date and hotel. You could drop the price by a $1000 by just picking a cheaper hotel and better dates.

I figured compared to the cost of WDW that was pretty cheap. 2 day non park hopper tickets during a peak time are about $1070 USD for two adults and one kid. The cheapest room at Grand Floridian, the equivalent of Miracosta, around those times is $2500 for two nights. So $3570 which is more expensive than the VP at $3282.

The Tokyo Unlimited VP also included unlimited lightning lane, 2 free breakfasts, free pop or soup, and other goodies so in comparison felt like a bargain compared to WDW for what you got for the price. Also the idea of not being outside the park freezing at 0630 was really my number one incentive. If you go when it’s warm that is not as big of an issue. However, in comparison to TDR pricing it is very expensive.

You really don’t need the unlimited VP by any stretch of the imagination. The overwhelming majority of people there don’t get an unlimited VP or any VP at all. It just makes it easier. With some basic planning you’ll have a great time. Where people get hosed is if they do no planning and then discover they can’t even access Fantasy Springs at all or ride any of the rides if they didn’t plan ahead.

 

[Rimmit]

We then pass by Goofy’s Sky School. We debate whether we want to do it, but we have a Lightning Lane for it so figure why not. It’s a pretty short ride, and we aren’t expecting much out of it. It reminded me of Primeval Whirl at Animal Kingdom, with the main difference being that Primeval Whirl spun around as you went through the track. If we didn’t have a Lightning Lane I don’t know if it would have been worth the time, but with a Lightning Lane we couldn’t really complain.

The last ride in Pixar Pier before we move to another part of the park is The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure.

This is basically the exact same ride that is in Magic Kingdom with some very minor differences.

The queue and ride building are way better themed in Magic Kingdom though.

It’s not a bad ride, but aside from the “Under the Sea” scene it really lacks any major “WOW!” moments. It’s still a fun diversion, and Lucy loves The Little Mermaid so she enjoys it.

That finishes up our time in Pixar Pier to so we head to Soarin’ next.

After doing the Soarin’ in Tokyo, the queue and theming for this are just sorely lacking.

It is the exact same ride as in Orlando only with a different ending sequence where you fly over Disneyland instead of Disney World.

There are only a handful of rides we still have Lightning Lanes for in California Adventure and they are on the opposite side of the park so we head to Avenger’s Campus to do Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout.

On the way we stop by a snack stand. After spending three days in the Japanese Parks, we pass a snack stand and I am nearly blown away. There are literally 14 DIFFERENT snacks for sale in the same stand. Not only that, but it ALSO SELLS DRINKS!!! DRINKS AND SNACKS in this same stand!!! THIS IS MADNESS!!! We are mindblown by the amount of choices and have decision paralysis at this point. After much debate we choose a Diet Coke and a Sprite.

We eventually make it to Avenger’s Campus and arrive at Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout.

In 2017 we were supposed to do it right after it was reimagined, but missed our fast pass return time due to watching World of Color. To be honest I was super against the retheming of this ride from Tower of Terror. I have found Tower of Terror to be one of the greatest them park rides of all time. It was one of the greatest achievements in Imagineering meshing together theme and ride for a perfect combination. The new overlay on the original tower just felt awkward to me.

For this reason I was very hesitant to see what Disney did to what was one of the greatest rides of all time in my mind. The queue was nice and was rethemed to the Collector’s den well with lots of artifacts everywhere.

The preshow was fun and had everyone’s favorite trash panda, Rocket.

We lucked out and got the animatronic rocket, as my friend Dave was on the other preshow, and apparently they got the B mode where Rocket just appeared on the screen.

I was very impressed with how they rethemed the basement area. They didn’t do too much with the basement aside from add a lot of alien signage and some other props.

It was enough to make it feel alien, despite it obviously still having roots as the basement of the Hollywood Tower hotel.

Well, somehow, they managed to make a ride via retheming that was incredibly, fun, and entertaining and a more than worthy successor to the original Tower of Terror.

The ride was similar to Paris and Tokyo in that there was no track and you started and ended in the same location. Much like Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, the song is totally randomized for this ride and we got “Burning Love”. The combination of the music and the Guardians making various video screen appearances throughout the ride just make it for an extremely fun ride.

They totally stripped the ride of any of the “terror” aspect and went for the “fun” side of things which was a smart design choice. Any attempt to make the ride “scary” or a “terror” would have only invited endless comparisons to the Tower of Terror. By completely changing the tone, they totally avoided the direct comparison controversy. For those that love Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, you’ll absolutely love Mission Breakout. Much like Tower of Terror you exit through a gift shop, and Lucy pretends to be a trash panda.

Right on exiting, Star-Lord AKA Peter Quill was outside having a dance off. We stopped to watch for a bit as he had some pretty good energy and was pretty fun to watch.

 

[Karebear]

So that is a very long story how we ended up in SFO. I had been monitoring the flights to go live for Zipair for literally 6 months and they released off cycle and I missed the release date. When I realized that they were live so was a day late from release and they were sold out for LAX. I was screwed and no way to get back from Tokyo in biz that was remotely affordable. Then I realized they didn’t release SFO yet or SJC. I set up a web monitoring service, to notify my when the website changed so I knew the moment they went live and managed to book those. Long story short, we messed up and it was the only option that got us back in a lie flat seat without breaking the bank.

What questions do you have about Zipair? Happy to answer any questions.

Thank you so much for your response! Glad you were able to book to SFO! Zipair sounds like a good deal as long as the seats are comfortable which is all that I care about...getting my kids to not care about in-flight entertainment might be a different story How do you set up a web monitoring service? That would be so helpful with booking anything such as Southwest. Thanks!

 

[Rimmit]

Thank you so much for your response! Glad you were able to book to SFO! Zipair sounds like a good deal as long as the seats are comfortable which is all that I care about...getting my kids to not care about in-flight entertainment but be a different story How do you set up a web monitoring service? That would be so helpful with booking anything such as Southwest. Thanks!

My problem is getting my wife off the IFE. LOL. So Zipair was great as there is no IFE. It's literally just a seat. No water, nothing. Just a seat. I used visualping as my web monitoring service. You get so many checks for free, and then you have to pay. It's worth it imo if you are monitoring when something goes live. It's not very expensive. The website is pretty self explanatory for the most part in terms of letting you even pick certain parts of a webpage to monitor.

 

[Rimmit]

Once the mini show ended, we headed to Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sully to the Rescue which wasn’t too far away.

This was a dark ride that replaced one of the worst Disney attractions of all time Superstar Limo. That ride did not last even a year if I remember. I was one of the lucky few that managed to ride it before it closed back when California Adventure first opened in 2001.

We weren’t really expecting much out of this ride, as we hadn’t heard much about it. It was a basic dark tracked dark ride that reused a lot of components from Superstar Limo.

In all honesty it was definitely better than I anticipated. It was not nearly as good as Monsters, Inc. Ride and Go Seek in Tokyo, but as a dark ride, it was pretty enjoyable.

They had some neat ride scenes especially toward the end with all the doors.

It was very cute, and they did a good job improving upon Superstar Limo, but it really takes nearly no effort to improve upon that awful ride.

We the tried to go on Web Slingers: A Spider-man Adventure, but literally right after we scan our Lightning Lane the ride goes down.

We didn’t feel too strongly about this ride the first time we did it to be honest, but it was a ride we’ve only ever done once before so figured we’d do it again. Today we have a Fantasmic Dinner Package at Blue Bayou at 5:50PM so we leave for Disneyland.

Main Street is a little crowded as the parade is about to start so we cut through the Candy Place and Candy Kitchen. They have a beautiful display of treats, but we’re about to eat dinner so we have to resist that temptation.

Dave and Nathalie go off and have dinner elsewhere during our time and we’ll meet back up with them afterwards.

We walk through New Orleans Square, and given Kendall is from New Orleans, we are impressed in that it really does look and feel like the French Quarter, just without the awful smell.

We arrive at 5:40PM which is ten minutes early, but we don’t get seated till 6:30PM.

We are a little aggravated to be honest as what’s the point of arriving on time for a reservation to only wait 30 more minutes. At this point we are starving as we really haven’t eaten much since lunch.

This is a good thing as we are having a four course dinner that includes quite a bit of food.

We had never eaten at Blue Bayou before and felt it only appropriate to eat at one of the original “Theme” Restaurants on our around the world trip. The setting was beautiful and felt like a dinner party out on some southern plantation.

They started out with some bread that was actually very good, and I had to keep myself from getting full from just the bread.

The second course was chicken gumbo, which not surprisingly surpassed the gumbo we had in Tokyo Disneyland. No tomato this time!

Both Kendall and I also chose the Oscar Style Filet Mignon which was very good. In all honesty at this point we had way too much food to where we could only have a couple bites of the filet. We didn’t want any of the sides, but being Filipino we asked for some rice, so they swapped it out for the veggies.

By the time the chocolate tart came out, I literally just couldn’t eat any more.

Lucy got the gumbo, petite steak and a petite sundae. She loved the gumbo and sundae, but the steak was not her favorite.

Kendall, Lucy and I coulda easily split one meal, but sadly you can’t just order one meal, as in order to get the preferred Fantasmic seating from the dining package everyone has to buy a meal. At the end of the meal the waiter gives us our tickets for the preferred seating area for the 9:00PM Fantasmic show. The Blue Bayou get’s the best preferred seating of all the restaurants with seats that are dead center in the viewing area.

We meet back up with Dave and Nathalie, and it’s just 7:30PM so we still have a while till the 9:00PM Fantasmic show. Pirates of the Caribbean is literally right next door to Blue Bayou, so close in fact that Blue Bayou is actually incorporated into the ride in that the boats float right by the restaurant.

Dave and Nathalie meet back up with us after dinner and we all fall in line for Pirates real quick. Pirates in Disneyland is the very original pirates and aside from the version in Shanghai, still the best version. We start of the ride floating right by where we just had dinner.

It’s notably longer than the other versions and just more elaborate. The scenes seemed bigger and overall the theming of the ride just feels grander.

The only place I felt Magic Kingdom improved was the queue which is better themed in Magic Kingdom, but aside from that, the Disneyland version is just far more impressive than the one at Magic Kingdom or Paris.

Shanghai is a different beast altogether and really can’t be compared to the more traditional Pirates rides. We did not have time to do the Tokyo version so we cannot compare it.

Pirates doesn’t take too long to do so we head over to Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. The queue is a little different from the Tokyo DisneySea version, but is still an excellent queue and feels like you are exploring a hidden temple.

I remember when this ride opened up when I was a kid and I was DYING to go to Disneyland to ride it. I was obsessed with Indiana Jones as a kid. It opened in 1995, and I didn’t make it to Disneyland till 1998 and I thought it was the greatest ride ever. Twenty six years later it is just as good as ever. After riding it again in such close succession to the version in Tokyo, I’m honestly slightly torn as to with version I like better. They are both amazing rides and nearly identical, with only a handful of differences in certain scenes and effects. Either way they are both spectacular rides and the epitome of Imagineering.

 

[Rimmit]

We still have about 50 minutes till showtime, and Haunted Mansion is practically right next to our preferred seating area, so we decide to hop into the Lightning Lane real quick.

The Lightning Lane ends up taking way longer than anticipated and we get a little nervous we’ll be late for Fantasmic but we end up boarding the ride at 8:35PM which should get us out with just enough time to get to the seating area.

The Haunted Mansion has the Holiday Nightmare overlay here as well, which is very similar to the overlay in Tokyo. The main difference is the version here has Oogie Boogie at the end and in Tokyo there was no Oogie Boogie.

Afterwards, we head over to our Fantasmic Seating which is directly across from the main stage area in the Rivers of America. Dave and Nathalie don’t have preferred seating so we’ll meet back up with them after Fantasmic.

Unlike Fantasmic in Hollywood Studios which is in a dedicated Amphitheater with great sightlines no matter where you sit, here the viewing area is just the walkway around the Rivers of America and the sightline aren’t exactly great. Given I’m the tallest person in our party, and I’m only 5’3” I was very uncertain how just how difficult it would be to see Fantasmic, so we decided to buy a the Fantasmic Dinner Package to get a preferred seating area.

Aside from the VIP tour we did at the very beginning of the tour, this is the only time we opted for any preferred viewing package this trip and only the 3rd time in our entire lives we have paid for a preferred seating area in our many years of going to Disney Parks. The only other time was when we saw World of Color in California Adventure in 2017. Typically viewing for a nighttime show isn’t tough to get if you arrive early enough, but I was just not familiar with the layout here so we didn’t want to risk it. Another major difference from the Hollywood Studios version is there is no mountain in the middle which forces the action lower to the ground so I really wasn’t sure just how easy it would be to see.

Our whole family loves Fantasmic and it’s one of favorite things to see when we go to Disney World. We watch the show, and we all agree it just isn’t as good as the Hollywood Studios version. While the majority of the vacation I felt that most Disney World versions of things just are lacking compared to their counterparts around the world, the one area where Disney World definitely wins is nighttime spectaculars. Fantasmic is the best nightshow and Happily Ever After is definitely the best nighttime spectacular.

Unfortunately, the Disneyland version just doesn’t have the same grandeur or scale as the Hollywood Studios version.

It’s also missing the dragon at this time ever since it caught fire, and it also doesn’t have the newer parts that incorporate Moana, Aladdin, and Frozen to keep it a little more modern. It’s still a great show but lacks the sheer spectacle of the Fantasmic in Hollywood Studios.

Another annoyance was that while the preferred seating is in a great location, since everyone is sitting, which I really appreciate, this also makes it such that you need to watch the show through the fence that surrounds the Rivers of America. This made for some difficult photography at times as I am having to raise my camera above the level of the railing.

The one thing that was definitely an improvement in relation to the Hollywood Studios version though, was the use of the S.S. Columbia as a set piece with between Captain Hook and Peter Pan. This was VERY impressive and entertaining to see them utilize the S.S. Columbia in this way.

At this point it’s about 9:30PM and we still have a handful of Lightning Lanes we haven’t used. To be honest though, the crowd today has been moderate at the worst, and I would honestly characterize it as light. We all figured it would have been very busy being the last day before Christmas break ended, but in the end, there were really very few people in the park, and given it was a school night, after Fantasmic the park was nearly dead. In retrospect the regular Lightning Lane Multipass would likely have been enough, I’m just not sure how much more walking we would have been doing. We walk to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad but it’s sadly closed, but the cast members state that it will hopefully reopen soon.

Galaxy’s Edge, otherwise known as Batuu west, since this is the west coast version, is pretty close to Big Thunder Mountain so we head to Rise of the Resistance.

Walking through Batuu west is nearly identical to Batuu East. There are only very minor differences, primarily relating to the size of the walkways, and the location of some of the larger props in the land. We didn’t do this on our VIP tour in Disney World as it is pretty time intensive, and to be honest, so much seems to be broken on Rise of the Resistance every time we go on it, it’s just lost a lot of the magic. We get to Rise of the Resistance and it is literally a walk on. I honestly couldn’t believe it and never thought I’d see the day it was a walk on. We still use our Lightning Lanes as since we bought them so why not? Although it really doesn’t change our wait time at this time of the night. There are some minor queue differences, but it’s otherwise pretty much the same.

We go through the preshow and everything is working in the preshow for a change. There have been times where I have not gotten a preshow at all and another time when BB-8 was not functioning so this was a pleasant surprise.

We then get to board the shuttle, which was great as once I walked through a drywall hallway to bypass the shuttle as it was not functioning that day.

We enter into the hangar bay with all the storm troopers and are quickly whisked to the holding cells.

The First Order officers were particularly brutal to us today and must have gotten up on the wrong side of their barrack. We entered our holding chambers and thankfully the resistance breaks us out and we board our prisoner transport vehicles. Impressively enough, for the first time in a very long time everything is functioning except the cannons at the end, which had been permanently disabled but have just recently been fixed.

It was definitely a pleasant surprise for almost everything to be working and made the trip just a little more magical.

We start walking out of Batuu and back toward Big Thunder Mountain as it is now functioning again.

At this point it’s again basically a walk on, but we still use our Lightning Lane pass. This might be the quietest I’ve ever seen Disneyland to be honest.

Big Thunder Mountain here is the original, and much smoother than the Disney World version. It is basically identical except it has some slightly updated effects in comparison to the Magic Kingdom version, and it has a goat. In general it’s slightly superior to the Magic Kingdom version in our opinion. Really, the general theme of this trip we’ve found is that most of the rides in Walt Disney World for some reason tend to be inferior to their counterparts in other parts of the world. The unique attractions in Disney World are real stand outs, but the ones that have been cloned elsewhere or cloned into Disney World are not as good. Big Thunder Mountain is getting a refurbishment this year, so hopefully it’ll be updated to the standard of Disneyland.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Totally agree: DL has a lot that is superior to WDW, but not Fantasmic!

Did you get around to seeing World of Color? That's the best West coast nighttime spectacular imo. I like the new WoC One One a lot, but the holiday one is good also.

 

[KEK1]

Ha, maybe that's why the snack carts at TDR have only 1 offering? To stop analysis paralysis and aid crowdflow?
I'm with you on loving TOT, and I haven't ridden mission breakout yet.
Your daughter is super cute.
What a nice day at DL!
Yes good point re the prices for the VP at TDR. We are also from Australia and given the terrible AUD$ vs the USD$ it would be even worse.

 

[Rimmit]

Totally agree: DL has a lot that is superior to WDW, but not Fantasmic!

Did you get around to seeing World of Color? That's the best West coast nighttime spectacular imo. I like the new WoC One One a lot, but the holiday one is good also.

We saw world of color in 2017 so we decided to see Fantasmic this time. I loved WoC and kinda wish we saw it instead of Fantasmic, but we’d never seen the west cost Fanatamic and wanted to compare them.

After seeing the WDW Fantasmic more times than I can count, aside from the Columbia section which was awesome, it was underwhelming. Not having the the dragon I think hurt as there just weren’t a lot of large set pieces without it. It was still great and if it’s all I’d known I’d think it was awesome, but definitely would rather have seen WoC.

 

[Rimmit]

Ha, maybe that's why the snack carts at TDR have only 1 offering? To stop analysis paralysis and aid crowdflow?
I'm with you on loving TOT, and I haven't ridden mission breakout yet.
Your daughter is super cute.
What a nice day at DL!
Yes good point re the prices for the VP at TDR. We are also from Australia and given the terrible AUD$ vs the USD$ it would be even worse.

Yes. The lines are so long in Tokyo for the snacks if they had more than one option I can’t imagine how long that would take. lol.

Yeah the dollar is pretty strong right now so that helps a ton. A package like that in the US would 3 people if it even existed would likely be upwards of 5500 just guestimating given the cost of line skipping options in the US.

Also just being used to the absurd US prices makes things feel less painful when traveling. Japan these days is so cheap if on the US dollar. It’s why so many Americans are heading to Japan.

Lucy had a personality for sure. Teenage years are gonna be rough.

 

[Rimmit]

It’s getting pretty chilly at this point and it’s getting late and we’re starting to get kinda tired so we decide it’s time to do Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

We left it for last as we didn’t want to be soaking AND cold for the last part of our day. Tiana’s does have a short 5 minute wait. We use the Lightning Lane just because but there really is no difference in time at this point.

It’s slightly different from the version in Magic Kingdom and only has a single file log. From all accounts, everyone states since the conversion to Tiana’s Bayou Adventure that it now has become an absolute soaker of a ride. Ironically, we brought ponchos on this vacation for two reasons. One, was in the event it rained, and aside from 15 minutes that we were indoor in Tokyo, it has actually NOT rained the last 19 days. Two, to use on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. Ironically, the ONE time in 19 days we need a poncho, we left it in the room. Either way, this is our last ride of the day so the worst case scenario is we are wet and cold for about 15-20 minutes until we get back to the room.

Tiana’s ends up being pretty similar in most respects to the Magic Kingdom version with the Magic Kingdom version being slightly better. I felt the show scenes and ride in general felt a little tighter and less grand in Disneyland, especially the portion prior to going up the hill right before the big drop, but otherwise no major changes. I felt this Splash Mountain moves faster, likely due to the single file long.

It DEFINITELY get’s you significantly more wet. After the first small drop, Lucy was absolutely soaked, and Kendall got pretty wet as well.

I managed to barely get wet, likely because I was holding a plastic bag with a sweat shirt in it. For the big drop, Lucy again got absolutely soaked, and was now totally freezing.

We start to head out but right near the exit to Tiana’s is The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and it is a walk on so we decided to do just one more ride.

After doing Pooh’s Honey Hunt in Tokyo pretty much anything else is going to be a disappointment, and not suprisingly this was as well. It’s definitely an improvement from the Magic Kingdom version, but compared to the trackless Tokyo version, it’s not even close. For a walk on though, really you can’t complain.

We pass by Sleeping Beauty’s castle on the way out and it is gorgeous. Lucy say it’s the prettiest castle of the vacation and her favorite.

We end up taking our 6th and final castle picture of the vacation.

Right nearby there is a stand selling a Peppermint Hot Cocoa Churro. Amazingly, there is a choice at this stand. They are selling regular churros as well. Again, after coming from Tokyo Disney Resort, the idea of having a choice of snack at a snack stand is just mind blowing. We buy two of the Peppermint Churros and it is actually pretty good and a great end of the day snack.

Right by the churro stand the double decker bus had just let off a load of people, so we figure we’ll actually make this our last ride of the vacation. We felt it only appropriate to take a true opening day ride as the last ride of this around the world trip. Almost 3 weeks ago we started with Dinosaur and tonight we will end with a Main Street Vehicle.

We say goodbye to Dave and Nathalie and we start the walk back to our room through Downtown Disney.

We decided to make a quick pit stop at the World of Disney Store for some last second gifts.

I’m still having to readjust to the US prices after our time in Tokyo. I’m still looking for an either a zip up fleece or sweatshirt which is the one item I was looking for this whole vacation, but could never find one I liked at any of the stops. Although in all honesty, the international Disney’s don’t have many options at all on that front. Amazingly enough, the World of Disney only has one design as well, which just isn’t to my liking.

Again, I’m not one to buy souvenirs, and I guess I’ll just end the trip with a bunch of new magnets and some room keys. Throughout the whole day we had been looking for stand with buttons, or cast member with buttons. We did not feel like going to guest services to wait in line, but typically, when walking through a US park you randomly see someone with buttons, and we really wanted to get a button. Lucy ends up buying a cup for her teacher and as she is checking out, we finally find someone to make a button. We all get a button saying “I’m Celebrating All 12 Parks!” Better late than never.

It’s about 11:00PM when we arrive back at the hotel.

We make the long trek down the hallway and finally arrive back at our room.

While arriving back at the hotel is typically not a huge deal for most people, today, it is a very huge deal. This is because Kendall just successfully completed walking a true full Disney day logging in over 26,000 steps with ZERO wheelchair assist. There is no asterisk on this one. This wasn’t a half day, this wasn’t a partial day, this wasn’t Hong Kong Disneyland, a park 1/5 the size of Epcot. This was the real deal. A true full Disney park day.

When she first started her recovery journey, one of the very first things I said was “You’ll walk again. I know you’ll walk again. I don’t think you’re ever gonna be walking a full day at Disney again, but I know you’ll walk again.” Well, I’ve never been more glad to be wrong. This was something I never thought possible two and half years ago, but throughout her recovery she just kept moving the goal posts. She can finally stop moving them.

Day 19, January 5th, 2025 Step Count – 29,193 Steps

Total Step Count – 319,122

 

[AusAnnie]

What an amazing trip report! Your storytelling and photos are brilliant and I was with you with all of the airline and travel stress and then for the excitement of the parks. Well done!!

 

[Rimmit]

Thanks. There was definite stress at times for sure. Thanks for following along!

 

[Rimmit]

Day 20 - The End

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters in the end.” – Ernest Hemingway

Today I woke up at 6:45AM again so I’m definitely getting back on US time and on a more normal schedule.

Everyone is still sleeping so I go to the gym to work out. I haven’t run since the beginning of the vacation as there just hasn’t been any time. I am pretty confident we’ve gotten our steps in so there is at least has been some exercise the last several weeks.

The gym here is very nice, spacious and has some huge floor to ceiling windows which let in a ton of light.

It was definitely one of the nicer hotel gyms with a reasonable number of cardio machines.

The weight training options were more limited, but it was still ample compared to a lot of other hotels. After a two week break from running, it felt great to get a good run in on the treadmill.

This morning, shortly after waking up, we got a notification that our flight out of LAX was delayed till 2:30PM from 1:40PM so this gave us even more time to relax. Unfortunately, this delay leaves us with just 36 minutes to connect in Charlotte. I’m not super worried as Charlotte is not too big of an airport and they tend to give a buffer on the arrival times, but if it get’s delayed much more it could be a serious problem.

We ask for a late checkout but the best they can give me is 11:30AM which is at least a little better than 11:00AM. Unfortunately, there is no loyalty system with Disney Hotels so there is no way to leverage any status to try and get a later checkout. With Marriott, we are allowed 4:00PM checkout due to our Titanium Status which is super nice, and came in real handy back in Miami when we were stuck there for a day after Air France denied our boarding. Kendall wakes up and I go fetch some breakfast while she wakes up Lucy and starts packing and getting ready for our trip home.

I go back to The Coffee House as that’s really our only quick service option at the hotel. I really enjoy walking around the hotel in the morning. It’s just so peaceful and pretty.

I really wish we had time to make use of the pool, as I know Lucy would have loved it.

I am pretty burnt on breakfasts at this point to be honest. I don’t typically eat breakfast at home and just have a protein shake every morning, so when I see a Core Power protein shake in the drink section I opt to buy one. Kendall sticks with a bagel and Lucy gets the same things as yesterday, 2 bowls of Fruit Loops and milk. That rings up at just over $29 USD. I really miss the prices in Japan. I then walk back to the Discovery Tower.

We finish packing, and chill in the room until it’s time to leave for the airport. We definitely wish we could stay here longer.

The hotel is beautiful and I would have liked to have explored it more.

We call our Uber and head to the airport right at 11:30 AM. Today we are flying out of LAX and not John Wayne so it’ll be a much longer drive.

There is thankfully no traffic, and we are at the airport in about 45 minutes.

We zip through security as the airport is pretty empty today. The TSA and regular lines have zero wait, but we take TSA precheck just so we don’t have to totally empty out our bags. The first Monday after Christmas Break is clearly not peak travel time. It only takes us 10 minutes from hitting the curb to get to our gate which in all honesty is quite possibly the fastest we have ever gotten to a gate in a large airport. None of our bags get pulled for the first time this vacation as well. At least toward the end some things going our way. We are totally going out with a bang.

At this point, we are basically in the clear for achieving what I would consider the greatest accomplishment of this vacation. While most would consider going to all 12 parks in one trip to be an incredible feat, I would argue that is still not our greatest achievement. That title goes to going around the world and doing it with just carryons. And not only did we go around the world with carryons, but we did it IN THE WINTER with TWO FEMALES while also going to 12 DISNEY PARKS.

Just one of those three obstacles would be enough for most people to need to check a bag. Since we did this in December, three of the parks were warmer weather, and three were in middle of winter. This creates many packing challenges unto itself. By virtue of Kendall and Lucy being female there are a variety of items and clothes that I, as a male just do not biologically require. On top of that, anyone that goes to Disney knows that they not only assault you with endless chances to buy souvenirs and other merch, but they also give you a large amount of free goodies ranging from magic wands, amenity kits, bags, cups, and other randomness and the temptation to bring all this home is huge as they do make nice souvenirs.

We consciously had to leave behind large amounts of free stuff at every stop. I have to give mad props to Kendall and Lucy for their extreme restraint in buying souvenirs, and also to Kendall’s absolutely insane packing skills. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure we’d make it out of Tokyo without buying another luggage as the combination of low prices along with the cuteness of items there just makes you want to buy so many things, but we made it.

Unfortunately, despite flying domestic first class for this flight there is no lounge access included, and there are no credit card lounges we can access in LAX so there is no lounge this time. They will provide a meal and snacks on the plane so we don’t need a full meal, so we buy some Dunkin’ Donuts just to tide us over till our flight.

I call the taxi company in our area and attempt to arrange a taxi for pick up at 12:30AM. They state to call later as they aren’t sure they’ll be able to send out a taxi due to the road conditions. We were definitely worried about that since yesterday day as we had already gotten 12 inches of snow and it was still coming down at home.

I check our Ring camera and our road seems to be doing well, but our road is traditionally one of the best in the area, so that is not the greatest measuring stick of the other roads.

I immediately start trying to come up with a back up plan on how to get home. Unfortunately, given we need to be picked up at zero dark thirty with 12 inches of snow on the ground doesn’t leave us with many options. We may have to just sleep at the airport till the roads get better. Either way there’s not much I can do about it now, so that’s a problem for later.