A WDW Vet's First DLR Trip in a Decade (7/3 - 7/7)

[csjordan]

My family (myself, DH, DS24, and DD20) have just returned from our first Disneyland Resort trip since 2010! To give a bit more context, we live in NC and DS lives in TN, so we have done WDW and UOR multiple times a year for the last two decades. DS finished grad school this year, so we felt like it was the perfect opportunity to get back out west and explore. This will only detail the Disneyland portion, but we did spend a long weekend leading up to Disneyland in Page AZ exploring many beautiful landmarks! This will be more of a quick thoughts report, but certainly wanted to share.

When and Where: 6 nights at the Hilton Anaheim (check in 7/3) with a Disneyland ticket package. 4 park days, 2 at each park, no park hopper this trip nor Genie+, but we do have the DAS for one member of our party.

Hilton thoughts: Our room at the Hilton on the 11th floor was quite nice and very spacious! We got a great deal on the package and enjoyed the room quite a bit. The walk to Disneyland took about 20 minutes in the morning and 25-30 in the evenings (of course, we just happened to walk back when nighttime shows were also letting out each night). The biggest complaint we had with the Hilton was the convention center. A large convention was taking place all week, and most evenings there was a line of dozens of people each evening waiting for the elevators up to the rooms. Adding to this stress was the hotel blocking some stairwells, meaning guests were required to take the elevators. It all felt mismanaged. I think we will try to stay just a bit closer (Fairfield, Best Western, HoJo) next trip.

Disneyland Park thoughts: We spent 7/5 and 7/7 at Disneyland. This park absolutely blew us away. As WDW vets, the nostalgia felt here was a contrast from the chaotic feel at times of Magic Kingdom. Standouts here were Space Mountain, Pirates (both miles ahead of their WDW counterparts), Big Thunder, Indiana Jones and it's a Small World. Of course, we also rode Splash, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Buzz, Snow White, Pinocchio, Toad, and Jungle Cruise. MSEP, Disneyland Forever, and Fantasmic were all wonderful (and emotional!).

DCA thoughts: We also were very impressed with our two days here. Our standouts were Guardians, Radiator Springs Racers, and the Incredicoaster. Web Slingers was fun as well, if not a bit of an arm workout . Toy Story Mania here is not in the best shape, as a few of the screens are not clear. We also experienced Monsters Inc, Philharmagic, Maters, Luigis, Goofy's Sky School, Little Mermaid, Grizzly River, and Soarin. World of Color (we did the dining package, more on that later) is one of our favorite nighttime shows ever. Such a classic and beautifully moving show.

Dining reviews and other thoughts to come in next post!

 

[csjordan]

Dining reviews now! I will give our brief thoughts on all the QS and TS we experienced:

Pacific Wharf Cafe Lunch: We ordered the Mac n Cheese, two salads, and the sandwich here. Food was tasty and fresh. Our only complaint here was that we did order beers and wine, and they were barely half-filled in the cups. We thought at first this might be the standard pour, but we quickly learned this was not the case at other restaurants and bars. We chalked it up to poor training. Maybe we are wrong! 7/10

Storytellers Dinner WOC Package: This was an extremely pleasant surprise. Extremely fresh food on the buffet, all tasty and the bread pudding was delicious! Great server and GREAT view of World of Color. Very quiet and mostly empty reserved section, we felt this was very much worth the money. 7.5/10

Bengal BBQ Lunch: After reading such positive reviews, we decided to try this out! We did two bowls, a few skewers, hummus, and a pickle. This was very good! All of the meat was tender, warm, and seemed fresh. Would certainly visit here again. 7.5/10

Naples Dinner: After seeing the Quattro Formaggi (our very favorite Via Napoli pizza) on this menu, we knew we would have to book it! DS, DD, and I all shared a large pizza and family salad, and DH ordered sea bass. The pizza was delicious as expected, the drinks were tasty, and the vibe inside was quite modern and cool. The only downside here was a bit of an inattentive server. He was extremely hard to track down at times. Otherwise, while maybe not on par with Via, a great experience that we would do again. 8/10

Smokejumpers Lunch: We came specifically for the spicy chicken sandwiches (and because we had just ridden Soarin!). All four of us ordered the Sandwiches. They were tasty and the sauce on the sandwich did add some flavor. Fries were bland though and had little taste. The line to order took a long time and the cast members were very frazzled and seemingly confused trying to put the orders together on trays. Overall, a decent lunch though! 6/10

Blue Bayou Lunch: As it is iconic, and particularly at the request of DH, we stalked the boards to get a reservation here when they became available. Unfortunately, this was a letdown. Service was absent most of the meal, but our server was very sweet. We ordered two monte cristos and one of the jambalaya dishes. The monte cristo was tasty, but mostly bread and had little substance. The jambalaya was extremely disappointing. The sausage tasted like frozen sausage that could be baked and the rice tasted bland and like it came from a bag. There was no spice to the jambalaya either. For the price point, this food was disappointing. The IPA's and Hurricane cocktails were hits! 4/10

Trader Sam's: This was a tough one as it was such a mixed experience. The drinks were absolutely fabulous, unique, and strong. The service, however, was not up to par. After our first round, no one returned to ask us if we wanted anything further. The bar staff was chatting with each other behind the bar more than they were taking orders and preparing drinks. It is such a fun atmosphere and I wish it had been better service. We have done the WDW version a couple of times and will return there, but will not return to the CA version. Even the hosts here were very short and curt. 5/10

One more post coming up for random thoughts and a wrap up!

 

[csjordan]

How could I leave out our Lamplight Lounge dinner???

Lamplight Lounge: One of our biggest worries was that this would not live up to the hype. This was NOT a founded concern. What a fabulous meal. We had a caesar salad, the Pork Chop, the Cheeseburger, and the Lobster Nachos. Every single thing was amazing. The Pork Chop was delicious, tender, and flavorful. The nachos were filled with goodness without being too heavy. Every drink was great. Service was once again somewhat slow, but attentive all the same. A new favorite. 9/10

Other thoughts: We spent considerable time in Downtown Disney each afternoon. We did the happy hour at Uva Bar each afternoon for a drink or two. What a nice space and somewhat of a hidden gem! Drinks were great, prices were right, service was good each time, and the space and weather worked out perfectly. We also enjoyed drinks at Sonoma Terrace twice and Hearthstone once. Grand Californian may be a splurge stay in the future.

Overall, Disneyland now has our hearts. Disneyland Park is one of our favorite parks in the world, and DCA has quite a nice attraction lineup. The convenience of everything in the resort once you enter the gates and security cannot be overstated. We decided in the end we cannot compare DLR to WDW as it is too different and they both have their positives and negatives. What a trip, we had a blast!

 

[fflmaster]

Great start. Looking forward to hearing more.

 

[DLgal]

What a great report! I'm so glad you had such a wonderful trip. It sounds like you hit the perfect balance of park/ride time and relaxing "just have some drinks and soak in the amazing weather and atmosphere" time.

The Grand Californian is a definite splurge, but IMO, Disney's best resort stateside. It is heads and shoulders above any of the WDW resorts in terms of service, room quality, and staff. I have stayed at almost every WDW resort, so I speak from experience. We stay there for a few nights every summer, even though we live 15 minutes away. It's a very special experience. I HIGHLY recommend you find a way to stay there for your next trip as it provides much more of a "vacation" experience than staying out on Harbor. Once you arrive, you never have to see the outside world and it is in such a convenient location.

Regarding your drinks at Pacific Wharf, the wine pours can look small because they use huge cups. The beer should have been poured to the top, though, if you purchased a bottled beer, they do use 16oz cups and bottled beers are only 12oz, so it would appear under filled. I cannot remember if that place serves draught or bottled beer. We usually get beers from the beer truck when we eat over in that area.

I'm so glad you also were able to see all the nighttime shows. They are all really good and it sounds like you enjoyed them! It can be hard to see them all in only a few days.

Your food reviews are spot on. I'm sorry you fell for the Blue Bayou hype. There is no excuse for that restaurant to be as bad as it is, because Disneyland chefs are certainly capable of doing FAR better, as evidenced elsewhere. Smokejumpers is always a mixed bag. That place and Hungry Bear over at DL suffer from what I call "the molasses effect." The cast members, for some reason, move SO slowly when getting orders together/handed out. It's always such a test of my patience, and the food quality is uneven as well. It's a shame, because so many of the other park QS restaurants are quite efficient. But these 2 places have been this way forever. I've come to the conclusion that these are training locations for new Food & Beverage cast members.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts and hope you come back again soon!