Anxiety about first trip back?

[Erin M]

Just wondering if anyone like me has a little anxiety about their first trip back? To be fair I get anxious about travel in general, but because I know DL so well it usually isn't a trip that triggers these feelings. It's just that it all feels new again! Partly because we just haven't been anywhere in a really long time, and also because the setup and access is really different. I don't like change!!! And I was really, really good at maximizing our time at DL/DCA.

I know we're going to have some amazing times and make great memories, but that anxiety is for sure creeping up and I wasn't expecting that. I'm already working on my expectations. Like I won't take our usual ride tracker spreedsheet chart, because we're going to be going a bit slower . What have you done? Did you do to help with trip jitters?

 

[kikismom]

Yep, 100%. To top it off we are going with a family who only the mom has ever been and that was before DCA. I have planned this trip for it to be so great for them but am still insanely worried.

My biggest worry is food. We want to eat table service once a day and I don't know if I'll be able to get us reservations. We have a party of 9 so I think it's going to be extra hard.

Plus my husband broke his ankle this weekend and did some other damage to it besides the break. His surgery should be soon but I don't believe he'll be okay by our trip.

 

[Babybears]

I have felt the same, so I get what you're saying! I think the biggest thing is for me to adjust my expectations and really just try to roll with it. We are always so on the go, go, go, maybe this time we can slow down a bit and take in some of the things we would never take the time for. The problem is we are totally programmed to tour the park a certain way using fastpasses and we get a ton of rides in a day, and this time it will certainly be different. But, it is still the Happiest Place of Earth, and with the past year and a half being so difficult, this will be a breath of fresh air for us all! I am looking forward to Dole Whips, Churros, riding my favorite rides with festive music piped in all around and spending fun time with my family (and trying Schwarma's!!!)

 

[smeg3030]

I do have some anxiety. Oddly it's about the long lines and lack of Fastpass. I have young children and having fastpass helped to manage our time more efficiently.

 

[bkone]

I do have some anxiety. Oddly it's about the long lines and lack of Fastpass. I have young children and having fastpass helped to manage our time more efficiently.

Agreed! The common theme on Disney message boards is that the park is so much better without Fastpass, but it totally changed our park experience for the better. "Waiting" by walking around and looking at stuff or doing other attractions is a much different ballgame for a kid than waiting in an hour long standby line. We're focusing on having good attitudes regardless, but we're a bit nervous.

 

[Tasscrapper]

I'm feeling nervous about going too. I haven't been to Disneyland since I think 2017 and so much has changed. We went to WDW for our anniversary in 2018 but it just wasn't the same. I'm worried about food prices, being able to even get the boarding groups for the Spiderman ride and the Star Wars rides let alone figuring out how to do it. No fast passes, no trams which will add a significant amount of extra walking, getting food when hungry, covid flaring up and the whole trip being cancelled and above all being way out of shape compared to the last time we did a park. Being out of shape and always tired is my biggest worry I think at least right now. I've got two months to get used to walking more but it's so dang hot it's a struggle.

 

[Matrixleos]

I get nervous about a lot of different aspects of our upcoming DLR trip, that I try to focus more on over planning.

Last time we came to Disneyland almost 10 years ago, we tried to "wing it" as a WDW veteran. I thought, "how different can Disneyland be?" We totally weren't prepared and it effected our experience. Had difficulty with the overcrowding, managing where to get food from and had no park strategy and walked around aimless at times with 3 kids and two of them on strollers.

As much as we had gone to WDW, Disneyland was a whole another ball game. That's why I've been looking forward to this "redo" experience and focusing on over planning. I now have a better understanding of both parks, hotels and Downtown Disney. I have a park strategy for both Disneyland and DCA, have a good understanding of how to get virtual ques for RotR and WS. Already booked table service reservations to everyplace we wanted with Craftsman, Oga's, Café Orleans and Lamplight, along with good understanding of all the different options to eat and mobile order from. I even memorized where all the filtered water bottle stations are at both parks.

So as nervous that I would normally feel, I also feel pretty confident in all my planning and being prepared to deal with most situations that might pop up.

If interested, I'm putting together a very detailed Disneyland Resorts Planning and Information Thread in the link below. I have Part 1 posted and working on putting together part 2 soon. It's everything that I've learned and researched about the parks for the past 2-3 months. Hope it helps some people in their planning.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/disneyland-resorts-planning-and-information-thread.3843617/

 

[kelmac284]

I have some as well but mostly about transportation. For years we took shuttles or cabs but I wasn't thrilled with the prices and I was apprehensive about Uber at first and hesitated using it but I have two daughters in their 20's who are very tech savy and said it was no biggie. We started using it on our ladies trip in 18 when we had a friend along who was good with it. Since then we have used it all over including in Europe and were fairly comfortable with it. No go figure it is unreliable and expensive. (bound to happen I suppose). Now I have to re-learn about cabs. I heard there are apps which is good I guess cuz at least I don't have to carry a bunch of cash and worry about if they are going to show up or not. Like the OP I don't like change either and DL is our home park and I had it DOWN. We knew how to do it with paper fp and then got good with maxpass and now it is changing again. I hope that it is not as bad as DW but I will say that you get a LOT less for your money if you are waiting in hours long lines. We spent a LOT of money to go and at an hour or more for each line and shortened hours you can do the math. You are not getting many rides at all. I just feel like the prices have gone up and the experience has gone down. It's a bummer. I am already figuring we are going to have to wait in a ton of lines and right now my frustration is not being able to get any dinning for our dates. It is just extremely stressful and it is supposed to be fun.

 

[confetti]

I'm feeling nervous about going too. I haven't been to Disneyland since I think 2017 and so much has changed. We went to WDW for our anniversary in 2018 but it just wasn't the same. I'm worried about food prices, being able to even get the boarding groups for the Spiderman ride and the Star Wars rides let alone figuring out how to do it. No fast passes, no trams which will add a significant amount of extra walking, getting food when hungry, covid flaring up and the whole trip being cancelled and above all being way out of shape compared to the last time we did a park. Being out of shape and always tired is my biggest worry I think at least right now. I've got two months to get used to walking more but it's so dang hot it's a struggle.

"No trams"- can you elaborate? I hope you don't mean the tram to the parking structure! We're going in Sept and haven't been for over 6 years. I grew up in SoCal and went to Disneyland all the time growing up. We've been so many times but it's all so different now. We haven't been since Cars Land was put in so there's a lot of new stuff to see! I am working on planning everything now. We did WDW in Feb 2020 and it was a ton of planning but I loved it. So now I'm planning for this.

 

[Matrixleos]

"No trams"- can you elaborate? I hope you don't mean the tram to the parking structure! We're going in Sept and haven't been for over 6 years. I grew up in SoCal and went to Disneyland all the time growing up. We've been so many times but it's all so different now. We haven't been since Cars Land was put in so there's a lot of new stuff to see! I am working on planning everything now. We did WDW in Feb 2020 and it was a ton of planning but I loved it. So now I'm planning for this.

Sorry but no tram's to the parking structures. You'll have to walk the distance of Downtown Disney to get to the Esplanade. Last I read, the life cycle of a tram is 20 years and Disneyland's trams are pushing 23+ years. After a year and half of being powered down, they need a major overhaul in repairs. Cost wise, might be cheaper to order new trams vs the costs of doing major overhaul repairs to the units who are 23+ years old. Either way, I suspect there won't be any trams for several months.

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

"No trams"- can you elaborate? I hope you don't mean the tram to the parking structure! We're going in Sept and haven't been for over 6 years. I grew up in SoCal and went to Disneyland all the time growing up. We've been so many times but it's all so different now. We haven't been since Cars Land was put in so there's a lot of new stuff to see! I am working on planning everything now. We did WDW in Feb 2020 and it was a ton of planning but I loved it. So now I'm planning for this.

Unfortunately, the trams from the Mickey and Friends parking structure to the parks have been out of commission since the re-opening and there is no word on when they might get up and running again. You can park at Toy Story lot, though, where the busses are running and dropping guests off at the Harbor side entrance.

 

[disEAR]

We just booked our first trip since the pandemic started (yay!), to Disneyland. This is definitely a trip we are taking with more caution and concern in the back of our mind then ever before.

We’re excited and planning like we generally would, but at the same time we are having conversations around things like mask usage, hand sanitizer/wipes to bring and other health and safety related things.

I consider us good planners, and generally have more then we need, I think really the one variable we can’t plan for while makes me the most nervous is the other people/crowds/lines situations that may pop up. For example, I like my bubble.

 

[confetti]

Unfortunately, the trams from the Mickey and Friends parking structure to the parks have been out of commission since the re-opening and there is no word on when they might get up and running again. You can park at Toy Story lot, though, where the busses are running and dropping guests off at the Harbor side entrance.

Ack! How in all my reading and planning did I not know that?? Thanks for the info. Maybe (please oh please) it will be back to normal by September. Otherwise, I'm going to have to look at maybe staying in a closer hotel and just walking into the park. Or the Toy Story lot.

 

[confetti]

Unfortunately, the trams from the Mickey and Friends parking structure to the parks have been out of commission since the re-opening and there is no word on when they might get up and running again. You can park at Toy Story lot, though, where the busses are running and dropping guests off at the Harbor side entrance.

I just looked at the Toy Story lot info and it's actually super close to our hotel, so even better. Does it fill up though? We plan to take mid-day breaks and we'll need to park again in the late afternoon when we head back. I also read that you do security bag check at the Toy Story lot so you don't have to do that once you arrive- that would be great too.

 

[Matrixleos]

I just looked at the Toy Story lot info and it's actually super close to our hotel, so even better. Does it fill up though? We plan to take mid-day breaks and we'll need to park again in the late afternoon when we head back. I also read that you do security bag check at the Toy Story lot so you don't have to do that once you arrive- that would be great too.

Check out this video on the Toy Story Parking Lot. Covers all your questions....

 

[Tasscrapper]

Ack! How in all my reading and planning did I not know that?? Thanks for the info. Maybe (please oh please) it will be back to normal by September. Otherwise, I'm going to have to look at maybe staying in a closer hotel and just walking into the park. Or the Toy Story lot.

Ack! was exactly how I felt when I saw the trams were down. I was talking with my daughter about it yesterday and whether it would be easier to just walk to the parks and she reminded me about Toy Story Parking lot. It's really strange how much you can forget when you haven't been for a while. We used the Toy Story lot most of the time for probably the last five years we'd been going but hearing the trams were down just completely caught me off guard. I actually much prefer the Toy Story Lot. It's easier to get in and out of and doesn't seem to back up as much.

I think somewhere in the back of my mind I still don't believe that the trip will happen. I need to get over that and start really planning and figuring out all the new stuff.

Hey Confetti when in September are you going? We'll be there the week of the 19th.

 

[HenDuck]

I have some anxiety about returning to DL as well. The last time I was there was Nov. 2019, with APs, MaxPass, etc.

I have been watching the wait times and listening to Vloggers for tips. Our expectations will be measured and our strategy will be to remain flexible.

I am hoping to hit ROTR and WS at least once. If we do that, I'll be happy. Everything else I think we can manage.

Luckily, we will have multiple days and park hoppers. Plus, we stay at a hotel on Harbor, so we can go back to the hotel when we need to.

I think most of us on Disboards are well-prepared and more prepared than the average guest.

I honestly think if you remain flexible but employ your usual strategies (rope drop, hit big rides early, leaving in the late afternoon and returning at night, or whatever has worked for you), you will find the magic.

We are out-of-staters but have visited numerous times in the past. We have had many trips where rides were breaking down left and right, crowds were crazy, and other various things have gone wrong. We still enjoyed our trips and still returned again.

Have a great trip everyone!

 

[Erin M]

I can't say that I'm happy to see people who have similar anxious thoughts like me, but I am glad to not be alone. As our trip gets closer, two days away eeek! I am even a little more nervous just in general about traveling. It's been a while. I think if we get overwhelmed at any point we'll just seek out a snack and have a seat on a curb and as a friend on this board noted to me, we can watch for all the DL critters. I hope you all have successful trips!

 

[azdisneylover]

Yep, 100%. To top it off we are going with a family who only the mom has ever been and that was before DCA. I have planned this trip for it to be so great for them but am still insanely worried.

My biggest worry is food. We want to eat table service once a day and I don't know if I'll be able to get us reservations. We have a party of 9 so I think it's going to be extra hard.

Plus my husband broke his ankle this weekend and did some other damage to it besides the break. His surgery should be soon but I don't believe he'll be okay by our trip.

Sending prayers and well wishes your hubby's injury will heal quickly. Wishing you the best of Disney trips!

 

[kikismom]

Sending prayers and well wishes your hubby's injury will heal quickly. Wishing you the best of Disney trips!

Thanks! He had surgery on Friday and is already healing nicely. I'm thinking we will need a scooter for the afternoons as hell only be two weeks out from cast removal if he's lucky.