Frozen2014
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2014
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We’re back from an amazing trip. Spent time in Hollywood/Santa Monica and then 4 days at Disney (Tues Aug 29 - Fri Sept 1). I’ll write a full trip report with pictures but thought I’d report back on a few thoughts as I always like reading other people’s comments (and it helps with post Disney blues). As a background, we’ve been to WDW once in 2014 and this was our first Disneyland trip. DH and I came with our two kids DS12 and DD8.
The Heat
It was crazy hot (high 30s)….but dry heat so as soon as the sun went down, it was comfortable. Perhaps it helped lessen the crowds as a lot of the non-headliners were basically walk on rides. What helped as well was that a lot of queues are inside (e.g. Indiana, part of Pirates, Monsters, Guardians, Toy Story, Frozen show, etc). And others at least are partly shaded depending on where you are standing.
We carried collapsible water bottles that were light that we just refilled at water fountains and also had cooling towels around our necks (which actually help).
The other helpful thing is that you can go up to any Quick Service and ask for ice water for free. (I forgot this until day 3 of our trip).
As a side note…we went to Universal before the heat wave but it gets the high five for helping with the heat. They have misting areas all over including in the ride queues.
Our Hotel
We stayed at Desert Inn and Suites in a Parlour suite. The hotel was right across the street which was fantastic.
I was a bit nervous based on mixed reviews but we were very happy with it. It had a main room with 2 beds plus a sofa bed in the front room. This was great as it meant both our kids got their own bed (and tv…even though they often both watched the same show). There were lots of drawers and desk space to spread out our things (I semi-unpack). I the most picky with the washroom. The sink is outside of the toilet/shower area which makes it more efficient for getting ready. There was lots of space to put all toiletries and they provided many towels (unlike most hotels where we need to request more).
A basic breakfast was provided. For those looking for hot items you won’t find any here (aside from make your own oatmeal) but it was fine for us…toast, cereal, pastries, hard boiled egg and 2 fruit choices. The only thing missing was perhaps a yogurt but it kept us full enough until lunch time.
Rides
Some rides are also at Disney World and some are completely new. My favorites:
Radiator Springs – so fun and it was all of our favorite ride! Rode this 4 times using FastPass and one with a 15 minutes wait (the ride must have just started up after breaking down as 15 minutes is unheard of). The beginning is so cute with the theming (and beautiful outside with the mountains) and the race is super fun. We got some pretty funny photos with the first one, three of us having the look of death on our faces.
Indiana Jones – also tons of fun. It’s a rough jeep riding through. The affects with the huge bolder coming at you is awesome. We also rode this each day using FastPass.
Big Thunder – one of my favorites at WDW and same at Disneyland. The scenery is quite beautiful and the ride lots of fun. I can’t typically ride roller-coasters due to eye issues but since it doesn’t have any big drops (just twists and turns), it’s ok. It’s a bit smoother than WDW. It was one of my daughter’s favorites.
Pirates – I found this one ok at WDW but loved it at Disneyland. Not sure if I just didn’t mind the drops as much or found a lot more to look at after the drops. On our last day (Fri Sept 1), we went to it first thing and we got the whole boat to ourselves. Plus the boat ahead of us was empty, which also meant that we didn’t get the ‘warning screams’ that the drop was coming…lol.
Soarin – This is another ride that I wasn’t completely wow’ed at when we went to WDW but I loved it at DCA. This FastPass ran out the quickest during our trip due to them only running one side, but we just watched it and booked it early (or to work without timing). Rode it twice during our trip. Could have rode it more but my family liked it but didn’t love it like I did so twice was enough for them.
Guardians – I can’t comment personally as this is one of the rides that I avoided, but my son LOVED it. On contrast, my younger one came out crying. Poor thing. My husband also went on only because he is a marvel fan (but his stomach is sensitive so was surprised he said he’d try it).
Splash – Only my son rode this but am mentioning it since it's his favourite ride. He did comment that WDW is better as that one has a story, whereas Disneyland was more vague. But he still loved the ride and went on it multiple times (3 times in a row our last day). He certainly is braver than the rest of us. That drop looked huge!
Frozen Show – Ok…so not a ride, but it deserves a call out. This was like a true Broadway show and was really impressed. The acting/singing/costumes/set were amazing and the way that the did the affects with the ice and the bridge was pretty cool. My daughter says she’s at the end of the princess phase (too old for that), but it’s cute how Disney brings out the princess in all of us. She was back to loving it which was cool to see. As a note, we got there 1hr early and so my DD and I were able to sit front row, but we could have come much later and gotten a decent seat too (but it did fill up).
Haunted Mansion – Boo hoo…my favorite ride at WDW and it was closed due the Halloween overlay. Looked cool from the outside though.
MaxPass
First day we didn’t use MaxPass. I’m a planner so I like the WDW way of booking 3 FastPass rides even before you arrive at Disney. I wondered how I would like Disneyland’s legacy FastPass system of having to go to each ride. We did find it a bit of a pain…especially for rides such as Toy Story at DCA where it is out of the way (and no other rides in the area aside from Ariel interested us). Then as another example, we just completed a FastPass ride and could have booked another one but it was getting late so we wanted to grab lunch. To add to it, we were switching parks after lunch so we lost time with no FastPass booked.
Thus, we decided to bite the bullet and get MaxPass for our next 3 days. It does add up ($10 x 4 of us, x 3 days)….but sooo worth it. We would enter the park, we’d purchase MaxPass and then 30 seconds later (of as soon as the park officially opened for when we rope dropped), we’d have a FastPass booked. Then as soon as the next window opened up, we’d book another one (even better effect if the next ride was at the other park). We did this for all headliners and it saved us tons of time. I noticed too that if the ride was more than 2hrs (e.g. Soarin, Guardians, RSR), then the next window was 1.5 hrs later and not the normal 2hrs. Thus, this is the most efficient FastPass system. I do prefer WDW’s FastPass+ over Disneyland’s manual FastPass.
P.S. - We also got tons of great PhotoPass photos which we wouldn't have had otherwise.
The Heat
It was crazy hot (high 30s)….but dry heat so as soon as the sun went down, it was comfortable. Perhaps it helped lessen the crowds as a lot of the non-headliners were basically walk on rides. What helped as well was that a lot of queues are inside (e.g. Indiana, part of Pirates, Monsters, Guardians, Toy Story, Frozen show, etc). And others at least are partly shaded depending on where you are standing.
We carried collapsible water bottles that were light that we just refilled at water fountains and also had cooling towels around our necks (which actually help).
The other helpful thing is that you can go up to any Quick Service and ask for ice water for free. (I forgot this until day 3 of our trip).
As a side note…we went to Universal before the heat wave but it gets the high five for helping with the heat. They have misting areas all over including in the ride queues.
Our Hotel
We stayed at Desert Inn and Suites in a Parlour suite. The hotel was right across the street which was fantastic.
I was a bit nervous based on mixed reviews but we were very happy with it. It had a main room with 2 beds plus a sofa bed in the front room. This was great as it meant both our kids got their own bed (and tv…even though they often both watched the same show). There were lots of drawers and desk space to spread out our things (I semi-unpack). I the most picky with the washroom. The sink is outside of the toilet/shower area which makes it more efficient for getting ready. There was lots of space to put all toiletries and they provided many towels (unlike most hotels where we need to request more).
A basic breakfast was provided. For those looking for hot items you won’t find any here (aside from make your own oatmeal) but it was fine for us…toast, cereal, pastries, hard boiled egg and 2 fruit choices. The only thing missing was perhaps a yogurt but it kept us full enough until lunch time.
Rides
Some rides are also at Disney World and some are completely new. My favorites:
Radiator Springs – so fun and it was all of our favorite ride! Rode this 4 times using FastPass and one with a 15 minutes wait (the ride must have just started up after breaking down as 15 minutes is unheard of). The beginning is so cute with the theming (and beautiful outside with the mountains) and the race is super fun. We got some pretty funny photos with the first one, three of us having the look of death on our faces.
Indiana Jones – also tons of fun. It’s a rough jeep riding through. The affects with the huge bolder coming at you is awesome. We also rode this each day using FastPass.
Big Thunder – one of my favorites at WDW and same at Disneyland. The scenery is quite beautiful and the ride lots of fun. I can’t typically ride roller-coasters due to eye issues but since it doesn’t have any big drops (just twists and turns), it’s ok. It’s a bit smoother than WDW. It was one of my daughter’s favorites.
Pirates – I found this one ok at WDW but loved it at Disneyland. Not sure if I just didn’t mind the drops as much or found a lot more to look at after the drops. On our last day (Fri Sept 1), we went to it first thing and we got the whole boat to ourselves. Plus the boat ahead of us was empty, which also meant that we didn’t get the ‘warning screams’ that the drop was coming…lol.
Soarin – This is another ride that I wasn’t completely wow’ed at when we went to WDW but I loved it at DCA. This FastPass ran out the quickest during our trip due to them only running one side, but we just watched it and booked it early (or to work without timing). Rode it twice during our trip. Could have rode it more but my family liked it but didn’t love it like I did so twice was enough for them.
Guardians – I can’t comment personally as this is one of the rides that I avoided, but my son LOVED it. On contrast, my younger one came out crying. Poor thing. My husband also went on only because he is a marvel fan (but his stomach is sensitive so was surprised he said he’d try it).
Splash – Only my son rode this but am mentioning it since it's his favourite ride. He did comment that WDW is better as that one has a story, whereas Disneyland was more vague. But he still loved the ride and went on it multiple times (3 times in a row our last day). He certainly is braver than the rest of us. That drop looked huge!
Frozen Show – Ok…so not a ride, but it deserves a call out. This was like a true Broadway show and was really impressed. The acting/singing/costumes/set were amazing and the way that the did the affects with the ice and the bridge was pretty cool. My daughter says she’s at the end of the princess phase (too old for that), but it’s cute how Disney brings out the princess in all of us. She was back to loving it which was cool to see. As a note, we got there 1hr early and so my DD and I were able to sit front row, but we could have come much later and gotten a decent seat too (but it did fill up).
Haunted Mansion – Boo hoo…my favorite ride at WDW and it was closed due the Halloween overlay. Looked cool from the outside though.
MaxPass
First day we didn’t use MaxPass. I’m a planner so I like the WDW way of booking 3 FastPass rides even before you arrive at Disney. I wondered how I would like Disneyland’s legacy FastPass system of having to go to each ride. We did find it a bit of a pain…especially for rides such as Toy Story at DCA where it is out of the way (and no other rides in the area aside from Ariel interested us). Then as another example, we just completed a FastPass ride and could have booked another one but it was getting late so we wanted to grab lunch. To add to it, we were switching parks after lunch so we lost time with no FastPass booked.
Thus, we decided to bite the bullet and get MaxPass for our next 3 days. It does add up ($10 x 4 of us, x 3 days)….but sooo worth it. We would enter the park, we’d purchase MaxPass and then 30 seconds later (of as soon as the park officially opened for when we rope dropped), we’d have a FastPass booked. Then as soon as the next window opened up, we’d book another one (even better effect if the next ride was at the other park). We did this for all headliners and it saved us tons of time. I noticed too that if the ride was more than 2hrs (e.g. Soarin, Guardians, RSR), then the next window was 1.5 hrs later and not the normal 2hrs. Thus, this is the most efficient FastPass system. I do prefer WDW’s FastPass+ over Disneyland’s manual FastPass.
P.S. - We also got tons of great PhotoPass photos which we wouldn't have had otherwise.
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. I was also shocked that security wasn't allowed water bottles because of the way it looked, I may write to complain about that. Withholding water to employees on 100 degree days isn't cool.
