DL park observations 5/30-6/3

[VandVsmama]

we just finished 5 days at Disneyland. A few quick observations:

1. RSR FP are definitely taking longer to run out than before GOTG opened. We left today about 2:00 and it was handing out FP for 8-9 pm-ish.

2. Saturday morning 7-10:30 am was wonderful. Park felt empty. Then the whole world seemed to show up. We got so much accomplished. So glad we woke up super early to use Magic Morning.

3. The cheapest rooms at Hojos have wonderfully comfortable beds. They were double beds but seemed as large as queens.

4. The walk from Hojos is so much shorter than the walk from BW Stovalls to the parks.

5. We hated GotG. Terrifying. I hate drop rides. The queue is really well done. If you like drop rides then you will love it. I almost threw up midway through. My kids were in tears.

6. 2 days in a row commando mode at the parks is not a good idea for us. Should have taken afternoon breaks on those days!

7. Even when it's really busy, Disneyland is amazing. Even with the Railroad offline. With no canoes or sailing ship or Mark Twain riverboat to ride. And no trips to Tom Sawyer Island.

8. The customer service is amazing at Disneyland. And the attention to detail. Today at lunch at Flo's V-8 Cafe, one of the Cast Members offered to get us another meal for free because she noticed that my ODD had eaten only half of her ribs. The CM was worried that maybe she didn't like the food and the CM wanted to make sure that ODD didn't leave hungry.

9. The DAS card worked really well for our disabled friend. We got a lot done each day with them by using a combination of DAS, FP, seeing shows, and going on attractions with wait times of ~10 min without DAS or FP.

10. We often strayed from the Ridemax plans and still got a lot of rides done each day.

11. POTC was about 45 min wait each day by 1pm and didn't get any shorter later in the day. We altered our plans accordingly and went on POTC in the morning. I think this is because of the latest POTC movie.

12. I am so grateful for the DIS Unplugged breakfast reviews. We had breakfast today at Rancho del Zocalo and enjoyed it. Lots of birds and ducks accompanied us looking for hand outs!

13. The French Market had some promotional food offerings for the new Pirates movie. YDD had the pulled pork yesterday for dinner and loved it. The sides were really yummy.

 

[starshine514]

When you say GOTG is terrifying, is that in comparison to the TOT ride that it replaced, or did TOT terrify you as well? I had just assumed that it was the same ride, with new random drop sequences and re-theming. Is the theming what is terrifying?

My oldest daughter was scared when she rode TOT at age 5 and never did like (yes, we managed to get her to ride again when she was older - her younger sister loved TOT). She said she could never get past the ghost theme to it. She liked the GOTG movie, so I was hoping she would be willing to ride on our next trip.

 

[cruisehopeful]

When you say GOTG is terrifying, is that in comparison to the TOT ride that it replaced, or did TOT terrify you as well? I had just assumed that it was the same ride, with new random drop sequences and re-theming. Is the theming what is terrifying?

My oldest daughter was scared when she rode TOT at age 5 and never did like (yes, we managed to get her to ride again when she was older - her younger sister loved TOT). She said she could never get past the ghost theme to it. She liked the GOTG movie, so I was hoping she would be willing to ride on our next trip.

She will probably love it. It isn't as dark and it is a much faster ride, now. You go up and down more and much more quickly. Theming is just like the movies. Your seatbelt holds you in, but you do feel like you are flying several times because you are up off the seat a lot more.

 

[bluegrizzlies1]

My daughter did not like tot but loves guardians.

Maybe cause she's older idk but she said she likes it now.

 

[VandVsmama]

It was terrifying because we hate drop elevator rides. We tried it because YDD likes Baby Groot.

 

[Disney-&-Baseball]

Is the walk from BW Stovalls just horrendous?? That is where we were planning to stay for our December trip. The hotels on Harbor are looking too expensive for this trip.

 

[VandVsmama]

Because you can no longer cut through the GCH, the walk is about a mile. If you are planning on taking breaks at the hotel, plan on using ART to save yourself 4 miles of walking. We stayed at Hojo's and walked from 7.4-10.9 miles each day.