DL trip 3/12- 3/15.... amazing time!!!

[AprilJ26]

Hi guys!
I had lots of questions before our trip and everyone here was so kind to answer them for me! Y’all helped make our trip awesome! We are now sitting at our hotel near the airport exhausted but wishing we were still at DL!

We landed at LAX at 9:00am on 3/12. We used Lyft and was able to be checked into our hotel (Park Vue Inn) and through the DL turnstiles by 10:30! The walk from this hotel was soooo easy! We also enjoyed the complimentary cookies and lemonade in the lobby every evening. Will definitely stay here if we visit DL again.

The parks were busy (spring break time), but we never waited more than about 30 min for any rides. We used Maxpass and it was wonderful! So much better than Fastpass+ at WDW. We were able to ride all the headliners multiple times throughout our trip. On the DL railroad one day, I overheard a family talking about rides they wanted to do but the waits were 100+ minutes. The lady said “I guess we paid to just ride the train.” This broke my heart for them! I think they had just arrived and it was mid-day already. It pays to know what you want to do and have a plan in place for days with crowd levels at 10. I’m fairly certain every day we were there was a 9-10 crowd level except maybe today (friday). The wait times didn’t seem nearly as high today as earlier in the week.

We park hopped every day except our last day. Park hopping was so easy..and with Maxpass we were able to have fastpasses stacked for whichever park we wanted by evening time!

We absolutely LOVED Disneyland and California Adventure and we can’t wait to visit again someday!

Thanks again for all of your help!

 

[Eve & Wall-e]

So glad you had an amazing time. Isn't MaxPass awesome?! What were a few highlights of your visit? Try any snacks, foods, beverages that you really liked? Any evening show?

 

[AprilJ26]

We loved the sweet lumpia, beef bao, and of course Dole Whips at Tropical Hideaway. We had burgers at Hungry Bear and they were good. Pasta at Boardwalk Pizza was also good. The bacon macaroni and cheese in a bread cone at the Cozy Cone was my favorite, though. I didn’t get a chance to try any of the food and wine booths bc we weren’t ever hungry when walking by, lol.
We didn’t watch any evening shows. We did ride pretty much every ride at both parks amd loved everything! I couldn’t even pick a favorite if I tried

 

[chickapin parterre]

thank you for writing...I am curious to understand how you rated the days 9-10.....are you relating those days to what a 10 is at WDW? At Disneyland a 10 is rated as gate closure and wait times are 180 minutes or more.

 

[AprilJ26]

thank you for writing...I am curious to understand how you rated the days 9-10.....are you relating those days to what a 10 is at WDW? At Disneyland a 10 is rated as gate closure and wait times are 180 minutes or more.

I was going by TP crowd ratings for those days. They post the actual crowd ratings the next day. I don’t pay attention to TP predictions for DL bc I’ve heard they aren’t usually accurate, but the ratings afterward are based on wait times throughout the day. Nothing Disney official or anything...but yeah it was packed. Sardines packed.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

So glad to hear you had a great trip and that the research you did here paid off for you! Come on back when you're ready to plan your next visit -- we'll be here!

 

[javeyloveschelsi]

I was going by TP crowd ratings for those days. They post the actual crowd ratings the next day. I don’t pay attention to TP predictions for DL bc I’ve heard they aren’t usually accurate, but the ratings afterward are based on wait times throughout the day. Nothing Disney official or anything...but yeah it was packed. Sardines packed.

I agree it was absolutely insane packed. I saw people pull and push Mickey over and trip him so he just got up and walked off. It was ridiculous the way they behaved (I saw a lot of ridiculous behavior which took away some of the magic, though that was NOT Disney’s fault, but you could tell that it wore on the CMs and they weren’t in as pleasant moods as we were used to seeing). The only way we got through anything was due to Maxpass and having a DAS pass for our little guy with autism. I was very grateful for that service because the majority of the time, we had to have him enclosed in the stroller because the crowds were too much for his anxiety. We got shoved in the middle of the crowd with no way out during the parade and he did not handle that well at all and there was nothing we could do. Thankfully a wonderful couple out us in front of them so he at least had his side area free. I appreciated them so much. Glad you had a great time! I wish we would have stopped at 3 days instead of 4 and will go the week before any spring break or during a time when all schools are in session before thinking of heading back at spring break. Still had a great time, though, and enjoyed the time with my family and the little magic moments we had together

 

[Sunclytie]

I agree it was absolutely insane packed. I saw people pull and push Mickey over and trip him so he just got up and walked off.

Wait, what? Did security get involved? People really pushed and tripped Mickey Mouse? Where was this? Who were these people? What did the handlers do? I’d imagine you would get banned for life if you tried to hurt a character.

 

[javeyloveschelsi]

Wait, what? Did security get involved? People really pushed and tripped Mickey Mouse? Where was this? Who were these people? What did the handlers do? I’d imagine you would get banned for life if you tried to hurt a character.

[/QUOTE]

He was in front of City Hall and a large group that was together was mobbing him. We heard the handler say “Mickey has to go now to get ready for the show in front of the castle.” And that’s when they attacked. We were headed to go get our sons DAS pass renewed for the day as he is under 3 and saw the whole thing (and they were also blocking the accessibility entrance as well so we had to push through to get to the ramp). He walked off without the CM or anyone and went on his own. I didn’t see security get involved (they should have) and the CM was surrounded and struggled get out to catch up to him—he was already gone around back by the time she was able to get out. It was AWFUL to see him and the CM treated that way.

 

[Sunclytie]

OMG. That’s awful. I really hope security kicked some people out. It was smart of Mickey to remove himself from the situation so quickly.
Sigh. This doesn’t bode well for the increased crowd numbers this summer, does it?

 

[sherilaine]

I would feel bad for the people on the train as well but that is why it's so important to plan. It is great that you asked enough questions to know how to handle the parks when they are busy. Showing up EARLY and I mean extra early and buying MaxPass can get a jump on a busy day and can allow for one to relax mid day even and return for the evening with your fast passes and patience recharged.

We are planning a trip now to WDW and Universal Orlando for next spring and I am pretty sure it's going to take me a full year to plan properly but when one is spending that much money the planning pays off.

Glad you had a great time!!!

ETA: As to the Mickey incident - that should make CMs a bit concerned about how things are going to unfold once Star Wars land opens and someone, who is getting paid far too little for what they have to do, will have to tell people they need a reservation to enter the land. I hope they hire bouncers to do that!

 

[Betty_Baylor99]

We were there Monday, March 11 to Wednesday, March 13 and I agree with you that the parks were definitely crowded, what I would consider 8-9ish crowds. We are WDW pros and are familiar with Disney planning, and I agree that people who aren’t unfamiliar with FP strategizing would have been overwhelmed with having to wait in long standby lines all day. Proper planning and arriving as early as possible and utilizing early entry entitlements were the difference for us to be able to enjoy as many rides/attractions as we did. We bought Maxpass for our family 2 out of 3 days (used just on our DL days) though IMHO I would still consider WDWs FP system better as a whole. We did not get Maxpass on Wednesday which was our EE day for CA- we were able to ride everything (with the exception of the Mickey Ferris wheel) we wanted pulling paper fast passes the old school way in addition to waiting standby lines with manageable waits.