We have returned from our first Disneyland visit and thought I would share my experiences and thoughts.
We arrived on Saturday, April 26 and left on the evening of Wednesday, April 30. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. Our group include myself, husband, son (8), daughter (6), my mom, and my grandma.
Leading up to our visit we were expecting large crowds for the weekend but expected it to taper off Monday-Wednesday of our trip. Touring Plans even had it rated as a "ghost town". That was not our experience. The crowds were crazy. I had more than one cast member tell me that they were surprised by the size of the crowds.
So here was our experience:
- Cast Members were amazing. My daughter loved people wishing her a happy first visit or saying "hello princess" (when she was dressed up as Jasmine after BBB)
- After BBB when we got to meet the princesses with our package there was Ariel, Jasmine, and Aurora. Ariel was really good. She was totally in character and the pictures of my daughter meeting her are so awesome. Aurora was a total bore, did not talk to the kids. Literally posed for a picture and we were gone in 15 seconds. But our ultimate favorite was Jasmine. My daughter had chosen the Jasmine costume so that may have helped our experience but this cast member was amazing. She spent at least 3 or 4 minutes with my daughter and son. And she was so funny! She was cracking all these jokes about the other princesses. She exchanged earrings with my daughter. It was a really memorable experience.
- Radiator Spring Racers - EMH on Sunday was very slow. We arrived about 7:10 and still only waited 15 minutes to ride this. I was surprised after everything I had read on this website. We wanted to get a fast pass for later in the day after BBB. I went there around 8:30 and there was no line. The cast members told me they could not believe it. I sat on the benches and waited almost 45 minutes to get a fast pass for early afternoon after BBB. The next day (Monday) the park had early hours starting at 9 and it was PACKED! So we decided just to try and get a fast pass. The family was over by TSMM so I went to get our fast passes about 10:15 and the line up was massive. I was so shocked. I waited in line for about 15 minutes and then gave up. So on Wednesday our final day, we got to the bag check by 8 so we were second in line at the gates. We did the wide right technique and were the 3rd family on the ride that morning. It was awesome. When our ride finished we had hoped to jump on once more but the line up was crazy, already out onto the street part. It had a posted time of 45 minute wait as we exited but I am sure it was longer.
- Frozen - Wow, Wow, Wow. Even reading about it does not seem to justify the complete craziness surrounding this. We decided to do Frozen on Tuesday because of the EMH. The grandmas were exhausted from the heat so they decided to take a break so myself and my husband went. We got there for 8 am again to wait for the 9 am opening. We were the first in line at our gate. I thought it was funny they said "Let the Magic Begin", just to have everyone wait again on Main Street. It was so packed and busy. Our plan was to have my husband go ahead to wait in the line. I think we were naïve and thought it would be a lot more controlled than it was. We were quite near the front of the rope but were not prepared to see adults break into a full sprint towards Frozen. The kids and I seemed to be right in the middle of it, and my daughter ended up being hit in the face and knocked down by a man. He was gone so fast that that by the time I realized what had happened I couldn't even see him anymore. She got a bloody nose. A cast member saw it happen and came over to help us. They took us to the first aid so of course my husband came to us, leaving the line. Without us even mentioning anything the cast member told my daughter not to worry and they would make sure she got to meet Elsa and Anna. Frozen opened at 10 for M&G and we met Elsa and Anna by 10:30. The line up was already almost into the other park and we were told it was a 5 hour wait. I was really impressed by how everything was handled after my daughter was hurt, but I am disappointed at the way they are handling the Frozen M&G in general. The next day at DCA we saw them control the crowd with the escort to Carsland. There was no running, pushing, or trampling. I do not understand why they aren't doing that for Frozen. (PS. Olaf is so cute!)
- Splash Mountain - We rode this on Tuesday. So hot! The kids were nervous but excited. We leave the ride, find our picture and the kids faces were hilarious! We never looked at the other people's pictures. We go to get the picture scanned to our photo pass and the lady says oh I am sorry, your picture has floated away. I asked her what that meant and she told me someone was doing something inappropriate in the photo so it was deleted. Really people?? With kids in the same boat??? The lady immediately saw how disappointed my kids were and she escorted us through the exit to ride it again and gave us two more fast passes to ride it throughout the day because it was so hot. I couldn't believe how nice they were about everything!
My Disappointments
- Being from Canada the +36 Celsius forecast worried me so we decided it would be nice to rent the cabana by the Disneyland hotel pool from 2-6 pm on Tuesday. It was a really disappointing experience. Our cabana host was 10 minutes late, no one could find him and did not really seem to care we were all just standing there awkwardly not sure what to do. One lifeguard even suggested that because our last name wasn't on the card in the cabana that we might not have a reservation. When we booked the cabana we were told anytime we needed drinks or food we would be able to use the phone and our waitress would come right away. When we asked our waitress how to do this, she said it wasn't possible and we would have to wait for her to do her rounds. In the 3 hours we were in the cabana she came twice. We never saw our "host" after his first visit. Our phone didn't work so we had to use the one in the cabana next to us, that was being used by a family that did not even pay for it. The complimentary fruit tray we were promised was literally a bowl with two apples and two bananas.
- We kept forgetting to ask photographers about magic shots. I had purchased the photo pass plus. On our last day we remembered, and the photographer at the entrance to Disneyland (in front of the train) said they would do the Tinkerbell shot with us. They had the kids cup their hands together and pretend to look shocked/excited. When checking our photographsthis morning online there is no Tinkerbell in their hands. It is just them. I feel so disappointed about this, the kids were really excited to see it too.
- Disneyland Hotel Room Service - Our first night we ordered dinner. Ordered my daughter chicken nuggets. I went to cut them open to help cool them down and it was pink and bloody. I immediately called them and the first woman said okay we will send you some more. I told her that I was not comfortable with that after seeing their first attempt at cooking them. So she transferred me to a man who said he didn't believe that they weren't cooked and would send somebody up when he could. I was getting really mad at this point so I hung up and called the front desk, explained what happened. I was transferred to a Manager who dealt with everything quickly and efficiently. We had a grilled cheese sandwich at our room in under 10 minutes and we did not have to pay for any of the meal. It was just disappointing how the room service people handled it at first. If she had eaten that chicken our whole trip could have been ruined before it barely began.
- And finally, please don't throw anything at me but I was so disappointed by Peter Pan. After reading so much here on it, and the lines always being long we finally decided to wait 45 minutes to ride it. My first thought was it was neat and I liked it because of the history of it, but then it was over. Is the ride even 2 minutes long? I can't believe we waited so long for such a short ride. After riding it, I do not understand why people like it so much and would wait so long to ride it.
Overall we really enjoyed our time and appreciated the extra magic we experience due to some outstanding cast members.
One question - I was able to download the ride pictures off my photo pass to my computer this morning but not the rest of them. Do I really have to purchase them now from Disney? I thought that was why I paid the $70 and ordered online ahead of time?
We arrived on Saturday, April 26 and left on the evening of Wednesday, April 30. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. Our group include myself, husband, son (8), daughter (6), my mom, and my grandma.
Leading up to our visit we were expecting large crowds for the weekend but expected it to taper off Monday-Wednesday of our trip. Touring Plans even had it rated as a "ghost town". That was not our experience. The crowds were crazy. I had more than one cast member tell me that they were surprised by the size of the crowds.
So here was our experience:
- Cast Members were amazing. My daughter loved people wishing her a happy first visit or saying "hello princess" (when she was dressed up as Jasmine after BBB)
- After BBB when we got to meet the princesses with our package there was Ariel, Jasmine, and Aurora. Ariel was really good. She was totally in character and the pictures of my daughter meeting her are so awesome. Aurora was a total bore, did not talk to the kids. Literally posed for a picture and we were gone in 15 seconds. But our ultimate favorite was Jasmine. My daughter had chosen the Jasmine costume so that may have helped our experience but this cast member was amazing. She spent at least 3 or 4 minutes with my daughter and son. And she was so funny! She was cracking all these jokes about the other princesses. She exchanged earrings with my daughter. It was a really memorable experience.
- Radiator Spring Racers - EMH on Sunday was very slow. We arrived about 7:10 and still only waited 15 minutes to ride this. I was surprised after everything I had read on this website. We wanted to get a fast pass for later in the day after BBB. I went there around 8:30 and there was no line. The cast members told me they could not believe it. I sat on the benches and waited almost 45 minutes to get a fast pass for early afternoon after BBB. The next day (Monday) the park had early hours starting at 9 and it was PACKED! So we decided just to try and get a fast pass. The family was over by TSMM so I went to get our fast passes about 10:15 and the line up was massive. I was so shocked. I waited in line for about 15 minutes and then gave up. So on Wednesday our final day, we got to the bag check by 8 so we were second in line at the gates. We did the wide right technique and were the 3rd family on the ride that morning. It was awesome. When our ride finished we had hoped to jump on once more but the line up was crazy, already out onto the street part. It had a posted time of 45 minute wait as we exited but I am sure it was longer.
- Frozen - Wow, Wow, Wow. Even reading about it does not seem to justify the complete craziness surrounding this. We decided to do Frozen on Tuesday because of the EMH. The grandmas were exhausted from the heat so they decided to take a break so myself and my husband went. We got there for 8 am again to wait for the 9 am opening. We were the first in line at our gate. I thought it was funny they said "Let the Magic Begin", just to have everyone wait again on Main Street. It was so packed and busy. Our plan was to have my husband go ahead to wait in the line. I think we were naïve and thought it would be a lot more controlled than it was. We were quite near the front of the rope but were not prepared to see adults break into a full sprint towards Frozen. The kids and I seemed to be right in the middle of it, and my daughter ended up being hit in the face and knocked down by a man. He was gone so fast that that by the time I realized what had happened I couldn't even see him anymore. She got a bloody nose. A cast member saw it happen and came over to help us. They took us to the first aid so of course my husband came to us, leaving the line. Without us even mentioning anything the cast member told my daughter not to worry and they would make sure she got to meet Elsa and Anna. Frozen opened at 10 for M&G and we met Elsa and Anna by 10:30. The line up was already almost into the other park and we were told it was a 5 hour wait. I was really impressed by how everything was handled after my daughter was hurt, but I am disappointed at the way they are handling the Frozen M&G in general. The next day at DCA we saw them control the crowd with the escort to Carsland. There was no running, pushing, or trampling. I do not understand why they aren't doing that for Frozen. (PS. Olaf is so cute!)
- Splash Mountain - We rode this on Tuesday. So hot! The kids were nervous but excited. We leave the ride, find our picture and the kids faces were hilarious! We never looked at the other people's pictures. We go to get the picture scanned to our photo pass and the lady says oh I am sorry, your picture has floated away. I asked her what that meant and she told me someone was doing something inappropriate in the photo so it was deleted. Really people?? With kids in the same boat??? The lady immediately saw how disappointed my kids were and she escorted us through the exit to ride it again and gave us two more fast passes to ride it throughout the day because it was so hot. I couldn't believe how nice they were about everything!
My Disappointments
- Being from Canada the +36 Celsius forecast worried me so we decided it would be nice to rent the cabana by the Disneyland hotel pool from 2-6 pm on Tuesday. It was a really disappointing experience. Our cabana host was 10 minutes late, no one could find him and did not really seem to care we were all just standing there awkwardly not sure what to do. One lifeguard even suggested that because our last name wasn't on the card in the cabana that we might not have a reservation. When we booked the cabana we were told anytime we needed drinks or food we would be able to use the phone and our waitress would come right away. When we asked our waitress how to do this, she said it wasn't possible and we would have to wait for her to do her rounds. In the 3 hours we were in the cabana she came twice. We never saw our "host" after his first visit. Our phone didn't work so we had to use the one in the cabana next to us, that was being used by a family that did not even pay for it. The complimentary fruit tray we were promised was literally a bowl with two apples and two bananas.
- We kept forgetting to ask photographers about magic shots. I had purchased the photo pass plus. On our last day we remembered, and the photographer at the entrance to Disneyland (in front of the train) said they would do the Tinkerbell shot with us. They had the kids cup their hands together and pretend to look shocked/excited. When checking our photographsthis morning online there is no Tinkerbell in their hands. It is just them. I feel so disappointed about this, the kids were really excited to see it too.
- Disneyland Hotel Room Service - Our first night we ordered dinner. Ordered my daughter chicken nuggets. I went to cut them open to help cool them down and it was pink and bloody. I immediately called them and the first woman said okay we will send you some more. I told her that I was not comfortable with that after seeing their first attempt at cooking them. So she transferred me to a man who said he didn't believe that they weren't cooked and would send somebody up when he could. I was getting really mad at this point so I hung up and called the front desk, explained what happened. I was transferred to a Manager who dealt with everything quickly and efficiently. We had a grilled cheese sandwich at our room in under 10 minutes and we did not have to pay for any of the meal. It was just disappointing how the room service people handled it at first. If she had eaten that chicken our whole trip could have been ruined before it barely began.
- And finally, please don't throw anything at me but I was so disappointed by Peter Pan. After reading so much here on it, and the lines always being long we finally decided to wait 45 minutes to ride it. My first thought was it was neat and I liked it because of the history of it, but then it was over. Is the ride even 2 minutes long? I can't believe we waited so long for such a short ride. After riding it, I do not understand why people like it so much and would wait so long to ride it.
Overall we really enjoyed our time and appreciated the extra magic we experience due to some outstanding cast members.
One question - I was able to download the ride pictures off my photo pass to my computer this morning but not the rest of them. Do I really have to purchase them now from Disney? I thought that was why I paid the $70 and ordered online ahead of time?
This is so wrong on many, many levels. Adults should NOT be allowed to put children and other adults in danger in a mad race to be in line first. They should be making every effort to change and fix this, not just have someone there to pick up the bloodied children after the bull run.
