Trip Report First Disneyland Trip in 6 years - some thoughts (September 20-27)

[Smugpugmug]

I just returned from a week at Disneyland and my family and I had not been since May 2019 (two weeks before Galaxy's Edge opened) so I was looking forward to see what had changed in that time. Suffice to say....A LOT has changed. Both good and bad. This trip consisted of me, my sister and our parents. We stayed at the Grand Californian and we also went to Oogie Boogie Bash on September 21 and 25. On a day we didn't have park tickets we went over to Knott's Berry Farm as none of us had ever visited before (not counting the time my mom went in the 70s).

Not going to write a play by play of how each day went but will instead summarize my thoughts as well as what my family had said. Sorry if this is a massive novel - I have A LOT to say about this trip

Travel and at the Grand Californian

• Flew in to LAX and we had heard the horror stories of this airport (we remember it being chaotic from our last visit) but honestly it wasn't bad at all. Maybe we caught it on a good day arriving and leaving but I've had worse experiences in other airports. Not a lot of places to sit at the gate though. Saw many people sitting on the floor while waiting for the flight home.
• We hired a car service to/from the Grand Californian and was also very smooth. Traffic wasn't terrible but WOW do people in California drive like maniacs. I'm from the DMV so I expect bad driving but this was a whole other level.
• The Grand Californian is just as beautiful as we remembered but VERY busy most of the day. The only times it was quiet was around 11 pm when coming back from Oogie Boogie and when we left for LAX at 5 am.
• Had some experiences with CMs at the resort that rubbed us the wrong way so much that I talked to a manager about it. That is something I NEVER EVER do. I don't want to come across as a "Karen" but these interactions bothered me so much that I felt the need to say something. The manager was absolutely horrified and thanked us for telling him. All of them happened on arrival day; other than that CMs were helpful and friendly for the most part (did interact with a rude CM at the Tiana gift shop where she felt annoyed that we were trying to buy something but whatever I guess).
• Didn't have any issues finding chairs at the pool which was something I remembered from our last trip. I remember people lining their stuff up against the walls due to lack of chairs but it looks like that issue has been solved. Also liked getting wristbands when entering the pool to help curb offsite guests.
• Had 0 issues with the room. It looked nice and didn't notice anything looking old/worn (something I see all the time at WDW resorts). My mom commented the bathroom looked outdated to her but I thought it was fine?
• Food at Craftsman Grill was not good. Did not enjoy anything I had there. I did like all of the drink options though. Way more to choose from compared to WDW resorts.

Food/drinks

• Mostly did quick service as we didn't want to be tied down to a schedule but we did eat at Storyteller's for breakfast and Centrico. Enjoyed both; thought Centrico was better than any Mexican restaurant I've tried at WDW. Characters at Storyteller's took over an hour for all of them to show up and service at Centrico was slow due to how packed it was.
• Food in general is more expensive vs. WDW but all of us felt like the quality was higher. Even an average cheeseburger tasted better than the frozen hockey pucks at WDW quick service.
• I'm the president of the breakfast chimichanga fanclub. That was DELICIOUS! Get the salsa verde on the side. It's worth the extra $1.25.
• Huge fan of being able to get delicious fresh fruit in the parks. You can do that at WDW too but options are way more limited and let's be honest, it tastes way worse compared to Disneyland's options. I loved the mango spears with the tajin.
• Also a big fan of Bengal Barbecue. Loved the Banyan Beef Skewer - it's legitimately spicy and I love that! A lot of things labeled "spicy" in WDW are not spicy at all so this is a win for me. The Pork Belly Skewer was meh in my opinion. Banyan Beef is the winner.
• The Ursula Enchanted Waffles at Schmoozies were pretty terrible; one of the biggest disappointments for me food wise. They would've been amazing if they were served hot but mine were freezing cold and soggy. It was a shame because it tasted good flavor wise. The Pambazo Torta at Award Weiners was not great either. WAY too much bread and not enough filling.
• Loved the beer options in general at Disneyland. My favorite was the Pumpkin Vanilla ale at Cozy Cone. However $16.50 for a beer is CRAZY work.
• San Fransokyo was hectic and chaotic every time we passed by. Very difficult to find an open table. Witnessed two guys getting into a physical altercation over a table on our last day but we quickly left before anything happened. I did try the Beef Birria Ramen at Lucky Fortune and the broth was flavorless until I added some sriracha to it. I loved the giant egg in it though.
• My sister and I went to Trader Sam's - we waited 30 minutes for a table inside (we did go after 8 pm when it becomes 21 and up only). I LOVED the Temple of the Forbidden Rye. Would order that every time if it was at WDW. I also shared the Zombie with my sister and maybe it's just me but it didn't taste as good as the WDW version. Not as flavorful to me. Both of us agreed that we like the WDW version of Trader Sam's better however we're massive nerds and loved reading the postcards and newspaper clippings on the walls around the bar. A few of them got pretty big laughs and smiles from us.
• My parents really loved the schwarma in Avenger's Campus. I liked it too but the cart does sometimes run out. You have to wait 5-10 minutes for them to be restocked which isn't too bad.

Lightning Lane Multipass/Lightning Lane Single Pass

• We had LLMP included with our tickets and all of us agree it's 100000% worth the money. We rode everything we wanted to and didn't wait more than 30 minutes for anything. Longest wait was Radiator Springs Racers at around 25 minutes both times we bought the single pass.
• I had read on the DIS about a method called "fishing" where you pick either Indy or Matterhorn to get more LLs and it actually worked LOL. On one of our DL days, Indy broke down so many times that I had four LL redemption passes. Thank you to the user that made a thread about it. Don't remember who that was but you're a real one.
• Felt weird to not have to book Radiator Springs for hours in advance. Single passes for the most part are immediate in DL. Even when it opened early from its refurbishment on thursday we were able to book single passes for five minutes later. In WDW that's almost unheard of. Noticed this was the case for Rise every time I looked at the tip board but we didn't buy it as we focused on rides that are exclusive to DL.

Oogie Boogie Bash

• None of us had ever been before so we had no expectations of how it would go. We knew the character selection was better than WDW but other than that, we didn't know a lot.
• Sunday was WAY less crowded than thursday. Or at least it felt less crowded. All of us agreed sunday was the better party day and we would choose a sunday in the future if we ever returned.
• The only characters we prioritized were the Kingdom Hearts characters as my sister and I are massive Kingdom Hearts fans. We lined up for them around 5:20 ish and we were behind maybe 4-5 parties. Once they showed up the wait was like, 10 minutes max. The line becomes nonexistent the later into the party it is but the characters do rotate. Both times I saw them, it was Mickey but on thursday Mickey had a keyblade. On sunday it was just Mickey and he was not carrying anything. I do wish I saw Goofy and Donald but I wanted to do the treat trails instead so I skipped. The line for Minnie, Daisy and Clarabelle as the Sanderson sisters looked crazy long at the beginning of the party but no idea how long it actually was.
• Wasn't hard to find a parade spot at all. We grabbed one 15 minutes beforehand both nights and we had a great view. The better view was at the beginning of the route in the Pixar Pier area by the Paradise Garden Grill.
• Boo to You at MNSSHP is 100% better than Frightfully Fun Parade, sorry. That doesn't mean I didn't like it. I did but prefer Boo to You all the way.
• LOOOOVE Monsters After Dark. I think I like it more than the regular version of Guardians. Rode it on both nights and both times the wait was 30 minutes.
• The costume game here is WAY better than MNSSHP. Some people were in like, actual professional looking cosplay outfits and I think that definitely helped increase the vibe. At MNSSHP barely anyone is in a costume due to how hot it is but at Oogie Boogie it felt like the reverse. I would say most people had at least some sort of costume on. SO many creative costumes, especially for rare obscure Disney characters! I went as a non Disney character and I had at least 5 guests ask for a photo with me which has never happened at MNSSHP before LOL I counted and 15 CMs complimented my costume. One of them even had a conversation with me about the anime they're from which was super cool.
• Love the treat trails. The character interactions are super fun. My favorites were Hades, Syndrome, Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Ernesto. The Hades actor knew who the character I was dressed up as was so he was making references while staying completely in character which was awesome.
• I know this is a negative for A LOT of WDW regulars but....I didn't mind that you don't get massive scoops of candy. I preferred the handfuls as I'm not someone who eats a lot of candy. I did love getting non candy like Goldfish and these fig newton like bars. I actually ended up giving my extra candy to the front desk and bell services at the Grand as I received too much to take home.
• My mom and I loved the Villain's Grove while my dad and sister thought it was lame/boring. Definitely go during one of the parades or at the end of the light or else you'll be in a massive line.

Knott's Berry Farm

• About a 15-20 minute Uber from the Grand Californian. I will say that I put Knott's Berry Farm park as my destination when ordering but the driver had the Knott's Berry Farm hotel as his destination so we had to help him get from the hotel to the front entrance. It seemed like a weird bug on Uber's side, I guess?
• Park was not busy at all. We did not buy the Fast Lane but we rode everything we wanted to and some additional rides without waiting a long time.
• Ghost Rider is AWESOME!!!!!!! Best ride in the park hands down. We rode it twice - first thing in the morning and right before we left. The back is INSANE - significantly more bumpy than the front which I personally love but my family did not LOL
• Major fan of the ghost town area. It was one of the inspirations for Disneyland and you can see it. I loved walking through and imagining Walt go, hey that's cool. I want to add that to my park.
• Other than Ghost Rider, my favorite rides were Calico Mine Ride and Timber Mountain Log Ride. Timber Mountain even gets a Halloween overlay which I was a HUGE fan of.
• Was sad Bear-y Tales was closed - really wanted to ride that but oh well. Maybe next time.
• I'm a huge fan of boysenberry now. The boysenberry soda rocks - I would buy that if it was at the grocery store xD. My dad got the boysenberry soft serve ice cream and that was also amazing. The Calico Saloon has a boysenberry beer and that was delcious too. It's a light beer so even non beer drinkers like my sister enjoyed it.

Miscellaneous thoughts

• All of us had Magicbands on and we saw maybe 5 other people our entire time with them on. It does seem like DL has overall rejected Magicbands. Some CMs were even shocked we had them in general.
• Noticed hand sanitizer stations across both parks which I have not seen in WDW in a LONG time
• Lots of guests wearing WDW and Tokyo Disneyland gear so I assume a lot more out of towners this week? I did have a few CMs ask me why I'm in California when they saw my Maryland ID though LOL
• Every store had the same merchandise which does suck from a diversity standpoint but it did benefit me where I was in search of some items that did not have my size. A lot of items were out of medium and large sizes but I managed to find them in the smaller stores. Not a lot of 70th anniversary stuff left in medium and large. From what I saw it was only the very small and very large sizes.
• Did not find the parks to be very busy EXCEPT for friday. Friday night in California Adventure was insane.
• The number of ride breakdowns was insane too. Probably worse than WDW.
• This isn't a joke but my family and I LOVED the canoes. My sister and I were going to do it in Tokyo Disneyland when we visisted but she broke her wrist so we skipped. We did it on friday and literally everyone thought we were joking but no we actually enjoyed it
• All of us were big fans of Haunted Mansion Holiday. My sister and I rode it in Tokyo and it was nice to ride it where we can understand the language. The two versions are different which is nice though.
• My mom is a pin trader so she brought her pins to the tables in Frontierland and multiple times she experienced people that KNEW her pins were higher value than theirs try to swindle her out of those pins. It's a bit scummy to know that other guests are trying to scam you but thankfully not everyone was like that. She did manage to have a few good trades but those were outliers compared to the amount of people trying to rip you off. Left a bad taste in my mouth personally.
• Genuinely insane how wet you get on Tiana. A guest on Monster's After Dark told me to wear my flip flops on the ride and I want to thank whoever that was. You saved my sneakers from being ruined The drop where you enter in the former Laughing Place is the worst one. A MASSIVE wave comes over your log and you are obliterated. I actually thought my phone would be ruined, that's how wet you get. I should've known it would be bad when I saw people in the queue tying black garbage bags to their feet LOL
• Paint the Night was just as good as I remembered it but the new World of Color was meh. Glad I didn't pay for a dessert package for it.
• In N Out is still painfully mid. They should change the restaurant name to Mid N Out.

Overall, we absolutely loved our time in Disneyland and I miss it so much already. I definitely miss the Southern California weather. It's so muggy and humid at home. I can post more pictures in this thread as I took A TON on my Samsung S25. Again, sorry for the novel. Had a lot to say about this trip and I actually left some things out if you can believe it xD

 

[Smugpugmug]

Adding some photos I took~

 

[VGCgroupie]

Great report! I agree with so much of what you said. Curious if you were in the cash hotel side or the DVC side of the resort?

 

[Smugpugmug]

Great report! I agree with so much of what you said. Curious if you were in the cash hotel side or the DVC side of the resort?

We were on the hotel side as we booked a package that was the hotel + tickets with LLMP.

 

[KPeterso]

Thanks for the recap! As a Disneyland local, I get the question of why I am at WDW when DL is so much closer at least a couple times each trip. LOL

 

[Smugpugmug]

Thanks for the recap! As a Disneyland local, I get the question of why I am at WDW when DL is so much closer at least a couple times each trip. LOL

LOL I received the opposite question from most people. What are you doing here when you're closer to WDW? A lot of guests I spoke to had never been to WDW before which was so unusual for me. I think comparing Disneyland to Magic Kingdom, I prefer Disneyland 10000%.

 

[PaladinButters]

I was probably one of the five people you saw that week with a magic band! Flying through the lightning lane scanners on both sides while people were scrolling around their phones. Great trip report except for the part where you have those skewers backwards the pork belly is the best one.

 

[KPeterso]

LOL I received the opposite question from most people. What are you doing here when you're closer to WDW? A lot of guests I spoke to had never been to WDW before which was so unusual for me. I think comparing Disneyland to Magic Kingdom, I prefer Disneyland 10000%.

I also prefer Disneyland to MK 100000%. MK is my least favorite of the WDW parks. I love AK and Epcot the best at WDW.

Oh and I always wear my MB. I love the convenience! And when I was pushing my mom in a wheelchair, it was so much easier to scan in with the bands instead of trying to fish out my phone to get the passes up to scan.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I was probably one of the five people you saw that week with a magic band! Flying through the lightning lane scanners on both sides while people were scrolling around their phones. Great trip report except for the part where you have those skewers backwards the pork belly is the best one.

I was very surprised at how few people I saw with Magicbands when each pin store has a small display with maybe 10 designs. I assumed most locals don't wish to pay for them? Maybe I have the WDW mindset but if I was a local I'd pay for one so that I wouldn't have to use my phone /shrugs

Haha, sorry I prefer the Banyan skewer way more. That was legit hot and I LOVE that! My mom didn't love how the pork one had a ton of fat on it.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I also prefer Disneyland to MK 100000%. MK is my least favorite of the WDW parks. I love AK and Epcot the best at WDW.

Oh and I always wear my MB. I love the convenience! And when I was pushing my mom in a wheelchair, it was so much easier to scan in with the bands instead of trying to fish out my phone to get the passes up to scan.

Something I didn't write in my initial post is how much I LOVE the kinetic energy in Disneyland. The monorail going through the park. The train going through It's a Small World. The boats and the canoes through Rivers of America. All of that adds to the atmosphere for me and makes it more magical feeling. Also that area by Alice/teacups with the Matterhorn is just.....yes please. WDW will never have the same level of charm IMO

I found it so odd how no one had a Magicband on. I wore my limited edition Bolt one and received SO many compliments from CMs and a lot of them didn't even know it was a Magicband.

 

[DizMe]

I found it so odd how no one had a Magicband on. I wore my limited edition Bolt one and received SO many compliments from CMs and a lot of them didn't even know it was a Magicband.

Well, I probably make up for some of the non-banders because I have about 8

 

[irlandaise]

Thank you for the report and the very nice photos, @Smugpugmug.

I didn't realize that Knott's now has boysenberry beer! Not my cup of tea (so to speak), but it sounds fun. Ghost Town, as you probably know, is one of the original areas of KBF, which I visited not many years after it opened. If you get back, be sure to try one of Mrs. Knott's chicken dinners.

Bengal BBQ is one of my favorite food places at DL. Tasty and arguably healthy food.

Are you willing to say what caused you to speak to a manager at the GCH, or would you rather put the incidents behind you and not talk about them? I'm sorry you experienced whatever poor guest service you encountered, and I hope the manager tried to make it up to you.

 

[DizMe]

Thank you for the report and the very nice photos, @Smugpugmug.

I didn't realize that Knott's now has boysenberry beer! Not my cup of tea (so to speak), but it sounds fun. Ghost Town, as you probably know, is one of the original areas of KBF, which I visited not many years after it opened. If you get back, be sure to try one of Mrs. Knott's chicken dinners.

Bengal BBQ is one of my favorite food places at DL. Tasty and arguably healthy food.

Are you willing to say what caused you to speak to a manager at the GCH, or would you rather put the incidents behind you and not talk about them? I'm sorry you experienced whatever poor guest service you encountered, and I hope the manager tried to make it up to you.

Yeah, that boysenberry beer sounds very enticing to me I absolutely love berries and those are my favorites. When I was a little kid, we used to go to Knott's sometimes and I loved the berries so much I got the nickname "Cheri Berry" from it.

I have only been to Knott's once in more recent times. Right after Covid, you could get an annual pass for so cheap that my friends and I all got one, figuring if we only used it once it would be ok. At that time they had a "Mrs. Knott's afternoon tea" so we made arrangements to celebrate my friend's birthday there. The tea was pretty awesome! I didn't go back to Knott's that year because none of my friends would do thrill rides. I did love the Old West part and they had some cool shops but not worth a flight down just for that (not interested in the water park), although it is really nice they have a free shuttle to/from Disneyland if you stay at their hotel.

BUT I am also very curious about the GCH issue with staff.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Thank you for the report and the very nice photos, @Smugpugmug.

I didn't realize that Knott's now has boysenberry beer! Not my cup of tea (so to speak), but it sounds fun. Ghost Town, as you probably know, is one of the original areas of KBF, which I visited not many years after it opened. If you get back, be sure to try one of Mrs. Knott's chicken dinners.

Yup they had it at the saloon and it was pretty good, I would get it again.



We were supposed to eat at Mrs. Knott's chicken dinner but we chose to go to In N Out instead to see if if had a redemption arc. Um.....no it didn't and it's still painfully mid LOL

 

[KPeterso]

We were supposed to eat at Mrs. Knott's chicken dinner but we chose to go to In N Out instead to see if if had a redemption arc. Um.....no it didn't and it's still painfully mid LOL

The In N Out thing is a SoCal thing. Seems all my SoCal native friends absolutely love In N Out. I am not from here originally and cannot stand In N Out. People tell me I just need to learn more about the secret menu to learn how to better order for myself. I find other transplants feel the same about In N Out as me. Now, I do enjoy The Habit a lot. Find it magnitudes better than In N Out.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Are you willing to say what caused you to speak to a manager at the GCH, or would you rather put the incidents behind you and not talk about them? I'm sorry you experienced whatever poor guest service you encountered, and I hope the manager tried to make it up to you.

BUT I am also very curious about the GCH issue with staff.

Sure, but it was a combination of things vs. one event.

• At the pool we wanted to order drinks and when I saw a pool attendant come by, I walked over and asked if we could order drinks. She looked at me and VERY bluntly said "I'm clocking out soon" and then walked away. I was very taken aback by that so I just went to the bar and ordered but....she couldn't tell me to ask someone else? .....okay
• When our room was ready, my sister and I went towards the elevators to go to our room and call bell services to drop off our bags. There was a security CM standing by the elevators and he asked us for our room key. Apparently there's a new rule where you need to show proof of stay to use the elevators. Fine with me. So I open my app and show my reservation. What I did not expect was to be yelled at by this CM for not having a physical room key and that the phone reservation could be "faked" ??????????????????????????? genuinely don't understand what that means btw. I told him that I was planning on using the app to open the door and after a bit of back and forth he let us through but I heard him say "MY GOD" right as we were entering the elevator.
• After getting our bags, we went down to the front desk to get physical room keys so that we wouldn't have to be yelled at again. This was around 4 pm and there was 1 CM working at the front desk. There was a massive line behind us and only 1 guy in front of us. The guy in front of us was about to walk up to the desk as it was free but some woman ran up top to the desk, cutting the line and was screaming at the CM. Us and the guy were like, um lady you cut the line. She proceeded to tell us to shut the f- up and her problem was more important than ours. The CM just shrugged his shoulders and was like, sucks to suck I guess. Why is that woman allowed to cut the massive line and CMs don't care about it? So does that mean when she's done I can cut the man in front of me and that would be okay?
• We tried eating at the sit down portion of Craftsman Grill on our arrival day and we waited 25 minutes at our table without being served anything. Servers looked at our table but proceeded to ignore and walk past us. It was when we got up to leave that it suddenly became an issue with the servers That was when we chose to go to Centrico instead.

 

[Smugpugmug]

The In N Out thing is a SoCal thing. Seems all my SoCal native friends absolutely love In N Out. I am not from here originally and cannot stand In N Out. People tell me I just need to learn more about the secret menu to learn how to better order for myself. I find other transplants feel the same about In N Out as me. Now, I do enjoy The Habit a lot. Find it magnitudes better than In N Out.

Yeah I was ready to be attacked for saying In N Out is mid lol. It really isn't anything special. Reminds me of how east coasters hype up Wawa but that isn't anything great either. It definitely isn't as good as it was like a decade ago.

 

[cruisehopeful]

When our room was ready, my sister and I went towards the elevators to go to our room and call bell services to drop off our bags. There was a security CM standing by the elevators and he asked us for our room key. Apparently there's a new rule where you need to show proof of stay to use the elevators. Fine with me. So I open my app and show my reservation. What I did not expect was to be yelled at by this CM for not having a physical room key and that the phone reservation could be "faked" ??????????????????????????? genuinely don't understand what that means btw. I told him that I was planning on using the app to open the door and after a bit of back and forth he let us through but I heard him say "MY GOD" right as we were entering the elevator.

This is so weird. I saw another post about it, but I haven't run into it, myself and I just stayed there a couple weeks ago.
Maybe they are only there certain times of day?
At any rate, they push skipping the front desk and using online check in and mobile key for entry. I would be really annoyed if someone asked me for a room key and said my reservation in my app wasn't good enough. I used my reservation for early park entry when they asked for my room key. I just told them I didn't have a key because I used mobile entry, showed my app with the reservation dates and they said that was fine.

I wonder what's going at the DVC side that they need to see room keys. I don't think I ever posted about it, but a while ago (about a year to 18 months ago), my studio room had a note in it on official letterhead that the hotel staff carried items to defend themselves and that they were legally allowed to do that and it had whatever law code it was referencing. I thought it was very weird and it gave me the creeps a bit. The next time I stayed there, it wasn't there anymore, but when I checked in at the front desk, I was told that I could have someone escort me to my room if I wanted. I didn't want and said, "No, thanks." I haven't been offered an escort since, but looking back, I was traveling solo that time and I don't think I've stayed there solo again since then. All things together lead me to believe that there's been some attacks of some type on either staff or guests.

 

[irlandaise]

@Smugpugmug Wow, I don't blame you for being upset about those incidents.

The front desk CM should definitely have told that lady to get back in line. Rewarding bad behavior just leads to more problems.

And the security guy complaining about your digital room key makes no sense at all. Isn't Disney trying to get guests to use those instead of requesting physical cards? Let's get on the same page, folks!!