Smugpugmug
IPA enthusiast
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2022
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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
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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