My husband and I just recently returned from our very first trip to Disneyland!! In the beginning of May, "let's do something fun for Memorial Day weekend" suddenly turned into "let's fly to Disneyland!" All of a sudden, the trip was booked, the tickets were paid for, and we were REALLY doing it!!!!
We are seasoned WDW veterans, but we'd always dreamt of visiting Disneyland, so to actually be there was incredibly surreal. We stayed at the Motel 6 on Disney Way, which we picked because of it's proximity to the park and it's low price. The shuttle to the park ran every 20 minutes, and the park was just a couple of minutes away (we could see the Matterhorn and Tower of Terror from the 4th floor).
Disneyland was . . . amazing. Breathtaking. Everyone had cautioned me that I might be disappointed, having been so used to the size of WDW, Cinderella Castle, etc. But I was absolutely thrilled!!! I couldn't believe I was literally walking in the footsteps of Walt. I was so excited about seeing the lamp in the Fire Station apartment!
We arrived at the park just after 9 a.m. The weather was beautiful, sunny and in the mid-70s during the day, but very cool at night - we were cold in sweatshirts. First off, we went to City Hall and got our "1st visit" buttons. Our first ride was Indiana Jones, which was fantastic! After breakfast at the River Belle Terrace, we were off to Splash Mountain. Upon exiting, we encountered the Dream Squad!! They were giving Dream Fast Passes to the couple in front of us, and I didn't think they were going to give them to us too . . . but they did!!!! And that was the start to two tremendous days!
One thing that I wanted to mention though, was how often rides broke down, In the two days we were there, a total of six rides broke down, at both the Disneyland Park and California Adventure. Even worse, we had just gotten in line for Grizzly River Run, with our Dream Fast Pass, and it broke down like 30 seconds later. We asked the ride attendant if we could get our Dream Fast Pass back, as we had just gotten in line! But she said no.
So that was a waste of a Fast Pass. I would assume it's because of the age of some of the rides, but stuff really did seem to break down quite frequently. However, one good thing did come of it. Early Sunday morning, we went to ride Mr. Toad, which wasn't working. A cast member outside told us to try back later. A few hours later, we went back, but now there was a sign saying it would not be running for the rest of the day! Undaunted, we tried a little while later and, to our surprise, it was running and had a huge line. Near it, I noticed the same female cast member we had spoken to earlier. I asked her, "Is Mr. Toad working?" She said yes, and then remembered us from earlier that morning. She said, "Let me try and get you on right away." Our jaws dropped as she had a quick word with the ride attendant, and we were the next guests on!!
One other not so great experience was in the evening. We were waiting in line to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, and in front of us was a large group of rowdy teenagers. As luck would have it, we ended up in the last row of their boat. Throughout much of the ride, they were very loud and obnoxious, even standing up a few times to touch the top of the ride!! Luckily, we had ridden Pirates twice already, so our initial experience wasn't ruined. But it was very annoying and distracting.
Over all, every other moment of this trip was magical. Everywhere we went, we met the friendliest, kindest people; on the plane (the man sitting across the aisle from me told me that he'd been to Club 33 four or five times, as someone's guest, and that if we had more time in Disney, he would have tried to get us in too!), at the hotel, waiting in line for rides. One wonderful thing I noticed at Disneyland, in conversations with strangers, was that so many locals absolutely love Disneyland. In Florida, most everyone you talk to is very cynical about Disney, or jaded. They're almost scornful about it. But we bumped into so many people at Disneyland whose eyes just lit up talking about their favorite rides, and how often they visit, and they were so excited to hear that it was our first trip. They were absolutely tickled pink talking about "their" park. It was such a wonderful feeling!
One of the other things that made it so surreal was to be in a place that seemed so familiar, yet wasn't. When we turned the corner onto Main Street, it was a completely different castle looking back at us. A beautiful, NEW castle! Comparing the rides was so much fun, too. Pirates of the Caribbean is longer and better, while Splash Mountain isn't quite as great. Winnie the Pooh is similar, yet all the scenes are kind of mixed up and the story doesn't quite flow as well as the WDW ride (or is that just my opinion?) We loved doing rides that were completely new to us also - especially the Matterhorn and the Alice in Wonderland ride (my favorite Disney film)! Pinnochio was fun (although I found the part where Monstro comes up at you with his mouth open pretty scary!), Roger Rabbit was great, and we had a blast playing with all the stuff in Toontown. If only Mickey's Toontown Fair in WDW was as good. sigh.
i was terrified about flying, but the flights were really pretty smooth, just like you all said they would be. Thanks, guys! One unexpected hitch was when our flight out from Orange County to Chicago was delayed due to "mechanical issues". This meant we'd be missing our connecting flight to Providence, RI when we got to Chicago. It also happened to be the last flight out to Providence. So, after some quick panicking and freaking out, the very kind ticket agent got us on the first flight out the next day, and the airline paid for us to stay the night in Chicago! An interesting and pretty exciting unexpected adventure for us. We missed a bit of work on Tuesday, but everyone was okay with it.
So, we're home again, and missing it already! Can't wait to get back and spend a little more time in Disneyland, just to explore and pick up on all the little things. I LOVED IT!!!
We are seasoned WDW veterans, but we'd always dreamt of visiting Disneyland, so to actually be there was incredibly surreal. We stayed at the Motel 6 on Disney Way, which we picked because of it's proximity to the park and it's low price. The shuttle to the park ran every 20 minutes, and the park was just a couple of minutes away (we could see the Matterhorn and Tower of Terror from the 4th floor).
Disneyland was . . . amazing. Breathtaking. Everyone had cautioned me that I might be disappointed, having been so used to the size of WDW, Cinderella Castle, etc. But I was absolutely thrilled!!! I couldn't believe I was literally walking in the footsteps of Walt. I was so excited about seeing the lamp in the Fire Station apartment!
We arrived at the park just after 9 a.m. The weather was beautiful, sunny and in the mid-70s during the day, but very cool at night - we were cold in sweatshirts. First off, we went to City Hall and got our "1st visit" buttons. Our first ride was Indiana Jones, which was fantastic! After breakfast at the River Belle Terrace, we were off to Splash Mountain. Upon exiting, we encountered the Dream Squad!! They were giving Dream Fast Passes to the couple in front of us, and I didn't think they were going to give them to us too . . . but they did!!!! And that was the start to two tremendous days!
One thing that I wanted to mention though, was how often rides broke down, In the two days we were there, a total of six rides broke down, at both the Disneyland Park and California Adventure. Even worse, we had just gotten in line for Grizzly River Run, with our Dream Fast Pass, and it broke down like 30 seconds later. We asked the ride attendant if we could get our Dream Fast Pass back, as we had just gotten in line! But she said no.
So that was a waste of a Fast Pass. I would assume it's because of the age of some of the rides, but stuff really did seem to break down quite frequently. However, one good thing did come of it. Early Sunday morning, we went to ride Mr. Toad, which wasn't working. A cast member outside told us to try back later. A few hours later, we went back, but now there was a sign saying it would not be running for the rest of the day! Undaunted, we tried a little while later and, to our surprise, it was running and had a huge line. Near it, I noticed the same female cast member we had spoken to earlier. I asked her, "Is Mr. Toad working?" She said yes, and then remembered us from earlier that morning. She said, "Let me try and get you on right away." Our jaws dropped as she had a quick word with the ride attendant, and we were the next guests on!!One other not so great experience was in the evening. We were waiting in line to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, and in front of us was a large group of rowdy teenagers. As luck would have it, we ended up in the last row of their boat. Throughout much of the ride, they were very loud and obnoxious, even standing up a few times to touch the top of the ride!! Luckily, we had ridden Pirates twice already, so our initial experience wasn't ruined. But it was very annoying and distracting.
Over all, every other moment of this trip was magical. Everywhere we went, we met the friendliest, kindest people; on the plane (the man sitting across the aisle from me told me that he'd been to Club 33 four or five times, as someone's guest, and that if we had more time in Disney, he would have tried to get us in too!), at the hotel, waiting in line for rides. One wonderful thing I noticed at Disneyland, in conversations with strangers, was that so many locals absolutely love Disneyland. In Florida, most everyone you talk to is very cynical about Disney, or jaded. They're almost scornful about it. But we bumped into so many people at Disneyland whose eyes just lit up talking about their favorite rides, and how often they visit, and they were so excited to hear that it was our first trip. They were absolutely tickled pink talking about "their" park. It was such a wonderful feeling!
One of the other things that made it so surreal was to be in a place that seemed so familiar, yet wasn't. When we turned the corner onto Main Street, it was a completely different castle looking back at us. A beautiful, NEW castle! Comparing the rides was so much fun, too. Pirates of the Caribbean is longer and better, while Splash Mountain isn't quite as great. Winnie the Pooh is similar, yet all the scenes are kind of mixed up and the story doesn't quite flow as well as the WDW ride (or is that just my opinion?) We loved doing rides that were completely new to us also - especially the Matterhorn and the Alice in Wonderland ride (my favorite Disney film)! Pinnochio was fun (although I found the part where Monstro comes up at you with his mouth open pretty scary!), Roger Rabbit was great, and we had a blast playing with all the stuff in Toontown. If only Mickey's Toontown Fair in WDW was as good. sigh.
i was terrified about flying, but the flights were really pretty smooth, just like you all said they would be. Thanks, guys! One unexpected hitch was when our flight out from Orange County to Chicago was delayed due to "mechanical issues". This meant we'd be missing our connecting flight to Providence, RI when we got to Chicago. It also happened to be the last flight out to Providence. So, after some quick panicking and freaking out, the very kind ticket agent got us on the first flight out the next day, and the airline paid for us to stay the night in Chicago! An interesting and pretty exciting unexpected adventure for us. We missed a bit of work on Tuesday, but everyone was okay with it.
So, we're home again, and missing it already! Can't wait to get back and spend a little more time in Disneyland, just to explore and pick up on all the little things. I LOVED IT!!!
It seems like we were constantly having to redirect my DS5 away from characters at DL but not so much in the World (he is NOT a fan)
