Karin1984
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2012
A week ago I visited Disneyland in Anaheim. It was my second visit, my first visit was 10 years ago. I had 3 full days and 2 half days, with 5 day hopper tickets and I stayed at Motel 6.
I have been a highest tier annual passholder at Disneyland Paris for over 10 years. And while my park has many flaws, I still love it.
After having visited all the Disney parks in the world, Disneyland Anaheim is the one I would love to be an annual passholder as well. It is a great park for locals. I had a wonderful, relaxed time and I can’t wait to go back. Let’s hope it won’t take another 10 years.
Here are my (random) thoughts:
Anaheim versus Paris
Disneyland in Anaheim looks like my park, but with deliberate mistakes made. It feels similar, but different. Like how Frontierland and Adventureland are switched around in Paris. Whenever I thought ‘there should be a bathroom/store/whatever here’, it was often on the opposite site. So familiarizing myself with the park took a little bit longer. Also, your castle is sooo tiny
You can see that Paris has learned from the ‘mistakes’ made in the US. Disneyland Park in Paris is so much more spread out and they used much more space to decorate around the rides. Like how our castle is built upon a hill and has the space to breathe, same with our Haunted Mansion (Phantom Manor) ride, the area around the ride is huge and decorated. It is no doubt the prettiest Disney Park in the world (Yes, even over DisneySea Tokyo)
That doesn’t mean that Anaheim is not pretty. My favorite area was New Orleans with all the little shops, pretty and well-themed. Enjoyed the food booths in CA, with all the places to lounge and people watch, it really fitted well with the park. And one of the reasons I would love to be local to this park. I could totally see myself visiting and just hang out.
The crowds
The crowds didn’t impact my enjoyment of my visit to Anaheim much, however, it was the biggest downside. You can see and feel that it was built for smaller crowds, and that it’s not suitable for the masses of today. Granted, on my first and last day it was Grad Night, so, it was busier than a normal day. I did start to avoid Fantasyland or the walkway in Adventureland on these days. These areas are probably always crowded, but on the Non Grad Nights these didn’t feel as bad.
I had the similar feeling when I visited Prague in the Czech Republic, beautiful city. But also a medieval city with lots of tiny streets and alleys, which might still work when there are no tourists. But with millions a year coming to visit, it gets uncomfortable. This was not what the city was made for.
The days with Grad Nights were the worst, and if I ever visit again this time of year, I will avoid them. Saturday, Sunday, Monday were much more comfortable. Even on Mother’s Day it didn’t feel as crowded as it was on the Grad Night-days.
I thought the wait times were reasonable, but it felt busy. On my final day, which was Early Entry for Disney Hotel guests, I was able to do 4 rides in Tomorrowland within one hour: Buzz, Space, Autopia and Nemo. It would have been possible to also add Star Tours and Astro Orbiter. After 11am it became more crowded. On this day there was early entry at Disneyland Park.
Cast members
One thing that can determine the vibe of a Disney visit are the cast members.
I have had so many wonderful encounters with cast members during my visit. East coast cast members have a “Oh my God, best day ever!”-energy to hype up the crowds. The west coast cast members are less energetic, but I do believe I have had more sincere and genuine conversations than I would have in Disney World. Could have something to do with the scale of both resorts. It felt more laid back, more relaxed. And that was just what I needed for this vacation.
I know from a US pov French cast members in Paris can come across as rude and uninterested, but it is more a job like any other for most of them. We didn’t grow up with an uncle Walt and it’s not a lifelong dream to work for Disney.
From a European pov WDW cast members can came across as over the top or fake. Anaheim is almost a mix of both, very friendly and open like Americans are, but also more businesslike.
Whenever I said that I was from Europe, their first response was a unanimous: “Welcome”. And I think they all meant it. I felt welcome.
As I was fairly new to this park, I asked several of the CMs for recommendations for restaurants, or best spots for the fireworks and parade, and from there it usually resulted in a nice conversation.
If I had any criticism it was at the cast member working at Soarin’, who kept chewing gum when assigning our seats. I do no mind if someone chews gum while at work, but not in a guest-facing role. Please stop chewing when you are talking to a guest. But if this is the worst thing CMs in Anaheim do, they can consider themselves very lucky. Let’s call this an anomaly.
Oh, one very weird thing about cast members… I have never seen so many cast members yawn. It didn’t matter if they were inside or outside, at rides, in stores or doing crowd control. It happened so often I started to notice it more. Maybe they all had a late shift the day before?
Saw one guest with a shirt saying: “Disney needs to pay their cast members better”. They really need to, because they deserve it.
Also a noticeable difference with other Disney parks. I saw so many cast members (manager types) in regular clothes, with a jacket or in a dress. All with a trash grabber. The parks were definitely clean. Not that other parks are a mess, but I rarely see these cast members in other parks, maybe one at most during a visit and without a grabber. It might be small, and it might not be true and only for show, but it did make me feel these cast members were part of the team.
Disney castmember with great energy dancing near the Pixar Dance Party.
Pixiedust
On my second day I went to rope drop at California Adventure and was front and center of the rope at Guardians. Started talking to one of the CMs (Alena), that I came all the way from the Netherlands and that I hadn’t recovered from my flight yet. But hey, I was here for rope drop! A little bit after this conversation she left. When she returned, she asked if I wanted to be the first on Guardians for that day. And yes, I wanted to!
Alena took me out of the crowd and handed me over to two of her colleagues who walked me to the ride. Once inside, two other colleagues gave me a tour through the exhibit hall, which was really cool. I could take all the pictures I want, without any crowds. And then I was on my own in the office. The CM showed me some more hidden gems around the office.
And then I had to walk all by myself through a deserted hallway to the elevators. A bit scary.
Being solo on a ride vehicle is always awesome (had it only happen to me once, on Pirates in Paris, when France was playing the world cup finale), but this was really special and some good old pixiedust.
The CM who handled my elevator even gave me a return-at-anytime-card to re-ride Guardians whenever I wanted that day. It was a great start of the day. So thanks to Alena, Ivana, Sophia and Alondra for making this first full day a special one.
I have been a highest tier annual passholder at Disneyland Paris for over 10 years. And while my park has many flaws, I still love it.
After having visited all the Disney parks in the world, Disneyland Anaheim is the one I would love to be an annual passholder as well. It is a great park for locals. I had a wonderful, relaxed time and I can’t wait to go back. Let’s hope it won’t take another 10 years.
Here are my (random) thoughts:
Anaheim versus Paris
Disneyland in Anaheim looks like my park, but with deliberate mistakes made. It feels similar, but different. Like how Frontierland and Adventureland are switched around in Paris. Whenever I thought ‘there should be a bathroom/store/whatever here’, it was often on the opposite site. So familiarizing myself with the park took a little bit longer. Also, your castle is sooo tiny
You can see that Paris has learned from the ‘mistakes’ made in the US. Disneyland Park in Paris is so much more spread out and they used much more space to decorate around the rides. Like how our castle is built upon a hill and has the space to breathe, same with our Haunted Mansion (Phantom Manor) ride, the area around the ride is huge and decorated. It is no doubt the prettiest Disney Park in the world (Yes, even over DisneySea Tokyo)
That doesn’t mean that Anaheim is not pretty. My favorite area was New Orleans with all the little shops, pretty and well-themed. Enjoyed the food booths in CA, with all the places to lounge and people watch, it really fitted well with the park. And one of the reasons I would love to be local to this park. I could totally see myself visiting and just hang out.
The crowds
The crowds didn’t impact my enjoyment of my visit to Anaheim much, however, it was the biggest downside. You can see and feel that it was built for smaller crowds, and that it’s not suitable for the masses of today. Granted, on my first and last day it was Grad Night, so, it was busier than a normal day. I did start to avoid Fantasyland or the walkway in Adventureland on these days. These areas are probably always crowded, but on the Non Grad Nights these didn’t feel as bad.
I had the similar feeling when I visited Prague in the Czech Republic, beautiful city. But also a medieval city with lots of tiny streets and alleys, which might still work when there are no tourists. But with millions a year coming to visit, it gets uncomfortable. This was not what the city was made for.
The days with Grad Nights were the worst, and if I ever visit again this time of year, I will avoid them. Saturday, Sunday, Monday were much more comfortable. Even on Mother’s Day it didn’t feel as crowded as it was on the Grad Night-days.
I thought the wait times were reasonable, but it felt busy. On my final day, which was Early Entry for Disney Hotel guests, I was able to do 4 rides in Tomorrowland within one hour: Buzz, Space, Autopia and Nemo. It would have been possible to also add Star Tours and Astro Orbiter. After 11am it became more crowded. On this day there was early entry at Disneyland Park.
Cast members
One thing that can determine the vibe of a Disney visit are the cast members.
I have had so many wonderful encounters with cast members during my visit. East coast cast members have a “Oh my God, best day ever!”-energy to hype up the crowds. The west coast cast members are less energetic, but I do believe I have had more sincere and genuine conversations than I would have in Disney World. Could have something to do with the scale of both resorts. It felt more laid back, more relaxed. And that was just what I needed for this vacation.
I know from a US pov French cast members in Paris can come across as rude and uninterested, but it is more a job like any other for most of them. We didn’t grow up with an uncle Walt and it’s not a lifelong dream to work for Disney.
From a European pov WDW cast members can came across as over the top or fake. Anaheim is almost a mix of both, very friendly and open like Americans are, but also more businesslike.
Whenever I said that I was from Europe, their first response was a unanimous: “Welcome”. And I think they all meant it. I felt welcome.
As I was fairly new to this park, I asked several of the CMs for recommendations for restaurants, or best spots for the fireworks and parade, and from there it usually resulted in a nice conversation.
If I had any criticism it was at the cast member working at Soarin’, who kept chewing gum when assigning our seats. I do no mind if someone chews gum while at work, but not in a guest-facing role. Please stop chewing when you are talking to a guest. But if this is the worst thing CMs in Anaheim do, they can consider themselves very lucky. Let’s call this an anomaly.
Oh, one very weird thing about cast members… I have never seen so many cast members yawn. It didn’t matter if they were inside or outside, at rides, in stores or doing crowd control. It happened so often I started to notice it more. Maybe they all had a late shift the day before?
Saw one guest with a shirt saying: “Disney needs to pay their cast members better”. They really need to, because they deserve it.
Also a noticeable difference with other Disney parks. I saw so many cast members (manager types) in regular clothes, with a jacket or in a dress. All with a trash grabber. The parks were definitely clean. Not that other parks are a mess, but I rarely see these cast members in other parks, maybe one at most during a visit and without a grabber. It might be small, and it might not be true and only for show, but it did make me feel these cast members were part of the team.
Disney castmember with great energy dancing near the Pixar Dance Party.
Pixiedust
On my second day I went to rope drop at California Adventure and was front and center of the rope at Guardians. Started talking to one of the CMs (Alena), that I came all the way from the Netherlands and that I hadn’t recovered from my flight yet. But hey, I was here for rope drop! A little bit after this conversation she left. When she returned, she asked if I wanted to be the first on Guardians for that day. And yes, I wanted to!
Alena took me out of the crowd and handed me over to two of her colleagues who walked me to the ride. Once inside, two other colleagues gave me a tour through the exhibit hall, which was really cool. I could take all the pictures I want, without any crowds. And then I was on my own in the office. The CM showed me some more hidden gems around the office.
And then I had to walk all by myself through a deserted hallway to the elevators. A bit scary.
Being solo on a ride vehicle is always awesome (had it only happen to me once, on Pirates in Paris, when France was playing the world cup finale), but this was really special and some good old pixiedust.
The CM who handled my elevator even gave me a return-at-anytime-card to re-ride Guardians whenever I wanted that day. It was a great start of the day. So thanks to Alena, Ivana, Sophia and Alondra for making this first full day a special one.
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