Initial Thoughts and Impressions—Final Update: Practically Perfect In Every Way

[Kender]

Today was/is our first DL day and it is AWESOME!! Genie+ has been worth every penny of its $15, and I'd pay more.

You did . It's $20/day at DLR . $15 is what it is at WDW.

Glad to hear you had a great visit

 

[PirateBrigade]

You did . It's $20/day at DLR . $15 is what it is at WDW.

Glad to hear you had a great visit

I, too, close my eyes when I mash the “purchase now” button on the Disney app

 

[katyringo]

Disneyland Hotel. It was a splurge to reward us for surviving the last two years intact

Awesome. We are set to stay there too and I am glad to hear about daily housekeeping!

 

[Mister Skellington]

Thanks for the great report is was fun to follow along!

 

[mdmost]

Awesome report. Glad you guys got that final day of Disney magic. Bonus points to your husband for thinking on his feet like that.

DD12 is still at an age where she would play along with things and not worry about being embarrassed. DD14 is too cool for that so it was hard to get her to try to interact with the characters. We did get a cool picture of the two of them with the Scarlet Witch. It was fun to get a few more of these moments before both leave the sweet age of adolescence.

 

[EmJ]

Awesome. We are set to stay there too and I am glad to hear about daily housekeeping!

Excellent! Just FYI, when we checked in, they told us housekeeping would be every other day unless requested otherwise. We were fine with every other day and didn’t ask for anything different, but they came every day anyway.

 

[Raech]

Mods, if this belongs in the Disneyland Community board, please move it and I extend my apologies. I couldn't tell, and we have a BTMR LL coming up

So, we made it!! And have had almost two full days in the park. I thought I'd post my initial thoughts and impressions, but I'll try to keep it brief. First--to those who have been saying there isn't a substitute for Disney because nothing else is LIKE Disney, I get it now. I'm a Universal lover at heart (ducks thrown tomatoes), but this place is special. My foot has yet to fall on any patch of land that is not themed to the nines, clean clean clean, and with someone helpful (either cast member or another guest) within an arm's length away. It's pretty neat.

Yesterday, was our first DCA day. Honestly, it was only okay, but I think a lot of that was us getting our bearings. Everything seemed spread out and hard to find, and we did a lot of backtracking. It also took me a bit to get the hang of the app and Genie+, so we weren't super efficient at the beginning. We spent most of our time in Avengers Campus, which doesn't have a lot to do, but made up for it in spades in character interactions. My son was chosen with four other children to play charades with Ant Man and the Wasp. He was over the moon! And we probably saw another 6-8 characters in addition and got Spidey's autograph. Outside of Avengers Campus, we experienced a lot of ride breakdowns, which was a bummer, but Soarin' worked just fine and everyone loved it. I'm not sold on DCA yet, but not ready to write it off either. We go back Thursday, wiser

Today was/is our first DL day and it is AWESOME!! Genie+ has been worth every penny of its $15, and I'd pay more. I can understand why people who are local or come a lot would not want to pay, and the standby lines are otherwise long. But for a once-ever-spare-no-expense trip, it is worth it. We did everything I planned over TWO days before 1:30 today, and we are headed back for more. Nothing has broken down, the boy got lots of autographs, food has been decent, and the theming and detail everywhere! Phenomenal. Hyperspace Mountain has been the surprising hit of the day. We didn't plan to do that one, but got talked into it by some other guests we met at rope drop, and we all ended up liking it a lot. If anyone heard a child scream, "THAT WAS SO EXCITING AND SCARY!!!" as the ride came to a stop, that was my kid He's asked to go again later this week.

Tomorrow is SWGE, which is definitely the most anticipated part of our trip. I'll keep you posted. And thanks again.

You totally paid $20 for Genie+ I am considering it this trip. Where do you see all the available ones and times in the app once you have bought Geie+ ? I have only used the old Maxpass. I assume they hold you to only one per LL attraction?

 

[Gypsybear]

Please send in your review and comments to Disney ("Contact Us" link at the bottom of the DLR webpage) -- management really needs to know what's working well and why. And make sure to give shout outs to all the character CMs who made your trip so memorable!

THIS! Can't stress this enough. We're all pretty good at complaining about stuff. Let's talk up the GOOD stuff too!!

 

[EmJ]

You totally paid $20 for Genie+ I am considering it this trip. Where do you see all the available ones and times in the app once you have bought Geie+ ? I have only used the old Maxpass. I assume they hold you to only one per LL attraction?

Everyone’s right, it was $20. Still totally worth it. You see the LL return times in the app under “Tip Board”. It shows each ride, the standby wait time, and then either current the LL or ILL return time if available on that ride. The LL/ILL return times are live links (buttons), so if you want to book it, you click button, choose the members of your party who will be riding, and hit “confirm”. It’s super easy. Then your confirmed LL/ILL return time appears under “My Day” until used.

 

[EmJ]

THIS! Can't stress this enough. We're all pretty good at complaining about stuff. Let's talk up the GOOD stuff too!!

I did this! I actually did a survey from the Disneyland Hotel that included some park questions as well, and gave everything high marks. Then I sent in a completely separate email to the “contact us” form where I focused on other things like the park cleanliness, staff courtesy and help, Genie+/app experience, and especially the stand-out character interactions. Obviously I don’t know the cast members’ names, but by looking through my photos I could say, “Chewbacca, Wednesday, June 8 at 12:45” or whatever. Hopefully they can figure out who was on shift if they want to.

One thing I forgot to mention in all my trip reports is we did have two teenagers attempt to cut the entire line at Star Tours. Right when we were getting ready to load, they just pushed through. I called them out on it and they claimed they were “meeting someone”, which was an obvious lie, but I dropped it. When a cast member called for a “party of two”, they immediately jumped at the chance. Unfortunately for them, the cast member was not stupid, and had seen what happened. They were removed from the line and told they could take the stairs or elevator out of the building, lol. I didn’t include all these details in my email, but I did mention that line-cutters had been removed and that it was appreciated and an important lesson for my son to see. The policy at Legoland appears to be to “pretend you didn’t see it happen and hope nobody turns to fisticuffs in the ensuing fight”, so line cutting is epidemically bad in my experience. I appreciated the cast members enforcing the rules!

 

[Gypsybear]

I did this! I actually did a survey from the Disneyland Hotel that included some park questions as well, and gave everything high marks. Then I sent in a completely separate email to the “contact us” form where I focused on other things like the park cleanliness, staff courtesy and help, Genie+/app experience, and especially the stand-out character interactions. Obviously I don’t know the cast members’ names, but by looking through my photos I could say, “Chewbacca, Wednesday, June 8 at 12:45” or whatever. Hopefully they can figure out who was on shift if they want to.

One thing I forgot to mention in all my trip reports is we did have two teenagers attempt to cut the entire line at Star Tours. Right when we were getting ready to load, they just pushed through. I called them out on it and they claimed they were “meeting someone”, which was an obvious lie, but I dropped it. When a cast member called for a “party of two”, they immediately jumped at the chance. Unfortunately for them, the cast member was not stupid, and had seen what happened. They were removed from the line and told they could take the stairs or elevator out of the building, lol. I didn’t include all these details in my email, but I did mention that line-cutters had been removed and that it was appreciated and an important lesson for my son to see. The policy at Legoland appears to be to “pretend you didn’t see it happen and hope nobody turns to fisticuffs in the ensuing fight”, so line cutting is epidemically bad in my experience. I appreciated the cast members enforcing the rules!

They can definitely tell who was on shift when you give that level of detail, and yes, they do track them down.

I'm soooo glad that the CM took care of the line cutters. There's no need for that nonsense.

 

[gelatoni fan]

They can definitely tell who was on shift when you give that level of detail, and yes, they do track them down.

I'm soooo glad that the CM took care of the line cutters. There's no need for that nonsense.

I wish they would do as well for shows. I don't know how many times I've seen fights break out at the hub before fireworks from people going under the rope. Honestly, that front walkway needs to not exist there because people walking in front of the "front row" for a show just ruins those front row spots and it's dumb that people can slip under the ropes minutes before a show in front of people who waited 2 hours for those spots.

I also regularly see people slip the ropes for Fantasmic. It's annoying when people would do it for the Fastpass sections back in the day but I've also seen it for the dining sections.

 

[PirateBrigade]

I wish they would do as well for shows. I don't know how many times I've seen fights break out at the hub before fireworks from people going under the rope. Honestly, that front walkway needs to not exist there because people walking in front of the "front row" for a show just ruins those front row spots and it's dumb that people can slip under the ropes minutes before a show in front of people who waited 2 hours for those spots.

I also regularly see people slip the ropes for Fantasmic. It's annoying when people would do it for the Fastpass sections back in the day but I've also seen it for the dining sections.

Yeah, I make sure I get to know my fellow "front of the rope" people to my immediate right and left, and make sure there is pretty much zero distance in front between me and the rope. I also make eye contact with anyone who is eyeing the rope and the section, gotta hold that line!