Just back - magical, but VERY crowded, trip!

Satchmo128

I could ride Expedition Everest over and over...
Joined
May 6, 2010
Messages
1,242
We got home late Tuesday night from our 4-day trip to the golden state. We were in the parks (with park hopper tickets) Saturday through mid-day Tuesday and made it our priority to make it to rope drop almost every day. This meant some very early mornings by the end of the trip, lol. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn Marriott and took mid-afternoon breaks every day to rest and put on warmer clothes. The temps barely got above 65 any day and we got rained on Sunday night. All in all, it was a lovely vacation, but we definitely had to pack our patience once we got to mid-afternoon each day since there were so many people, especially in Disneyland Park. We found ourselves hopping over to CA Adventure a LOT because of the crowds.

We really enjoyed the Big Thunder BBQ restaurant (it was our first time!) and we are sad to see it go now that we have experienced the fun. We had lunch at Carnation Cafe and were eating when we saw Dick Van Dyke go through the parade route! He was there celebrating his 90th birthday. So fun! We also saw Josh Gad in line for RSR. Finally, we had lunch at Blue Bayou on our last full day (never disappoints).

A few notes from this trip:

- Crowds were much better on Tuesday than they were the prior three days of the trip.
- Towmater's Junkyard Jamboree is my new favorite ride. It makes me giggle the entire time!
- The cast member Timmy who works at ToT was amazing. His theatrics made the entire ride memorable from start to finish. We even stopped by GR on the way out of the parks to make sure he got a shout-out for being awesome.
- Hyperspace Mountain is worth a ride, but only first thing in the morning (or with a FP) so you don't have to wait 90+ minutes.
- Rancho Del Zocalo (sp?) remains to be my favorite counter service restaurant.
- Small World Holiday is adorable and much more tolerable than the regular Small World ride.
- Mid-afternoon breaks are a must if you want to get up early AND stay late.
- Enjoy BEING in Disney! It is a magical place!!

Let me know if you have any questions! :)
 
Last edited:

Thanks for the report! I'm so eager for our trip to be here... just two weeks left! I haven't told my kids, so it's killing me. I can't wait for them to find out on Christmas day so we can talk about it!

(By the way, it's the Golden state. Sunshine state is Florida :)).
 
Last edited:
sounds about right; they always say Christmas is the busiest time of the year there

also good to know about Hyperspace Mountain; I've been wondering how high of a priority I should make it, since I'm torn between its very existence (Space Mountain is one of my favorite things ever, but I've never been a very big Star Wars fan)...perhaps I can get away with riding it once
 
Towmater's Junkyard Jamboree is my new favorite ride. It makes me giggle the entire time!

I'm with you - before you first ride it looks kinda kiddie - but we all had soooo much fun on this ride and rode it several times :D
 
Thanks for the report! I'm so eager for our trip to be here... just two weeks left! I haven't told my kids, so it's killing me. I can't wait for them to find out on Christmas day so we can talk about it!

(By the way, it's the Golden state. Sunshine state is Florida :)).

Oops! Ha ha, I edited my post :)
 












Receive up to $1,000 in Onboard Credit and a Gift Basket!
That’s right — when you book your Disney Cruise with Dreams Unlimited Travel, you’ll receive incredible shipboard credits to spend during your vacation!
CLICK HERE


New Posts





DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter DIS Bluesky

Back
Top Bottom