Just back! Some reflections (Villas at Disneyland Hotel, 11/20-22/25)

[megankj]

Thanks again everyone, for responding to my questions leading up to our trip! While we dealt with some rain and some crowds at different points, it was ultimately a great visit- thanks in part to going in as prepared as we were.

Details: me and my girlfriend, visiting from San Diego to celebrate (a couple weeks belatedly) her 40th birthday, staying in a Duo Studio Preferred View at the Disneyland Hotel (Villas) using the Costco tickets.

Hotel:

• The room was plenty of space for the two of us, and we had no issues with the Murphy bed. Our mattress at home is too soft for both of us, so we appreciated the chance to sleep on something a bit firmer! I would have loved a cushier blanket, but that didn't keep us from sleeping like the dead after long park days!
• The shower was amazing, especially after coming back soaked on Thursday night. Guest laundry came in clutch that night as well to dry things out.
• Taking an extended break to visit Trader Sam's, the hot tub, and pool on Friday afternoon might have been my favorite part of the trip.
• I did wish it was closer to the parks at the end of the day. Walking through the Grand Californian and realizing we still had a decent walk through Downtown Disney at the end of a long day made the contrast feel bigger than it objectively was. We used the monorail a lot, except for morning arrivals and our last night when we needed to make a final World of Disney stop.
• The entire process was really smooth and well designed- from app check-in and direct-to-room service (we arrived at 6:30am and got the text that our room was ready just after 1), to the parking situation.
• In general, we loved this place! I would come back just for a hotel stay

Crowds:

• Thursday was quite manageable, with a plan and lightning lane (see below). Starting with Early Entry, we hit Space Mountain, Rise of the Resistance, Haunted Mansion Holiday, Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, the Mark Twain, Tiana's, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run, along with a couple food stops and a round of drinks at Oga's before getting the message that our room was ready and grabbing the monorail to the hotel. On Thursday evening, between the rain and lightning lane we were able to hit Guardians, Incredicoaster, Toy Story, WEBSlingers, Mater's, and Soarin starting just before 6, and finishing just after 8 when we headed to the WOC dessert party.
• Friday also wasn't bad, though it did pick up in the evening. Before leaving the park around 11:30, we hit the following at DCA, starting during early entry: Guardians, Radiator Springs Racers (single rider, getting into Cars Land just ahead of the regular rope droppers), Mater's, Incredicoaster, Little Mermaid, Monsters Inc, Holiday Storytime with Deadpool, the Spiderman show, and Grizzly River Run. At DL in the evening, we did Star Tours, the Walt Disney Story, Haunted Mansion Holiday, Pirates, Matterhorn, Buzz, Autopia, Mad Tea Party, It's a Small World Holiday, Storybookland, and the Astro Orbitor.
• Saturday was where the crowds really hurt us- but thankfully, since our previous days were so productive, it wasn't a big deal. We started with Early Entry in Fantasyland tackling: Peter Pan, Alice, Snow White, Pinnochio, and Mr. Toad, followed by Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway- which was the plan, but did take much longer than anticipated to get through. Then we took the train to New Orleans square and did the canoes, the treehouse, and the Tiki Room with a couple snack stops, and were ready to hit up the Emporium and hop over to DCA around noon. At DCA, the plan really went off the rails and between crowds and a cavalcade, all we were able to accomplish was ordering our festival food for later, before taking a mid-day break at Hearthstone Lounge at the Grand Californian. After returning, we only did Soarin, an aborted mission to the Animation Academy (there were 200 people in line and they let us know we'd have to wait at least 45 mins!) and some festival food before hopping back to Disneyland for evening entertainment.

Lightning Lane:

• On Thursday, LL worked really well for us as designed. We were able to get a few for later morning in DL which we worked around some short standby waits, and then stack for the evening in DCA. Fishing using Indy was a fail that morning, but it didn't hinder us at all. In addition to those LLs we stacked for the evening, we were able to use some that probably weren't really needed to hit a couple lower priority rides as well, which got us ahead of our plan and helped in the subsequent days.
• Since we worked ahead on Thursday, on Friday we didn't need many lightning lanes, which meant I was able to use them to fish- primarily with Goofy's Sky School. We ended up with three of those lower tier multi-experience passes, and one higher tier when Matterhorn went down later in the day. This made our evening incredibly smooth, using lightning lanes for every planned ride that took them without worrying about return times.
• We didn't use lightning lane much on Saturday, since we'd covered most of those attractions already and honestly, with the crowds, the return times ended up in the evening very quickly and I wasn't having much luck moving things up by modifying and refreshing. I tried to fish most of the day with much less success, though WEBSlingers did go down in the evening, giving us of the top tier MEP that appeared late in the day and went unused, since we were focused on entertainment by that point and way too tired to worry about utilizing it for a repeat.
• In general, I recommend booking a LL whenever you are eligible, focusing on things that may go down if you're not needing to use one the way they are intended at a particular time. You don't lose anything, and if you end up with one or more MEPs, it really opens you up for a fun day.

Weather:

• We were pleasantly surprised with cloudy but mostly dry weather on Thursday (daytime) and Friday.
• Thursday night was our most significant rain- which cleared out the crowds at DCA and made for a fun few hours! The Incredicoaster had been down, and we were surprised by finding it open and a walk-on as we headed toward our TSMM lightning lane. Riding that in the rain was a different experience! Fun, but not necessarily one I need to repeat, lol.
• The WOC Dessert Party cast members tried to make it a positive experience, but honestly- I'd consider canceling this if you have it booked for a night that looks like heavy rain, especially if you have kids or older folks who get cold easily. They greeted us with hot chocolate, and the evening's cocktail was a spiked hot cider- but they could only do so much! No one even opened their boxes since they would have filled with water, though we did enjoy snacking on them when we got back to the room. During the show, there was a literal waterfall off the table into my lap, and we were both shivering quite dramatically by the end of the show, even though we had our good raincoats on. The guest laundry room at the Villas at the Disneyland Hotel came in clutch to make sure our shoes, backpack, etc, were dry for the next day!
• Saturday was supposed to be our best weather day, but we were surprised to wake up to cool, gray, and blustery weather. That system blowing in must have been enough to cancel Friday night's fireworks, but thankfully it calmed down so we could see them on Saturday.
• I didn't see Luigi's running at any point during our visit, though it may have been open Thursday before we hopped over.

Food and Drinks:

• We enjoyed everything we tried! Our strategy was to share things so we could have more variety.
• Favorites included: clam chowder in a bread bowl, breakfast chimichanga, the garden spread at Docking Bay 7, Mickey Gingerbread, the cheese fry poutine at Palm Breeze, beignets (regular with the chocolate peppermint dip), churros of course, and the fish tacos at Lamplight Lounge Boardwalk Dining which was the best thing we had. Hearthstone Lounge was a sleeper hit- we shared the Cobb salad and the French onion soup, which was perfect for a mid-day break from the Saturday crowds!
• The Cafe de Olla cold brew was stand out, and the Asgardian Apple one surprised me! The sugar cookie one at Troubadour Tavern was ok, but the Snickerdoodle one at Hungry Bear was the worst thing we tried all visit.
• We had good cocktails at Lamplight/Boardwalk, Hearthstone, and Trader Sam's.
• Cafe Orleans was fine- I enjoyed the three cheese monte Cristo, but it's really heavy. Jess had an accidental chili flake exposure (she has an allergy, and it turns out it's in their caesar salad dressing) so our plan to share was thwarted. Thankfully our waiter was able to check with the kitchen and confirm the exposure quickly, so she was able to take meds and avoid it ruining the whole evening- but it did prevent her from eating much.

Seasonal Stuff and Entertainment:

• The parks look gorgeous! I really enjoyed the music fit to each area, though with a three day visit I wish the loops were longer because I was noticing lots of repeats by the end.
• We had planned to watch fireworks from Galaxy's Edge, but when they were canceled on Friday we ended up watching from Main Street on Saturday instead, so we could get to the second showing of Fantasmic. It may have been for the best, because I really enjoyed the snoap finale .
• While the weather was miserable, having a seat was worth it for World of Color!
• I'm glad we did the Fantasmic Dining Package, because the show is much more impactful up close. I might see if there is a way to do Rancho del Zocolo next time, if we could find a non-chili option for Jess.
• I get the hype about Haunted Mansion Holiday, even though I really didn't like Nightmare Before Christmas! I'm glad we managed to use lightning lane to ride IASW at night, because it was beautiful.
• I'm not a parade person, but I'm glad I saw the Christmas Fantasy one once.
• The Festival of Holidays had really limited options that appealed to us as vegetarians, and it was really too mobbed to enjoy. We had tried to watch Viva Navidad, but unfortunately missed out.

Stamina:

• Jess has an old knee injury that was acting up, and I really thought I had planned a low key trip- but it turns out not to have been the case! We logged 12 miles Thursday, 13 on Friday, and almost 10 on Saturday- even though we mostly just did entertainment. We're exhausted!
• It was nice to have the hotel nearby for breaks mid-day. On check-out day, we booked a lunch reservation at Hearthstone Lounge, which was probably the best idea we had all trip.
• Even with mid-day breaks, going from early entry to evening entertainment for three days is a lot. Since I do love the short waits in the morning and night-time, I think the answer for us will be longer breaks in between!