Maybe the Luckiest Trip to Disneyland Ever (6/22-6/29/14): Updated 7/7/14- Finished!

[poodledogs55]

Introduction​

Hello Everyone! My name is Colleen, I'm 23, and I have been a lurker on the boards for a long time, since I started planning our Christmas 2013 Disney Cruise almost three years ago. My parents and I took our first trip to Disneyland and California last week and the Disboards have been so helpful that I decided to pay it forward and write a trip report, reviews, and tips and tricks that we learned after our first visit. We traveled from 6/22-6/29, visiting Hollywood for 1 day, Disneyland for 3 days, and San Diego for 2 days. I've been to Disney World about 6 times, so I'll try to throw in some comparisons. However, I quickly learned that DL and WDW are more different than they appear

Flight​

We booked with Southwest and were fortunate enough to get direct flights to California and back. This was especially great because we were coming from the east coast. We flew into LAX, which really was very easy. Yes, it's a large airport, but it was a straight shot from where we disembarked to where we got our luggage to where we picked up the shuttle for our rental car.

Tips: I found that watching movies on my iPad really helped pass the time. If you have a 5+ hour flight like we did, Mary Poppins is great because it is as long as almost half of your flight. Also, we didn't have any meals available, so we brought prepackaged meals called Go Picnic (available at Target and grocery stores) and they do not contain any liquids, so they were really easy to get through security.

Rental Car​

We rented from Alamo and would definitely rent from there again. Within maybe 15-20 minutes, the shuttle picked us up from LAX and got us to the location where you pick up the car. It only took my dad about 15 minutes to fill out the paperwork and get the car. I believe for a midsized car it was about $270 for the week. We had no problems with it at all and it got great gas mileage (Hyundai Accent).

Tip: We used the Google Maps app, which is available for Android and iPhones for free, to get everywhere. It not only gave turn by turn directions, but also instructed you which lanes to stay in, which was helpful with CA's crazy highways. However, if you do this, definitely bring a car charger for your phone.

Hotel​

Seeing so many great recommendations here, we decided to stay at Candy Cane Inn. It was every bit as great as everyone said it is. Parking was easy and free, the breakfast was sufficient enough for us, the room was clean and a good size (we stayed in a deluxe room), it was quiet, the walk was very easy, quick, and safe, the shuttle was a nice perk (though we used it once), and the free water in the lobby was perfect after a long day. We never used the pool, but it looked clean and they offered towels. I highly recommend CCI to anyone considering an off property hotel. It was about $160/night with my parents' AARP discount (I think the AAA is the same discount).

Downtown Disney and Hollywood​

Our first night, we didn't have any big plans. We just went to Downtown Disney and Trader Sam's. I loved how Downtown Disney was just a quick walk. It was just a minor inconvenience to have your bag checked when walking through the area between the parks when we weren't even visiting the parks. However, it does make it easier when park hopping to only go through one bag check.

Tips:
1. I highly recommend visiting Trader Sam's. If you do, order a Krakatoa Punch, Uh Oa, or Shipwrecked on the Rocks for a fun surprise. We were going to eat dinner there as well, but when we walked in, we couldn't find a table. We decided to just eat at Tangaroa Terrace, which has a similar menu. By the time we were done, Trader Sam's had cleared out and we found a table.

2. We tried to ride the monorail from Downtown Disney and back again. However, as a Disneyland newbie, I didn't know non-ticket holders couldn't ride the monorail. This was a disappointment, but we did ride later in the week on one of our park days. Also, when you ride from Downtown Disney, you have to get off at Tomorrowland. You can't stay on. For you Disney World vets, the monorail isn't really that useful as a mode of transportation and they don't say "Por favor mantengese alejado de las puertas," but it's still fun to ride regardless!

Hollywood: I'm not going to go into much detail, but we did the Paramount Studios tour and I highly recommend this tour for any movie fan. If you have any questions about it, I'd be happy to give a more detailed review.

Disneyland!! ​

We visited Disneyland on 6/24-6/26 (Tues-Thurs). My mom and I had 3 day park hoppers, but my dad only came to California Adventure with us. He's not a huge theme park person, so he was happy to find some beaches and state parks to occupy his other days with.

Way.com: We ordered our tickets from way.com, after I read about it on here. They were offering a great deal on 3 day park hoppers: adult tickets at the child's price ($235 per person, I believe) and my dad's one day/one park ticket was about $83. This was before Disney increased ticket prices. Overall, we saved about $73, factoring in the price increase. About 10 minutes after we placed our order, someone from customer service called to tell us we would receive our tickets in 24 hours, which we did. When we got to the parks, we had no problems exchanging our vouchers for our hard tickets. I highly recommend this site and they seemed to have the lowest prices of any other site I checked.

Ridemax: Ridemax was possibly the BEST investment we made in this trip!! I cannot thank those of you who recommended this program enough! Ridemax was very easy to use and we never waited more than 15-20 minutes for any ride in either park, except for Star Tours. I HIGHLY recommend using Ridemax, but especially for newbies. The time you save from trying to decide what to do next is in itself worth the price. Customer service was also great. I emailed Ridemax after hearing RSR fastpass was disconnected and they updated their program immediately.

Tips:
1. If you are using Ridemax on your phone, bring a portable phone charger. That way you can charge your phone while you're in line for a ride or eating lunch. The plans are also very easy to print out.
2. A few times, we got behind on our plans. It was very easy to just make a new plan instead of trying to catch up.

California Adventure
Both my parents and I went to California Adventure on Tuesday 6/24. I won't describe what we did step by step, but will summarize our experience. Overall, we really enjoyed this park. It was very clean and crowds seemed to be low. My dad even said it was his favorite Disney park. We had lots of luck this day with wait times and no ride closures. We never waited more than 15-20 minutes for any ride all day. We finished doing all we wanted by about 4:00, had dinner at Flo's V8 Cafe (YUM) and were able to take a 2.5 hour break before we got ready for World of Color.

My mom and I later parkhopped to CA Adventure on Thursday 6/26. However, this was the only time we ran into ride closures. RSR single rider was down, as was the Golden Zephyr. Therefore, we only went through the Red Creek Challenge and I rode Jumpin' Jellyfish that day.

Tips:
1. As many others recommend, get to the park by rope drop, veer right, past Soarin, and head straight back to ride TSMM. Then, ride CA Screamin' or 1-2 more rides of your choice. Wait to get RSR fastpasses about 1 hour after park opening. We got our fastpass at about 8:45 for a return time of 12:30.

2. World of Color: I learned this "trick" by accident. I will do the best I can to explain. We got fastpasses for the blue section around 2:30 and got back to the park about 1.5 hours in advance to get a spot. We went to the blue "loading area," but didn't realize initially that you wait there until they tell you to move into the blue areas. We were positioned at the railing, behind a walkway and the area roped off for guests with special needs. We didn't want to move from the railing and asked the CM if we could stay there, which he said we were able to do. Technically they open this area up to guests without fastpasses, but not until after the blue section is filled. We had a good view without fighting the crowds filling in the blue areas. The only problem with being behind the handicapped area was that there were many guests trying to "sneak" into that roped off area, which was distracting during the show. The CM in charge did the best she could to prevent this from happening, though.

3. Do not miss the Sorcerer's Workshop in the Animation building in Hollywood Land. It's a great area for a break, wasn't very crowded, and had awesome exhibits and activities to check out including the Beast's library and a quiz to find out what Disney character you are.

Next up: Our Disneyland days and Fantasmic Dessert Package

 

[luulu1999]

following along! i have considered ridemax but a little nervous about it I am afraid we wouldn't utilize its full potential.

 

[poodledogs55]

following along! i have considered ridemax but a little nervous about it I am afraid we wouldn't utilize its full potential.

Thank you! It was $15 for a 90 day subscription, so the price was very reasonable. You pick the time of day you will start, finish, and take breaks. Then you choose which rides you will do. I will warn you that the plans do have you moving back and forth a little bit, rather than staying in one area of the park. I know we never stuck to it perfectly, but still ended up with large chunks of the day where we could take breaks and just do what we wanted. It can't really hurt to give it a shot and see how it goes! (And I'm really not a spokesperson for Ridemax. I just feel like I sound like one )

 

[poodledogs55]

It was getting pretty lengthy up top, so I'm continuing the rest of my report down here.

Disneyland
My mom and I visited Disneyland on Wednesday (6/25) and Thursday (6/26). The waits at DL, overall, were a bit longer than those at CA Adventure and crowds were a bit worse. I now understand what everyone means when they say the walkways "bottleneck." This was very apparent in Adventureland and Frontierland. However, thanks to Ridemax, our wait times still never exceeded 20 minutes (except for Star Tours). Comparing Disneyland to Disney World, all of the rides common to both parks were better at DL, except for Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, and Snow White (in my opinion). Pirates was awesome and so was BTMR! We used our Magic Morning on Thursday and to be honest, I wasn't thrilled with it. Crowds were really bad because they concentrate everyone in Fantasyland, especially since two Tomorrowland rides were closed. I'm not sure I would bother getting up that early next time.

Fantasmic Dessert Package
Fantasmic is my favorite show at WDW and Disneyland. After dealing with the crowds and standing up for 2+ hours at World of Color, I was SO glad we splurged. I highly recommend the dessert package for those of you who have never seen Fantasmic or are DL first-timers. I also agree that it would much better if Disney would just assign seats in advance, rather than having to line up for an hour to get front row seats. Even though there were only a few people in front of us when we lined up, they were representing large groups and there were no front row seats left. My mom and I really lucked out with our seats anyway. We were seated in "B Rope" and had two seats by ourselves, away from everyone else. It was perfect!! Unfortunately, this area is only for 2-3 people though. Overall, I think Fantasmic is a little better at WDW just because the stage is bigger and seating is better. However, DL's use of the Columbia AND the Riverboat was really neat!

Breakfast with Minnie and Friends
My mom and I had breakfast at the Plaza Inn on Thursday after our Magic Morning. The character interactions were awesome! Chip and Dale made fun of Captain Hook the entire time and it was hilarious! However, I didn't see Minnie moving through the restaurant at all. Not until we were leaving, did I realize you had to line up outside to get a picture, which I did. The food itself was just OK. If I had to compare it to anywhere in WDW, it would be the Crystal Palace, which is much better. I think I'd try another character breakfast next time.

Cons​

Luckily this section will be very short!
1. I thought the food at WDW is slightly better than DL, but mainly because there's more variety.
2. Ride closures: There were 3 major rides closed for refurbishment when we were there (Space Mountain, Alice in Wonderland, and Finding Nemo). This is where WDW gets some major points over DL. Even when they have major events planned, WDW never closes headliner rides during the peak season. I would advise anyone to check ride closures before they book their trip to ensure they're not disappointed. Luckily, we went anticipating these rides to be closed. I just wish I had $1 for every time I heard someone else complain about Space Mt being closed.
3. This con is minor, but I did miss being in the "bubble." I love riding the Magical Express, staying at a Disney resort, having a meal plan, and even taking Disney transportation (up to a point). However, the ability to walk everywhere made up for this.
4. World of Color: My parents really enjoyed this show. However, I could take it or leave it. What really turned me off was having to get there so early, still getting an obstructed view, and having to stand for so long. Next time, I'd watch from the bar with the lobster nachos.

Tips:
1. Dole whips are now lactose free. I was SO happy to find this out as I have a slight lactose intolerance. I had a float and had no problems. I believe they are also gluten free and vegan as well. However, if you have a dietary concern, double check first.
2. Rainforest Cafe: My parents and I ate here on our last night in Anaheim. The last time I went to one was about 10 years ago, when they still had a location in Maryland. I'm not sure if this is a new system, but when you check in, they give you a ticket that tells you a time to check back in for your meal. This allows you to walk around without worrying about missing your name from being called.
3. If Main Street is really crowded, cut through the stores, since they're all connected. This worked for us many times, especially during parades and after fireworks.
4. King Arthur Carrousel: Try to ride Jingles if you can! This was the horse used in Saving Mr. Banks and was Walt Disney's favorite horse. I was able to do this and it was the highlight of my trip. I'll try to post a picture.

Conclusions​

Initially, I was a bit skeptical. I was not sure how much I'd like DL after reading about ride closures and refurbishments, rude CMs, and rude guests. However, we were LUCKY not to run into any of these problems! We rode every ride at the right time, had amazing weather, friendly CMs, and other than the occasional person stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, the guests seemed to be more relaxed than at WDW. I also found 3 days was a perfect length to do everything we wanted to do (but not do everything). If DL were closer, I'd already be planning my next trip. Unfortunately, the long flight is time and cost prohibitive to visit often. Overall, I DEFINITELY want to go back in the future!!​

San Diego​

We drove to San Diego for our last few days in CA. One day we did the hop on/hop off trolley tour. This was a great tour since you can go where you want. I do recommend allowing a full day for this. Then, we spent the next day at the San Diego Zoo, which was also a lot of fun. If you want to see everything, you'll need a full day. Flying out of San Diego was nice because it was a small airport. We were also able to drop off the rental car in San Diego, rather than having to drive back up to LA.

 

[DisneytheKid]

Great review! Thanks for sharing

 

[poodledogs55]

Great review! Thanks for sharing

Thank you so much!