coopersmom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2010
- Messages
- 839
We visited Disneyland from October 5-12 and I since so much I read here influenced our trip, I thought I'd share a bit of the good and bad here. Forgive me in advance, because I think these thoughts will be rather random and likely long-winded ...
First off, we are Disney World vets (trips in 2010, 2011) and this was our first real Disneyland vacation experience, after a few day trips scattered over 35 years time. We loved, LOVED the ease of getting from park to park, and from the park to the hotel. Being able to walk everywhere, quickly and easily was heaven. Not to mention no stroller for this trip made me feel light as a bird.
We were lucky enough to stay at the Grand Californian in a concierge room (thanks Gay Days rates!). I would say that neither "premium view" (which I was told was theme park up until I arrived, when they said, 'No it was either pool OR resort view' ... Guess which I received? Though I could see the top of Grizzly peak), nor the concierge service was "worth it" cost-wise. The pool view room was fine, as was the lounge, but the selection of food items and hours, was less than wonderful. They often opened a touch late--a big deal when you were trying to use early entry--and the lounge was totally locked up outside of hours (6:30 AM to 10 PM). The little glass bottles of soda seemed silly, as did asking for water and most other items. (Kind of a hassle.) My son, though, enjoyed playing some games and doing puzzles during our down time and ate an Uncrustable just about every day. The convenience of having the lounge, which by the way, is really tiny (the pictures I've seen must have been taken with a very wide angle), and has no real view, wasn't really that high, but the staff was always very pleasant.
All in all, love the location and "feel" of the Grand, and would stay there again in a heartbeat, but wouldn't spring for the upgrades if we do. Don't get me wrong, the view (room 6226) was nice, but not worth the extra I paid, I don't think, and now what I'd really call "theme park." (Pic below is sunrise and zoomed in quite a bit so it looks a little more special than it was.)
I'd also never stay for that long again, with the reduced ticket offerings (which I already griped about here and won't rehash). Though I will say that even with the time we did have (6 park days plus Halloween party) there was still plenty I was interested in that we never had time to do. Musical Chairs, the Halloween jamoboree, Innoventions, and on and on. So, there's plenty to do in Disneyland, even with "just" two parks.
And, I almost hesitate to mention this, but we also had a very negative experience in that we had some items go missing from our room, including $140 in cash. In hindsight, yes, we should have put it in the safe, but this was our emergency stash (they left $60), kept in a bank envelope in the bottom of my husband's backpack, which itself was zipped and in the closed closet, so it's not like it was left laying around in the open. We did alert the hotel, but they could say nothing other than "sorry," which I guess I understand. Just disappointing and creepy to think that someone with access to our room was clearly going through our stuff to find valuables. Lesson learned: trust no one, I guess, not even at Disney. (Though in our defense, the more minor stuff that vanished--and at first we thought it was just accidentally--couldn't have been kept in a safe.) I've stayed in a lot of hotels, and my husband travels for business constantly, and this is the first time either of us has ever lost anything to in-room theft.
I already talked about our early entry experience here and here, but will add that we loved the Grand private park entrance SOOO much, other than in the mornings. My son and husband frequently would pop into the park to ride Grizzly River Rapids after or before some pool time, or just to play in the Redwood Trial area, which my son adored. Such a luxury for those used to the trek everything is in Orlando. We could be at Carthay Circle, for instance, from our room in well under 10 minutes. Just amazing.
We did the Fantasmic Dessert party and while we didn't eat much in our package, having them bring you soda/coffee and having a real seat were a big plus. The show is much better than the one in Florida, but the seating situation is pretty out of control. Space saving for 2-3 hours in a tiny area or paying big bucks out of pocket is all kind of nuts!
World of Color is fan-freaking-tastic. Can't believe my husband missed it because he wasn't feeling well that night
. But, once again, the viewing situation is pretty crazy. My son had to be held to see anything and even with Carthay Circle preferred viewing, and arriving 45 minutes before showtime on a less busy weeknight, we still had an off-center and slightly obstructed, though very close, view, in part because everywhere else we tried to stand we were told was, "being saved." (On the steps, just above the wet area. We, by the way, didn't feel any water at all.) Still awesome though. Blew me away. Best Disney nighttime show I've seen. Ever. Smacking my forehead it took us until the last night to watch it, because I would have loved to see it more than once.
We also did several tours, including the Happiest Haunts and Discover the Magic. Both were HUGE hits with my five-year-old and getting to ride the rides without waits was a big bonus. I would do them all again. We also used the apparently controversial Brian with Mouse Expediations (see thread here), one day and were extremely happy with his services. Again, we went when it was very busy and these extra benefits really helped make our trip pleasant.
The Halloween Party itself was not as much fun as Disney World's version. The mini-parade ("cavalcade") can't help but pale in comparison, though we did see some people leaving with, literally, beach-sized HUGE totes heaped full of candy. Honestly, we went through only 3 "treat trails," took none ourselves (son only), and still ended up leaving most with Grandma and Grandpa after the trip. Crazy! Though I told my husband if you were local you could certainly help justify the cost of the tickets by taking home as much candy as you can carry and handing it out yourself for Halloween, in lieu of buying it at the store.
We didn't find as many cool characters available--though the talking scarecrows are fun--and just less energy overall than the Disney World iteration. It also seemed to take them a LONG time to clear the park of day guests, unlike in Orlando, though once they did (about two hours into party time I'd say, since the crowds had thinned by about half by that point) the lines were very reasonable for just about everything. We actually ended up using our party time to do a lot of rides vs. see the fireworks, since that required more waiting and space-saving that my little guy just wasn't up for. (We did see some of them up high but that's it.)
I was also disappointed in the Haunted Mansion Holiday. Even though we'd prepped our son by watching NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS right before we left, I still just found it kind of ho hum, and actually a lesser experience than the regular Haunted Mansion. I agree with the general consensus that most of the rides at Disneyland that are duped at DisneyWorld have an edge in California. Pirates, for one, is clearly superior.
We did an in-room Jack Skellington celebration and I was very impressed with the detail the cast members put into this. It was set-up beautifully and had a real wow factor. Spiderwebs all over the room, all the glowing stuff lit up and curtains drawn. Neat! Very pricy but kind of worth it for the effect. Much more so than the gift baskets, which are kind of, again, ho hum. Nothing bad, just not that exciting to receive (just a knock on the door) and when you factor in the up charge to have it delivered, in lieu of buying same items yourself, just not that interesting or special.
This picture doesn't really capture how cute it was, but it's the best I've got.
We also did one of the special hotel offerings, going to Ridemakerz one morning before opening. The extra attention was really nice. They greeted my son with a custom made lanyard and he had his own employee help him through every part of the process, including a "pit crew" assembly race with the other 4 people that had signed up. It felt very private and even though we ended up spending twice as much as the "special" price with accessories, it was a really enjoyable experience.
One area that wasn't so great, was ride malfunctions. Wow! What a hassle. One very busy day (October 6) when the park's crowd level was a 9 or 10 out of 10 according to Touring Plans, and lines at Pirates were 60 minutes long, both Big Thunder and Splash were down at the same time, for most of the afternoon. With Indy already out of commission, and Space Mountain also working only intermittently that morning, that's a large number of headliners to be down at one time with that much guest demand. Doubly frustrating given the cost and limits on admission (5-day ticket max).
And on only one day of the five early entry we had available, and tried to use, at California Adventure was Radiator Springs Racers up and running at park opening. One of those mornings Toy Story and Screamin' were also down, leaving a lot of angry people who had gotten up very early, and paid an awful lot for their hotels for this extra early entry "privilege." Disney really needs to work on their efficiency and uptime if they want to keep people coming back at their current price points.
That having been said, Carsland was AH-MAY-ZING. Just like walking into the movie. (Which, since I have a five-year-old boy, I've seen roughly 7 million times.) The entire California Adventure park, which I'd never been to before, was really special. On three of our days there we only went to California Adventure, and never even set foot in Disneyland. Oh and, the movie in Blue Sky Cellar about how Radiator Springs was developed is so worth your time. Super cute!
And, lastly (I warned you this would be random and long), the food ...
We ate twice at Napa Rose, once in the lounge and once at the Chef's Counter. Can't compare to Victoria and Albert's (sorry) but both were very good to excellent experiences. Wonderful food and fairly reasonably priced (for a restaurant) wine list. The scallops were, by far, the best thing. Truly transcendent and not even watching them make them during our Chef's Counter meal (using about a pound of Ghee, butter and cream for each scallop) could make me avoid them. The lounge seating is very kid-friendly and they can make it pretty quick if need be. The same menu is available and, honestly, if it was up to me we'd have eaten there every night.
We also had a lackluster Storyteller's breakfast. We saw only one character, and then only briefly. Nothing bad about the food, just not great.
The candy from Pooh Corner (??) and Marceline's, on the other hand, WAS just bad. Tried to try a Tigger Tail and it was so hard and stale we couldn't even bite into it. (Chocolate pretzel stick also stale, according to my sister.) And the fudge at Marceline's was equally old tasting and basically inedible. We threw it all away after one bite of each kind. With the turn around Disney must have with all those guests how do all their baked goods end up tasting days old?
We ate twice at Carthay Circle where the best thing about it was the pear martinis. The first was with my sister and we were walk-ins. The food was OK (tomato salad best thing we tried), but the service really pretty poor. We waited in the lounge about 45 minutes to get seated and weren't even offered drinks or water. Many people around us got up and left.
The second experience was with a reservation at an off time of day (3 PM), for World of Color Fastpasses, and I had high hopes it would be better, but the service was still bizarre. They screwed up my husband's order, forgetting his salad and then bringing it out with the entrees (same time) and then saying they "gifted" us with World of Color Fastpasses to make up for it ... Even though we'd all ordered two courses specifically for the FastPasses so they weren't a "gift" at all. Just weird. (They should have skipped the salad when they forgot it first time, taken it off the bill, and then still given us the FastPasses, which my husband didn't even end up using.)
When I ate with my sister, she had entree and dessert and didn't get a FastPass or even get asked if she wanted one. No big deal, since she didn't plan to use, but still frustrating. Both times we must have seen about 10 different servers during our meals, with the our "real" waiter/waitress only making an appearance at the beginning and end of the meal. Beautiful restaurant but the food and service just don't match up to the decor.
Whew! I think that's about it. Thanks everyone for your help here in planning. All in all, we really, REALLY enjoyed our family vacation and getting to explore Disneyland for the first time.
First off, we are Disney World vets (trips in 2010, 2011) and this was our first real Disneyland vacation experience, after a few day trips scattered over 35 years time. We loved, LOVED the ease of getting from park to park, and from the park to the hotel. Being able to walk everywhere, quickly and easily was heaven. Not to mention no stroller for this trip made me feel light as a bird.
We were lucky enough to stay at the Grand Californian in a concierge room (thanks Gay Days rates!). I would say that neither "premium view" (which I was told was theme park up until I arrived, when they said, 'No it was either pool OR resort view' ... Guess which I received? Though I could see the top of Grizzly peak), nor the concierge service was "worth it" cost-wise. The pool view room was fine, as was the lounge, but the selection of food items and hours, was less than wonderful. They often opened a touch late--a big deal when you were trying to use early entry--and the lounge was totally locked up outside of hours (6:30 AM to 10 PM). The little glass bottles of soda seemed silly, as did asking for water and most other items. (Kind of a hassle.) My son, though, enjoyed playing some games and doing puzzles during our down time and ate an Uncrustable just about every day. The convenience of having the lounge, which by the way, is really tiny (the pictures I've seen must have been taken with a very wide angle), and has no real view, wasn't really that high, but the staff was always very pleasant.
All in all, love the location and "feel" of the Grand, and would stay there again in a heartbeat, but wouldn't spring for the upgrades if we do. Don't get me wrong, the view (room 6226) was nice, but not worth the extra I paid, I don't think, and now what I'd really call "theme park." (Pic below is sunrise and zoomed in quite a bit so it looks a little more special than it was.)
I'd also never stay for that long again, with the reduced ticket offerings (which I already griped about here and won't rehash). Though I will say that even with the time we did have (6 park days plus Halloween party) there was still plenty I was interested in that we never had time to do. Musical Chairs, the Halloween jamoboree, Innoventions, and on and on. So, there's plenty to do in Disneyland, even with "just" two parks.
And, I almost hesitate to mention this, but we also had a very negative experience in that we had some items go missing from our room, including $140 in cash. In hindsight, yes, we should have put it in the safe, but this was our emergency stash (they left $60), kept in a bank envelope in the bottom of my husband's backpack, which itself was zipped and in the closed closet, so it's not like it was left laying around in the open. We did alert the hotel, but they could say nothing other than "sorry," which I guess I understand. Just disappointing and creepy to think that someone with access to our room was clearly going through our stuff to find valuables. Lesson learned: trust no one, I guess, not even at Disney. (Though in our defense, the more minor stuff that vanished--and at first we thought it was just accidentally--couldn't have been kept in a safe.) I've stayed in a lot of hotels, and my husband travels for business constantly, and this is the first time either of us has ever lost anything to in-room theft.
I already talked about our early entry experience here and here, but will add that we loved the Grand private park entrance SOOO much, other than in the mornings. My son and husband frequently would pop into the park to ride Grizzly River Rapids after or before some pool time, or just to play in the Redwood Trial area, which my son adored. Such a luxury for those used to the trek everything is in Orlando. We could be at Carthay Circle, for instance, from our room in well under 10 minutes. Just amazing.
We did the Fantasmic Dessert party and while we didn't eat much in our package, having them bring you soda/coffee and having a real seat were a big plus. The show is much better than the one in Florida, but the seating situation is pretty out of control. Space saving for 2-3 hours in a tiny area or paying big bucks out of pocket is all kind of nuts!
World of Color is fan-freaking-tastic. Can't believe my husband missed it because he wasn't feeling well that night
. But, once again, the viewing situation is pretty crazy. My son had to be held to see anything and even with Carthay Circle preferred viewing, and arriving 45 minutes before showtime on a less busy weeknight, we still had an off-center and slightly obstructed, though very close, view, in part because everywhere else we tried to stand we were told was, "being saved." (On the steps, just above the wet area. We, by the way, didn't feel any water at all.) Still awesome though. Blew me away. Best Disney nighttime show I've seen. Ever. Smacking my forehead it took us until the last night to watch it, because I would have loved to see it more than once.We also did several tours, including the Happiest Haunts and Discover the Magic. Both were HUGE hits with my five-year-old and getting to ride the rides without waits was a big bonus. I would do them all again. We also used the apparently controversial Brian with Mouse Expediations (see thread here), one day and were extremely happy with his services. Again, we went when it was very busy and these extra benefits really helped make our trip pleasant.
The Halloween Party itself was not as much fun as Disney World's version. The mini-parade ("cavalcade") can't help but pale in comparison, though we did see some people leaving with, literally, beach-sized HUGE totes heaped full of candy. Honestly, we went through only 3 "treat trails," took none ourselves (son only), and still ended up leaving most with Grandma and Grandpa after the trip. Crazy! Though I told my husband if you were local you could certainly help justify the cost of the tickets by taking home as much candy as you can carry and handing it out yourself for Halloween, in lieu of buying it at the store.
We didn't find as many cool characters available--though the talking scarecrows are fun--and just less energy overall than the Disney World iteration. It also seemed to take them a LONG time to clear the park of day guests, unlike in Orlando, though once they did (about two hours into party time I'd say, since the crowds had thinned by about half by that point) the lines were very reasonable for just about everything. We actually ended up using our party time to do a lot of rides vs. see the fireworks, since that required more waiting and space-saving that my little guy just wasn't up for. (We did see some of them up high but that's it.)
I was also disappointed in the Haunted Mansion Holiday. Even though we'd prepped our son by watching NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS right before we left, I still just found it kind of ho hum, and actually a lesser experience than the regular Haunted Mansion. I agree with the general consensus that most of the rides at Disneyland that are duped at DisneyWorld have an edge in California. Pirates, for one, is clearly superior.
We did an in-room Jack Skellington celebration and I was very impressed with the detail the cast members put into this. It was set-up beautifully and had a real wow factor. Spiderwebs all over the room, all the glowing stuff lit up and curtains drawn. Neat! Very pricy but kind of worth it for the effect. Much more so than the gift baskets, which are kind of, again, ho hum. Nothing bad, just not that exciting to receive (just a knock on the door) and when you factor in the up charge to have it delivered, in lieu of buying same items yourself, just not that interesting or special.
This picture doesn't really capture how cute it was, but it's the best I've got.
We also did one of the special hotel offerings, going to Ridemakerz one morning before opening. The extra attention was really nice. They greeted my son with a custom made lanyard and he had his own employee help him through every part of the process, including a "pit crew" assembly race with the other 4 people that had signed up. It felt very private and even though we ended up spending twice as much as the "special" price with accessories, it was a really enjoyable experience.
One area that wasn't so great, was ride malfunctions. Wow! What a hassle. One very busy day (October 6) when the park's crowd level was a 9 or 10 out of 10 according to Touring Plans, and lines at Pirates were 60 minutes long, both Big Thunder and Splash were down at the same time, for most of the afternoon. With Indy already out of commission, and Space Mountain also working only intermittently that morning, that's a large number of headliners to be down at one time with that much guest demand. Doubly frustrating given the cost and limits on admission (5-day ticket max).
And on only one day of the five early entry we had available, and tried to use, at California Adventure was Radiator Springs Racers up and running at park opening. One of those mornings Toy Story and Screamin' were also down, leaving a lot of angry people who had gotten up very early, and paid an awful lot for their hotels for this extra early entry "privilege." Disney really needs to work on their efficiency and uptime if they want to keep people coming back at their current price points.
That having been said, Carsland was AH-MAY-ZING. Just like walking into the movie. (Which, since I have a five-year-old boy, I've seen roughly 7 million times.) The entire California Adventure park, which I'd never been to before, was really special. On three of our days there we only went to California Adventure, and never even set foot in Disneyland. Oh and, the movie in Blue Sky Cellar about how Radiator Springs was developed is so worth your time. Super cute!
And, lastly (I warned you this would be random and long), the food ...
We ate twice at Napa Rose, once in the lounge and once at the Chef's Counter. Can't compare to Victoria and Albert's (sorry) but both were very good to excellent experiences. Wonderful food and fairly reasonably priced (for a restaurant) wine list. The scallops were, by far, the best thing. Truly transcendent and not even watching them make them during our Chef's Counter meal (using about a pound of Ghee, butter and cream for each scallop) could make me avoid them. The lounge seating is very kid-friendly and they can make it pretty quick if need be. The same menu is available and, honestly, if it was up to me we'd have eaten there every night.
We also had a lackluster Storyteller's breakfast. We saw only one character, and then only briefly. Nothing bad about the food, just not great.
The candy from Pooh Corner (??) and Marceline's, on the other hand, WAS just bad. Tried to try a Tigger Tail and it was so hard and stale we couldn't even bite into it. (Chocolate pretzel stick also stale, according to my sister.) And the fudge at Marceline's was equally old tasting and basically inedible. We threw it all away after one bite of each kind. With the turn around Disney must have with all those guests how do all their baked goods end up tasting days old?
We ate twice at Carthay Circle where the best thing about it was the pear martinis. The first was with my sister and we were walk-ins. The food was OK (tomato salad best thing we tried), but the service really pretty poor. We waited in the lounge about 45 minutes to get seated and weren't even offered drinks or water. Many people around us got up and left.
The second experience was with a reservation at an off time of day (3 PM), for World of Color Fastpasses, and I had high hopes it would be better, but the service was still bizarre. They screwed up my husband's order, forgetting his salad and then bringing it out with the entrees (same time) and then saying they "gifted" us with World of Color Fastpasses to make up for it ... Even though we'd all ordered two courses specifically for the FastPasses so they weren't a "gift" at all. Just weird. (They should have skipped the salad when they forgot it first time, taken it off the bill, and then still given us the FastPasses, which my husband didn't even end up using.)
When I ate with my sister, she had entree and dessert and didn't get a FastPass or even get asked if she wanted one. No big deal, since she didn't plan to use, but still frustrating. Both times we must have seen about 10 different servers during our meals, with the our "real" waiter/waitress only making an appearance at the beginning and end of the meal. Beautiful restaurant but the food and service just don't match up to the decor.
Whew! I think that's about it. Thanks everyone for your help here in planning. All in all, we really, REALLY enjoyed our family vacation and getting to explore Disneyland for the first time.
