Maybe I have really great luck, but I went for a 3 day Friday-Sunday trip this past weekend (December 2-4) and had a wonderful time. After reading through this forum leading up to the trip, I was ready for long lines and lots of ride breakdowns, but it didn't feel like lines were too long or any rides were broken down, at least when I wanted to ride it. It was also candlelight processional weekend so that made Disneyland in the evening a little difficult on Saturday and we also didn't use Genie+ at all except had an ILL for Rise for one of the days. One huge help was that we were just two adults so could do single rider, stayed at a nearby motel, and used a park hopper. Everyday, we arrived at security at 7:30am and were in the park within 10-15 minutes. We also left everyday around 2pm and came back around 5-5:30 after a long afternoon nap. Doing both rope drop and being in the parks near closing time make ride wait times very short.
Friday was when we went hard, though it did sprinkle in the morning with some longer showers at night. After rope drop, we did Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, BTMM, Pirates, Star Tours, and Buzz Lightyear, in that order, all before 10. We never rushed from one ride to another and took bathroom breaks, it felt very leisurely. We also watched the entire performances for the Pearly Band, Main Street Marching Band, Dapper Dans, and the Tangled Fantasy fair show (which surprisingly was 2/3 empty so we just strolled in) that morning, were able to get the famous Mickey gingerbread cookies (actually very delicious and worth the hype!) and breakfast chimichangas and we sat down to enjoy them while people watching.
We then did River Belle Terrace for lunch to get Fantasmic tickets and yeah, the food is not great, but we got tickets for the 10:30 showing, arrived at around 10 to get seated and were the third party in line so we got to sit right by the gate for probably the closest and most centered Fantasmic seating I've ever had. We went back to the motel after lunch and after a very very wet Splash Mountain ride (though 5 minute waits in the wintertime!). After coming back, I watched Mostly Kosher at DCA, who are always fantastic but unfortunately at Sonoma Terrace, there isn't a lot of room to watch them. We did lots of sip and savor foods, which were all enjoyable though there was nothing that I absolutely loved. Standby line for Webslingers happened to be only 10 minutes when we walked by so were able to get that done too.
Saturday was our DCA start day so we did Toy Story Mania, Incredicoaster, and Radiator Springs at rope drop and Sunday we started at Disneyland so we did all the Fantasyland rides at rope drop. We also did the second showing of World of Color with the Wine Trattoria lunch on Saturday, which mostly tasted good, albeit very salty for my taste. We arrived at around 9:45 for the 10:15 showing and were among the first five parties so we got a great viewing area. I won't go into the rest of the trip but we did get to ride everything at least once, except Peter Pan. Even with our long afternoon rest, we also had a lot of downtime in the parks to rest and enjoy the ambiance and even spent an hour or so in the Grand Californian lobby. There's a great photo opportunity with Santa here as well and the line looked shorter than in the parks.
For seasonal foods, one of my favorites were the peri peri chicken at the Wakanda booth at DCA. I don't know why sliders here are $9 each, but for the same price you can get two well seasoned juicy large chicken drumsticks with jollof rice. Then at Docking Bay 7, the Trandoshian pasta, which is braised beef with avocado sauce and pasta, was my favorite dish the whole trip. The beef was so juicy and tender, though I don't like how the noodle/pasta dishes at Docking Bay 7 all seem to be temporary.
We also had a great interaction with Mando and Grogu on Sunday. I'd recommend sitting in the tables in front of the market place, near Ronto Roasters, so you can spot when he comes out and quickly rush over there. The crowd does ebb and flow, but he walks very slowly so eventually he gets to everyone who wants to see him. He came out at around 10:30am and we were told he comes out every 45 minutes to an hour. Unfortunately they're pretty noncommital about when they come out but if you want to rest for an hour while waiting to see him, I'd recommend sitting in the spot I mentioned above.
Since I may be taking some of my friends' kids next year, I made sure to observe what things were easier with kids that isn't ride-based. Some things I'd recommend doing this time of the year if you have kids and don't want long waits or huge crowds:
- Any and all of the Festival of Holidays performances at DCA, including the holiday Five and Dime performance. These groups were selected to perform here for a reason! My personal favorites were Phat Cat Swingers and Wayu (especially for Encanto fans) but for all of these shows, it's easy to get a spot to sit and there was space for kids to run around in front of the band and dance their hearts out and the performers especially love playing to the kids. I only wish they'd move Mostly Kosher to an area where more people could watch them.
- Fireworks in front of the Millennium Falcon. I know, you can't see the projections or hear the music, but for a kid going the first time, just being able to see anything at all trumps all that I think. Since the fireworks are so close from that spot and people are not crowded together, anyone just looking up at the sky can see the fireworks without going up on their parents shoulders and you can see more if you're up by Docking Bay 7. We showed up 15 minutes before and most people didn't start coming until after the fireworks started. Especially with the rock formations all lit up, the fireworks behind it look so magical.
- M'Baku show at DCA. Whoever they hired to do this is hilarious and really amazing with kids. I hope they don't get rid of this show after Wakanda Forever leaves the theater. I started hanging around the area 10 minutes before the show started and got a great spot. He selects two kids and one adult to help him out and he's great at going along with whatever answers the kids give him.
All in all, I had a great trip. There are a lot of very valid concerns about rides breaking down with certain effects still not working, the Genie+ experience, and less live performers than pre-pandemic, but I personally had an amazing time this weekend and got lucky with having no rides breaking down when I wanted to ride them. My longest wait was 25 minutes for Haunted Mansion on Friday night. I didn't see any areas dirty as I've heard people talk about and the custodial staff were very prompt to clean any messes, though there were definitely parts of the ride queues or on the ride itself that needs something painted over. I avoided Genie+ all together as I didn't want to feel frustrated or stare at my phone the whole time. I wish they'd print the entertainment times on paper again so I can look at that instead of constantly scrolling around the map on my phone. I'm really big on the Disney shows, so I'd forgo buying Genie+ and instead get the Fantasmic ($50) and World of Color ($60) lunches so I can get a great viewing spot for minimal wait instead, as well as a very filling meal, to the point where I could barely eat anything for the rest of the day.
Friday was when we went hard, though it did sprinkle in the morning with some longer showers at night. After rope drop, we did Jungle Cruise, Indiana Jones, BTMM, Pirates, Star Tours, and Buzz Lightyear, in that order, all before 10. We never rushed from one ride to another and took bathroom breaks, it felt very leisurely. We also watched the entire performances for the Pearly Band, Main Street Marching Band, Dapper Dans, and the Tangled Fantasy fair show (which surprisingly was 2/3 empty so we just strolled in) that morning, were able to get the famous Mickey gingerbread cookies (actually very delicious and worth the hype!) and breakfast chimichangas and we sat down to enjoy them while people watching.
We then did River Belle Terrace for lunch to get Fantasmic tickets and yeah, the food is not great, but we got tickets for the 10:30 showing, arrived at around 10 to get seated and were the third party in line so we got to sit right by the gate for probably the closest and most centered Fantasmic seating I've ever had. We went back to the motel after lunch and after a very very wet Splash Mountain ride (though 5 minute waits in the wintertime!). After coming back, I watched Mostly Kosher at DCA, who are always fantastic but unfortunately at Sonoma Terrace, there isn't a lot of room to watch them. We did lots of sip and savor foods, which were all enjoyable though there was nothing that I absolutely loved. Standby line for Webslingers happened to be only 10 minutes when we walked by so were able to get that done too.
Saturday was our DCA start day so we did Toy Story Mania, Incredicoaster, and Radiator Springs at rope drop and Sunday we started at Disneyland so we did all the Fantasyland rides at rope drop. We also did the second showing of World of Color with the Wine Trattoria lunch on Saturday, which mostly tasted good, albeit very salty for my taste. We arrived at around 9:45 for the 10:15 showing and were among the first five parties so we got a great viewing area. I won't go into the rest of the trip but we did get to ride everything at least once, except Peter Pan. Even with our long afternoon rest, we also had a lot of downtime in the parks to rest and enjoy the ambiance and even spent an hour or so in the Grand Californian lobby. There's a great photo opportunity with Santa here as well and the line looked shorter than in the parks.
For seasonal foods, one of my favorites were the peri peri chicken at the Wakanda booth at DCA. I don't know why sliders here are $9 each, but for the same price you can get two well seasoned juicy large chicken drumsticks with jollof rice. Then at Docking Bay 7, the Trandoshian pasta, which is braised beef with avocado sauce and pasta, was my favorite dish the whole trip. The beef was so juicy and tender, though I don't like how the noodle/pasta dishes at Docking Bay 7 all seem to be temporary.
We also had a great interaction with Mando and Grogu on Sunday. I'd recommend sitting in the tables in front of the market place, near Ronto Roasters, so you can spot when he comes out and quickly rush over there. The crowd does ebb and flow, but he walks very slowly so eventually he gets to everyone who wants to see him. He came out at around 10:30am and we were told he comes out every 45 minutes to an hour. Unfortunately they're pretty noncommital about when they come out but if you want to rest for an hour while waiting to see him, I'd recommend sitting in the spot I mentioned above.
Since I may be taking some of my friends' kids next year, I made sure to observe what things were easier with kids that isn't ride-based. Some things I'd recommend doing this time of the year if you have kids and don't want long waits or huge crowds:
- Any and all of the Festival of Holidays performances at DCA, including the holiday Five and Dime performance. These groups were selected to perform here for a reason! My personal favorites were Phat Cat Swingers and Wayu (especially for Encanto fans) but for all of these shows, it's easy to get a spot to sit and there was space for kids to run around in front of the band and dance their hearts out and the performers especially love playing to the kids. I only wish they'd move Mostly Kosher to an area where more people could watch them.
- Fireworks in front of the Millennium Falcon. I know, you can't see the projections or hear the music, but for a kid going the first time, just being able to see anything at all trumps all that I think. Since the fireworks are so close from that spot and people are not crowded together, anyone just looking up at the sky can see the fireworks without going up on their parents shoulders and you can see more if you're up by Docking Bay 7. We showed up 15 minutes before and most people didn't start coming until after the fireworks started. Especially with the rock formations all lit up, the fireworks behind it look so magical.
- M'Baku show at DCA. Whoever they hired to do this is hilarious and really amazing with kids. I hope they don't get rid of this show after Wakanda Forever leaves the theater. I started hanging around the area 10 minutes before the show started and got a great spot. He selects two kids and one adult to help him out and he's great at going along with whatever answers the kids give him.
All in all, I had a great trip. There are a lot of very valid concerns about rides breaking down with certain effects still not working, the Genie+ experience, and less live performers than pre-pandemic, but I personally had an amazing time this weekend and got lucky with having no rides breaking down when I wanted to ride them. My longest wait was 25 minutes for Haunted Mansion on Friday night. I didn't see any areas dirty as I've heard people talk about and the custodial staff were very prompt to clean any messes, though there were definitely parts of the ride queues or on the ride itself that needs something painted over. I avoided Genie+ all together as I didn't want to feel frustrated or stare at my phone the whole time. I wish they'd print the entertainment times on paper again so I can look at that instead of constantly scrolling around the map on my phone. I'm really big on the Disney shows, so I'd forgo buying Genie+ and instead get the Fantasmic ($50) and World of Color ($60) lunches so I can get a great viewing spot for minimal wait instead, as well as a very filling meal, to the point where I could barely eat anything for the rest of the day.
