DesertScorpion
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2020
Hi all,
I just recently returned from a trip to Disneyland and thought I would share a trip report for those that like this sort of thing. This first started as a way for me to jot down some notes and memories from the trip but figured I’d flesh it out a little more and make it a post here on the DISBoard as well.
It was my wife and I’s first time back to the parks in a little over 10 years and it was our kid’s first visit. Needless to say, we all got to experience new things on this trip!
Group members: Myself (41), my wife (41), and two daughters (6 & 8)
Dates travelled: 5/22/23 to 5/27/23
Hotel: Disney Grand Californian, Room #6233
Weather: I’m not sure we ever actually saw the sun the entire trip. It was cloudy every single day with temps in the mornings in the 50’s and then in the high 60’s, low 70’s by late afternoon. It was a bit chilly in the mornings for us Phoenicians but overall no complaints with the weather. It just didn’t make getting wet on Splash Mountain or Grizzly River Run the most enticing thing when it was chilly.
Hotel rating: 8/10 - Would have been a 10/10 if it was priced a little better. Hard to say that the standard room was worth the prices they are now charging, but the close proximity of the hotel does help make up for that a little bit. As a side note, this was a rescheduled trip from the year of COVID and we had originally booked a Club level room for nearly the same price as we ended up booking a standard room for this trip.
Hotel review:
We really loved everything about the Grand Californian and would definitely stay there again. From the moment we pulled up to the moment we checked out we had nothing but an amazing experience with every single cast member we interacted with. Everyone was super friendly, welcoming, and helpful. Mousekeeping came in and turned down the room each evening and made sure to arrange our daughter’s stuffed animals each night in different ways so the kids got a kick out of that. The bellman and front desk cast members were super helpful in answering any questions we had as well. We were able to do on-line check-in prior to arrival via the Disneyland app and we got the notification that our room was ready for us 1hr ahead of the time we had indicated we’d be arriving, which was nice as we were able to just unload the car and go straight up to the room. We stayed in a standard room with a view of the parking lot and front of the hotel. We were lucky and were given a room on the 6th floor which made for a pretty quiet stay. The room itself was well kept, clean, and everything was in working order. They still also had the H2O products in the room for those interested in that sort of detail.
Food ratings:
Tortilla Jo’s: 7/10 - Food and drinks were good but nothing amazing. A bit on the pricey side as to be expected within Downtown Disney but disappointing that they charge just to have chips and salsa brought to the table which is usually offered up free of charge at any other Mexican restaurant.
Galactic Grill: 6/10 - Standard theme park food. Average and overpriced but still filled the stomachs. We had the Chicken tenders, Cheeseburger, and Chopped Salad.
Alien Pizza Planet: 6.5/10 - Again, standard theme park pizza and for the price of one slice I wouldn’t expect something smaller than a slice the size of Costco pizza but it was. I did get the cinnamon breadsticks with cream cheese dipping sauce and that was pretty tasty.
Edelweiss Snacks: 6/10 - Wife got the cheddar garlic bagel twist which she said was decent. Kids got the frozen slushes which the lemonade one was very sour tasting. I got the turkey leg which had good flavor and not a lot of fat on it but it was very heavy on the salt taste. I could almost feel my BP rising with each bite.
Churros: 10/10 - Hard to beat a Disneyland churro no matter the cart you get them from within there.
Royal Street Veranda: 9/10 - The Mickey beignets were hot, fresh and pretty tasty.
Pym Test Kitchen: 9/10 - We split the Quantum Pretzel which was excellent. My 6 year old really liked the mini pasta and Impossible meat-balls meal. The Celestial-sized Candy Bar was really good too.
Lucky Fortune Cookery: 7/10 - I got the teriyaki chicken which was tasty but not all that big of a serving size given the price tag. Both of the kiddos got the chicken teriyaki kids meals which were just ok. The teriyaki sauce was served on the size rather than the chicken being cooked in it like the adult portion. That seemed like an odd choice. The pot stickers good but again the price was on the high side given the quantity given.
Pacific Wharf Cafe: 8/10 - My wife really enjoyed her turkey pesto club from there.
Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta: 7/10 - The pizza was tasty but still on expensive side for the size of slices they were serving. My 6 year old really enjoyed the spaghetti with turkey meatballs though. The strawberry crunch cheesecake was also very good.
Black Tap Craft Burgers & Shakes: 8/10 - The burgers and Cali chicken sandwich was good. The kids enjoyed their meals as well and the cookie shake was really good too. We enjoyed the food but the prices were definitely on the high side…once again though, to be expected given the location.
Earl of Sandwich: 10/10 - The Earl’s Club was hands down one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. Wish I would have gotten this more often as it was fantastic.
World of Color Dessert Party: 9/10 - We found the dessert party tray of treats to be really good for the most part. There were a few items within the offerings that we didn’t like but for the most part each of us didn’t like different items so since there were four of use we were able to kind of trade between all of us. My wife and I both had the “ONE-Derful Cooler” for our drink which was really good although not overly strong alcohol wise. Our server was fantastic and super friendly and attentive. She brought us out everything really quickly, continually checked in on us, and even brought over some light up cups for kids to have. IMO, this is the only way to see the WOC show as it allows for some nice sit down time, nice tray of food, and a great viewing location.
Day by day trip report:
Monday 5/22: We departed our house in Phoenix around 9am and arrived at the hotel just a little before 3:30pm. The drive there was uneventful with a short stop over in Blythe for a quick bite to eat and fill up on gas. After arriving we got settle into the room and unpacked. We didn’t go into the parks this day but did take a walk around Downtown Disney, had dinner over at Tortilla Jo’s, and then went back to the hotel to go for a swim in the pools and hot tubs.
Tuesday 5/23: I somehow was able to convince everyone to get up early and do the early entry for Disneyland this day. We woke up just before 6am, got ready, and were down at the Downtown Disney entrance in the hotel by 6:45am. The line was already fairly long but it didn’t take long at all to get through security. They started letting people through at 7:10am and we arrived at the park gates just as they started letting people in for the 7:30am early entry. The kiddos decided to start the morning off right (at least I thought so!) by saying they wanted to do Hyperspace Mountain as their very first ride. We walked onto that within 5 minutes and it was my first time getting to experience the Hyperspace overlay which was fun. However, looking back, that may not have been the best ride to “break them in” to the Disney experience as both of them said they would never ride it again. Lol! From there we toned it down a bit and headed over to Peter Pan which was only about a 15 minute wait at that point and the kids enjoyed that one. From there we made our way to It’s A Small World. Surprisingly this one turned out to be one of the kid’s favorites…however funny enough they both on separate occasions called it Tiny World (ha!). From here we headed on up to Toon Town and did the lightening lane for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. I’m not necessarily a fan of paying for the individual lightening lanes but I wanted to make sure we were able to make the most of our time each day in the parks so opted to pay rather than wait (which is exactly what Disney is hoping for). We all enjoyed MMRR a fair amount. We had been able to snag a LL to Indy so made the trek over there, which I am glad we got one so early in the day as the LL for Indy was constantly several hours out and eventually no longer being offered each day that we were in the parks. We then went to Pirates which was only about a 20 minute wait to get on and that is when the first day for the kids and my wife started to break down a bit. All three of them were a bit overwhelmed at this point. We then decided to split up a bit so my wife took our 6 year old and headed back over to Fantasyland to hit up the Teacups, Dumbo, etc. My 8 year old and I went the other direction and we hit up Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain. After a bit we all met up again and it was time to head over to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique appointment we had made for the girls. Both girls opted not to get any of the dresses and instead just wanted to have their hair, makeup, and nails done. I was shocked my 6 year old didn’t want a princess dress (I told her she could pick out any one she wanted!) but I think she was trying to play it cool like big sister and she told me she doesn’t need another princess dress. Wasn’t going to argue as it made the day a little cheaper, ha! Both girls had a blast getting their makeover and got a ton of compliments the rest of the day in the park. After the makeover we headed on over to Autopia where the girls were excited that they both got to “drive” a car around the track. We were able to snag a quick LL for this one as we were walking to it from the boutique so the way time was very short. After that the line for the Submarine was only a 10 minute wait so we decided to do that before getting some food. We ate at the Galactic Grill since it was close by. Afterwards my wife and 6 year old were definitely done for the day and they hopped on the monorail and headed back towards downtown Disney and the hotel. My 8 year old and I had reservations for build lightsabers at Savi’s at 7:25 so we started to head toward Galaxy’s Edge but decided to get in line for Alice in Wonderland since it was a short wait time. We then had some additional time to kill and were able to grab a LL to Smuggler’s Run on our way there. After that we still had some extra time so we hopped on over to ROTR and I again opted to buy the individual LL for the two of us. As we were about to get on the ride it went down and we had to exit so we got our LL back for use later that night. By this time we had to start heading back to Savi’s. It was a fun experience and both my daughter and I enjoyed getting to build the lightsabers. After Savi’s we saw that ROTR was back up so we headed over there and were able to get the full experience. ROTR is definitely one of my all time favorites and I loved every single minute of it. Only ended up getting to do it the one time though as I didn’t want to pay for it more than once and the standby line for it was 40+ minutes otherwise. And with that, we were done with day 1 and my oldest and I headed back towards the hotel to find my wife and 6 year old already passed out for the night. Overall DL wasn’t incredibly busy on our first day and we were able to accomplish a lot in my opinion. The kiddos were a bit overwhelmed with all the sights, sounds, rides, and people so that tempered the excitement just a bit since they had never experienced something like this before but the excitement would easily return the next day.
Wednesday 5/24: Since my wife and 6 year old turned in early the previous night we didn’t get a chance to discuss what time we’d all be waking up and going to California Adventure on this day. Me, being the big Disney fan of the bunch, got a bit stir crazy and decided to start getting everyone up right around 7:30am. We got ready and were in California Adventure a little before 8:30am. We used the Pixar Pier entrance to the park which was nice as there was absolutely no one over there at the time and we breezed right through security and the entrance gate. Upon walking in the girls were immediately excited with the sights of the Golden Zephyr, Symphony Swings, and Pixar Pal-a-round ferris wheel. We ended up doing the GZ three times in a row to start the day, then hit the Jumpin’ Jellyfish, then did Symphony Swings two times in a row, and then grabbed a LL for Goofy’s Sky School which had an immediate return time. Neither of the girls like GSS and thought it was too rough of a ride, which I agree with a little bit. From there we were able to walk onto the Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind right with about a 5 minute wait. From there we were able to grab a LL with immediate return time for Toy Story Midway Mania, which we all enjoyed. After that we hit up the Swinging cars of the Pixar Pal-A-Around which was about a 25 minute wait to get on. My wife skipped this one as she is not a fan of ferris wheels at all. We met back up with my wife over at Ariel’s Undersea Adventure which only had about a 10 minute wait. From there we grabbed some lunch at Lucky Fortune Cookery and Pacific Wharf Cafe and booked a LL to Web Slingers. After lunch we started on over to Avengers Campus, which was definitely may favorite part of California Adventure and quite possibly my favorite part of both parks altogether. When we got there we happened to come across the quick little Spider-Man show atop the Web Slingers building. After the show Spider-Man came down and made his way through the crowd giving some quick high fives before dashing off. Not long after our LL came up for Web Slingers which I thoroughly enjoyed. My wife and kiddos were just so-so on it since none of them are actual Marvel fans. Once we had redeemed the Web Slinger’s LL we were then able to book one for Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout. We had some time to kill so we ended up seeing a little bit of the Black Panther show but didn’t really have a great view so couldn’t see who the actual characters were nor what it was really all about. The kids were hungry again since they didn’t really eat much at lunch time so we hit up the Pym Test Kitchen. Once we finished up there the show at the Avengers Headquarters was about to begin so we waited to see that. That was a good one with Black Widow and Black Panther teaming up. Once the show ended our LL for Guardians came up and we went on that. When I first heard about them converting Tower of Terror to Guardians I was disappointed as ToT was one of my all time favorite rides from both DL and WDW…well, I now have a new all time favorite! Guardians was so much fun and IMHO so much better than ToT ever was. My 8 year instantly loved it as well and was ready to go on it again. My 6 year old was not a fan and I ended up having to buy her a Cosmo plush right after the ride to make up for it…! My wife enjoyed it and she also agreed that it was better than ToT. Next up we were able to grab a pretty quick return LL for Soarin’ so we slowly made our way to there stopping off at some of the shops along the way and catching some of the various sights and sounds. Soarin’ was another ride that all of us enjoyed but my 8 year old has it as a part of her top 5 rides she liked. After this we were again able to grab an almost immediate return time LL for Grizzly River Run. Before we went on it though we ran up to our hotel room to grab the ponchos we brought as none of us wanted to get too wet. Once we got our ponchos on we got on the ride and when it was done my 6 year old immediately proclaimed that she had a favorite ride of the day. Since the wait times were short we ended up doing Grizzly again two more times in a row. However, in the end, the ponchos did little to prevent the water from coming up the sides of the raft and getting my shoes and socks absolutely soaked. So glad I had brought a second pair of shoes with as it took nearly the next two days before my shoes would be dry. After the third run on Grizzly we headed back to hotel to change out shoes and socks then headed back into the park. We made our way over to Cars Land. Radiator Springs Racers had over an 80 minute wait so we skipped it this day and instead decided to give Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters a try despite the 35 minute wait time, which ended up being close to 45 minutes as the ride broke down for a bit. Not a bad ride but definitely not worth the wait. By this time it was finally time to go and check-in for the dessert party for World of Color. We got checked in and decide to just hang around the area for the next 45 minutes and rest as it had been a long day. When it was time we headed on over to the World of Color seating area and got table 14 which was a high top with a good view. Once the show was over we made our way back to the hotel for the night.
Thursday 5/25: With the late evening the day before both the kids and wife were requesting to sleep in and wanting to get a later start to this day. Got everyone up around 8am, however, unfortunately my wife woke up not feeling well at all and she thought for sure she might have strep throat. We got her booked into a midday appointment with the CVS Minute Clinic just down the road and she ended up staying at the hotel this day. In the end she didn’t have strep or COVID, just a really bad cold, but used this day to get rested up. So with that, it was the just me and the kids on this day. We were out the door and in Disneyland by 9:30am or so from what I recall. The first thing we did was grab a LL to Splash Mountain which had a return time of about an hour away so we did the stand by lines for both POTC and HM both of which were at 20 minutes or less. After both of those we headed on over to SM. This time with my 6 year old in tow for it. She sat next to me in the very last row while my 8 year old sat in front of use with then another family of three taking up the first three seats in the log. My 6 year old was NOT a fan after the ride was over and swore she’d never ride it again…she had nearly the same look on her face as she did with Guardians the day prior. Surprisingly though, she was still up for giving Big Thunder a try so we were able to grab a LL for that with a pretty quick turn around time. As we headed on over that way I found myself having to psych both of them up for the ride and they were a little hesitant to do it but decided they’d give it a shot after all. Almost immediately after the train pulled away, they were both screaming “This is awesome!” and once the train came to a complete stop each proclaimed it was their new favorite ride at DL. We of course had to turn right around and ride it again despite the now 35 minute wait time. By the time we were done with the second round the wait time jumped to 45 minutes so we did not go for a third time. From here we decided to head over to Tomorrow Land and grabbed a bite to eat and hit up the Astro Orbiter and Star Tours. With the crowds increasing in Disneyland we decided to hop over to California Adventure. Over there we caught a ride on Grizzly doing the standby line. After that we headed down to Cars Land and bought the individual LLs for RSR which the kids both loved and then we snagged a LL for Soarin’. By this time my 8 year old was wanting to do some shopping and she was on the hunt for some of the shoulder pal plush toys we saw all throughout the trip so we headed back over to Disneyland. We hit up the Emporium first as I saw online some say they had a few available there. We only found one there but they gave us a few other spots to check as well. Upon leaving the Emporium we noticed that people were starting to stake out spots for the 6:30 Magic Happens parade and decided we could use a nice break. We grabbed a spot on Main Street and wait about 50 minutes for the parade to start. The girls were getting a little antsy as the start time was approaching but once it began the really enjoyed the parade. All three of use thought it was a good show and the kiddos were glad they decided to wait for it. Once that was over with we fought the crowds and hit up a few more shops and then decided to head back towards the hotel. My wife was feeling slightly better by the evening time so she decided that she wanted to come down and meet us and we’d head back into Disneyland again and wait for the Wondrous Journeys light show. We went and grabbed another spot down on Main Street that gave us a perfect view of the buildings on each side as well as a clear view of the castle. We all thought it was a really good show and enjoyed it. After the show ended we all went back to the hotel and turned in for the night. Another amazing day and while we all missed my wife and wished she was feeling better, it was pretty cool getting to have spent the day bonding and making lifetime memories with just my daughters and I for the day in Disneyland.
Friday 5/26: Before we all went to sleep the prior night I mentioned that I planned on getting up early again and being the parks for early entry. My 8 year old was bummed and said she wanted to come with me so I set my alarm for early morning, woke up my one daughter, and we were down at the California Adventure entrance by Grizzly River Run at about 6:50am. There was already a small line that had formed but nothing too crazy. At 7:15am and right on queue the security line opened and began allowing us scan in. We were held in the small area between the ticket entrance and the park line until 7:30 but once that hit we were all let loose. My daughter really wanted to ride Soarin’ as the first ride for the day so we hit that one up first thing. After that we made our way over to Guardians and made our way through there pretty quickly. From there we went down to RSRs thinking that since it was just slightly after 8am it may not be too crazy busy but we were wrong. It was already nearly a 50 minute wait so once again I just said screw it and bought the individual LL for the two of us so that we didn’t have to waste too much time in line. From there we were able to grab a LL with nearly immediate return time for Guardians but first made a stop to meet Lightening McQueen and got a photo, then hit Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree since the wait time was under 10 minutes. We then used our LL for Guardians and headed towards Web Slingers. On the way to WS we stopped and took photos with Ant Man and then Iron Man, then got in the standby line for Web Slingers as it was only a 30 minute wait at the time. We finished up in Avengers Campus and by this time were starting to get a little hungry and began making our way to Pixar Pier for some food. On the way we noticed that the Incredicoaster was up and running this morning so we grabbed an immediate return LL for that and hopped on there. My 8 year old was pretty nervous for this one but she did it and liked it overall but wasn’t super interested in doing it again. It was a one and done kind of thing for her. After Incredicoaster we grabbed a bite to eat and my wife and other daughter came down from the hotel to meet us. From here we went and did the Golden Zephyr two times in a row, did the Jumpin Jellyfish again as well as the Silly Symphony Swings. We also hit up the Pixar Pal-a-Round again, which my wife skipped just like before. From here we grabbed a lightening lane for Big Thunder but that had a return time about an hour away so we started to make our way over to Disneyland and on the way to Big Thunder we made stop at the Haunted Mansion as that was only about a 20 minute standby time. We made our way to Big Thunder and by this time in the day you could just tell it was considerably different in the parks than the last 3 days. There were so many more people here this day and just about every portion of the park was packed. We used our LL for BTMRR and while the kiddos wanted to go again it was about a 50 minute standby time so we decided to just move on. It was at this time I noticed that the LLs for Splash Mountain were getting pushed out pretty far so I snagged that for all four of us even though the intention was just for my wife and 8 year old to go as my wife hadn’t had the chance to do it yet. We then made our way over to Fantasyland and everything was just jam packed with long wait times. We decided to get a some snacks in the area and then go do Its a Small World again. When we had gotten off of that the 3:30pm parade was getting close to starting so by this time the area was just jam packed with people. We fought the crowds and were able to make our way over to the Monorail station and just decided to head back towards Downtown Disney and the hotel. From there we hit up the hotel pools and hot tubs for a bit to rest up. After that we ventured back out to Downtown Disney for some dinner and once again it was just one of those nights where you could sense it was different. There was a different vibe to the hotel lobby, to the Downtown Disney area, etc. It was just busier, louder, and a higher energy than we had been experiencing. The holiday weekend crowd was definitely upon us. As we were finishing up with dinner we were discussing whether or not we wanted to head back to the parks to use that LL we had booked earlier for Splash as well as see the fireworks. What really sold it was that all of the sudden my 6 year old decided that she wanted to ride Splash Mountain again and this time ride it with mom next to her. So because of that we quickly made our way back to the DL and made the LL time with just 10 minutes to spare. So glad we ended up doing that as we now have the memory and the photo of being able to ride Splash as a family on one of its last few days in operation. After riding splash we made our way towards main street and noticed plenty of people already starting to stake their spots for the upcoming Wondrous Journeys show and fireworks so we decided to do it as well even though it was over an hour away. While I had heard that the fireworks often get cancelled, it seemed like pretty good conditions for them to occur this evening as it wasn’t crazy windy and there was only a slight breeze in the evening air. However, about 6 minutes out from show time an announcement came that there were some upper atmosphere winds they were worried about and that they may cancel the fireworks. A few more minutes went by and then just 3 minutes before showtime the fireworks were officially cancelled for the evening. My family and I were pretty gutted as we had just sat there for more than an hour waiting for it and we honestly had zero interest in seeing just the normal Wondrous Journeys show with just the lights for a second night in a row. It was pretty evident a large majority was also disappointed as there were a ton of people headed for the exits just like us. While we had a good start to the day it did end on a little bit of a sour note and the additional crowds that came into town and the parks did make it a bit crazier so we were happy for the day to come to a close.
Saturday 5/27: This was to be our last day at Disneyland so we had the character breakfast at Storyteller’s Cafe booked for this morning as kind of a way to have a slow start to the day. We woke up a little bit before our reservation time, got ready, and did some packing. We went down for breakfast and enjoyed our time. The food was pretty good for it being a buffet and the character interactions were fun. The kiddos got to meet Mickey, Chip N Dale, and Goofy. The original plan for this day was to also spend a little bit of the time in Disneyland but with the increase in people at the parks and the later start to the morning with the character breakfast the wait times exploded pretty quickly for a lot of the rides. The only ride the kids had a big interest in riding before we left town was BTMR but unfortunately that went down at some point and didn’t re-open until close to 12pm and it opened back up with a 50 minute wait time and a return LL closer to 2pm. At this point we just decided to call it and load up the car and head back home. The return trip to Phoenix was a bit slow going as there was a ton of traffic 215 and 60. A short while after the 60 connected with the 10 traffic finally let up and it was smooth sailing all the way back home.
I just recently returned from a trip to Disneyland and thought I would share a trip report for those that like this sort of thing. This first started as a way for me to jot down some notes and memories from the trip but figured I’d flesh it out a little more and make it a post here on the DISBoard as well.
It was my wife and I’s first time back to the parks in a little over 10 years and it was our kid’s first visit. Needless to say, we all got to experience new things on this trip!
Group members: Myself (41), my wife (41), and two daughters (6 & 8)
Dates travelled: 5/22/23 to 5/27/23
Hotel: Disney Grand Californian, Room #6233
Weather: I’m not sure we ever actually saw the sun the entire trip. It was cloudy every single day with temps in the mornings in the 50’s and then in the high 60’s, low 70’s by late afternoon. It was a bit chilly in the mornings for us Phoenicians but overall no complaints with the weather. It just didn’t make getting wet on Splash Mountain or Grizzly River Run the most enticing thing when it was chilly.
Hotel rating: 8/10 - Would have been a 10/10 if it was priced a little better. Hard to say that the standard room was worth the prices they are now charging, but the close proximity of the hotel does help make up for that a little bit. As a side note, this was a rescheduled trip from the year of COVID and we had originally booked a Club level room for nearly the same price as we ended up booking a standard room for this trip.
Hotel review:
We really loved everything about the Grand Californian and would definitely stay there again. From the moment we pulled up to the moment we checked out we had nothing but an amazing experience with every single cast member we interacted with. Everyone was super friendly, welcoming, and helpful. Mousekeeping came in and turned down the room each evening and made sure to arrange our daughter’s stuffed animals each night in different ways so the kids got a kick out of that. The bellman and front desk cast members were super helpful in answering any questions we had as well. We were able to do on-line check-in prior to arrival via the Disneyland app and we got the notification that our room was ready for us 1hr ahead of the time we had indicated we’d be arriving, which was nice as we were able to just unload the car and go straight up to the room. We stayed in a standard room with a view of the parking lot and front of the hotel. We were lucky and were given a room on the 6th floor which made for a pretty quiet stay. The room itself was well kept, clean, and everything was in working order. They still also had the H2O products in the room for those interested in that sort of detail.
Food ratings:
Tortilla Jo’s: 7/10 - Food and drinks were good but nothing amazing. A bit on the pricey side as to be expected within Downtown Disney but disappointing that they charge just to have chips and salsa brought to the table which is usually offered up free of charge at any other Mexican restaurant.
Galactic Grill: 6/10 - Standard theme park food. Average and overpriced but still filled the stomachs. We had the Chicken tenders, Cheeseburger, and Chopped Salad.
Alien Pizza Planet: 6.5/10 - Again, standard theme park pizza and for the price of one slice I wouldn’t expect something smaller than a slice the size of Costco pizza but it was. I did get the cinnamon breadsticks with cream cheese dipping sauce and that was pretty tasty.
Edelweiss Snacks: 6/10 - Wife got the cheddar garlic bagel twist which she said was decent. Kids got the frozen slushes which the lemonade one was very sour tasting. I got the turkey leg which had good flavor and not a lot of fat on it but it was very heavy on the salt taste. I could almost feel my BP rising with each bite.
Churros: 10/10 - Hard to beat a Disneyland churro no matter the cart you get them from within there.
Royal Street Veranda: 9/10 - The Mickey beignets were hot, fresh and pretty tasty.
Pym Test Kitchen: 9/10 - We split the Quantum Pretzel which was excellent. My 6 year old really liked the mini pasta and Impossible meat-balls meal. The Celestial-sized Candy Bar was really good too.
Lucky Fortune Cookery: 7/10 - I got the teriyaki chicken which was tasty but not all that big of a serving size given the price tag. Both of the kiddos got the chicken teriyaki kids meals which were just ok. The teriyaki sauce was served on the size rather than the chicken being cooked in it like the adult portion. That seemed like an odd choice. The pot stickers good but again the price was on the high side given the quantity given.
Pacific Wharf Cafe: 8/10 - My wife really enjoyed her turkey pesto club from there.
Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta: 7/10 - The pizza was tasty but still on expensive side for the size of slices they were serving. My 6 year old really enjoyed the spaghetti with turkey meatballs though. The strawberry crunch cheesecake was also very good.
Black Tap Craft Burgers & Shakes: 8/10 - The burgers and Cali chicken sandwich was good. The kids enjoyed their meals as well and the cookie shake was really good too. We enjoyed the food but the prices were definitely on the high side…once again though, to be expected given the location.
Earl of Sandwich: 10/10 - The Earl’s Club was hands down one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. Wish I would have gotten this more often as it was fantastic.
World of Color Dessert Party: 9/10 - We found the dessert party tray of treats to be really good for the most part. There were a few items within the offerings that we didn’t like but for the most part each of us didn’t like different items so since there were four of use we were able to kind of trade between all of us. My wife and I both had the “ONE-Derful Cooler” for our drink which was really good although not overly strong alcohol wise. Our server was fantastic and super friendly and attentive. She brought us out everything really quickly, continually checked in on us, and even brought over some light up cups for kids to have. IMO, this is the only way to see the WOC show as it allows for some nice sit down time, nice tray of food, and a great viewing location.
Day by day trip report:
Monday 5/22: We departed our house in Phoenix around 9am and arrived at the hotel just a little before 3:30pm. The drive there was uneventful with a short stop over in Blythe for a quick bite to eat and fill up on gas. After arriving we got settle into the room and unpacked. We didn’t go into the parks this day but did take a walk around Downtown Disney, had dinner over at Tortilla Jo’s, and then went back to the hotel to go for a swim in the pools and hot tubs.
Tuesday 5/23: I somehow was able to convince everyone to get up early and do the early entry for Disneyland this day. We woke up just before 6am, got ready, and were down at the Downtown Disney entrance in the hotel by 6:45am. The line was already fairly long but it didn’t take long at all to get through security. They started letting people through at 7:10am and we arrived at the park gates just as they started letting people in for the 7:30am early entry. The kiddos decided to start the morning off right (at least I thought so!) by saying they wanted to do Hyperspace Mountain as their very first ride. We walked onto that within 5 minutes and it was my first time getting to experience the Hyperspace overlay which was fun. However, looking back, that may not have been the best ride to “break them in” to the Disney experience as both of them said they would never ride it again. Lol! From there we toned it down a bit and headed over to Peter Pan which was only about a 15 minute wait at that point and the kids enjoyed that one. From there we made our way to It’s A Small World. Surprisingly this one turned out to be one of the kid’s favorites…however funny enough they both on separate occasions called it Tiny World (ha!). From here we headed on up to Toon Town and did the lightening lane for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. I’m not necessarily a fan of paying for the individual lightening lanes but I wanted to make sure we were able to make the most of our time each day in the parks so opted to pay rather than wait (which is exactly what Disney is hoping for). We all enjoyed MMRR a fair amount. We had been able to snag a LL to Indy so made the trek over there, which I am glad we got one so early in the day as the LL for Indy was constantly several hours out and eventually no longer being offered each day that we were in the parks. We then went to Pirates which was only about a 20 minute wait to get on and that is when the first day for the kids and my wife started to break down a bit. All three of them were a bit overwhelmed at this point. We then decided to split up a bit so my wife took our 6 year old and headed back over to Fantasyland to hit up the Teacups, Dumbo, etc. My 8 year old and I went the other direction and we hit up Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain. After a bit we all met up again and it was time to head over to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique appointment we had made for the girls. Both girls opted not to get any of the dresses and instead just wanted to have their hair, makeup, and nails done. I was shocked my 6 year old didn’t want a princess dress (I told her she could pick out any one she wanted!) but I think she was trying to play it cool like big sister and she told me she doesn’t need another princess dress. Wasn’t going to argue as it made the day a little cheaper, ha! Both girls had a blast getting their makeover and got a ton of compliments the rest of the day in the park. After the makeover we headed on over to Autopia where the girls were excited that they both got to “drive” a car around the track. We were able to snag a quick LL for this one as we were walking to it from the boutique so the way time was very short. After that the line for the Submarine was only a 10 minute wait so we decided to do that before getting some food. We ate at the Galactic Grill since it was close by. Afterwards my wife and 6 year old were definitely done for the day and they hopped on the monorail and headed back towards downtown Disney and the hotel. My 8 year old and I had reservations for build lightsabers at Savi’s at 7:25 so we started to head toward Galaxy’s Edge but decided to get in line for Alice in Wonderland since it was a short wait time. We then had some additional time to kill and were able to grab a LL to Smuggler’s Run on our way there. After that we still had some extra time so we hopped on over to ROTR and I again opted to buy the individual LL for the two of us. As we were about to get on the ride it went down and we had to exit so we got our LL back for use later that night. By this time we had to start heading back to Savi’s. It was a fun experience and both my daughter and I enjoyed getting to build the lightsabers. After Savi’s we saw that ROTR was back up so we headed over there and were able to get the full experience. ROTR is definitely one of my all time favorites and I loved every single minute of it. Only ended up getting to do it the one time though as I didn’t want to pay for it more than once and the standby line for it was 40+ minutes otherwise. And with that, we were done with day 1 and my oldest and I headed back towards the hotel to find my wife and 6 year old already passed out for the night. Overall DL wasn’t incredibly busy on our first day and we were able to accomplish a lot in my opinion. The kiddos were a bit overwhelmed with all the sights, sounds, rides, and people so that tempered the excitement just a bit since they had never experienced something like this before but the excitement would easily return the next day.
Wednesday 5/24: Since my wife and 6 year old turned in early the previous night we didn’t get a chance to discuss what time we’d all be waking up and going to California Adventure on this day. Me, being the big Disney fan of the bunch, got a bit stir crazy and decided to start getting everyone up right around 7:30am. We got ready and were in California Adventure a little before 8:30am. We used the Pixar Pier entrance to the park which was nice as there was absolutely no one over there at the time and we breezed right through security and the entrance gate. Upon walking in the girls were immediately excited with the sights of the Golden Zephyr, Symphony Swings, and Pixar Pal-a-round ferris wheel. We ended up doing the GZ three times in a row to start the day, then hit the Jumpin’ Jellyfish, then did Symphony Swings two times in a row, and then grabbed a LL for Goofy’s Sky School which had an immediate return time. Neither of the girls like GSS and thought it was too rough of a ride, which I agree with a little bit. From there we were able to walk onto the Inside Out Emotional Whirlwind right with about a 5 minute wait. From there we were able to grab a LL with immediate return time for Toy Story Midway Mania, which we all enjoyed. After that we hit up the Swinging cars of the Pixar Pal-A-Around which was about a 25 minute wait to get on. My wife skipped this one as she is not a fan of ferris wheels at all. We met back up with my wife over at Ariel’s Undersea Adventure which only had about a 10 minute wait. From there we grabbed some lunch at Lucky Fortune Cookery and Pacific Wharf Cafe and booked a LL to Web Slingers. After lunch we started on over to Avengers Campus, which was definitely may favorite part of California Adventure and quite possibly my favorite part of both parks altogether. When we got there we happened to come across the quick little Spider-Man show atop the Web Slingers building. After the show Spider-Man came down and made his way through the crowd giving some quick high fives before dashing off. Not long after our LL came up for Web Slingers which I thoroughly enjoyed. My wife and kiddos were just so-so on it since none of them are actual Marvel fans. Once we had redeemed the Web Slinger’s LL we were then able to book one for Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout. We had some time to kill so we ended up seeing a little bit of the Black Panther show but didn’t really have a great view so couldn’t see who the actual characters were nor what it was really all about. The kids were hungry again since they didn’t really eat much at lunch time so we hit up the Pym Test Kitchen. Once we finished up there the show at the Avengers Headquarters was about to begin so we waited to see that. That was a good one with Black Widow and Black Panther teaming up. Once the show ended our LL for Guardians came up and we went on that. When I first heard about them converting Tower of Terror to Guardians I was disappointed as ToT was one of my all time favorite rides from both DL and WDW…well, I now have a new all time favorite! Guardians was so much fun and IMHO so much better than ToT ever was. My 8 year instantly loved it as well and was ready to go on it again. My 6 year old was not a fan and I ended up having to buy her a Cosmo plush right after the ride to make up for it…! My wife enjoyed it and she also agreed that it was better than ToT. Next up we were able to grab a pretty quick return LL for Soarin’ so we slowly made our way to there stopping off at some of the shops along the way and catching some of the various sights and sounds. Soarin’ was another ride that all of us enjoyed but my 8 year old has it as a part of her top 5 rides she liked. After this we were again able to grab an almost immediate return time LL for Grizzly River Run. Before we went on it though we ran up to our hotel room to grab the ponchos we brought as none of us wanted to get too wet. Once we got our ponchos on we got on the ride and when it was done my 6 year old immediately proclaimed that she had a favorite ride of the day. Since the wait times were short we ended up doing Grizzly again two more times in a row. However, in the end, the ponchos did little to prevent the water from coming up the sides of the raft and getting my shoes and socks absolutely soaked. So glad I had brought a second pair of shoes with as it took nearly the next two days before my shoes would be dry. After the third run on Grizzly we headed back to hotel to change out shoes and socks then headed back into the park. We made our way over to Cars Land. Radiator Springs Racers had over an 80 minute wait so we skipped it this day and instead decided to give Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters a try despite the 35 minute wait time, which ended up being close to 45 minutes as the ride broke down for a bit. Not a bad ride but definitely not worth the wait. By this time it was finally time to go and check-in for the dessert party for World of Color. We got checked in and decide to just hang around the area for the next 45 minutes and rest as it had been a long day. When it was time we headed on over to the World of Color seating area and got table 14 which was a high top with a good view. Once the show was over we made our way back to the hotel for the night.
Thursday 5/25: With the late evening the day before both the kids and wife were requesting to sleep in and wanting to get a later start to this day. Got everyone up around 8am, however, unfortunately my wife woke up not feeling well at all and she thought for sure she might have strep throat. We got her booked into a midday appointment with the CVS Minute Clinic just down the road and she ended up staying at the hotel this day. In the end she didn’t have strep or COVID, just a really bad cold, but used this day to get rested up. So with that, it was the just me and the kids on this day. We were out the door and in Disneyland by 9:30am or so from what I recall. The first thing we did was grab a LL to Splash Mountain which had a return time of about an hour away so we did the stand by lines for both POTC and HM both of which were at 20 minutes or less. After both of those we headed on over to SM. This time with my 6 year old in tow for it. She sat next to me in the very last row while my 8 year old sat in front of use with then another family of three taking up the first three seats in the log. My 6 year old was NOT a fan after the ride was over and swore she’d never ride it again…she had nearly the same look on her face as she did with Guardians the day prior. Surprisingly though, she was still up for giving Big Thunder a try so we were able to grab a LL for that with a pretty quick turn around time. As we headed on over that way I found myself having to psych both of them up for the ride and they were a little hesitant to do it but decided they’d give it a shot after all. Almost immediately after the train pulled away, they were both screaming “This is awesome!” and once the train came to a complete stop each proclaimed it was their new favorite ride at DL. We of course had to turn right around and ride it again despite the now 35 minute wait time. By the time we were done with the second round the wait time jumped to 45 minutes so we did not go for a third time. From here we decided to head over to Tomorrow Land and grabbed a bite to eat and hit up the Astro Orbiter and Star Tours. With the crowds increasing in Disneyland we decided to hop over to California Adventure. Over there we caught a ride on Grizzly doing the standby line. After that we headed down to Cars Land and bought the individual LLs for RSR which the kids both loved and then we snagged a LL for Soarin’. By this time my 8 year old was wanting to do some shopping and she was on the hunt for some of the shoulder pal plush toys we saw all throughout the trip so we headed back over to Disneyland. We hit up the Emporium first as I saw online some say they had a few available there. We only found one there but they gave us a few other spots to check as well. Upon leaving the Emporium we noticed that people were starting to stake out spots for the 6:30 Magic Happens parade and decided we could use a nice break. We grabbed a spot on Main Street and wait about 50 minutes for the parade to start. The girls were getting a little antsy as the start time was approaching but once it began the really enjoyed the parade. All three of use thought it was a good show and the kiddos were glad they decided to wait for it. Once that was over with we fought the crowds and hit up a few more shops and then decided to head back towards the hotel. My wife was feeling slightly better by the evening time so she decided that she wanted to come down and meet us and we’d head back into Disneyland again and wait for the Wondrous Journeys light show. We went and grabbed another spot down on Main Street that gave us a perfect view of the buildings on each side as well as a clear view of the castle. We all thought it was a really good show and enjoyed it. After the show ended we all went back to the hotel and turned in for the night. Another amazing day and while we all missed my wife and wished she was feeling better, it was pretty cool getting to have spent the day bonding and making lifetime memories with just my daughters and I for the day in Disneyland.
Friday 5/26: Before we all went to sleep the prior night I mentioned that I planned on getting up early again and being the parks for early entry. My 8 year old was bummed and said she wanted to come with me so I set my alarm for early morning, woke up my one daughter, and we were down at the California Adventure entrance by Grizzly River Run at about 6:50am. There was already a small line that had formed but nothing too crazy. At 7:15am and right on queue the security line opened and began allowing us scan in. We were held in the small area between the ticket entrance and the park line until 7:30 but once that hit we were all let loose. My daughter really wanted to ride Soarin’ as the first ride for the day so we hit that one up first thing. After that we made our way over to Guardians and made our way through there pretty quickly. From there we went down to RSRs thinking that since it was just slightly after 8am it may not be too crazy busy but we were wrong. It was already nearly a 50 minute wait so once again I just said screw it and bought the individual LL for the two of us so that we didn’t have to waste too much time in line. From there we were able to grab a LL with nearly immediate return time for Guardians but first made a stop to meet Lightening McQueen and got a photo, then hit Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree since the wait time was under 10 minutes. We then used our LL for Guardians and headed towards Web Slingers. On the way to WS we stopped and took photos with Ant Man and then Iron Man, then got in the standby line for Web Slingers as it was only a 30 minute wait at the time. We finished up in Avengers Campus and by this time were starting to get a little hungry and began making our way to Pixar Pier for some food. On the way we noticed that the Incredicoaster was up and running this morning so we grabbed an immediate return LL for that and hopped on there. My 8 year old was pretty nervous for this one but she did it and liked it overall but wasn’t super interested in doing it again. It was a one and done kind of thing for her. After Incredicoaster we grabbed a bite to eat and my wife and other daughter came down from the hotel to meet us. From here we went and did the Golden Zephyr two times in a row, did the Jumpin Jellyfish again as well as the Silly Symphony Swings. We also hit up the Pixar Pal-a-Round again, which my wife skipped just like before. From here we grabbed a lightening lane for Big Thunder but that had a return time about an hour away so we started to make our way over to Disneyland and on the way to Big Thunder we made stop at the Haunted Mansion as that was only about a 20 minute standby time. We made our way to Big Thunder and by this time in the day you could just tell it was considerably different in the parks than the last 3 days. There were so many more people here this day and just about every portion of the park was packed. We used our LL for BTMRR and while the kiddos wanted to go again it was about a 50 minute standby time so we decided to just move on. It was at this time I noticed that the LLs for Splash Mountain were getting pushed out pretty far so I snagged that for all four of us even though the intention was just for my wife and 8 year old to go as my wife hadn’t had the chance to do it yet. We then made our way over to Fantasyland and everything was just jam packed with long wait times. We decided to get a some snacks in the area and then go do Its a Small World again. When we had gotten off of that the 3:30pm parade was getting close to starting so by this time the area was just jam packed with people. We fought the crowds and were able to make our way over to the Monorail station and just decided to head back towards Downtown Disney and the hotel. From there we hit up the hotel pools and hot tubs for a bit to rest up. After that we ventured back out to Downtown Disney for some dinner and once again it was just one of those nights where you could sense it was different. There was a different vibe to the hotel lobby, to the Downtown Disney area, etc. It was just busier, louder, and a higher energy than we had been experiencing. The holiday weekend crowd was definitely upon us. As we were finishing up with dinner we were discussing whether or not we wanted to head back to the parks to use that LL we had booked earlier for Splash as well as see the fireworks. What really sold it was that all of the sudden my 6 year old decided that she wanted to ride Splash Mountain again and this time ride it with mom next to her. So because of that we quickly made our way back to the DL and made the LL time with just 10 minutes to spare. So glad we ended up doing that as we now have the memory and the photo of being able to ride Splash as a family on one of its last few days in operation. After riding splash we made our way towards main street and noticed plenty of people already starting to stake their spots for the upcoming Wondrous Journeys show and fireworks so we decided to do it as well even though it was over an hour away. While I had heard that the fireworks often get cancelled, it seemed like pretty good conditions for them to occur this evening as it wasn’t crazy windy and there was only a slight breeze in the evening air. However, about 6 minutes out from show time an announcement came that there were some upper atmosphere winds they were worried about and that they may cancel the fireworks. A few more minutes went by and then just 3 minutes before showtime the fireworks were officially cancelled for the evening. My family and I were pretty gutted as we had just sat there for more than an hour waiting for it and we honestly had zero interest in seeing just the normal Wondrous Journeys show with just the lights for a second night in a row. It was pretty evident a large majority was also disappointed as there were a ton of people headed for the exits just like us. While we had a good start to the day it did end on a little bit of a sour note and the additional crowds that came into town and the parks did make it a bit crazier so we were happy for the day to come to a close.
Saturday 5/27: This was to be our last day at Disneyland so we had the character breakfast at Storyteller’s Cafe booked for this morning as kind of a way to have a slow start to the day. We woke up a little bit before our reservation time, got ready, and did some packing. We went down for breakfast and enjoyed our time. The food was pretty good for it being a buffet and the character interactions were fun. The kiddos got to meet Mickey, Chip N Dale, and Goofy. The original plan for this day was to also spend a little bit of the time in Disneyland but with the increase in people at the parks and the later start to the morning with the character breakfast the wait times exploded pretty quickly for a lot of the rides. The only ride the kids had a big interest in riding before we left town was BTMR but unfortunately that went down at some point and didn’t re-open until close to 12pm and it opened back up with a 50 minute wait time and a return LL closer to 2pm. At this point we just decided to call it and load up the car and head back home. The return trip to Phoenix was a bit slow going as there was a ton of traffic 215 and 60. A short while after the 60 connected with the 10 traffic finally let up and it was smooth sailing all the way back home.
