We Are Back From The USA

Thank you!

I want to return to Vegas immediately. I know it's just a fake city based on gambling, but it has always fascinated me and it still does. I don't gmable myself that much, just a couple of dollars at the slot machines or at the roulette, but I could stand at the tables for hours and watch them play.

In Austria casinos are only run by a government owned company and they are rather fancy. You have to wear fancy clothes, like jackets and sometimes even ties, to be allowed into the casino and you have to pay for the entrance, usually 22 Euros, but you get jetons worth of 25 Euros. However you are registered with your ID, so that they can deny entrance if you lost too much money in recent years. No ID, no entrance, so that's very different to Vegas. Because of these strict rules an American company opened some casinos along the Austrian - Czech Ruplican border without those limitations. We sometimes go there, because with paying for the entrance comes free food and as long as you play on either the slots or the tables even free wine and beer.

 

Yes, we had a fantastic time in the US.

As for the Hard Rock Hotel. I would only recommend it, if you can get a special deal. It was a nice hotel and we felt comfortable there, but I just think that the price was not justified. For the same amount of money you can get a room at the Strip too. We just wanted to stay there, because we are Hard Rock Cafe fans and just wanted to experience their hotel, although it doesn't belong to the Hard Rock Group. The hotel offers a shuttle, but only during day time and the walk to the Strip takes about 15 minutes.

The High Roller at night sounds great. It didn't appeal to us during the day, but during the night it might indeed be pretty cool, especially with unlimited drinks.

 

Disneyland Anaheim

My wife Claudia and I are big Disney Parks fans. Although most of our vacations aren't to Disney, we try to go to a Disney park at least once a year, usually it is Disneyland Paris, since we have Annual Passes. So far we had been to DLP seven times, twice to WDW and once we did a Disney cruise. Next on our list was the orginal Disneyland. Traveling to California just because of Disneyland would be stupid, so we made it part of a bigger California vacation.

At first I want to say that we had three wonderful days at Disneyland, but it couldn't claim the top spot on my Disney parks list. I guess DLP will always be my favourite Disney park. Not only was my first park I've ever visited, it is also my "home park" and will always hold a special place. While DL was great, DCA was even better, and honestly I was quite surprised by that. In fact DCA is now my third favourite Disney park behind DLP and EPCOT.

Before our Disney adventure could start, we needed a place to stay and of course park tickets. At first we wanted to stay at a Disney hotel, but the room rates were rather high, even without park tickets. So we looked at hotels and motels off the Disney property and since we don't stay at Disney hotels in Paris anymore, we decided to do the same in Anaheim. We just didn't want to spend such a huge amount of money on a Disney hotel, becuse we still have some vacations coming up this year and so the money is better spent somewhere else. After looking around for several days on Booking.com we found the Knights Inn Anaheim. At first we were a little bit reluctant, because some years ago we stayed in several Days Inn Motels and the experiences varied from very good in Toronto to "we have to get out here asap" in Orlando. However the ratings weren't that bad and the hotel was recently refurbished. Additionally we got a very good price for six nights and so we decided to give it a try. The motel was located on Ball Rd and was approximately 10 to 15 minutes by foot away from DL. We don't mind walking and since pavements led over the Interstate, the way to the parks was fine. Just for comparison, Disney's Santa Fe at DLP is located 15 to 20 minutes by foot away from the parks. And a Starbucks was located right next to the motel, which was very convenient, since the lines at the Disney Starbucks locations were always long, especially in the morning. The hotel even offered a pool, but we didn't use it. Our room was located on the ground floor and as mentioned before, it was newly refurbished and so it looked very nice. The walls were a bit thin, because we could hear the family on the first floor walking, but besides that, it was very quiet. I guess everyone was just really tired after a day at the parks and so there wasn't any energy left for being loud.

Thanks to the Disney Tourist Blog we got our three days Park Hopper Tickets at ParkSavers.com and that saved us 22 Dollars per ticket. We got a print out that we had to redeem at the ticket booth, which we did in the evening before our first day in the parks. The ticket also included Magic Morning that allowed us to enter DL an hour early on one day. Of course we made use of that, although that meant 7:00 o'clock in the morning. I have never been that early in a Disney park, neither at WDW nor at DLP. Honestly I was very surprised that the parks open at 8:00 o'clock and close at 23:00 o'clock during weekdays. At DLP the parks open at 10:00 o'clock and close at 18:00 o'clock (WDSP) and 20:00 o'clock (DLP).

During our stay, we saw many groups of teenagers and apparently there was a special event called Grad Night on one evening. While it must be cool to celebrate graduation in a Disney park, we found it cute, because when we graduated from high school, we partied hard all night for several days in clubs and bars. Nonetheless the kids behaved very well most of the time.

Many warned us that the crowds might be crazy and so we tried to be at the park entrance early. Security at DL was a mess and Disney can learn a lot from Paris or Universal. It took them forever to look into all the bags and so the lines were long. They should install the scanners like at DLP or Universal, because it would reduce the wait times. After security the lines at DL's maingate were already long and so on our first day we decided to go to DCA first, since there were no lines. We walked straight to Radiator Springs to do the Cars ride at least once. This land is truly beautiful and the ride is also a lot of fun. Maybe it is not on the same scale like Harry Potter, but it is wonderful. We loved the Radiator Springs Racers, but unfortunately we did it only once. The lines were just too long during the days. There's just a minor thing that bothered me a little. First you walk through Radiator Springs, then you board the car and then you drive through Radiator Springs again, although it's clearly not the town from outside the ride. Other than that, it is a great attraction and I totally understand the long queues. We also did Mater's Junkyard Jamboree, which basically is a copy of DLP's Cars Race Rally with a different theming. The new Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters looked already boring from the outside, so we skipped it. Except for that ride, WDI did a terrific job with Carsland and hopefully it will get cloned somewhere else, like at WDW.

Our favourite area of DCA was Paradise Pier. Not only does it have two great rides, but it also looks cool, like the seaside amusement parks seen in many US movies. California Screamin' might be the best Disney coaster. It's fast, it features a looping and a catapult start. Thanks to its smoothness I put it even before DLP's Space Mountain and Expedition Everest. We rode it several times per day, due to the short lines. Toy Story Mania was already a favourite of ours at WDW and so it was one at DCA too. The biggest surprise for us was the Fun Wheel. The swinging gondolas were indeed a lot of fun, what a cool idea. Paradise Pier is also home of the Cove Bar and enjoying some drinks there was so relaxing.

Over the three days we also got to do Soarin', still one of my all time Disney favourites, Monsters Inc. - Mike and Sully to the Rescue and The Little Mermaid. We knew TLM already from Florida, but it still is a cute ride with hardly any wait times and so we rode it several times to escape the heat. The Monsters ride was okay, nothing special, but since we didn't know it, we gave it a try, but doing it once is enough. As for Soarin', I'm glad we could do the original version one last time before it gets replaced by Over the Horizon/Over the World.

Except for the first day we always started with DL and in the afternoon when it got crazy in the main park, we headed over to DCA. On contrary to DL, DCA is a much more relaxing and adult oriented park, which we enjoyed a lot. We spent a lot of time at Cove Bar and at Sonoma Terrace to taste many Californian craft beers. For us, Disney is more than just a park full of rides, and enjoying drinks and the atmosphere is as equally important to us. That might be the reason why we like EPCOT so much. I guess Sonoma Terrace is my favourite drinking spot at Disney. It's so relaxing, no kids, only adults who like to get a rest from the craziness and the nicest CMs in the whole resort. The CMs at DLA were a disappintment, but more on that later.

 

We had the same experience with DL. It took us a while too to "get" Disneyland. I mean it was Disneyland, but at the same time it did't feel like it. It was just weird, but in the end we enjoyed the park a lot, just not as much as DLP. It had something to do with the crowds, with the behaviour and rudness of some people and the CMs were not great either. Many complain that DLP lacks the heart and welcoming feel, for us it was the other way round. Still it was great to be at the original DL and had a lot of fun there.

 

Continuation

As I already mentioned in the answer to @u k fan's comment, it took us some time to "get" Disneyland. It was the same problem we had with the Magic Kindom. It is Disneyland, it looks like Disneyland, but it just doesn't feel right. It's hard to discribe, but I guess it has soemthing to do with familiarity. I know DL is old and so it is rather small and not very stunning. However it is a very charming park, but unfortunately it gets very crowded due to the small open areas. That's why we went there in the morning and left when it got packed. Besides that, DL has the best themepark ride ever. The Indiana Jones Adventure is so fantastic that we had to ride it several times. The theming is amazing, it starts with the queue area and continues through the ride itself. There's only one downside. It seems not to be very reliant, because it broke down often, at least once or twice a day. Do Dinosaur at WDW and Indiana Jones in Tokyo face the same problems? In Adventureland the only other attraction we did was the Jungle Cruise, and it was as boring as the one in Florida. I'm surprised it's still there. But we got tons of Dole Whip. I wish it would be available at DLP too.

My favourite area in DL was New Orleans Square. It's beautifully themed, but after noon, you can hardly move there. Of course we did the HM and POTC. Both rides were fine, but it was a bit strange that there was a ghost talking in the HM. POTC is a classic, but our ride was a little bit ruined thanks to the constant and loud commentaries from the guests behind. Even after asking to be less loud, they didn't stop. At least we weren't the only ones who found that annoying, because the family in front of us complained about them too.

We visited WDW twice and both times Splash Mountain was closed due to refurbishment, but this year we finally got to ride it. I don't know the movie Song of the South, but the attraction is great. It had some catchy songs, nice scenes and the cool drop. It would make a great addition to DLP. In Critter Country we also did Winnie Pooh, which we knew already from WDW. However it seems like the DL version is different, but I might be wrong on that.

Frontierland was rather small, but BTMRR was as good as at WDW and DLP. The explosion scene looked cool and I'm looking forward to it in Paris where the scene is currently being installed. While the mountain seems to be smaller than in Orlando and Paris, the ride layout must be the same, at least I got that impression. Due to the SWLand construction I was under the impression that they emptied the river, but luckily that was not the case.

In Tomorrowland we only rode Space Mountain, because we got Buzz in Paris as well and we wanted to save Star Tours with the Force Awakens scenes for Paris next year when it reopens. Space Mountain was better than in Florida, but it still is not as much fun as DLP's. Even the Star Wars layover didn't change that, which I think was not that great. The Submarines seem to be very popular. That's the only ride we wanted to do, but had to skip it, because we didn't want to stay in line for an hour.

A positive surprise was Mickey's Toontown. It looked lovely and Roger Rabbit was a cool ride that we really enjoyed. The whole land would be a nice addition to DLP, although I would like to see Duckburgh from the Donald Duck comis coming to life instead.

And this leaves us with Fantasyland. It's always tough to judge Fantasyland from other Disneylands, because the one in Paris is just the most beautiful one, even Anaheim can't match it. However, it comes close. It's a very charming Fantasyland with the most beautiful open air Tea Cups ride. DL is home to many unique attractions like the Matterhorn, Alice in Wonderland and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. We only did the attractions new to us and so we left out Pinocchio, Snow White or Peter Pan. While we really liked Mr Toad, the Matterhorn was a very unpleasant experience. It was way too bumpy so that I don't want to ride it ever again. Alice was a cute ride perfect for kids.

 

Conclusion about Disneyland and our trip

What I liked most about Disneyland was that nature had grown into the park. That adds a lot to DL's atmosphere and gives it its charm. Another cool thing was the Disneyland Marching Band. They were really entertaining. The moment they played Hooked On a Feeling from Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, I realized that Marvel is indeed part of Disney and it felt like it has always been that way. People were cheering and clapping and that song filled the whole area with so much energy. It was just great.

As you may or may not know, I'm a vegetarian and my wife Claudia is vegan and so eating at Disney might be a challenge. While WDW is great when it coes to catering for vegetarians and even vegans, our home park Disneyland Paris is not so much. Since WDW was doing so fine, we had high hopes for Disneyland. Although it was not as good as in Florida, we weren't disappointed. First there was Dole Whip and we got several of them each day. They are just so delicious. We didn't eat breakfast in the parks, because we got coffee from Starbucks on the way to the resort and bought fruits and Clif Bars from Wal-Mart. I read somewhere that Disneyland is very strict when it comes to bring food into the parks, but none of the security guards said anything against our water and fruits. For lunch and dinner we either went to Smokejumpers at DCA for a veggie burger with fries or to the Royal Street Veranda at New Orleans Square for the vegetarian gumbo in the bread bowl, which was also vegan. The gumbo was the best quick service themepark dish I've ever had. It was so good that we went there every day. On our last evening we had lunch at Wine Country Trattoria, since they offered two vegetarian/vegan pasta dishes. While the food was pretty good, it was a bit pricey for the small portion, the experience at the restaurant was unfortunately rather bad. It had nothing to do with the food or the restaurant itself. The family on the next table was so rude and loud, the kids threw their food around the table, ran around the table and ate in such a disgunstingly manner, that we had to request another table, which we got. On the bright side, the Sangria was also very good. I know it's a themepark and people are supposed to have fun, but I can't stand it when children or even adults can't behave at the table, may it be a quick service restaurant or a table service restaurant. And in a table service restaurant I expect people to use cutlery and not their fingers.

The next thing that was annoying was queue jumping. Families made a sport out of it, like how many family members can we get through the queue without lining up? One member is queueing, while the rest is still enjoying the park. Then a quick call before reaching the boarding area and suddenly they all appeared. Unfortunately that seems to be a normal behaviour, since no one cared and it happened so often.

Besides these two issues guest behaviour in general was fine. However compared to Universal Hollywood it could be better at any Disney park. So far Universal Hollywood offered the best guest experience at any themepark yet. The worst was definitely Cedar Point. I guess that's mainly because of the more mature audience at Universal Hollywood. Less children equal better behaviour. I was surprised to see so many young mothers with really small babies at Disneyland. Many of them were still children themselves, at least to my standards, and were totally overburdend. I can't imagine that the babies felt comfortable in the heat and with all the loud noises. But since I'm not a dad, I don't want to sound super smart. It was just an observation I made.

Due to Disneyland's size, strollers and these electrical wheel chairs are a much bigger problem than at WDW. They had to use huge areas for stroller parking and some children were already big enough to walk. I guess in recent years after visiting Disney I turned into a person that doesn't like children.

Given its age, Disneyland is a wonderful place every Disney fan should at least visit once. Do I need to visit again? Definitely. Do I like the resort? Yes I do, but until now it is the least favourite of mine. The main reason for that is just the overwhelming crowd. I don't want to imagine how packed the park must be during the summer months on weekends. The biggest surprise for me, was that I didn't fell in love with Disneyland, but with DCA I did. It's just a great park, with beautiful areas like Buena Vista Street, Grizzly Peak or Paradise Pier. Even Hollywood Land looks nice and I would really hate it, if the ToT will be changed to Marvel. And @FerretAfros I found the water tower.

And thanks to this Disney trip, my wife is now addicted to the Disney Tsum Tsums. We had to get some of them and so we ended up buiying Chewie from Star Wars, Stitch and Pascal from Tangles. Besides that we got the Starbucks Disney Mugs, two pins and a magnet.

So all in all we had three fantastic days at Disneyland, and overall the whole vacation in California was wonderful. I have been an USA fan for serveral years, but after being to California I like the country even more. Only Trump scares the hell out of me. Everyone was so relaxed and friendly, and people there are much more open minded than over here. I'm sure it's a great place to live, and apparently it's also a great place for lawyers. I have never seen so many advertisements for lawyers. I guess it's true that Americans like to sue . Last but not least, on Hollywood Blvd I've learned that I'm going to hell .

Over the next weeks I will post more pictures on my blog and copy the link into this thread.

 

Parta 5 and 6 of my trip reports are online!

Lake Tahoe:
Traveling: California 2016 - Part 5

San Francisco:
Traveling: California 2016 - Part 6

 

Spot on. That's exactly what I meant with "getting" Disneyland. Still a great park, just not "my" park, and it was wonderful to finally be inside Walt's park.

 

Honestly we were a bit surprised by the high prices in Vegas this year. We visited already in 2008 and we could have stayed in the Bellagio for around 60 Dollars, unfortunately only for one night, because the CES started and then the room rates went to the roof. So we decided against that and stayed off the strip on the Gold Coast, that was across the Palm Resort, next to the Rio. I know eight years have passed, but the inflation wasn't that high that the rates are so high today.

It sounds more complicated than it actually is. You get registered once and everyone has an ID, so that's no problem. As for the dress code, I like that, because a visit to the casino becomes a little bit more special, and the dress code is only enforced in the evening. If you don't have a jacket or a tie, you can borrow it from the casino for a very small fee. Here in Salzburg the casino is in a palace and with the fancy attire it can be really cool.

 

I'm glad you liked DLP, besides its issues with maintenance and the lack of money. Unitil now, we really liked all Disney resorts, either be DLP or WDW or DLA. All of them have something special and it's worth visiting all of them. Now that SDL is open, I really want to visit that park. In my opinion it looks great.

The best Disney experience still was the Disney cruise. It was worth every penny. Exceptional service, the ship looked brand new, although it was already four years old, the food and drinks were great, and Castaway Cay was so wonderful.

 

Thanks!

I'm glad that other experienced line jumping too, because I always feel terrible to write something bad about another country. That always sounds so condescending.

If your son gets sick from these kind of attractions, I guess Universal might indeed not the best themepark for him. My wife gets also motion sickness, but she did fine with Despicable Me, Harry Potter and Shrek. Only the Simpson ride caused her problems. However Star Tours didn't cause her any problems either, so your son might be suffering more.

 

We have done only one cruise ever, the Disney Cruise, and we chose to go for an entire week. I know Disney also offers shorter cruises, like three and four nights, but for us that sounded rather short. Even the whole week was too short for us, since the ship offers so much.In addition we had two shore days and one day at Castaway.