Trip Report - July 1-2

Discussion in 'Disneyland Trip Planning and Trip Reports' started by PetesDraggin, Jul 12, 2017.

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  1. PetesDraggin

    PetesDraggin Member

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    My family (me, my wife, and two daughters, ages 9 & 6) returned from a trip to Disneyland where we spent two days in the parks. We live in Northern California and used to purchase Annual Passes, but we got a little burned out and the crowds were getting overwhelming. So, this was our first time at the resort in nearly four years and I was a little nervous about what it would be like. There were several surprises throughout our time in the parks, mostly good but also some not so good.

    Our first day in the parks was on Saturday, July 1. We decided that Day 1 would be spent at Disneyland. We arrived at the parking garage around 7:20 a.m. in order to be inside the park at rope drop. The first surprise was, upon arriving at the turnstiles around 7:45 a.m., finding no lines to get into the park. We got through the turnstiles and walked slowly up Main Street to get ready to fight the crowds. We ended up at Central Plaza, about 15-20 feet away from the ropes. At 8:00 a.m., we were off to the Matterhorn. As we made our way through the park that morning, we realized that the crowds weren't there. After Matterhorn, we rode Storybook Land, Mad Tea Party, Alice, Thunder Mountain, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Winnie the Pooh, Jungle Cruise and Buzz all before lunch. The longest we waited in line that morning was 10 minutes, and that was due to a very low number of boats at Storybook Land.

    The crowds started arriving in the afternoon, but it was still one of the least busy days we have seen in quite some time. We took it easy that afternoon, hanging out with my brother for a few hours and spending some time on TSI. We rode a few more rides, had dinner, then got ready for the Main Street Electrical Parade and fireworks. We staked out a spot on the elevated viewing area near Small World about 1 hour before the parade, mostly to rest but we also wanted to be sure to find an out-of-the way spot to watch the parade.

    The MSEP and fireworks were a not-so-good surprise. I was pretty excited to see the parade, as it was a favorite of mine when I was younger. It was pretty disappointing and underwhelming, though. And the fireworks show was the special fireworks show for 4th of July, and it was terrible. We left after that and headed back to our hotel to get some rest for the next day.

    Day 2 was the same routine in the morning, however we headed to DCA for rope drop. Again, very low crowds early in the morning. I was able to get RSR fastpasses at rope-drop with a return time window of 8:25-9:25 a.m. Headed back to Soarin' and pretty much walked on. Then we went to RSR to use our fastpasses and got on that ride in about 5 minutes. Walked to Paradise Pier and rode TSMM with a fastpass (immediate return time, which was something new and surprising), then hit most of the other rides along the Pier, skipping the Fun Wheel, Screamin', and the carousel. We then rode a couple of rides in Bugs Land before we stopped at Flo's for lunch (pretty good roast beef sandwiches and really good milkshakes!). We rode some more rides after lunch and, by 2:30 in the afternoon, we felt like we had done pretty much everything at DCA and headed back to Disneyland. We finished out the afternoon and evening riding some more rides, watching Soundsational, heading out to Downtown Disney for a quick bite at Jazz Kitchen Express, riding some more rides and then taking the Monorail back out to Downtown Disney to head back to our car.

    If you would like to read my overall impressions of the trip, please read the next post.
     
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  2. PetesDraggin

    PetesDraggin Member

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    Overall, we had fun. We didn't wait more than 15 minutes for any ride, and some rides were walk-ons at various times throughout the day, either because of low crowds (Autopia, Small World) or because of the new way fastpasses are distributed for certain rides (Thunder Mountain).


    However, it still felt like a rip off. We spent nearly $1,000 for 4 2-day tickets and I don’t feel like we got our money’s worth. Cast Member interactions were mostly non-memorable and, in some instances, negative. My wife said it appeared that they were fatigued from dealing with oppressive crowds for so long and that it seemed they were not being treated very well by their employer (she doesn’t read or participate in any of the Disney blogs, fansites or discussion boards, so that is simply what her impression was of the situation). I understand how hard they work and how bad things have been at the parks for so many years, so their behavior makes perfect sense to me. Characters were few and far between. And we missed places like Big Thunder Ranch or the Court of Angels, where we could sit and relax in a themed environment, with the chance for something special to happen.


    We approached this trip differently than most of our past trips because we only had 2 days in the park and we wanted to ride as many rides as possible, and maybe this is the reason for my disappointment with the parks. Maybe I’ve just outgrown the magic, or maybe my years of reading negative stuff about Disneyland has jaded me to the good parts. Whatever it is, my wife and I just didn’t enjoy this trip as much as we thought we would. We have already talked about a vacation next year and Disneyland has already been ruled out. I don’t know when our next trip will be, but the only thing that would bring me back is to let my kids experience it and maybe find some of the joy through their eyes.
     
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  3. iamsally

    iamsally Well-Known Member

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    Thank you for sharing. We are going at the end of the month with my granddaughter's boyfriend who is a Disneyland Virgin. I am so hoping he will be able to feel the Magic as our family does.
    I am glad that:
    This is costing my daughter and arm and a leg. We have AP's this year so it is not so hard on us. It becomes increasingly difficult for us to overlook the Disney Inc. part and try to remember the Magic. I will try to smile at CM's as much as I can. Maybe that will help their mood.
     
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  4. PetesDraggin

    PetesDraggin Member

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    I understand that feeling. One of the reasons it took us so long to go back to Disneyland was the cost for a family of four. Not only have ticket prices increased dramatically, but hotels have also gotten much more expensive. Luckily, we found a good deal and that helped out a bit. But it was still a much more expensive Disneyland trip than we have ever experienced.
     
  5. dagobert

    dagobert Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for your trip report.

    It seems like CM interaction is something very important for US Disney visitors. We have been to DL in Anaheim last year and the CMs acted more like we knew it from Disneyland Paris. They were polite and friendly, but that was it. I've mentioned it already several times here on LP that I really don't like the CM interaction at WDW. I found that overfriendliness and constant small talk very annoying.
     

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