GrizzlyGirl
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2013
Overall impressions - It felt crowded but manageable. Cast members were exceptional. Fellow guests followed mask guidelines and were pleasant (except for the few usual bad apples). Mobile order for food was generally the best way to go and worked well. It is absolutely needed for more popular places like Jolly Holiday. There were a couple of times when the Mobile Order window was booked out a bit, but usually it was in the very near future. There is a lack of quick, early breakfast options - so the few places that are open before or at rope drop were swamped.
Disneyland Hotel - The service, except for room cleaning, was exceptional. They are cleaning every other day which is fine but they came one morning when we were still in the room and then didn't come back the rest of the stay (5 days). It was just two of us, so we really didn't care and just asked for more towels and TP when we needed them. But I can see how that would be concerning for other guests. The construction must all be indoors now because we did not see or hear anything. The laundry is still closed which was a bummer.
Genie+ - We got it the first day when it crashed. And then we used it 2 other days when it worked well. The Lightning Lane passes were easy to get for even the most popular rides. We did it because we only visit every 2-3 years and it relieves stress to be able to cut the wait times. We didn't use it every day - some days we didn't care about wait times as much. For Rise of the Resistance, I noticed that the Individual Lightning Lane would not be available for a short period and then it would be available again - so keep checking if you want that one.
Merriest Nights - We did not feel like it was worth the money. The absolute highlight were The Muppets. The main party exclusive activities were photo ops with characters and these required fairly long waits at times. The Halloween Parties feel more special to us than this did.
Food - We ate alot of food
I am a foodie so I'm a bit picky in my reviews. My favorite was Cafe Orleans - the mushroom soup had a mushroom ball (like meatball) -it was velvety and delicious. The shrimp & grits were perfect. My second favorite was Tangaroa Terrace at DLH - we ate there several times. The burger, sweet potato fries, ramen, and little gem salad were all great. My BF's second favorite was Carthay Circle - he had the porkchop and it was the best pork that he and I have ever had and it was cooked perfectly. The artichoke-parmesan fritters, the endive & apple salad, and the short rib ravioli were all meh. Not horrible but nothing great. The Blue Bayou was also meh - we had the Jambalaya and Cajun Cauliflower. Both really needed bread service to add a little something. The flatbread pizzas at Red Rose Tavern are still very good. My BF loved both breakfast and dinner at Goofy's Kitchen. I loved the beef tamales and pozole from the Paradise Garden Grill area. We liked Lamplight Lounge - the lobster nachos were really good and the short ribs melted in my mouth. We don't drink but some of the Festival of the Holidays drinks looked amazing. Surprisingly none of the desserts on the trip were very memorable. The creme brulee at the Blue Bayou was probably the best.
Shopping - There is not variety from store to store and within stores. The clothing selection was great - more extended sizes, many different styles, etc. Anything else was very limited in my opinion. So not a lot of options for home goods, purses/bags, Christmas ornaments, jewelry, artwork, etc. This is very subjective I know.
Pooh sized note: My BF is about 500# and 6 foot. He was able to fit on Rise of the Resistance which is awesome because he cannot fit on Indiana Jones and the cars are similar. The cast members and other guests were very accommodating when we needed extra time to get him in and buckled up on rides. It was very nice. He gained quite a bit of weight since our last trip (over the pandemic) and found many rides to be uncomfortable and he was very bummed.
Disneyland Hotel - The service, except for room cleaning, was exceptional. They are cleaning every other day which is fine but they came one morning when we were still in the room and then didn't come back the rest of the stay (5 days). It was just two of us, so we really didn't care and just asked for more towels and TP when we needed them. But I can see how that would be concerning for other guests. The construction must all be indoors now because we did not see or hear anything. The laundry is still closed which was a bummer.
Genie+ - We got it the first day when it crashed. And then we used it 2 other days when it worked well. The Lightning Lane passes were easy to get for even the most popular rides. We did it because we only visit every 2-3 years and it relieves stress to be able to cut the wait times. We didn't use it every day - some days we didn't care about wait times as much. For Rise of the Resistance, I noticed that the Individual Lightning Lane would not be available for a short period and then it would be available again - so keep checking if you want that one.
Merriest Nights - We did not feel like it was worth the money. The absolute highlight were The Muppets. The main party exclusive activities were photo ops with characters and these required fairly long waits at times. The Halloween Parties feel more special to us than this did.
Food - We ate alot of food
I am a foodie so I'm a bit picky in my reviews. My favorite was Cafe Orleans - the mushroom soup had a mushroom ball (like meatball) -it was velvety and delicious. The shrimp & grits were perfect. My second favorite was Tangaroa Terrace at DLH - we ate there several times. The burger, sweet potato fries, ramen, and little gem salad were all great. My BF's second favorite was Carthay Circle - he had the porkchop and it was the best pork that he and I have ever had and it was cooked perfectly. The artichoke-parmesan fritters, the endive & apple salad, and the short rib ravioli were all meh. Not horrible but nothing great. The Blue Bayou was also meh - we had the Jambalaya and Cajun Cauliflower. Both really needed bread service to add a little something. The flatbread pizzas at Red Rose Tavern are still very good. My BF loved both breakfast and dinner at Goofy's Kitchen. I loved the beef tamales and pozole from the Paradise Garden Grill area. We liked Lamplight Lounge - the lobster nachos were really good and the short ribs melted in my mouth. We don't drink but some of the Festival of the Holidays drinks looked amazing. Surprisingly none of the desserts on the trip were very memorable. The creme brulee at the Blue Bayou was probably the best. Shopping - There is not variety from store to store and within stores. The clothing selection was great - more extended sizes, many different styles, etc. Anything else was very limited in my opinion. So not a lot of options for home goods, purses/bags, Christmas ornaments, jewelry, artwork, etc. This is very subjective I know.
Pooh sized note: My BF is about 500# and 6 foot. He was able to fit on Rise of the Resistance which is awesome because he cannot fit on Indiana Jones and the cars are similar. The cast members and other guests were very accommodating when we needed extra time to get him in and buckled up on rides. It was very nice. He gained quite a bit of weight since our last trip (over the pandemic) and found many rides to be uncomfortable and he was very bummed.
