Angel141925
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2016
- Messages
- 234
Long post ahead. So we are back from a quick weekend trip. It was an ok definitely not as great as I’d hoped. This is mostly for our day at Disneyland Saturday. I’ll do a separate post for oogie boogie bash.
Hotel: we stayed at a holiday inn express in Santa Ana. Would definitely stay there again. It had free parking and free breakfast. Nothing fancy but beds were comfy. It was a 15 min drive to the parks. We of course would rather stay across from the parks but for a quick trip it was perfect and much cheaper.
Parking/trams: no issues. Trams were very frequent. Some security cast members are stricter than others. Pay attention to the character on your level. If it’s a Pixar character you are in the Pixar structure even if you think you entered the Mickey and friends structure. We figure it out the hard way lol. Also don’t fold up your strollers before security like signs say. Security will make you open it back up. Just wait until you’re in line for the tram.
Crowds: OMG it was absolutely insane!!!!Do yourself a favor and look at the calendar before you plan your trip. I didn’t even realize this was a holiday weekend until like Thursday and I will never do it again. It was so packed. Lines were insane mobile order was crazy. The line for haunted mansion and the line for pirates were so long they were almost touching at one point around 9/930am. Main Street for fireworks was barely moveable. It was just way too crowded.
Genie +/ ILL: I have a love hate relationship with it and I think mostly it’s due to the parks being so crowded mixed with a couple other things. I also don’t think I used the best strategy. So we arrived at rope drop. I feel it’s kinda pointless to use and LL the first hour because lines are short. So we did most of Tomorrowland before using any LL. I booked our first one at 10 am for thunder mountain. Really didn’t save much time maybe 5 min. Still a quick wait. We had paid ILL for ROR at 10:40. Purchased it right when we came in the gate 0 issues. 5 min wait if that. Was definitely worth it. I was hoping to schedule splash at 1ish so it would be our last ride before a mid day break. That didn’t work out because waiting to see Jack took way longer than expected. So next LL I scheduled was at like 1pm for Haunted mansion for a 6:30 return time for when we got back. While at the hotel I got our reservation for splash at 11. That was all we used Genie+. The lines once checked into everything were amazing. Barely had to wait at all. It was crowded so reservations were booking out further which required more waiting to be able to reserve the next one. The other problems we had were that we had dining reservations at 7:30 for the hungry bear dining package and also wanted to see fireworks in front of the castle. So that did take away a lot of our time to schedule things so it wasn’t necessarily the programs fault as much as it was our schedule and the crowd that made it difficult. Also it give you an hour but my OCD wants to be there right when the window opens because I’m afraid of missing it so again an issue for us but maybe not someone else. I would use it again but differently I think.
Fireworks/Fantasmic: we got our food at hungry bear and walked to the hub to find a spot for fireworks at 730/7:45. We ended up in front of jolly holiday. Not my fave spot for fireworks. Had my son not been so excited to see zero fly we would have chose somewhere else. I also feel like for Halloween screams so much happens in front of the castle so that’s another reason we chose there. Had a hard time seeing the projections with where we were at though. And you are packed in those little areas like sardines. It’s almost scary the amount of people they have in this area. If there was an emergency it would be a complete disaster. After fireworks we needed to get to hungry bear check in for famtasmic. I was very worried about having enough time because of crowds and fireworks started late. Getting from our spot for fireworks to frontier lane was absolutely insane. Especially with a stroller. I accidentally hit or ran over probably 10 people just because it was so congested. It definitely was not on purpose. Once it Frontierland it was better. Also a note from a cast member Adventureland is exit only so if you are trying to head towards Fantasmic or any of that you must go through Frontierland. We made it to hungry bear check in no problem and we’re actually right on the water. There was plenty of room in the area. I actually wished we would have been able to sit back a little bit cuz of the railing but they made us scoot all the way up. Probably won’t do Fantasmic again and not as sad that it probably won’t be going on our next trip. It’s a little too loud for my son. I forgot how loud Fantasmic really is. Keep that in mind if your little ones are sensitive.
Mobile order: I loved mobile order our trip last year. Super easy to order whenever. Normally had a window open within 15 min or so. Not this trip. Again due to large crowds mobile orders need to be put in way early. Otherwise you were waiting possibly hours for availability. Not much for something quick and simple especially in the morning. Once checked in to mobile order I think the longest we waited was 20 min which is kinda long when your hangry and hot but in reality not that bad. No issues once ordered and picking up.
Miscellaneous: it was hot. Neck fan saved me. With the heat and amount of people it was kind of a lot. Evenings were great though. No real ride breakdowns for us in Disneyland. Haunted mansion stopped for 5ish min but not too bad. They have just let splash go since it’s going to be changed. Many of the lights inside weren’t working. Just seemed really dark and that stuff was missing. Cast members were great. This was our sons first time being tall enough to ride the bigger rides so that was fun. He loved space mountain and thunder mountain. Also loves ROR. Splash was not his fave as you can see below
. We also got to see Jack. Took almost 2 hours of waiting but it was very high on our must do list. If I had one more person just abruptly stop in front of me one more time I would have screamed. This by far drove me absolutely insane. All in all it was an ok trip it was just way too crowded for us and mostly that’s my fault for not planning according to the calendar. We also did oogie boogie bash but I’ll do a separate post for that. It was not what we expected. If this was our once in a life time trip I wouldn’t be happy but for a quick weekend trip it wasn’t awful. Overall I’d give this trip a 7/10.
Hotel: we stayed at a holiday inn express in Santa Ana. Would definitely stay there again. It had free parking and free breakfast. Nothing fancy but beds were comfy. It was a 15 min drive to the parks. We of course would rather stay across from the parks but for a quick trip it was perfect and much cheaper.
Parking/trams: no issues. Trams were very frequent. Some security cast members are stricter than others. Pay attention to the character on your level. If it’s a Pixar character you are in the Pixar structure even if you think you entered the Mickey and friends structure. We figure it out the hard way lol. Also don’t fold up your strollers before security like signs say. Security will make you open it back up. Just wait until you’re in line for the tram.
Crowds: OMG it was absolutely insane!!!!Do yourself a favor and look at the calendar before you plan your trip. I didn’t even realize this was a holiday weekend until like Thursday and I will never do it again. It was so packed. Lines were insane mobile order was crazy. The line for haunted mansion and the line for pirates were so long they were almost touching at one point around 9/930am. Main Street for fireworks was barely moveable. It was just way too crowded.
Genie +/ ILL: I have a love hate relationship with it and I think mostly it’s due to the parks being so crowded mixed with a couple other things. I also don’t think I used the best strategy. So we arrived at rope drop. I feel it’s kinda pointless to use and LL the first hour because lines are short. So we did most of Tomorrowland before using any LL. I booked our first one at 10 am for thunder mountain. Really didn’t save much time maybe 5 min. Still a quick wait. We had paid ILL for ROR at 10:40. Purchased it right when we came in the gate 0 issues. 5 min wait if that. Was definitely worth it. I was hoping to schedule splash at 1ish so it would be our last ride before a mid day break. That didn’t work out because waiting to see Jack took way longer than expected. So next LL I scheduled was at like 1pm for Haunted mansion for a 6:30 return time for when we got back. While at the hotel I got our reservation for splash at 11. That was all we used Genie+. The lines once checked into everything were amazing. Barely had to wait at all. It was crowded so reservations were booking out further which required more waiting to be able to reserve the next one. The other problems we had were that we had dining reservations at 7:30 for the hungry bear dining package and also wanted to see fireworks in front of the castle. So that did take away a lot of our time to schedule things so it wasn’t necessarily the programs fault as much as it was our schedule and the crowd that made it difficult. Also it give you an hour but my OCD wants to be there right when the window opens because I’m afraid of missing it so again an issue for us but maybe not someone else. I would use it again but differently I think.
Fireworks/Fantasmic: we got our food at hungry bear and walked to the hub to find a spot for fireworks at 730/7:45. We ended up in front of jolly holiday. Not my fave spot for fireworks. Had my son not been so excited to see zero fly we would have chose somewhere else. I also feel like for Halloween screams so much happens in front of the castle so that’s another reason we chose there. Had a hard time seeing the projections with where we were at though. And you are packed in those little areas like sardines. It’s almost scary the amount of people they have in this area. If there was an emergency it would be a complete disaster. After fireworks we needed to get to hungry bear check in for famtasmic. I was very worried about having enough time because of crowds and fireworks started late. Getting from our spot for fireworks to frontier lane was absolutely insane. Especially with a stroller. I accidentally hit or ran over probably 10 people just because it was so congested. It definitely was not on purpose. Once it Frontierland it was better. Also a note from a cast member Adventureland is exit only so if you are trying to head towards Fantasmic or any of that you must go through Frontierland. We made it to hungry bear check in no problem and we’re actually right on the water. There was plenty of room in the area. I actually wished we would have been able to sit back a little bit cuz of the railing but they made us scoot all the way up. Probably won’t do Fantasmic again and not as sad that it probably won’t be going on our next trip. It’s a little too loud for my son. I forgot how loud Fantasmic really is. Keep that in mind if your little ones are sensitive.
Mobile order: I loved mobile order our trip last year. Super easy to order whenever. Normally had a window open within 15 min or so. Not this trip. Again due to large crowds mobile orders need to be put in way early. Otherwise you were waiting possibly hours for availability. Not much for something quick and simple especially in the morning. Once checked in to mobile order I think the longest we waited was 20 min which is kinda long when your hangry and hot but in reality not that bad. No issues once ordered and picking up.
Miscellaneous: it was hot. Neck fan saved me. With the heat and amount of people it was kind of a lot. Evenings were great though. No real ride breakdowns for us in Disneyland. Haunted mansion stopped for 5ish min but not too bad. They have just let splash go since it’s going to be changed. Many of the lights inside weren’t working. Just seemed really dark and that stuff was missing. Cast members were great. This was our sons first time being tall enough to ride the bigger rides so that was fun. He loved space mountain and thunder mountain. Also loves ROR. Splash was not his fave as you can see below
. We also got to see Jack. Took almost 2 hours of waiting but it was very high on our must do list. If I had one more person just abruptly stop in front of me one more time I would have screamed. This by far drove me absolutely insane. All in all it was an ok trip it was just way too crowded for us and mostly that’s my fault for not planning according to the calendar. We also did oogie boogie bash but I’ll do a separate post for that. It was not what we expected. If this was our once in a life time trip I wouldn’t be happy but for a quick weekend trip it wasn’t awful. Overall I’d give this trip a 7/10.
