2024 August - 5 night Disneyland Trip Report
Sept 2, 2024 10:36:43 GMT -5
jedimom3 and lephelps like this
Post by neednewpark on Sept 2, 2024 10:36:43 GMT -5
Disneyland 2024
This was an stop on the way back home from our Aulani trip. See other trip Report. Arrived at LAX early from Hawaii. Got in at 5:30AM. Picked up our rental car. Toured a few hot spots.
Santa Monica pier drive-by. Felt I was in a drive-by. It was littered with homeless all over the beach. Sad!!! Went to the Hollywood sign viewing point. That was nice. Drove down some Hollywood notable roads. Headed to Disneyland. Oh the traffic. But it was rush hour.
Up front notes:
Dad(me) and Mom (in our 40s) 2 teenage daughters.
-First time at Disneyland.
-Studio value at Disneyland hotel.
-Transient tax ruins it a bit. I always enjoyed not ever getting a room bill.
-We are yearly visitors to WDW. So, it was in our nature to compare every like ride. -I must say Disneyland does it better in a lot of ways. I will touch on these below.
-Line cutters- Oh wow there were so many. The trend is they put their phone to their ear and talk to their party as they ‘excuse me’ past you. (“ How far, Can’t see ya yet, I am almost there”). It is clear when they walk in with multiple people that far what they were doing. When my daughter had to walk off to use a bathroom, she came back the same way so they all knew. Just a lot more of this than I ever seen in WDW. Family of 5 skipping 40Min in on Rad Springs??? Come on.
-DL has done an incredible job fitting these attractions in. And they intermingle many of them to make it work. I used to think WDW needed a new park (See my userName), they just need to get more creative with what they have. They can fit so much more in.
-Still see plenty of vapors. Gets under my skin. I do not want to take in that stuff.
-Arrived at Disneyland hotel at about 10:00AM. Room was ready. We moved our bags to the room and started our first park day. Tired but we powered thru a DL day.
-Hotel was nice. Was in discovery tower. Room was perfect layout and size. Pools were great. Chairs were still an issue at lunch break from park. I can fix this if Disney wants to call me. Hotel smell was a bit much. Too perfumey IMO.
-I walked the grand lobby. That place is superior. Why it is hard to get.
-Parking which is free, you have to go the guard each way to get or give your parking ticket. Very time consuming if you come and go with a line of cars. I know not many do leave much, so not really a huge issue. Guards are not like WDW guards.
Attractions and my opinions.
Indiana- So much better than Dino. Will be a nice change for WDW to get it.
Pirates- So much better than WDW. 2 drops. More scenes. But WDW ship room seems more vast.
Autopia- So much better than WDW. More diverse layout. See more of the other attractions. Just has more to offer.
Jungle Cruise - We felt we had poor guides. It is all about the guide.
Thunder Mountain- Better at DL. I felt the lifts had more drama / lighting / sounds in the scenes.
Small world - I liked DL better. Less water to complicate things. Rooms seemed better separated. (If I remember correctly)
Incredicoaster - Just a fun ride. Did it about 5 - 8 times. Boo dash day it was a walk on.
Toy Story - same as WDW
Rad Springs - Just real fun. Did it about 4 times. Last time was an evacuation. We got stopped in the paint room.
Guardians - So much better than Tower. We did both the regular version and the Boo Bash version.
Web Slingers - Very fun.
Nemo - tho it was like our old 20000 Leagues Under the Sea ride and brought back memories. It offered a nice way to do Nemo.
Matterhorn. We had early access to the park. But only Fantasy land rides were open. If I knew this, I would not have rushed everyone in the AM. The ride is old and clunky, like space MTn with lights on. And you ‘can’ touch the walls.
Haunted Mansion- Did the overlay version. It was fun to see what they did. That tree in the ball room is great.
Runaway Railway - Same
Phantasmic- amazing what they were able to do with that water in front of Tom Sawyer Island. Well done.
Ferris Wheel non swinging (To get the height)
Rise- Same
Monorail - Closed
Space Man - Closed
Splash - Closed
Downtown Disney is much smaller scale than WDW. Had some good spots. I frequented many of them. Nothing mind-blowing.
Overall, I would say it is a 2 - 3 day visit max to get everything done. It was nice to see how it compares and see where it all started.
This was an stop on the way back home from our Aulani trip. See other trip Report. Arrived at LAX early from Hawaii. Got in at 5:30AM. Picked up our rental car. Toured a few hot spots.
Santa Monica pier drive-by. Felt I was in a drive-by. It was littered with homeless all over the beach. Sad!!! Went to the Hollywood sign viewing point. That was nice. Drove down some Hollywood notable roads. Headed to Disneyland. Oh the traffic. But it was rush hour.
Up front notes:
Dad(me) and Mom (in our 40s) 2 teenage daughters.
-First time at Disneyland.
-Studio value at Disneyland hotel.
-Transient tax ruins it a bit. I always enjoyed not ever getting a room bill.
-We are yearly visitors to WDW. So, it was in our nature to compare every like ride. -I must say Disneyland does it better in a lot of ways. I will touch on these below.
-Line cutters- Oh wow there were so many. The trend is they put their phone to their ear and talk to their party as they ‘excuse me’ past you. (“ How far, Can’t see ya yet, I am almost there”). It is clear when they walk in with multiple people that far what they were doing. When my daughter had to walk off to use a bathroom, she came back the same way so they all knew. Just a lot more of this than I ever seen in WDW. Family of 5 skipping 40Min in on Rad Springs??? Come on.
-DL has done an incredible job fitting these attractions in. And they intermingle many of them to make it work. I used to think WDW needed a new park (See my userName), they just need to get more creative with what they have. They can fit so much more in.
-Still see plenty of vapors. Gets under my skin. I do not want to take in that stuff.
-Arrived at Disneyland hotel at about 10:00AM. Room was ready. We moved our bags to the room and started our first park day. Tired but we powered thru a DL day.
-Hotel was nice. Was in discovery tower. Room was perfect layout and size. Pools were great. Chairs were still an issue at lunch break from park. I can fix this if Disney wants to call me. Hotel smell was a bit much. Too perfumey IMO.
-I walked the grand lobby. That place is superior. Why it is hard to get.
-Parking which is free, you have to go the guard each way to get or give your parking ticket. Very time consuming if you come and go with a line of cars. I know not many do leave much, so not really a huge issue. Guards are not like WDW guards.
Attractions and my opinions.
Indiana- So much better than Dino. Will be a nice change for WDW to get it.
Pirates- So much better than WDW. 2 drops. More scenes. But WDW ship room seems more vast.
Autopia- So much better than WDW. More diverse layout. See more of the other attractions. Just has more to offer.
Jungle Cruise - We felt we had poor guides. It is all about the guide.
Thunder Mountain- Better at DL. I felt the lifts had more drama / lighting / sounds in the scenes.
Small world - I liked DL better. Less water to complicate things. Rooms seemed better separated. (If I remember correctly)
Incredicoaster - Just a fun ride. Did it about 5 - 8 times. Boo dash day it was a walk on.
Toy Story - same as WDW
Rad Springs - Just real fun. Did it about 4 times. Last time was an evacuation. We got stopped in the paint room.
Guardians - So much better than Tower. We did both the regular version and the Boo Bash version.
Web Slingers - Very fun.
Nemo - tho it was like our old 20000 Leagues Under the Sea ride and brought back memories. It offered a nice way to do Nemo.
Matterhorn. We had early access to the park. But only Fantasy land rides were open. If I knew this, I would not have rushed everyone in the AM. The ride is old and clunky, like space MTn with lights on. And you ‘can’ touch the walls.
Haunted Mansion- Did the overlay version. It was fun to see what they did. That tree in the ball room is great.
Runaway Railway - Same
Phantasmic- amazing what they were able to do with that water in front of Tom Sawyer Island. Well done.
Ferris Wheel non swinging (To get the height)
Rise- Same
Monorail - Closed
Space Man - Closed
Splash - Closed
Downtown Disney is much smaller scale than WDW. Had some good spots. I frequented many of them. Nothing mind-blowing.
Overall, I would say it is a 2 - 3 day visit max to get everything done. It was nice to see how it compares and see where it all started.
