It’ll come as no shock to you that I’m a fan of the Disney Parks, namely Walt Disney World. I had been to Disneyland before, but almost 20 years ago. My husband (the world’s biggest non-toxic fan of Indiana Jones) has never been to Disneyland, and their Indiana Jones ride was on his bucket list. The world is a mess, the weather was cold, and the credit cards had room, so we planned a trip to Disneyland!
We flew out on March 2 and stayed at the Disneyland Hotel for 3 nights. This isn’t going to be a comprehensive trip report, but we, WDW nuts, were so enchanted by this trip to Disneyland that I had to do a quick pros/cons list to get my head straight and my allegiance back firmly into the Florida camp.
The good things about Disneyland:
The 30th Anniversary of the Indiana Jones Ride: WM planned this trip and while I thought the dates were arbitrary, he never does things arbitrarily. It was the 30th anniversary of the ride’s opening. We ended up riding it six times over the course of 3 days, received a commemorative card and had a chance to take some photos with a special frame. Usually I can see WM from a mile away when he wears The Hat because he’s the only one wearing The Hat. On the first two days of our trip there were so many men dressed as Indiana Jones that it was jarring to not immediately see WM in the crowd. Very Thomas Crown Affair, if you ask me. A younger Jones fan asked WM about his hat; you could tell the young man was very shy and had to really work up the courage to do so. It was a lovely nerd moment.
Cars Land aka Radiator Springs: This is, in my opinion, the best themed land in the US Disney parks. Yes, even better than Galaxy’s Edge. Once a parking lot, it is almost a life sized replica of Radiator Springs. Even though I hadn’t seen the original Cars movie until 3 weeks before we left on the trip (verdict: very good and I’m sorry I wrote it off as a kid flick) I wanted to see Radiator Springs simply because I love retro neon lighting. The showpiece ride, Radiator Springs Racers, was freaking AWESOME and we ended up riding it three times. At sunset, they light the buildings to the sounds of Sh’Boom, just like the cruising scene in the movie. It was beautiful and on the second night when I dragged WM back to see it, I got to be in the little Sh’Boom parade. Memories!
We felt that Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Mickey Mouse Runaway Railway queue were superior to Florida’s versions. Better theming, better storylines. I loved seeing two boats on the Rivers of America. WDW’s Rivers is being paved over for (probably an inferior version of) Cars Land.
Size/location: If you’re not familiar, Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure are the two parks. They are situated side by side. Picture the numeral 8: Disneyland would be the top circle, California Adventure is the bottom one. In the middle is a lovely promenade. If you want to park hop, you cross that normal sized walkway and you’re at the other park’s gates. There is no need for “walk 15 minutes to your bus stop, take a bus 20 minutes to your next destination.” Many of the hotels are in walking distance of the parks. Disneyland Hotel is one of those hotels. That walking path takes you right through Downtown Disney, which is smaller than Florida’s version but much easier to make sense of. Disney Springs, especially the newest section, feels like a strip mall. California’s is more curated.
Better behaved guests: Because of the sheer scale of Walt Disney World, making sure you see as much as you want can be a giant, stressy, expensive undertaking. You are making plans months in advance. For many it’s only a once or twice in a lifetime vacation. there is a lot on the line and when things don’t go exactly as planned, if the snack you desperately want to eat is discontinued, if it rains, if an attraction goes down, if you can’t get the exact photo op you want, the guests can (and do) get very upset. In Disneyland, it didn’t feel like that much was at stake. The parks are smaller, so it’s easy to circle back or cross the walkway to the other park. Our fellow guests were much more … wholesome? Into the Disney’s IP more than being into the parks. It was much less toxic. There were far fewer drunks at the Food & Wine festival. We saw zero MAGA hats or shirts with firearms on them. There were fewer people trying to pass off terrified malti-poos as trained support dogs. The atmosphere was so much nicer.
Park ambiance. While there were character meet & greets, many characters were just roaming around and mingling which was really cool! There was a lot more live music. Their Food & Wine Festival is held in springtime in California Adventure. They had extra standing tables for people to eat on. They had padded platforms hooked to the railings for people to eat on. In Epcot, they cannot do that because drunks will platform dive into the lagoon. Because of that, we eat on trash cans. It’s true, look it up! But I feel like the California Parks work a little harder to maximize their space in favor of the guests instead of in favor of the bottom line. And we got a reservation for Trader Sam’s! I never get into Trader Sam’s in Florida because it’s always a 2 hour standby wait. It was expensive but worth it.
MISTER TOAD’S WILD RIDE. Finally, WM got to ride the attraction that blew my mind as a child. It’s wild and absurd and ends in a highly unpredictable way. I miss it so much in Florida and even though I was a proud participant in the Save Toad Campaign of 1998, replacing it with Pooh was the correct thing to do.
I RODE THIS AWESOME FERRIS WHEEL! Great googly moogly! It’s the Pixar’s Pal-a-round (FKA The Sun Wheel). WM rode it with me and as a compromise, we rode in one of the stationary cars and that was mroe than enough. It’s gorgeous. I freaking love Ferris Wheels. Thank you, George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr.
The Meh things about Disneyland:
Expensive. Everything in California was so expensive, and the hotel room was very small for the money.
Less techy: We brought our MagicBand+ bracelets with us but other than Lightning Lanes and admission, they didn’t interact with as much as they do in Florida. They didn’t even open the hotel door. And the Disneyland app was a giant battery suck and often very inaccurate with ride times. More than once we went to an attraction because the app said 10 minutes but the posted sign and real wait time was 40+ minutes.
Pacific Standard Time: We weren’t there long enough to adjust properly to the time change which made for some early evenings. On the bright side we were at the parks for rope drop every morning.
We’ve been home a few weeks now and we are STILL talking about the fantastic time we had in Disneyland. We are wondering how much better it would have been with one more day. We are trying to budget a way to get out there next year, maybe for their Halloween party.
I…I think we might like Disneyland better?
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