Hey all, I meant to share my thoughts sooner but June slipped away from me. I am a veteran WDW attendant. Having visited over 25 trips before biting the bullet and getting an annual pass. For my law school graduation my father and I went to Disneyland for a 5 day 4 night trip, we stayed at Paradise Pier. I wanted to share my thought.
Paradise Pier was a nice hotel, although the cost was a bit steep. The front desk was super helpful in helping us get acclimated and gave us free pixar place hats, the first time buttons, and an autograph book! The hotel room was cute, liked the pier theme and really like the poolside fireworks viewing. The first night we walked around their small downtown disney, with the pixar music blarring. I have to say being able to walk from the hotel to the shops and parks is a huge plus in my book. I also adored their trader sams.
Day 1, Disneyland.
We got to the park a bit before opening and they let guests wonder around mainstreet. I LOVE THEIR MAINSTREET. All the little touches from multiple party line phones, to a working cinema, to a penny arcade made their main street feel lived in and very intimate vs our Emporium super walmart. The stores even has little mannequins tucked into the corners. Super cute, and the stores were wonderfully themed and detailed, more so then ours, reminded me alot of Disneyland Paris in its level of detail and subtly.
We got a fastpass for Indy, and went on Jungle Cruise without a wait. There jungle cruise did not wow me, while i really enjoyed our skippers throughout the trip, the set pieces did not feel as grand or as mysterious as Magic Kingdoms, I understand part of this is a space issue, but the scenes felt very cramped together and due to the drought Switzer falls left somthing to be desired. I did enjoy the Parana and the use of an actual cap gun.
Indy was a remarkable attraction, the queue was really short so we were able to ride it several times. The grand reveal of the main room is stunning, what a great attraction. The pyro, lights, and other effects did wonders to create a thrilling ride. The queue was also amazing and so long, loved the references to the films.
Next we traveled over to New Orleans Sqaure through a very narrow walkway under Tarzen Tree house, this was the first of a few bottle neck spots. Pirates was closed, but Mansion was not. Being in an elevator that actually moved was very fun, a little kinetic kick to start the journey. The hallway walk through prior to boarding was excellent as well, somthing I wish MK's mansion would have to help relieves the clustering by the load platform. That said once aboard your doom buggies we were thrust into the endless hallway, which for me was very strange. In my mind that is near the midway point of the attraction, so it was jarring for me. Seeing hattie was great though and the audio animantronics and the scrim was much better maintained and much cleaner. Rode this several times. Next we pushed to Splash mountain fast pass, and wow what a great ride, puts ours to shame, although ours has a tighter story and custom AA's their show scenes were packed with life, action, and those wonderful mark David AA's, alive and well. Really kinetic and thrilling, has the edge in my mind. Next we wondered by Pooh, which seemed tucked off in the corner, really liked it, except for the ending with the birthday cards seemed off to me. Again the ride was much cleaner then ours and better mantained, although i did miss not bouncing with tigger.
Then we ate at Blue Buyoue and what a great meal, wonderful themeing in there, reminds me of the Mexican Restaruant in Epcot, but much more peaceful.
We wondered over to the Fantasyland and can I just say how I adore all the dark rides. While their loading seems in-efficient, espically pan with the stop and load system, all of their dark rides were great. Beautifully maintained, coherent stories, and actually a ton of fun. Alice in Wonderland was my favorite. Also very much enjoyed the Story Book Canals, although i have to admit I like the Paris verision a bit better, being alone on the boat had its perks.
Roger rabbit toon-town spin was the wierdest ride i have ever been on, not only was the qeue super long, thank god we had a fastpass, but the ride was a mess story wise, we had to ride it a few times over to figure out what was happening. Unlike the other dark rides which are mainly story book rides, ie what happened in the movie, or jounrye through the world of rides, like Toad, or Pan, this ride was inspired from the movie, but really its own story with its own plot. Took me a bit to get acclimated to it.
Tomorrowland was a mess. there tomorrowland although it has a much cleaner buzz, and an AMAZING, non back breaking space mountain, was cramped, confusing and not futuristic, while i don't love our theme of Sci fi that never was, this was just a smorgasbord of concepts. Although their atopia was fun much qauinter then ours less industrial and i loved the Submarine. An amazing slow moving dark ride. Matternhorn was a big let down for me, even with a fastpass, I felt like i was either going to fly off the track or my back would snap. It was so bumpy to the point of pain. Def needs a new track.
Other honorable mentions, there Disneyland Railroad was fantastic, where as our railroad has streches of cement overpass and trees and swamp, they had the Diroma which was incredible and a great fontierland trestle along the river's of america complete with a shaman. (the whole rivers of america works so much better here, it actually feels like a bustling Frontier Port) Also there tiki room had the sing along portion which i think the second act of the show needs. Along the 3 days at Disneyland we rode everything and really soaked it in. I have to say the maintenance was so much better then our park, and other then tomorrow land it was so clean. One thing i noticed was a lot of the cast members were not as, Disney, as the ones in WDW. They seemed unenthusiastic, although we had great cast members at the hotel, so mabye it was a fluke. Also when we said we were from Connecticut people would look at us so strangley, i knew most people were West-Coasters but i didn't realize how different the culture was untill I got out there. People were waiting an hour for a dole whip and with our east coast attitudes, no way we wait more then 20 minutes for anything. Time is money. People were also rushing popcorn carts for the collectable popcorn buckets, which again not somthing i would rush to do.
DCA: We did one day at DCA. Carsland was great, i really loved it, it was wonderfully themed, detailed, and all three attractions were great. We did all three multiple times, and for the flake that Flying Tires 2.0 gets, i loved dancing to the mumbo Italiano in the cars. Beyond Car's land honorable mentions go to Paint the night parade, which blew away any night time parade I have ever seen. Incredible 21st century night time parade. Sorry MSEP that is how a night time parade should be. Monster's inc dark ride was very cute as well.
Overall DCA left me unimpressed, I think the 2008 rehab did a lot of good, parts of the park work, but other parts I was confused as to what the park was trying to be. Hollywood land looks awful with the GotG tower, it ruins the Hollywood ascetic. I did like how they had a bunch of side attractions and walk through inside the Disney animation building, it was a nice diversion. Thought the frozen show was super underwhelming and thought the audience was very poorly behaved, mainyl because i had some grown drunk women behind singing along to everything, every line, every song, and it was obnoxious. I was told that DCA on a Saturday is like Epcot on a weekend, but at least with Epcot there seems to be more to look at/ do. We went back to the hotel after dinner and went back for paint the night, because we didn't know what to do for the three hours between dinner and the parade. DCA needs to figure out what it wants to be and fast. The pixar pier area wasn't quite open but I wasn't impressed reminds me of stuff I see at Six flags New England or Lake Compounds in Connecticut. Over DCA gets a C+ in my book i wouldn't feel compelled to go back. Disneyland itself was marvelous and I could seem a once in every five year journey to walt's park.
Thanks for hearing my ramblings!!!
Paradise Pier was a nice hotel, although the cost was a bit steep. The front desk was super helpful in helping us get acclimated and gave us free pixar place hats, the first time buttons, and an autograph book! The hotel room was cute, liked the pier theme and really like the poolside fireworks viewing. The first night we walked around their small downtown disney, with the pixar music blarring. I have to say being able to walk from the hotel to the shops and parks is a huge plus in my book. I also adored their trader sams.
Day 1, Disneyland.
We got to the park a bit before opening and they let guests wonder around mainstreet. I LOVE THEIR MAINSTREET. All the little touches from multiple party line phones, to a working cinema, to a penny arcade made their main street feel lived in and very intimate vs our Emporium super walmart. The stores even has little mannequins tucked into the corners. Super cute, and the stores were wonderfully themed and detailed, more so then ours, reminded me alot of Disneyland Paris in its level of detail and subtly.
We got a fastpass for Indy, and went on Jungle Cruise without a wait. There jungle cruise did not wow me, while i really enjoyed our skippers throughout the trip, the set pieces did not feel as grand or as mysterious as Magic Kingdoms, I understand part of this is a space issue, but the scenes felt very cramped together and due to the drought Switzer falls left somthing to be desired. I did enjoy the Parana and the use of an actual cap gun.
Indy was a remarkable attraction, the queue was really short so we were able to ride it several times. The grand reveal of the main room is stunning, what a great attraction. The pyro, lights, and other effects did wonders to create a thrilling ride. The queue was also amazing and so long, loved the references to the films.
Next we traveled over to New Orleans Sqaure through a very narrow walkway under Tarzen Tree house, this was the first of a few bottle neck spots. Pirates was closed, but Mansion was not. Being in an elevator that actually moved was very fun, a little kinetic kick to start the journey. The hallway walk through prior to boarding was excellent as well, somthing I wish MK's mansion would have to help relieves the clustering by the load platform. That said once aboard your doom buggies we were thrust into the endless hallway, which for me was very strange. In my mind that is near the midway point of the attraction, so it was jarring for me. Seeing hattie was great though and the audio animantronics and the scrim was much better maintained and much cleaner. Rode this several times. Next we pushed to Splash mountain fast pass, and wow what a great ride, puts ours to shame, although ours has a tighter story and custom AA's their show scenes were packed with life, action, and those wonderful mark David AA's, alive and well. Really kinetic and thrilling, has the edge in my mind. Next we wondered by Pooh, which seemed tucked off in the corner, really liked it, except for the ending with the birthday cards seemed off to me. Again the ride was much cleaner then ours and better mantained, although i did miss not bouncing with tigger.
Then we ate at Blue Buyoue and what a great meal, wonderful themeing in there, reminds me of the Mexican Restaruant in Epcot, but much more peaceful.
We wondered over to the Fantasyland and can I just say how I adore all the dark rides. While their loading seems in-efficient, espically pan with the stop and load system, all of their dark rides were great. Beautifully maintained, coherent stories, and actually a ton of fun. Alice in Wonderland was my favorite. Also very much enjoyed the Story Book Canals, although i have to admit I like the Paris verision a bit better, being alone on the boat had its perks.
Roger rabbit toon-town spin was the wierdest ride i have ever been on, not only was the qeue super long, thank god we had a fastpass, but the ride was a mess story wise, we had to ride it a few times over to figure out what was happening. Unlike the other dark rides which are mainly story book rides, ie what happened in the movie, or jounrye through the world of rides, like Toad, or Pan, this ride was inspired from the movie, but really its own story with its own plot. Took me a bit to get acclimated to it.
Tomorrowland was a mess. there tomorrowland although it has a much cleaner buzz, and an AMAZING, non back breaking space mountain, was cramped, confusing and not futuristic, while i don't love our theme of Sci fi that never was, this was just a smorgasbord of concepts. Although their atopia was fun much qauinter then ours less industrial and i loved the Submarine. An amazing slow moving dark ride. Matternhorn was a big let down for me, even with a fastpass, I felt like i was either going to fly off the track or my back would snap. It was so bumpy to the point of pain. Def needs a new track.
Other honorable mentions, there Disneyland Railroad was fantastic, where as our railroad has streches of cement overpass and trees and swamp, they had the Diroma which was incredible and a great fontierland trestle along the river's of america complete with a shaman. (the whole rivers of america works so much better here, it actually feels like a bustling Frontier Port) Also there tiki room had the sing along portion which i think the second act of the show needs. Along the 3 days at Disneyland we rode everything and really soaked it in. I have to say the maintenance was so much better then our park, and other then tomorrow land it was so clean. One thing i noticed was a lot of the cast members were not as, Disney, as the ones in WDW. They seemed unenthusiastic, although we had great cast members at the hotel, so mabye it was a fluke. Also when we said we were from Connecticut people would look at us so strangley, i knew most people were West-Coasters but i didn't realize how different the culture was untill I got out there. People were waiting an hour for a dole whip and with our east coast attitudes, no way we wait more then 20 minutes for anything. Time is money. People were also rushing popcorn carts for the collectable popcorn buckets, which again not somthing i would rush to do.
DCA: We did one day at DCA. Carsland was great, i really loved it, it was wonderfully themed, detailed, and all three attractions were great. We did all three multiple times, and for the flake that Flying Tires 2.0 gets, i loved dancing to the mumbo Italiano in the cars. Beyond Car's land honorable mentions go to Paint the night parade, which blew away any night time parade I have ever seen. Incredible 21st century night time parade. Sorry MSEP that is how a night time parade should be. Monster's inc dark ride was very cute as well.
Overall DCA left me unimpressed, I think the 2008 rehab did a lot of good, parts of the park work, but other parts I was confused as to what the park was trying to be. Hollywood land looks awful with the GotG tower, it ruins the Hollywood ascetic. I did like how they had a bunch of side attractions and walk through inside the Disney animation building, it was a nice diversion. Thought the frozen show was super underwhelming and thought the audience was very poorly behaved, mainyl because i had some grown drunk women behind singing along to everything, every line, every song, and it was obnoxious. I was told that DCA on a Saturday is like Epcot on a weekend, but at least with Epcot there seems to be more to look at/ do. We went back to the hotel after dinner and went back for paint the night, because we didn't know what to do for the three hours between dinner and the parade. DCA needs to figure out what it wants to be and fast. The pixar pier area wasn't quite open but I wasn't impressed reminds me of stuff I see at Six flags New England or Lake Compounds in Connecticut. Over DCA gets a C+ in my book i wouldn't feel compelled to go back. Disneyland itself was marvelous and I could seem a once in every five year journey to walt's park.
Thanks for hearing my ramblings!!!
