Trip Report DL & DW! ~ August 2022 ~~ Completed

Me and my family, dh Scott, dd Cassidy 8 and dd Chelsea 5 did Disneyland August 10th-13th and then went to Disney World from August 20th-27th. We are from NJ and flew out to LA to visit family, do some sightseeing and then we ended our trip with 3 nights at Disneyland Hotel with2 days in the parks. It was lovely there.

 

[amjt660]

We had to ride Haunted Mansion. It’s my husbands favorite. I like it too! It’s pretty much exactly like the one in DW.

I agree that they are similar but not close to exactly - the Hat Box Ghost in DLR and the Bride in WDW come to mind.

Catal was just okay. I probably wouldn’t go back there.

totally agree on this one - it was one and done for us too

I like this park better for many reasons, including that they offer adult beverages as opposed to DL Park.

hard to argue with the adult beverages - Disneyland is still trying to honor Walt's wishes.

We then walked through Cars Land, which was super cute. I liked that land. We’re not Cars maniacs, but we liked it just the same. Unfortunately the Cars ride where you ride through the desert was closed most of the day, so we didn’t do that.

It is a shame that you could not ride Radiator Spring Racers - it uses the same ride system as Test Track in Florida but it is so much better themed.

That’s a wrap on DL. We thoroughly enjoyed it. I love WDW wayyyy more, but I really enjoyed our time in DL. It’ll be a while before we back though.

Walt's park will always be my favorite because he was personally involved - he unfortunately passed away before any other Disney park was opened.


Your daughters are adorable - this picture is my favorite by far!

Following along

Max

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

I agree that they are similar but not close to exactly - the Hat Box Ghost in DLR and the Bride in WDW come to mind.

totally agree on this one - it was one and done for us too

hard to argue with the adult beverages - Disneyland is still trying to honor Walt's wishes.

It is a shame that you could not ride Radiator Spring Racers - it uses the same ride system as Test Track in Florida but it is so much better themed.

Walt's park will always be my favorite because he was personally involved - he unfortunately passed away before any other Disney park was opened.


Your daughters are adorable - this picture is my favorite by far!

View attachment 676598

Following along

Max

Thanks so much for following along. I appreciate all the comments!

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Hollywood Studios Day!

Olaf loves when you wear sunglasses!

We then made our way over the Toy Story Land.

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

We caught the last show and it was really cute!

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

HS was another awesome day. It was a heat up that day and we spent about 2 hours at Backlot Express just relaxing. It really reenergized us. We needed the break, plus the Reuben sandwiches were amazing!

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

My other niece‘s birthday was the following day. She wanted to spend the day at the resort‘s water park. It was nice there, but a lot of slides were closed. Fortunately we didn’t pay to get in because it was a timeshare property and we got free tickets at checkin. I would’ve been upset had we payed. Overall the kids really had a good time and it was a nice relaxing day.

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Up next, Epcot! We saved the best for last…. Epcot is our favorite.

 

[cgersic]

Oh my gosh I'm loving the photos!!! Everyone is so colorful and your P3 posing skills are on point!

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Alright, now that Christmas is over and I have (some) free time…. here’s our Epcot day. Epcot was our last day. We always end our trips with an Epcot day. It’s our favorite park.
We woke up early and headed to Epcot. Because we normally stay at the Swan and Dolphin, walking in through the main entrance and not the World Showcase entrance, it was rather nice. Very new to us. We grabbed our double stroller (easily) and headed into the park.
Up first, Spaceship Earth - one of my favs. I think it needs some updates, but overall I enjoy the nostalgia of it.

My dad buys and sells old and new printing presses… been in the printing business his whole life.. I enjoy this scene with the old newspaper printing press.

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

We then made our way to The Land pavilion. We rode Soarin’ using the genie+. We then waited about 5 minutes to get onto Living with the Land. Soarin’ is awesome. I’m always amazed how feels like you’re flying.

We then made our way to Figment (a walk on and a must in our family). After Figment, we found this little guy by the bathrooms behind Figment. Cute!

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

We then made our way out to World Showcase. My sister and her family had been there a few days before and had told us about this Remy (Ratatouille) search. You buy this card ($10) and as you go from country to country you find Remy and the matching food for the recipe and match the given stickers to the corresponding country. It was really cute and my kids (especially my 8 year old) enjoyed finding Remy and the ingredients. When you fill up the card, you return it to one of the World Showcase stores and you get a free cup. The cups are cute and you can pick from four different ones.

Anyway, while the kids were busy with that, mom and dad started tasting the given drinks from random countries. Forgive me, I don’t remember what each drink was, but they were reasonably priced and yummy!

Here‘s Cassidy with the Remy search card in Canada….More about that later!

Mom and dad got a beer from the kiosk outside Rose and Crown as we slowly made our way to France to ride Ratatouille.

Cassidy found Remy in France with its corresponding vegetable!

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Up next….. Ratatouille!!! We used Genie+ to avoid the long wait time. Let me be honest here, this ride was amazing! From start to finish! My jaw was on the floor. Disney never ceases to amaze me! My husband and kids also found it equally amazing! We loved the photo op at the end of the ride.

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

We went right from this amazing ride to the new Guardians of the Galaxy: Galactic Rewind. We amazingly got an afternoon queue arrival time of about 1pm. On our way from France to GotG, we snagged another yummy beer from R&C. I was apprehensive about riding something super new and decided it was best for me take a half of one of my Clonazepam pills (these are doctor prescribed that I take situationally- I typically take them when I fly and whatnot). It really calmed me and I enjoyed the ride. Because I now know what to expect on the ride, I won’t need one next time. Anyway, holy moly…. it was amazing. We all went on it… even my 5 year old and she absolutely loved it.
Unfortunately, we didn’t take any pics at the ride .

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

We then made our way over to our favorite restaurant, San Angel Inn, inside Mexico. We were late for our reservation bc of GotG, but because it was a 2pm reservation, and not a lot of people were there at that time, we were seated and had a lovely late lunch/early dinner. We always eat here on our last night. It has become our family tradition .

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

It started raining while we were in here, and when we went to leave, the lobby to Mexico was super crowded with people. We decided to brave the weather and get out of Mexico and go over to the (new) walk up service bar that had live entertainment. It was right next to Mexico. The beers were yummy and we got out of the rain.

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Once the beer was gone, we decided to leave…. Unfortunately, it was still raining out. We decided to go the Nemo ride and check out the aquarium for a bit.

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Once we were done, we made our way back to World Showcase. We decided to make our way back to France to watch Impressions de France (seriously, one of my favorite things in all of WDW to do). It was still raining. This is where we realized that the Remy search thing got ruined I’m the rain. The kids were so disappointed, but it was not waterproof at all and both fell apart. We were able to exchange the water soaked ones for new ones, but it continued to rain that night and even those got wet and fell apart, too. We did end up getting the cups though.
Chelsea loves Turning Red!

The rain did not put a damper on our night! Look at that smile

Cassidy was hungry for pizza and we were lucky to be right near Italy! It was yummy!

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

We woke up the next morning and headed home! It was a lonnnnnnnng drive back. We left about 8am and got home at midnight. It’s going to be a while before we DRIVE back again! We were so lucky and fortunate to have been able to do both of these trips so close together.

That‘s a wrap! I hope everyone enjoyed reading my report! I enjoyed writing it! We’re already looking forward to our next trip - Summer 2023!

 

[Seagull59]

I enjoyed reading your report! So new trip this summer? Flying this time?
I’m hoping for a possible trip this summer too!

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

I enjoyed reading your report! So new trip this summer? Flying this time?
I’m hoping for a possible trip this summer too!

Planning an August trip again. I’d like to do somewhere between 10-14 days…. A split stay. Swan and Dolphin first 3 or 4 nights then move out of the bubble to a bigger place. We really didn’t mind staying offsite, but I’d like to get some time at S&D first. We definitely will be flying. If we can get Saratoga Springs or OKW for a reasonable price, maybe we’ll stay in the bubble. I have some planning and searching to do for a good, decent and reasonable price. I hope you make it there this summer too!