Just thought I'd post and leave some info on my first (ever) trip to Disneyland. I posted awhile back about visiting DL because we would be out in CA visiting my sister. I mentioned that I was a WDW fan and was hesitant about visiting DL because I didn't feel it would live up to what I was used to...WDW.
Well - we visited the park for one day about a week ago. We had a great trip to Southern California...great to see my sister and niece/nephew. The weather was definitely better than Chicago and we did A LOT in one week!
I noticed the area surrounding DL looked a lot better than the last time we visited (Downtown Disney). It looked like they had cleaned it up, added more palm trees, foliage, etc which was a nice surprise. We had a bit of a walk from the Pumba parking lot (with two kids), but it wasn't bad. The kids were excited and after buying our tickets, we headed to the Mad Hatter so the kids (ages 4 & 8) could each buy a hat. My niece looked so cute in her little mickey ears hat and my nephew picked out a fedora (looked like Sinatra in it - LOL).
We checked out Mainstreet and compared it a little to WDW. It was neat to see the shops, etc and the castle in the distance. Wow - it is small. But, we were expecting this!
We then ran straight to Space Mountain so we could get fast passes but it was closed for some reason, so my nephew (who has never been on it) was a little bummed. We went back later but the line was so long, he never got to ride.
Oh well, maybe next time.
My niece wanted to ride the tea cups, so we waited in a very short line and had lots of fun and then headed to the carousel - another one of her favorites.
Even though my sister lives 30 min from DL and has been many times, they had not ridden quite a few rides, so we made sure they experienced Mr Toad (something we miss dearly at WDW) and Snow White. We skipped Peter Pan (even though it's one of my favorites) because the line was just TOO long.
We then headed to Small World, which I really enjoyed. The exterior was so different from WDW and I really loved the little wooden figures that popped out of the clock. I thought they did a really good job with the update (characters they added) -- it didn't take away from the ride at all. I was blown away by the original. Then again, I just LOVE small world in general.
We've never visited Disney with kids before so it was interesting the amount of bathroom and snack stops we had to make - LOL! :lol: It definitely isn't the same experience (and I knew this going in) but you honestly can't see as many rides with kids...although seeing the looks on their faces when meeting the characters, etc is a lot of fun.
Us girls visited Pooh's ride while my husband/nephew went on Thunder Mountain together. They had grabbed a fast pass earlier so the wait wasn't long and afterwards we all stood in a LONG line to see Pooh and Eeyore. Pooh went on a break so we got to see Tigger/Eeyore instead but that was just fine with my niece who was THRILLED to see Tigger - her fav character.
My sister really wanted to ride the canoes, so that was a new experience. A lot of fun since they don't offer this at WDW (because of gators?). Then we headed to Haunted Mansion. My niece did ok on it, I was really surprised, being that she's only 4! She was more scared of Snow White!! The HM seemed out of place to me, though, for some reason. I like the location/exterior of it better at WDW, I think - seems spookier. I did enjoy it, though, as it's one of my favorite rides. It seemed a bit longer at DL as well? I didn't notice the elevator that I've read about. Does the stretching room actually go down, because I didn't feel or notice it?!! I was focusing on my niece's reaction to the ride...I guess I was a little afraid we were damaging her for life or something! My sister said she'd been on it a few times before, though, and did fine. Brave girl. I was afraid to go on it at age 8!
We had a late lunch at Cafe Orleans and it was very good. We waited a LONG time for our meal, though, but the service was still good. My husband was excited to order a vegetarian version of the monte cristo -- you can't find that anywhere but Disney! :lol: I had a salad and we all shared the parmesan fries - yum. The kids had mac/cheese and chicken, I believe. Again, we waited a long time for our meals (30 minutes) which was frustrating for two tired, hungry kids - but they were surprisingly calm. My nephew's main concern was that they would miss the fastpass time limit on Splash Mountain - LOL. Luckily, they didn't.
After lunch, we wandered around New Orleans (I loved this part) and then us girls headed to the Circus train and the boys went on Splash Mountain (another fast pass). The ride for the train was literally 30 minutes - crazy. The ride was very cute, though, and my niece just HAD to sit in the pink car. I found the entire park to be a little cramped and the layout was different than WDW. I enjoyed seeing the original but I have to say I really enjoy WDW much more. I still did get the "disney vibe" at DL but it's just much more "magical" for me at WDW for some reason.
We did the castle walk-through which both kids actually enjoyed, I thought my nephew would be bored but he had fun running through the dark hallways, especially when pumba pops up in your face and you pull on the doorknob and it pulls back!
We finally had to call it quits, it was almost 6pm and the kids were exhausted. We drove back home to drop my sister and the kids off and then my husband and I drove back to the park to spend the evening by ourselves. Right before we left the park, we ran into Mickey Mouse! Score!
We parked at Downtown Disney and took the monorail to the front of the park. We HAD to do the monorail at least once - LOL.
We were starving so we grabbed dinner at the Hungry Bear, I think it was called, and just relaxed overlooking the river, watching the riverboat go by. We were tired ourselves but were set on getting in at least a few more of the original rides. We watched a bit of the fireworks and wandered around New Orleans before heading to Pirates of the Caribbean. It was AWESOME! We loved it, it is so much longer than the one at WDW and I loved the restaurant inside - how neat. Reminds me a bit of Mexico at Epcot. The line was almost non-existant which was also nice.
We then headed to the Tiki room and the Jungle Cruise -- always enjoyable. It was very late by the time we visited the Tiki room, so everyone watching the show pretty much needed toothpicks to keep their eyelids open (me included) so that was kinda funny.
We were exhausted so we headed to mainstreet to visit the shops and just people-watch before we grabbed an ice cream. I was surprised the Firehouse had an actual firetruck inside - how cool. Too bad the kids missed that. Oh well - they LIVE in SoCal so can visit as often as they like. They took advantage of the SoCal "2fer offer" so they'll be visiting California Adventure sometime soon.
Overall, it was a good time. Our favorite was probably just comparing the two parks and DL Pirates was definitely superior to the WDW version, but I have to say, the DL park seemed more cramped to me and the layout just didn't seem right. Again, we're used to WDW so it will always hold a special place in our hearts.
Thanks for reading, sorry so long!
Well - we visited the park for one day about a week ago. We had a great trip to Southern California...great to see my sister and niece/nephew. The weather was definitely better than Chicago and we did A LOT in one week!
I noticed the area surrounding DL looked a lot better than the last time we visited (Downtown Disney). It looked like they had cleaned it up, added more palm trees, foliage, etc which was a nice surprise. We had a bit of a walk from the Pumba parking lot (with two kids), but it wasn't bad. The kids were excited and after buying our tickets, we headed to the Mad Hatter so the kids (ages 4 & 8) could each buy a hat. My niece looked so cute in her little mickey ears hat and my nephew picked out a fedora (looked like Sinatra in it - LOL).
We checked out Mainstreet and compared it a little to WDW. It was neat to see the shops, etc and the castle in the distance. Wow - it is small. But, we were expecting this!
We then ran straight to Space Mountain so we could get fast passes but it was closed for some reason, so my nephew (who has never been on it) was a little bummed. We went back later but the line was so long, he never got to ride.
Oh well, maybe next time.My niece wanted to ride the tea cups, so we waited in a very short line and had lots of fun and then headed to the carousel - another one of her favorites.
Even though my sister lives 30 min from DL and has been many times, they had not ridden quite a few rides, so we made sure they experienced Mr Toad (something we miss dearly at WDW) and Snow White. We skipped Peter Pan (even though it's one of my favorites) because the line was just TOO long.
We then headed to Small World, which I really enjoyed. The exterior was so different from WDW and I really loved the little wooden figures that popped out of the clock. I thought they did a really good job with the update (characters they added) -- it didn't take away from the ride at all. I was blown away by the original. Then again, I just LOVE small world in general.
We've never visited Disney with kids before so it was interesting the amount of bathroom and snack stops we had to make - LOL! :lol: It definitely isn't the same experience (and I knew this going in) but you honestly can't see as many rides with kids...although seeing the looks on their faces when meeting the characters, etc is a lot of fun.
Us girls visited Pooh's ride while my husband/nephew went on Thunder Mountain together. They had grabbed a fast pass earlier so the wait wasn't long and afterwards we all stood in a LONG line to see Pooh and Eeyore. Pooh went on a break so we got to see Tigger/Eeyore instead but that was just fine with my niece who was THRILLED to see Tigger - her fav character.
My sister really wanted to ride the canoes, so that was a new experience. A lot of fun since they don't offer this at WDW (because of gators?). Then we headed to Haunted Mansion. My niece did ok on it, I was really surprised, being that she's only 4! She was more scared of Snow White!! The HM seemed out of place to me, though, for some reason. I like the location/exterior of it better at WDW, I think - seems spookier. I did enjoy it, though, as it's one of my favorite rides. It seemed a bit longer at DL as well? I didn't notice the elevator that I've read about. Does the stretching room actually go down, because I didn't feel or notice it?!! I was focusing on my niece's reaction to the ride...I guess I was a little afraid we were damaging her for life or something! My sister said she'd been on it a few times before, though, and did fine. Brave girl. I was afraid to go on it at age 8!
We had a late lunch at Cafe Orleans and it was very good. We waited a LONG time for our meal, though, but the service was still good. My husband was excited to order a vegetarian version of the monte cristo -- you can't find that anywhere but Disney! :lol: I had a salad and we all shared the parmesan fries - yum. The kids had mac/cheese and chicken, I believe. Again, we waited a long time for our meals (30 minutes) which was frustrating for two tired, hungry kids - but they were surprisingly calm. My nephew's main concern was that they would miss the fastpass time limit on Splash Mountain - LOL. Luckily, they didn't.
After lunch, we wandered around New Orleans (I loved this part) and then us girls headed to the Circus train and the boys went on Splash Mountain (another fast pass). The ride for the train was literally 30 minutes - crazy. The ride was very cute, though, and my niece just HAD to sit in the pink car. I found the entire park to be a little cramped and the layout was different than WDW. I enjoyed seeing the original but I have to say I really enjoy WDW much more. I still did get the "disney vibe" at DL but it's just much more "magical" for me at WDW for some reason.
We did the castle walk-through which both kids actually enjoyed, I thought my nephew would be bored but he had fun running through the dark hallways, especially when pumba pops up in your face and you pull on the doorknob and it pulls back!
We finally had to call it quits, it was almost 6pm and the kids were exhausted. We drove back home to drop my sister and the kids off and then my husband and I drove back to the park to spend the evening by ourselves. Right before we left the park, we ran into Mickey Mouse! Score!
We parked at Downtown Disney and took the monorail to the front of the park. We HAD to do the monorail at least once - LOL.
We were starving so we grabbed dinner at the Hungry Bear, I think it was called, and just relaxed overlooking the river, watching the riverboat go by. We were tired ourselves but were set on getting in at least a few more of the original rides. We watched a bit of the fireworks and wandered around New Orleans before heading to Pirates of the Caribbean. It was AWESOME! We loved it, it is so much longer than the one at WDW and I loved the restaurant inside - how neat. Reminds me a bit of Mexico at Epcot. The line was almost non-existant which was also nice.
We then headed to the Tiki room and the Jungle Cruise -- always enjoyable. It was very late by the time we visited the Tiki room, so everyone watching the show pretty much needed toothpicks to keep their eyelids open (me included) so that was kinda funny.
We were exhausted so we headed to mainstreet to visit the shops and just people-watch before we grabbed an ice cream. I was surprised the Firehouse had an actual firetruck inside - how cool. Too bad the kids missed that. Oh well - they LIVE in SoCal so can visit as often as they like. They took advantage of the SoCal "2fer offer" so they'll be visiting California Adventure sometime soon.
Overall, it was a good time. Our favorite was probably just comparing the two parks and DL Pirates was definitely superior to the WDW version, but I have to say, the DL park seemed more cramped to me and the layout just didn't seem right. Again, we're used to WDW so it will always hold a special place in our hearts.
Thanks for reading, sorry so long!
:lol: