It all started with the Alpine Inn…a Disneyland Adventure

[Communicora]

Hope you had better luck today!

 

[Stevek]

So back home and here's a better overview of our day...

I'll start with the Alpine hotel. It's fine, nothing exceptional. Rooms are new and clean and we were guaranteed parking for free which is a nice perk compared to many hotels that charge daily for parking. Overall, we saved about $100 compared to where we were originally going to stay, the Anaheim Hotel. The walk is manageable, roughly 10-15 minutes to the Harbor entrance. As for ROTR, tried starting at 7am, we are on the app at 7 on the dot and struck out. More on attempt 2 later.

Arrived at the eastern/Harbor entrance around 7:30 and line was exceptionally long, much longer than I figured. People had to have gotten there before 7am. Using the map below, you can see roughly how they have everything organized with the solid red line actually being side by side lines to enter security. We were roughly where the X is A is the starting point which actually went down Harbor Blvd and B is the end/security. Lines started moving at 8:00 or so, believe we were in by 8:45 but due to my oldest having a stomach issue, we didn't actually enter Disneyland until a little after 9am. As I posted earlier, the whole social distancing thing at DL is an absolute farce. The lines to get in to security were packed, little to zero social distancing which is such a joke given how much some of the CMs are promoting it while in the park. And don't get me started on temperature checks. The only reason I can think of that they are doing these is to slow down the entry a bit to create a buffer for security...but even then, the 2 seconds they spend pointing a thermometer at your head really doesn't help. Bottom line, total waste of time and merely appears to be Disneyland "checking the box"

Entry into Disneyland was actually quite easy, lines maybe to the monorail track but many booths open. DCA lines to enter were longer.

Once in, we looked for a locker...oops, all lockers are closed so we ended up carrying sweatshirts with us all day (it was a very warm day as well). Headed toward Adventureland (new entry sign looks great)/NOS and line for Pirates was about 30 minutes so we decided to head to Mansion. Lucky us, we were able to go through the crypt entry vs the stretching room. Didn't ask, the CM just asked us as there was nobody around us and I think they are trying to just send small groups in. Very interesting, glad we got to do it once but nowhere as interesting as the stretching room experience. HM looks fantastic by the way, the new (old) portrait and improved lighting in the graveyard look great. Very happy with the changes. Rather than get into all the details, here's what we rode in order of experience:

Mansion
Thunder
Splash (all 4 of us got soaked)
(walked through Galaxy's edge)
Space Mtn
Autopia
(lunch at Red Rose)
Casey Jr
Pirates
Indy (had virtual queue which is why we had to get there and come back to FL)
(got wheelchair for my wife as her back was killing her)
Snow White
(went to DCA)
Got into Avengers Campus (15-20 minute wait, we planned on skipping but couldn't pass up the shortest wait to enter all day)
Guardians
Margarita
(back to Disneyland)
Grand Circle Train Ride (did you know they are only supposed to allow 3 guests per car on the side facing rail cars? What a joke)
Back to Hotel (left at 8pm, park closed at 9pm)

Daughters stayed until park closing and were able to get in these additional attractions:
Incredicoaster
Alice
Peter Pan

So total, 11 attractions in 11 hours for my wife and I, 14 attractions in 12 hours for girls so not bad to be honest. The only things I was upset about missing at DL were IASW, Pan and Alice. Would have liked to have done Racers at DCA but just ran out of time overall.

So what did I not enjoy...hmm. Your mileage may vary so please keep in mind that this is my POV based on my expecations.

Mobile ordering is a joke. We tried to order lunch around 11am and the best we could get was a 1:50 pickup window which meant we needed to have a little snack before lunch (more on that next). The pick up at Red Rose Tavern was very easy, seating inside and outside of the Tavern was very hard to come by but we did find a spot up next to Casey Jr. Again, the social distancing both inside and outside the restaurant is a joke...the tables that were allowed to be utilized were still very close to tables that were unavailable. Yes, just Disney checking the box again. Oh, the grey stuff is still pretty darn good. By the way, did you know that you can order a margarita or beer at one of the "alcohol" only stands but if you try to order a drink at a restaurant, they won't let you order it without an adult meal? Just an example of the confusing messages we've received throughout this pandemic.

As referenced above, we did have to get a snack. At that point, my oldest daughter, who is a type 1 diabetic, had a pretty significant drop in blood sugar (low to mid 50's) so we decided to stop at the ODV stand next to the Mark Twain so she could get a pretzel and full sugar soda (carbs and sugar really help to increase blood sugar quickly). We get in line, 30 minutes later we still aren't very close and her blood sugar continues to drop. I get out of line and find to CMs standing near the closed ODV cart by the Golden Horseshoe and explain the issue. One of them walks me to the Stage Door Cafe where a older female CM quickly grabs me a kids sized coke so I can take to my daughter (this CM was an absolute angel). As she hands it to me, she tells me she's a diabetic and very happy to help another diabetic. I get back to my daughter, give her the coke, crisis averted. We get her a pretzel and something to drink at which time I make my post above about not having an enjoyable day. Frustration is high for many reasons at this point...this is about noon and we try again for ROTR...I hear also sorts of cheering going on around us, we strike out again. Hearing all the people around us cheering and watching them hug with joy was a little disheartening but a part of me was happy they would get to experience it. That being said, I really, really don't like this boarding group thing. I know Disney is in a tough spot here but creating a new attraction that some folks may not ever get to ride on their only visit ever to DL is a big miss. And being a major SW nerd, maybe I'm a little bitter on missing out on it.

Indiana Jones vitrual queue...the attraction was 45 minute wait when we arrived in the park but eventually transitioned to a virtual queue which we entered. Wait time was roughly 4.5 hours later which was fine, we knew approximately when to return. This allowed us to ride Pirates (my all time favorite) and then get immediately on Indy with only a 10 minute or so wait.

Snow White...I gotta say I prefer the new version. It feels so fresh and they really just did a fantastic job. Sometimes, change works out fine and this is one case where I think they got it right.

Outdoor queues in Disneyland...what a cluster. The 2 biggest issues were Pirates and Mansion which made an absolute mess out of the NOS area. Besides both of them being primarily in the sun, they truly clogged all of the walkways along the river and made getting around a little challenging. The pirates queue started down by Golden Horseshoe, followed the river, crossed up to the NOS walkway and weaved back and forth in front of the french market/cafe orleans area. Mansion went in it's normal area under the tree between the mansion and french market and then went all the way back across the bridge to critter country eventually going down the pathway to Galaxy's Edge. The beginning of the Splash Mtn line was in this same general area. And yes, I know Disney had very little they could do with indoor queues being closed...but I'll address that at the end. Oh, and they let plenty of people utilize the indoor queues, so maybe you just can't stand in one place for more than a minute apparently

Made our way over to DCA and figured there was no way we were going to get into Avengers Campus based on what we'd been reading online. Much to our surprise, the entry line was very short. We were told by the CM holding the "end of the line" sign (I've learned to hate those signs after yesterday), it would take an hour to get in. We moved very quickly and heard another CM say it was only about a 20 minute wait to enter...he was right. As for the land, it's fine. The real disappointment is there is this giant land really with nothing to do if you can't ride Web Slingers. It's all eye candy and while much of it looks impressive enough, there are some areas, like the Dr Strange Section, that just fall flat. The area was absolutely packed as you would expect but 99% of the people were getting/eating food (at 5pm there were no mobile order availability left for the test kitchen). Maybe when the hype dies down, the area will be more enjoyable but it really does need that new e-ticket. I'd take Galaxy's Edge over it in a heartbeat, GE just being far more impressive to look at if anything.

So what really hurt the experience for me? It just didn't feel like the Disneyland I've always loved. The crowds, the lines, the diminished food experiences...all of those things really made it one of the less enjoyable experiences I've had in many, many years. And I put much of that on Disney, some of that on myself for maybe having too high of expectations. I really never felt I had the chance to soak it all in, never really felt any of the Disney magic or truly enjoy being back in the park as I was so concerned about what we were going to do and when. It was only during our final ride, a trip around the park on the DL railroad, that I finally got a touch of the Disney I love. From a Disney perspective, Potrock came out in the past few weeks on his high horse stating that Disney was all about improving the guest experience at Disneyland. What they provided was anything but that. As I said, I know that in some cases, their hands were tied but it seems very clear to me that they made a decision to expand park capacity but were in no way set up to handle that increase in a way that provided a great experience that Disney should always be striving for. It's clear that in this case, it was a money grab as they knew there was so much demand that they could live with long lines causing bottlenecks, shuttered ODV charts everywhere (which would have alleviated the food issue), and a sub-optimal mobile ordering experience. Bottom line is that should have never, ever increased park capacity if the park experience was going to suffer. I 100% feel like I wasted a lot of money getting park hoppers as I purchased before knowing what Disney was going to do with Avengers campus. Had I known, we would have gotten a one park ticket for Disneyland. At this point, I'm not sure when I go back. I told my wife I'd be happy if we didn't go back to Disneyland until after our end of year WDW trip.

One last note...God bless the CMs throughout the park. I can see that many of them are just as frustrated as the guests are and they are working their tails off to do their jobs under difficult conditions.

Oh, and apparently we walked 11.1 miles…my dogs were barking

 

[Stevek]

Hope you had better luck today!

We were only there Saturday.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

At least you saw the Alpine Inn.

 

[DrAlice]

To give perspective on that entry map @Stevek drew: the day we arrived at 7:45, we were at "A". The day we arrived at 7:15 we were about half a loop in front of the X. We noticed that around 7:30, the line quickly filled behind us, and literally 5 minutes would make the difference between being inside the bus area to half way down Harbor. By the time the line started moving and we got to the loop just inside Harbor blvd. (8:15), the line outside on the sidewalk was at least as far as the inside line. It's just nuts. As he said, there was NO social distancing, and again, no bathrooms. No fun.

And, I agree, the lack of standby ODV and mobile ordering was super frustrating (and we even brought in our own lunches!). Like @Stevek said, while we had a good time, I won't be going back to DL until everything is back to normal.

Hopefully, all of this is fixed a bit next week.

 

[Curious Constance]

I read someone who said it took almost two hours to buy a water.

 

[Stevek]

To give perspective on that entry map @Stevek drew: the day we arrived at 7:45, we were at "A". The day we arrived at 7:15 we were about half a loop in front of the X. We noticed that around 7:30, the line quickly filled behind us, and literally 5 minutes would make the difference between being inside the bus area to half way down Harbor. By the time the line started moving and we got to the loop just inside Harbor blvd. (8:15), the line outside on the sidewalk was at least as far as the inside line. It's just nuts. As he said, there was NO social distancing, and again, no bathrooms. No fun.

And, I agree, the lack of standby ODV and mobile ordering was super frustrating (and we even brought in our own lunches!). Like @Stevek said, while we had a good time, I won't be going back to DL until everything is back to normal.

Hopefully, all of this is fixed a bit next week.

It was insane how quickly it filled. Just a flood of people flowing in to the area.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I read someone who said it took almost two hours to buy a water.

Might as well just wait for a water ride and take a sip from the trackway.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I’m sorry you didn’t have the best time, but I’m glad there were some aspects of the trip that you enjoyed. Hoping things improve as time passes.

 

[waltography]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and I'm sorry that your visit wasn't totally great (but good on you for getting into Avengers Campus so quickly!) Also thank you for sharing that anecdote about the CM who helped your daughter; I hope you stopped by City Hall if you had the time to thank them.

I really hope Disney holds off on increasing capacity until they go away with social distancing and open up indoor queues; it's ridiculous that both NOS at Disneyland and the Cars Land/Pacific Wharf/Paradise Gardens area in DCA both become labyrinths for most of the day due to the current restrictions which really don't pair with the capacity increase.

 

[Jefro]

Thanks for sharing your experiences and I'm sorry that your visit wasn't totally great (but good on you for getting into Avengers Campus so quickly!) Also thank you for sharing that anecdote about the CM who helped your daughter; I hope you stopped by City Hall if you had the time to thank them.

I really hope Disney holds off on increasing capacity until they go away with social distancing and open up indoor queues; it's ridiculous that both NOS at Disneyland and the Cars Land/Pacific Wharf/Paradise Gardens area in DCA both become labyrinths for most of the day due to the current restrictions which really don't pair with the capacity increase.

I wish this was going to be the case but I severely doubt they're going to limit capacity once they are not restricted by the state. Unfortunately the most likely event is that they will slowly increase capacity and early adopters will just have to deal.

 

[chadwpalm]

So back home and here's a better overview of our day...

I'll start with the Alpine hotel. It's fine, nothing exceptional. Rooms are new and clean and we were guaranteed parking for free which is a nice perk compared to many hotels that charge daily for parking. Overall, we saved about $100 compared to where we were originally going to stay, the Anaheim Hotel. The walk is manageable, roughly 10-15 minutes to the Harbor entrance. As for ROTR, tried starting at 7am, we are on the app at 7 on the dot and struck out. More on attempt 2 later.

Arrived at the eastern/Harbor entrance around 7:30 and line was exceptionally long, much longer than I figured. People had to have gotten there before 7am. Using the map below, you can see roughly how they have everything organized with the solid red line actually being side by side lines to enter security. We were roughly where the X is A is the starting point which actually went down Harbor Blvd and B is the end/security. Lines started moving at 8:00 or so, believe we were in by 8:45 but due to my oldest having a stomach issue, we didn't actually enter Disneyland until a little after 9am. As I posted earlier, the whole social distancing thing at DL is an absolute farce. The lines to get in to security were packed, little to zero social distancing which is such a joke given how much some of the CMs are promoting it while in the park. And don't get me started on temperature checks. The only reason I can think of that they are doing these is to slow down the entry a bit to create a buffer for security...but even then, the 2 seconds they spend pointing a thermometer at your head really doesn't help. Bottom line, total waste of time and merely appears to be Disneyland "checking the box"

View attachment 563663

Entry into Disneyland was actually quite easy, lines maybe to the monorail track but many booths open. DCA lines to enter were longer.

Once in, we looked for a locker...oops, all lockers are closed so we ended up carrying sweatshirts with us all day (it was a very warm day as well). Headed toward Adventureland (new entry sign looks great)/NOS and line for Pirates was about 30 minutes so we decided to head to Mansion. Lucky us, we were able to go through the crypt entry vs the stretching room. Didn't ask, the CM just asked us as there was nobody around us and I think they are trying to just send small groups in. Very interesting, glad we got to do it once but nowhere as interesting as the stretching room experience. HM looks fantastic by the way, the new (old) portrait and improved lighting in the graveyard look great. Very happy with the changes. Rather than get into all the details, here's what we rode in order of experience:

Mansion
Thunder
Splash (all 4 of us got soaked)
(walked through Galaxy's edge)
Space Mtn
Autopia
(lunch at Red Rose)
Casey Jr
Pirates
Indy (had virtual queue which is why we had to get there and come back to FL)
(got wheelchair for my wife as her back was killing her)
Snow White
(went to DCA)
Got into Avengers Campus (15-20 minute wait, we planned on skipping but couldn't pass up the shortest wait to enter all day)
Guardians
Margarita
(back to Disneyland)
Grand Circle Train Ride (did you know they are only supposed to allow 3 guests per car on the side facing rail cars? What a joke)
Back to Hotel (left at 8pm, park closed at 9pm)

Daughters stayed until park closing and were able to get in these additional attractions:
Incredicoaster
Alice
Peter Pan

So total, 11 attractions in 11 hours for my wife and I, 14 attractions in 12 hours for girls so not bad to be honest. The only things I was upset about missing at DL were IASW, Pan and Alice. Would have liked to have done Racers at DCA but just ran out of time overall.

So what did I not enjoy...hmm. Your mileage may vary so please keep in mind that this is my POV based on my expecations.

Mobile ordering is a joke. We tried to order lunch around 11am and the best we could get was a 1:50 pickup window which meant we needed to have a little snack before lunch (more on that next). The pick up at Red Rose Tavern was very easy, seating inside and outside of the Tavern was very hard to come by but we did find a spot up next to Casey Jr. Again, the social distancing both inside and outside the restaurant is a joke...the tables that were allowed to be utilized were still very close to tables that were unavailable. Yes, just Disney checking the box again. Oh, the grey stuff is still pretty darn good. By the way, did you know that you can order a margarita or beer at one of the "alcohol" only stands but if you try to order a drink at a restaurant, they won't let you order it without an adult meal? Just an example of the confusing messages we've received throughout this pandemic.

As referenced above, we did have to get a snack. At that point, my oldest daughter, who is a type 1 diabetic, had a pretty significant drop in blood sugar (low to mid 50's) so we decided to stop at the ODV stand next to the Mark Twain so she could get a pretzel and full sugar soda (carbs and sugar really help to increase blood sugar quickly). We get in line, 30 minutes later we still aren't very close and her blood sugar continues to drop. I get out of line and find to CMs standing near the closed ODV cart by the Golden Horseshoe and explain the issue. One of them walks me to the Stage Door Cafe where a older female CM quickly grabs me a kids sized coke so I can take to my daughter (this CM was an absolute angel). As she hands it to me, she tells me she's a diabetic and very happy to help another diabetic. I get back to my daughter, give her the coke, crisis averted. We get her a pretzel and something to drink at which time I make my post above about not having an enjoyable day. Frustration is high for many reasons at this point...this is about noon and we try again for ROTR...I hear also sorts of cheering going on around us, we strike out again. Hearing all the people around us cheering and watching them hug with joy was a little disheartening but a part of me was happy they would get to experience it. That being said, I really, really don't like this boarding group thing. I know Disney is in a tough spot here but creating a new attraction that some folks may not ever get to ride on their only visit ever to DL is a big miss. And being a major SW nerd, maybe I'm a little bitter on missing out on it.

Indiana Jones vitrual queue...the attraction was 45 minute wait when we arrived in the park but eventually transitioned to a virtual queue which we entered. Wait time was roughly 4.5 hours later which was fine, we knew approximately when to return. This allowed us to ride Pirates (my all time favorite) and then get immediately on Indy with only a 10 minute or so wait.

Snow White...I gotta say I prefer the new version. It feels so fresh and they really just did a fantastic job. Sometimes, change works out fine and this is one case where I think they got it right.

Outdoor queues in Disneyland...what a cluster. The 2 biggest issues were Pirates and Mansion which made an absolute mess out of the NOS area. Besides both of them being primarily in the sun, they truly clogged all of the walkways along the river and made getting around a little challenging. The pirates queue started down by Golden Horseshoe, followed the river, crossed up to the NOS walkway and weaved back and forth in front of the french market/cafe orleans area. Mansion went in it's normal area under the tree between the mansion and french market and then went all the way back across the bridge to critter country eventually going down the pathway to Galaxy's Edge. The beginning of the Splash Mtn line was in this same general area. And yes, I know Disney had very little they could do with indoor queues being closed...but I'll address that at the end. Oh, and they let plenty of people utilize the indoor queues, so maybe you just can't stand in one place for more than a minute apparently

Made our way over to DCA and figured there was no way we were going to get into Avengers Campus based on what we'd been reading online. Much to our surprise, the entry line was very short. We were told by the CM holding the "end of the line" sign (I've learned to hate those signs after yesterday), it would take an hour to get in. We moved very quickly and heard another CM say it was only about a 20 minute wait to enter...he was right. As for the land, it's fine. The real disappointment is there is this giant land really with nothing to do if you can't ride Web Slingers. It's all eye candy and while much of it looks impressive enough, there are some areas, like the Dr Strange Section, that just fall flat. The area was absolutely packed as you would expect but 99% of the people were getting/eating food (at 5pm there were no mobile order availability left for the test kitchen). Maybe when the hype dies down, the area will be more enjoyable but it really does need that new e-ticket. I'd take Galaxy's Edge over it in a heartbeat, GE just being far more impressive to look at if anything.

So what really hurt the experience for me? It just didn't feel like the Disneyland I've always loved. The crowds, the lines, the diminished food experiences...all of those things really made it one of the less enjoyable experiences I've had in many, many years. And I put much of that on Disney, some of that on myself for maybe having too high of expectations. I really never felt I had the chance to soak it all in, never really felt any of the Disney magic or truly enjoy being back in the park as I was so concerned about what we were going to do and when. It was only during our final ride, a trip around the park on the DL railroad, that I finally got a touch of the Disney I love. From a Disney perspective, Potrock came out in the past few weeks on his high horse stating that Disney was all about improving the guest experience at Disneyland. What they provided was anything but that. As I said, I know that in some cases, their hands were tied but it seems very clear to me that they made a decision to expand park capacity but were in no way set up to handle that increase in a way that provided a great experience that Disney should always be striving for. It's clear that in this case, it was a money grab as they knew there was so much demand that they could live with long lines causing bottlenecks, shuttered ODV charts everywhere (which would have alleviated the food issue), and a sub-optimal mobile ordering experience. Bottom line is that should have never, ever increased park capacity if the park experience was going to suffer. I 100% feel like I wasted a lot of money getting park hoppers as I purchased before knowing what Disney was going to do with Avengers campus. Had I known, we would have gotten a one park ticket for Disneyland. At this point, I'm not sure when I go back. I told my wife I'd be happy if we didn't go back to Disneyland until after our end of year WDW trip.

One last note...God bless the CMs throughout the park. I can see that many of them are just as frustrated as the guests are and they are working their tails off to do their jobs under difficult conditions.

Oh, and apparently we walked 11.1 miles…my dogs were barking

I guess I kinda promised I would give a trip report and never did. I think most of my sentiments align with yours regarding my experience at the parks. I'll try and summarize my days as best as I remember them.

I drove down from the Bay Area on Friday and hit traffic in L.A. causing my drive to be a little over 7 hours. I had my reservation at Tortilla Joe's at 6pm and didn't get to the hotel until about 5:10pm. I had just enough time to check-in, drop my stuff off, and slightly freshen up before heading to DTD. I parked in the Simba lot and went right through the bag check on the west side of DTD. I went straight to my diner reservation and had my enchiladas. Afterward, I went to World of Disney and picked up some Pops for my brother and Cars toys for my little nephew. Then I grabbed some Jamba Juice and headed back to the hotel. Since I'm not much of a shopper and I didn't spend more than a couple of hours there total.

The next morning I woke up around 6:45am and scored my boarding passes for ROTR. Then got ready and headed to the parks. I parked at M&F and got to the DL gate around 9am.

Did these ride between 9am and 11:45am:

Snow White
Pinocchio
Pirates of the Caribbean
Haunted Mansion

I had a lunch reservation at River Belle. Sadly, my stomach was really hurting...I think from the long car ride the day before and not getting a lot of sleep the night before. I had to get my check and a box quickly and I put my food in my backpack and went to first aid to get something for my stomach. My ROTR group was called at 12:20pm and I (technically) had until 1:20pm to get there. I worked my way over to Galaxy's Edge concerned that my stomach wouldn't be up to the ride, but I ate a nutrigrain bar and drank some water and I was good enough to ride. I really enjoyed the attraction. Sure, some of the effects aren't super realistic, but I was in a vehicle with 4 teens and they were having a blast, reacting to everything, so it was pretty fun. After that I went and sat down near Ronto's and ate some of my lunch trying to get some strength back. After that I continued on..

Smuggler's Run (had my own cockpit, that was interesting as I was right pilot. Grabbed a blue milk on my way out)
Splash Mountain (Had my own log to myself)
Winnie the Pooh
Big Thunder
Roger Rabbit
Alice in Wonderland
Autopia

I then had dinner at the Galactic Grill.

Indiana Jones (from boarding pass and that's when I got evac'd)
Space Mounting (Due to the evac I got a "fastpass" to enter at the exit and go right in)

I believe that was all I rode on Day 1. 13 attraction in all. I was really feeling yucky at this point and it was about 8pm, so I took offand walked back to my car then went to Vons on Chapman and Haster and grabbed some Pepto and sleeping pills. That helped me sleep through the night. I got up to try for Web Slinger passes at 7am, but wasn't fast enough. I forgot I turned off my Wifi the day before. I continued to sleep in and didn't get to DCA until about 11am.

Monsters Inc.

I then walked to Carsland and looked around and waited until noon to get try again for Web Slingers. I got distracted and missed it. I did get a backup pass for ROTR, but it was for group 221. Longshot.

Little Mermaid

I then grabbed a hot dog and chip at Pacific Wharf Distribution Company. After eating I was kind of over DCA, so I went back to Disneyland when parkhopping opened at 1pm. Lines were too long for the Carsland attractions (RSR was at like 70 min) which would have been the only reason to stick around.

Peter Pan
Mr. Toad
Small World
Star Tours
Tiki Room

I then went and hung out in GE for a while playing the phone games. At this point, I'd ridden everything I'd wanted to ride, so I grabbed dinner at Red Rose Tavern. I wanted to kill a couple more hours, so...

Pirates again
Big Thunder again

Got in line for Indy because it was open to standby and I waited for 30 minutes and just when I was about to exit the Jungle Cruise stairs (the line was through the JC queue) it broke down. I was done. It was about 8pm again and I was exhausted and walked back to my car and then straight to my hotel. I slept in until about 9am and got ready and headed home.

Over the two days I did 18 rides at DL with 2 repeats, and 2 rides at DCA.

 

[Too Many Hats]

Hearing all the people around us cheering and watching them hug with joy was a little disheartening but a part of me was happy they would get to experience it.

People are still doing this? Hugging with joy? Man oh man. I remember seeing someone inconsolably crying tears of joy back in February 2020. What a world.

I agree that Disney needs to drop the boarding group system. It's simply unfair to charge so much for park entry yet make a flagship attraction so difficult to experience.

 

[DLR>WDW]

What even is the rationale for having a boarding group system? Is it cause they under-built the standby queue for ROTR/WEB? They both seem to be operating pretty reliably, and if they want to reduce the amount of people joining the line they can always just massively over-inflate the posted wait time.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

The reservation system is something I attribute to WDW in Florida. Guidebook researching itinerary women planning the trips way in advance and driving the family nuts during the actual vacation. Fastpass+ and advanced dining reservations added fuel to the Unofficial Guide/Birnbaum Moms fire and turned it into a devastating inferno for those of us that just want to go without putting any planning into it. Just a mess you'd never associate with DL or even Universal in Florida, where spur of the moment trips were a norm for me. Boarding Groups and Reservations are ruining this at DLR. It needs to go away.

 

[Stevek]

The reservation system is something I attribute to WDW in Florida. Guidebook researching itinerary women planning the trips way in advance and driving the family nuts during the actual vacation. Fastpass+ and advanced dining reservations added fuel to the Unofficial Guide/Birnbaum Moms fire and turned it into a devastating inferno for those of us that just want to go without putting any planning into it. Just a mess you'd never associate with DL or even Universal in Florida, where spur of the moment trips were a norm for me. Boarding Groups and Reservations are ruining this at DLR. It needs to go away.

Agreed. The fact that I had to get up at like 4am on a cruise ship in order to get WDW fast passes was ridiculous.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

The reservation system is something I attribute to WDW in Florida. Guidebook researching itinerary women planning the trips way in advance and driving the family nuts during the actual vacation. Fastpass+ and advanced dining reservations added fuel to the Unofficial Guide/Birnbaum Moms fire and turned it into a devastating inferno for those of us that just want to go without putting any planning into it. Just a mess you'd never associate with DL or even Universal in Florida, where spur of the moment trips were a norm for me. Boarding Groups and Reservations are ruining this at DLR. It needs to go away.

 

[TP2000]

Our Disneyland weekend is finally here. First stop is the quaint Alpine Inn (pleasantly surprised by the simple rooms) and now at DTD getting ready to enjoy a Naples pizza.

View attachment 563396

Uh.... I'm kind of disappointed that the Alpine Inn has nice, normal, 21st century motel rooms.

In my mind the rooms had furniture made out of twigs. And stone fireplaces as the only HVAC system. And bear rugs, with the head still attached. And a fondue pot instead of a coffee maker.

I'm now kind of mad about this, actually. The Alpine Inn is too normal inside!

 

[TP2000]

As others have stated, the concept of no social distancing to get in but social distancing in the park is a joke as are temperature checks. The only reason I can see them doing temp checks is to give security a little pause but I’m guessing it’s more about optics than anything.
took us about 20 minutes to get through security.
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At this point, all Covid restrictions and processes are theater. Elaborate, useless, wasteful theater.

I take it that as of today these types of theatrical shows will stop. Disneyland will return to normal on June 15th.

 

[TP2000]

Gross. At least at Disneyland there are other things to do.

AT DHS that one ride is over 10% of all the park's rides!

You don't go to DHS for MuppetVision and the Frozen Sing-Along Show?