MickeyWaffleCo.
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
MickeyWaffleCo’s
Exceedingly Late
Inconsistently Detailed
Probably Controversial
Disneyland Trip Report
Feb. 1-4, 2022
Almost two years after I initially planned on going to Disneyland, I finally went on my COVID-delayed trip! 3 days of Disneyland and half a day at DCA. To set the stage, this is my second Disney trip ever. I went to Disneyland for a day after a conference in 2019, and from that moment on I was hooked. (That trip was what eventually led me to this forum.) Because I was staying for a much longer time this time around, I was able to relax and enjoy the parks at a more leisurely pace, which is by far the best way to enjoy Disneyland.
Day 1
After waking up at an ungodly hour of the morning to catch my flight, I arrived at my hotel at about 11 AM on Tuesday (after passing by the famed DisneySky parking lot), prepped my park bag, and set off across Harbor Blvd to DCA. The familiar sights of Space Mountain, Mission Breakout, and the Matterhorn peeking over the boundaries of their respective parks made this a somewhat emotional moment for me, compounded by the fact that I was quite literally entering the Esplanade from where I exited it in 2019.
After making it through the signature Disney lighting-speed security checkpoint, I unhurriedly walked over to the DCA entry gates. I had no set agenda in place for the day, and my goal was to avoid wait time optimization as much as possible and focus instead on just enjoying the park.
I started by passing Hollywoodland and Grizzly Peak Airfield (Grizzly River Run was sadly closed for refurbishment) and entered Avengers Campus. I must say, it’s much easier to navigate this land in person that it appears on a map. My first attraction of the trip was Mission: Breakout. Having never ridden any version of Tower of Terror before, and going in with somewhat low expectations (GotG aren’t really my favorite MCU characters), I was very pleasantly surprised. Disney did an excellent job at communicating the premise of the attraction simply, and packed in enough humor that even those who had never seen an MCU film in their lives could enjoy the attraction. With how impressive this attraction was, I can’t wait to ride Hollywood Studios’ ToT someday.
Next up I headed toward Pixar Pier and took a trip on Incredicoaster. Disney’s most intense coaster by far, and very enjoyable, though I do wish I could’ve ridden with the California Screamin’ soundtrack. After that, I stopped by Little Mermaid to get in my first Omnimover of the trip. Not much to say on this one, just another ol’ book report attraction.
If I recall correctly, I next visited Soarin’. After an hour-long wait (not quite worth it, but I guessed - correctly - that the wait time wouldn’t really drop for the rest of the day), I enjoyed the experience much more than I thought I would. The immersion of the screen and effects is hard to communicate via video, and the in-person experience was absolutely amazing.
After Soarin’, I stopped for a bite to eat in Hollywoodland, and then caught a showing of Mickey’s PhilHarmagic (one of my favorite Disney shows, and one I knew I wanted to see going into this trip.) I loved it, and I wish Disney would do more shows similar to PhilHarmagic or Muppet-Vision 3D in the future. It is a really unique storytelling experience.
Though I had planned on hopefully riding Monsters Inc (just to fully grasp the extent in person of how bad Superstar Limo was), the wait time was hovering at about 40 minutes, and was definitely not worth it. Instead, I took the back entrance to Avengers Campus, managed to catch the finale of the Spider-Man stunt show (that Stuntronic is seriously impressive, and I can see mobile animatronics like this being used a lot more in the future), and got in line for WEB Slingers.
Now, I had heard mediocre things about WEB Slingers in the past, and watched a few POVs. I hadn’t ridden Midway Mania before (in fact, I didn’t even get to it on this trip), so I was very impressed by the experience. Working within a very limited space, Disney has managed to make every kid’s dream come true and turn you into Spider-Man. Of course, it’s not perfect. The storyline of the whole Campus is very much a cop-out by Disney in order to cram in more character meet-and-greets and such, but as an individual attraction, WEB Slingers really shines. The motion tracking technology was amazingly good, and even with the very heavy aim assist you still feel very much in control of your webs. I greatly enjoyed WEB Slingers, and I would give it a wait time score of 35 minutes or so. (I like to judge attractions by wait time scores - the approximate maximum amount of time I would wait in line to ride it again in the future.)
The rest of the day is a blur, but I believe I did Goofy’s Sky School next (mostly for the queue details and the coaster credit). I was hoping to swing by Silly Symphony Swings after that, but it was temporarily closed. Instead, I took the roundabout Pixar Pier loop back over to Cars Land to get a nighttime ride on RSR.
The wait time was unbelievable. The posted wait was 60 minutes, if I remember correctly, but I ended up waiting around 90. Disney really should add a single rider line to this one. But despite the long wait time, the ride was a blast. The dark ride portion was charming, the animatronics were very impressive, and of course the climax was thrilling.
At this point there was only about an hour until park close, so I took a trip over to theFun Wheel Pixar Pal-A-Round and waited a few minutes to get a swinging car. I got in with a friendly young couple and a couple untalkative teens, and we had a fun few minutes chatting. These little moments of friendly interaction give a Disney trip just that little added touch, ya know?
After that, I took my time heading back to the entrance and admiring the park around me. I sat down on a bench on Buena Vista Street for a while just taking it in and thinking about the park as a whole. That’s right, here comes my take on DCA.
I knew it was bad, but I didn’t quite realize it was this bad. DCA is worse than the sum of its parts. While individual components like Grizzly Peak Airfield and Cars Land are fantastic, they come together to form a disjointed whole. DCA suffers from layout problems, theming problems, and reputation problems. The park is much harder to navigate than it’s older brother, the mix of original California theming and newer IP-based stuff really throws the whole park off its feet, and DCA is often overshadowed by Disneyland - due to the resort’s naming and it’s lack of a signature theme (Disneyland’s Happiest Place on Earth, Magic Kingdom, etc.) or visual icon (Sleeping Beauty Castle). DCA as a whole feels very much like what it is - a park in transition. I have some optimism that one day DCA will really find its footing and become a good park on its own, but with Disney’s current leadership, I don’t have high hopes.
Days 2-4
After a good night’s sleep and a better-than-I-expected hotel breakfast, it was time for Disneyland itself! Every moment I spent in DL was lovely, both on a sentimental level (everything meant so much more to me on this trip now that I knew the history behind so much of the park) and when it came to having a fun experience.
I don’t remember each individual day enough to detail out in full, but here are a few highlights:
Exceedingly Late
Inconsistently Detailed
Probably Controversial
Disneyland Trip Report
Feb. 1-4, 2022
Almost two years after I initially planned on going to Disneyland, I finally went on my COVID-delayed trip! 3 days of Disneyland and half a day at DCA. To set the stage, this is my second Disney trip ever. I went to Disneyland for a day after a conference in 2019, and from that moment on I was hooked. (That trip was what eventually led me to this forum.) Because I was staying for a much longer time this time around, I was able to relax and enjoy the parks at a more leisurely pace, which is by far the best way to enjoy Disneyland.
Day 1
After waking up at an ungodly hour of the morning to catch my flight, I arrived at my hotel at about 11 AM on Tuesday (after passing by the famed DisneySky parking lot), prepped my park bag, and set off across Harbor Blvd to DCA. The familiar sights of Space Mountain, Mission Breakout, and the Matterhorn peeking over the boundaries of their respective parks made this a somewhat emotional moment for me, compounded by the fact that I was quite literally entering the Esplanade from where I exited it in 2019.
After making it through the signature Disney lighting-speed security checkpoint, I unhurriedly walked over to the DCA entry gates. I had no set agenda in place for the day, and my goal was to avoid wait time optimization as much as possible and focus instead on just enjoying the park.
I started by passing Hollywoodland and Grizzly Peak Airfield (Grizzly River Run was sadly closed for refurbishment) and entered Avengers Campus. I must say, it’s much easier to navigate this land in person that it appears on a map. My first attraction of the trip was Mission: Breakout. Having never ridden any version of Tower of Terror before, and going in with somewhat low expectations (GotG aren’t really my favorite MCU characters), I was very pleasantly surprised. Disney did an excellent job at communicating the premise of the attraction simply, and packed in enough humor that even those who had never seen an MCU film in their lives could enjoy the attraction. With how impressive this attraction was, I can’t wait to ride Hollywood Studios’ ToT someday.
Next up I headed toward Pixar Pier and took a trip on Incredicoaster. Disney’s most intense coaster by far, and very enjoyable, though I do wish I could’ve ridden with the California Screamin’ soundtrack. After that, I stopped by Little Mermaid to get in my first Omnimover of the trip. Not much to say on this one, just another ol’ book report attraction.
If I recall correctly, I next visited Soarin’. After an hour-long wait (not quite worth it, but I guessed - correctly - that the wait time wouldn’t really drop for the rest of the day), I enjoyed the experience much more than I thought I would. The immersion of the screen and effects is hard to communicate via video, and the in-person experience was absolutely amazing.
After Soarin’, I stopped for a bite to eat in Hollywoodland, and then caught a showing of Mickey’s PhilHarmagic (one of my favorite Disney shows, and one I knew I wanted to see going into this trip.) I loved it, and I wish Disney would do more shows similar to PhilHarmagic or Muppet-Vision 3D in the future. It is a really unique storytelling experience.
Though I had planned on hopefully riding Monsters Inc (just to fully grasp the extent in person of how bad Superstar Limo was), the wait time was hovering at about 40 minutes, and was definitely not worth it. Instead, I took the back entrance to Avengers Campus, managed to catch the finale of the Spider-Man stunt show (that Stuntronic is seriously impressive, and I can see mobile animatronics like this being used a lot more in the future), and got in line for WEB Slingers.
Now, I had heard mediocre things about WEB Slingers in the past, and watched a few POVs. I hadn’t ridden Midway Mania before (in fact, I didn’t even get to it on this trip), so I was very impressed by the experience. Working within a very limited space, Disney has managed to make every kid’s dream come true and turn you into Spider-Man. Of course, it’s not perfect. The storyline of the whole Campus is very much a cop-out by Disney in order to cram in more character meet-and-greets and such, but as an individual attraction, WEB Slingers really shines. The motion tracking technology was amazingly good, and even with the very heavy aim assist you still feel very much in control of your webs. I greatly enjoyed WEB Slingers, and I would give it a wait time score of 35 minutes or so. (I like to judge attractions by wait time scores - the approximate maximum amount of time I would wait in line to ride it again in the future.)
The rest of the day is a blur, but I believe I did Goofy’s Sky School next (mostly for the queue details and the coaster credit). I was hoping to swing by Silly Symphony Swings after that, but it was temporarily closed. Instead, I took the roundabout Pixar Pier loop back over to Cars Land to get a nighttime ride on RSR.
The wait time was unbelievable. The posted wait was 60 minutes, if I remember correctly, but I ended up waiting around 90. Disney really should add a single rider line to this one. But despite the long wait time, the ride was a blast. The dark ride portion was charming, the animatronics were very impressive, and of course the climax was thrilling.
At this point there was only about an hour until park close, so I took a trip over to the
After that, I took my time heading back to the entrance and admiring the park around me. I sat down on a bench on Buena Vista Street for a while just taking it in and thinking about the park as a whole. That’s right, here comes my take on DCA.
I knew it was bad, but I didn’t quite realize it was this bad. DCA is worse than the sum of its parts. While individual components like Grizzly Peak Airfield and Cars Land are fantastic, they come together to form a disjointed whole. DCA suffers from layout problems, theming problems, and reputation problems. The park is much harder to navigate than it’s older brother, the mix of original California theming and newer IP-based stuff really throws the whole park off its feet, and DCA is often overshadowed by Disneyland - due to the resort’s naming and it’s lack of a signature theme (Disneyland’s Happiest Place on Earth, Magic Kingdom, etc.) or visual icon (Sleeping Beauty Castle). DCA as a whole feels very much like what it is - a park in transition. I have some optimism that one day DCA will really find its footing and become a good park on its own, but with Disney’s current leadership, I don’t have high hopes.
Days 2-4
After a good night’s sleep and a better-than-I-expected hotel breakfast, it was time for Disneyland itself! Every moment I spent in DL was lovely, both on a sentimental level (everything meant so much more to me on this trip now that I knew the history behind so much of the park) and when it came to having a fun experience.
I don’t remember each individual day enough to detail out in full, but here are a few highlights:
- Star Tours broke down my second time on it, allowing me to experience the disorienting feeling of a flight simulator abruptly resetting to its default position with no regard for its passengers comfort
- For some reason Haunted Mansion had a single line of its Holiday narration still going, the one that plays as you enter the grave-card (something about “ghostly white snow”). In addition, the hitchhiking ghost effects weren’t working both times I rode it.
- I appreciated Pirates much more on this trip, and I think it’s now overtaken HM for my 2nd favorite Disney attraction.
- Snow White’s Enchanted Wish and Peter Pan’s Flight are in my opinion the two gold standards of traditional dark ride design. Enchanted Wish in particular is a perfect example of how to not overuse projections and make sure they add to instead of detracting from a story.
- Splash Mountain was closed, meaning I didn’t get to experience my absolute favorite Disney attraction again. I would also like to point out that had I waited just over a month longer to go on this trip (mid-March or so), not only would Splash be open again, but Soarin’ Over California (and its fantastic soundtrack) would’ve been back for the Food and Wine festival, and the mask mandate would’ve been dropped already. Still kicking myself for this.
- This trip marked my first ride on regular Space Mountain (when I went last it was Hyperspace Mountain) and my goodness that Giacchino soundtrack sounds 100 times better on the actual attraction. Pure gold, I tell you. Gives me shivers every time I hear it.
- Rise of the Resistance had a 100 minute wait when I rode it. It actually felt much shorter than that (mainly due to it actually having an interesting queue - looking at you, RSR), but I would still not ride it again with that wait time. The attraction itself, though - my goodness, this is Disney’s best imagineering since the early Eisner days. The theming, the effects (I was especially impressed by the lighting effects in the pre-show transport ship), and the finale drop tower simulator were all just... *chef’s kiss* 11/10 would ride again.
- Sadly, the fireworks show was cancelled on my final night due to wind, making for an anticlimactic end of the trip. Instead, I took a trip on the wildest ride in the wilderness and went smuggling for Hando Ohnaka.
Overall, Disneyland was great, DCA was okay, and this trip lived up to almost all my expectations (and exceeded some of them as well). It’s given me a boatload of inspiration and ideas for my personal park projects, and a much needed break from the dreaded Real World
Thanks for reading!
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