Thought I'd pop in here just to give my opinions on a few things... if anyone is interested
Went to Disneyland this past Sunday for the first time since 2017 and had a few thoughts:
1. Star Wars Land is impressive in scale and detail but lacks substance. Liked the reveals of the different areas of the land as you walk through the paths. Thought MF was junky and not worth the amount of space dedicated to it. RotR is excellent but almost impossible to ride. It went down 5 or 6 times throughout the day. I think paying $20 for an attraction's Fastpass is so dumb and clearly price gouging. We were able to ride twice and skip the line because of our friends but I would not have ridden without them. Great ride though and really enjoyed the story and buildup to the climax with the Adam Driver AA.
2. Avenger's Campus is a bizarre waste of space. Bugs Land was not my speed but the design was cute and charming. Nothing in Avenger's is the right scale- large buildings with nothing in them, Doctor Strange garden with nothing in it, large Pym restaurant with no indoor seating, large Spiderman showbuilding you have to make a u-turn to get to the ride entrance... just bizarre use of space. Actually enjoyed the Spiderman ride quite a bit- I think it's a really effective next-generation of Midway Mania. Great idea to actually do the physical motion Spiderman does- enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Last time I went to Disneyland I rode Gotg so I skipped this time but I love the update to the ride, loathe the design. Looks like garbage and still doesn't fit with Avenger's Campus.
3. Pixar Pier was cute. No the theme makes no logical sense whatsoever but I actually enjoyed the aesthetic upgrades. Not everything has to be a total complete "story" and I appreciate the cuteness factor here. It's a great area for familys, nice use of color, glad they were able to get a few more Victorian aesthetic details. Incredicoaster is silly but I actually like that this area doesn't take itself too seriously. Could it be better executed? Definitely. Is it fun? I think so.
4. Walking around the parks are in good shape and I didn't notice too many maintenance issues. The attractions are another story. At one point on Sunday RotR, Space, Indy, Pirates, and Big Thunder were down. Multiple AAs on every attraction not working (Jungle Cruise seemed to have a power outage where multiple show scenes were down, Splash is a disaster with half its AAs not working/lighting is jacked up, Indy multiple effects not working.) Fantasmic was spotty with the side fountains not operating correctly and the mist screens having some trouble. Just a mess.
5. I still don't understand the whole Genie/Lightning Lane/upcharge system. We didn't buy it but I went with people who were trying to explain it and it's just so convoluted. I don't understand how an average layperson could possible figure out all the new rules they have for everything. Some restaurants are mobile order and some aren't, cant park hop right away, Genie Lightning Lane works for some rides and not others- have to pay more. Just ridiculous why does it have to be so complicated? Also they are clearly over-inflating ride times to sell the Genie thing. Talked to some people who got in line for RotR at a 65 posted wait and they said they got through in 35 minutes. Same with Space Mountain, we got in line at a 40 minute wait and got through the line in 15 minutes early afternoon. Dumb.
6. Love seeing all the updates to classic attractions. The scary Snow White version was one of my favorites in the park but loved the new update- great use of effects and space to better tell that story. Jungle Cruise updates are cute and seamless. Pirates Auction scene has terrible writing I couldn't believe how stupid, but the rest of the attraction has never looked better (and glad to have the voices in the cave back!)
7. They need to just bite the bullet and start selling alcohol in Disneyland Park.
Obviously I'm a Disney parks fan (I'm on here) but I haven't had the urge to go in awhile and I'm feeling the same after this visit. It'll probably be another 5 years at least for me but glad I got to see all the new stuff over the past few years. Not sure the parks are really my speed anymore with the large crowds, Star Wars/Marvel focused additions, reliance on pre-planning/scheduling. Thanks for reading- truly all my miscellaneous thoughts.
