I'm a self-proclaimed Disney Parks nerd who, until this spring, had only visited the Florida parks. I'd like to eventually visit every park globally, and this spring, I inched a little closer to that goal when our California trip allowed us to visit Walt's original park, Disneyland!
According to the crowd calendars, we were visiting on "ghost town" level days. The California parks are small, so I would hate to see crowds during peak times if what we experienced was considered low traffic. While we managed to experience all the rides we wanted to (hello, Matterhorn!) experiences were a different story. People started camping out for fireworks as early as 3 PM! For out of towners like us who wanted to experience the parks, there was no way we were willing to lose hours sitting and waiting, so we didn't see any of the nighttime entertainment our entire stay. It's also crazy difficult to walk around the parks after a certain time because they are so small and they close off/redirect many foot paths for the show.
Still, we had a magical time. I'd done research ahead of time and had decided to spring an extra $10/ticket/day for their MaxPass offering. It allows you to choose fast passes all day from your phone instead of losing time trekking across the park for a paper pass, and, especially valuable to me, gives you every single photopass photo you take - this includes any ride photos, and photos taken by staff. Photo memories are always worth the money to me and I considered this a steal! This offering is one of a few things I consider a "leg up" on WDW.
Also enjoyable - the food! We quickly found our new favorite spot in New Orleans square which served up Mickey Bengiets and (virgin) mint Juleps. Yum! And of course, No trip to Disney is complete without a Dole Whip!
Last, but definitely not least, character encounters are SO much easier here. We were constantly seeing characters traveling the park or hiding out in spots (hello, princesses in Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln!) where we encountered them just in time for no line.
Most importantly, Ariel! I've NEVER encountered her in Florida much to my chagrin, and it made my entire childhood to finally meet her here. We had an incredible conversation about red hair, human legs, and dinglehoppers.
Sure, there was some stress, but it was Disney, so it was magical. Which Disney park is your favorite?
According to the crowd calendars, we were visiting on "ghost town" level days. The California parks are small, so I would hate to see crowds during peak times if what we experienced was considered low traffic. While we managed to experience all the rides we wanted to (hello, Matterhorn!) experiences were a different story. People started camping out for fireworks as early as 3 PM! For out of towners like us who wanted to experience the parks, there was no way we were willing to lose hours sitting and waiting, so we didn't see any of the nighttime entertainment our entire stay. It's also crazy difficult to walk around the parks after a certain time because they are so small and they close off/redirect many foot paths for the show.
Still, we had a magical time. I'd done research ahead of time and had decided to spring an extra $10/ticket/day for their MaxPass offering. It allows you to choose fast passes all day from your phone instead of losing time trekking across the park for a paper pass, and, especially valuable to me, gives you every single photopass photo you take - this includes any ride photos, and photos taken by staff. Photo memories are always worth the money to me and I considered this a steal! This offering is one of a few things I consider a "leg up" on WDW.
Also enjoyable - the food! We quickly found our new favorite spot in New Orleans square which served up Mickey Bengiets and (virgin) mint Juleps. Yum! And of course, No trip to Disney is complete without a Dole Whip!
Last, but definitely not least, character encounters are SO much easier here. We were constantly seeing characters traveling the park or hiding out in spots (hello, princesses in Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln!) where we encountered them just in time for no line.
Most importantly, Ariel! I've NEVER encountered her in Florida much to my chagrin, and it made my entire childhood to finally meet her here. We had an incredible conversation about red hair, human legs, and dinglehoppers.
Sure, there was some stress, but it was Disney, so it was magical. Which Disney park is your favorite?
I really want to go to Disneyland Paris. RunDisney has races there now so I'm trying to convince A that it would kill two birds with one stone.
ReplyDeleteI hope to one day get to Disney. Looks so fun!
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