Insaneinthemombrain
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2018
Just got back from a wonderful trip to the happiest place on earth. My 6 year old cried the whole way to the car when we checked out of the Disneyland hotel, which is a sure sign that it was a good trip. Our stay was from 4/5-4/14 and we did the 5 day 1 park per day promotional tickets with MaxPass everyday. We spaced out our park days and went to the beach (Laguna and Newport) and also had a couple resort/pool days. I love reading the good, the bad and the ugly threads so I am going to attempt to stick to that format.
The Good:
The crowds. I could not believe how nice it was. Wait times were manageable even in the afternoon, fastpasses were stretching later than I’ve ever remembered seeing before, and there were always plenty of tables available at all of the quick service locations. After hearing about how crowded it was the week prior, I was actually hoping for rain so it would maybe thin out the crowds a little bit, but we never got the heavy crowds nor the rain that was forecasted! I was mentally prepared for the worst and ended up with the best.
Speaking of which, the weather was PERFECT. Sunny with a high of 75 every day.
Blue Bayou Fantasmic dining package. This was hands down my favorite thing we did the whole trip. While the blue bayou itself was a little lackluster (food was okay, we were seated by the bathrooms), it redeemed itself with the viewing location and the fact that we also got to watch fireworks from the same spot. It was amazing! It was supposed to be a once in a lifetime experience, but we loved it so much that I want to do it every trip from now on. We were given our seat cushions with our bill, which was fine because we just threw them in the bottom of the stroller. We arrived a little after 8 pm (probably 8:15ish) for the 9 o’clock showing and got spots right on the water. I staggered us so that 2 kids were in the front by the rail and the 2 adults and baby were seating directly behind them just in case it was too scary or too wet and they could scoot back by us (never happened). The show took my breath away. I can’t recommend this experience enough!
Food. We ate a lot of food through out the course of the trip (favorite restaurants were plaza inn and jolly holiday) and found that while Disney knows what they’re doing when it comes to feeding their guests, they sure knock it out of the park with their treats and desserts. Especially seasonal offerings like the Mickey macaron, and chocolate mousse from jolly holiday and the chocolate peanut butter churro in DCA. Those were the stand outs. I also cannot stop thinking about the twisted ambush Dole whip swirl and think that might be something I get everyday on our next trip.
“Break” days. It was so nice to lounge around by the pool, participate in the on site activities without rushing back to get everyone ready for rope drop, and getting to sleep in for once. We usually just do the parks and our pool “break” day is the day we check out so this was a nice change of pace we are going to have to incorporate again.
Staying onsite. We stayed at GCH for a couple of nights and paid an extra 30$ a night to upgrade to a downtown Disney view room with a view of fireworks. It was amazing. My kids are obsessed with Mickeys mix magic and haven’t stopped singing that catchy “come on everybody get your ears on” song ever since. It was super fun that my 4 year old spotted 2 of the downtown Disney Easter eggs from our balcony. We also stayed at the DLH the rest of the week. We were asked if we wanted to pay the extra money to upgrade to a pool view room, but I declined and was pleasantly surprised when we had an awesome view of Galaxy’s Edge and fireworks anyway. It was a standard view room in the fantasy tower, but there was nothing standard about the view in our book.
The Bad:
Food and Wine Festival. While the food is delicious, it’s not good enough to warrant that bottleneck of people throughout that main stretch of dca. We were there with light crowds and it was unbearable walking though that section with all the booths so I can’t imagine how bad it gets with heavy crowds or even normal crowds. It also brought a boisterous/rude/ loud/drunk crowd to the scene at night that I wish we could have avoided, but was completely unavoidable no matter where you were. We loved the Easter egg hunt and will probably still go during spring break again, but I just wish Food and Wine could be an every other year thing. I would rather have Paint the Night back than a festival anyway.
Certain cast members. Not all cms, but enough for me to notice a trend were acting very unprofessional during our trip. Whether it was trash talking about other guests in front of us, swearing and dropping f bombs while telling stories about their personal lives, rolling their eyes after guests asked a question, or just flat out barking orders at guests- it just sucked the magic right out of the trip in that moment. There was an older gentleman cm at dumbo who full on berated a couple of grandparents for turning around on dumbo to film their grandkids sitting behind them (innocent enough mistake if it’s your first time riding dumbo). He stopped the ride and stomped over to them finger wagging in the air and chewed them out in front of all of us on the ride and everyone waiting in line. It was so unnecessary the way he screamed at them that I told my dh that if that would have been me or someone in my party, I would have cried! It just completely ruined the experience for everyone- even for those who weren’t involved and just witnessed it.
Unsupervised middle schoolers. I don’t know what else to say about this except that it was just annoying. I was an unsupervised middle schooler at Disneyland once upon a time, but I couldn’t have been that obnoxious right?.... RIGHT? I probably was. But there was just so. Much. Running. All the time by every single group of middle schoolers we saw. They were pretty much all harmless except for a group of boys who were running through the wishing well path like bats out of hell who were told to please walk by a cm. Instead of listening like good kids and walking, they yelled back “how DARE we run at Disneyland. How DARE US!” And kept running. So middle school. So obnoxious. They could have really hurt someone or themselves though especially since you have a blind corner right there when you turn into the castle tunnel.
Maxpass. Now I know people are going to think... “WHAT?!” About this next part, but hear me out. I don’t know if it was because the crowds were so unexpectedly light, or if I have just gotten too good at touring the parks, but I think I have outgrown MaxPass. We couldn’t keep up with how much stuff we were booking. We had so many fastpass windows that we just had to let go of or cancel and so many rider swaps we just never used. One morning at DCA my daughter rode incredicoaster 12 times in a row just by walking on with fastpass and then rider swapping with whatever parent wasn’t watching the not tall enough kids. I felt compelled to keep booking things because we paid for the service, but if I’m being honest we didn’t need it at all. It was convenient for sure, but I found that it kind of forced our touring style to be commando and go on ride after ride after ride that it kind of got tedious after a while. While we were in line to ride radiator springs for the 5th or 6th time that day, my 4 year old (who was decked out in lightning mcqueen gear head to toe, who is absolutely obsessed with everything cars and has been waiting his whole life to be tall enough to ride this ride) asked me when we could be done riding the cars ride. That’s how you know you’ve overdone it! Good grief, kid! Next time we will save MaxPass for our busy days only.
The ugly:
We were lucky enough to catch WOC both nights we were at dca. The first night we had a blue viewing area fastpass, but somehow ended up in the yellow section in the wet zone. We didn’t get wet at all though- just lightly misted during certain parts. It was spectacular. So the 2nd night we were in the same spot only this time we had the yellow viewing section fastpasses so we came in from the other side. I noticed most of, if not all the people near us came from the blue side so they are still letting you wander though from side to side. The ugly part of this story was that even though it wasn’t that windy, (fireworks went off both nights) we got SOAKED the 2nd night. I’m pretty sure a fountain malfunctioned and it wasn’t just the direction of the (non existent) wind because about 20 feet away from us the people sitting in the yellow wet zone got drenched by one shooting at them just before the lion king portion happened. It was like they were being sprayed by a fire hose. I remember it was just before the lion king stampede part because we had our own stampede max exodus from that section. It was almost apocalyptic like a scene from “war of the worlds” with everyone trying to run to safety. The music was very appropriate for the moment. We were all horrified. I mean, I know they warn you that you will get wet, but I don’t think anyone was expecting to leave soaked to the bone like those poor people. That first night we were thinking “wow! Why doesn’t everyone stand right at the water for this show? You don’t get wet at all and you have the best view!” Well the second night gave us a resounding answer, “THAT’S WHY!” Yikes.
The MAGNIFICENT:
I don’t like ending on a sour note so I added my own category. We had a lot of pixie dust this trip. It was a truly magical vacation and we were all sad to go home. A standout moment for us was at the games of Pixar pier. After a rough morning, we decided to take it easy and let the kids play some games to have a change of pace from the go, go, go style of touring we were doing. That’s when we encountered Angie the angel at bullseyes stallion stampede. Her positive attitude and the way she interacted with us was contagious. It really turned our day (and the rest of the trip) around for the better. We didn’t want to leave! We just wanted to stay and hang around Angie all day. My 4 year old loved her and will never forget the experience we had there. It makes me teary eyed thinking about the joy on his face. That’s true Disney Magic when people can bring such joy into your lives just by being happy and spreading joy around.
We also had some magic by a chance encounter with Snow White and Cinderella back by small world. My 6 year old was able to hold hands and walk/talk with them the whole way until they went back stage. She was absolutely star struck and in awe of these princesses and I will never forget the look on her face. Afterwards, she told me that it was the best day of her life and that she is the luckiest girl on earth. Stuff like that makes it all worth it you know?
Overall, we loved our trip and are already jonesin to get back there. I would highly recommend spring break. We loved the seasonal treats, the egg hunt, and the weather. Dapper day was so cute and it is always so fun to see everyone dressed up the way it used to be. We were checking out that day and didn’t make it to the parks, but we saw everyone at the expo and can’t wait for next year so we can go into the parks and participate that way. I wish we could wear our Sunday best to Disneyland everyday like they did in the 50’s and 60’s, but I definitely see the need for comfortable shoes and practical outfits nowadays. Next year I am going to go all out. Thanks for reading!
The Good:
The crowds. I could not believe how nice it was. Wait times were manageable even in the afternoon, fastpasses were stretching later than I’ve ever remembered seeing before, and there were always plenty of tables available at all of the quick service locations. After hearing about how crowded it was the week prior, I was actually hoping for rain so it would maybe thin out the crowds a little bit, but we never got the heavy crowds nor the rain that was forecasted! I was mentally prepared for the worst and ended up with the best.
Speaking of which, the weather was PERFECT. Sunny with a high of 75 every day.
Blue Bayou Fantasmic dining package. This was hands down my favorite thing we did the whole trip. While the blue bayou itself was a little lackluster (food was okay, we were seated by the bathrooms), it redeemed itself with the viewing location and the fact that we also got to watch fireworks from the same spot. It was amazing! It was supposed to be a once in a lifetime experience, but we loved it so much that I want to do it every trip from now on. We were given our seat cushions with our bill, which was fine because we just threw them in the bottom of the stroller. We arrived a little after 8 pm (probably 8:15ish) for the 9 o’clock showing and got spots right on the water. I staggered us so that 2 kids were in the front by the rail and the 2 adults and baby were seating directly behind them just in case it was too scary or too wet and they could scoot back by us (never happened). The show took my breath away. I can’t recommend this experience enough!
Food. We ate a lot of food through out the course of the trip (favorite restaurants were plaza inn and jolly holiday) and found that while Disney knows what they’re doing when it comes to feeding their guests, they sure knock it out of the park with their treats and desserts. Especially seasonal offerings like the Mickey macaron, and chocolate mousse from jolly holiday and the chocolate peanut butter churro in DCA. Those were the stand outs. I also cannot stop thinking about the twisted ambush Dole whip swirl and think that might be something I get everyday on our next trip.
“Break” days. It was so nice to lounge around by the pool, participate in the on site activities without rushing back to get everyone ready for rope drop, and getting to sleep in for once. We usually just do the parks and our pool “break” day is the day we check out so this was a nice change of pace we are going to have to incorporate again.
Staying onsite. We stayed at GCH for a couple of nights and paid an extra 30$ a night to upgrade to a downtown Disney view room with a view of fireworks. It was amazing. My kids are obsessed with Mickeys mix magic and haven’t stopped singing that catchy “come on everybody get your ears on” song ever since. It was super fun that my 4 year old spotted 2 of the downtown Disney Easter eggs from our balcony. We also stayed at the DLH the rest of the week. We were asked if we wanted to pay the extra money to upgrade to a pool view room, but I declined and was pleasantly surprised when we had an awesome view of Galaxy’s Edge and fireworks anyway. It was a standard view room in the fantasy tower, but there was nothing standard about the view in our book.
The Bad:
Food and Wine Festival. While the food is delicious, it’s not good enough to warrant that bottleneck of people throughout that main stretch of dca. We were there with light crowds and it was unbearable walking though that section with all the booths so I can’t imagine how bad it gets with heavy crowds or even normal crowds. It also brought a boisterous/rude/ loud/drunk crowd to the scene at night that I wish we could have avoided, but was completely unavoidable no matter where you were. We loved the Easter egg hunt and will probably still go during spring break again, but I just wish Food and Wine could be an every other year thing. I would rather have Paint the Night back than a festival anyway.
Certain cast members. Not all cms, but enough for me to notice a trend were acting very unprofessional during our trip. Whether it was trash talking about other guests in front of us, swearing and dropping f bombs while telling stories about their personal lives, rolling their eyes after guests asked a question, or just flat out barking orders at guests- it just sucked the magic right out of the trip in that moment. There was an older gentleman cm at dumbo who full on berated a couple of grandparents for turning around on dumbo to film their grandkids sitting behind them (innocent enough mistake if it’s your first time riding dumbo). He stopped the ride and stomped over to them finger wagging in the air and chewed them out in front of all of us on the ride and everyone waiting in line. It was so unnecessary the way he screamed at them that I told my dh that if that would have been me or someone in my party, I would have cried! It just completely ruined the experience for everyone- even for those who weren’t involved and just witnessed it.
Unsupervised middle schoolers. I don’t know what else to say about this except that it was just annoying. I was an unsupervised middle schooler at Disneyland once upon a time, but I couldn’t have been that obnoxious right?.... RIGHT? I probably was. But there was just so. Much. Running. All the time by every single group of middle schoolers we saw. They were pretty much all harmless except for a group of boys who were running through the wishing well path like bats out of hell who were told to please walk by a cm. Instead of listening like good kids and walking, they yelled back “how DARE we run at Disneyland. How DARE US!” And kept running. So middle school. So obnoxious. They could have really hurt someone or themselves though especially since you have a blind corner right there when you turn into the castle tunnel.
Maxpass. Now I know people are going to think... “WHAT?!” About this next part, but hear me out. I don’t know if it was because the crowds were so unexpectedly light, or if I have just gotten too good at touring the parks, but I think I have outgrown MaxPass. We couldn’t keep up with how much stuff we were booking. We had so many fastpass windows that we just had to let go of or cancel and so many rider swaps we just never used. One morning at DCA my daughter rode incredicoaster 12 times in a row just by walking on with fastpass and then rider swapping with whatever parent wasn’t watching the not tall enough kids. I felt compelled to keep booking things because we paid for the service, but if I’m being honest we didn’t need it at all. It was convenient for sure, but I found that it kind of forced our touring style to be commando and go on ride after ride after ride that it kind of got tedious after a while. While we were in line to ride radiator springs for the 5th or 6th time that day, my 4 year old (who was decked out in lightning mcqueen gear head to toe, who is absolutely obsessed with everything cars and has been waiting his whole life to be tall enough to ride this ride) asked me when we could be done riding the cars ride. That’s how you know you’ve overdone it! Good grief, kid! Next time we will save MaxPass for our busy days only.
The ugly:
We were lucky enough to catch WOC both nights we were at dca. The first night we had a blue viewing area fastpass, but somehow ended up in the yellow section in the wet zone. We didn’t get wet at all though- just lightly misted during certain parts. It was spectacular. So the 2nd night we were in the same spot only this time we had the yellow viewing section fastpasses so we came in from the other side. I noticed most of, if not all the people near us came from the blue side so they are still letting you wander though from side to side. The ugly part of this story was that even though it wasn’t that windy, (fireworks went off both nights) we got SOAKED the 2nd night. I’m pretty sure a fountain malfunctioned and it wasn’t just the direction of the (non existent) wind because about 20 feet away from us the people sitting in the yellow wet zone got drenched by one shooting at them just before the lion king portion happened. It was like they were being sprayed by a fire hose. I remember it was just before the lion king stampede part because we had our own stampede max exodus from that section. It was almost apocalyptic like a scene from “war of the worlds” with everyone trying to run to safety. The music was very appropriate for the moment. We were all horrified. I mean, I know they warn you that you will get wet, but I don’t think anyone was expecting to leave soaked to the bone like those poor people. That first night we were thinking “wow! Why doesn’t everyone stand right at the water for this show? You don’t get wet at all and you have the best view!” Well the second night gave us a resounding answer, “THAT’S WHY!” Yikes.
The MAGNIFICENT:
I don’t like ending on a sour note so I added my own category. We had a lot of pixie dust this trip. It was a truly magical vacation and we were all sad to go home. A standout moment for us was at the games of Pixar pier. After a rough morning, we decided to take it easy and let the kids play some games to have a change of pace from the go, go, go style of touring we were doing. That’s when we encountered Angie the angel at bullseyes stallion stampede. Her positive attitude and the way she interacted with us was contagious. It really turned our day (and the rest of the trip) around for the better. We didn’t want to leave! We just wanted to stay and hang around Angie all day. My 4 year old loved her and will never forget the experience we had there. It makes me teary eyed thinking about the joy on his face. That’s true Disney Magic when people can bring such joy into your lives just by being happy and spreading joy around.
We also had some magic by a chance encounter with Snow White and Cinderella back by small world. My 6 year old was able to hold hands and walk/talk with them the whole way until they went back stage. She was absolutely star struck and in awe of these princesses and I will never forget the look on her face. Afterwards, she told me that it was the best day of her life and that she is the luckiest girl on earth. Stuff like that makes it all worth it you know?
Overall, we loved our trip and are already jonesin to get back there. I would highly recommend spring break. We loved the seasonal treats, the egg hunt, and the weather. Dapper day was so cute and it is always so fun to see everyone dressed up the way it used to be. We were checking out that day and didn’t make it to the parks, but we saw everyone at the expo and can’t wait for next year so we can go into the parks and participate that way. I wish we could wear our Sunday best to Disneyland everyday like they did in the 50’s and 60’s, but I definitely see the need for comfortable shoes and practical outfits nowadays. Next year I am going to go all out. Thanks for reading!
