Friday, 1/13
It was a bit odd travelling this time of year, right after the holidays and right after travelling out of state to visit family during the holidays. This is what worked with our schedules for a variety of reasons, with MLK Day off work and preschool, and the pregnancy getting further along, then a newborn coming soon. We only had to take two days off work. We booked the trip in September, then watched all the Disney 100 announcements get made. We expected Toontown would be closed when we booked, but to find out we were missing the new ride, new Toontown, and new nighttime shows by just a few weeks was disappointing. We took a positive attitude and hoped this would mean lighter crowds. I always look to book a trip when the two lowest level AP/MK are blocked out. Imagine and Enchant were blocked out the Sat-Mon of our trip.
We had an uneventful flight into SNA, with only a small mechanical delay of about 30 minutes. We landed at SNA around 11:15 am to partly cloudy and mild weather. The high temperature was around 65 this day – it had actually been milder at home leading up to the trip and the whole time we were gone.
We used Anaheim Town Car services for transportation to/from SNA, as they provide competitive pricing and a car seat so we don’t have to bring our own. We used them before and had a great experience both times now. When we landed slightly late at 11:15 am, our driver had texted me that he was waiting and to let him know when ready. I told him about 20 minutes. We got down to baggage claim, used the restrooms, and got our bags in about 20 minutes, so I texted the driver the pole number we were at. He promptly arrived in less than 5 minutes with the car seat already set up and we were on our way to DLR.
The drive was uneventful and took less than 20 minutes. We arrived at the GCH and the driver unloaded our bags. We were originally booked to stay at the DLH, but changed about a week out to the GCH. We did this due to the likely rain, the young kid, pregnant wife, and the winter discount I was able to snag with the Disney Visa. We were really excited to stay at DLH, as I used to stay there on my annual trips to DLR as a kid in the 90’s, but not since. We got excited to stay at GCH now too, but expected the theme wouldn’t be as much our style. For this particular trip, I’m happy we ended up staying at the GCH over the DLH because of proximity, but I’m not sure it’s the right choice for us in the future. The walk to the DLH is not much further, the monorail is a convenient option at DLH, and the theming suits our tastes at DLH much better. Compared to offsite, it’s really hard to say if the GCH is worth it – it’s obviously very subjective. I think the early entry is a great perk for us because of the time difference, but the location is nominally better, or not better, than some offsite options. We’ve stayed at BWPPI and Tropicana several times right at the front of the respective hotels. I think those rooms might be closer than many at the GCH (to DL not DCA of course), except for crossing the street at Harbor. Our last trip in November 2021 we stayed at a Park View Suite at the Tropicana, which was a terrific experience with a balcony overlooking DL, the monorail, and TWO rooms and two bathrooms.
Back to GCH arrival. Upon exiting the shuttle, no one from bell services offered (or was available) to help us, so we managed to carry our bags into the lobby on our own. I had checked in online, but it was only about 12:30 so our room wasn’t ready. We went to check in to find out we were second in line for a room, but we opted to check our bags at bell services to get some food.
Our son sat down at the kids chairs with the Mickey cartoons, which he loved, while my wife and I shuffled things around our luggage for items to take into the parks. I got bell services to take most of our items for storage, and as they were carrying the bags away I got the text that our room was ready! It was right around 1:00 pm.
Bell services walked us to our room with our luggage. We were in room 3248. I used the digital key, which did not work great, so I ended up getting key cards at the front desk. This was our first stay at the Grand, but we had been in the hotel many times before walking to/from Stovall’s Inn on Katella on previous stays (about 10 years ago). Room 3248 is about as far as you can possibly be from Downtown Disney and the Main Lobby, and our room overlooked Goofy’s Sky School. I was originally frustrated by the room location because of how far it was and the potential noise. The location is across the street from the Paradise Pier Hotel. I called in advance at 5 days out to request a daybed/King, and a room not near Goofy’s Sky School – I didn’t get either request. Once we got into the room and my son saw the roller coaster and the ferris wheel, he loved it. I was also pleased with how well the heavy door blocked out the noise. I ended up growing to like the room location.
We got into the room, got situated, and headed out around 1:30 to find some food. I stopped on the way to pick up our stroller rental from bell services. I used ScooterBug to have it left at bell services, which was spectacular. The pricing was great, the convenience was unbeatable, and it was so easy to pickup and drop off with bell services. They are the only ones allowed to do this as they have a relationship directly with Disney – I highly recommend it. We went to the Craftsman Grill for grab and go food and a kid’s power pack. The food was all fine, nothing notable. We then entered DCA through the hotel entrance right next to Craftsman Grill.
We originally did not have park tickets on our arrival day, opting to only have 3 day park hoppers for our main days of Saturday – Monday. About a week out when we saw the potential for a rainy and cold trip, we opted to add 2 days to our tickets for arrival and departure days (arrival and departure days not having rain forecasted). I’m very glad we did, and it was a great decision for this specific trip. In the future, assuming good weather, I would prefer to not go to the parks on arrival day so as to take more advantage of the pool and hotel amenities when staying on site, along with Downtown Disney.
We also got Magicband+ before the trip for all of us, including my 3-year-old. I did not think he would wear the band, but ended up wearing it the entire time. He loved the lights on the rides and scanning into the park. I’m the main person who plans, holds tickets, books LL, etc., so not having to take my phone out for everyone was really great. It was super easy to scan into the parks and rides – I can’t recommend Magicband+ enough. We charged them every day, but they don’t even need a charge for scanning in.
We scanned into DCA near GRR, which was closed during this trip. This area of the park was incredibly empty the whole trip because of the ride closure. I jumped onto the DL app and booked us a LL for Big Thunder. We walked over to Paradise Gardens Park to do some rides that might be closed in the rain. We did Jumpin’ Jellyfish, Golden Zephyr, Emotional Whirlwind, and looked at the line for Pal Around but it was a bit long. I was able to get an immediate return time booked for an ILL at RSR.
This was our first trip with
Genie+. Overall, I’m a fan of Genie+ at DLR. I wish Disney would go back to Maxpass with the FP rules instead of the 1 ride per attraction per day and 2 hour window. If I want to ride Big Thunder 5 times with Genie+, but not Space Mountain, why can’t I? Here’s my biggest complaint with the system – Individual Lightning Lane. What an absolute scam. Disney should be ashamed of themselves for this pure money grab. There’s absolutely no justification for charging extra for this ride, or any ride, outside of the Genie+ system. Why not just charge more for Genie+ and include RSR and ROTR?
Anyways, we spent the $15 per person for RSR, had a short wait, and my son absolutely loved it. He wanted to go again, but we explained that there were other things to see. We walked through Avengers Campus to head down Buena Vista Street to DL, but we ended up stopping to meet Goofy and Pluto. My son and wife then rode the Red Car Trolley – what a great ride, I’m so happy this is back and my son loved it.
We did finally make it to DL, and the marching band was coming out, so we stopped to watch their set at 3:30 (my wife actually has a high school friend/marching band companion in the DL band who we saw playing). We then saw Big Thunder was down, so we started thinking about dinner since it was almost 6 at home.
We come from central time, so 2 hours ahead of CA. This always has positives and negatives when going to DLR. This is a huge advantage for early entry with a small kid, as he’s always up and ready to go. On the flip side, it makes staying up for nighttime entertainment really hard.
Back to dinner. We mobile ordered at Alien Pizza Planet, which went fine. Nothing special about the food, but nothing bad either. Overall, I’m not a big fan of mobile order at DLR and I don’t think it’s handled well at the parks (I love mobile order outside of DLR). I’ll discuss mobile order more as experiences come up. During dinner, I booked a 5:00 Autopia to try the acceleration trick with the Multiple Experience Pass I got from Big Thunder being down – it worked! We scanned into Autopia at 4:40 with a 5:00 return time, and the Autopia LL went away, but not the MEP.
We went to Big Thunder, but it was still closed, so we went to FL. I got another MEP since Big Thunder was still down (I had booked again). We rode Alice and Storybook Land with the MEP, being scanned into the exit of each, but the passes did not go away from our account. I read about this online, and I don’t know why it happens, but the MEP’s often did not go away even when being scanned. My son and I rode Mad Tea Party standby, then we did the carousel. We then noticed Big Thunder was back up, so my son and I rode it twice! My son loved it and really liked the explosion effect, which worked well on Friday.
We could have kept going, but it was nearly 7:00 at this point and 9:00 at home, so we called it a night. We also had to pick up a grocery delivery from Bell Services. I had groceries delivered from Walmart around 4:00 – it worked great. Bell services delivered to the room. Unfortunately, our loaf of bread was missing because Walmart forgot it – this meant no sandwiches (they refunded us). We had luckily gotten some bagels that lasted us the whole trip.
After getting our son to sleep, I went in search of a loaf of bread. Not in the GCH gift shop, not in DCA. I looked at Pacific Wharf and the large bread loaves were there, but the lines were crazy. This was a Friday night in DCA around 8:00, with no MK block outs, with rain during the upcoming weekend. Crowds were insane, just locals walking around having a good time with drinks and food. It reminded me a lot of the pre-Covid days on Friday nights without block outs – crazy busy. We went in November 2021 right before Thanksgiving, and reservations were still lower and more block outs because of the holiday. Keep MK block outs in mind if planning a trip – Friday was very light crowds until late afternoon, then insane at night (a pattern I’ve seen many times over the years).
Unsuccessfully locating a bread loaf, I went back to the hotel to get ready for bed around 9:00. I explored the new PPH entrance/exit next to Corn Dog Castle. I discovered how to easily access it right below our room – what an incredible convenience for the rest of the trip!
