Just wrapped up our trip from Monday, March 11th to Wednesday, March 13th and had an amazing time. Yes, the parks are crowded as it’s apparent that lots of the crowd are Spring Breakers (seriously we met so many people like ourselves, from Texas LOL). We are former SoCal passholders (from 8 years ago) and our family would consider ourselves WDW pros so the kids are used to waiting in lines for rides/attractions.
We got Maxpass for Monday and I’d say it was definitely needed since the parks seemed like a 9 out of 10. We arrived at DL a little before 9am and enjoyed Splash as a walk-on, Pooh, Pirates, lunch at Blue Bayou, Autopia. We were able to Maxpass/FP Big Thunder, Small World, Haunted Mansion, Buzz, Star Tours, Roger Rabbit which was very handy considering their standby lines all exceeded 30 minutes at peak times. We didn’t make it to any Fantasyland rides, knowing we’d return the following day. Our “longest” wait was for Mickey at his house.
Day 2 was early entry for us so we hit up Matterhorn and all Fantasyland rides except PP. Our girls enjoyed having an impromptu “tea party” with Alice and the Mad Hatter (they sat at a table near the carousel), which was really cute. We met up with my SIL and 4 yr old niece (who are passholders) and she commented it was super packed. We enjoyed breakfast at Plaza Inn and I’m glad we could squeeze in seeing lots of characters there, because my kids are older now and prefer riding rides than waiting in line to see characters. I had to modify our plans to accommodate our niece’s family so things were at a slower pace, but it was still lots of fun. I had to remind myself that we were standing in 30 minutes lines for attractions (ie Gadget coaster) I didn’t care for because “it was for the kids” but the kids had a blast so it was all fine.
Our last day was California Adventure and I must say EE for CA is amazing. We did not get Maxpass for our family this day (I only got it for the photos) and just resorted to pulling paper FP. Walked onto Incredicoaster and the kids were so excited and wanted to ride it again. I declined and my poor husband got suckered to ride it twice. He looked hungover for the next hour or so LOL We were able to knock out Toy Story and Little Mermaid and we were able to FP RSR, Soarin and Guardians of the Galaxy. Enjoyed some of the booths for Food & Wine festival. I am guilty of waiting way too long to meet Anna and Elsa. The line looked deceivingly short but unlike WDW, there was only 1 room of A&E so it took wayyy longer than I would have liked. But the interaction with them was amazing and the kiddos were super happy afterwards.
Our takeaway from the trip- dress in layers (it’s cold in the morning, warm in the day time, and super cold when the sun goes down), Maxpass is worth it for DL for a busy Spring Break week like this week, but IMHO it is not necessary for CA if you can strategize utilizing EE privileges. It also took some getting used to that there aren’t as many Photopass photographers around like there are in WDW (it would have been standard to have them at all the princess character meets), so always have your phone/camera ready. Overall, it was an amazing trip. We enjoyed the convenience of staying on property at the GC and loved how close it was to the parks. DL will always hold a special place in our hearts as our kids’ first and favorite park. We wil look forward to returning again.