Congo Queen
DLand Devotee Since 1966
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2012
Just returned from our July13-19 visit. It was just me and the kids this year, though the kids are pretty big now (DD15 and DS21). We spent 5 days in the parks – a good long time to hold us over as we don’t plan to return until much of the SWL hullabaloo has died away (2020?). Here are my observations:
Disneyland Hotel
Monorail
Overall Food Quality
Lamplight Lounge
Pixar Pier
MaxPass & Mobile Food Ordering
F! & PTNP
PTNP
Crowds
OK I think that is it. Hope this is helpful info. Happy to give back to the community who gives so much to me.
Disneyland Hotel
I toyed with a stay at the GCH, but in the end we chose DLH because I received a unique offer code for 15% off Sun-Wed nights which got the cost per night down to $484 for parking lot view rooms. And there is, as yet, no noisy demolition for the new hotel to be built next to DLH; rather Downtown Disney is shuttered and quiet on that end of the mall. We found DLH as comfortable and magical as ever. Rooms clean, beds cozy, and decent sound proofing. We discovered there are great views from the upper floors of the parking lot side of the Fantasy Tower. These are the cheapest rooms, yet they give you a wonderful view of fireworks, the Matterhorn, Big Thunder and the expansive SWL construction. If I stay at DLH again, I am definitely saving $ and requesting this room type over pool view.
Monorail
In 5 days of in and out of the parks multiple times per day, we were only able to take the Monorail 3 times. Why? Because any time the temp was upper 80s+ it was too hot to run it. They have no interior air conditioning and cabins become sweltering. That meant that midday when you really, really want to save the steps from walking all the way back to the DLH, you can’t. Every day it was down from noonish to 6pmish. It is a major lost amenity for DLH guests. They’ve been touting the Monorail station as a big plus for the new premium hotel as it will be built into the hotel’s design. I hope they fix the climate control on the cabins while they take the Monorail down during hotel construction.
Overall Food Quality
I think it was Dizme who wrote a few months ago, that she thought food quality had slipped. I can second that. Don’t know why (cost savings, new head of food and beverage??), but we had several poor, almost inedible meals. It happened at quick service, table service, and walk-up venues. I had a corn dog from the Little Red Wagon and only ate 3 bites because it was dripping with grease, so much so that it dripped down the stick and stained my shirt. Café Orleans’s Muffaletta Salad was grossly overdressed with a sour chopped olive dressing that was overwhelming. Hungry Bear used to be a favorite with a great fried green tomato sandwich and sweet potato fries; both are now long gone and replaced with a just OK, very basic turkey caesar wrap (at least it was edible). A strawberry pastry twist from Maurice’s Cart at PFF tasted odd as if the fat in the pastry (not butter- don’t know what it was) was old and the texture was soggy instead of flaky – again we tossed it after a couple of bites. Tangaroa Terrace hot dog bun was stale, hard, and cold, and my tofu Asian salad also criminally overdressed. (And hate to mention, but I saw two large roaches, a critter I have never seen at Dland resort before – one in the DD Starbucks and one near WCT in DCA.)
On the good side, churros were still a winner. Plaza Inn fried chicken remains absolutely delicious. Safari Skewers at Bengal BBQ also reliably good. And the big revelation was two delicious sandwiches (pulled pork and French dip) at the French Market Restaurant. I hadn’t eaten there in years and both of those sandwiches were quite good from bread to filling to condiments.
Lamplight Lounge
The Good – It is a beautiful space with a delightful interior where every element is thoughtfully designed and part of a cohesive and engaging experience. We ate downstairs in the interior which still feels outdoorsy due to the large central bar and its oversize windows that open to the waters of Pixar Pier. It is a space with tremendous ambience, and I would go back any time to sit at the bar and enjoy a drink and some appetizers.
The Not So Good – The menu is very uneven. They have numerous specialty drinks, but sadly the four we tried were super sweet. I asked our waitress for a recommendation for any drink that was not sweet, and she couldn’t think of one. They all seem to have a heaping helping of agave nectar. I should have stuck to a basic like beer or wine. The food is also uneven. Two appetizers were really good – the potato skins delicious Yukon Gold types and were crispy outside with two great dipping sauces, and the piggy wings were tender riblets with a pleasing tangy bbq sauce. The poke bowl, however, was blah as it needed some ginger or wasabi or something as a high note to give the raw fish and the mashed avocado some flavor dimension. The ratatouille was inedible – awful. It made me mad it was so bad. It just showed no respect for the beautiful vegetables that went into its creation. The zucchini, peppers, eggplant, etc had been overcooked into mush and then piled on top of a huge quantity of cloyingly creamy, very heavy tomato sauce. The veggies drown in the unpleasant sauce; you couldn’t taste them.
Pixar Pier
Well this was supposed to be an upgrade, but it doesn’t much feel like it yet as they reopened the area minus one ride (the carousel) and minus one shop (Bing Bong’s). So we actually have less to do there now then before. The Incredicoaster is best at night when the effects are more impressive, and you can enjoy the pier lighting from the coaster track. It’s a fun ride, but FPs are not flying off the shelves for it as I was able to book them into the evening. RSR and GOG FPs are gone hours sooner. The paint job on the outside of TSMM is nice, but they left the interior ride loading and adjacent shop with the old paint colors which don’t fully jibe. The pier does look very pretty at night when all of the neon and popcorn lights are on. Visit after dark for sure. Pixar Band is worth catching if you can.
MaxPass & Mobile Food Ordering
Aweeesooommme!!!! As the family FP runner, MP changed my life. I can’t believe I used to run hither and yon to grab the paper FPs. (Really I would leave my family in Dland on a ride and run over to DCA to grab a GRR FP and run back.) So now all of that is over as I can just instantly do it on my cellphone and quickly stack up FPs in both parks. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. The app interface is v intuitive. Sometimes there is a little glitch in the refresh of return times but other than that, heaven.
In fact it is so helpful, that if SWL was not opening in spring 2019, I might use MP to help save on hotel costs. Here’s why. With a 3day+ park hopper, you get one MM regardless of where you are staying. I think that one would be enough as you could use it for your Dland MM to ride PP, Dumbo and other non-FP slow loaders. Then the rest of the mornings it is fine to just arrive at regular park opening as you can still get a ton done in the first couple of hours riding standby while using MP to bank FPs for later. No need to stay on-property to have EMH every single day. BUT with SWL, we shall see what happens to the whole experience. They will likely increase cost of MP as well as cost of on-property rooms with carrot of special SWL access.
Mobile food ordering worked very well. Used it at Bengal BBQ, Gibson Girl, Boudin Bakery, Hungry Bear. Each time, we’d start by finding a nice shady table. Then ordered our food on easy to use app. Then in literally 2-3 min the app says it is ready. I walked right past all of the people standing in long line to order food and up to the mobile order pick up window, and the food was freshly made and given to me immediately. Use this free tool people!
F! & PTNP
Main lesson here is that CMs are still not reliable on seating info. We did the BB F! lunch (food was fine for this) and got 9pm show. Arrived at convening spot (in front of HG) at 8pm and already a huge crowd of people with BB and RBT F! FPs had gathered. We at back of the crowd try to ask CMs and others if there is a line specifically for BB people. Hear conflicting opinions from all we ask. Finally the crowd starts to move and one line is veering off to the right and going in first; we ask 3 CMs along the way if this is the BB line, they all say yes so we follow and are at the very end of line. As we approach the seating area I see that it is what I know to be the RBT seating area on the far right of the ROA; I ask a final CM at entry to that area if this is for BB (I show her my BB tix and seat cushions). She says no it is for RBT, and the BB is the area right next to it and to just hop the rope and go in there. We did and that is how we quite innocently (truly!) jumped the entire line of BB people who had waited long before us because they had not even been let in yet and so we go first pick of where we wanted to sit. It was my first time seeing refurbed F! I liked most of it v much, especially Aladdin and Jasmine. The new pirate ship scene didn’t really work though as the overlay projections were sketchy and the dialog garbled. I thought the PP version was easier to follow (Pan vs Hook is all you need to know), more visually fun, and just made more sense since this is supposed to be Mickeys imaginings, and every other part of the show is animation based.
PTNP
Did PTNP on our second to last night in the parks, and we were ready for a long sit down. At DD's suggestion, we grabbed a table at the Mendocino Tasting Terrace, right at the railing overlooking the parade route. Tables were free and open at 6:45 pm so that meant a two hour wait until parade start. BUT we had chairs and nice table. I used mobile ordering to get us soup bread bowls and salad from Boudin Bakery. Picked them up an brought them back. Then I got myself a nice glass of pinot and my DD a seltzer, and we leisurely talked, ate and people watched. Parade was great. Loved the new Incredibles float.
Crowds
Sat and Sun were the best days in terms of crowds. Quiet good actually. Mon, on the other had was very crowded. Tues/Wed better than Mon but worse that Sat and Sun.
OK I think that is it. Hope this is helpful info. Happy to give back to the community who gives so much to me.
