MaxSkywalker
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2019
We had been to WDW in 2019, and my younger two kids loved it (the oldest is more into thrill rides and didn't like all the walking). We took a nice Griswold-style trip all the way from Kansas City to LA, stopping in Breckenridge, CO and Bryce Canyon, UT, then hitting Grand Canyon on the way back (really beautiful sights! Highly recommend the long car trip to see the western part of the US!)
We went to Disneyland July 20-21 and ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! I MUCH prefer it to WDW. It is much more manageable and walkable, I love that it is more old school (gives me more nostalgia than WDW, which I actually visited as a kid). We preferred the weather (no rain!) and that there is more to do in SoCal than central Florida on days you're not at DL/WDW.
We rented a house on the west side of DL, which made for a manageable walk. Kids had no problem getting up early for rope drop. We managed to do:
Tuesday, July 20 - DL
8:10 am - Star Tours (walk on)
8:25 am - Buzz Lightyear (walk on)
8:40 am - BTMM (posted 15, actual 15 min wait)
9:00 am - Splash (posted 25, actual 15 min wait)
9:20 am - Pirates (posted 20, actual 10 min)
9:45 am - HM (posted 25, actual 10 min)
10:30 am - BTMM again! (posted 25, actual 15)
10:45 am - Sandwiches from home
Noon - MFSR (posted 30, actual 40 min)
Went home and napped, ate early dinner, returned at 5
5:00 pm - RofR boarding group - THIS RIDE IS SIMPLY AMAZING!!!!!!
6:00 pm - Small World (posted 15, actual 10)
6:45 pm - Matterhorn (posted 45, actual 35)
7:15 pm - Mr. Toad (posted 15, actual 15) - sentimental favorite of mine
8:30 pm - Space Mountain (posted 60, the older boy and I did the single rider line, and got on in 40. The younger two and my wife did Star Tours.....THREE TIMES!)
Wednesday, July 21 - DCA/DL park hopper
8:10 am - Webslinger boarding group (it was...meh)
8:40 am - GotG (posted 50, actual 30), younger kids went to the Ferris Wheel (posted 10, actual 20)
9:30 am - Incredicoaster (Posted 30, actual 15)
10:45 am - Grizzly (posted 50, actual 40) - we should have gotten here just a bit earlier, the crowd all got there at 10
11:00 am - Lunch at Flo's
12:30 pm - Soarin (Posted 50, actual 40)
1:00 pm - RotR boarding group - THIS RIDE IS STILL SIMPLY AMAZING!!!!!
2:00 pm - Jungle Cruise (Posted 30, actual 15)
Checked out Tarzan's house for a bit. Indiana Jones was down, which was a bummer, we ended up not getting to it at all
4:00 pm - Dinner at Disney District, rest
At that point, my wife and 2 of the boys went home, but our youngest was still ready for more, so...
6:00 pm - RsR (posted 90, actual 50)
6:45 pm - Alice (posted 20, actual 15)
7:15 pm - Mr. Toad (posted 15, actual 10)
7:30 pm - Pinocchio (posted 15, actual 10)
8:00 pm - Star Tours...THREE MORE TIMES. First wait was 15 min, but it was 5 minutes after that, then a walk on.
It was pretty crowded, especially from 10-1. The lines do move pretty well though, you don't feel like you're just standing in one place.
The kids absolutely loved RotR, what an amazing spectacle. And as a Star Wars geek, I had a small "whoa" when you see the AT-ATs. They love the surprise. Just everything about it was what you want a ride to be. And Star Tours was definitely the big hit, like I said we did it 7 times. I had no idea it changes each time either. They had a lot of fun seeing which new combos they could get. And my kid got to be the spy once! It's like 90% of the ride MFSR is, without the long wait!
Webslingers was meh. My wife did the Spiderman ride at Universal Orlando and thought that was a similar, but better product than the DL version. My kids are more into Marvel than I am (I haven't seen anything) but there isn't a whole lot to see yet. They did want a Spiderbot though. My oldest boy (who generally does not like DL/WDW) LOVED GotG, and while I usually don't like thrill rides, that was a lot of fun and WAAAAAY better than Tower of Terror. He also liked Incredicoaster a lot. We had low expectations for Soarin but WOW, that was amazing, my wife said it was her favorite ride and the kids loved it too.
BTMM was also a big thumbs up from the kids, which is good, because I was a bit worried the younger ones would be scared by it (I could tell one was a bit apprehensive in line) I liked the differences between the DL and WDW Pirates rides. The changes to Jungle Cruise are awesome (although I was a bit disappointed this one didn't have the cave like the WDW version).
All in all, this was a hugely successful trip. We got to everything we wanted to except Indy, and the younger two had an amazing time, to the point where they want to move to California now! Thanks to everyone for all the great tips an info on here, I never would have been prepared enough to have a good time without it!
We went to Disneyland July 20-21 and ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! I MUCH prefer it to WDW. It is much more manageable and walkable, I love that it is more old school (gives me more nostalgia than WDW, which I actually visited as a kid). We preferred the weather (no rain!) and that there is more to do in SoCal than central Florida on days you're not at DL/WDW.
We rented a house on the west side of DL, which made for a manageable walk. Kids had no problem getting up early for rope drop. We managed to do:
Tuesday, July 20 - DL
8:10 am - Star Tours (walk on)
8:25 am - Buzz Lightyear (walk on)
8:40 am - BTMM (posted 15, actual 15 min wait)
9:00 am - Splash (posted 25, actual 15 min wait)
9:20 am - Pirates (posted 20, actual 10 min)
9:45 am - HM (posted 25, actual 10 min)
10:30 am - BTMM again! (posted 25, actual 15)
10:45 am - Sandwiches from home
Noon - MFSR (posted 30, actual 40 min)
Went home and napped, ate early dinner, returned at 5
5:00 pm - RofR boarding group - THIS RIDE IS SIMPLY AMAZING!!!!!!
6:00 pm - Small World (posted 15, actual 10)
6:45 pm - Matterhorn (posted 45, actual 35)
7:15 pm - Mr. Toad (posted 15, actual 15) - sentimental favorite of mine
8:30 pm - Space Mountain (posted 60, the older boy and I did the single rider line, and got on in 40. The younger two and my wife did Star Tours.....THREE TIMES!)
Wednesday, July 21 - DCA/DL park hopper
8:10 am - Webslinger boarding group (it was...meh)
8:40 am - GotG (posted 50, actual 30), younger kids went to the Ferris Wheel (posted 10, actual 20)
9:30 am - Incredicoaster (Posted 30, actual 15)
10:45 am - Grizzly (posted 50, actual 40) - we should have gotten here just a bit earlier, the crowd all got there at 10
11:00 am - Lunch at Flo's
12:30 pm - Soarin (Posted 50, actual 40)
1:00 pm - RotR boarding group - THIS RIDE IS STILL SIMPLY AMAZING!!!!!
2:00 pm - Jungle Cruise (Posted 30, actual 15)
Checked out Tarzan's house for a bit. Indiana Jones was down, which was a bummer, we ended up not getting to it at all
4:00 pm - Dinner at Disney District, rest
At that point, my wife and 2 of the boys went home, but our youngest was still ready for more, so...
6:00 pm - RsR (posted 90, actual 50)
6:45 pm - Alice (posted 20, actual 15)
7:15 pm - Mr. Toad (posted 15, actual 10)
7:30 pm - Pinocchio (posted 15, actual 10)
8:00 pm - Star Tours...THREE MORE TIMES. First wait was 15 min, but it was 5 minutes after that, then a walk on.
It was pretty crowded, especially from 10-1. The lines do move pretty well though, you don't feel like you're just standing in one place.
The kids absolutely loved RotR, what an amazing spectacle. And as a Star Wars geek, I had a small "whoa" when you see the AT-ATs. They love the surprise. Just everything about it was what you want a ride to be. And Star Tours was definitely the big hit, like I said we did it 7 times. I had no idea it changes each time either. They had a lot of fun seeing which new combos they could get. And my kid got to be the spy once! It's like 90% of the ride MFSR is, without the long wait!
Webslingers was meh. My wife did the Spiderman ride at Universal Orlando and thought that was a similar, but better product than the DL version. My kids are more into Marvel than I am (I haven't seen anything) but there isn't a whole lot to see yet. They did want a Spiderbot though. My oldest boy (who generally does not like DL/WDW) LOVED GotG, and while I usually don't like thrill rides, that was a lot of fun and WAAAAAY better than Tower of Terror. He also liked Incredicoaster a lot. We had low expectations for Soarin but WOW, that was amazing, my wife said it was her favorite ride and the kids loved it too.
BTMM was also a big thumbs up from the kids, which is good, because I was a bit worried the younger ones would be scared by it (I could tell one was a bit apprehensive in line) I liked the differences between the DL and WDW Pirates rides. The changes to Jungle Cruise are awesome (although I was a bit disappointed this one didn't have the cave like the WDW version).
All in all, this was a hugely successful trip. We got to everything we wanted to except Indy, and the younger two had an amazing time, to the point where they want to move to California now! Thanks to everyone for all the great tips an info on here, I never would have been prepared enough to have a good time without it!
