Some thoughts on the Disneyland/DCA leg of our trip now that I'm back in front of a real keyboard. Last time we were there was ~fall 2012 and so there were quite a few different/new things on the DCA side. Last time Carsland was still under construction, Bugs Life area still there, Tower of Terror still the original, and main entrance area was mostly walls. DL less changes, I think Mickey RRW and Star Wars land being the main differences, but since we are familiar with WDW's versions they aren't really new to us.
- We stayed at the Tropicana which was really close to the entrance and relatively nice for the motel-style place that it was. Much better than the place we stayed last year, which I think is called Grand Legacy and has been remodeled some since then.
- We had Genie+, which I'd say is much more useful here, though there are benefits and tradeoffs compared to WDW. Not sure how much it was (or most of anything related to this trip, as most of it was planned by my partner) but specifically I really like reservations not starting until you are in the park and not having the 7am craziness like you do at WDW. Also not having the 2-hour period at the start of the day that you can't make more reservations is nice. Not being able to use it more than once per ride is a bit of a downer, though there is enough to use it on that I never felt too restricted by it. The pace of return times advancing was pretty reasonable, only a handful of attractions would run out over the course of the day. WDW has most of the ones you would want/need gone halfway through the day.
- Disneyland wise, most of it was the same as our last time there, and we didn't venture into Star Wars land as I rather focus on unique stuff and I'm kinda sick of it from WDW. Still really like Jungle Cruise here (though I miss the queue audio from the florida version), they have piranhas and shoot guns. Indy is a huge improvement over Dinosaur's best day even, though our jeep-mates were insufferable. My opinion on Pirates improved a lot though I still think I prefer WDW's pacing. Also the cannons seem to work better in Florida. Haunted Mansion was closed. Pooh is marginally better in Florida though being a walk on in DL helps a lot. Big Thunder's effects on the final lift are really cool compared to the nothing burger we have. We caught the fireworks while we were on it and that was amazing. Fantasyland wise, all the dark rides were great, I really miss Toad and Snow White. Didn't get on Pan, line is still rediculous in DL (though not nearly as rediculous). Rode Casey Jr for the first time and that was fun. Rodger Rabbit wasn't as good as I remember, Small World, despite the obviously better facade I still prefer the WDW version, Matterhorn was impossible to get onto but somehow we managed to do both sides. Nemo subs are my favorite thing, driving those would be my dream job. Tomorrowland is a mess, though Buzz is still so much better thanks to the way the targets/laser guns work. Space Mountain was Star Wars themed and the first time I rode it that way. An improvement over vanilla from what I remember, though still prefer the WDW ride.
- DCA we had a ton of fun in this time. Radiator Springs is gorgeous and I love everything about it. The Incredibles theming on the California Screamin' work really well. The Avengers area was not the most impressive thing if I'm being honest, though I enjoyed the Spiderman ride more than I thought, and the Pym restaurant was good. ToT/Guardians wasn't that great outside of Rocket animatronic. But if you had to change up one of the tower rides this one was the one to do it to. The Monsters Inc ride I still love (especially the conspiracy theorist monster is hilarious) though the line was horrible this trip. We went to the dessert party for World of Color, which is the only way to do it. I liked the Marvel/Star Wars sections.
- More generally - crowds to me seemed mid-ish, for us on a Friday and Saturday. Definitely a stark contrast to Universal though not horrible. Having Genie+ helped a lot. I'd still say we could use a 3rd day to clean up loose ends or re-ride things we liked. Ride up-time got pretty frustrating though. Matterhorn was down the majority of the first day and when it came back up in the afternoon they weren't allowing any LL access. Waited in a long line to get on it that evening. Same for Incredicoaster - down all day and then no LL after. Second day, we planned to use LL for Incredicoaster since it did open on time and get in RSR standby, but then it wasn't open on time. So it inherited that from Test Track too :P Monorail died on us and they cleared the station, Goofy coaster was down a decent while.
- Food we kinda struggled with though I imagine a lot of that was us not being familiar with everything. So much of what we had the first day at DL involved hot dogs or pizza in some way. DCA was much better. Lines/wait times for food prep were pretty bad. They did have a "Food and Wine" thing going on but as someone who is a regular of Epcot festivals it seemed hard to do unless that was what you were there for. Really long lines, prices seemed higher for similar portions, stands seemed kinda scattered around. Epcot you kinda know entering in World Showcase you can focus on eating/drinking and walking around whereas in DCA I was too preoccupied with rides/lines to really partake in the festival stuff. I'm sure if you are more familiar/local though it is different. The Black Tap burger place in Downtown Disney was great though. Also didn't end up at Ihop or Denny's this time so that is a massive improvement too :P
- Next time down will be much sooner, will be back in September for the Halloween Marathon weekend. I think we will try go via John Wayne as 7am flights out of LAX are no fun.
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