My last visit was in 2019 with my family. I've been 10 times in my life over the course of almost 40 years. I proposed to my wife on one knee in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle in 2001. Needless to say, I'm a fan. Not a super fan, just a fan.
I'm not going to go on about "how it used to be" as it was never perfect. Disneyland is just as much about who you are with as it is about the park experience. For me, what I concern myself most with - in all of my entertainment experiences - is whether there is value for the cost.
The Good:
-The security check points heading into the parks is efficient and instills a sense of safety.
-The cleanliness of nearly every aspect of the park
-The number of available staff
-The theming on all areas - pre-ride, ride, and post-ride. The attention to details is one of the things that really adds to that Disneyland experience.
-The beer and alcoholic drink choices are diverse. I enjoyed everything I tried.
-Being able to order food and drinks from the app saved a lot of time.
Just OK;
-The staff are friendly, if engaged with friendliness first. I wouldn't say staff are actively looking to have visitor interactions.
-I was compelled to use the app given it is necessary for booking rides, making reservations, and ordering food/drink. Unfortunately, this meant that I was glaring into my phone for much of the day rather than enjoying my surroundings.
-People need strollers. It is what it is, but there are a lot and it's hard to avoid tripping on one or getting run into by one. Not really Disneyland's fault per se.
-The food taste, presentation, and quality vary from gross to good - never great. Pym Test Kitchen had consistently good food and we ate there 3 times for lunch.
At the Wine Country Trattoria the sauce on the Bolognese was sparse and the add on meatballs were dry. The steak offering was an adorable 10 ounces. The pull apart bread and calamari appetizers were the best part of the meal. I was served a bland mass of a burger with a hockey puck for a patty at Red Rose Taverne. All fries/tots had no salt on them, regardless of where I purchased them.
The Bad:
-There are simply too many people let into the parks. You can't walk a straight line anywhere. You can't get anywhere efficiently. Every aspect from the bathroom to the rides has a line.
-We had to skip Blue Bayou because we didn't have the foresight to make a reservation 60 days prior on the app and a walk-in was not available on any of our park days.
-Gone is the Fastpass and now we have Genie+. Fastpass was included with the cost of the park ticket. Genie+ adds $30 to that. The kicker is, that in order to take advantage of Genie+ for Rise of the Resistance or Radiator Springs Racers, I would have to pay an additional fee on top of all that, upwards of $26. Booking with Genie+ was also much more convoluted than the Fastpass was.
-The app, Genie+, and the VIP experience essentially creates a social hierarchy in the park. I can only get the MOST Disneyland experience IF I pay literally thousands of dollars per day.
Overall, this was a great trip to be with my family and that's where the memories will live. My boys are getting ready to move onto college, so this is our last dance at Disneyland, so to speak. In years past, it was exciting to have a Disneyland trip coming up. After all this however, I think my next trip might be 10 years or so, when I have grandchildren, but this is not certain. I can't imagine the painful mismatch of value and cost will improve with time.