christriptraveler
Jan 2024
I'm a life-long Disney parks fan (been to Disney World eleven times, Disneyland Paris one time, and Disneyland CA one time). But this past trip to Disneyland left much to be desired. If a theme park is open and charging high prices for a multi-day ticket, then they should be providing a full range of activities and entertainment. On the day we went (Jan 10, 2024), Disneyland had no shows on their schedule, no parades during the day, and no fireworks at night. Not to mention It's a Small World, Astro Orbiter, and the Mark Twain Riverboat were closed. Genie+ is necessary in order to gain quick access to the more popular rides. Although not all rides are included on it (so take note of that before you buy it). You do have to be tied to your smartphone in order to take full advantage of Genie+ (like constantly looking at the app and refreshing wait times to get a good time you want).
We waited around 35 minutes to pay for parking (this was 9AM on a Wednesday). Parking attendants were chatting to themselves and not directing cars. Getting into the park was fine, but no hard tickets are offered anymore (the excuse of going "all digital"). Some people don't want to use their phone for every Lightning Lane entrance. So why is it impossible to give use cards to use for this purpose? I last went to Disney World in 2020 and they still gave us cards. Luckily, I had printed out our tickets so luckily we could fold each paper into a shape that displayed the barcode for the LL entrances. Now onto comparing DL to WDW (specifically, Magic Kingdom): DL is much more cramped, crowded, and thus unpleasant. There were times when I couldn't see the pavement ahead of me while walking. Tomorrowland was laughably overrun by what looked like hundreds of strollers being parked on the main path. I couldn't really tell where each land began and the other ended. Frontierland consisted of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and... what else? Critter Country was lifeless (construction of Tiana's Bayou Adventure took over the whole land). Though I enjoyed Pooh's Corner candy store (get the Mickey Rice Krispies treat & peanut butter sandwich). Galaxy's Edge was ugly (sorry not sorry). And what's going on with the rides that keep closing throughout the day? It's a major time-suck to keep checking the app to see, for example, if Runaway Railway is closed or not.
One major observation: the castle looked weird with all the fake snow decorations covering it. Also, the cast members had a generally fake, disinterested vibe as well. None were very enthusiastic about doing their jobs. Going to Disneyland honestly just made me wish I had booked a trip to Disney World instead. People who think DL is better must have some internal bias/local pride going on. Looking forward to going back to Florida for more space, MANY more options for entertainment, and an overall much better vacation vibe!