Disneyland Resort (DL, DLR, DCA) Discussion Thread

^I hope he gets his AP revoked. Because we all know he has one.

Disney has released two new videos on how to make two of the signature drinks from Trader Sam's!

 

Has anyone done any of the World of Color Dining Packages? Is it worth it?

Thinking about doing the package at Carthay Circle.

^ I've done it, but we ate at the Wine Country Trattoria. The reserved area for the show is right down in front, but for me it wasn't really "worth it" because I found World of Color to be very underwhelming. The meal however, was fantastic.

^^I've done the World of Color dinner package at all three locations (though the Ariel's Grotto package has changed significantly since I first experienced it) and I find their value to be significant.

I typically do lunch or dinner at Carthay Circle Restaurant, with the benefit there being that it is not a prix fixe menu, meaning that you can order as much from the amazing menu as you want (i.e. duck wings, house biscuits, etc...). You simply have to order an appetizer and an entree or an entree and a dessert to qualify.

I do love Wine Country Trattoria's prix fixe menu though. The salad and the lamb shank are both top notch (though be advised, these items are semi-prepared before you order.

The viewing locations are all top notch--I highly recommend the absolute front of the Paradise Bay viewing area if you don't mind getting soaked. There's nothing quite like standing underneath a towering wall of color and water, even if seconds later it falls almost entirely on top of you.

Has anyone done any of the World of Color Dining Packages? Is it worth it?

 

Thinking about doing the package at Carthay Circle.

I have done the dining package several times. Wine Country Trattoria and Carthay Circle are great, but I chose Carthay each time now. The food is amazing, the cocktails are tasty, and the convenience of the fast passes are worth it. Carthay fp gives you dead center viewing, do it, but you dont have to take my word for it.

Friday nights 10.15pm show of World Of Color was stopped mid show ( Finding Nemo section ) when a protester jumped in the the lagoon and stood atop on the show boxes, screaming save the whales. most people thought it was part of the show, till staff members coming running from every direction. It was at the stage that the audience turned on the protester, booing him and people heading towards him to announce there displeasure of him stopping the show. He was lead away surrounded by staff, secruity and a plain clothes Disney employees. The show restarted about ten minutes later.

Did they guy know he was protesting in the wrong park?

^I was unaware that any whales were killed during World of Color.

Well, it did happen during the whale section, lol.

So, in addition to "Save the Animatronic Hippos," we have, "Save the CGI Whales!"

Heading to Cali this weekend and I'm planning to stop at Disney on Sunday. Any tips for a first time visitor trying to do both parks in a single day?

Also any predictions on what crowds may be like?

Thanks!

^Unfortunately, Sundays are usually the busiest day of the week at the Disneyland Resort, and with the holiday theming I'd expect the parks to be pretty crowded. Assuming you've got all day, you should still be able to get all the top attractions done, you'll just have to wait in some lines.

For a first time visitor, I'd typically recommend only doing one park if you only have one day. However, if you want to do both parks there are two options:

Option 1: Visit DCA first, do everything there, and then head over to Disneyland. DCA only has about 6 must see attractions (less if you've done them at Walt Disney World), so it can easily be done in a few hours first thing in the morning. For this, I'd recommend arriving at the resort an hour before opening so you have plenty of time to park and get to the park. Head inside DCA, then decide whether or not to join the Radiator Springs Racers Fastpass queue (it is quicker to go straight to the ride and just wait in line, but it will burn your chance at short lines for other headliners). After riding or Fastpassing Radiator Springs Racers, get a Fastpass for Soarin' Over California (if you haven't done it in Florida), then go to Paradise Pier and get a Fastpass for California Screamin' (as of my last visit, this worked). If you want to ride Toy Story Midway Mania, ride it (if not, you've got free time for whatever), then use your Fastpasses and get one for Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Once your remaining Fastpasses (Tower and possibly RSR) are good, ride those rides, then head to Disneyland. Once you get to Disneyland, your Fastpass priority should be Star Tours/Space Mountain (don't Fastpass Star Tours if you've ridden the new version in Florida), Indiana Jones Adventure, then Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Fill in the gaps between Fastpasses with whatever rides you feel like doing. I'd recommend waiting until the evening before doing Space Mountain (if you don't use Fastpass), Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, or Splash Mountain, but other than that the attraction order shouldn't matter too much.

Option 2: Morning at Disneyland, afternoon at DCA, evening at Disneyland. This is my preferred option. Like option one, get to the resort an hour before opening, but head to Disneyland instead of DCA. Once the rope drops, grab a Star Tours Fastpass, then get to Space Mountain as quickly as possible (if you've been on Star Tours: The Adventures Continue in Florida, get a Space Mountain Fastpass instead for a second ride). Explore Tomorrowland until your Fastpass is ready (it will probably be good around 10 A.M.). After using your Star Tours Fastpass, go across the hub and grab one for Indiana Jones Adventure (you'll probably get a return time around noon). Ride Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and Splash Mountain (in that order), then do whatever until it is time for Indy. After riding Indy, head to DCA. At DCA, proceed directly to Soarin' Over California (if you haven't ridden it at Epcot) and get a Fastpass, then head to Paradise Pier and pick up a California Screamin' Fastpass. If you want to ride Toy Story Midway Mania, now is the time to do it. Otherwise, feel free to explore until your Fastpass is ready. Ride Screamin', ride Soarin', grab a Twilight Zone Tower of Terror Fastpass, then ride Radiator Springs Racers (use Single Rider unless your group really wants to stick together). Once your Fastpass is ready, ride Tower, do anything else of interest in DCA, then head back to Disneyland. Once back at Disneyland, grab a Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Fastpass (they'll probably still be available with a return time around 8-9 P.M.) and enjoy whatever you're interested in for the remainder of your visit.

A couple other notes:

-Crowds will be light in the morning, heavy in the afternoon, and light in the evening. After the fireworks, a large portion of visitors will leave.

-Note that Fantasyland and Toontown will close early for fireworks and Paradise Pier will close early for World of Color. Fantasyland will reopen, but the other areas will not.

-For Fantasyland, you'll have the best luck going before or during a parade or after the fireworks once the area reopens. Avoid the area immediately after a parade.

-If you want to see Fantasmic, go to the second showing and you can get a good viewing spot 15 minutes before showtime. If you want to see World of Color, get a show pass at Grizzly River Run and return to DCA at the appropriate time. It is difficult to see both, so I'd recommend picking one or the other (my preference is Fantasmic).

-Fastpass is available on...

Disneyland: Autopia, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones Adventure, Roger Rabbit's Car-Toon Spin, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Star Tours

Disney California Adventure Park: California Screamin', Goofy's Sky School, Grizzly River Run, Radiator Springs Racers, Soarin' Over California, Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

-Single Rider lines are available on Indiana Jones Adventure, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Splash Mountain, and all DCA Fastpass attractions (except Tower of Terror)

-Lastly, if you are a show person make time to see Aladdin at DCA. It is basically a 45 minute Broadway musical. I often get a Tower of Terror Fastpass, see the show, and then ride afterward.

I hope you have a good time. Disneyland is a great park, and it's always fun even if the park is busy.

My best advice for visiting both parks on the same day is that you will have a VERY busy day, but don't be disappointed if you miss an E ticket or two, because you probably will. But that's okay.

Thanks guys! Hopefully it will work out, if not it's just another reason to return to SoCal when Collosus opens!

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2014/11/first-look-black-widow-and-hawkeye-on-a-mission-this-weekend-at-disneyland-resort/

This weekend, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are descending upon the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim for the inaugural running of the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon. Captain America and Thor have been seen regularly at Disneyland park in the past year, but this will mark the first Disney Parks appearances for Hawkeye and Black Widow!

 

Captain America, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye, along with a contingent of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, will be out in force for this power-packed weekend of fun and excitement. If you’re running, look for them on the route during both the Avengers Super Heroes 5K and Half Marathon.

Be careful not to step on Ant Man!

The interwebz have been talking about a new 'bypass' to Adventureland from Main Street USA. Does anybody have more info about it? Like, where it is in both lands?

^ I believe that bypass is the newly added guest overflow lane onto Main Street that is to be used during parades or fireworks only. If I am correct it runs from the entrance to Adventureland to the where the fire station is.

^ I believe that bypass is the newly added guest overflow lane onto Main Street that is to be used during parades or fireworks only. If I am correct it runs from the entrance to Adventureland to the where the fire station is.

That's how they've been running it but now it's actually on the other side & this new corridor is meant to mask the backstage area too. So you can enter/exit over by the First Aid building (Tomorrowland) side) or over by the parade entrance on MS. It's planned to be used only during busy times like during the fireworks or parades as they want people going through the corridor as quickly as possible. I'm actually very happy this is here even though I don't visit too often, as MS can be crazy during peak times. Many were expecting something along the line of DLP's arcades which are open all day but Disney never announced that to begin with. I'll happily take this pretty 30-second walk over what they've been doing any day, major improvement.

This past Thursday Theme Park Review was invited to special lighting ceremony of It's a Small World Holiday and had an opportunity see A Christmas Fantasy Parade! Which are all part of the Holidays at the Disneyland Resort which officially began on Thursday.

Here's some photos from the event:

Ready to go!

The view down Main Street during the holidays.

The Castle looks great!

The stage is set the tonight's ceremony!

The event is kicked off with Disneyland Vice President Mary Niven presenting the various Holiday offering around the Disneyland Resort.

Mickey, Pluto, Goofy and Company then took the stage to flip the switch and officially kick off the 2014 Holiday Season!

It's a Small World Holiday is now officially open for 2014!

Looks Great!

The night was capped off with "a Christmas Fantasy" Parade.

These guys are always a hit.

Mickey and Minnie make an appearance.

Snowmen!

The Winnie the Pooh characters sled through the parade route.

Anna and Olaf are in the parade this year!

As was Elsa...this float was definitely the crowd favorite.

With that the holiday season has officially began at the Disneyland Resort!

Does anyone know if there was a special event going on at the Resort today?

Driving up the 5 at about 9am this morning and there was about a mile long line of cars to exit at Harbor, and it was backing up multiple lanes. It looked like the traffic line went over the freeway bridge on Ball as well, headed towards the park. I can't imagine sitting in that headache to start my day at the park, and don't know why people wouldn't just leave the line of cars and get off at the next exit (Lincoln) and backtrack to the park.

Freakin' California drivers

One of the 5,000,000 marathons they do took place this morning.

Thanks for the photos and videos of the Disneyland Christmas stuff, Dallas. I finally had the chance to check out the holiday version of It's a small World last year, and it's a big improvement over the "standard" ride.

One of the 5,000,000 marathons they do took place this morning.

I was told by a CM who actually operates all marathons on both coasts, that there is only 4 a year for each resort. I said I didn't believe it... LOL. But there's apparently only 4 per year at each resort.

The Disney parks Blog has just announced that Mad T Party will be leaving on November 30th! No news on what, if anything will replace it.

Mad T Party Steps Out of Disney California Adventure Park and Back Through the Looking Glass November 30

posted on November 17th, 2014 by Erin Glover, Social Media Director, Disneyland Resort

Attention, hatters and hares! Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum have asked me to pass an important message to you … Mad T Party will leave Disney California Adventure park to step back through the looking glass after its November 30 performance.

This is your chance to travel through the Rabbit Hole one more time and experience all your favorite mad things – the White Rabbit DJ, the Mad T Party band and those colorful concoctions. If you’re curiouser and curiouser about what’s coming in its place, stay tuned! We’ll have updates to share with you soon.

Disney Parks Blog