Disneyland Resort

[Jerroddragon]

Just out of curiosity, is anyone going to buy the 3-day California ticket offer that lasts till the end of September? Or are you holding out for the new APs? I've decided to wait it out as I have a feeling they are a few months away from announcing them.

My guess is 2022 the first of the year

 

[Jerroddragon]

Anyone know if you can change dates for the Reservation system? I want to buy a three day So cal ticket but don't know when I'd visit the next two trips, can I just pick two random days and change later?

 

[Clive]

Anyone know if you can change dates for the Reservation system? I want to buy a three day So cal ticket but don't know when I'd visit the next two trips, can I just pick two random days and change later?

You can change dates, pending availability of the new desired date.

 

[Jerroddragon]

So super easy to switch dates...my GF and I were going to go on a Friday but she can go the next Monday....so getting to go to the Parks on a "weekday" hoping that helps a little with crowds

My plan is to get there by the time the gates open and go to Indy first and then Splash, then Galaxy Edge and move to Big Thunder. Pirates and HM. Is this a good plan or should I just do HM/Pirates before I venture into Galaxy Edge?

 

[kingcooger]

So super easy to switch dates...my GF and I were going to go on a Friday but she can go the next Monday....so getting to go to the Parks on a "weekday" hoping that helps a little with crowds

My plan is to get there by the time the gates open and go to Indy first and then Splash, then Galaxy Edge and move to Big Thunder. Pirates and HM. Is this a good plan or should I just do HM/Pirates before I venture into Galaxy Edge?

I mean, you have to reserve Rise anyways, so what are you hoping to see in GE? If it were me, I would do Pirates and HM just to save my feet the effort.

Also, I have heard weekday lines are not that bad.

 

[JawsVictim]

So super easy to switch dates...my GF and I were going to go on a Friday but she can go the next Monday....so getting to go to the Parks on a "weekday" hoping that helps a little with crowds

My plan is to get there by the time the gates open and go to Indy first and then Splash, then Galaxy Edge and move to Big Thunder. Pirates and HM. Is this a good plan or should I just do HM/Pirates before I venture into Galaxy Edge?

First, get there before opening. 9 AM open means they’ll let people in by 8:30 AM. I always like starting in Fantasyland and, if you haven’t yet, the new Snow White is a must see.

I would plan Galaxy’s Edge around the time you get a RotR boarding pass and do Indy > Pirates > HM > Splash early based around your boarding pass. Space is also a good option to hit early on in the day or later in the evening.

I’m partial to a Big Thunder sunset ride, so no thoughts on when you should hit that.

 

[kingcooger]

First, get there before opening. 9 AM open means they’ll let people in by 8:30 AM. I always like starting in Fantasyland and, if you haven’t yet, the new Snow White is a must see.

I would plan Galaxy’s Edge around the time you get a RotR boarding pass and do Indy > Pirates > HM > Splash early based around your boarding pass. Space is also a good option to hit early on in the day or later in the evening.

I’m partial to a Big Thunder sunset ride, so no thoughts on when you should hit that.

Yeah, I agree with this.

We always plan to be AT THE GATES an hour ahead of opening and usually knock out Fantasyland first (PP, AiW, MTWR, SW, and PDJ but I would modify that order with the SW upgrade)

Then we swing down to Indy and the rest.

BTMRR at sunset (or even at night) is my favorite.

BUT, if you don't care about Fantasyland, do your order of operations.

 

[Jerroddragon]

First, get there before opening. 9 AM open means they’ll let people in by 8:30 AM. I always like starting in Fantasyland and, if you haven’t yet, the new Snow White is a must see.

I would plan Galaxy’s Edge around the time you get a RotR boarding pass and do Indy > Pirates > HM > Splash early based around your boarding pass. Space is also a good option to hit early on in the day or later in the evening.

I’m partial to a Big Thunder sunset ride, so no thoughts on when you should hit that.

I will for sure hit Snow White before I go (also got the three day So Cal pass, so will see everything even if not on my first visit)

That's fair but I do want to go into the Cantina and ride the Falcon ride and since I can't get anything from the useless reservation website, I have to do the standby line for the bar and since im there get the Falcon out of the way.
I'm thinking Space will be a ride we use single rider on since no matter what at some point rides will get lines because its summer, also for sure I want to go on a few of these rides more than once. Splash because who knows when that is over.
Big Thunder, Matterhorn, Jungle Cruise and the Increacoaster for sure are different rides in the day than at night.

But thank you for the advice (also thank you everyone else) The parks were a lot easily without Galaxy Edge but now if you want to do everything you have to hit a big line at some point

 

[Jerroddragon]

Anyone know why the little Pixar Parade/Disneyland Parade are not on the website. Are they random when they bring out the floats?

 

[Skipper Justin]

Dining reservations seem crazy now. It’s so different than when I visited a few years ago. Most things look booked every day.

 

[Paulio]

Dining reservations seem crazy now. It’s so different than when I visited a few years ago. Most things look booked every day.

Yep, I notice that you need a mobile app in order to purchase food/beverages now instead of just coming in to pay cash/credit card. It's like every venue I went to a few days ago.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Freshbaked did a video about this and have also heard the Blue Bayou isn't filling all tables. So its a lot of little things making it worst to visit Disneyland (and other theme parks)

But at least I have aheads up to order dinner early

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Same thing has been happening at the CityWalk restaurants in Orlando. Sections of them closed

 

[Freak]

Quick dumb question: if I just want to go downtown Disney, I can still enter from where the Rainforrest Cafe was, correct?

 

[Clive]

I ended up going to Disneyland for the first time post-pandemic yesterday (Saturday 7/24). I told myself I would hold out until they did some sort of SoCal deal, so it was finally time. A few observations:

• We expected the park to be slammed with the Jungle Cruise world premiere. Some reverse psychology appeared to come into play, as the park was extremely reasonable all day. Other SoCal fan sites reported lines were much worse on Friday 7/23, so go figure. Not complaining!
• Operational impacts due to the premiere were also very negligible, for the most part. The Enchanted Tiki Room and Tropical Hideaway were closed all day to facilitate a pre-party area, but Dole Whips were still available at the stand. Jungle Cruise shut down from 4 to 7:30, and the two railroads - Casey Jr. and the main train - shut down early (with ample warning via app pop-ups). There were also no fireworks - only projections - but that was published well ahead of time, and they sent another pop-up notification to warn waiting guests. It definitely strained operations at times when the film's stars appeared - the Rock and Emily Blunt apparently insisted on coming out of Tropical Hideaway to greet waiting fans, which was honestly a nice touch. They tried to force guests to "walk through" that Adventureland artery (sort of like how they do for fireworks and Fantasmic), but most still stopped to watch. It honestly wasn't an issue, and it relieved demand for Indiana Jones. (After catching a glimpse of the stars - again, surprisingly easy to do - we ducked into the queue and enjoyed a brisk walk to the loading station). All in all, hats off for a very smooth operation. Could've been way worse.
• Security via the main parking structures was efficient and excellent. We rarely take the trams, but it does seem pretty rough to not run them. Our legs were tired, and we're young and fit - can't imagine what it would be like with young kids.
• They do need to open the parking lots earlier. 1 hour before park open is not really sufficient, and it resulted in confused cars coming off the highway and circling the area.
• Rise of the Resistance boarding group system remains broken and awful. The 7am drop is a joke - we followed all the tips, did everything right, and our app stalled on "checking linked tickets and passes." By the time we got through, they were gone. Chatting with other guests seemed to indicate it's a total crapshoot.
• Fortunately, we did get an excellent boarding group (146) at the 12pm drop. Same stall happened, but I'm guessing more boarding groups were available. For those wondering, we did it at the very empty Fantasy Faire area, where I showed excellent download/upload speeds through AT&T.
• One recurring issue (and another reason boarding groups are awful) is that our boarding group directly conflicted with our lunch reservations. Realizing this, we hedged and went to our Downtown Disney restaurant early - Napoli - and asked if we could be seated early given the circumstances. Thankfully, they were super accommodating, and everything worked out.
• Napoli remains an excellent pizza place, but I still find their Manhattan too watery, and they've jacked up prices. Not nearly as good of a value as it used to be.
• Huge, huge props to the Rise operations teams. It took us about 30 minutes to go through the main entrance, scan our boarding pass, wait in the interior queue, and get off the ride. Keep in mind the experience itself lasts around 12 minutes if everything's moving smoothly... meaning we only waited something like 15 minutes before the first preshow. No delays whatsoever in the Star Destroyer transition - seamless grouping after walking through the Stormtrooper bay. Apparently the ride has been in top form lately, and it shows. Full capacity, and every major effect working - yes, the cannons were bopping, and Elsa Kylo was flailing. An exceptional experience.
• Perhaps this was just because we came on a good day in terms of attendance, but they also seem to have figured out Oga's Cantina. We were stressed about getting a reservation - FINALLY got a late evening (read: inconvenient) time through a third party reservation finder - but when we walked by to Smugglers Run in the morning, we found there was effectively no wait. The "walk-up waitlist" allows people to join a virtual queue. It got "full" toward the middle of the day, but opened back up somewhere around 6pm with a wait of only 25 minutes. It also wasn't packed to the gills as much as I remembered inside. The staff were extremely helpful and canceled my reservation without penalty so that we could enter earlier through the walk-up list. I hope it says this reasonable and efficient.
• Galaxy's Edge is hurting without the on-the-ground entertainment. It's always been a bit sterile without the planned aliens everywhere, but with Rey confined to her little garage and no Stormtroopers, Kylo, or Chewie in sight, it felt especially lifeless. They've definitely tweaked the sound some, as I heard quite a bit of "radio" music in previously silent areas. The ship taking off/landing cues still remain super impressive - everyone kept turning their heads.
• Nothing new here, but Splash Mountain looked as awful as ever. So many spotlights out. So many figures janky or outright broken. I'll be honest, the Princess and the Frog redo can't come soon enough, if only to create permanent maintenance solutions.
• Pirates also needs some help. All three Jack animatronics were not working correctly. First was clearly in some sort of limited motion profile (barely moving), second was stuck in the "up" position in his barrel, third's face was immobile. Quite a few lighting issues, too, with several key pirates not appropriately illuminated.
• Haunted Mansion was looking mostly pristine, and I enjoyed the small additions. The graveyard, in particular, looks fantastic - the scrims are squeaky clean, allowing you to get a full and unfettered view of the characters (and a great establishing shot as you pass the Hatbox Ghost and start to descend). However, lighting desperately needs adjustment. It was over-lit in several areas and revealed edges and seams of the show. This was particularly a problem in the Conservatory, where a new lighting effect shows the infamous wallpaper "ends" before reaching the faux ceiling. The loading station has had lighting issues for a while now, but they seemed particularly prominent on this visit. I shouldn't be able to see the bare walls in every direction. (Note: This wasn't an issue of my eyes having adjusted. We went on in full daylight and still noticed these issues.)
• Indiana Jones Adventure needs help, but what else is new. It looks like it at least got some fresh paint, so the main room looked good on the surface. It was nice to actually get to wait in the intricate temple queue instead of being corralled outside before the merge.
• Jungle Cruise additions sort of fell flat. The old elements needed to go, but repeating the "monkeys cause mischief" gag not once but THRICE was overkill. Surely they could have come up with another animal for us to encounter? Perhaps present a little more peril (which was the intended effect of the scene it replaced)? Trader Sam's in particular is a bizarre meta in-joke that does not read at all. I did enjoy the new rhino setup, however, and that gag was actually improved with the addition of the delighted explorer observing the bird nest.
• Snow White's Enchanted Wish has a silly new name, and I lament the loss of the evil forest, but overall it's very charming and a terrific upgrade. The new climax and spruced mine are spectacular. Still think they could've met us halfway on the scary stuff and kept the macabre skeletons in the dungeon.
• Time to give Pinocchio the upgrade treatment that the rest of the dark rides got (sans Toad). It's the least exciting of the main Fantasyland 5 and has a number of cringe-y and super avoidable racial caricatures.
• General observation that's been made countless times, but a park wanting for space desperately needs to redevelop the west side of the park, particularly the Autopia-Subs complex. I know the Subs are allegedly returning, but I do think their time has probably come. Close and reroute the Monorail a while (it's barely open at this point, anyway) and completely rethink that entire wing of the park.
• Hard to overstate how huge the Runaway Railway building is. It completely envelops Toontown, so I hope they have a good plan for "hiding" (read: decorating) the structure. I remain delighted that Roger Rabbit still exists at all and is miraculously surviving this expansion.

 

[SkiBum]

Jungle Cruise additions sort of fell flat. The old elements needed to go, but repeating the "monkeys cause mischief" gag not once but THRICE was overkill. Surely they could have come up with another animal for us to encounter? Perhaps present a little more peril (which was the intended effect of the scene it replaced)? Trader Sam's in particular is a bizarre meta in-joke that does not read at all. I did enjoy the new rhino setup, however, and that gag was actually improved with the addition of the delighted explorer observing the bird nest.

Imagineers seem to believe that park guests are idiots who cannot understand a joke the first time and so they repeat it with the hopes that we will finally understand. That or they are too unimaginative to think anything better up. Honestly, they should (if they don't already) work with Disney Animation screenwriters to come up with storylines and jokes.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Quick dumb question: if I just want to go downtown Disney, I can still enter from where the Rainforrest Cafe was, correct?

Are you intending on going to just DTD?

 

[Freak]

Are you intending on going to just DTD?

Yes, but it’s too late. I already found out the hard way.

The usual entrance by where Rainforest cafe was is now for CMs only so I had to go on the side behind where the theater was.

 

[Jerroddragon]

So If I have my tickets linked to my Disneyland App

I just need to click on the Virtual Q at 7 AM to get ROTS time?

 

[JawsVictim]

So If I have my tickets linked to my Disneyland App

I just need to click on the Virtual Q at 7 AM to get ROTS time?

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How to Get a Boarding Group for Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland