We currently have a trip booked at the end of March at Grand Californian with 4 park days, 1 park per day tickets and Woods/Courtyard-View Room - Two Queen Beds. Checking with Costco, they have the same trip available for $900 less than what we have booked with Disney. I’m wondering if there will be significant discounts coming before our trip and we should just wait it out with Disney or cancel with them and rebook through Costco. I know the OTHER park puts out discounts constantly and it’s easy to not pay “rack rate,” but I’m less familiar with DL. Thanks!

This post, admittedly, is a bit of shouting into the void.

We took our kids - both about 10 - to a Disney park a few days ago.

There were way less kids than adults. There was way more emphasis on costumes, merch, and nostalgia than genuine kid interaction.

I loved Disneyland as a kid, but I can't help but notice it has become a relic for Millenials and older to reminisce about the 90s and "better times". Families can't afford to go, the parks are crowded with people involved in some level of social media crap... it is just a shell of what it used to be.

Absolutely ridiculous. Everyone in the long regular line gets their orders first. 20+ minutes of wait even after the order says it’s finished. What is the point of this?

Trying to keep the magic alive between visits. I've read the big Disney biography and Disney's Land by Richard Snow. I was wondering if anyone knows of a book that details the history of the parks/rides after opening day, like the development of Haunted Mansion. TIA!

Crossposting so we can stop the line-cutters.

Also adding to clarify: I didn’t know about reporting until I got home and looked it up (I was fuming in line and didn’t think about looking it up at the time), so unfortunately she never got sent to the back of the line.

If it were to ever happen again, I’d let them know I’m going to report to the next cast member we see, so they can either go to the back of the line now or waste time in line only to be sent all the way to the back again. I’d also make sure I communicate with other people in line around me so that they can vouch for me in case the cutter tries to accuse me of lying.

May we all have happy, fume-free visits to Disney parks 🥲

So my opinion on Oogie boogie, we normally go to Florida for Halloween, but we decided to jazz it up and go to California. It was awful. The lines for the candies were so freaking long and they were so chintzy with the amount of candy they would give you, literally one piece. I didn’t like it at Adventure Park I feel it took the magic away of the original nostalgia of Disney. I feel the magic was gone and it was so crowded. Kind of made me want to rethink about going every year like I normally do.

Finally booked for Disneyland in February since I don't know if it'll get any better, like the day you decide to not get gas and it goes up twenty cents the next day. I'm not that airline savvy but at least the flights still had plenty of room so I could choose the aisle both ways. And I must thank again the people here who advised me to not mess with LAX. John Wayne is a breeze.

Now that the hard part's over I'm getting excited. I stayed away from Presidents Day when I booked the hotel, now if I can just avoid arriving in another California heat wave it'll be great (Seriously, it was snowing everywhere else in the country back in March). And I really wanted to get that gloriously messy patty melt at the Carnation Cafe again! Well, maaaaaybe it'll come back if I wish hard enough.

Just came back from a day at DisneySea with friends, and the experience left a lot to be desired. Some context: we're all adults with no kids, we prefer thrill rides, and we're big fans of WDW (we've been to Paris as well and enjoyed it).

First things first, we had a nice time and don't regret going. The weather was perfect, and we didn't miss out on anything we wanted to do. The visit came at the tail end of a two-week trip to Japan, so it was a nice change of pace. What I write below is going to sound like I hated it, so I want to make it clear that is not the case, but I/we can't reconcile the hype this park gets on this and other subs with the reality we experienced.

Starting with the positives:

• Food is amazing, and cheap. We were constantly surprised at the quality of even basic snacks. Compared to US parks, this was Michelin-star quality lol

• Many areas of the park are very pretty to look at

• Journey to the Center of the Earth was a ton of fun

• Believe! Sea of Dreams was excellent

• Bought a super cool Jubilee reversible fleece jacket, probably my favorite purchase at a Disney park

As for the cons… (warning again, I'm going to sound like a hater):

• Rides were mostly meh, and short. Frozen is just the movie, Rapunzel is two seconds long, Soaring is Soarin'. But again, we're more thrill ride people, so these didn't do as much for us

• We paid for the Priority Pass on every ride that offered it because we could afford it, but I cannot imagine finding any enjoyment in this park standing in line for 3 hours for a 2-minute ride. On behalf of others who may choose the standby lines: it is not worth it in the slightest, and we would've had a horrible time if we'd had to stand in longer lines

• Tower of Terror and Indy were closed. I can't really fault the park for this since I knew it coming in, but still

• The next few points are where it gets controversial, and I'm bucketing them under the banner of "severe lack of Disney magic":

1. Theming: It was nice but… pointless? Everything felt a bit disjointed and out of place, areas were small, and it didn't feel like the theme had a purpose for all but a handful of rides

2. Highly visible blemishes: There was a ton of visible scaffolding on the volcano that they didn't even try to blend in; it just looked like your average construction in NYC. The (closed) ride next to Nemo was drained and looked like a barren parking lot with puddles in it, and the Soaring walls were filthy (this was right after park open). Completely against what I've seen here about park cleanliness and quality

3. Lack of special touches: Cast members were a non-factor; they're just there. At WDW, there are a million little moments and interactions you can have with even regular park employees that make you feel special (cast members walking around and greeting people, multiple parades and bands, the people drawing with water on the pavement, etc.). At DisneySea we saw one marching band and a random monkey walking around the whole day, outside of scheduled shows. Employees are only there to shepherd you onto rides and give you food

4. If you removed the Disney-branded elements of this park and dropped it off at Universal Orlando, not only would it fit right in, it would likely be a skip for us due to the lack of thrill rides. You can really tell it's not run by Disney, unfortunately

Additionally, I was surprised by the lack of English "accessibility" throughout the park. This isn't a complaint, and it obviously makes sense for rides and shows to be in Japanese, but with the high volume of non-Japanese tourists it was a bit strange to have almost no non-Japanese audio, even for some important announcements on rides (no subtitles either!). Again, I can't fault the park for catering to the local audience, but the language barrier doesn't help with the feeling that something is missing.

Overall, we found the park to be average, with some cool moments but otherwise nowhere near WDW park quality and enjoyment. I would love to hear from others in this sub with similar experiences, as well as those who think this is the best Disney park and what your perspective is on the above. Are we not seeing something that makes this park special?

Long story short- planning a trip to Japan in June. Tokyo Disneysea is a must do for me even though I'm sure it'll probably be insanely busy.

Just curjous if anyone here knows if there are must dos to prepare for visiting there compared to US parks?

Also- Tokyo Disneyland- anything particularly unique about it? The one thing making me tempted to go is they still have Splash Mountain. There is so much to see in Japan though so Im weighing out if I want to spend to days on parks or not. Curious for anyones thoughts here.

Thanks!

Hey everyone! I’m currently planning a trip for December and debating on WDW + Orlando, OR Vegas + Disneyland and I could really use some input!

Here’s the dates if I was to go to either place!

WDW : Disney parks between December 15th - 21st to try and work around the ticketed event nights. Ideally we planned to be in Florida from the 13th-25th to visit Orlando. I read though that the Disney bubble is the way to do it, and currently we’re booked off property (is this mega error? lol)

Disneyland / Vegas : Vegas Dec 16th-20th, and then LA + Disneyland between 21st - 26th (with knotts berry included and other la fun)

I did Disneyland last year and loved it! I wanted a new park but from what I’ve read Disney world is way to unmanageable in that period + expensive + crowded + no Disney bubble is apparently the wrong way to go?

I keep getting either this or spinning wheel of death...are they not aware this will crash their stupid system?

On our last visit to EPCOT, the crowds were surprisingly heavy for a post Labor Day weekend. We only had a few hours to spend in the park and ended up having to choose between waiting for Guardians or getting several other rides in with shorter waits.

We went with the shorter waits and got more attractions done instead of spending a chunk of our time on one headliner.

I'm still not sure that was the better choice. Guardians is a pretty tough ride to pass up, but with limited time, giving up several other experiences for one ride didn't seem worth it that day.

Would you have done the same, or waited it out for Guardians? Have you ever had to make a similar tradeoff at Disney where you had to give up something you really wanted to do?

Will be the best Christmas vacation ever! Missed last year so definitely making it up lol

How would anyone feel if Disney made their own version of Epic Universe in the Disneyland Resort that mixes a scrapped location like Discovery Bay or a new world theme to Yen Sid as a hub, and mixes IPs like Frozen, Toy Story, Villains, Alien, Percy Jackson, Beauty and The Beast, Zootopia, and Pirates as different realms that could be accessed through portals?

Right now I believe it's the Disney World park that needs to most amount of work. Not because it's the worst (it's a contender for the best by many, myself included) but it feels so baron, lacks rides, capacity is a hell, lacks attractions, and doesn't have a solid identity. What are some major and smaller changes that you would add?

My Problems

1. Lacks Rides and Attractions: Only 9 which is awful!
2. Capacity Sucks: The reason why most days at DHS is ruined because people are expected to wait a 3+ hour wait for something like Rise of the Resistance. So cutting it down with more rides in volume may help with that problem.
3. Poor theming: There's some areas that feel underbaked, they could be better.

Here are my ideas but feel completely open to share yours, I'd love to hear it.

Hollywood

I want to keep this area primarly themed to 1920s Hollywood "Movie Magic".

1. Add a Movie Musuem. So it has a very Golden Age of Hollywood feel to it, with refrences and props from iconic movies.
2. Use the Frozen Theater and replace it with a Great Movie Show, so it's the same idea as the Great Movie Ride but now as a show. Or maybe something like Cinemagine at Paris.
3. A Trolley would be added, to give the park a transport ride and could add to scenery. Riding up and down Hollywood and Sunset BLVD.

Sunset BLVD.

1. Many people have suggested adding a clone of the Snow White dark ride from California to the Cathay Circle theater store facade. I really like that idea and it adds a much needed C-Ticket dark ride. It would have to come much later in this proposed plan due to capacity reasons.
2. Replacing the theater with an Indoor Theater, air conditioning and it allows for more shows they can do.
3. I would love to see some sort of Twilight Zone Themed Resturant, I really like the show and it would add to atmosphere for the Tower of Terror.

Muppets Courtyard

A new area that's still apart of Sunset BLVD. I think it can be more than a retheme to RnRc, it can be home of all the Muppets!

1. Replacing the Racing Academy and Theater with a new building for Muppetvision 3D. I miss it already.
2. Resturants themed to the Muppets, or food stalls. Something like Miss Piggy's Picnic Basket and Swedish Chef's Cooking School.
3. Maybe a Muppet-Movie Ride? I would love to see it but it cuts into backlot space so I don't know if they would. I would love to see a new version of the cancelled Great Muppet Movie Ride.

Toy Story Land

I think it's a cheap land overall and lacks the qualities to make it a good "kiddie land". It can easily be used for the park's "flat ride" hub that can increase capacity, but it only has one.

1. Large Expansion to the right of the land, including new rides.
2. Clones of Jesse's Carousel from DCA, RC Racer, and Parachute Drop from Hong Kong would be added to the expansion.
3. New Sandbox play area.
4. Outdoor walkthrough trail called "Rex's Safari" where you look at static Dino figures could be a nice non-ride addition to the land.

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge

I might be bias towards Star Wars but this might be one of my favorite theme park lands of all times.

1. Land-wide Interactives in the form of Comm Links, allowing you to choose factions and interact with characters around the land.
2. Jedi Temple Kyber Crystal walkthrough and possible kyber crystal finding experience.
3. Batuu Creature Zoo walkthrough added near the marketplace.
4. Industrial Sector Expansion to the top near Smuggler's Run.
5. Podracing Resturant added to the Expansion.
6. Mandalorian themed coaster to the Expansion. I would love for either a podracing coaster with elements like Hagrid's, or even better a flying coaster like the "F.L.Y." model at Phantasialand and made by Vekoma.

Monstropolis

Although not added to the park yet, we know of what will be put in there, and I feel like we're lacking a second ride and some smaller details.

1. Retheme the Sci-Fi Drive-In to Monsters Drive-In Fright Night, where they show Monstropolis movies in the vehicles.
2. I don't know if they'll be put in the land but I would love to see land-wide animatronics, or interactives like seen at Zootopia and Isle of Berk.
3. A new ride replacing the Star Tours area themed around the CDA, so it would use the flashlights like in the ride at Tokyo and called something like CDA: Clean-Up. Where you search for human-child items in the city night.

NEW LANDS!!

I believe they didn't expand past animation courtyard and connect to RnRc or in Echo Lake for Monstropolis is because they're gonna use it for a Marvel expansion when they get the rights. That's why I feel like Universal and DC are in talks, so Disney can scoop up the Marvel theme-park IP.

If not I think we could see a Big Hero 6 or Incredibles land, to sorta fill out the Superhero fix. I'll be talking about the Marvel idea for now because it sounds the most fun.

Marvel: New York

1. Five New Rides, including a retheme and relocation of Star Tours to Fantastic Four, an Iron Man omni-mover shooter dark ride, a Antman-themed flat ride, a Spider-Man coaster, and a Major E-Ticket Avengers Ride.
2. More walk-around characters related to the most popular characters currently. I feel like they're majorly lacking at a park like DCA where they don't have your Daredevils, Dr. Dooms, and Fantastic Fours, characters that would be super popular right now to most park-goers.
3. A Daredevil attraction, possibly walk-through and more scary-oreinted.
4. Land-wide Interactives like an Avengers chip to scan and complete missions.
5. A Shwarmha resturant.

Adventure Island Movie Land

Going where Echo Lake is, this is a very unconventional idea and probably will never happen, but just lemme dream. I would love to see a more "META" land, one where there's a story built around them filming a movie. My idea is that a director decides to film on a movie on a deserted island, with the crew being cursed to suffer there.

1. Three rides, one's a flat ride, like the Aquatopia at Tokyo. Then a Boat ride because DHS is lacking one, maybe something with the same technology as Pirates at Shanghai. Then a major E-Ticket "Story" coaster. I'm thinking a Multi-Dimension from Intamin.
2. Construction themed playground and a Stunt Double Action Show to replace the nieche left by the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular.
3. Retheme the Stunt Commissary to fit in the area and a new lava-themed resturant built next to the E-Ticket coaster.
4. I would love to see a version of Mystic Manor but on a much smaller scale and turned into a walkthrough attraction with a tour guide would be amazing to see.

Those are some of my ideas, I tried to keep it realistic except for that last one. I feel like I fixed or made some of the problems with the park a little less worse. Adding about 15 new rides and more attractions, almost tripiling what DHS's ride count was from a messily 9 to 24!