Disneyland Resort February 25, 26, 27 Part 2

I have to admit, I’m spoiled. I often get to tag along on business trips and if it’s a vacation destination I’m there for sure. Along with that come some pretty nice accommodations and this trip was no exception.
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa hosted the event and man, was it ever nice. In touring the hotel on the first day I decided I want the job of spending Disney’s money. Everything was so beautifully detailed with expensive touches that justify the room rate. The theme is a Craftsman-style lodge and the beautiful and varied light fixtures alone were a treat for my eyes. Original Craftsman furniture and cabinets are everywhere in the lobby and hallways. The rooms are decorated with Disney charm and whimsy- Chip and Dale kept watch from and harvested oranges on a mural that seamlessly moved from headboard to surrounding walls. Hidden Mickeys can be found in furniture detail and wall paper. Yup, nice enough all right, but there are theme parks to get to. A nice feature of on-site lodging is early entry to the parks. It’s only a half hour in one park per day with select attractions but each day it made a big difference in my park plan. The hotel also has a dedicated entrance directly into Downtown Disney (closest access to Disneyland) and another direct into California Adventure.
Disneyland will always be toward the top of my list of favorite parks. It’s the OG, with so many original, classic attractions. A friend with us who, like us, is very familar with WDW’s Magic Kingdom remarked (as many do) how tiny and quaint the park is. For instance, Sleeping Beauty Castle is dwarfed (no pun intended) by Cinderella’s digs in Orlando. Main Street structures are scaled down as well.
When get there I’m like a child left alone. The aforementioned early entry let me ride and re-ride my favorite dark rides, some of which had versions in Florida but were removed with the big Fantasyland renovation. Thank goodness Disneyland still lets us experience Mr Toad’s Wild Ride, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, and Alice in Wonderland. Toontown is an ultra-cute section behind Fantasyland dedicated to animated characters and the mains have their own little houses that host meet n greets. Dark rides include Roger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin and the new Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway, which instantly became one of my new favorites. It’s quite popular and posted some of the longest wait times in the park. The queue takes you on a cute, detailed journey through the lobby of an art deco movie theater, refreshment stand, etc, and you wind up riding along “in” a movie with Mickey and Minnie. So cute, surprising, and hilarious. The ride uses trackless technology, something I had little experience with until this trip. I gave up trying to second guess the motion and direction and just let the ride toss me around wherever it wanted.
Disneyland and WDW share many common attractions but it’s interesting to note subtle and not so subtle differences that lead me to proclaim one ride as better than its twin on the other side of the country. Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and Autopia are examples of where the Cali park’s versions are better. Space Mountain and Big Thunder are different but I decided each version has its own merits.
Another new-to-me Land was Star Wars and holy cow! Now I should say I’m not a big Star Wars fanboy and worried that I wouldn’t “get it” and be lost in the story. Turns out it didn’t really matter, and even though a better knowledge of the franchise would’ve helped. I was still able to enjoy the hell out of a ride that caused me to proclaim it’s quite possibly the best attraction on this planet. Oh, and I’m speaking of Rise of the Resistance. It was like they took all the best special effects and ride technologies available and combined them into one 18 minute experience. That ride blew my mind. (It goes down a lot- our LL failed on account of that but the good news is when that happens you can come back any time that day and use it. You can also make other LL’s to stack on top of that one.)
But back to original attractions for a second, I have to mention Adventureland hosts some of my all-time corny favorites. Jungle Cruise, Treehouse, and I just love the Tiki Room. Disneyland has the original from 1963 and in some recent year celebrated an anniversary with a restorative renovation. I’m in seventh heaven in the Tiki Room sipping on my Dole Whip float while the birdies sing. Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room was his first ever foray into audio-animatronics. As an experiment he animated birds, plants and totems set to music, and with it’s success he created the first human audioanimatronic, Mr Lincoln, who stood up for the first time in 1964. Just some fun-fact trivia that I find a lot of visitors don’t know. Another classic favorite is Matterhorn Bobsleds which I managed to squeeze in using the standby line early in the day. The two tracks have been divided- one side is standby and the other is dedicated to LL and if I’m not mistaken, Single Riders.
That’s about all for Disneyland. As I mentioned, the LL system really helped- we only missed a few attractions in the three days and a couple of those we passed on anyway. (Tiana was one- the line was long, LL time was way out there, and I saw people wringing out their socks on the midway- so, sorry, Miss. I’ll catch you in Orlando.)
With only two theme parks in Anaheim it’s interesting to seen how the attractions are situated and placed between the two. Florida has the distinct advantage (and intention) of distributing the attractions between 4 different gates and thematically many of those make better sense there than in Anaheim. But at Disneyland park hopping is a breeze- the gates are 100 steps away from each other. No busses, no monorail trip, no huge chunks out of your day for travel and I’m this close to saying Disneyland has the edge. Maybe.
California Adventure is a park that’s had a long road to hoe. When it first debuted there was a lot of criticism from fans who thought the experience was less than expected. I last visited there when it was new and the place was pretty slow compared to its older but prettier sister across the street. In the meantime there has been a lot of re-design, renovations, and additions that have, in my eyes, brought the park up to standards. Smart additions include Avengers Campus, Cars Land, an improved Pixar Pier, and World of Color spectacular. And with those things come the crowds, right? California Adventure is full to the brim every day now and I guess that’s a good thing.
I’m not much for character meet n greet but at California Adventure I got to meet my personal favorite, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. (I like the runts and the losers- Oswald, Orange Bird, … Duffy…. ya feel me? You can have those Frozen girls) I have one Oswald tshirt to my name from years ago and he was so happy to see it on me. But even though you can meet Oswald, and there’s a gas station/gift shop with his name on it, he’s virtually been erased. No merch anywhere. Every once in a while I’d pass a guy with Oswald ears on and if I could get close enough to ask the answer was usually “I got this in Tokyo”. Rats.
I can’t say enough about Cars Land. The flats are adorable. Mater’s Junkyard is a cross between a Cuddle Up and a Whip and I rode it three times I think. Luigi’s is one of those “dancing” trackless car rides, which truth told is more fun to watch than ride. But Radiator Springs Raceway is the star and is a perfect combo of dark ride and an outdoor high speed slot car, not unlike Test Track. The Cars Land section is an exquisite recreation of the animated feature, and the spectacular 1950’s neon is worth a stroll by in the evening. Radiator Springs canyon at night rivals any mountain range at the golden hour. Just beautiful. Just you wait, Orlando. Yours, if it’s similar, will make a sensation
Other highlights at Californian Adventure included Web Slingers, (a Spidey shoot em up dark ride with a twist), and Guardians of the Galaxy- Mission Breakout, a reimagined Tower of Terror which I had my doubts about but it was SOOOOO thrilling I was shocked. It really works and is one of the most popular rides in the park for good reason.
I got a total of three spins on my Golden Zephyr rocket circle swing (so nostalgic for me). We snagged Dessert Party reservations for World of Color on our last night which was worth it for the view from an actual table and chair and free alcohol. It was the perfect way to end our visit.
This site has a lot of midwesterners and WDW gets a lot of attention here. I’m slightly jealous of you California fellas who have better and more frequent access to Disneyland than I do. And now that I am no longer afraid of managing the system I think I’ll make an effort to get back to Orlando in the next year or so. I have a group of friends that go all the time and beg me to join them so maybe I will. At my age and with my travel habits lately I can’t say I’ll ever get back to Disneyland again, so I’m very glad and grateful I got to go. Disney, Knott’s, and a Great Big Broadway Show. What could be better? Thanks, L.A.
If you made it through all this, I thank you for reading.

Thank you for posting your experience! Our family has frequently been to both coasts but much prefer DLR to WDW. Granted the food and entertainment options are lacking compared to its Florida counterpart, but I much prefer the vibe in Anaheim.

Oh. The weather is better in SoCal than Florida as well. for the most part.

I'd choose Disneyland over any of the Orlando parks every time. Thanks for the report!

I think I prefer the resort in FL better than CA, but (at the risk of being elitist) there are more hardcore fans in CA. I love checking out all the custom shirts, ears, and outfits and asking people where they got their gear. I guess you could call that "vibe."