I went to Disneyland yesterday for the first time in almost 7 years. Ask me anything

[Dan Druff]

Disneyland has changed a lot in recent years. I learned a bunch of new things regarding the best way to visit the park (and its sister park California Adventure, which I also visited).

I last visited in early 2016. For whatever reason we did not go for the next 4 years, but scheduled a trip for mid-March 2020. You know what happened that month, so that trip was cancelled. We didn't end up doing a make-up trip until yesterday.

I am in an area of southern CA which isn't very close to Anaheim, so I actually get a hotel the night before. Otherwise the morning traffic would be absolutely brutal.

Anyway, they have changed a ton of shit over the last few years, especially when it comes to ticketing and how they utilize their fastpass (priority line) system. Feel free to ask me anything, but do not troll or post junk in this thread.

[BetCheckBet]

Whenever we went to Disneyland we used to stay at alpine inn. Nice little hidden gem and amazing staff there. Reminds me of my childhood staying at 80s motels. Unfortunately last few years theyve really cranked up prices. Definitely feel like the Hilton there is totally overpriced and not worth it. Curious what your thoughts are for best places to stay?

Also absolutely do not fly into LAX. Much better using John Wayne. And don’t use shuttles there take an Uber.

Last piece of advice is to check out traders Sam”senchanted tiki bar. It’s on hotel property but open to everyone. Just get there early cause they have limited seating.

[Dan Druff]

Funny you ask about hotels because I went through a similar struggle in figuring out where to stay.

The one I stayed at in early 2016 ended up being a bit too far for my taste (it looked closer than it was, due to the location of the Disneyland entrance), so I was searching for a new place. The one upside to that place was that they charged only $10 for parking, and would let you leave your car onsite for the remainder of the day after checking out (without charging you further).

I saw a number of failproperties nearby, including the aforementioned Hilton Anaheim, which has a ton of bad reviews on Tripadvisor. After a lot of handwringing, I finally picked one. It was priced fairly well given its proximity to Disneyland, and had pretty good reviews, but there were some bad reviews here and there. Overall, it was okay. On the bright side, it was one of the closer off-site properties, though it was still a good 15-20 minute walk because of the idiotic way Disney forces offsite people to walk in, which basically forces you through Downtown Disney. Also, I was able to request (the day of) a room which was on the highest floor and facing the quiet side, and indeed we did not hear any street noise, so that was nice.

However, it still had kind of a rundown 1980s property look to it (especially the bathroom), and they were REALLY weird about parking. They were not clear about there being a $15 parking charge when I booked, and it was buried in the fine print. Okay, whatever. I knew all of the hotels in the area charged for parking, so I paid it and didn't complain. However, regarding the day of checkout, it was extremely sketchy involving the parking. They said that you can pay another $15 to park there (which already kinda sucks), but only if they are "not busy", which they claimed wouldn't be determined until 11am, which is obviously after everyone has already gone to the park. Then if they are "too busy" and can't grant you the $15 daily rate, it reverts to a high hourly rate, which maxes out at $50. Keep in mind that the Disneyland rate is $30, so paying $50 to park offsite is just lol.

I raised objection to this, and they pretended not to understand why the above was a ridiculous policy. I said that I simply wanted to understand what I'd be charged, so I can make a decision in the morning to leave my car there. I kept getting bizarre responses, until the dude said he will "take care of it" and I should just press the "call button" when driving out, and he'll just buzz me out. I wasn't 100% comfortable with this, but figured the dude wouldn't offer and give himself a headache if he wasn't really going to do it. Sure enough, when I drove out, I hit the call button, and he buzzed me out. No charge other than the initial $15 I paid the night before. So ultimately it worked out. But soooooooooo strange.

You might wonder why I didn't just say fuck it and park at Disneyland. Well, I booked a hotel near Disneyland specifically so we could walk there and back, and not hassle with the tram to and from the parking area, the traffic getting out, or any other bullshit. So it didn't sit well with me that I'd pay to stay walking distance from Disneyland, and then drive to park at Disneyland in the morning anyway. If I wanted to do that, I could have gotten something much cheaper a few miles away.

Would I got back to this place? Probably not, but mainly because the beds were way too firm for my liking, so I didn't sleep well. I slept 13 hours last night to make up for the lack of sleep I got there.

So I'm still in search of a place for next time.

[simpdog]

How long did you go for?

What did you eat for lunch and dinner?

[country978]

Ok, yes, I have questions:

What did you do while you were there? It was just one day? Did you and Ben have a lot of fun? What was your favorite part of the day? Was the food shitty? We have 6 flags here in New England for a big park. The food is not edible.

Ben is something like 12-13 now? Does he still enjoy the characters or just the rides?

[Texter]

How do they do fast passes now?

I last went many years ago and you had to get paper passes at a kiosk. There was some website that had you put in what rides/attractions you wanted to experience and it gave good instructions on what to do when and when to get the fast passes.

Worked like a charm. Tried the site for Disney world and it totally sucked.

[Sloppy Joe]

How much did you spend on food and what did you get?

Went to Disneyworld as a senior in high school and remember being appalled the price of food like 18 years ago.

[NaturalBornHustler]

How many psychopaths were still in masks? Did they have the children cuffed up so they couldn't take them off?

(Not joking)

[Dan Druff]

How many psychopaths were still in masks? Did they have the children cuffed up so they couldn't take them off?

(Not joking)

Not many masks around. I think if you are willing to go to Disney and be cooped up indoors on lines with thousands of people, you are conceding COVID risk. So the people still panicking about COVID at this point are probably staying away.

Something you guys may not realize is that Disneyland and other Disney parks have evolved to be aimed at both kids and adults. There are tons of massive Disney fans who are adults now (of all ages), so many people there aren't just for their kids. While I do enjoy the Disney rides (especially some of the new ones, which are quite impressive), most of the motivation to go was because of my kid. I kept the trip a surprise for him until about 5 days beforehand.

This "Disney adult" thing has allowed them to jack up prices (tickets, food, souvenirs, etc) to insane levels. Between adults who want to go for themselves, families who want to go for their kids, and international visitors who see Disney as a "must do" (which is a lot of them), the demand is higher than ever.

[SinglesHitter]

Is there much difference between Disneyland and Disney World? With everything else being equal (travel costs/time/lodging/weather), would you have a preference?

Is there an ideal/optimal age to bring a child (boy)?

What’s the right amount of time to spend in the area, if traveling from out of state on vacation?

Pricing: How much should I expect to spend for 2-4 people? Are there seasonal pricing differences?

Thanks Todd

[Dan Druff]

How much did you spend on food and what did you get?

Went to Disneyworld as a senior in high school and remember being appalled the price of food like 18 years ago.

I have always said that if I lived at Disneyland, I wouldn't be fat, because my cheapness would overrule my hunger.

We ordered lunch there at one of the fast food type places, but they fucked up my food and Ben's food, despite my efforts to tell 2 different employees to watch out that the kitchen did it right (we made a few modifications). Both employees did their part but the kitchen fucked up anyway. So they volunteered to take those off the bill, which I accepted. I wasn't hungry until it was near time to leave, and same with Ben's mom, so we just elected to eat after we left the park. Ben was hungry so we got him some food in the park at night, and didn't make him wait. Between all of this, I kept the Jew wallet pretty intact regarding exorbitant Disney food.

The main expenditures in the park for me were the fastpasses for Rise of the Resistance ($25 each, meaning $75 total) and Radiator Springs ($15 each, meaning $45 total). At least I got to go on Rise twice because the ride broke down, they credited me a pass to come back when it was working, and right after they credited it, the ride worked again, so we got to go on it. So we returned later to do it a second time, and got the lightning lane without having to pay. Very cool ride, and very modern because it was built in late 2019.

[RichardBrodiesCombover.]

Did you stay for the fireworks?

[Dan Druff]

Is there much difference between Disneyland and Disney World? With everything else being equal (travel costs/time/lodging/weather), would you have a preference?

Is there an ideal/optimal age to bring a child (boy)?

What’s the right amount of time to spend in the area, if traveling from out of state on vacation?

Pricing: How much should I expect to spend for 2-4 people? Are there seasonal pricing differences?

Thanks Todd

Can't answer about Disney World. Never been there. Just too far from me, and too similar to Disneyland to where I haven't felt the urge to expend the effort to do it. Can't answer much there.

I put out a lot of effort to squeeze in both parks (Disneyland and California Adventure) in one day. Thanks to some strategies given to me by a radio listener, plus some luck, plus the fact that I went on a very good day crowd-wise (day after Halloween), we were able to do almost all of the major rides in both parks, which is otherwise usually impossible to do in one day.

I think allocating one day for each park is the better way to go, especially if you're from out of the area.

Anaheim weather is similar to that of Los Angeles. You want to avoid summer because it can be hot (though it's not usually humid), and you also want to avoid months like December and January, because it can be cold and/or rainy. Many people also don't realize that September is one of the hottest months in the area. October is SUPER crowded due to the Halloween themed stuff, so don't ever go that month.

Early November is good, as is the period from mid-March through mid-May, as it's not likely to be hot or rainy. Someone I know from out of the area scheduled a trip right before Christmas a few years ago, and said to me, "How cold could LA be? It's LA!" Then it was like 52 degrees high and windy, and the kids were miserable.

Weather yesterday was great. There was an outside chance of rain in the evening, but it didn't materialize until midnight, long after we had left.

[Dan Druff]

Regarding age of the kid, it depends what you're looking to do.

Ben is 12, which is a good age in that he's not a jaded teenager yet, but is also old enough to both be tall enough for every ride and not be scared by anything.

However, he is also too old to get much out of the aspects aimed at children, such as the Disney characters walking around. (On a side note, I hardly saw any of the characters walking around this time! Maybe due to the recent labor shortage?)

Kids in like the 5-8 range will still enjoy Disneyland, but there will be rides where they're either too short or will be scared. Since it's not an extreme rollercoaster park, most 5-year-olds are tall enough to go on most rides, but they're probably not ready for some of the wilder/scarier ones. They will get more out of the Disney themes, though, especially if they're already big Disney fans.

Kids under 5 are just going to be a burden to have there, and will also not remember the trip for the most part. How much do you remember before you were 4? For me, it's almost nothing -- and even when I was a teen, I still had almost no memories from before age 4. So you might as well hold off if your kids are very young.

I'll get to the pricing in my next post.

[Dan Druff]

Disney now has tiered pricing similar to what airlines do. If their computer projects high demand for a certain date, or if it's already selling well despite expected lower demand, they will keep raising the price until it hits a maximum.

They range from $104 to $179 for an adult ticket. Note than an adult is considered anyone age 10+, and kids 3-9 are only like $6 cheaper. I believe kids under 3 get in for free.

I actually got the $104 price because the two days following Halloween are among the lightest visited of the year. This is both because parents feel their kids will be worn out from Halloween night, plus parents from out of the area don't want to travel on/near Halloween and make their kids miss Halloween! November 1 (the day I went) and November 2 were both $104, but everything else for the final quarter of 2022 was substantially higher.

However, you're not going to get away with $104/ticket, even if you do go on a rare day like November 1 where that's the price. There's also a $20 "Genie Plus" fee which you should DEFINITELY pay, as it gives you "lightning lane" access. I'll explain later on about the lightning lanes, but 100% you want to do this optional program.

Furthermore, if you want a "park hopper" pass, allowing you to go between Disneyland and the separate California Adventure parks on the same day, that's another $65 for each ticket.

Therefore, it cost me $104+$65+$20 per ticket, which is $189. I bought one for me, Ben's mom, and Benjamin, so that ended up being $557 just for tickets themselves.

I spent about $200 on the hotel, but I got a good deal because the night of October 31 was very slow. Next time I might stay a few miles away from the park and just drive in and park on-site.

I got away very cheap on the food, for the reason explained in another post above. You ARE allowed to bring food and drink into the park, as long as it's not prepared (meaning you can't stroll in with a Domino's pizza), and as long as the drinks are non-alcoholic. I wore a backpack with a lot of bottles of cold water, which obviously lightened throughout the day as we drank it. There are drinking fountains around, but that's kind of gross. Some of the food outlets will give you ice water for free, if you want. I mention this because drinks are a huge ripoff and you're going to hate yourself paying for them several times per day at those prices. The hotel had a free continental breakfast, so we had that before we left. It was a quick thing we could do to get some food in our stomachs in the morning.

Be prepared to spend $25 per person to go on Rise of the Resistance in Disneyland (excellent), and $15 per person to go on Radiator Springs in California Adventure (not as good as rise, but still worth doing, especially if your kids saw the "Cars" move). You don't have to pay this upcharge, but otherwise you are stuck in a long line, and I'm guessing your time is worth more than that. I know mine was.

So when you add it all up, even though I went on a lower-tier day and spent little on food, I still spent $900 or so on the entire trip -- and that was just for one day at both parks, one night hotel, little spent on food, and no airline tickets. So for a person from out of the area, the costs will be much higher.

[Dan Druff]

Did you stay for the fireworks?

Not unless I wanted to stay until December. They are not going at the moment.

[Dan Druff]

Here is a very good piece of advice you should take to heart:

If you are seeing the price of tickets is $179 each (before any add-ons), or anywhere near $179, DO NOT BOOK!

This is because such a price is indicative of a high crowd day, and you will be miserable there. You do NOT want to go on one of those days. I wouldn't go on one of those days, even with free tickets.

Disneyland has a new "reservations" system where you need to book and pay for your tickets in advance. The days of walking up to the gate are over. The only way you can do that is if the date isn't sold out, but even if it's not sold out, you will likely be paying a higher price than if you booked earlier. Even November 1-2 went up from $104 to $114 by the time the day arrived.

Anyway, look to book on days showing under $130 per ticket, because those are projected to be lighter traffic days. The lower the price, the better the day!

[Dan Druff]

Ok, yes, I have questions:

What did you do while you were there? It was just one day? Did you and Ben have a lot of fun? What was your favorite part of the day? Was the food shitty? We have 6 flags here in New England for a big park. The food is not edible.

Ben is something like 12-13 now? Does he still enjoy the characters or just the rides?

Our goal was to go on as many major rides as possible, at both parks. We succeeded, and did not wait in any long lines, though we got lucky in various ways I'll explain later.

Ben really enjoyed it and wants to go again next year at some point. He didn't get that much out of the characters, but he did like seeing various characters incorporated into the rides, such on Rise of the Resistance.

The food was way overpriced and not good, but not terrible.

[Dan Druff]

How do they do fast passes now?

I last went many years ago and you had to get paper passes at a kiosk. There was some website that had you put in what rides/attractions you wanted to experience and it gave good instructions on what to do when and when to get the fast passes.

Worked like a charm. Tried the site for Disney world and it totally sucked.

This is called "Lighting Lanes" now, and requires a service called "Genie+" to be added onto your ticket for $20 each. Two rides also have "individual passes" which require a $15-$25 upcharge to get into the lightling lane (where Genie+ doesn't work).

I'll explain more about this later.

[Ryback_feed_me_more]

Disneyland has changed a lot in recent years. I learned a bunch of new things regarding the best way to visit the park (and its sister park California Adventure, which I also visited).

I last visited in early 2016. For whatever reason we did not go for the next 4 years, but scheduled a trip for mid-March 2020. You know what happened that month, so that trip was cancelled. We didn't end up doing a make-up trip until yesterday.

I am in an area of southern CA which isn't very close to Anaheim, so I actually get a hotel the night before. Otherwise the morning traffic would be absolutely brutal.

Anyway, they have changed a ton of shit over the last few years, especially when it comes to ticketing and how they utilize their fastpass (priority line) system. Feel free to ask me anything, but do not troll or post junk in this thread.

Q: Have they turned any of the disney princesses trans yet to be woke? How about turning Aladdin into a gender bender trans female? These are the things that are immensely important to the woke Cali crowd I believe. (Not trying to shit post but given Disneys new woke Bullshit mentality if they had done any of this it wouldnt have surprised me).

Apparently somebodys already working on it