Disneyland Resort Trip Report

[Adam]

Fifty years of magic have passed since Walt Disney opened the world’s first truly ‘Magical Kingdom’ – Disneyland. The park is now in full swing, day and night, celebrating this triumphant birthday. And what a celebration! I just arrived home from a ten day stay in Anaheim, California at a hotel located just down the road from the Disneyland Resort. On our trip, along with shopping and other sightseeing, we visited Disneyland, Disney’s California Adventure, Universal Studios, SeaWorld Adventure Park (in San Diego) and San Diego Zoo. While this was my second visit to Disneyland, I had so much more fun this time. I really enjoyed the new ‘Remember… Dreams Come True’ fireworks show and ‘Fantasmic’ – a spectacular night-time special effects show. ‘Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams’ was also a highlight. As anyone who has visited the Disneyland Resort will agree, the park has a great atmosphere – established mainly by the welcoming staff (including Mickey Mouse), excellent themeing and most importantly: the Disney music. Other attractions at the Disneyland Resort that I really enjoyed included the Indiana Jones Adventure, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, California Screamin’, and the new Space Mountain (loved the music). Nor can you leave out the classic Disney rides – the Matterhorn Bobsleds, Splash Mountain (best flume ride I’ve ever been on), Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion. I was really impressed with the queues at Universal Studios and Disneyland… they manage to get through double the people in half the time (compared to our parks). Something I also noticed, which would help to speed up the queue, is that they load and unload at the same time – i.e. when the restraints unlock, the doors open to let the next set of passengers onto the ride. This would save quite a few seconds each cycle. It all adds up. Something else I was impressed with was the cooling system on outdoor queues. Particularly with Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios where half of the queue is indoor (with air conditioning), and half is outdoor. To combat the Californian heat outside, the ride has fans, each with special cooling pipes in front of them, covering every section of the queue. It sure beats mist. (These were not in operating though because it’s winter in Los Angeles at the moment). We sure could do with some of these at Dreamworld. Overall, the trip was awesome. Anyone who hasn't yet experienced some of the '50th Magic' should book now.

[Slick]

"Fantasmic" to hear you had a good time. Will we be expecting a photo trip report soon?

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

I just arrived home from a ten day stay in Anaheim, California at a hotel located just down the road from the Disneyland Resort.

Wasn't Best Western Pavillions on Katella Ave, next to denny's by any chance? I've stayed there, its cheap, but damn nice....

I was really impressed with the queues at Universal Studios and Disneyland… they manage to get through double the people in half the time (compared to our parks). Something I also noticed, which would help to speed up the queue, is that they load and unload at the same time – i.e. when the restraints unlock, the doors open to let the next set of passengers onto the ride. This would save quite a few seconds each cycle. It all adds up.

Wonderland Used to do that a long time ago. There are numerous hazards to that though, including people mingling in the exit to attempt to reload without requeueing, not to mention hazards of personal property, and too many people to keep an eye on for the operators... In wonderland - running one-op operation, it is just too unsafe for that sort of thing, and most of the other attractions around australia would require an increase in loaders, unloaders and operators to make that work. Yes it would most likely increase the capacity of our rides, but at the expense of wages, i can't see our parks doing that...

[Adam]

We stayed in the Howard Johnson on S Harbor Blvd (less than 50 metres from the Disneyland entrance - same road). I can't remember much of Katella Ave, we only drove through it after exiting the Interstate 5. There is a Denny's almost opposite Disneyland I think.

[goliath]

I did an almost identical trip to yours 2 weeks ago. We stayed at the Sheraton Anaheim which was full of Australian tourists taking advantage of Qantas' Disneyland 50th anniversary package. Visited Disneyland, California adventure, Sea world San Diego, San Diego zoo, Universal studios and Six Flags Magic Mountain. the Disney parks were very busy and the lines averaged about an hour and a half. Universal studios was not very busy and lines were about 20 minutes max. Six Flags Magic Mountain was basically deserted and I could just walk straight onto any ride. Winter is in my opinion the best time to go because the weather is nice (about 15-25 degrees) and isn't as busy as in summer.