First off, for this visit my family and I chose a house rental a few blocks away from the resort. Idea being, if we were going to stay, all seven of us (my sister-in-law's side too) would want a more quiet place were we didn't have to deal with noisy basketball teams in some upstairs hotel room, constantly making noise at all hours, not understanding that other real people might want to sleep below. The house was a nice little place over on Flippen Drive off Katella. Nice little pool, very friendly owners, and the quiet was welcome.
Over the course of the visit, we had a generally good time and enjoyed warm but not hot weather. A welcome change for us, as we typically get stuck with 90+ degree trips. Because the weather was a little more cooperative, it helped offset what would otherwise be a couple of disappointments I had overall, more on that later.
Overall, the crowds were pretty high. Since we visited on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday last week, the AP blockout dates didn't apply to local guests, and as the Anniversary approached, many, like us, were taking advantage of good weather and unique merchandise opportunities. Everyone seemed in very good spirits, and there were very few crying children all around. Even the normal logjams around several attractions weren't as clogged with guests stopping and looking around. Everyone seemed to have a good idea of what they wanted, and were very kind to others when accidentally bumped or run into. The pace seemed slower to me too, almost as if no one was really digging for cue lines.
We ate at Goofy's Kitchen on Monday night before using our first PH on Tuesday. This was a very good idea. Monday, a travel day, was spent flying into LAX, seeing Griffith Park (observatory was closed), and driving down to the resort area. We stuffed our faces with food, took it easy in DD, and did some shopping at the various stores. The Lego store had the Batman Tumbler on display and for sale for $200. Totally awesome kit, but the front wheels don't steer so I couldn't see a good way to modify it for a remote controlled vehicle.
Tuesday morning we went to the Plaza Inn for character breakfast and got bombarded with characters. Very few people eating that early, so we had plenty of time for the kids to visit with characters. Captain Hook and Tigger got into a air sword battle...
We spent all day Wednesday in DCA and soaked up the new WOC show. This show, unfortunately hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, is absolutely wonderful. A much better narrative and purpose to the show. Sure, they show shorter clips of several movie scenes, with the obligatory "Frozen" overabundance, but also include many clips regarding Disneyland's history, as well as a generous helping of Walt himself. The show really ties together the technology of WOC with the storytelling Walt was famous for. We ate at WCT, so we got front rail viewing in the wet zone, and boy howdy, did we get wet. Just enough southerly breeze to send those tall fountain columns are way.
Thursday, it was a mix of DCA and DL, with a little more DCA than I would have wanted. DCA is great, but you can do it all in 1-1/2 days if you move. We rode Toy Story over and over during WOC both Thursday and Friday Nights.
The 60th Anniversary presentation was pretty dry. Even though Michael Colglazier was on hand to give the presentation, as he introduced members of the Disney family, Legends, and Imagineers, he named no names. I would have been okay with a longer presentation if he went down a list of names. Pretty cheap, if you ask me. The best part of the presentation was the performance of "Tuppence a bag" by Richard Sherman. He spoke, and played the piano for the song, which was very cool. After the ceremony, several executives and dignitaries stayed for photo ops and met with guests, which was a nice touch. From where we were standing, over by the entrance to TL, I noticed one Disney manager or exec walking around with a trash pick up stick and yelled "selfie stick!" which was picked up by a couple other park execs. After laughing at that comment, they called me over and asked me to repeat what I said. Turns out that "Jim" (the one with the trash pick up stick) was the park exec/manager that instituted the selfie stick ban. We shook hands and had a laugh. I really enjoyed how the Park's managers and execs were out with the guests, talking, interacting, and helping keep the place clean. The line of managers on Main Street that morning was cool too. I high-fived all of them on my way in with my daughter in her stroller.
Our last day (Saturday) was spent mostly in DL during the mid morning and late night times. We stayed until park closing, and got to see and do several attractions at night, which hadn't happened before with my kids. They were real troopers, and could easily have melted down, but stayed with it long enough keep enjoying. Splash at night was the big hit, as was TMR.
A couple of overall thoughts:
First, I've never seen the Resort in such tired shape. On several occasions, the attractions had missing or chipped paint, loose parts, defective apparatus, or broken or incomplete features...
- Haunted Mansion - several popup ghosts had missing costume parts, exposing the mechanicals
- Ursela from Ariel's had ripped black fabric
- Ride vehicles on Buzz Lightyear had badly worn edges, loose grommets, defective guns
- Toy Story ride had a dark practice screen, and one very blurry in-game screen
The Hatbox Ghost, although cool and all, looked too new, and wasn't properly aged looking to fit into the rest of the scenes in HM. The technology was a little distracting from the other ghostly offerings, although I'm happy it's back.
Additionally, the Parks were never filthier than I noticed this trip. I saw far fewer sanitation and maintenance cast members for these 5 days than I'd ever seen. A lot of trash, bottles and paper in cue lines, on paths, and in rides. Small World had a several visible signs of waste scattered around on the floor. Part of this is due to lazy guest slobs, but another seems to be the effort put in by the cast members. I watched one sanitation cast member walk right by some trash on the ground, even though his collector was still mostly empty. He moved very slowly, seemingly disinterested in his job.
We had a run of bad luck too. Seems like several attractions broke down while we were there. Screamin' broke down twice while I was close by, stranding riders on trains at the top of the big drop, and right after launch. Goofy's Sky School got stuck too, leaving it closed a couple times. In fact, we were joking that wherever I went on Thursday, the rides would stop working.
Another gripe: Merchandise. The resort ran out of the navy blue Disneyland 60th Anniversary t-shirts in my size. They had size S, and XL and above, but nothing I could wear. Not a big deal, as I bought the black D60 shirt, but even that was a little disappointment. Overall, the 60th merchandise was, IMO, cheaply made. Light printing on the shirts, some bad stitching, etc. I was going to pick up a Starbucks "60th" mug, but the printing was a thin, cheap halftone that would have washed away very quickly. We did buy some 60th stuff, and I hope it holds up.
The rain we had on Saturday helped thin the crowds a little, but coming from Seattle, that didn't deter us. We headed back to the rental house for lunch and returned to the Park at 5pm until close. The rain had largely stopped by then, save for a shower or three. Parkas were everywhere, which ended up not being needed.
Overall, it was fun, but it could have been better. I wasn't expecting a ton of ceremonial stuff on the 17th, but we visited during this time because, along with my niece sharing DL's birthday, we wanted to be there, ya know?
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