General Thoughts on Disneyland

So the Disneyland portion of my trip is over and I am now in Boston for a while before I head down to Orlando. I'm hoping to post some more detailed reviews of attractions and restaurants in Disneyland but I may not have time for that until I am back in Perth so I just wanted to post some initial thoughts.

Disneyland is quite different to Disney World. I'm not sure if I am romanticising Disney World a bit - I will have a better sense of that in a couple of weeks - but I didn't find Disneyland to be as magical as Disneyworld. There definitely wasn't a Disney bubble at Disneyland. To get from my hotel to the parks I had to cross a major road and pass beggars and homeless people. Often there were Disney cast members (still in costume) taking the same route on their way home. The lack of utilidors was noticeable too - there were often cast members in the "wrong" location. 

The compact size of Disneyland made touring and especially park-hopping easier, but Disneyland Park in particular felt quite crowded and difficult to navigate - especially during parades and fireworks when it seemed like half the park was blocked off. Overall I preferred the feel and theming of Disney California Adventure to Disneyland Park. 

My favourite attractions at Disneyland Park were Pirates, Peter Pan, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain and Star Tours. At Disney California Adventure my favourites were Radiator Springs Racers, California Screamin', Grizzly River Run and Soarin'. Overall I was a little disappointed in the quality of the attractions - I think I set my expectations a little too high. 

I enjoyed the new nighttime entertainment that came with the Diamond celebration, although not so much the need to camp out for an hour plus in advance. My favourite was probably the Disneyland Forever fireworks, especially Tinker Bell and Nemo flying. I also enjoyed the other entertainment in the parks, especially Aladdin at DCA and the Frozen show at the Royal Theatre.

I tried a wide range of food options, from a corn dog from a cart to Surf and Turf in the Blue Bayou restaurant. All of it was good quality but touring solo I found some of the portions a little big (especially when there were lots of different things I wanted to try). 

Touring in Disneyland was a little more spontaneous than in Disney World but I still appreciated all of the plans I had made with the help of Touring Plans as well as the ability to quickly put a last minute plan together using the Lines app. I'm really looking forward to having wifi at Disney World and being to contribute and access wait time data live.