Disney California Adventure and Disneyland visit March 10th, 2019.
Need I say more? First, we consider ourselves theme park junkies. Second, we are also huge Disney fans. When you put those two things together, going to LA and skipping Disneyland simply wasn’t an option. It was lower on our list of priorities, but when I noticed the lack of traffic on Sunday morning, we decided to make the trip down south for a long fun filled day.
We opted to stay in the Hollywood Hills, because most of our bucket list items revolved around the north part of town. If you go to Los Angeles, traffic will be an issue. Finding the best middle ground to meet your needs is extremely important if you want to enjoy the trip.
Disney World is a place we have visited many times. What I found the most refreshing was how close it was to both the sister park, Islands of Adventure, and the parking area are at Disneyland. You do not have to spend 30 minutes to an hour getting from your car to the park like you do at The Magic Kingdom.
This was the first time we have visited a Disney park and planned to spend one single entire day. On our Disney World trips, we camped or rented a home and our dogs came along for the fun. Because of this, we would break up our days into 2 half days, taking a much needed break to nap and play with the pups. When you are talking about a park opening at 8AM and staying open until midnight, the break was something everyone in the family enjoyed.
This was our one single day at Disney, so we hunkered down and made it happen! I think we arrived at 9AM and stayed until 11PM. It was long, it was tiring, but we all agreed it was worth it. Both Disneyland and Islands of Adventure had plenty of rides the kids had never experienced, as well as some all time favorites. Sadly, Space Mountain was under repairs, which was the only disappointing moment. I did enjoy the classic theme park feel of Islands of Adventure. The Incredicoaster was fabulous and the overall vibe of the park was Disney, yet more boardwalk theme park. Due to our Spring Break falling early in the year, the park wasn’t crowded and the most we spent in line was 45 minutes for the Guardians of the Galaxy ride.
If you have never been to Disneyland, you should note Fast Passes are ‘old school’. There are no magic bands, so you must take your ticket to the entrance area of the ride, scan your ticket, and get a random fast pass time. You cannot get another fast pass until you use the first one. Thankfully the lines were short, so we didn’t use the fast pass system more than once (for a second ride on Guardians of the Galaxy for my nerdy family). You could pay a fee of $15.00’s per ticket to use the Disney app for Fast Pass options, but we decided it wouldn’t be worth the $60 for the very limited use.
If you are on the fence about doing Disneyland when you have already visited Disney World, I say do it if you have the funds and the time. Spending several days would be best, but you can see a lot during one full day. The military 3 day pass tickets were the exact same cost as the single day regular tickets, so we purchased the 3 day pass, even though it was extremely unlikely we would be able to make the long drive down south a second day. If you are military and staying in the south LA area, having the 3 day hopper pass is a great value!
Park Tickets $178.00 for one 3 day hopper pass to both parks for military active duty or retired. We did this spare of the moment and showed up at the gate and purchased there. No need to visit MWR on a base or other official military ticket office. We were told it was the same cost as a single day hopper pass for non-military. This was one of the most expensive parts of our vacation.
Souvenirs $65.00 : It was FREEZING so I bought a jacket with a hoody halfway through the day, and Kenzie wanted a tee-shirt. Aiden passed on Disney to save his for Universal Studios.
Becky Baxter
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