I haven’t been to Disneyland since 1998, when three friends and I -all in our college years- drove to California, each bought a five-day pass, and stayed at the Best Western directly across from the front gates. Two of us, myself included, couldn’t get enough of the place, and were still lining up for Space Mountain and Indiana Jones on the final night. The other two were so sick of the Magic Kingdom by Day 4 that they would only leave the motel room to buy more alcohol.
Tom: While they’ve added a lot since then, Marcus is right: Three days at Disneyland is probably enough for most people. Still, make sure you take your daughter to the classics e.g. Small World, Pirates, and Haunted Mansion. You never know what’s going to get phased out or “re-tooled”. I still regret never seeing Captain EO, and I miss being able to nap while riding the “Adventure Through Inner Space”.
Assholes. I was too young for the Star Trek thing at Universal, and now I’m too old for this.
They do still have it, and we did not get a chance to go on it because the line was a million miles long. I’m still bitter. BITTER. The weekend was great aside from that, though. I love Disneyland.
April 29th 1992, there was a riot on the streets tell me where were you.
I was at a dance club with my girlfriend at the time, If I remember right it was Utah vs the Clippers on the TV and they kept flashing between the game and the beginnings of the riots outside. There was no sound on the TV so we were under the impression the people of LA were rioting over the clippers losing the game. I didn’t find out what was really going on until the next day.
I got an annual pass for the first time this year, it makes me way happier than it probably should. I do so love Disneyland.
I had one of the best trips to Disneyland ever recently. My wife had a free room at the Grand Californian for a conference back in January, so my 6-year-old daughter and I played hooky on a Monday. Spent the night at the GC, got into the park early, and went on a billion rides since attendance was low that day. She is quite a daredevil, and went on all the coasters & such at least twice. She totally loved Tower of Terror, so we rode that three times. My wife had a room service problem, so the manager comped her $100 park credit, which became lots of free food and a sweater jacket for me.
One you get to fly, the other you get to go to Hell. I also like inspecting the oft-abused Mr. Toad sculpture for new damage. It is a tough call, though. The line on Peter Pan sure is longer, that last trip we went on the other three (for you Disney noobs, that means Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, and Snow White’s Scary Adventure) in less time than it took to get through the Peter Pan line.
I have a friend that still imitates Michael Jackson failing to sound tough saying, “We’re goin’ in.”
I didn’t see it answered, so… yeah, they have FastPass at Disney World (Florida) also. We were there two years ago and we’re going back in June. It’s very helpful because you get on everything you want to ride without baking in the sun for hours in a single line.
I’ve never been to Disneyland so I can’t compare necessarily, but um, the parking lot at Disney World is supposedly the size of the entirety of Disneyland itself. Of course, Disney World is fucking huge with Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Disney MGM Studios.
Interestingly, Mr. Toad is gone in Magic Kingdom. Peter Pan’s still there and still cool. Small World was redone about three or so years ago and it looks fantastic. Snow White is also no longer in Magic Kingdom.
They replaced one of them (I forget which) with Winnie the Pooh and it was fucking phenomenal. Apparently they’re retooling Pooh again (my wife was just done for a field hockey tournament a month ago) and it was closed. Hopefully it’s back open this summer.
Finally, if you get to Epcot… Soarin’ is just fabulous. One of the best rides I’ve ever been on. You really do feel like you’re flying in a way no other ride ever made me feel before. It’s also geeky as all hell when they turn on the lights and you can look up and see all the hydraulic lifts and stuff that runs the show. Amazing.
Yeah they have Soarin’ Over California at California Adventures too and it was great. The golf course was the best part, when the golfer hits his tee shot right at you.
It was also brilliant the way that Puddy was our pre-flight attendant.
It’ll take a while to make it to Anaheim, but a new Star Tours is happening. I believe it’s going into the Hong Kong Disney first. That’s the good news. The bad news? Two words: Pod. Race.
As much as I think we can all agree to take a collective groupshit on The Phantom Menace, the pod race was cool and I would have no hesitation to line up for a ride based on that. Hell, even the game version was good; we had a betting pool based on it in the PC Gamer office for a while there.
I’m sure they do. It’s a newer ride afterall. AFAIK they only changed Space Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean since I last went. Also, I remember the ride they replaced the people mover with is lame and not worth the wait.
Yeah, I remember seeing those Rocket Rods being prepped for introduction when I was there in the early summer of '98. Within three years, that ride would be deader than Walt. See the Yesterland website for some neat info on old Disney rides. I really miss taking a cable car through Matterhorn!
My sister and her family have been to Hong Kong Disney twice in the last two years. While my five year-old nephew loves it, his parents say it’s nothing compared to Anaheim. (Nice hotels, though.) Best to wait a few more years, as it’s very much a work-in-progress. Disney has been pretty candid about its strategy of slowly introducing rides, so as to price-skim the early visitors. I just hope that development doesn’t come to a standstill once Disneyland Shanghai opens its doors.
Denny: The subs should be making a comeback soon as a “Finding Nemo” ride. Unfortunately, I don’t think James Mason is in it.
