I originally posted this on my Substack, but realized it may be better suited to my blog… now that I’m blogging again. If you’d like to subscribe to my Substack, you can do so here.
I kind of hate traveling. I’m a creature of habit: I not only do not like change, I actively resist it. I like my planner set up, my calendar meticulous, my bed made, and the same routine every single day. Traveling disrupts all of my little creature comforts. But sometimes, I’m willing to disrupt those little things for something that is just as predictable and comfortable as my day-to-day.
That thing is Disneyland.
I do think people often wonder about those who travel exclusively to Disney properties. And I can’t speak for everyone, but I can say this: I know what to expect. When I get to Disneyland, I know exactly what is going to happen and what I’m going to do. No surprises. No confusion. I know how to get there and how to get home. It’s far away without being too far. It is comfortable and familiar. And I like that. Maybe I’m boring (spoiler alert: I am kinda boring), but that’s how I like my vacations.
Disneyland closed for a large portion of 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. When it re-opened in June 2021, they had a little bit of a slow start. I had promised my son (and myself) that when the park re-opened, I would plan a trip for us—which I did for October 2021.
What I didn’t know is after that original very slow 2021 summer, Disneyland attendance exploded. But here’s the kicker: despite using a reservation system to limit guest attendance, Disneyland has chosen not to release official attendance numbers for those days. And it definitely did not seem like they were limiting park attendance in October 2021.
Update: We also ended up taking a second Disneyland trip in June 2022—yes, I was 20 weeks pregnant and took myself to Disneyland. I am who I am. It ended up being a lot more fun than the October trip, mainly because I followed my own advice in this blog post. Even my 20-week-pregnant self was able to make the most of that trip.
I have a few points I want to make about the new reality of Disneyland. I guess this might be the point to get started.
1: Realistically, there are no more slow seasons.
I went to Disneyland in October 2010 and it was a ghost town. When I went in December 2006 the week before Christmas? A ghost town. For both of those trips, we walked on to every single ride.
I have not experienced a slow season in several years—but I had chalked that up to visiting as busier times, such as June, the week of Christmas, etc.
It was in October 2021 that I realized October was no longer a slow season—it never will be again. The dates I went this trip overlapped with the same dates in 2010: mid-week, mid-month. But in 2021, the park was packed: more crowded than I had ever experienced it before in my life and that includes summer trips and trips the week of Christmas (notoriously the busiest season).
Fans have for years created crowd calendars based on previous years data (anecdotally collected), holidays, and events to create a rough calendar of what days will be so-crowded-you’ll-lose-your-mind and what days will be ghost towns. This year, there are maybe 3 “not-that-crowded” days in the entirety of October.
A huge part of why crowds are so high is potentially “revenge travel”—a phenomenon that has been popping up post-pandemic to explain why everyone is, well, traveling so much. We couldn’t do anything for 18 months and regardless of the continued risks, people are traveling. They’re going, whether anyone tries to stop them or not.
Another part of this is the Disneyland reservation system. I’m not tapped in to the current Disneyland fandom (omg) enough to fully understand all the issues with the reservation system—but it definitely is inflating crowd numbers. The system was designed in part of limit crowds, but it is hilariously seeming to do the opposite.
2: Genie+ and Lightning Lane Help, but the System Needs Some Work
The Disneyland park (and by extension, I assume, other Disney properties) are becoming increasingly reliant on their branded apps for use around the park.
Genie+ is a service that helps you arrange your day in the parks. It is fairly user friendly, but kind of confusing. The recommendations are based on wait times in particular, but they don’t always make sense; regardless of wait times, most people try to stay in one area of the park at a time, so you don’t have to walk back and forth multiple times. But Genie+ will suggests It’s a Small World, followed by Star Tours, followed by Haunted Mansion, followed by the Mad Hatter Tea Party. It doesn’t always make sense.
It also suggests places to grab food or place a mobile order, but again, it doesn’t seem to take your location in the park into account. For example, on our last day, we were in Downtown Disney and it suggested the Coke Corner on Main Street USA for us to get lunch—when we had already left the park and were surrounded by other food options.
So, Genie+ needs a little work. It’s one shining spot is really Lightning Lane, which gives you access to, basically, Fast Passes that you book on your phone. It shows you the return window and when your window is up, you just scan your phone for everyone in your party. Super, super easy.
The only downside is sometimes you don’t need Fast Passes, like first thing in the morning. The only other downside is that some rides, like Radiator Springs Racers, the new Star Wars ride, and Web Slingers cost additional fees—around $7-$15 depending. It’s not a huge fee, but it does add up depending on the size of your party. The one day we spent in California Adventure, the wait time for Radiator Springs Racers are 120 minutes at opening—so we knew we wanted to get Lightning Lanes. It’s not a ride I can ride right now, unfortunately, so we spent $30 for my husband and son to get Lightning Lanes. Is $30 equivalent to 120 minutes wait time? Is it worth it? I’m not sure. It definitely helped, but I’m not sure how often I could do that.
You can also only book Lightning Lanes once your ticket has been scanned into the park and the park itself opens—that means 8am and whenever you enter the park. That does keep people from crowding into Lightning Lanes and dominating the space before others have time to get their morning coffee.
3: Sorry, but the Newest Parts of the Park Suck
This might be controversial and I’m so sorry to the Star Wars and Marvel fans, but quite frankly, those new areas suck. They’re so bad. Star Wars Land is just a series of walls with no natural shade, no places to sit, and nothing to do. It is huge and far away from the other areas of the park, so it is quite a walk to get there (and a lot of it is uphill). One thing you’ll notice about the original areas of Disneyland is, yes, they are smaller and more crowded—but they have tons of seating, shade, hidden places to sit and relax. Star Wars Land and the Avengers Campus have none of these things. Just huge walls, no trees, nothing.
That has always been one of my big gripes when it comes to California Adventure as well: the design is very cute, but there are no shady areas in the park outside of restaurants. Many of the walkways are just bare, which means there is nowhere to sit and wait or sit and eat the item you just got from a food cart. It’s bad design, frankly, and I don’t care who hears it!
Even worse is that there is nothing to do in these 2 new lands. Star Wars Land has 2 rides and that is it—and neither ride are great, if I’m being honest. When we went on Rise of the Resistance, it was such a long wait (this was back in October, before Lightning Lanes) and then we were loaded onto basically a bus? I remember looking at Danny and saying, “This is it? We’re on a bus watching a screen?” Then it got worse. I hated every second of it.
Smuggler’s Run is better, but again, it’s just not… that good. I don’t want to sit and click a button on a ride. Neither of these rides are very kid friendly either (which is a point I’ll get to later). 2 rides in a MASSIVE addition to a park? Please.
And Avengers Campus only has one new ride—the other is the Tower of Terror in a new, Guardians of the Galaxy dress which, I’m sorry, still makes no sense. Webslingers is a very fun ride, so I’ll forgive it, but again—a huge addition to the park and there are 2 rides? That’s it? Cars Land, in comparison, has at least 3 rides. Are they 3 great rides? Not really, but at least there is more to do there.
This is going to be the most “I think this sucks and I’m sorry, but it does suck” part of this newsletter. The OG Disneyland is so meticulously designed and so many Imagineers still work so hard on these concepts—but the execution? Baby, what is happening here?
4: Disneyland is No Longer a Kid-Friendly Park.
See, I told you I was getting there.
Disneyland was started pretty much because Walt Disney wanted to create a place where families could play together. That meant rides that parents and kids could go on. You can see that so clearly in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland and even in the “newer” areas like Adventureland, including New Orleans Square, and Frontierland. Not every ride is very small kid friendly, but most of them are kid-friendly to an extent. There may be height limits, but most kids surpass them by 6-8 years old—still pretty young.
And none of the rides are overly scary. Probably the scariest is Space Mountain, but even that can be overcome.
In comparison, Smuggler’s Run scared my son so bad, he refuses to even think about going on it again. Some kids might do ok with these rides, but they are aimed at lifelong fans of these huge franchises—not kids, but adults.
The rumors of newer lands in Disneyland and California Adventure are based, again, on franchises that primarily adults are into (although there are rumors of a Tangled land? Who is asking for this, I just want to talk). They aren’t designed for families and their kids—they’re designed for adults.
That’s fine. Disneyland doesn’t have to be exclusive to families with kids (and I’ll never make that argument), but can’t we have a few new rides for little kids? For kids who are afraid of the dark or don’t like super fast rollercoasters? Please? Just one or two? Update: When I originally posted this, a friend sent me a message saying that an Ewok-themed space in the Star Wars land area would be amazing and I have to agree. A nice, shady, Ewok-themed area? Call me, Disney. My fee is substantial.
You’re telling me no one could think up a single a kid-friendly Star Wars ride for the new land? Or a kid-friendly Marvel ride? No one? No one in the entirety of Disney? Hm.
It’s not the end of the world, but it does mean that Fantasyland (the most kid-friendly area of the park) becomes wall-to-wall on the busiest days. We couldn’t even go there in October or June, because it’s just insanity. If there are only a few places with rides for kids in the park, then that means they aren’t going to even bother going anywhere else.
5: Expectations Have to be Readjusted
Gone are the days of fitting in everything you enjoy about Disneyland into a 2 or even 3-day trip. Remember what I said about slow times? Yeah, the parks are so damn busy by around 11 or 12 every day that usually, we left the parks. We returned in the evening (usually after 4 or 5) to ride a few more rides. It meant we had to divide and conquer: these lands on these days and these lands on these days.
It used to be that 3 days was more than enough time in the parks to do everything you could possibly want to do. I’m just not sure that is the case anymore—and maybe that is what Disney is trying to do. Longer park stays of course mean more money—more snacks in the park, more souvenirs you have to have, more meals at Downtown Disney… the list goes on.
Despite all these things, we still had fun.
There are always going to be things that need improvement, especially about something as big as Disneyland. I still love it! I still had fun! This past trip in June was one of the best trips we had had in a while—and straight up, it’s because we gave ourselves the freedom to leave when we got overwhelmed, return later, and take lots of breaks. You just have to adjust your expectations about what Disneyland is like now—because it’s not the same as it used to be and that’s ok. Things change—it’s ok!
If there is anything you’d like me to touch on or questions you have about my visit(s), let me know.
One thing I haven’t touched on here is COVID protocols; when we went in October, masks were still required on rides and we wore masks the majority of the time in the park. This time in June, masks are no longer required and social distancing is not enforced (or even encouraged) in lines. I had forgotten to pack masks, so this made me especially nervous in lines when CMs were asking everyone to squish close together. If this is a concern to you, definitely pack some masks—I would have felt much better with them! We did not get sick on either trip, which I’m very thankful for, but we were very careful both trips. I do know a few people who have returned from Disneyland, however, and they had gotten COVID—so use that information how you will and travel accordingly (and safely, of course).