Back From Anaheim last week, rambling thoughts

[Tco200]

So we arrived back on Thursday after spending a week in Anaheim and wanted to give some thoughts and feedback in case it helps anyone.

Our trip was 7 nights in the Clarion Anaheim flying Manchester to LAX with Thomas Cook with 5 day Disney tickets a day trip to La and a day at Knott’s, overall the trip was brilliant and much better than expected.

Flights

Thomas Cook were superb, we paid about £300 each direct return, both flights there and back were on time and a little shorter than anticipated.

The food was good on the way out, veg option was sweet potato curry and I had chicken curry, the kids got macaroni which was nice as well. With the meal there was an option of juice, Pepsi or tea and coffee and I bought a beer for £4.

Later in the flight they brought a mini cornetto round followed by a sandwich and another drink.

Overall we didn’t miss the services of a virgin flight as we don’t tend to drink alcohol on the flight anyway.

The entertainment was fine, we upgraded our sons screen to premium movies for £5 but the rest of us were fine with the basic selection.

They let my son into the cockpit at the end as well to meet the pilot.

We had heard horror stories of LAX but immigration was a doddle and quicker then we’ve ever got through Orlando.

Transfers

As we have a 2 and 7 year old that needed car seats we booked a Lansky private shuttle.

It was the most expensive option but worked perfectly for us, the driver met us at the exit of the airport with a sign for us and helped with our bags.

I think they are Korean and don’t speak much English but were pleasant and drove us to a convenience store to stock up on drinks on the way to the hotel.

Return journey was great as well and got us to the airport in good time.

Clarion Anaheim

A hotel with mixed reviews and was expecting the worst for the £300 we paid for the week.

It was absolutely fine, it is a little dated especially the bathroom but the room was clean and the bed comfy and the location was brilliant an easy flat 10 minute walk to the Disneyland resort entrance with a 7/11 on the way.

We had a room on the 3rd floor facing Disney so could see the top of the fireworks.

Disneyland

Again wasn’t sure what to expect as huge fans of Disneyworld but were massively pleasantly surprised.

As a singular park the magic Kingdom park was as good as any singular Disney park I’ve been to, we found most of the rides equal to or better than their WDW equivalents:

Small World - we loved the characters so preferred the DL version

Pirates - tough one but marginally preferred the DL version but not much in it

Haunted Mansion - a huge favourite of ours, we loved loved loved the Nightmare before Christmas overlay on this

Splash - a huge WDW favourite for me and I still prefer that version, felt the DL one is a little rougher

Fantasyland was cute but I prefer the sprawling new Fantasyland at WDW

In California adventure Carsland theming was amazing with RSR being a brilliant ride, Guardians was good but it doesn’t match Tower of Terror for me.

The favourite bit of either park was Paint the Night, like all the best bits of Electrical Parade with better floats, the best parade I’ve ever seen.

Also the Halloweentime theming at both parks was brill and the character interactions seemed more freeform, one day goofy walked out on Main Street and took my son by the hand and walked around with him.

Downtown Disney is a little lacking when you are used to Disney Springs and if I’m honest I really missed the dining plan as food and snacks seemed extortionate when paying out for it.

We paid for Maxpass 4 days out of the 5 we were there and it was ace, at times we had 3 or 4 big rides queued up and got on the big rides every day without issue, we did get some good photos but not nearly as many photopass guys around.

Day trip to LA

we used Anaheim Tour Company and had Rick as a driver.

He was brilliant, we did the Grand Tour. Well worth doing even if the places were disappointing in parts.

Hollywood Boulevard as we had heard was scruffy and not really much to see.

Rodeo drive as expected felt pretentious but we enjoyed the beaches, Santa Monica we had a paddle in the sea after a walk on the pier - then saw a huge brawl between gangs of beach sellers. And Venice beach had an interesting vibe.

Overall the tour company was great and it was good to tick some places off the bucket list but not something you would do twice.

Knott’s

We got the ART bus to Knott’s, route 18 for about $12 return for all of us, easy to get at the convention centre, about 15 minutes and dropped at the gates of the park, easy on the way back as well.

It was nice to visit the park and had some great coasters and some good interaction in the Wild West area but probably the day we enjoyed the least, maybe we aren’t theme park people if they aren’t Disney! Plus we were exhausted in the afternoon (we walked 65 miles or so over the week)

Overall we absolutely loved the trip but WDW will still be our go to as it feels more of a holiday, we were on the go all the time and only had a swim on the arrival day.

Disneyland was better than we had hoped for though and we definitely want to go back sometime.

Sorry that was longer than anticipated!

[sky13]

Sounds like you had a great trip!

And this is really helpful for me since I'm planning my upcoming trip and considering Lansky, the LA day tour, and Knott's Berry Farm too.

[Harry]

Still out here at the moment (currently residing in Hollywood universal)...had 3 days at Disney...1st 2 days were great including MNSSHP and great day at CA but our last day at DL was as bad as i have known at a Disneypark...bought the Maxpass ...complete waste of time as only managed 3 FPs all day ...and that was us getting in at 10am... never known a busier day in prob 100 odd times doing Dis parks over the years... last 2 days has been superb...the Universal Horror night and Warner Bros tours were quite magnificent...

[Sew109]

Originally Posted by Harry

Still out here at the moment (currently residing in Hollywood universal)...had 3 days at Disney...1st 2 days were great including MNSSHP and great day at CA but our last day at DL was as bad as i have known at a Disneypark...bought the Maxpass ...complete waste of time as only managed 3 FPs all day ...and that was us getting in at 10am... never known a busier day in prob 100 odd times doing Dis parks over the years... last 2 days has been superb...the Universal Horror night and Warner Bros tours were quite magnificent...

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We were in Disneyland on Friday we bought the fast pass got t9 the park at 0730 managed 12 fast passes on FP max the only issue I had was that there was not enough rides with fast passes. According to Touring Plans it was a 4 but it felt far busier than a 4 in WDW thoug( the lines generally would be longer in Florida.

[Tco200]

We did find that Disneyland got very busy later in the day and we avoided going at weekend as had heard they are the worst.

The area just between pirates and haunted mansion in particular felt very crowded (we love pirates and must have been on 10 times but in a morning it was always 5 minutes)

[Harry]

Had day at US Hollywood yesterday... total opposite to our day at DL...longest we queued up all day was 20 mins ...The Simpsons... everything else was virtually a walk on...done most things twice... all the shows... and photos with all the characters we wanted... this was from 10-6pm... fantastic day

[Wordsworth]

I love the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay on Haunted Mansion, I’m still shocked they don’t do it in the Orlando park. It’s the single best holiday revision IMO.

It’s also brilliant in Japanese in Tokyo 🤣

[sky13]

Originally Posted by Wordsworth

I love the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay on Haunted Mansion, I’m still shocked they don’t do it in the Orlando park. It’s the single best holiday revision IMO.

It’s also brilliant in Japanese in Tokyo 🤣

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Not sure how accurate this is, but I think I read that they originally had planned to do the Nightmare before Christmas overlay at HM in WDW - then for various reasons decided not to, so TDR took the overlay instead (since their HM is a clone of the WDW one)!

The only downside about the NbC overlay at Disneyland is that... I still haven't managed to go on the regular HM at Disneyland and I'm not sure when I'll get to do so...