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A Few Observations from Disneyland

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Thu, 04/29/2010 - 15:11
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A Few Observations from Disneyland

I'm still in Disneyland and haven't ridden everything yet, but I thought I'd share a few of my observations:

Space Mountain
Holy cow! I don't even know why they call this the same ride. I can kind of get behind the nostalgia of the original, but honestly I feel like this one is just plain superior. I was prepared for it to be different, but not this different.

Size Issues
I don't know if it's because everyone was telling me how small DL is or what, but I really didn't notice that it was that small compared to the MK. The castle on the other hand...

Cast Members
I had heard that the CMs here were typically more friendly because minimum wage here is higher. I find this to be somewhat true, but I also see a lot of people who are just working at DL until their acting career gets started (any day now). I think it's pretty much like WDW, a mixed bag.

Food
The table service I think has been generally comparable, but the counter service seems like it has been superior here. It may just be because of the choices we've made though.

Convenience
While the parks themselves don't seem small to me, things are much closer together. It's honestly been really nice to be able to get in and out of the parks so quickly.

Those are just some things that have popped into my head...I'll try to put up some pictures and reports soon.

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Thu, 04/29/2010 - 16:20
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Interesting observations, Brad. Thanks for sharing! Do you have any plans to leave Disney property to visit the surrounding area?

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Thu, 04/29/2010 - 19:54
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Good stuff. Look forward to hearing more.

Fri, 04/30/2010 - 06:10
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SoloFriendly wrote:
Interesting observations, Brad. Thanks for sharing! Do you have any plans to leave Disney property to visit the surrounding area?

Everything is so close together here that we decided to go without a car. We never do that in Disney World, so we thought we'd try it out here. Definitely don't need one if you aren't leaving property. We have so much we want to get in that we didn't figure we needed to add more into the mix. Is there something you recommend?

Fri, 04/30/2010 - 12:59
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If you have time, I would be sure to visit Knott's Berry Farm. Often regarded (especially in some Disney circles) as "that other park", Knott's IMO is a special place and a pretty unique park. They have world famous food in addition to great rides and theming (not the same type of Disney-type theming, but good no less). I haven't been there since the late nineties either (as DL), but I suspect it has only gotten bigger and better. Best part is it's only five miles from DL.

Another place I would want to go if I were there, though it's a bit of a journey without a car at thirty-plus miles, is the Griffith Park Observatory. I would go so far as to say it's a must for any self respecting geek (given the time and transportation) visiting the area. Now they do have the standard museum-type fare, but they also have incredible shows. Both those of the scientific variety and those of the holy-crap-I-can't-believe-how-cool-that-was variety biggrin My personal favorite was the Dark Side of the Moon (as in Pink Floyd) laser show. Looking at the website, I don't see any mention of anything like the Pink Floyd show but I am assuming the others are cool. In any case, if you're there long enough and want a relaxing (and free) afternoon to remember GPO is excellent.

Beyond those, the other attractions I recall are pretty standard fare (like Medieval Times).

Fri, 04/30/2010 - 14:07
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LifeIsForLiving wrote:
If you have time, I would be sure to visit Knott's Berry Farm. Often regarded (especially in some Disney circles) as "that other park", Knott's IMO is a special place and a pretty unique park. They have world famous food in addition to great rides and theming (not the same type of Disney-type theming, but good no less). I haven't been there since the late nineties either (as DL), but I suspect it has only gotten bigger and better. Best part is it's only five miles from DL.

I watched a Food Network show about this place. The food looked pretty compelling. Couldn't tell much about the other attractions.

Fri, 04/30/2010 - 17:12
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Again, it's been some time since I've been but I remember the place well. It should be noted that it was purchased by Cedar Fair (as in the company that owns/operates Cedar Point) in 1997. I haven't been since then, but as far as I've heard it has only gotten better. The theme is quaint old west, with the Peanuts characters.

Sat, 05/01/2010 - 00:02
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Thanks for your observations, Brad!!

I've heard a lot of good about Knott's -- would love to check it out.

Sat, 05/01/2010 - 13:43
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Here's some more thoughts:

FastPass
It's really surprising how little they promote the FastPass system here. Much less prominent than WDW.

California Screamin'
I had my expectations pretty low on this one because everyone said it wasn't that impressive. Thought it was pretty cool. Definitely ride in front though.

Splash Mountain
This is the only ride I would say WDW has a large advantage in. The seats are much less comfortable and I don't like the animatronics as much.

Toy Story Mania
We haven't even done this yet, because they can't seem to keep it running.

Sat, 05/01/2010 - 18:03
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I'm doing some research on Knott's Berry Farm now. It sounds really interesting.

Mon, 05/03/2010 - 07:00
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dsoup wrote:
I'm doing some research on Knott's Berry Farm now. It sounds really interesting.

It has a different kind of charm than the World. Instead of feeling like a far off, magical place it just feels comfortable and familiar. Don't know how else to explain it, but it's neat (again, haven't been recently).

Wed, 05/05/2010 - 02:45
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A few more thoughts:

Crowds
The crowds seem really unpredictable. I think because people only come for a day or two they change pretty frequently. Friday night however was a madhouse because:

Fireworks
Apparently at this time of year they only do fireworks on Fri/Sat/Sun. That's kind of a bummer if you ask me.

Soarin'/TSM
Exactly the same as WDW. Probably not worth the line if there's other things you'd like to do.

Wed, 05/05/2010 - 17:29
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Brad wrote:
SoloFriendly wrote:
Interesting observations, Brad. Thanks for sharing! Do you have any plans to leave Disney property to visit the surrounding area?

Everything is so close together here that we decided to go without a car. We never do that in Disney World, so we thought we'd try it out here. Definitely don't need one if you aren't leaving property. We have so much we want to get in that we didn't figure we needed to add more into the mix. Is there something you recommend?

Not really, I was just curious.

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Thu, 05/06/2010 - 18:59
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Surprising that they had a problem keeping TSM running... I wonder why!

Sat, 05/08/2010 - 16:43
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admin wrote:
Surprising that they had a problem keeping TSM running... I wonder why!

I there there would be a riot at WDW if that happened!

Sun, 05/09/2010 - 16:53
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Wow, thanks for these Brad. These insights are really going to help when DW and I head to DL.

I'm intrigued about your thinking that crowds are tough to predict because people only come for one or two days. I never realized it before, but we really do discuss WDW crowds in terms of "weeks."

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