Disneyland 2022 (Southern California – Part 2 of 3)

The first part of our trip to Southern California in December 2022 (but second part I am documenting) included a visit to the happiest place on Earth – Disneyland and California Adventure Parks. The last time we went to visit Mickey Mouse was in October 2017, and this was actually my first visit ever – I proudly walked around with my “1st Visit” button, and even shed a few tears when our trip came to an end. I think it goes without saying that I was pretty excited to be returning for a second visit over five years later!

I had originally intended to write one blog post to cover both Disneyland and California Adventure, but as I started writing about Disneyland, I realized I have a lot more to share than I anticipated!

In that case, this blog will highlight some of my favourite rides and moments within Disneyland, and also some tips and tricks we learned along the way ツ.

Overall Experience

Because our trip consisted of visiting both Disneyland and Palm Springs, we thought we were being strategic by going to Disneyland on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday – we expected these particular weekdays to be less busy. Well, it was still packed. You will notice that this blog post is not photo heavy, and that is because it was so busy and there were crowds of people in almost all of my photos!

Disneyland now requires you to make a park reservation if you purchase a Park Hopper ticket, which allows you to go back and forth between the two parks. You need to choose which park you want to start at and then at 1:00pm you are able to “hop” over to the other park.

Unfortunately, we did not know about the reservation system until a couple days before our trip. By then, the only park that was available to reserve as the starting park was California Adventure, meaning we never made it into Disneyland until after 1:00pm each day, and overall, just spent less time in this particular Park.

Otherwise, Disneyland was exactly how I remembered it. It was super clean (which if you know me, is very important), and the amount of thought and detail that goes into each different area of the park, and each ride, is incredible. This is what turns Disneyland into a magical experience, rather than just a bunch of rides in a typical theme park.

Rides

The last time we were in Disneyland the Fast Pass system was still in place – you would walk up to a ride, and there would be a small machine that provides a ticket, indicating when to return to the ride for a shorter wait time (the return time was usually a one-hour window, e.g., 11:00am to 12:00pm). I should note, the Fast Pass option was free.

The Fast Pass system has now been eliminated and replaced with Lighting Lanes. The Lighting Lane works the same way as the Fast Pass system, except your ride “reservation” needs to be completed through something called Genie+, which is available in the Disneyland app.

While this option is much more convenient – you can book your Lighting Lane from anywhere in the park – you now need to pay $25 USD per day, per person for this feature. When you factor in the Canadian exchange rate… ouch!

However, I do not think it is possible to be efficient and fit in as many rides as possible without Genie+/Lighting Lanes. Here is a quick recap of all the rides we did:

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: A small rollercoaster, with a couple hills/drops. It was fun, but definitely not the best roller coaster in the park.

Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage: For this ride, you are literally in a submarine in the water (a very large pool), which takes you on an adventure with Nemo and his friends.

Haunted Mansion Holiday: This ride was definitely not what I expected. I was imagining walking through a haunted house, but you actually sit in a “car” that takes you through an amazing display based on the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. This ride always has a very long wait – I would definitely recommend booking a Lighting Lane for this one.

Indiana Jones Adventure: This bumpy ride in a jeep through the temple is probably my favourite ride in Disneyland (not including rides in California Adventure)! I think we managed to do this ride 2 or 3 times, which is impressive upon reflection, given that the ride went down several times during our trip. The ride even broke down while we were on it! This was unfortunate, as we had carefully timed going on the ride right before the fireworks, and instead of watching the fireworks, we were stuck in a dark tunnel for about 20 minutes. We ended up speaking to guest services about our experience and were provided with some “special” Lightning Lane passes. With these passes, we could walk up to any ride and instantly enter the Lightning Lane queue, as opposed to waiting for a specific return time.

“It’s a Small World” Holiday: A Disneyland classic! For this ride, you sit in a boat that travels around the world through different country/cultural displays. This one felt really long, but the displays were impressive, and updated for the holiday season.

Jungle Cruise: Another water adventure – in this one, you are taken on a guided tour of various animal displays through – you guessed it – the jungle. Our tour guide was hilarious, he had several animal-related jokes lined up, many of which were some type of pun. Not sure if all the tour guides use the same lines, but it definitely made for an enjoyable experience.

Matterhorn Bobsleds: This ride is actually kind of scary, and the bobsleds are not very comfortable. The lineups at this ride are always at least an hour long, but there is a Single Rider line-up, since the bobsleds seat three riders at a time. Justin and I used the Single Riders option and only ended up waiting about 15-minutes.

Millennium Falcon – Smugglers Run: This is one of rides in the “new” Star Wars area of the Park. I say “new” in quotes because it is new to us, but has been open since 2019. This ride was honestly kind of confusing! There were four riders per car, and each one was assigned a task – you were either a pilot or a gunner/shooter. If you were a pilot, you were responsible for flying the spaceship (and it literally moved based on your navigation instructions), and if you were a gunner/shooter, you were responsible for well, shooting the enemies (I think they were enemies… I am not fully up-to-date on everything Star Wars) in the galaxy. Justin and I were terrible pilots… I will leave it at that.

Peter Pan’s Flight: Another Disneyland classic – a flight to Neverland.

Pirates of the Caribbean: This was yet another boat/water ride – after writing these all out, I feel there are a lot of rides based on/around water! Pirates of the Caribbean definitely has one of the most impressive displays (in my opinion). All the pirates look very realistic!

Space Mountain: Another smaller rollercoaster, but unlike Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, this one is completely in the dark! We were sad that we only got to ride Space Mountain once, as it was down several times during our visit.

Star Tours – The Adventures Continue: This ride was definitely at the bottom of my list – I do not even really remember what it was, which I guess says a lot! This ride is actually not in the Star Wars area of the park – I wonder if it might get replaced at some point.

Star Wars – Rise of the Resistance: Disneyland does not make getting on this ride easy – Justin and I did the ride twice, and easily waited 70 minutes each time. While there is a Lightning Lane, it is not included in the $25 USD that you pay for Genie+. You have to pay an additional $25 USD per person every time you want to use the Lightning Lane for this ride! Is that not crazy – remember that Canadian dollar value? While this ride is very different from anything else you will experience in Disneyland, I am not sure that it is worth the extra fees, and we even overheard a family – who did pay – make the same comment. But, time is money – so pick your poison.

While there is no argument that the wait was long, the experience from beginning to end probably lasted about 20-minutes, if you include everything leading up to the ride. I will provide you with the Coles Notes below, but there are several other blogs you can read that will provide intricate details about the entire adventure.

Rise of the Resistance begins with a ride in a spaceship from Lieutenant Bek, before proceeding through a room of Storm Troopers to the ride itself. The Disneyland cast that is responsible for organizing everyone prior to boarding – I believe they are called First Officers – are in character the entire time. The First Officers order you around like prisoners – one person who was wearing a birthday button was asked by an Officer if it was actually their birthday, to which they replied “Yes.” The Officer then responded with “I’m sorry” in a very serious tone – it was funny, but maybe you had to be there!

The ride itself is dark and involves some drops, but the animations that appear throughout, and the overall display are fantastic. Disneyland has put an incredible amount of detail into this ride, and the Star Wars Galaxy area of the park in general, turning it into an out of this world (get it?) experience.

Other Favourite Moments

As I mentioned earlier, we did not get to spend a lot of time exploring Disneyland itself, given the park reservation system. But other than the rides, here are some other things we enjoyed:

Snow on Main Street: Around 8:30pm on our second day, it started to “snow” on Main Street! This was simulated snow, of course, but it was still fun!

Photo Opportunities: All throughout Disneyland there are photographers who will take free photos for you, which are then linked to Genie+. There was often a small lineup for each photographer, but it was definitely worth the wait, as you would end up with high quality photos, and each photographer really took their time in walking you through a few poses.

Character Meet N’ Greets: Most of the characters we got photos with were in California Adventure, but we did get to meet Mickey during one of the evenings in Disneyland. Unfortunately, it was already dark, so the photos did not turn out, but luckily we saw Mickey again the next day!

Mickey Mouse Pretzel: Most of the food we ate over our three days was in California Adventure, but we did enjoy a couple Mickey Mouse Pretzels on the Disneyland side. Fortunately, these pretzels are plant-based, and taste delicious with mustard (the other sauces offered contain dairy).

Well, I think that covers most of what we experienced in Disneyland! If you made it to the end of this blog post, thank you so much for reading! I know it was a lot of detail, but I am hoping it will help you plan your future visits to Disneyland – I know I will definitely be looking back on this post before our next trip to remind me what I enjoyed, but also what can be skipped ツ.

Always grateful,

Michelle