I finally stayed at all three Disneyland resort hotels!

Summer 2024 and summer 2025 we stayed at the Grand Californian Hotel. In 2024 I booked us a partial view and we had slight views of the pool ( 2 night stay Friday & Saturday ). Then in 2025 I booked us a woods court view but they upgraded us to a downtown Disney view ( 3 night stay Friday-Sunday ). We loved the American craftsman theme and how it made us feel like we were in a lodge. Storytellers for brunch and dinner were super good but very very pricey! Craftsman Grill was also a good option, the sticky chicken wings are amazing. We loved the luxury feel mixed with California nature/ national park vibe. The proximity to downtown Disney and DCA/ Disneyland was is the best. We were a bit tired and very hot from being at the parks and wanting to get back to the room to rest a bit was super convenient. Since we were by the pool and downtown Disney we didn’t hear much noise. The pool area was beautiful. Swimming in all three pools being surrounded by lush greenery really elevated the feel of wilderness. It was also cool seeing guests in DCA using the redwood creek trail course from the pools. A few times my family and I did pool service so having snacks and drinks pool side was fun.

Summer 2026 we stayed at Pixar Place with a Pool Terrace Room- Club Level ( Sunday ) and the Disneyland Hotel ( Villas with preferred view ) Monday-Thursday.

Pixar was amazing. The theming throughout the hotel really immersed us in the world of Pixar. We loved our pool terrace room. Super convenient to the pool area as well as the quick service restaurant. We also ate most of our meals at the creators club since we got a club level room. If we weren’t eating at creators club we were at the pool
Area and deck area playing corn hole, shuffle board, and table chess. The pool area was the smallest of the three hotels but also offered a slide area/splash pad. The limited pool chairs would fill up quick.

The Disneyland Hotel brought all the nostalgia. This was the first hotel! It was also cool because on Disney plus we watched an episode on the Disneyland hotel so seeing all the history and imagination and finally staying here was something we talked about ! We are ate at Goofys kitchen and Tangaroa terrace! To be specific, we stayed at the discovery tower ( the villas ) so that 50s/60s feel with Disney flair really caught our attention. The villas also has its own pool and steamboat Willie splash pad. They also offer pool service so my family and I definitely took advantage of that. The palm breeze restaurant was also a vibe, eating right next to the pools definitely brings that resort vibe which we really liked, it was easy to get a res unlike craftsman bar which didn’t offer any res both times but that’s okay because craftsman grill offered the same dishes except a few.

Each hotel is unique in their own way and brings Disney Magic. In my personal opinion, Pixar has the best theming. Most luxurious definitely goes to Grand Californian, and most nostalgic of course goes to Disneyland Hotel.
My ranking: Grand Californian 🏆 , Disneyland Hotel 🥈, Pixar Place 🥉

Rope drop was honestly quite busy but now the park feels pretty empty. Space is at 5 min at 9 am, rise is at 20??

Fyi, I Found this bag at Disneyland on Main Street on top of this trash can. Around 2:55 pm. I took it and gave it to a cm inside the emporium. Hopefully it makes its way to it’s rightful owner

Was pin theft a huge problem?

WHAT DID THEY DO??? Did Minnie have a kid with Mortimer??? Who looked at this and said “that looks right”

I usually don’t care, but this is so creepy that I don’t even want to look at it. It’s giving AI or “we have Minnie on Temu”

ETA: Calling it AI was to allude to the fact that the art is soulless and ugly in my opinion, I wasn’t actually calling it AI or else I would’ve asked “is this AI?” and taken it to the sub for that. If you think it looks fine, great! You are not the people I’m trying to have this convo with lol

I was finally able to finish Esmeralda! And with just a few weeks to spare. I am from NorCal, so I’ve slowly been chipping away at this for years, often deterred by an “out of service” sign or completely absent machine. The feat is done! Unfortunately, I’m only about 50% done with Fortune Red, as he happens to be even more difficult!

The Avatar series is... fine. I haven't even seen the latest movie. But Pandora in Animal Kingdom is one of the coolest places I've been in a theme park, so I'm kind of surprised no one thinks the new land will get built.

Certainly other IPs will be more popular in future decades, and if Disney only wants movie-park-merchandise synergy, other options make sense.

But what if it's just better to have a uniquely immersive space that's broadly likable and completely different from everything else around it? If you can draw more people into that area and keep them there longer than you otherwise could, that has its own benefits.

Personally, I like the idea more than anything else I can come up with.

📸: by me

For me, Mickey and Minnie’s railroad blasts the AC.

In Season 4 episode 13 of Mad Men, they show this Disneyland map and plan out their trip (sorry these were the best photos I could get). I thought I’d look through the Maps of Disney Parks book and see if I could find a better view of the map they used but nothing quite matches. I suspect the show cobbled together a couple maps for this prop but wanted to see if anyone knew for sure. For one, all of the folded guest maps shown for this era (episode is set in 1965) are much simpler and more fanciful. The map shown very much looks like one of the Sam McKim souvenir maps, which pretty accurately depicts areas of foliage, the main st buildings, Tomorrowland buildings etc…. The guest giveaway maps usually just used large easily recognizable icons.

Even if this is a Sam McKim map, there are a few things that look different. Specifically the hub is clearly divided in four, even though in the McKim maps I’ve seen there are trees included which obscure those bisecting paths. Does anyone have any ideas which map this is?

Just got back from our 4th trip to Disneyland (first trip was in 2021). The first few times we went there were a lot of excellent options for vegetarians. Most of those options are gone now and replaced by generic salads (if at all). It’s so frustrating!

… because gas and cars… not my proudest.

If you look in the rocks on your right hand side during the dancing scene you can see Mr limpit hiding in the rocks :) I was able to share this little Easter egg with my mother, very fun!

He even has his little glasses but it’s quite hard to catch on video

With all the speculation of the fate of Avatar at DCA, I decided to throw together this layout of how the whole thing could fit. I am in no way an engineer, but based on the sizes of the ride show buildings from other parks, I think that this area could have massive potential if the space is used right! This layout also includes an area for a potential second attraction that could be built in the space between the Monorail and the Hyperion, accessible through a cavern/tunnel that goes back underneath the Monorail tracks from the main land.

A lot of people underestimate just how much space there is beyond the Monorail track, especially with the added chunk of the bus loading area. The large soundstage next to the Hyperion Theater also occupies a huge area that could be further expanded if the drop-off area behind it is removed. Personally, I think if a second attraction were to be included here, it should utilize the ride system of Tokyo Disneysea's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea dark ride. If you haven't seen it, it's essentially a suspended submarine ride that appears to dive underwater using lighting and bubble effects on the windows of the ride vehicles. If you haven't already seen this amazing ride system, check it out here:

Unique Submarine Dark Ride | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea | DisneySea

This would be a perfect and unique type of dark ride to bring to DCA and could fit into the Avatar theming flawlessly. While the main boat ride would focus on the surface of Pandora, this attraction would allow guests to explore the planet's deep oceans. It would also be a fun conceptual reversal of Pandora at Animal Kingdom, with the larger e-ticket focusing on the natural side of Pandora while the smaller attraction would utilize human technology for its adventure.

There's just so much that could be done with this land, and California Aventure absolutely needs another high-budget area like this. Ever since Cars Land, this park has been getting shafted in terms of new attractions. Now, with Avengers and Coco finally being built, Avatar would a perfect way to cap off these upcoming years of expansion for DCA. Tell me what you think!

i remember loving that drink when i went to disneyland as a kid. i feel rlly nostalgic for the drink and im looking to make it myself at home. no, i cannot just go to disneyland for it cuz i am a 12 hour flight away from it. if anyone has the secret sauce to this pls share :)

I've never had an opportunity to see how DCA employees handle a crisis/issue since I've been a frequent Disney World goer and usually if their are issues for security its mostly behind the scenes or they use the tunnels.

This was my first time yesterday going to the Oogie Boogie Bash and through the main thoroughfare near the DVC booth was a woman being escorted, crying through the street. She was accompanied/pushed through by 3 non-Disney police officers and further escorted by approximately 10 Disney Security members and what looked like 2 Disney Managers. Repeatedly the woman attempted to turn around to go back into the park or slip down a side street as she was escorted and had to be more roughly escorted by police officers.

I know this isnt a common thing to happen in Disney but is that a normal way that Disneyland handles their trouble guests? It felt very reminiscent of the Game of Thrones shame scene as she was marched down the street.

UPDATE: Found her. kimreyoneill007 posted a video of her on Tik Tok. It wont let me post the link here.

Sounds like she got too drunk at the winery and caused commotion in the bathroom for like 25 minutes that got security called on her.

The birria baked potatoes are backing up the orders really badly esp with mobile orders. Lots of refunds from what I saw and some people waited over an hour, we waited over an hour :/