Hi All,
Thank you for inviting me to complete a trip report on my recent trip to LA - it's my first time doing a trip report, so hopefully I do okay!
My husband and I recently flew Qantas to LA - departing 27th (and to our surprise, arriving the 27th) and we left on the 5th Jan.
We spent 2.5 days at Disney (a day cut short due to illness), 1 day at DCA, and 2 days at Universal. We stayed at Disneyland Hotel for 3 nights, and then moved to the Kimpton Everly in downtown LA, about a 7 minute drive to Universal.
Disneyland:
I've never cried at a theme park until our first day at Disney! What a magical (and overwhelming) experience.
I've never been to America, and have only been to Hong Kong Disney as a kid - so I did a lot of preparation for this trip, so I knew my way around the park and how to use Genie+ confidently. I'm also a massive Disney parks nerd, so my husband was constantly bombarded with 'fun facts' on every ride. We had honeymoon and first visit buttons - and we loved the attention. Cast members were so beautiful in acknowledging them and occasionally giving us a bit of extra magic (some extra Genie+), we even had Belle stop to welcome us on our first visit, and a wonderful stranger at DCA gifted me a Minnie Mouse handbag (that interaction made me cry).
Genie+ was a success - we didn't mind paying for it, we found it a great benefit to our trip. We didn't end up waiting much the entire trip, as most attractions we use Genie+. We also purchased a lightning lane for Rise of the Resistance twice - my husband is a massive Star Wars fan so he needed two goes on the ride to really take it in (he did cry!). We also purchased Magic Bands, which are new to Disneyland. They were helpful for tapping on for lightning lanes and obtaining photos taken by cast members, but a little disappointing they aren't yet integrated to pay for food/merchandise and for opening your hotel room like you can in Florida. Hopefully, this comes in the future.
We found the parks to be reasonably busy on our first two days there - but on the half day (we went from 4pm) we found it much quieter due to the rain - which didn't bother us in the slightest! Contrary to the blogs I had read, we actually rope-dropped and headed to Tomorrowland - it was basically dead, and we smashed out Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear and Star Tours before the park had even opened. We then hopped over to Adventureland and New Orleans Square for Haunted Mansion (this was the ride I was most excited for - slightly disappointed I didn't get to ride it in its original capacity as it had the Xmas overlay, but still wonderful). We then headed over to Galaxy's edge for ROTR and then spent the rest of the day/night going to various rides (I think we ended the night on Indiana Jones). We caught the fireworks show and watched it from the river (I cried) and then had dinner at Blue Bayou, which was an amazing and delicious experience. We jumped on the monorail back to the hotel, which I think our feet appreciated.
DCA:
Our second day was spent much the same way, we took a break at lunchtime for a nap, and met up with some friends to play mini-golf nearby. We then came back to the park that evening and had our first dole whip (YUM). We then hopped over to DCA, as we had booked tickets for the World Of Colour Dessert Party. While the view of the show was incredible, I'm not sure I feel the experience was worth the money. You got unlimited drinks (which was great, as they bought us two cans of soda to take with us), and then food was a little container with cheese, crackers, grapes and a few sweet treats, including a mickey rise krispie treat, a chocolate cheesecake, and a shortbread cookie. It was yummy, but at $80 a person, I feel a little overpriced. After the show we managed to snag a Genie+ for webslingers, and then jumped in line for Radiator Springs Racers right at closing time - a posted 50-minute wait but I think we only waited 30 mins.
Our third day was spent in the rain at DCA - which again didn't bother us (we live in Victoria and are used to the rain now!). We didn't manage to do every attraction, but did as many as we could, including Soarin, Monsters Inc, Incredicoaster, Midway Mania, Little Mermaid - and my favourite, the animation drawing class! We had lunch at Flo's diner in Cars Land, and I think my favourite ride of the day was Guardians of the Galaxy!
Our fourth and final half day at Disney was quiet as I was still unwell (recovering from a stomach bug I managed to get on new years eve), but we did ROTR again, as well as Winnie The Pooh and my favourite ride of all time, Peter Pan (which I cried again, you'll see a theme here).
Universal:
Moving onto Universal, our first day was lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed the tram tour, and we ended up doing it twice. Harry Potter world was by far our favourite - we are both MASSIVE HP fans so this was incredible - and I'm told it's even more amazing in Florida. Sadly, my husband wasn't able to ride Forbidden Journey due to size which was disappointing, as he had had no issues at all at Disney. This was the only ride at Universal he didn't fit on though, which was okay. Flight of the Hippogriff was closed both days sadly. We also rode Simpsons ride (both massive Simpsons fans so this land was great!). The park was quite busy the first day, and we didn't purchase the queue jumping thing (we found it quite expensive for only two days), but also didn't feel the wait times were as long as some were at Disney.
Our second day rained NON_STOP and we were drenched after 5 minutes in the park - but we didn't let that stop us. We rode the Mummy, Jurassic Park and the Tram Tour again, and also watched the special effects show. Lunch at the three broomsticks was delicious, and then we decided to make our luggage much heavier by spending big in Hogsmeade. The park was VERY quiet this day due to the rain - most attractions only had 5 minute waits!
Sadly due to the tummy bug we didn't see much of LA - only seeing the stars and the Chinese Theatre. But looking forward to going back in the future (maybe with less rain) and see more of LA.
I hope this report isn't too long (sorry if it is) - I'm happy to answer any questions if you're looking to travel to Disneyland or Universal soon :)