The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly of the New Disneyland Normal
Going to Disneyland during COVID times was…a lot. Please permit me to share my best breakdown of advice for successful planning.
Things sure do look different in a post-COVID Disney. (Image: Teal Conroy)
I canceled our April 2020 trip to Disneyland. The kids were crushed. Tears were shed and promises were made in regards to a make-up trip as soon as safely possible.
Around the late summer of 2021, I booked ahead for quite a few trips. Things were looking up in the pandemic world at that time, and my optimism began to rise. Things had to be in a better place by 2022, right? Right??
Wrong. As my kids opened the big Christmas gift surprise - the reveal of a mid-January 2022 trip to Disneyland with Mom - it was hard to revel in their rapturous screams and exulting joy when Omicron news was slamming me from all sides. Nothing like traveling to a theme park during a peak surge, right? Ugh, right.
My husband and I weighed the risks. We are all vaccinated and boosted. We are excellent maskers and hand washers. And ultimately, it came down to this. My kids have lived in a world full of ‘no’ for two years and sometimes, you have to take a calculated ‘yes’.
I hadn’t been to Disneyland since 2016, so I dove in hard to my pre-trip research about what kinds of new protocols and experiences I could anticipate and plan for in advance. And even with my Google searches on fire, I still felt ill-prepared when we arrived. I’m a mega-planner, so to help all of you Type-A’s out there (I see you), I present to you a breakdown of what you can expect on your Disneyland trip in 2022.
HOTELS
I wanted this trip to be as convenient as possible, given that I anticipated a lot more walking/standing/waiting than usual. I booked the least expensive of the Disneyland properties and we stayed at the Paradise Pier. There were elements to the hotel’s offerings that were helpful, considering the age of my kids (11 and 8 years old). The upsides were a super helpful and friendly staff, minimal noise (good soundproofing? Low vacancy?), and a small grab-and-go station that made getting quick snacks/water/coffee easy. It was also a five-minute walk to Downtown Disney, which made park access simple.
However, paying for a Disney hotel is not cheap and for what I paid, the place was not special. The downsides were extremely slow and tiny elevators; I clocked us waiting for one running elevator for over ten minutes. If one family had already claimed the elevator, there was no way any others would fit. Also, there was no real restaurant on site. Beyond the grab-and-go and a small gift shop, food was limited. We ended up ordering delivery from Downtown Disney restaurants - convenience at a premium cost. Additionally, the pool was currently closed and under construction. This wasn’t a deal-breaker for me in January, nor is it on most Disney trips. We were there for the park action.
There are tons of hotels on Harbor Blvd. that offer the same walking convenience, so it is worth doing some price comparisons in advance of booking. The main point is to save your feet with minimal walking or with a reliable shuttle!
PARK TICKETS
Because of capacity restrictions, there is a lot more specificity to your ticket purchase. You must reserve the specific days you wish to enter. Beyond that, you have some options. You can purchase a park hopper pass over the series of days you choose and you can freely move between Disneyland and Disney California Adventures (DCA). At a lower price point, I purchased the 3-day passes that allowed us to enter one park per day. I chose a Monday at Disneyland, a Tuesday at DCA, and a Wednesday at Disneyland again.
This was a good choice. My kids were on stimulation overload the first day at Disneyland and we darted from Tomorrowland to the Star Wars village to Adventureland and everything in between with no plan in place. The park was still fairly packed and wait times were long, so it was a relief to know that we had more time in the coming days. Plus, we were able to do everything we set out to do at DCA in one day with time to spare. While I would have loved to park hop to give favorite rides one more go, the days were full and exhausting enough with one park per day.
THE APP
Perhaps I’m just worn out from looking at screens for two years. I have to admit that I found the incessant dependency on the Disneyland app to be relentlessly irritating. I longed for the days where I might glance at the app for an assessment of wait times and then return to freely skipping merrily with my kids and taking in all the sites of the happiest place on earth. But no more. You have to use the app if you want to have a successful day.
The app can serve as your proof of tickets, it provides wait time estimates on the map, and it shares lists of dining options with menus at its bare minimum. The new, free Genie service can give you recommendations for the day so you can plan out where to be and what to do, but only so much as you give it ideas of what you want to do. You should load the app before the trip and start calling out rides and food you want to partake in.
The Genie+ option is a whole other level. With this option, you have PhotoPass access for the various professional photo spots you encounter throughout the day and you can download photos taken on the spot. It also provides Lightning Lane (LL) access to certain rides. LL access allows you to book a time to go on a specific ride and you have one hour from that time to go on the ride. For example, we could book a LL pass for Indiana Jones at 9:10 am and the minute you pass through the line, you can then book your next LL at another ride. You can only use an LL once on a ride, meaning you can’t go on Indiana Jones over and over using the LL pass - once per day, only. Yet, Genie+ doesn’t cover certain LL rides; for the most popular rides, you have to pay extra. It doesn’t give you access to Rise of the Resistance ($20 per person), Radiator Springs ($10 per person), and Amazing Spiderman ($10 per person). Because everything has a premium today on top of what you pay, Genie+ access costs $20 per person, per day. Add that all up and you might start to choke.
For us, that meant $180 on top of our ticket prices plus another $120 to go on the high-demand rides. I went into the trip thinking I would not submit to this bourgeois benefit nor would I be a part of the ongoing Disney cash grab. Yet when I saw 90 minute wait times for even the most basic of rides start to pile up, I couldn’t push purchase fast enough. There was no way I was going to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with maskless faces, even outdoors, for hours at a time. And by the end of the trip, I will say that it paid for itself in a lot of ways. Primarily, it saved a ton of time. We rode all the rides and got the most out of our trip, albeit at a huge cost. And, in the times of COVID, I loathed the thought of asking anyone else to hold my phone and take our family photo. We took full advantage of professional photo ops on-site and the cost of the PhotoPass was absorbed by our expenditure on Genie+. So yes, if you can spring it, it is worth it, though I am very much giving Disney the side-eye for making the experience feel like a money hemorrhage.
The PhotoPass was the only way Mom was making it into any of the photos. Worth it. (Image: Teal Conroy/Disney PhotoPass)
FOOD
Are your kids the pickiest eaters on the planet? Do they make mealtime a living hell by wanting different cuisines that can’t be found at one restaurant? It can’t be just me. And if you experience this on the regular, get ready to tear your hair out in Disneyland.
Because of COVID, most restaurants require you to order in advance on the mobile app. Ordering by the app goes quickly, except when your kids want things at locations that are miles apart in the park, and you want to shake your fists in rage at the heavens, and you end up just ordering a beer to make it through...or maybe that is just me? To avoid this hellhole, you should have your route planned out so you aren’t trekking from Toontown to Main Street while your kids whine for cheeseburgers, corndogs, or pizza. These staples are surprisingly not found in the same restaurant anywhere, but if you want a churro (and boy, did I) there is a cart placed on every corner. Don’t worry. Your kids will remind you of this.
There are sit-down restaurants in both parks with tons of outdoor seating; you just have to plan your location. If you are looking to sit down and just chill out, Downtown Disney has lots of options and outdoor seating. Did I mention that DCA serves booze? It was the best-tasting mid-day beer I’ve ever had. It truly quenched my desperation.
Rebel mom with a fanny pack, losing her mind by day three. (Image: Teal Conroy)
RIDES
Since I’ve already dropped my knowledge and feelings about the whole Genie+/Lightning Line situation, I’ll dedicate this section to one piece of advice: know your kids’ tolerance for thrill rides before you arrive.
Look, I didn’t mean to traumatize my kids. It just happened. Guardians of the Galaxy is our favorite Marvel movie so of course, we wanted to check out the ride. My son had already dropped some hints that he wasn’t into the thrill elements, given his wide-eyed reaction to our trip around the Matterhorn. But I had never been on Guardians of the Galaxy before, and I hadn’t researched it past my knowledge of “some drops”.
Let me tell you: I have no idea what visually occurred in the ride outside of my point of view of swinging my arm across my screaming, sobbing children in a failed attempt to console them. Not one person nominated me for ‘Mom of the Year’ as we departed the ride, with my son screaming at me “You said this would be fun! You lied!” and my daughter crying hysterically and swearing she would never go on any ride ever again. It took three churros, two ice cream cones, and the promise of picking out a toy at the end of the day to turn things back around. So, no, we did not go on the Incredicoaster, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain…basically, we avoided all rushing mountains from then on.
And here is an opinion that might get me canceled: I don’t think Rise of the Resistance was worth it. It wasn’t worth $60. And it wouldn’t have been worth a 120-minute wait. I love Star Wars. I rocked my Princess Leia ‘Rebel’ tee-shirt with immense pride on that day. And perhaps I would feel different in a post-COVID world, where we weren’t jammed into small indoor spaces with others for half the ride. The payoff was not there for me. I thought that the Millennium Falcon ride was WAY cooler. I was surprised at its shorter wait times because it was a million times more fun.
Amazing Spiderman was worth paying for, though I would also advise that you set expectations with your kids about ignoring any level of competition. Nothing buzz kills a ride more than a sibling argument about who scored more points in an arbitrary game. And, after many years of avoiding it, I finally went on Radiator Springs. It was fine, I guess. I find Larry The Cable Guy and all things NASCAR-ish to be as grating as nails on a chalkboard, which is a long way of saying the kids enjoyed it, but it was not for me, and you do you.
We all preferred the classic Disney rides as a family. The Pirates of the Carribean has been updated in very necessary ways and it was a hoot. Indiana Jones was by far the kids' favorite ride, which surprised me because they barely watched Raiders of the Lost Ark because it is so “old school.” Ouch. And, as is standard, I went on the teacup ride because I love my children more than I love stability in my stomach.
CHARACTERS
This is where COVID truly impacted the experience. The characters were up on balconies or hidden away behind fences. It was fun to treat it as a Disney version of “Where’s Waldo”, where the kids would spot Tinkerbell near the bushes, or Ariel wandering through a garden path, and then wave with glee. However, there was limited interaction outside of waving. We had our special moments where we caught characters who were bored and we were able to strike up a conversation. Rey made my daughter’s day when she showed her how to hold a lightsaber and invited her to go on a mission together when Jedi training was done. And Gaston was excellent for some back and forth: “Oh, you have Maleficient on your shirt? Well, did you know that I am MAGNIFICENT?” Overall, the characters are just distant features for occasional viewing.
However, the new Avengers campus did it right. Scripted shows happened roughly every 15 minutes. We saw performances from Spiderman, the phenomenal Wakanda soldiers, and we even took part in a dance-off with Star-Lord and Gamora. I’m very much humble-bragging when I share that the Conroys were called out for being “professionals” on Team Star-Lord. The Star Wars area had some good interaction in place too, with tons to visually feast upon. I truly hope the temporary separation from characters is just that - temporary - and it will go back to normal when the world does.
As easy as it is to call out the misses on the trip, I can squarely say that it was worth it. I’m happy to say we did not catch COVID during the trip, thanks to our own protective measures and to Disney’s well-planned protocols. The joy my kids experienced was palpable. My kids were bouncing balls of energy throughout the parks and weeks later, they are still sleeping soundly with their Mickey Mouse and Grogu stuffies tucked under their chins. That kind of lingering magic is what it is all about.
If I’ve missed anything you have a question about, drop it in the comments and I will answer to the best of my ability!
