Looks like Disney found a way to solve all the problems they’ve been having with the Kingdom Hearts pins. A virtual queue will now be required to purchase pins on pin release day

First of all, I must address a few things. I am aware Disneyland and other parks are a privilege to attend. 9/10 times I go I pay for the bulk of my friends/family passes or food, cause they want to go, but it’s spendy and Disney is not their budget priority but it’s one of mine. I happily take that on if it means going to my favorite place with favorite people.

That being said, it has gotten to a point where I can no longer reasonably take on that expense. I have had an annual pass for 11 months now, and I don’t think I will renew.

I have been going 1-2 times a year for 15+ years and finally committed to an AP. Best year ever! I went to the park 17 times over the year, making the cost well worth it in terms of ticket prices. I am always able to get really good flights (I’m in Utah) and hotel costs. $140 to fly to Santa Ana and uber is much cheaper than driving and parking. Easy! Hotels are give and take, it really depends on what amenities I’m willing to splurge on or pass on.

I stayed at the Pixar Place with my sisters last month and had a delightful time. Amazing service, love being close to the park. Expensive? Yeah, but it makes sense for proximity and the Disney bubble perks.

What is making me rethink my frequency is honestly the food prices, dynamic pricing, and lightning lane cost. It was almost $80 for my boyfriend and I to have lightning lane on a really busy day, when less than a decade ago there were fast passes for free. I’ve only gotten LL once in the last many years, I was shocked at the price.

I go for the snacks, not the regular food. Breakfast options are all really heavy and often greasy (yum but not how I want to spend my morning every morning there), lunch/dinner has decent choices but the cost for the quality has been so nuts! I understand costs increase and I could bring my own options. But stagnant wages for amazing cast members, lower quality food, and paying out the booty for things like lightning lane has gotten too much.

I’ve been tracking costs of things from last December and I’m surprised at the jump in one year, compared to some jumps over 3-4 years.

Is anyone else getting jaded about it because of the cost? I never thought I’d see the day that I consider not going or spending my money on Disney related things for a few years, but for the cost of two day tickets, food, one day of lightning lane, and such could’ve gone toward a vacation twice as long somewhere else. I love Disney with my whole heart but I’m sad it’s getting further out of reach. Anyone else? Or of other opinions? Would love to hear!

You guys have done really well with making all sorts of flavors for cold brew coffees. I beg of you, please give the same treatment to hot coffee beverages. A couple years ago you guy did 5 different flavors of hot chocolates, which was amazing. Now that we are approaching the colder season, I personally would like something in the hot coffee section with more flavors than the creamer I put into it.

Is there a cure for post Disney depression? We got home last night from our dream trip to Disneyland & I’m back at work today - I don’t think I have felt this sad in a long time!! 😩 how do you deal with post Disney blues??

Judging by their actions, literally everyone wants this. We want to push the pumps. Nothing has to come out. Get Josh D'Amaro on this immediately.

Really should be banned; It ruins the experience.

My wife and I stopped by Tiana's Palace and found out they stopped selling beans. Beans and rice were our favorite food items at DL. It helped make Tiana's unique as a food offering at the park.

Feels like they really want to make the food experience in the parks as generic as possible.

I was thinking Jose for tiki room but can’t think of any others? What’s your favorite?

Pretty good matcha drink at schmoozies. Wasn’t too earthy and the honey cold foam balances it out. Haven’t had honey combs in a while and now I might buy some soon lol.

I started buying hot sauces that I've spotted at theme and amusement parks. So far I have hot sauce from the shop next to Tiana's at WDW, a Dracula hot sauce from Universal Orlando, and a recent purchase of boardwalk sauce from Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Now I think it'd be neat to have a larger group of them to sample as part of some hot sauce reviews I've been sharing with friends.

So my question: can you think of any other hot sauce bottles sold in the parks, other than the one from Tiana's?

About the parade

Madame Leota’s Swinging Wake is a street party found in Oogie boogie Bash at the Disneyland Resort in Disney California Adventure. Based on the Haunted Mansion ride, it features characters like the black widow bride Constance Hatchaway, the Hitchhiking Ghosts Phineas, Ezra, and Gus, Sally Slater, the Mansion Groundskeeper, along with gravediggers, ballroom dancers, and maids and butlers. Why? Well it’s a temporary replacement for the Frightfully Fun parade due to construction happening in Pixar Pier for the upcoming Coco attraction and for the Avatar land that is soon to come and replace Hollywood land.

History of Halloween at the Disneyland Resort

We know that Disneyland used to host a Halloween party called Mickey’s Halloween party, it featured the Frightfully Fun Parade which debuted 10 years ago in 2016, it featured characters from the Nightmare Before Christmas, the Haunted Mansion, and of course the well known Disney Villains. But in 2019, it moved to Disney California Adventure and the party was hosted by Oogie Boogie, turning it into a Oogie Boogie Bash. Back at Disneyland, there were still Halloween decoration, you could still experience the Haunted Mansion Holiday and the firework shows, but there was no Halloween parade, instead it would just be a regular parade like the Main street electrical parade, Magic Happens, and Paint the Night.

A idea for what could happen to Madame Leota’s Swinging Wake for when the Frightfully Fun Parade returns

The idea I have for Madame Leota’s Swinging Wake is to not retire it, but move it to Disneyland Park during regular hours at night during Halloween time while the Frightfully Fun Parade runs at Disney California Adventure for Oogie Boogie Bash. The street party still has 2027, and 2028 to perform at the Oogie Boogie Bash so I don’t think it being moved will happen next year, but moving it to Disneyland Park when the Frightfully Fun Parade returns is the best solution. Yes, that would mean the Haunted Mansion unit would have to be removed and replaced with a different unit, but the Haunted Mansion is a original Disneyland ride, having a Haunted Mansion theme street party in the park where the Haunted Mansion ride is would be perfect. With its route starting from Fantasyland all the way to Main Street. The third photo from my post shows the parade route for Disneyland. Anyways, I hope you like my idea, it probably is a good one. I love that street party, I will be disappointed when it leaves Oogie Boogie Bash years later, thats why I came up with the idea to move it to Disneyland Park during Halloween time, while still keeping Oogie Boogie Bash at Disney California Adventure. Even though we are only a few days away, I just want to say Happy Halloween!

No Ai was used in the making of this draft.

So I am going to Disneyland tomorrow and wanted to go with a group (preferably a group of 4-6) to have a different experience at the park as I've gone with my best friend but he's unavailable.

Im mostly there for the good mix of rides and shows. I'll be looking forward to the food and the Lightsaber Demo they have at the Star Wars area :)

Hopefully this peaks someone's interest and hope to hear from some people :)

Went to the park today with the extended family and the people I was with got a spot at the star wars cantina. I thought it sounded cool - thought it was like a cafe thing that served drinks.

However when we got there we were assigned a standing room only table. Oh so it's actually like a bar bar! Very cool.

HOWEVER.

We have kids with us (EDIT - these are NOT my children for clarity purposes), and there's basically no food for kids. I'm kind of confused as to why we are going to this place with kids. This is a bar? Looks like a bar? We are guided to a standing room only table that's way too tall for them AND has another family there with a special needs child that's wearing headphones with a tablet on the table (that's, again, way too tall for them). We became very aquainted intimately with the family because of how small the table is. The vibes are off immediately because I'm trying to figure out what exactly this place is. It takes 20minutes to even be asked what we want to order and then another 30min for drinks. I don't drink so I am just there observing what's around us.

The place is serving alcohol and there's lots of cohorts I would expect to be there - young hoardes of 20 somethings, couples, older folks. But then there's tons of families with kids. These kids are all BORED out of their mind. They are sitting on the floor. Stimming in the corners. Running under tables.

Why does this place exist? I don't know why but it actually made me a little upset, and not in a 'too sensitive get over it' way but just like in a 'it kinda bothered me' way. This place SHOULD be adults only. It was actually a RAD idea and fully committing to that idea would have made this actually one of the coolest places in the park. Bumping music. Robot DJ. Great design and staff. But the vibe I was getting was that a ton of these parents need alcohol so badly that they can't go a day without it so their kids can enjoy the park. God I sound like a total prude reading this back but I just got this nagging feeling that the whole idea of this place is antithetical to why Walt made Disneyland. Here was a place that didn't even think about what the kids want or need. They have stay silent so mom and dad can enjoy it. It's a place where they can't even participate in eating with their own family and are too short for tables.

It's made to cater to adults that don't care about what experience their kids have at the park. They should be out having a great time and making memories, not sitting on the dirty ground while mom and dad get their 'fix'.

The cantina should be 18+ only.

Two drinks by the way? Pathetic. The other adults in my party took miine hehe. The drinks and food were good though can't complain about that.