Thread by Philip Michaels

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Oh hey, it's me, the guy who just took his daughter to Disneyland and has some opinions about the parks. Not interested in 'em? That's the algorithm's problem, not mine, pal.
By way of background, I spent the first 10 years of my life in Southern California, the next eight in Northern California, another chunk of my schooling and professional career in SoCal, followed by settling in the Bay Area. A lot of my leisure time has been spent at Disneyland.
All that's to establish that I've been going to Disney long enough to probably draw the park from memory. Big fan of California Adventure, too, probably more so than most rational people.
As for my daughter, we try to take her every three or four years, and this is really the last time to take her before she becomes a teenager and resents spending time with me. With that established, this trip to Disney was a success, and I don't regret it one iota.
There is a But coming.
As much as me and my daughter enjoyed our time at both parks, this is probably my first time at Disney where something really felt off, where the experience being offered didn't live up to the <mutters a number uncomfortably> I paid for two days at the park.
Put simply, the maintenance at Disney has gone to shit.
Rides break down all the time. I'm not talking about the attractions that are closed for periodic maintenance. I mean rides that are supposed to be running, then stop running for prolonged periods of time, forcing you to find other rides that hopefully don't also break down.
In four decades of going to Disneyland, I think I can count on one hand the times I've been in a line when a ride broke down and you've been waved away. On this trip, it happened twice -- once after we had spent an hour in the queue.
The morning we went to Disney, we made a beeline to Big Thunder Mountain at line drop — my daughter was eager to ride roller coasters. It was broken. We went to Fantasyland. Teacups, broken. Alice in Wonderland, broken. Eventually we got on Mr. Toad, which remains awesome.
Look, I understand things break down. But it seems to happen at Disney a lot these days. And when you've paid <mutters a number uncomfortably>, hearing "well, them's the breaks" after you've spent an hour in line ain't going to cut much ice.
As I'm said, I'm glad we went. It was a fun daddy-daughter excursion. And in the future, I'd probably spend that amount of uncomfortably muttered money I spent to get Disney tickets on some other excursion.

Disney charges a premium but no longer provides a premium experience.
Other random Disney thoughts: I'm likely going to turn this into a @tomsguide article, but much of your Disney experience now depends on using the app constantly while you're in the park... and I absolutely hate it.
Going to Disney should be your chance to forget about the outside world for a day or two, and now to successfully navigate the park, you've got to constantly stare at your phone. No thank you.
This was also the first time I've gone to Disney since the advent of Genie Plus, the service where you pay extra after paying <mutters a larger number uncomfortably>. I hate Genie Plus more than I hate Hell.
Genie Plus is profoundly anti-democratic, assuring that only people willing to throw good money after bad are entitled to a halfway decent experience. The old Express Pass system wasn't perfect, but the only improvement Genie Plus brings is now Disney can make money off it.
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