Reflecting on my whirlwind, one day DL trip last week.

[emsstacey]

Just wanted to share my thoughts... I realize that arriving mid-day at the park set us up for failure from the get-go, but here are my thoughts for whatever they are worth.

We planned to go last Wednesday because in my research, it seemed that Wednesdays are traditionally lower crowds. Unfortunately, that did not prove true for us. According to MouseWait, we got up to 91% capacity and it definitely felt that way. Everything had long lines and we were dumbfounded that people kept repeatedly cutting in line to "meet up with their family" somewhere way ahead of us. This was something none of us have ever experienced at DisneyWorld and it put a bad tone on the entire day.

We went ahead and waited in line first off to ride Indiana Jones. The line seemed to move quickly and we loved the ride. We were able to ride Winnie the Pooh without much of a wait and headed off to explore. Was able to secure FP's for Splash and Fantasmic. We headed around the park and waited to ride Matterhorn in the single rider line-- big mistake. We watched people who got into line after us go before us. Would not do single rider there again. At this point, we found some food and were 3 rides/3 hours. We really wanted to ride space mountain but it had an 80 minute wait and lots of people trying to cut in line on that one, too, so we decided to not ride it and headed to find some churros.

As evening pressed on, it seemed that the crowds got thicker. We loved the fireworks and walked through the castle, rode a few smaller rides and decided that we were ready to leave around 11 without watching the late Fantasmic or using our fp for splash mountain. The crowds were just too bad for it to be fun. The park was also filthy, with trash every where.

All in all... I'm glad we went but it just wasn't the magical time we had hoped for. I'm sure people feel the same way at MK when they don't arrive at rope drop and battle the crowds but it was the best we could do at the end of a conference. Cali is gorgeous but I'll still to Florida from now on because it is closer!

 

[Butterfly123]

Was this your first trip to DL? I'm sorry it didn't turn out so well for you. We went late June/early July and didn't have the insane crowds or line cutting, although it was busy. I'm glad you enjoyed the fireworks. Were you able to see Paint the Night? I hope you come back someday...maybe not summer!...and try it again.

 

[emsstacey]

I think I may have the same experience in July at WDW... crowds just really put a damper on the magic sometimes. It was just the nature of the time we were able to go. We did see most of Paint the Night and it was spectacular!

 

[Indiana Scott]

That's a shame about the crowds and when it's busy line cutting reaches epidemic levels. Disney really needs to revisit their policy that promotes that kind of thing.

 

[elaine amj]

Just wanted to share my thoughts... I realize that arriving mid-day at the park set us up for failure from the get-go, but here are my thoughts for whatever they are worth.

We planned to go last Wednesday because in my research, it seemed that Wednesdays are traditionally lower crowds. Unfortunately, that did not prove true for us. According to MouseWait, we got up to 91% capacity and it definitely felt that way. Everything had long lines and we were dumbfounded that people kept repeatedly cutting in line to "meet up with their family" somewhere way ahead of us. This was something none of us have ever experienced at DisneyWorld and it put a bad tone on the entire day.

We went ahead and waited in line first off to ride Indiana Jones. The line seemed to move quickly and we loved the ride. We were able to ride Winnie the Pooh without much of a wait and headed off to explore. Was able to secure FP's for Splash and Fantasmic. We headed around the park and waited to ride Matterhorn in the single rider line-- big mistake. We watched people who got into line after us go before us. Would not do single rider there again. At this point, we found some food and were 3 rides/3 hours. We really wanted to ride space mountain but it had an 80 minute wait and lots of people trying to cut in line on that one, too, so we decided to not ride it and headed to find some churros.

As evening pressed on, it seemed that the crowds got thicker. We loved the fireworks and walked through the castle, rode a few smaller rides and decided that we were ready to leave around 11 without watching the late Fantasmic or using our fp for splash mountain. The crowds were just too bad for it to be fun. The park was also filthy, with trash every where.

All in all... I'm glad we went but it just wasn't the magical time we had hoped for. I'm sure people feel the same way at MK when they don't arrive at rope drop and battle the crowds but it was the best we could do at the end of a conference. Cali is gorgeous but I'll still to Florida from now on because it is closer!

We were there last week too and Monday and Tuesday was CRAZY busy. It sounds like Wednesday was just as bad. Oddly enough, Saturday and Sunday were less busy although it still felt packed.

Honestly, the whole 5 days we were there (July 17 - 21), Disneyland just felt packed pretty much ALL the time. California Adventure is much less crowded (wider walkways) and we ended up preferring it and spent more time there.

People here keep saying that DLR is easier to manage than WDW in peak season. However, pretty much everything at DL is a long wait during the peak afternoon hours. Not many "ride anytime" attractions. I should have been more prepared - I did WDW last Christmas week and it went super smoothly because I planned very carefully. I didn't plan much for DLR and I think our experience reflected it.

We used FPs but there weren't that many rides with FPs and several times when we could collect FPs, we didn't want to ride any of the FP rides anyway. Fantasyland just felt busy all the time. Our one Magic Morning was nuts. We did it on our final day on Tuesday and decided to use it for Fantasyland (NOT Peter Pan or Matterhorn). I expected all those "other rides" to be walk-ons like they are in the AM at Magic Kingdom. All had 10+ min lines. It was actually a little frustrating at 7am.

And yes, lots of line cutters. Someone was constantly cutting in line past us. However, the one time we tried that at Space Mountain (my kids had gotten much further ahead of us than we expected), we got all kinds of nasty looks and comments and we gave up and just waited in line until we caught up with them near the ride loading area. It felt very uncomfortable and we didn't attempt it again.

We enjoyed our time in DLR, but have decided we prefer WDW (maybe because I understand the park better and DL kept throwing me off balance?).

 

[jeffg4]

A couple of weeks ago, we were in line for Space when a group of 3 teenagers came running through the queue. They ran all the way to the front of the queue and were immediately led to the platform by the CM, at which point they were not inconspicuous about their accomplishment...high-fiving each other as they waited to board. Believe me, if I knew they were coming, they would not have gotten past me.

 

[jhoannam]

All this is scaring me, I now wish I would have stuck with my original thought to go in June.

 

[elaine amj]

All this is scaring me, I now wish I would have stuck with my original thought to go in June.

I think if you manage your expectations you will be just fine. I was taken aback and it threw me off. Also, DL just gets sooo crowded. DCA has much more open spaces which made it more pleasant.

We still did everything and never waited more than 15-20 mins (other than for shows/night events). We called Otto a LOT

 

[ktlm]

I'm sorry your trip wasn't magical, but your research had a major flaw. You picked absolutely the wrong week. Your research did not take into account that last week was the actual 60th anniversary week, which was expected to drive the crowds much higher especially from mid-week on as Friday was the anniversary date. You were there the week of the 60th Anniversary, and 2 days before the anniversary which was the day people using a 5 day pass and planning to go that week and go home Sunday would have been rolling in. We were there last week too. We were there last year the same week and the crowds were heavier this year which we expected due to the 60th being that week and all the new things for it this summer. We found Saturday and Sunday to be great and without bad crowds, Monday was a little heavier, but not bad. Tuesday and Wednesday the crowds were heavy- much more so than last year. I figured that Tuesday would be the day the 5 day ticket holders would start hitting the parks for the anniversary if they were flying or driving out and did not want to go to a park on Sunday, and Wednesday would be the day that the other 5 day ticket holders that were hitting a park Sunday would start driving crowds up. So, basically you showed up in the 5 day period which was expected to be the busiest time of this summer.

I hope that you will give DL/CA another try someday. We are WDW vets, and we have fallen in love with DL/CA and have been there for the last several summers.

 

[luulu1999]

I often wonder when people say they are meeting their group if they REALLY are, I mean if it is a parent and a small kid I understand a little better but if it is teenagers and such I wonder if they are just straight up cutting in line!...Its crappy that you had a less than great time!! We went last summer and it wasn't too bad, I think the fact that it was around the actual 60th birthday probably had a lot to do with it also!! Maybe you could give it another try one day

 

[bakerudall]

I'm sorry your trip wasn't magical, but your research had a major flaw. You picked absolutely the wrong week. Your research did not take into account that last week was the actual 60th anniversary week, which was expected to drive the crowds much higher especially from mid-week on as Friday was the anniversary date. You were there the week of the 60th Anniversary, and 2 days before the anniversary which was the day people using a 5 day pass and planning to go that week and go home Sunday would have been rolling in. We were there last week too. We were there last year the same week and the crowds were heavier this year which we expected due to the 60th being that week and all the new things for it this summer. We found Saturday and Sunday to be great and without bad crowds, Monday was a little heavier, but not bad. Tuesday and Wednesday the crowds were heavy- much more so than last year. I figured that Tuesday would be the day the 5 day ticket holders would start hitting the parks for the anniversary if they were flying or driving out and did not want to go to a park on Sunday, and Wednesday would be the day that the other 5 day ticket holders that were hitting a park Sunday would start driving crowds up. So, basically you showed up in the 5 day period which was expected to be the busiest time of this summer.

I hope that you will give DL/CA another try someday. We are WDW vets, and we have fallen in love with DL/CA and have been there for the last several summers.

Exactly. Going two days before the 60th is like hoping to avoid holiday crowds by going on Dec. 29th. Don't get me wrong; I would still do it if I had a conference in the area, but I would grab some FP's and focus on the less popular or faster loading attractions.

 

[emsstacey]

I didn't plan the week. I was there for a conference and it was just a fringe benefit!

Exactly. Going two days before the 60th is like hoping to avoid holiday crowds by going on Dec. 29th. Don't get me wrong; I would still do it if I had a conference in the area, but I would grab some FP's and focus on the less popular or faster loading attractions.

 

[ktlm]

That's how we as WDW vets started DL. A Monday business meeting about 10 minutes from Disneyland- of course I should take DH and we should go out early and spend Sunday at Disneyland! Took us 2 years to go back, but since then we have been every summer for the last 6 years! Typically, except for those high crowd days, they are beautiful clean parks. We find the waits to often be less than we experience at WDW, and we don't go to WDW at high crowd times, and have only been to DL in June and July. If you didn't make it over to California Adventure, it is a great park. Carsland is amazing and we aren't even CARS fans. Also, you will find Toy Story Mania over there with no FP, but typically with about a 30 minute wait mid afternoon as opposed to WDW's 60 or 90 minute wait in the afternoon, and Soarin we often don't even use a FP for, because we have found the wait to be 20 minutes or sometimes less.

I think you just got a bad day. The crowds at night are much heavier than usual right now because the parade, fireworks, and WOC are all new this summer for the 60th. It really gums things up on the DL Side. You did say you saw Fantasmic, and I will say that leaving it is ALWAYS an experience at DL- small paths/tons of people- the trick there is just to stop and ride POTC- by the time you are done the mass of people has cleared up. You didn't mention the parade above, so I'm guessing you didn't get to see it? I can see why the crowds for it are happening- it is hands down the best Disney parade we have ever seen. It blows ELP and Spectromagic out of the water. The use of new technology is impressive. We did the 2nd parade of the night and it was easy with minimum wait (20 minutes for what we considered a prime spot- it was a last minute decision to try to catch the late run after WOC and if we got a decent spot, we wouldn't have to worry about it the next night)- but people were staking out spots for hours and hours for the 1st parade. See... if you missed that you need to come back just to see it! Oh- and the Aladdin show if you didn't get to CA and missed that one- it is better than any of the shows at WDW. You ought to give it one more chance some time!!!

 

[emsstacey]

I was actually there the Wednesday after the 60th. Crowds were cited as heavier on Wednesday that the 17th!

 

[emsstacey]

If we lived closer, we would probably try again in the off season, but it's around $600 for us to fly each and way to far to drive. We can fly to wdw for $200 or less each. I was super surprised but it really was the people cutting and attitudes that ruined it. We saw about half of the parade and it was wonderful. We also got beignets, mint juleps and churros. I forgot we did haunted mansion, too but it stopped several times with problems.

All in all, glad I went but whew....

 

[mgd]

Are you saying that people got into the regular matterhorn line after you and that line went faster than your single rider line? I don't know how that would be possible unless you had a bad CM not letting the single rider line move.

 

[tiffjoy]

If it was just the line cutting, I have rarely personally had that experience at DLR, but I have had it before at WDW multiple trips when we were there over holiday times. I hope that you don't decide not to come back to DLR simply because of that- it is something that happens everywhere because people can feel entitled and be rude. It's not a unique to DLR experience, for sure, but it is an infuriating one, absolutely.

Sorry it was not the greatest experience for you! We went to Tokyo DisneySea and ended up arriving late. Their crowds, even at low times, are insane. We rode a few rides, then made the best of it by wandering and enjoying the ambiance and food. It was a great time even though we didn't do tons of rides. I think sometimes, you just have to go with the flow when it's busy and find other things to enjoy other than big ticket rides.

 

[kylie71]

I have been going to Disneyland since 1976, never seen Filthy. Please expand........ the CM's work very hard to make everything pristine. This was not the case during your visit? Did you go to City Hall and write a formal complaint?

Please enlighten.

--Lori

 

[dsny1mom]

Just wanted to share my thoughts... I realize that arriving mid-day at the park set us up for failure from the get-go, but here are my thoughts for whatever they are worth.

We planned to go last Wednesday because in my research, it seemed that Wednesdays are traditionally lower crowds. Unfortunately, that did not prove true for us. According to MouseWait, we got up to 91% capacity and it definitely felt that way. Everything had long lines and we were dumbfounded that people kept repeatedly cutting in line to "meet up with their family" somewhere way ahead of us. This was something none of us have ever experienced at DisneyWorld and it put a bad tone on the entire day.

We went ahead and waited in line first off to ride Indiana Jones. The line seemed to move quickly and we loved the ride. We were able to ride Winnie the Pooh without much of a wait and headed off to explore. Was able to secure FP's for Splash and Fantasmic. We headed around the park and waited to ride Matterhorn in the single rider line-- big mistake. We watched people who got into line after us go before us. Would not do single rider there again. At this point, we found some food and were 3 rides/3 hours. We really wanted to ride space mountain but it had an 80 minute wait and lots of people trying to cut in line on that one, too, so we decided to not ride it and headed to find some churros.

As evening pressed on, it seemed that the crowds got thicker. We loved the fireworks and walked through the castle, rode a few smaller rides and decided that we were ready to leave around 11 without watching the late Fantasmic or using our fp for splash mountain. The crowds were just too bad for it to be fun. The park was also filthy, with trash every where.

All in all... I'm glad we went but it just wasn't the magical time we had hoped for. I'm sure people feel the same way at MK when they don't arrive at rope drop and battle the crowds but it was the best we could do at the end of a conference. Cali is gorgeous but I'll still to Florida from now on because it is closer!

Just wanted to share my thoughts... I realize that arriving mid-day at the park set us up for failure from the get-go, but here are my thoughts for whatever they are worth.

We planned to go last Wednesday because in my research, it seemed that Wednesdays are traditionally lower crowds. Unfortunately, that did not prove true for us. According to MouseWait, we got up to 91% capacity and it definitely felt that way. Everything had long lines and we were dumbfounded that people kept repeatedly cutting in line to "meet up with their family" somewhere way ahead of us. This was something none of us have ever experienced at DisneyWorld and it put a bad tone on the entire day.

We went ahead and waited in line first off to ride Indiana Jones. The line seemed to move quickly and we loved the ride. We were able to ride Winnie the Pooh without much of a wait and headed off to explore. Was able to secure FP's for Splash and Fantasmic. We headed around the park and waited to ride Matterhorn in the single rider line-- big mistake. We watched people who got into line after us go before us. Would not do single rider there again. At this point, we found some food and were 3 rides/3 hours. We really wanted to ride space mountain but it had an 80 minute wait and lots of people trying to cut in line on that one, too, so we decided to not ride it and headed to find some churros.

As evening pressed on, it seemed that the crowds got thicker. We loved the fireworks and walked through the castle, rode a few smaller rides and decided that we were ready to leave around 11 without watching the late Fantasmic or using our fp for splash mountain. The crowds were just too bad for it to be fun. The park was also filthy, with trash every where.

All in all... I'm glad we went but it just wasn't the magical time we had hoped for. I'm sure people feel the same way at MK when they don't arrive at rope drop and battle the crowds but it was the best we could do at the end of a conference. Cali is gorgeous but I'll still to Florida from now on because it is closer!

So sorry your visit was not as you hoped it would be.
Your visit to DL sounds very similar to my last visit several years ago to DW, with the exception that my whirlwind one day visit to DW was much worse than your was at DL!

Here are the highlights from our 9 hour extravaganza at DW:
Huge ill behaved crowds (we like you did not arrive at rope drop)
Filthy bathrooms-cues-CS restaurant tables, floors, counters and the area around garbage cans looked like land fills!
Some CMs that had no idea where anything was with very poor attitudes, I mean really should a guest have to ask 3 separate frowning CMs to get pointed in the direction of the nearest restroom?
Large tour groups not just cutting in line but pushing and shoving other guests and high fiving each other for doing so. Not to mention their apparent disdain for wearing deodorant!
A ridiculous amount of scooters cutting people off and moving way to fast trying to pass people while leaning on their horns and using obscenities
Having to get our lunch with several small children in tow before we were allowed to get a table to eat lunch, I won't even start in on how poor the CS food variety and food is at DW!
Huge lines to see any characters (we are used to seeing characters at DL that do not require hour long waits)
In 9 hours we experienced only 4 attractions and none of them were big ones. People Mover, Small World (really that is what SW looks like at DW, UGH!), Mickeys Phillermonic (still trying to figure out why so many like this one!) and the Tiki Room (the cheesy version not the original).
The oppressive heat and humidity did not let up in the evening making night time no less uncomfortable than day time, so like you we bailed early, but we were gone by 9 pm!
Can't say I was still happy I went to DW for that one day, like you said about your visit to DL. But in all fairness we had been to DW multiple times before that last visit. But that last visit sealed it for us and we have never returned nor do we plan to (even though DW is closer to where we live and would cost us much less to visit), as prior visits were just not up to the standards we have come to enjoy at DL.

Both you and I had pretty rotten one day visits! Bad visits can happen especially when one does not plan anything out ( it seems we were both guilty of that mistake) and perhaps just a portion of it is perception and the love we have our home parks!

We were at DL 10 days at the start of July and the parks were pristine and we did not experience any "line cutting". However we do not consider people catching up to their group line cutters the way many that go to DW do! CMs were fabulous, helpful and thankfully did not use the phony "have a magical or Disney day" saying! Yes I agree it was crazy crowded in July but with it being the 60th celebration and the hordes of DW guest now choosing to go to DL, the big crowds and long lines were not a surprise to me!

It's always good to try something different! You either end up with a new place you love to visit or with a deeper love of where you have visited before.

dsny1mom

 

[emsstacey]

As far as single-rider line at Matterhorn, we literally stood still for 20 minutes without a single-single rider being let on. It was the CM because after they switched, it moved a bit and we finally got on. We waited longer than the regular wait, unfortunately.

As far as being filthy, the bathrooms were disheveled with toilet paper everywhere, trash scattered throughout the park. Now, mind you, it was not terrible-- but just not Disney, if that makes sense. That is one of the things that always stands out to me with Disney-- everything is pristine. That was just not the case. CM's looked disheveled with shirttails untucked, hair however, and paper trash throughout. I'm sure it was the large number of people there that makes it hard to keep on top of. I just left WDW that last time thinking that they were magic to keep it all so nice and clean. I did not feel that way last Wednesday.