msdaisy
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2012
My first trip to WDW was in March of 2007. My husband and I took our daughters ages 1 and 4 at the time. I had never been to either WDW or DL ever! Shame on my parents! My husband had been to each once as a child in the mid 70s. Our first trip was great! The weather was beautiful with chilly mornings and warm afternoons. We were ignorant of any super long lines because we were not riding the big rides. Although, we must have stood in some lines because my kids lined up three chairs in our timeshare rental. My youngest daughter sat in the middle chair with my oldest sitting behind her. I asked them what they were doing, and my 4 year old replied that they were in line. I was in awe of WDW. That castle mesmerized me, and I just about broke down on Jungle Cruise because I never, ever, ever expected to get to go to Disney World. In fact I loved it so much that I gave up a trip to Hawaii that I earned for work in 2009 for a trip back to WDW. Now my kids were a little older, the trip was free, and we stayed at the Yacht Club. I now thought WDW was even better! We had stayed offsite our first visit. Looking back, I could shoot myself because I could have paid a very reduced rate to add the dining plan back then. But we were still a little slow to all things Disney, but no harm we enjoyed eating at Cosmic Rays and Caseys Corner! We then started wising up dining plan, staying on property, renting DVC points, reserving dining reservations 6 months in advance, Disboards! I was smitten. I would spend all year each year planning the perfect trip! Even enjoyed free dining in June of 2011. I was becoming a regular ole Disney guru.
Well, our group was growing larger. Many times my mom, sister, and brother in law would join us for our Disney trips. My sister really wanted to try out DL for our 2013 trip. I reluctantly agreed, and I started planning like a mad woman. I was trying to rent DVC points for the Grand Californian next to impossible 7 months out for June!! That fell through, so I started to attempt to get the senior discount with the help of my mom at PPH. That didnt work out as they have evidently done away with the discount at least for now. We wound up booking a week the Disneyland Hotel. I was excited, but I was still disappointed that I was not going to see my big castle and Epcot. So, we go to rocking along planning this trip, and we backed out. I cancelled all of our Disneyland reservations. I booked the Port Orleans Riverside with the regular dining plan. My mom was happy. I think she was as disappointed in missing out on WDW in 2013 as I was. So, now we are back in our comfort zone. I am fighting for dining reservations, creating touring plans, melting in the Florida heat in June! We are all set. We went, got a little wet that week, and we had the time of our lives. It was a great trip! We arrived and did Downtown Disney our first day, 4 park days, 1 pool day, 4 park days, and then spent our departure day back at Downtown Disney. My feet were killing me, and the weather was either hot, hot, hot or rainy, rainy, rainy all week which was to be expected.
We left for that trip on May 31, and we returned to Texas on June 10. I was so sad that our beloved Disney vacation was over for a whole year. So I moped around the house for a good two weeks. Then my husband and I decided that we would try to do a quick beach trip before he had to return to work out of town. So, I started looking at the week of July the 4th. Of course, everything was booked up. I looked at Destin, and I even look at renting points to do Vero Beach. I was on a mission to get this other vacation in since our Disney trip was over too soon! My husband even had me looking at Saratoga Springs so that we could just return to WDW and spend the week. On the night of June 26th we decided. We would drive out to California and go to Disneyland. We left on June 28th. I had one day to plan a Disneyland trip. What the heck was I thinking??
We told our children that we were going to take two days to drive to the Grand Canyon and then we would return home.
So, we drove for two days, arrived at the Grand Canyon, looked around for about 30 minutes, and then got back in the car and acted like we were driving home. We drove on into California, and when we were in view of the Hollywood sign told our kiddos that they were in California and going to Disneyland.
I fell in love with DL just as I had WDW. It is a different love, but a love nevertheless!!!! My feet loved DL. And the weather. Oh my goodness the weather. I could turn this novel into a trilogy on the weather. Upper 70s and lower 80s the whole week. My husband and I found ourselves describing where to go based on Magic Kingdom. For example, he said head to where Caseys Corner should be. I was shocked to discover that I loved California Adventure even more than Disneyland. I decided that since it was newer and very much like Hollywood studios in one area that maybe it was just familiar to us.
The lines were definitely there, but I felt since it was the week of July 4th that the amount of time we didnt spend in lines was awesome. I was shocked that Tower of Terror and California screaming consistently had 10 minute waits throughout the day. Radiator Springs Racers had super long lines, but we did rope drop and wide right to tackle that ride. We even did the single rider line and was on in about 20 minutes or so. My husband just loved Carsland in general. We loved all of the quick service options. We did stay off site at Embassy Suites, and I was so jealous when I saw just how close the 3 Disney hotels are to the parks. I couldnt even describe to my mom and sister how close Downtown Disney is to the parks. I finally told them that both of the parks are close enough that the end of the line for people getting into DL could easily meet the end of the line for CA. We didnt buy park hoppers since we never park hopped at WDW. It would be so easy to do at DL.
I know all of this has been said before, but I also know that Carsland is really intriguing many of us WDW vets. Yes, it is worth the trip to see. But the main thing that I noticed is how relaxing if felt to be there. We had nothing planned. Not one single dining reservation. I went out their armed with an Embassy Suites reservation and the wide right technique in my head and thats it!!!! My husband was dumbfounded when we got there and found out we had no dining reservations since he claims that every minute during a WDW trip is planned out. But, we had just as much fun as we had at DW a few weeks prior. In fact the weather and amount of walking made the trip better. We loved just doing whatever whenever!
I think I will always over plan my trips to WDW and under plan my trips to DL!!!!
So, my final thought is that WDW is not better than DL. Nor is DL better than WDW. They are different entities, and to me they felt different yet the same. My husband kept saying that it was like they took Magic Kingdom and sucked it up to make DL. Then he would get mad when I pointed out that he should say that it was like they took DL and spread it out to make Magic Kingdom.
If you are a WDW vet, and have the hankering to go to DL DO IT! You will not regret it. In my perfect world, I would do WDW around Christmas and DL around June. Nothing can take away the awe that I felt the first time I saw Cinderellas castle, and nothing can take away the awe I felt when I walked down the same Main St. that Walt did!!!
Happy Disney Travels!
Now on to convincing my husband that a trip to WDW and DL each year is indeed a new tradition.
Well, our group was growing larger. Many times my mom, sister, and brother in law would join us for our Disney trips. My sister really wanted to try out DL for our 2013 trip. I reluctantly agreed, and I started planning like a mad woman. I was trying to rent DVC points for the Grand Californian next to impossible 7 months out for June!! That fell through, so I started to attempt to get the senior discount with the help of my mom at PPH. That didnt work out as they have evidently done away with the discount at least for now. We wound up booking a week the Disneyland Hotel. I was excited, but I was still disappointed that I was not going to see my big castle and Epcot. So, we go to rocking along planning this trip, and we backed out. I cancelled all of our Disneyland reservations. I booked the Port Orleans Riverside with the regular dining plan. My mom was happy. I think she was as disappointed in missing out on WDW in 2013 as I was. So, now we are back in our comfort zone. I am fighting for dining reservations, creating touring plans, melting in the Florida heat in June! We are all set. We went, got a little wet that week, and we had the time of our lives. It was a great trip! We arrived and did Downtown Disney our first day, 4 park days, 1 pool day, 4 park days, and then spent our departure day back at Downtown Disney. My feet were killing me, and the weather was either hot, hot, hot or rainy, rainy, rainy all week which was to be expected.
We left for that trip on May 31, and we returned to Texas on June 10. I was so sad that our beloved Disney vacation was over for a whole year. So I moped around the house for a good two weeks. Then my husband and I decided that we would try to do a quick beach trip before he had to return to work out of town. So, I started looking at the week of July the 4th. Of course, everything was booked up. I looked at Destin, and I even look at renting points to do Vero Beach. I was on a mission to get this other vacation in since our Disney trip was over too soon! My husband even had me looking at Saratoga Springs so that we could just return to WDW and spend the week. On the night of June 26th we decided. We would drive out to California and go to Disneyland. We left on June 28th. I had one day to plan a Disneyland trip. What the heck was I thinking??
We told our children that we were going to take two days to drive to the Grand Canyon and then we would return home.
So, we drove for two days, arrived at the Grand Canyon, looked around for about 30 minutes, and then got back in the car and acted like we were driving home. We drove on into California, and when we were in view of the Hollywood sign told our kiddos that they were in California and going to Disneyland. I fell in love with DL just as I had WDW. It is a different love, but a love nevertheless!!!! My feet loved DL. And the weather. Oh my goodness the weather. I could turn this novel into a trilogy on the weather. Upper 70s and lower 80s the whole week. My husband and I found ourselves describing where to go based on Magic Kingdom. For example, he said head to where Caseys Corner should be. I was shocked to discover that I loved California Adventure even more than Disneyland. I decided that since it was newer and very much like Hollywood studios in one area that maybe it was just familiar to us.
The lines were definitely there, but I felt since it was the week of July 4th that the amount of time we didnt spend in lines was awesome. I was shocked that Tower of Terror and California screaming consistently had 10 minute waits throughout the day. Radiator Springs Racers had super long lines, but we did rope drop and wide right to tackle that ride. We even did the single rider line and was on in about 20 minutes or so. My husband just loved Carsland in general. We loved all of the quick service options. We did stay off site at Embassy Suites, and I was so jealous when I saw just how close the 3 Disney hotels are to the parks. I couldnt even describe to my mom and sister how close Downtown Disney is to the parks. I finally told them that both of the parks are close enough that the end of the line for people getting into DL could easily meet the end of the line for CA. We didnt buy park hoppers since we never park hopped at WDW. It would be so easy to do at DL.
I know all of this has been said before, but I also know that Carsland is really intriguing many of us WDW vets. Yes, it is worth the trip to see. But the main thing that I noticed is how relaxing if felt to be there. We had nothing planned. Not one single dining reservation. I went out their armed with an Embassy Suites reservation and the wide right technique in my head and thats it!!!! My husband was dumbfounded when we got there and found out we had no dining reservations since he claims that every minute during a WDW trip is planned out. But, we had just as much fun as we had at DW a few weeks prior. In fact the weather and amount of walking made the trip better. We loved just doing whatever whenever!
I think I will always over plan my trips to WDW and under plan my trips to DL!!!!
So, my final thought is that WDW is not better than DL. Nor is DL better than WDW. They are different entities, and to me they felt different yet the same. My husband kept saying that it was like they took Magic Kingdom and sucked it up to make DL. Then he would get mad when I pointed out that he should say that it was like they took DL and spread it out to make Magic Kingdom.
If you are a WDW vet, and have the hankering to go to DL DO IT! You will not regret it. In my perfect world, I would do WDW around Christmas and DL around June. Nothing can take away the awe that I felt the first time I saw Cinderellas castle, and nothing can take away the awe I felt when I walked down the same Main St. that Walt did!!!
Happy Disney Travels!
Now on to convincing my husband that a trip to WDW and DL each year is indeed a new tradition.
