tinknsnow
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2003
My family and I just returned from Disneyland. We had a wonderful time. I wanted to write some observations about DL and DCA, especially as compared to WDW. We have been to WDW many times. Since we have had children, we have gone every year since 2000. We always stay on property.
We arrived around close to midnight on Wednesday, October 5. We were pleased to see the giant Mickey Mouse as our 2-year old DS is Mickey-obsessed. He let out a huge squeal when he saw Mickey. It was a great start. The CM was extremely pleasant. He explained the layout of the hotel, told us we had been given a free upgrade from "regular concierge" to "Premium concierge." I had no idea what that was but it sounded great. He noticed my son obsessing over the bronze Mickey in the lobby and returned with an autographed photo for him.
The hotel was very attractive. It was elegant but with nice Disney touches (sort of like the Cruise Line, if you've been). Nothing over the top. We had a room just across from the elevators on the 10th floor of the Sierra tower. Our room had a view of Downtown Disney, the Matterhorn, and Tower of Terror. We had a nice view of the fireworks, and the music was audible from our room as well. The room itself was very nice-- clean and fresh, comfortable beds, and a nice-sized bathroom with double sinks and separate WC. The only negative was the water pressure and hot water. UGH! By 6:30 AM, almost all the hot water was gone. And there was barely more than a trickle of water from the showerhead. It took forever to wash my hair! The kids had fun at the pool and the waterfalls and koi ponds are nice to see. I would stay there again for sure, even with the water issues.
We spent Thursday, Saturday , and most of Sunday at DL. We hit DCA on Friday and for a few hours on Sunday. It was CROWDED! Even on the weekdays. We are used to WDW during January/February, where only Saturdays can sometimes seem crowded. But we still enjoyed it. Early Entry is great. For almost two hours on Thursday and Saturday mornings, we had Fantasyland almost to ourselves (the exception was Peter Pan-- always packed!) We learned to use FastPass to our advantage and it worked pretty well.
Let me preface the rest by saying that I am a Magic Kingdom girl all the way. When we head down to WDW for 10 nights, we typically spend 7 of those days at the MK. And I especially love Fantasyland! Therefore, I was blown away by Disneyland Park! Wow! I love it there. The buildings are fantastic, the landscaping is phenomenal, the ride queues are better, there are more rides, the attractions are almost universally better (the exceptions being Pooh and Snow White, IMO-- also PhilharMagic at WDW is a favorite of mine). There is so much more to see and do at DL than WDW's Magic Kingdom. Although lots of people are shocked to see that Sleeping Beauty's Castle is not towering over the park, I was not bothered at all by this. I think the Castle is lovely, and special in its own right. I was so excited to ride Mr. Toad after all these years (I love Pooh at WDW but I wish Mr Toad wasn't removed). That ride was just as great as I remembered. And my kids all loved it, too. It was fun to try all the different rides-- Alice, Pinocchio, Casey Jr, Storybook boats, and the Matterhorn, too. We all love the Matterhorn and we tried to ride that as often as possible. I don't see why people complain about it-- it is a great classic coaster and who can resist the Yeti's growl? LOL It was especially fun at night.
The new Space Mountain is worth the price of admission, IMO. Whoa. So fast, so loud, so fun! It's so smooth and dark-- we all (except for my DS, who is too young/small) found it much, much better than the WDW Space Mtn.
Pirates is better, longer, and with a better queue. It's A Small World is so pretty from the outside (I loved the topiaries and hedges). This attraction is the only one that looked in need of a reno to me. I saw spiderwebs on the ride, lots of worn and chipped paint, and rust.
The Nightmare Before Christmas overlay on the Haunted Mansion just rocks! So much detail and planning is obvious... we all loved it. I wouldn't ever want to see the original replaced, but I was very impressed with the whole thing. And my older daughter rode through three times (she won't even consider going to the regular HM). The building itself is beautiful-- again, so much more detail than at WDW.
Toontown was totally worth visiting at DL. My kids enjoy seeing Mickey, and they like the little Goofy's coaster and the face-painting at WDW's ToonTown, but to me it feels like an afterthought at WDW. At DL, ToonTown is filled with fun details for little ones to enjoy. My son, in partucular, got a real kick out of the character post office boxes that talk, and the door that "electrocutes" you when you open it.
DCA was fun, too. We all enjoyed it, especially Soarin'. Grizzly River Run was a favorite of my daughters. However, it didn't seem "Disney" to me, it seemed like a good amusement parks, like Six Flags. If it's any consolation to you DCA loyals, I feel the same way about EPCOT. As I said before, I am Magic Kingdom all the way.
Now for the stuff I was not impressed with:
The food. Blah. With the exception of the Blue Bayou, everything tasted like "carnival food." I think WDW restaurants, even the counter service varieties, are better by far. There are tastier healthy choices, too. The "healthy" choices at DL were to substitute carrot sticks for fries or to get your popcorn fried chicken served over a bed of salad greens. We tried Goofy's Kitchen for dinner, and for just over $100 we had mediocre food. Our section of three tables had to ask for Goofy to visit because he skipped us... and by the time Goofy came around, we had been finished with dinner for over twenty minutes and two of three kids were totally ready to leave. That was a disappointment.
There was a noticeable lack of characters at DL. We hardly saw any! Perhaps we just had bad timing, but we never saw any characters just hanging out in the park except for Goofy and Pluto in ToonTown. My girls were able to get a few autographs at "designated places" and when they did, it was all business-- just sign the books, pose for a pic, and ship 'em out. The characters seem more plentiful at WDW and always make more conversation.
The CMs were mostly polite, but no "magic". A few of them appeared totally bored and I even overheard one at DCA ranting about her "crap job" and the "stupid guests!" Yikes! I'm sure she was the exception and not long for that job anyway. LOL
The monorail ride by the city takes away from the experience for me-- seeing HoJo and McD's just doesn't feel right to me. But I'm used to WDW where it seems like you're miles away from the real world (because you are).
DL Hotel Concierge was nice. The food was good. But there was no "extra mile" (I could list several very fun surprises we've had at WDW which really made it special). It always feels worth the extra $ at WDW but I'm not sure it was at DL. We probably would not choose to pay extra again.
Overall, I think the park itself is WAY better at Disneyland. It was beautiful and very special. We will definitely go back. It was very moving to be in the original park, where Walt himself walked. As an overall "magical vacation" WDW wins. I love the choice of resorts, the feeling of isolation, the little extras that the CMs seem to do, the restaurants, and the character interaction.
Sorry this is so long! If anyone has questions, please feel free to ask.
We arrived around close to midnight on Wednesday, October 5. We were pleased to see the giant Mickey Mouse as our 2-year old DS is Mickey-obsessed. He let out a huge squeal when he saw Mickey. It was a great start. The CM was extremely pleasant. He explained the layout of the hotel, told us we had been given a free upgrade from "regular concierge" to "Premium concierge." I had no idea what that was but it sounded great. He noticed my son obsessing over the bronze Mickey in the lobby and returned with an autographed photo for him.
The hotel was very attractive. It was elegant but with nice Disney touches (sort of like the Cruise Line, if you've been). Nothing over the top. We had a room just across from the elevators on the 10th floor of the Sierra tower. Our room had a view of Downtown Disney, the Matterhorn, and Tower of Terror. We had a nice view of the fireworks, and the music was audible from our room as well. The room itself was very nice-- clean and fresh, comfortable beds, and a nice-sized bathroom with double sinks and separate WC. The only negative was the water pressure and hot water. UGH! By 6:30 AM, almost all the hot water was gone. And there was barely more than a trickle of water from the showerhead. It took forever to wash my hair! The kids had fun at the pool and the waterfalls and koi ponds are nice to see. I would stay there again for sure, even with the water issues.
We spent Thursday, Saturday , and most of Sunday at DL. We hit DCA on Friday and for a few hours on Sunday. It was CROWDED! Even on the weekdays. We are used to WDW during January/February, where only Saturdays can sometimes seem crowded. But we still enjoyed it. Early Entry is great. For almost two hours on Thursday and Saturday mornings, we had Fantasyland almost to ourselves (the exception was Peter Pan-- always packed!) We learned to use FastPass to our advantage and it worked pretty well.
Let me preface the rest by saying that I am a Magic Kingdom girl all the way. When we head down to WDW for 10 nights, we typically spend 7 of those days at the MK. And I especially love Fantasyland! Therefore, I was blown away by Disneyland Park! Wow! I love it there. The buildings are fantastic, the landscaping is phenomenal, the ride queues are better, there are more rides, the attractions are almost universally better (the exceptions being Pooh and Snow White, IMO-- also PhilharMagic at WDW is a favorite of mine). There is so much more to see and do at DL than WDW's Magic Kingdom. Although lots of people are shocked to see that Sleeping Beauty's Castle is not towering over the park, I was not bothered at all by this. I think the Castle is lovely, and special in its own right. I was so excited to ride Mr. Toad after all these years (I love Pooh at WDW but I wish Mr Toad wasn't removed). That ride was just as great as I remembered. And my kids all loved it, too. It was fun to try all the different rides-- Alice, Pinocchio, Casey Jr, Storybook boats, and the Matterhorn, too. We all love the Matterhorn and we tried to ride that as often as possible. I don't see why people complain about it-- it is a great classic coaster and who can resist the Yeti's growl? LOL It was especially fun at night.
The new Space Mountain is worth the price of admission, IMO. Whoa. So fast, so loud, so fun! It's so smooth and dark-- we all (except for my DS, who is too young/small) found it much, much better than the WDW Space Mtn.
Pirates is better, longer, and with a better queue. It's A Small World is so pretty from the outside (I loved the topiaries and hedges). This attraction is the only one that looked in need of a reno to me. I saw spiderwebs on the ride, lots of worn and chipped paint, and rust.
The Nightmare Before Christmas overlay on the Haunted Mansion just rocks! So much detail and planning is obvious... we all loved it. I wouldn't ever want to see the original replaced, but I was very impressed with the whole thing. And my older daughter rode through three times (she won't even consider going to the regular HM). The building itself is beautiful-- again, so much more detail than at WDW.
Toontown was totally worth visiting at DL. My kids enjoy seeing Mickey, and they like the little Goofy's coaster and the face-painting at WDW's ToonTown, but to me it feels like an afterthought at WDW. At DL, ToonTown is filled with fun details for little ones to enjoy. My son, in partucular, got a real kick out of the character post office boxes that talk, and the door that "electrocutes" you when you open it.
DCA was fun, too. We all enjoyed it, especially Soarin'. Grizzly River Run was a favorite of my daughters. However, it didn't seem "Disney" to me, it seemed like a good amusement parks, like Six Flags. If it's any consolation to you DCA loyals, I feel the same way about EPCOT. As I said before, I am Magic Kingdom all the way.
Now for the stuff I was not impressed with:
The food. Blah. With the exception of the Blue Bayou, everything tasted like "carnival food." I think WDW restaurants, even the counter service varieties, are better by far. There are tastier healthy choices, too. The "healthy" choices at DL were to substitute carrot sticks for fries or to get your popcorn fried chicken served over a bed of salad greens. We tried Goofy's Kitchen for dinner, and for just over $100 we had mediocre food. Our section of three tables had to ask for Goofy to visit because he skipped us... and by the time Goofy came around, we had been finished with dinner for over twenty minutes and two of three kids were totally ready to leave. That was a disappointment.
There was a noticeable lack of characters at DL. We hardly saw any! Perhaps we just had bad timing, but we never saw any characters just hanging out in the park except for Goofy and Pluto in ToonTown. My girls were able to get a few autographs at "designated places" and when they did, it was all business-- just sign the books, pose for a pic, and ship 'em out. The characters seem more plentiful at WDW and always make more conversation.
The CMs were mostly polite, but no "magic". A few of them appeared totally bored and I even overheard one at DCA ranting about her "crap job" and the "stupid guests!" Yikes! I'm sure she was the exception and not long for that job anyway. LOL
The monorail ride by the city takes away from the experience for me-- seeing HoJo and McD's just doesn't feel right to me. But I'm used to WDW where it seems like you're miles away from the real world (because you are).
DL Hotel Concierge was nice. The food was good. But there was no "extra mile" (I could list several very fun surprises we've had at WDW which really made it special). It always feels worth the extra $ at WDW but I'm not sure it was at DL. We probably would not choose to pay extra again.
Overall, I think the park itself is WAY better at Disneyland. It was beautiful and very special. We will definitely go back. It was very moving to be in the original park, where Walt himself walked. As an overall "magical vacation" WDW wins. I love the choice of resorts, the feeling of isolation, the little extras that the CMs seem to do, the restaurants, and the character interaction.
Sorry this is so long! If anyone has questions, please feel free to ask.
I think Premium had a view of DTD and the parks and perhaps the daybed was additional, too. 
The next time we tried EE, we got there right away (we lined up sooner and got on the first train in) and were very glad we did.
