debrapagliasotti
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2011
Monster's Inc ride looks so cute!! I totally agree we need one at WDW!!
The WDW Vets Head West! A DL May 2012 TR - Complete!
- Thread starter khertz
- Start date
skier_pete
DIsney-holics Anon
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2006
Nope...disagree. While I don't mind some rides having clones...I do NOT want all the rides to be the same. Keep some things DLR only and other WDW only. Let's build that Monster's Inc coaster at DHS instead.
Just gotta find a reason to take a trip to DLR!
dtr_angel
Sorry I'm Late
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2008
joining in, loving the TR so far!!!
I have a question for you... I see your DS is in his car seat on the plane. We are planning on taking our little one on our next Disney trip, and DH & I are pretty insistent that our infant will be in their car seat, so we'll pay for the ticket ($315, which is just about as much as an adult ticket) My question is though, on all of our flights to Orlando our flights have been full or overbooked and they make the announcement that lap children have to be on your lap. If we fork out the money for a ticket to keep baby safe in their car seat, do they make you give your seat up for an adult? Not sure if you know but I thought I'd ask in case you did!
Can't wait to hear more!
I have a question for you... I see your DS is in his car seat on the plane. We are planning on taking our little one on our next Disney trip, and DH & I are pretty insistent that our infant will be in their car seat, so we'll pay for the ticket ($315, which is just about as much as an adult ticket) My question is though, on all of our flights to Orlando our flights have been full or overbooked and they make the announcement that lap children have to be on your lap. If we fork out the money for a ticket to keep baby safe in their car seat, do they make you give your seat up for an adult? Not sure if you know but I thought I'd ask in case you did!
Can't wait to hear more!
khertz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2008
I would love a Monsters Inc attraction in WDW, but something different from the DL version would be great! Maybe an indoor roller coaster in the factory with all the kids' doors...
joining in, loving the TR so far!!!
I have a question for you... I see your DS is in his car seat on the plane. We are planning on taking our little one on our next Disney trip, and DH & I are pretty insistent that our infant will be in their car seat, so we'll pay for the ticket ($315, which is just about as much as an adult ticket) My question is though, on all of our flights to Orlando our flights have been full or overbooked and they make the announcement that lap children have to be on your lap. If we fork out the money for a ticket to keep baby safe in their car seat, do they make you give your seat up for an adult? Not sure if you know but I thought I'd ask in case you did!
Can't wait to hear more!
Glad you are enjoying it!
For your plane question, we too bought DS a seat on all of our plane travel for this trip, and never had that problem. Probably what they were announcing in regards to lap babies was because they will let lap babies have a seat in their car seat for free if there are unsold seats on the plane. We had that happen on our last WDW trip when we flew with DS but didn't buy him his own seat. If you paid for a seat and he has a boarding pass, they shouldn't be able to bump him for an adult. One of our flights, it might have been the one to LAX, was oversold and they did what they normally do, offer people travel vouchers to fly on a later flight. I will say though that we did not buy an infant fare, but I don't think it would be different. One of our other flights was full, and no one said anything to us about having DS in our seat on that one either. I'm no expert of course, but I think you'll be fine.
skier_pete
DIsney-holics Anon
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2006
My question is though, on all of our flights to Orlando our flights have been full or overbooked and they make the announcement that lap children have to be on your lap. If we fork out the money for a ticket to keep baby safe in their car seat, do they make you give your seat up for an adult? Not sure if you know but I thought I'd ask in case you did!
FYI: Yes, when they make that announcement, they only mean those that didn't pay for a seat. If you bought a seat, you do not have a "lap child".
dtr_angel
Sorry I'm Late
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2008
FYI: Yes, when they make that announcement, they only mean those that didn't pay for a seat. If you bought a seat, you do not have a "lap child".
Thank you so much! I feel better now about paying for a seat for the baby.
afwdwfan
DIS Dad #460
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2010
I think WDW needs a couple more of those dark rides. You can never really have too many. 
I'm with you on the Monsters Inc. thing. It is one of my favorite Pixar movies, but I really don't care for the laugh floor at all. I'd love to see this movie have a presence over in Pixar place. Maybe then, everybody with a small child wouldn't be trampling each other to get to Toy Story Mania.
I'm with you on the Monsters Inc. thing. It is one of my favorite Pixar movies, but I really don't care for the laugh floor at all. I'd love to see this movie have a presence over in Pixar place. Maybe then, everybody with a small child wouldn't be trampling each other to get to Toy Story Mania.
abbie13_15
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 10, 2006
Look foward to reading more of your trip report!
TwingleMum
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2002
Enjoying your TR. Thanks for sharing.
khertz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2008
Enjoying your TR. Thanks for sharing.
So happy to have you all here! And very glad to read that you are enjoying it so far.
I think WDW needs a couple more of those dark rides. You can never really have too many.
I'm with you on the Monsters Inc. thing. It is one of my favorite Pixar movies, but I really don't care for the laugh floor at all. I'd love to see this movie have a presence over in Pixar place. Maybe then, everybody with a small child wouldn't be trampling each other to get to Toy Story Mania.
I love the dark rides, and that was one of my favorite things about Disneyland was that they had SO many! Fantasyland had way more attractions there than in WDW.
I liked the Laugh Floor the one time we did it, but it's definitely not something I need to do every trip. A Monsters Inc ride attraction would absolutely be a must-do were they to add one at WDW! And yes, anything to relieve some of the Toy Story Mania MANIA would be fantastic!!
khertz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2008
Happy to see you here! We definitely fell in love 
with Disneyland on this trip & I'm so happy we decided to take it when we did.
Amazing pictures! You do a great job composing your photos
Thanks for sharing what lens you upgraded to...I was just about to ask since my current lens doesn't do well on low light situations. Btw, did you end up keeping your new lens on all of the time for the daylight/outdoor shots too?Can't wait to hear about more of your trip!
khertz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2008
DAY 2 Continued: Tuesday May 15th
When I left off, the three of us were just joining the line for the Visa card members Meet & Greet. Since we were getting there right at 10:30 am when it started, there were a few families in front of us so we had a short wait. DH and I were a little nervous to see how DS would react to the characters now that he is a little older. He loved them SO MUCH in WDW when he was 12 months old, but I was a worried he'd be old enough to have more of a fear of such a large character interacting with him.
Soon enough, the families ahead of us finished and it was time to find out how DS would do.
He didn't start crying or run screaming, but he was definitely a little hesitant compared to our trip in November. With a little encouragement, he started making his way a little closer to Pluto, one step at a time!
He just loves to sit in laps, even if he does not know the lap's owner, so he was pleased as punch when Pluto sat down on the ground and he could scoot in for a picture!
Family shot!
Then Pluto started playing Peek-a-Boo with DS, one of his favorite games at the moment. It was so cute! And DS kept smiling at Pluto then turning to look at us like he was making sure it was ok to play with an overgrown puppy dog.
Overall, it was a cute interaction though DS was definitely not as excited about the characters as he was last year. I was just relieved that he didn't hate them or cry at the sight of them. Here's hoping that continues until WDW in October!
After finishing up with Pluto, we saw we were close by Tower of Terror and the wait was only listed at 13 minutes, which we know they do when there isn't really a wait at all.
We walked up to the CM at the line and asked for a Rider Switch pass, then I rode while DH stayed behind with DS. I walked right up to the entrance to the pre-show, and next to me was a little girl maybe 4 or 5 years old with her dad. I was a little surprised to see such a young girl going on it willingly, so I smiled at her and asked if she had been on it before. The dad started shaking his head and said no and that he was hoping it wouldn't ruin her from riding anything the rest of the day! Unfortunately, once we went into the library and came out into the line at the boiler room, I lost them and got ahead so I have no idea how the little girl enjoyed (or hated!) the ride.
When I got up to the point where the line divided between the two ride cars, I got pulled ahead of a bunch of people since I was a single rider and was able to get right onto one of the elevators that was about to load, so that made my wait even shorter!
All I can say about riding ToT is that I am so thankful that the one in WDW is so much better! There were a lot of attractions in DL that I thought were better than their WDW counterparts, but ToT is definitely NOT one of them. It was kind of lame that you don't really go out into the ride at all, you just go up, stop in front of a screen, see something, then you shoot up to the next scene, etc. The drops were still fun, but I missed that creepy factor of slowly moving through the dark hallways with just the twinkle lights around you as you make your way to the drop chamber. For only riding it once, the drop sequence was pretty fun, although I'm sure if you went on it a few times and knew what was coming, it wouldn't be as exciting. Just made me love and appreciate the random drop sequences at WDW even more.
When I came out of the ride, DH said DS had been very hard to entertain while waiting for me to come out, so we decided it was best to go do something he could enjoy now and save the rider switch pass for DH to use later.
Our next stop was A Bug's Land!
I have to say, I just LOVED this area of the park! It was so great for us and DS since he could ride everything except the bumper cars. The attention to detail was just amazing!
I loved how you were under a canopy of clovers to make you feel tiny like a bug!
And the speakers were pieces of pencils!
The first attraction we decided to do here was Flik's Flyers because we came across it first and it had less than a 10 minute wait.
Waiting in line
It was a really mild and relaxing attraction, and DS enjoyed feeling the wind in his hair. lol As we were spinning, he kept saying, "Wheee!" He really seemed to enjoy it.
Next we went over to Francis' Ladybug Boogie. We had been planning to skip this attraction thinking it was the same as the tea cups ride, but it wasn't. The actual ladybugs don't spin the same way as the tea cups, they are on circle platforms that make a figure 8 pattern.
A little video of DS playing in line
We had a little bit longer of a wait for this one than we did for Flik's Flyers, but DS entertained himself by running around in the corner of the queue where no one was standing and pointing to the rocks in the wall.
And trying to squeeze behind the fence!
Finally we got on the ride and picked a ladybug. As soon as we started moving, DS went crazy with joy! He absolutely LOVED this attraction and was giggling and smiling the whole entire time. It was a little jerky though, so you can see in the pictures that even though he's having a great time, he has a super tight grip on DH's shorts!
Continued in next post...
When I left off, the three of us were just joining the line for the Visa card members Meet & Greet. Since we were getting there right at 10:30 am when it started, there were a few families in front of us so we had a short wait. DH and I were a little nervous to see how DS would react to the characters now that he is a little older. He loved them SO MUCH in WDW when he was 12 months old, but I was a worried he'd be old enough to have more of a fear of such a large character interacting with him.
Soon enough, the families ahead of us finished and it was time to find out how DS would do.
He didn't start crying or run screaming, but he was definitely a little hesitant compared to our trip in November. With a little encouragement, he started making his way a little closer to Pluto, one step at a time!
He just loves to sit in laps, even if he does not know the lap's owner, so he was pleased as punch when Pluto sat down on the ground and he could scoot in for a picture!
Family shot!
Then Pluto started playing Peek-a-Boo with DS, one of his favorite games at the moment. It was so cute! And DS kept smiling at Pluto then turning to look at us like he was making sure it was ok to play with an overgrown puppy dog.
Overall, it was a cute interaction though DS was definitely not as excited about the characters as he was last year. I was just relieved that he didn't hate them or cry at the sight of them. Here's hoping that continues until WDW in October!
After finishing up with Pluto, we saw we were close by Tower of Terror and the wait was only listed at 13 minutes, which we know they do when there isn't really a wait at all.
We walked up to the CM at the line and asked for a Rider Switch pass, then I rode while DH stayed behind with DS. I walked right up to the entrance to the pre-show, and next to me was a little girl maybe 4 or 5 years old with her dad. I was a little surprised to see such a young girl going on it willingly, so I smiled at her and asked if she had been on it before. The dad started shaking his head and said no and that he was hoping it wouldn't ruin her from riding anything the rest of the day! Unfortunately, once we went into the library and came out into the line at the boiler room, I lost them and got ahead so I have no idea how the little girl enjoyed (or hated!) the ride.
When I got up to the point where the line divided between the two ride cars, I got pulled ahead of a bunch of people since I was a single rider and was able to get right onto one of the elevators that was about to load, so that made my wait even shorter!
All I can say about riding ToT is that I am so thankful that the one in WDW is so much better! There were a lot of attractions in DL that I thought were better than their WDW counterparts, but ToT is definitely NOT one of them. It was kind of lame that you don't really go out into the ride at all, you just go up, stop in front of a screen, see something, then you shoot up to the next scene, etc. The drops were still fun, but I missed that creepy factor of slowly moving through the dark hallways with just the twinkle lights around you as you make your way to the drop chamber. For only riding it once, the drop sequence was pretty fun, although I'm sure if you went on it a few times and knew what was coming, it wouldn't be as exciting. Just made me love and appreciate the random drop sequences at WDW even more.
When I came out of the ride, DH said DS had been very hard to entertain while waiting for me to come out, so we decided it was best to go do something he could enjoy now and save the rider switch pass for DH to use later.
Our next stop was A Bug's Land!
I have to say, I just LOVED this area of the park! It was so great for us and DS since he could ride everything except the bumper cars. The attention to detail was just amazing!
I loved how you were under a canopy of clovers to make you feel tiny like a bug!
And the speakers were pieces of pencils!
The first attraction we decided to do here was Flik's Flyers because we came across it first and it had less than a 10 minute wait.
Waiting in line
It was a really mild and relaxing attraction, and DS enjoyed feeling the wind in his hair. lol As we were spinning, he kept saying, "Wheee!" He really seemed to enjoy it.
Next we went over to Francis' Ladybug Boogie. We had been planning to skip this attraction thinking it was the same as the tea cups ride, but it wasn't. The actual ladybugs don't spin the same way as the tea cups, they are on circle platforms that make a figure 8 pattern.
A little video of DS playing in line
We had a little bit longer of a wait for this one than we did for Flik's Flyers, but DS entertained himself by running around in the corner of the queue where no one was standing and pointing to the rocks in the wall.
And trying to squeeze behind the fence!
Finally we got on the ride and picked a ladybug. As soon as we started moving, DS went crazy with joy! He absolutely LOVED this attraction and was giggling and smiling the whole entire time. It was a little jerky though, so you can see in the pictures that even though he's having a great time, he has a super tight grip on DH's shorts!
Continued in next post...
khertz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2008
DAY 2 Continued: Tuesday May 15th
The last attraction we rode in Bugs Land was Heimlich's Chew Chew Train.
The train ride was pretty cute, and I loved that when you rode through the giant cookie box it smelled like cookies! DS seemed to enjoy it, which is all that really matters!
So then we were finished in Bugs Land and ready to move on. Overall, I thought this was a GREAT area for toddler and their parents. The rides are really cute, plus we had discovered what would end up being hands down DS's favorite ride from our trip to DLR.
We decided we were getting pretty hungry, so we were ready to find something to eat. We passed the Baby Care Center and decided to check it out just to change Paxton and see what it was like in there. It was a decently sized BCC similar to the ones at MK and Epcot at WDW. However, we found that since Paxton will now drink his milk cold and eat in restaurant settings (the two main reasons we had used the baby care centers in WDW so much), we really didn't need them as much this trip. We actually never stepped foot in one again for the rest of the trip!
For lunch, we ended up eating at Taste Pilots' Grill near Soarin'. I got a burger, and DH got the bright idea to get DS the kids nuggets and get himself a kids burger so he could eat that plus whatever DS didn't eat. Which was just a few fries! He ate all of the chicken plus some fries and drank all of his milk, which left DH a tiny kids cheeseburger and some fries and apple slices for his lunch. He never made that mistake again!
While we were eating, we pulled out the map and decided we had time for one more attraction before we were going to have to head back to the resort for a nap. Luckily, I knew just what I wanted to do!
The Little Mermaid is probably one of my most favorite Disney movies ever! I was so excited when I heard that a Little Mermaid attraction was being added at MK during the Fantasyland expansion and even more excited when we decided to head to DLR so that I could try it out there first!
Pretty mural in the queue
We walked right on to this attraction and were soon boarding our Clamobile and heading Under the Sea.
I just adored every single second of this attraction! Every scene was wonderfully done with the music and the scenery, especially the Under the Sea scene! I felt like I was right inside the movie. It will be so great when this is up and running in MK so I can ride it every trip!
We started heading out to the park exit, and we could tell DS was getting sleepy. He usually naps at home from 1-3 or 3:30, and it was a little after 1 by this time. Since we figured pushing him in the stroller would just put him to sleep, we decided to let him walk. I had to pull out the camera and snap this cute picture as we were walking out to the tram.
I just love those two guys!
We rode the tram and let DS walk most of the way to the car, then I sat in the backseat to keep him occupied for the short drive back to Dolphin's Cove. He has this bad habit of nodding off in the car even if it's only a short road trip and then he won't nap when we get home, and we definitely knew he needed a long nap!
Back at the resort, we put him down in his PnP in the living room and shut the door, never hearing a peep out of him. He must have gone straight to sleep! While we were closed off in the bedroom, DH started transferring pictures to the laptop while I took a well deserved nap myself. We had the alarm set on my phone for 3:45 to get up and get moving to get back to the parks. After all, we had a set of World of Color FPs in our possession that I was very excited to put to use!
UP NEXT: A Very Long Evening
The last attraction we rode in Bugs Land was Heimlich's Chew Chew Train.
The train ride was pretty cute, and I loved that when you rode through the giant cookie box it smelled like cookies! DS seemed to enjoy it, which is all that really matters!
So then we were finished in Bugs Land and ready to move on. Overall, I thought this was a GREAT area for toddler and their parents. The rides are really cute, plus we had discovered what would end up being hands down DS's favorite ride from our trip to DLR.
We decided we were getting pretty hungry, so we were ready to find something to eat. We passed the Baby Care Center and decided to check it out just to change Paxton and see what it was like in there. It was a decently sized BCC similar to the ones at MK and Epcot at WDW. However, we found that since Paxton will now drink his milk cold and eat in restaurant settings (the two main reasons we had used the baby care centers in WDW so much), we really didn't need them as much this trip. We actually never stepped foot in one again for the rest of the trip!
For lunch, we ended up eating at Taste Pilots' Grill near Soarin'. I got a burger, and DH got the bright idea to get DS the kids nuggets and get himself a kids burger so he could eat that plus whatever DS didn't eat. Which was just a few fries! He ate all of the chicken plus some fries and drank all of his milk, which left DH a tiny kids cheeseburger and some fries and apple slices for his lunch. He never made that mistake again!
While we were eating, we pulled out the map and decided we had time for one more attraction before we were going to have to head back to the resort for a nap. Luckily, I knew just what I wanted to do!
The Little Mermaid is probably one of my most favorite Disney movies ever! I was so excited when I heard that a Little Mermaid attraction was being added at MK during the Fantasyland expansion and even more excited when we decided to head to DLR so that I could try it out there first!
Pretty mural in the queue
We walked right on to this attraction and were soon boarding our Clamobile and heading Under the Sea.
I just adored every single second of this attraction! Every scene was wonderfully done with the music and the scenery, especially the Under the Sea scene! I felt like I was right inside the movie. It will be so great when this is up and running in MK so I can ride it every trip!
We started heading out to the park exit, and we could tell DS was getting sleepy. He usually naps at home from 1-3 or 3:30, and it was a little after 1 by this time. Since we figured pushing him in the stroller would just put him to sleep, we decided to let him walk. I had to pull out the camera and snap this cute picture as we were walking out to the tram.
I just love those two guys!
We rode the tram and let DS walk most of the way to the car, then I sat in the backseat to keep him occupied for the short drive back to Dolphin's Cove. He has this bad habit of nodding off in the car even if it's only a short road trip and then he won't nap when we get home, and we definitely knew he needed a long nap!
Back at the resort, we put him down in his PnP in the living room and shut the door, never hearing a peep out of him. He must have gone straight to sleep! While we were closed off in the bedroom, DH started transferring pictures to the laptop while I took a well deserved nap myself. We had the alarm set on my phone for 3:45 to get up and get moving to get back to the parks. After all, we had a set of World of Color FPs in our possession that I was very excited to put to use!
UP NEXT: A Very Long Evening
The pictures of DS and Pluto are adorable!
I agree with you 100% about ToT. I thought the DL version was really lame compared to WDW's. So glad we ended up with the better of the two!
I thought Bug's Land was cute too. I need to get back there to see Cars Land because I'm sure they did an amazing job with that.
I'm not a huge fan of the Little Mermaid but the ride looks cool! It was still being built when I was there last year.
I agree with you 100% about ToT. I thought the DL version was really lame compared to WDW's. So glad we ended up with the better of the two!
I thought Bug's Land was cute too.
I need to get back there to see Cars Land because I'm sure they did an amazing job with that.I'm not a huge fan of the Little Mermaid but the ride looks cool! It was still being built when I was there last year.
khertz
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2008
The pictures of DS and Pluto are adorable!
I agree with you 100% about ToT. I thought the DL version was really lame compared to WDW's. So glad we ended up with the better of the two!
I thought Bug's Land was cute too.
I'm not a huge fan of the Little Mermaid but the ride looks cool! It was still being built when I was there last year.
Yeah, I'm pretty excited to see what they have done with Cars Land. I'm sure when the big reveal happens next week and there are pictures posted everywhere, I'll be itching to book another DLR trip!
Bug's Land was a lot of fun with DS. Had it just been the two of us, we probably would have skipped it entirely. But it was nice that there was an area built mostly for small children to have an area to the park kind of to themselves. It felt a little more relaxed there since there weren't many teenagers running around to ride those attractions, mostly just parents and their toddlers and preschoolers.
Imagineer5
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2007
Sorry I'm so bad about checking the DL TR thread since yours is the only one I read. That being said, I LOVE the updates!! I love seeing the attractions that are just at DL that I kinda forget about, like the Alice in Wonderland ride! The DCA rides look like so much fun, I think that's new since I was there last, and def didn't pay attention to the kids rides that were there anyway! You're making me want to go back!
The Little Mermaid ride looks great - what was it like? I can't wait for it to open at MK either. Is that slated for 2014? I don't remember. Nope, looks like "holidays 2012" - maybe it'll be open for my December trip?! That'd be awesome.
Your DL/DCA day sounds like so much fun already. Love the Picture of Paxton smiling on the ladybug ride! And great to see him okay with the characters again - the pic with Pluto on the ground with him is so darn adorable!
The Little Mermaid ride looks great - what was it like? I can't wait for it to open at MK either. Is that slated for 2014? I don't remember. Nope, looks like "holidays 2012" - maybe it'll be open for my December trip?! That'd be awesome.
Your DL/DCA day sounds like so much fun already. Love the Picture of Paxton smiling on the ladybug ride!
And great to see him okay with the characters again - the pic with Pluto on the ground with him is so darn adorable!Share this page
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