Creaking Crypt Door
Happy Haunts Materialize...
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2015
- Messages
- 61
Well, I just returned from my honeymoon, a 1 week trip to DLR with 4 days in the park and a stay at the Grand Californian.
The brief rundown:
We arrived Monday afternoon, and spent the rest of the day exploring Downtown a little bit, then saw an Angels game. Driving in from the airport, I was pretty struck (the wife too) about how kind of "in view" everything is compared to WDW. That was our last Disney trip (about a year and a half ago) and so going from entering WDW Resort and having everything spread out VS seeing the likes of the Matterhorn and Tower from the highway, and the back of Cars Land on the main roads, was interesting. Not bad, but interesting.
Tuesday, we started in Disneyland, making use of our MM. I was super bummed to find out the Matterhorn wasn't ready and open as I've dreamt about doing it first, but we rode Alice and loved it (I'd never been on it!), then did Space and Buzz Lightyear, and a couple more Fantasyland dark rides. Then we went over to DCA and got a fastpass for Radiator, and rode a couple rides there.
Tuesday night was Fantasmic! night, we used a dining package through Blue Bayou. We were thrilled that we got to sit by the water! The food was nothing amazing, but I guess you don't go to Blue Bayou for food, right? There was an awkward moment where someone riding Pirates took a flash photo of us/the restaurant (really?!) but it was really nice otherwise. We loved Fantasmic, and having the padded seats was a huge plus.
Leaving the park Tuesday a little before 10 PM was an absolute NIGHTMARE, as we had to funnel out through the Adventureland bottleneck with a ton of strollers and scooters. As the wife pointed out, she felt a little better knowing that she didn't have to "race" these people to the transportation center to get on a bus, but I don't like crowds, so it was a little anxiety inducing for me.
Friday night was World of Color night with Carthay Circle-CC was really wonderful. A nice place, great setting, great food and service. Our spot for WOC was pretty great, even with getting there only about 20 minutes before showtime. We enjoyed the show, but agreed that we liked Fantasmic! more. I will freely admit, I got choked up during some of the old clips with Walt! Pretty incredible what his dream has become...
A few general thoughts:
-I'm never coming to DLR in June again. I was anticipating crowds for summer months and the 60th, and we still had a good time, but I found the crowds made me pretty grumpy, even with breaks. The way the CM were setting up lines to bunch up before the main entrance and let people in groups at a time lead to lines jutting out into walkways and tricky navigation in certain parts of the park.
-DCA was like a completely different park compared to the last time I visited! I was also so much more tuned into how well it's designed to handle crowds with wider walkways, etc. It became a sort of "safe haven" for us when DLP got too crowded.
-Rides were down A LOT! Way, way more than I remember the last time I was there. Tower was down constantly, Matterhorn was down constantly, Indy pretty frequently, and RSR was down for a full first half of the day one day. I understand things happen, but it kind of throws a wrench in everything.
-I felt super fortunate to not have any bad experiences with people using selfie sticks! The closest I had was just as I was about to disembark from Goofy's Sky School, apparently someone on the ride had one out and they had to come on the PA and tell them to put it away. I was in DCA when Screamin' stopped because of a selfie stick, but fortunately was not on it when it happened!
I may think of more to add later, but just wanted to share my experience
The brief rundown:
We arrived Monday afternoon, and spent the rest of the day exploring Downtown a little bit, then saw an Angels game. Driving in from the airport, I was pretty struck (the wife too) about how kind of "in view" everything is compared to WDW. That was our last Disney trip (about a year and a half ago) and so going from entering WDW Resort and having everything spread out VS seeing the likes of the Matterhorn and Tower from the highway, and the back of Cars Land on the main roads, was interesting. Not bad, but interesting.
Tuesday, we started in Disneyland, making use of our MM. I was super bummed to find out the Matterhorn wasn't ready and open as I've dreamt about doing it first, but we rode Alice and loved it (I'd never been on it!), then did Space and Buzz Lightyear, and a couple more Fantasyland dark rides. Then we went over to DCA and got a fastpass for Radiator, and rode a couple rides there.
Tuesday night was Fantasmic! night, we used a dining package through Blue Bayou. We were thrilled that we got to sit by the water! The food was nothing amazing, but I guess you don't go to Blue Bayou for food, right? There was an awkward moment where someone riding Pirates took a flash photo of us/the restaurant (really?!) but it was really nice otherwise. We loved Fantasmic, and having the padded seats was a huge plus.
Leaving the park Tuesday a little before 10 PM was an absolute NIGHTMARE, as we had to funnel out through the Adventureland bottleneck with a ton of strollers and scooters. As the wife pointed out, she felt a little better knowing that she didn't have to "race" these people to the transportation center to get on a bus, but I don't like crowds, so it was a little anxiety inducing for me.
Friday night was World of Color night with Carthay Circle-CC was really wonderful. A nice place, great setting, great food and service. Our spot for WOC was pretty great, even with getting there only about 20 minutes before showtime. We enjoyed the show, but agreed that we liked Fantasmic! more. I will freely admit, I got choked up during some of the old clips with Walt! Pretty incredible what his dream has become...
A few general thoughts:
-I'm never coming to DLR in June again. I was anticipating crowds for summer months and the 60th, and we still had a good time, but I found the crowds made me pretty grumpy, even with breaks. The way the CM were setting up lines to bunch up before the main entrance and let people in groups at a time lead to lines jutting out into walkways and tricky navigation in certain parts of the park.
-DCA was like a completely different park compared to the last time I visited! I was also so much more tuned into how well it's designed to handle crowds with wider walkways, etc. It became a sort of "safe haven" for us when DLP got too crowded.
-Rides were down A LOT! Way, way more than I remember the last time I was there. Tower was down constantly, Matterhorn was down constantly, Indy pretty frequently, and RSR was down for a full first half of the day one day. I understand things happen, but it kind of throws a wrench in everything.
-I felt super fortunate to not have any bad experiences with people using selfie sticks! The closest I had was just as I was about to disembark from Goofy's Sky School, apparently someone on the ride had one out and they had to come on the PA and tell them to put it away. I was in DCA when Screamin' stopped because of a selfie stick, but fortunately was not on it when it happened!
I may think of more to add later, but just wanted to share my experience
