chigirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2005
- Messages
- 872
Went to DL 6/6-6/9 to celebrate DD's high school graduation...she dreams of working as either a Pixar animator or WDS animator, so this was a huge trip for us. I need to start by saying I am a Walt junkie...I drink out of a coffee cup w/Walt's pic on it, I have an entire Disney room in my house, and we've been to WDW 3 times as a family and I've been there 8 times myself. Our last trip to DL was 1995, before our DS was born. We also spent a few days in LA.
Flew on a 6am flight from Chicago to LAX..previously flew into John Wayne, this was my first flight into LAX, surprised at how small it is! Picked up our rental, which the cool dude at Budget upgraded to a sweet SUV...and headed out toward Anaheim. Surprised the infamous LA traffic was light (Chicago traffic sucks all day, btw) and we arrived at DL at 11am. Now I was SHOCKED at the change since 1995...obviously DCA was NOT there in 1995! It all looked sooooo different.
Had the kids primed to not be shocked at the castle...told them how much smaller it was than WDW's....but I have to say, I was STUNNED at how small it is. Now, I know native DL fans will argue that the Matterhorn is their touchstone, but the castle was a huge let-down. I do not recall being so stunned in 1995. I really think they should enlarge it. I know people will think I am nuts, but Walt always wanted the parks to grow and change...the castle was built in the 1950's when houses were smaller; they were quickly running out of $$$$ when DL was under construction...I say expand it. It IS gorgeous at night, but wow...it is a letdown.
Now, heres my take on the differences:
Main Street is bigger at DL, but where are the streetmosphere people? No Mayor Weaver, etc??? The Dapper Dans are great at DL, they picked our DD to sing with them and let my DH, who is in a barbershop group, sing with them, too, to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary...but they are out ALL THE TIME at WDW, and we barely caught them at DL.
Tom Sawyer's Island at DL kicks WDW's butt! So fun to explore.
French Quarter is awesome at DL!!!! BEST Mickey beignets! The whole section is great...though I have to say I prefer Pirates at WDW; I know nobody would agree w/me on that. Haunted Mansion is better at DL.
We did NOT do SM at DL because that is our special thing at WDW, so no comment.
Matterhorn is fun!
Space Mt 100% better at DL!
Indiana Jones ride is great!!!!
Fantasmic was fun...we had the premier seating and the castmembers there were awesome. Not as good as I remembered from 1995, but fun.
Star Tours...whew! It was packed! But we got a fastpass and rode it 6/7....great!!! Went to Tatooine and had a cameo by Princess Lei!
DCA:
Wow, I expected to not like it, but it was great!
Paradise Pier sort of reminds me of Cedar Point...California Screamin and Mickeys Wheel were fun!!!! I also liked Mike & Sulley to the Rescue. The art direction is awesome in the park...the stuff they are working on look great, like Cars Land, etc...and ELECTRONICA was fun for my DS, who is a huge Tron fan. TOT was 100% better here than at WDW; at night it looked creepy! Again, though, the castmembers at WDW's HS act creepy at TOT and the ones in DCA act like they work at Six Flags, so that is a let down.
I am not one to fight crowds to see fireworks, shows, etc...but we did do WOC, with the picnic. I was expecting it to be over-hyped, but it was great! So, so cool....the only problem was, on 6/9 they were having Grad Nite, so when WOC was over, it was a mad house.
The ease of park-hopping and not having to go on a WDW bus was awesome! But there was just something, some kind of magic, missing...
We DID however, have a great experience at Homewood Suites, which I recommend, and the security guard in Burbank let us on the Walt Disney Studios lot, which was cool....and SoCal IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
Flew on a 6am flight from Chicago to LAX..previously flew into John Wayne, this was my first flight into LAX, surprised at how small it is! Picked up our rental, which the cool dude at Budget upgraded to a sweet SUV...and headed out toward Anaheim. Surprised the infamous LA traffic was light (Chicago traffic sucks all day, btw) and we arrived at DL at 11am. Now I was SHOCKED at the change since 1995...obviously DCA was NOT there in 1995! It all looked sooooo different.
Had the kids primed to not be shocked at the castle...told them how much smaller it was than WDW's....but I have to say, I was STUNNED at how small it is. Now, I know native DL fans will argue that the Matterhorn is their touchstone, but the castle was a huge let-down. I do not recall being so stunned in 1995. I really think they should enlarge it. I know people will think I am nuts, but Walt always wanted the parks to grow and change...the castle was built in the 1950's when houses were smaller; they were quickly running out of $$$$ when DL was under construction...I say expand it. It IS gorgeous at night, but wow...it is a letdown.
Now, heres my take on the differences:
Main Street is bigger at DL, but where are the streetmosphere people? No Mayor Weaver, etc??? The Dapper Dans are great at DL, they picked our DD to sing with them and let my DH, who is in a barbershop group, sing with them, too, to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary...but they are out ALL THE TIME at WDW, and we barely caught them at DL.
Tom Sawyer's Island at DL kicks WDW's butt! So fun to explore.
French Quarter is awesome at DL!!!! BEST Mickey beignets! The whole section is great...though I have to say I prefer Pirates at WDW; I know nobody would agree w/me on that. Haunted Mansion is better at DL.
We did NOT do SM at DL because that is our special thing at WDW, so no comment.
Matterhorn is fun!
Space Mt 100% better at DL!
Indiana Jones ride is great!!!!
Fantasmic was fun...we had the premier seating and the castmembers there were awesome. Not as good as I remembered from 1995, but fun.
Star Tours...whew! It was packed! But we got a fastpass and rode it 6/7....great!!! Went to Tatooine and had a cameo by Princess Lei!
DCA:
Wow, I expected to not like it, but it was great!
Paradise Pier sort of reminds me of Cedar Point...California Screamin and Mickeys Wheel were fun!!!! I also liked Mike & Sulley to the Rescue. The art direction is awesome in the park...the stuff they are working on look great, like Cars Land, etc...and ELECTRONICA was fun for my DS, who is a huge Tron fan. TOT was 100% better here than at WDW; at night it looked creepy! Again, though, the castmembers at WDW's HS act creepy at TOT and the ones in DCA act like they work at Six Flags, so that is a let down.
I am not one to fight crowds to see fireworks, shows, etc...but we did do WOC, with the picnic. I was expecting it to be over-hyped, but it was great! So, so cool....the only problem was, on 6/9 they were having Grad Nite, so when WOC was over, it was a mad house.
The ease of park-hopping and not having to go on a WDW bus was awesome! But there was just something, some kind of magic, missing...
We DID however, have a great experience at Homewood Suites, which I recommend, and the security guard in Burbank let us on the Walt Disney Studios lot, which was cool....and SoCal IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
.
It is perfect in every way (not just practically)
