PinkBudgie
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2008
- Messages
- 7,205
Just back from one week at DLR- July 18th through July 25th. We were in the parks for about 6 1/2 days with APs.
We were able to go to the ticket booth, turn in our AP vouchers, and get APs and a block out exemption card for the Saturday we arrived. They had computer issues with our APs so they gave us 3 VIP FPs to make up for the wait. We chose Toy Story and Space Mountain for that evening. For the third we chose Peter Pan and used it the next day to skip a 70 min wait. The card said up to 6 people so we found a family with two small boys who had just come to look at the ride and asked if they wanted to come with us. They were thrilled.
We normally go every July but went to WDW last summer instead so it had been two years. Definitely more crowded this year- probably because of the anniversary but maybe it is also just getting more crowded anyway.
In years before, we could arrive about 8am or a tad before, walk straight in to DL and be fine for lines (unless we wanted to rush to Peter Pan, of course). This year, the security lines were extremely long at 7:50am so we tried to get there a little before that and the lines were better. A few minutes made a big difference.
FPs were often out by mid day for rides we didn't expect. Space, Star Tours, and Indy seemed to go rather quickly. Gone by early afternoon most days. Also ToT was out by noon and that didn't used to be the case. We also discovered that morning is a bad time to use a FP for ToT. The day we tried that, we got a FP, then rode it first thing. They only had one elevator running and the other one was being used for training. The third one never seemed to be going at all when we were there. So the wait in the morning is all after the library room. The line was longer than usual on the inside. The FP only skips you through a long outside line. Better to use a FP for later when the line builds up outside.
Rides we always walked on before or almost, were now 20 to 30 min. Monsters seemed to be that long all day. I'm glad people are finding that ride now, because it is wonderful, but it used to be a walk on for us. Also Winnie the Pooh used to be 5 min and usually had a 30 min wait.
On the other hand, TSMM seemed to settle in at about 40 min all day. I remember before it used to be at least 50 min most of the day. So, we did go on that quite a few times even though 40 min would be too long a line for us to stand in normally.
Loved all the updated rides we missed in the past two years. BTMRR is wonderful! A new favorite for us. Liked the Abominable Snowman on Matterhorn but it was still too bumpy for us. They could at least put some padded seats on that thing! Only did that once. Love the new Alice. Also liked Peter Pan but only went on it that one time due to the very long line.
The new Grizzly Peak area looks really nice and we loved the chicken sandwich at Smoke Jumpers Grill with the topping bar and ranch for dipping fries! Oh, and Hungry Bear now offers regular fries instead of just sweet potato ones! We are not fans of sweet potatoes.
We did all the new night time shows and the new dinner package for F! We went to BB. We arrived back at 7:45pm to wait in a crowd to go in to our area. We were let in about 8pm so we got front row bricks and sat on our handy cushions. They worked pretty well. Saw fireworks from there after and they showed the projections on the water sprays. We liked WOC and did the CC package for lunch as always. We liked the new show.
My favorite was PTN. I thought that was spectacular and loved the little nods to MSEP. The effects they can do now are pretty amazing. We saw the second parade after our F! show. We sat near the Alice bathrooms and got a front row spot there at 10:45. Another night we tried just walking into DL at 9pm and seeing what we could see from the back near the entrance end of Main Street. We stood behind a railing so had no one directly in front, but still could only see the floats, not the dancers. For that fireworks we moved on to MS but ended up to the left side behind a tree. We saw the projections on the buildings but not the fireworks themselves.
This was also my first trip to DLR with my new food allergies. They came about right after our DLR trip in July of 2013. I'm now allergic to fish and shellfish. WDW is wonderful with food allergies and your meal always comes with a stick in it that says ALLERGY. This is reassuring so you know it stands out in the kitchen and while being delivered. DLR doesn't do this, although they do have the new allergy menus. At BB, I was not given one and I should have asked. I was never sure if the waiter really understood about food allergies, but I ate safely there. At Carthay I was given an allergy menu and the waitress was wonderful. At Rancho, the manger made my meal there herself. Smoke Jumpers had no fish on the menu so I really liked eating there worry free and it is so yummy!
We stayed at Candy Cane Inn all week and it was wonderful as usual. Still has the old style bed spread instead of white cover, but I just pulled it down. A very small thing. I took my Fitbit and found we walked more at DLR than we did at WDW. This is because we park hop a lot and walk to and from our room. Somehow this trip we mostly stayed all day at the parks and only returned for naps twice during the week. Otherwise we were there from 7:45 to 11pm-ish each day. I still don't know how we did that. I think because of the less frequent FPs we were able to get they just sort of went on in to the late afternoon and evenings so we felt like we "had" to be there.
That's all I can think of that stands out that may be of interest to anyone. Hopefully going back at the end of September.
We were able to go to the ticket booth, turn in our AP vouchers, and get APs and a block out exemption card for the Saturday we arrived. They had computer issues with our APs so they gave us 3 VIP FPs to make up for the wait. We chose Toy Story and Space Mountain for that evening. For the third we chose Peter Pan and used it the next day to skip a 70 min wait. The card said up to 6 people so we found a family with two small boys who had just come to look at the ride and asked if they wanted to come with us. They were thrilled.
We normally go every July but went to WDW last summer instead so it had been two years. Definitely more crowded this year- probably because of the anniversary but maybe it is also just getting more crowded anyway.
In years before, we could arrive about 8am or a tad before, walk straight in to DL and be fine for lines (unless we wanted to rush to Peter Pan, of course). This year, the security lines were extremely long at 7:50am so we tried to get there a little before that and the lines were better. A few minutes made a big difference.
FPs were often out by mid day for rides we didn't expect. Space, Star Tours, and Indy seemed to go rather quickly. Gone by early afternoon most days. Also ToT was out by noon and that didn't used to be the case. We also discovered that morning is a bad time to use a FP for ToT. The day we tried that, we got a FP, then rode it first thing. They only had one elevator running and the other one was being used for training. The third one never seemed to be going at all when we were there. So the wait in the morning is all after the library room. The line was longer than usual on the inside. The FP only skips you through a long outside line. Better to use a FP for later when the line builds up outside.
Rides we always walked on before or almost, were now 20 to 30 min. Monsters seemed to be that long all day. I'm glad people are finding that ride now, because it is wonderful, but it used to be a walk on for us. Also Winnie the Pooh used to be 5 min and usually had a 30 min wait.
On the other hand, TSMM seemed to settle in at about 40 min all day. I remember before it used to be at least 50 min most of the day. So, we did go on that quite a few times even though 40 min would be too long a line for us to stand in normally.
Loved all the updated rides we missed in the past two years. BTMRR is wonderful! A new favorite for us. Liked the Abominable Snowman on Matterhorn but it was still too bumpy for us. They could at least put some padded seats on that thing! Only did that once. Love the new Alice. Also liked Peter Pan but only went on it that one time due to the very long line.
The new Grizzly Peak area looks really nice and we loved the chicken sandwich at Smoke Jumpers Grill with the topping bar and ranch for dipping fries! Oh, and Hungry Bear now offers regular fries instead of just sweet potato ones! We are not fans of sweet potatoes.
We did all the new night time shows and the new dinner package for F! We went to BB. We arrived back at 7:45pm to wait in a crowd to go in to our area. We were let in about 8pm so we got front row bricks and sat on our handy cushions. They worked pretty well. Saw fireworks from there after and they showed the projections on the water sprays. We liked WOC and did the CC package for lunch as always. We liked the new show.
My favorite was PTN. I thought that was spectacular and loved the little nods to MSEP. The effects they can do now are pretty amazing. We saw the second parade after our F! show. We sat near the Alice bathrooms and got a front row spot there at 10:45. Another night we tried just walking into DL at 9pm and seeing what we could see from the back near the entrance end of Main Street. We stood behind a railing so had no one directly in front, but still could only see the floats, not the dancers. For that fireworks we moved on to MS but ended up to the left side behind a tree. We saw the projections on the buildings but not the fireworks themselves.
This was also my first trip to DLR with my new food allergies. They came about right after our DLR trip in July of 2013. I'm now allergic to fish and shellfish. WDW is wonderful with food allergies and your meal always comes with a stick in it that says ALLERGY. This is reassuring so you know it stands out in the kitchen and while being delivered. DLR doesn't do this, although they do have the new allergy menus. At BB, I was not given one and I should have asked. I was never sure if the waiter really understood about food allergies, but I ate safely there. At Carthay I was given an allergy menu and the waitress was wonderful. At Rancho, the manger made my meal there herself. Smoke Jumpers had no fish on the menu so I really liked eating there worry free and it is so yummy!
We stayed at Candy Cane Inn all week and it was wonderful as usual. Still has the old style bed spread instead of white cover, but I just pulled it down. A very small thing. I took my Fitbit and found we walked more at DLR than we did at WDW. This is because we park hop a lot and walk to and from our room. Somehow this trip we mostly stayed all day at the parks and only returned for naps twice during the week. Otherwise we were there from 7:45 to 11pm-ish each day. I still don't know how we did that. I think because of the less frequent FPs we were able to get they just sort of went on in to the late afternoon and evenings so we felt like we "had" to be there.
That's all I can think of that stands out that may be of interest to anyone. Hopefully going back at the end of September.
