DisBuckMan
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- Apr 14, 2015
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Family and I were at DLR for the first time two weeks ago. First trip ever there. We are WDW veterans, with many dozens of trips there over the years. I just thought I'd share my thoughts on the likes/differences in the two resorts (not really meant to be a trip report). Apologies in advance as it will ramble quite a bit, and probably jump around, because I don't have the patience to organize all this stuff...
The quick trip summary. We flew into San Diego on Saturday, 5/19. Went to the Safari Park on Sunday 5/20, then drove up to DL on Sunday evening. Stayed at GCH (we are DVC members) Sun-Thursday. Drove back down to San Diego Thursday night, then did Sea World on Friday, and flew back home on Saturday. Now that that's out of the way...
Although DLP is smaller in actual size than Magic Kingdom in Orlando, it felt bigger for some reason. I think it was mainly because of the way Tom Sawyer Island splits New Orleans Square and Critter Country off from the rest of the park. TSI splits Frontierland in the same manner at MK, but the walk isn't nearly as far as it is at DLR. Some of it is simply due to familiarity with MK, and not knowing the shortcuts at DLR. Still though, we never felt nearly as tired at the end of a day at DLR as we feel at WDW. DLP is definitely "flatter" than MK, so that's probably part of it.
One of the difference we noticed was the queues. Queues at DLR are much, much narrower than they are at WDW. Many of the queues at DLR are single file only, which makes the lines look longer than they actually are. The only time we heard "fill in all of the available space" while we were at DL was at Haunted Mansion, of course. It's heard in nearly every queue at WDW, because they are much wider there. The queues are overall much more boring at DL than the are at WDW...WDW has quite a few interactive queues and most of the queues are themed better than simply "lines".
FOOD
We were quite honestly disappointed in the food at DLR. It wasn't bad by any means, just not the level of WDW (and if you've read many of my posts on the WDW Restaurants board here, you'll know I'm not one who's particularly enamored with the food at WDW, either). Quick thoughts on where we ate off the top of my head. Son is 12, and eats as an adult, so no child's menu ordering here...
Cafe Orleans...Wife and I had the Monte Cristo, son had steak and potatoes. The Monte Cristo's were greasier than they should have been, and disappointing compared to what you can actually get in New Orleans. The portion size for my son's steak was criminal...4 bites. Pitiful for an adult meal. 2-3 ounces at best. It was cooked correctly (medium rare) however, and he stated that it was tasty.
Carnation Cafe. Wife had The Ellie Special, son had the Penne Pasta with Shrimp, and I had the Sourdough Bacon-Cheese Melt. My meal was the best of the three. All were good, just nothing that excited us.
Naples. Our best table service meal. We have eaten at its sister restaurant, Via Napoli, at WDW many times. The pizza at Naples is quite a bit better than the pizza at VN, in our opinion. VN tends to be very stingy with their cheese and toppings, and we were quite shocked when they delivered our pizza to us at Naples and it was absolutely loaded with both cheese and toppings. Take note, Via Napoli. The pizza was also cooked perfectly, which doesn't happen very often for us at VN. We usually end up with either a pizza that's so soggy that everything falls off when you pick it up, or completely burned (not charred...burned) on the bottom. Two thumbs up.
Plaza Inn. It's the one place I absolutely *HAD* to have. I am a fried chicken fanatic. A bit disappointing, however, given the absolutely rave reviews it gets here. Maybe it's just because I live in the south where nearly everywhere has really good fried chicken, but we found the fried chicken "good", but far from outstanding in any way. Big let down. We did try the Pixar cake there, and found it to be very good.
Flo's. I had the Blue Plate Special, wife and the Low and Slow Club, and son had the Fried Chicken. Mine was pretty good, son's fried chicken tasted like Plaza Inn's fried chicken (see above), and wife was disappointed with her club sandwich.
Smokejumpers Grill. We all had cheeseburgers. Wife and son had fries, and I had onion rings. It was good.
Red Rose Tavern...I had the Slow-Cooked Beef Poutine, son had the Chicken Sandwich a la Lumiere, and wife had the Chef's Salad with Grilled Chicken. Mine was meh, son and wife liked theirs. We all had the Grey Stuff dessert, which was tasty.
"Same" ride comparisons...
Loved the Star Wars Hyperspace overlay on Space Mountain. Wish WDW would do this...permanently. Also liked the side-by-side seating at DL over the single in-line seating at MK.
Very disappointed that PoC was down, and especially disappointed in the reason it was down. It's the one ride where I think it's pretty universally agreed upon that the one at DL is better than the one at WDW.
Splash Mountain at DL doesn't, IMO, do as good of a job of telling the story of Br'er Rabbit as the one at WDW does. We much prefer the side by side seating at WDW over the single file seating at DL. We got quite a bit wetter at DL than we generally do at WDW, but from the small drops...not the big one. Water came in over the sides of the logs really bad with us.
Haunted Mansion is nearly the same ride at both places, with some small differences. WDW is a little longer ride, since the library with the changing paintings and the busts are actually part of the ride, rather than the queue like at DL. DL also doesn't have the "stairs" room section of the ride that WDW has.
Small World is the same but different. I would really like to visit when it's in its Christmas theme.
Soaring is the exact same ride, other than the very end where you fly over each respective park.
Jungle Cruise is close, but a little different. Definitely shorter at DL, as it doesn't have the "inside" section.
Big Thunder was a "blast" at DL. Loved the blasting section inside the mine. Wish WDW's version had that section, and we can't pick a favorite between DL and WDW's version. Very subjective though, and I could see it going either way.
Winnie the Pooh was fine, and quite honestly, it's been so long since I've ridden the one at WDW, I don't have a valid comparison.
Buzz Lightyear is better at DL, simply because of the ability to remove the blasters from the ride vehicle.
Little Mermaid is close to the same.
Star Tours is the same.
Midway Mania is the same.
We did not ride Peter Pan at DL due to excessive lines, and haven't ridden the one at WDW in 3 or 4 years for the same reason. I just don't see how this ride is so dang popular at both parks, but everyone is different.
Did not ride the Astro Orbiter, but it's pretty much the same ride...other than it's on top of a building (People Mover station) at WDW.
Did not ride Autopia. Hate the Tomorrowland Speedway at WDW. Autopia's course looked more interesting, but not enough to entice us to be interested in riding.
Did not ride Grizzly River Run, so no comparison to Kali River Rapids, which we haven't ridden in years. We really do not enjoy rides that get us absolutely soaked.
Same but "different" rides...
Radiator Springs Racers vs Test Track. No comparison here. Radiator Springs Racers hands down. The theming, the ride itself, everything about RCR is better than TT. I *really*liked TT before coming to DL, and now I'm afraid I'll be disappointed the next time I ride it. I'm truly jealous that WDW doesn't have this ride, and CarsLand overall. By far, the best themed land at DL, rivaling Pandora at WDW.
Guardians vs Tower of Terror. The Guardians overlay is phenomenal, and I wish WDW would do the same. The actual ride is neater at WDW, simply because of the way the elevator car breaks out of the shaft and moves through the halls, but they're very close. The Guardians theming gives it the edge for us.
Indiana Jones vs Dinosaur. It is said that the actual ride track is the same, but that's where the similarities end. I was kinda shocked by the "open air" atmosphere of the Indiana Jones ride, where you could see what was going on in other parts of the ride from several different spots. It wasn't themed quite like I thought it would be. Ducking the boulder at the end is a nice touch. Hard for me to pick a favorite between the two, even though I really WANTED to like IJ more. Dinosaur is a very underrated ride, to me.
Nemo. Eh, I hate the ride at both parks. I like the concept of the DL version better, but the experience itself is terrible, with nothing to see for the majority of the ride.
Goofy's Sky School vs Primeval Whirl. Goofy's wins this one. Love this stupid ride. Wish it were at WDW.
Ride DL has that I wish WDW had...
Matterhorn. Fun, fun, fun.
Other, random thoughts...
Wish we could have ridden California Screamin', or whatever it's going to be called going forward.
The Grand Californian was great. Typical DVC stay for us. We loved the dedicated entrance to DCA from GC, though, as well as the dedicated entrance to Downtown Disney. We never had to experience the long security checkpoints I've seen posted about here due to staying there.
We took a quick peek at ToonTown, but that's it. Looks great for toddlers.
Rode all the Fantasyland rides (outside of PP, as mentioned earlier). Neat for kids, but all the rides are virtually the same with different theming. Still cool, though.
Loved MaxPass. Works like FP+ at WDW after you use your 3 initial picks. Had no problems riding what we wanted to, although you had to use it strategically to ride RSR, GotG, Indiana Jones, and Space Mountain without boxing yourself out from getting another one. Beats the heck out of walking all over the park to pull a paper FP. Don't miss those days at WDW at all.
I'm not a big fan of doing the parades while at the park, because it's PRIME ride time due to so many others watching the parade. That said, Paint the Night is simply outstanding, and far above any parade I've ever seen at WDW. Bravo, DL (DCA).
Crowds were overall lighter than I expected, and lighter than I've experienced at WDW in quite a while. Felt like fall crowds used to be at WDW. It got more crowded at night, I guess due to Grad Nights going on, but the ride lines didn't really reflect that much of an increase. Maybe it was our use of MaxPass, but I think the longest we waited in ANY line the entire 4 days was 40-45 in the standby line for GotG once. After that, we never waited over 30 minutes for any ride. Wife went and watched "Frozen" while my son and I did that, and said it was really good.
Son loved doing the Animation Academy. I think we ended up doing it 4 times.
The weather was outstanding. Would gladly trade "high of 68, low of 58 with virtually no humidity" for the entire week over "high of 92, low of 72 with 90% humidity" anytime.
May or may not add more later.
The quick trip summary. We flew into San Diego on Saturday, 5/19. Went to the Safari Park on Sunday 5/20, then drove up to DL on Sunday evening. Stayed at GCH (we are DVC members) Sun-Thursday. Drove back down to San Diego Thursday night, then did Sea World on Friday, and flew back home on Saturday. Now that that's out of the way...
Although DLP is smaller in actual size than Magic Kingdom in Orlando, it felt bigger for some reason. I think it was mainly because of the way Tom Sawyer Island splits New Orleans Square and Critter Country off from the rest of the park. TSI splits Frontierland in the same manner at MK, but the walk isn't nearly as far as it is at DLR. Some of it is simply due to familiarity with MK, and not knowing the shortcuts at DLR. Still though, we never felt nearly as tired at the end of a day at DLR as we feel at WDW. DLP is definitely "flatter" than MK, so that's probably part of it.
One of the difference we noticed was the queues. Queues at DLR are much, much narrower than they are at WDW. Many of the queues at DLR are single file only, which makes the lines look longer than they actually are. The only time we heard "fill in all of the available space" while we were at DL was at Haunted Mansion, of course. It's heard in nearly every queue at WDW, because they are much wider there. The queues are overall much more boring at DL than the are at WDW...WDW has quite a few interactive queues and most of the queues are themed better than simply "lines".
FOOD
We were quite honestly disappointed in the food at DLR. It wasn't bad by any means, just not the level of WDW (and if you've read many of my posts on the WDW Restaurants board here, you'll know I'm not one who's particularly enamored with the food at WDW, either). Quick thoughts on where we ate off the top of my head. Son is 12, and eats as an adult, so no child's menu ordering here...
Cafe Orleans...Wife and I had the Monte Cristo, son had steak and potatoes. The Monte Cristo's were greasier than they should have been, and disappointing compared to what you can actually get in New Orleans. The portion size for my son's steak was criminal...4 bites. Pitiful for an adult meal. 2-3 ounces at best. It was cooked correctly (medium rare) however, and he stated that it was tasty.
Carnation Cafe. Wife had The Ellie Special, son had the Penne Pasta with Shrimp, and I had the Sourdough Bacon-Cheese Melt. My meal was the best of the three. All were good, just nothing that excited us.
Naples. Our best table service meal. We have eaten at its sister restaurant, Via Napoli, at WDW many times. The pizza at Naples is quite a bit better than the pizza at VN, in our opinion. VN tends to be very stingy with their cheese and toppings, and we were quite shocked when they delivered our pizza to us at Naples and it was absolutely loaded with both cheese and toppings. Take note, Via Napoli. The pizza was also cooked perfectly, which doesn't happen very often for us at VN. We usually end up with either a pizza that's so soggy that everything falls off when you pick it up, or completely burned (not charred...burned) on the bottom. Two thumbs up.
Plaza Inn. It's the one place I absolutely *HAD* to have. I am a fried chicken fanatic. A bit disappointing, however, given the absolutely rave reviews it gets here. Maybe it's just because I live in the south where nearly everywhere has really good fried chicken, but we found the fried chicken "good", but far from outstanding in any way. Big let down. We did try the Pixar cake there, and found it to be very good.
Flo's. I had the Blue Plate Special, wife and the Low and Slow Club, and son had the Fried Chicken. Mine was pretty good, son's fried chicken tasted like Plaza Inn's fried chicken (see above), and wife was disappointed with her club sandwich.
Smokejumpers Grill. We all had cheeseburgers. Wife and son had fries, and I had onion rings. It was good.
Red Rose Tavern...I had the Slow-Cooked Beef Poutine, son had the Chicken Sandwich a la Lumiere, and wife had the Chef's Salad with Grilled Chicken. Mine was meh, son and wife liked theirs. We all had the Grey Stuff dessert, which was tasty.
"Same" ride comparisons...
Loved the Star Wars Hyperspace overlay on Space Mountain. Wish WDW would do this...permanently. Also liked the side-by-side seating at DL over the single in-line seating at MK.
Very disappointed that PoC was down, and especially disappointed in the reason it was down. It's the one ride where I think it's pretty universally agreed upon that the one at DL is better than the one at WDW.
Splash Mountain at DL doesn't, IMO, do as good of a job of telling the story of Br'er Rabbit as the one at WDW does. We much prefer the side by side seating at WDW over the single file seating at DL. We got quite a bit wetter at DL than we generally do at WDW, but from the small drops...not the big one. Water came in over the sides of the logs really bad with us.
Haunted Mansion is nearly the same ride at both places, with some small differences. WDW is a little longer ride, since the library with the changing paintings and the busts are actually part of the ride, rather than the queue like at DL. DL also doesn't have the "stairs" room section of the ride that WDW has.
Small World is the same but different. I would really like to visit when it's in its Christmas theme.
Soaring is the exact same ride, other than the very end where you fly over each respective park.
Jungle Cruise is close, but a little different. Definitely shorter at DL, as it doesn't have the "inside" section.
Big Thunder was a "blast" at DL. Loved the blasting section inside the mine. Wish WDW's version had that section, and we can't pick a favorite between DL and WDW's version. Very subjective though, and I could see it going either way.
Winnie the Pooh was fine, and quite honestly, it's been so long since I've ridden the one at WDW, I don't have a valid comparison.
Buzz Lightyear is better at DL, simply because of the ability to remove the blasters from the ride vehicle.
Little Mermaid is close to the same.
Star Tours is the same.
Midway Mania is the same.
We did not ride Peter Pan at DL due to excessive lines, and haven't ridden the one at WDW in 3 or 4 years for the same reason. I just don't see how this ride is so dang popular at both parks, but everyone is different.
Did not ride the Astro Orbiter, but it's pretty much the same ride...other than it's on top of a building (People Mover station) at WDW.
Did not ride Autopia. Hate the Tomorrowland Speedway at WDW. Autopia's course looked more interesting, but not enough to entice us to be interested in riding.
Did not ride Grizzly River Run, so no comparison to Kali River Rapids, which we haven't ridden in years. We really do not enjoy rides that get us absolutely soaked.
Same but "different" rides...
Radiator Springs Racers vs Test Track. No comparison here. Radiator Springs Racers hands down. The theming, the ride itself, everything about RCR is better than TT. I *really*liked TT before coming to DL, and now I'm afraid I'll be disappointed the next time I ride it. I'm truly jealous that WDW doesn't have this ride, and CarsLand overall. By far, the best themed land at DL, rivaling Pandora at WDW.
Guardians vs Tower of Terror. The Guardians overlay is phenomenal, and I wish WDW would do the same. The actual ride is neater at WDW, simply because of the way the elevator car breaks out of the shaft and moves through the halls, but they're very close. The Guardians theming gives it the edge for us.
Indiana Jones vs Dinosaur. It is said that the actual ride track is the same, but that's where the similarities end. I was kinda shocked by the "open air" atmosphere of the Indiana Jones ride, where you could see what was going on in other parts of the ride from several different spots. It wasn't themed quite like I thought it would be. Ducking the boulder at the end is a nice touch. Hard for me to pick a favorite between the two, even though I really WANTED to like IJ more. Dinosaur is a very underrated ride, to me.
Nemo. Eh, I hate the ride at both parks. I like the concept of the DL version better, but the experience itself is terrible, with nothing to see for the majority of the ride.
Goofy's Sky School vs Primeval Whirl. Goofy's wins this one. Love this stupid ride. Wish it were at WDW.
Ride DL has that I wish WDW had...
Matterhorn. Fun, fun, fun.
Other, random thoughts...
Wish we could have ridden California Screamin', or whatever it's going to be called going forward.
The Grand Californian was great. Typical DVC stay for us. We loved the dedicated entrance to DCA from GC, though, as well as the dedicated entrance to Downtown Disney. We never had to experience the long security checkpoints I've seen posted about here due to staying there.
We took a quick peek at ToonTown, but that's it. Looks great for toddlers.
Rode all the Fantasyland rides (outside of PP, as mentioned earlier). Neat for kids, but all the rides are virtually the same with different theming. Still cool, though.
Loved MaxPass. Works like FP+ at WDW after you use your 3 initial picks. Had no problems riding what we wanted to, although you had to use it strategically to ride RSR, GotG, Indiana Jones, and Space Mountain without boxing yourself out from getting another one. Beats the heck out of walking all over the park to pull a paper FP. Don't miss those days at WDW at all.
I'm not a big fan of doing the parades while at the park, because it's PRIME ride time due to so many others watching the parade. That said, Paint the Night is simply outstanding, and far above any parade I've ever seen at WDW. Bravo, DL (DCA).
Crowds were overall lighter than I expected, and lighter than I've experienced at WDW in quite a while. Felt like fall crowds used to be at WDW. It got more crowded at night, I guess due to Grad Nights going on, but the ride lines didn't really reflect that much of an increase. Maybe it was our use of MaxPass, but I think the longest we waited in ANY line the entire 4 days was 40-45 in the standby line for GotG once. After that, we never waited over 30 minutes for any ride. Wife went and watched "Frozen" while my son and I did that, and said it was really good.
Son loved doing the Animation Academy. I think we ended up doing it 4 times.
The weather was outstanding. Would gladly trade "high of 68, low of 58 with virtually no humidity" for the entire week over "high of 92, low of 72 with 90% humidity" anytime.
May or may not add more later.
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). We will still probably try it, just to see how it measures up.
