DL, good, bad, ugly

[AngiTN]

We spent the day in DL on Saturday 12/13, the final Saturday for most APs to have access to the parks. It was crazy busy..... and lots of rides went down. Pirates was down most of the morning. BTMRR was down a while in the afternoon. That side of the park was just packed without a ton to do, so we decided to take the train over to the opposite side of the park...... only to find the train was down. When we hoofed it over there wanting to do the Nemo subs, we found those down too. It was just crazy and so frustrating. The train finally came back up later but at a reduced capacity. It took us 60 minutes to get through a fairly short line and finally get on. Those ride closures made for a vastly less positive experience than we had in the days leading up to it earlier in the week. It was very frustrating for my husband who had just gotten there, and had not had the benefit of the better days earlier in the week.

Sounds like they are refurbishing a bunch of rides just in time. May mot be all the same ones that went down here lately but the list to get ready for the anniversary was pretty long.

 

[AngiTN]

mom2rtk had some good thoughts that I agree with. GCH is kind of a cross between WL (which I have visited for Whispering Canyon several times) and AKL (which I have stayed at). The thing that makes it interesting as mom2rtk pointed out is the proximity. I watched the WOC show one night a few years ago at DCA and was literally in my bed at the GCH 5 minutes after the show ended. Granted I can power walk, and I was alone for that show so I could navigate the after show crowds quickly, but that was amazing. Not all rooms at GCH are that close to DCA, but many are. DLH does feel more Disney than GCH in many ways and for someone who likes WDW deluxes but can handle something a notch or two below, I think the DLH is a great option. It may be worth paying for the premium option and getting into the Adventure Tower - which is not guaranteed but did not seem too hard to get. We had a great view of DL, DCA and DTD from our room on the 8th floor (if memory serves). I would say if you have younger kids then DLH will feel better than the GCH. The GCH is more majestic and an "adult only" group may prefer the GCH if they can handle the sticker shock.

Thank you and mom2rtk both. We are huge fans of both WL and AKL (our last 3 trips were at those resorts). I think even more DLH is the place for us. I'd love the even closer walk of the GCH but want different

I have been wondering about room levels. I will go with the premium

 

[HydroGuy]

Very interesting analogy. We're big moderate fans - I could spend my life at Coronado Springs. I always felt like DLH would be a bit more than a moderate but with prices that rival AKL with a savanah view. So I've never invested in a hotel stay there. At least until I found a great rate that made it more in line with moderate prices. Fingers are crossed.

A frequently debated topic around here, but one can't escape the reality that in general prices are higher in SoCal than central Florida. That Disney hotel prices are higher is thus not surprising.

 

[AngiTN]

A frequently debated topic around here, but one can't escape the reality that in general prices are higher in SoCal than central Florida. That Disney hotel prices are higher is thus not surprising.

Thankfully, you can get it all done in fewer days. I'm finding cost wise, it's a wash. Airfare on the other hand.......

 

[mom2rtk]

Thankfully, you can get it all done in fewer days. I'm finding cost wise, it's a wash. Airfare on the other hand.......

The biggest difference for us is that we stay at a value resort at WDW, but don't have that option at DLR. We could go offsite, but I want the early entry every day.

 

[5forMickey]

I just wanted to add a couple of thoughts as we were at the parks during the same time. First, early entry everyday was well worth the price of the DLH. I can't imagine being there during that busy of a time without it. We were able to ride all the rides in both parks every day before the crazy crowds showed up around 10:00. I didn't notice that the parks were dirty but what I did notice was how rude many of the visitors were, especially to the CM's. It may be because I had decided ahead of time (thanks to others advice) that I was going to find one CM each day to compliment......well I didn't have to go very far. Those poor people took guff from people everytime I turned around, especially the hostesses at the restaurant. The worst was the night of 12/30. There was a terrible wind storm. We had ressies for Wine Country for WOC dining. We made our way to the check in point only to be told they were at least 1 hour behind because they weren't able to do any outside seating but that they were letting everyone out of their reservations free of charge if you wanted to cancel (and I'm sure there wasn't going to be WOC that night). The lady behind me through a complete fit. She kept yelling at the girl that this was "unacceptable" ..... what did you want her to do call "mother nature" and make her stop the wind storm. I came away from this trip with a whole new appreciation for the CM's and what they endure from rude visitors and while I'm not sure it helped, I was able to offer encouragement and good reviews for several of them..........one last comment is that people don't need to be so pushy. If the line in front of you is not going very fast there is probably a reason. Cutting in front of someone isn't going to change things and I finally got to the point that if you were going to cut infront of those old people trying to drive their ecv's, or just stop dead in your tracks to look at something then I guess you deserve to get run over......if everyone could just be a little more considerate things would be much improved!