DL Pales in comparison to WDW

[kyra's mommy]

I don't know, I can't even remember how I'm treated at DW because I'm usually so disgustingly, drippy hot and miserable I just don't care. If Epcot was in California I'd be set and would probably never go back to DW. That being said I think you're right, we all just love our "home park" and I think that's okay. I wish your trip would've been better.

 

[Kittyskyfish]

We live in the Dallas area and have the choice to go to either park system, and DLR is our preference because it provides a more magical experience for us. I'd go so far to say it's our home park. We experience wonderful CMs on all of our trips, and although not every CM was ideal, most are average to above average and we rarely ever deal with apathetic or unpleasant CMs.

Once in a while the bad ones do happen, maybe once in a whole trip, but it doesn't tarnish the overall wonderful experience we always have in DLR. Anything like that is such a small fragment of time in the whole vacation. We notice it, but it doesn't have enough impact to make a difference for us.

It used to be we'd make a trip to DLR once a year. Now we're up to two to three times per year. It's that happy for us!

 

[DisSarahK]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience--but popping into this forum and having this as your first post probably wasn't the best idea.

I can tell you that we had a very different experience with Bert last September. Mary Poppins and Bert were the first characters my daughter (age 6.5 at the time) ran into after her makeover at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and she was so excited to see them. She eagerly ran up to them and nudged Bert aside saying "excuse me Ernie, I need to talk with Mary Poppins!" He graciously bowed to her, ignored her major mistake with his name and gave his attention to my little boy.

 

[EmmersIsTheMommy]

I can tell you that we had a very different experience with Bert last September. Mary Poppins and Bert were the first characters my daughter (age 6.5 at the time) ran into after her makeover at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and she was so excited to see them. She eagerly ran up to them and nudged Bert aside saying "excuse me Ernie, I need to talk with Mary Poppins!" He graciously bowed to her, ignored her major mistake with his name and gave his attention to my little boy.

Ok. Adorable.

 

[1disneynutt]

The one thing I will agree with you about is the difference in the Haunted Mansion staff. When we went to Walt Disney World the CM was so convincing you actually were in the moment but the CM in CA was no where near as good. It just adds more to the ride when the CM is in character. I wonder if they are trained for their position or if the CM in Disney World was just acting normal.

 

[Jonnyjon1018]

After reading most of the replies to my original post I noticed that some people have taken offense to what I had to say. First and foremost, that was not my intention. As I specifically said in my original post, I wanted to know if anyone else had experienced the same as I had. I don't appreciate being called a troll or otherwise degraded. What I had to say/ask was in no way degrading. There was no other meaning behind what I had to say than what was actually there. Like I said there were high points to the trip, which I will later write about. These were just things I was curious about.

 

[FlameGirl]

After reading most of the replies to my original post I noticed that some people have taken offense to what I had to say. First and foremost, that was not my intention. As I specifically said in my original post, I wanted to know if anyone else had experienced the same as I had. I don't appreciate being called a troll or otherwise degraded. What I had to say/ask was in no way degrading. There was no other meaning behind what I had to say than what was actually there. Like I said there were high points to the trip, which I will later write about. These were just things I was curious about.

For the record, you didn't offend me at all.

You got people's hackles up because we don't know you and you just sort of burst onto the scene and titled your 2nd post with something that is easily interpreted as inflammatory, which happens a lot, and devolves almost 100% of the time into a flame war. There are ways of going about expressing your negative opinions and there are ways of pushing buttons.

It's unfortunate that you are unhappy at being perceived as a troll. Nobody had anything else to go on, so it wasn't a huge leap.

Sorry you have a negative opinion of DLR. It's not for everyone and personally, makes no difference to me and my own experience.

 

[Scaramedic]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and think that just MAYBE it has something to do with the title you chose for this thread...

DL Pales in comparison to WDW

...that equates to many on this board as a title that would say 'everyone else's kids are dumb' or 'your dog is ugly and smelly.'

Maybe a better title would have been 'My bad experience at Haunted Mansion' or 'What has been your experience in regards to cast members acting skills.'

Just saying.

 

[HydroGuy]

CMs are not great all the time. I have never noticed a big difference between the ones at DLR and WDW.

We were on HM just yesterday and I was struck with how in character the CM was. One of the better ones and it stood out in my mind.

To the OP I can add to something that does not go over well. Zero posts before a trip and then only complaints after.

 

[bumbershoot]

Your experience was possibly a fluke. It's also possible that it happens often...at ALL Disney parks. My experiences at WDW were both worse, and better, than at Disneyland. My experiences at Universal Orlando were almost across the board better than my experiences at WDW (and I was there for 14 days last December, with 4 more days at Universal, so I had plenty of experiences!).

You have given it one, SMALL, shot. It's really too bad you started with such a short trip (and I know people say 4 days is fine, but really, IMO, they are wrong)...I mean, look at my first WDW/Uni trip. As far as we knew, we were only interested in Wizarding World at Uni, but figured we might be wrong, and gave it a really solid try (4 days when you think you might only like one "land"!). Same with WDW.

Our trip wasn't perfect, so we're going back in September, hoping to have an even better trip.

To take a tiny little 4 days and say "no more"...you're just not giving it a shot.

Ranting about how much Disneyland sucks in comparison to [fill in the blank] to a bunch of people who love Disneyland on a subforum dedicated to Disneyland seems like such a colossal waste of emotional energy.

It really does seem like that.

Same as when a DLR person goes to the WDW forums and cuts down WDW...same as when a Uni person says anti-Disney things, or an Disney person says things anti-Uni on the Uni forum. Just a waste of time. Write a detailed trip report in the trip report section if ya wanna get it out!

As I specifically said in my original post, I wanted to know if anyone else had experienced the same as I had.

You left it to the LAST sentence. Start off with the question next time; might have a better response. The response being "um, yes, of course it was isolated, otherwise would DLR have such a huge fan base?"

I'm going to go out on a limb here and think that just MAYBE it has something to do with the title you chose for this thread...

DL Pales in comparison to WDW

...that equates to many on this board as a title that would say 'everyone else's kids are dumb' or 'your dog is ugly and smelly.'

Maybe a better title would have been 'My bad experience at Haunted Mansion' or 'What has been your experience in regards to cast members acting skills.'

Just saying.

I'd just say it right along with you.

To the OP I can add to something that does not go over well. Zero posts before a trip and then only complaints after.

Yep. Let us help you BEFORE the trip, not just hear the bad stuff afterward.

 

[Hoku]

Actually, I don't really like it when the say, "have a magical day". It seems kinda fakey. I'm more impressed with a genuine sparkle in the eye and warm smile, no matter what words come out.

Sorry you had a bad experience. I'd be pretty upset, too, if I heard a character complain like that. I'm glad you filed a complaint. Sounds like the "stars" weren't lined up for you that day. I bet you'd have had an off day even if you were at WDW. It does happen in both parks. I worked at Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom for 6-months and got park passes. We pretty much lived at WDW for the entire 6-months we worked there. Seriously. So I can definitely vouch that even WDW has its bad days as well as good.

But DL is "home" to me and most people here. I agree that you should be more sensitive when talking about peoples "families".

 

[MyYearWithTheMouse]

I was thinking too, in February we went to WDW--our first time as a family. We had some pretty stressful days, due to DS's nap schedule, park hours, etc. Overall we DID have a wonderful time, but on the way back we commented about how the CM's seemed less friendly, less experience, etc. than at DL.

But thinking back, I think the times we had the "less" experience were also the days when we were more tired and more stressed. I realize, in retrospect, that some of my subjective judgment of the parks correlated with a negative feeling overall.

Of course not every CM is going to have a great day, at any park. I just think I noticed and remembered the "less" experience a lot more than the positive for those given times. I don't know if it's attitude and expectations so much as when I'm in a good mood and having a good time, a negative CM experience rolls off my back, but when I'm stressed, it sticks out in my mind.

 

[tfc3rid]

I was out there last week for my first DL visit and felt the opposite... I felt like the Magic is still very much alive in DL and waning at WDW...

I also felt there was quite a bit of 'empty' space at WDW (meaning at WDW you see Ride, Store, Store, Store, Eatery, Ride) while, because of size and space, it seems almost every acre of DL is used as best it can be (You get Ride, Ride, Ride)... Best place for this example, Adventureland...

 

[HydroGuy]

Another thing to add that sounds odd to me...

The OP says that DLR pales in comparison to WDW. Why? Because of the CMs and their performance and attitudes. Even if that is true, that seems like an odd standard to use. Why not choose ride count? Or quality of shows? Or weather? Or restaurants? Or maintenance? Or opportunities outside the resort for extended visits? Why choose one thing at all to base such a conclusion upon and not look at the aggregate of experiences?

How about "DLR pales in comparison to WDW as a vacation resort but WDW pales in comparison to DLR for convenience and best and most efficient use of your time"?

If the standard is really CM excellence then it would be fair to say "WDW and DLR pale in comparison to Tokyo Disney Resort". The CMs there are phenomenol in terms of attitude and courtesy and consistency.

In any case I think it is totally reasonable (though inaccurate IMO) to say WDW CMs are better than DLR CMs. And then to give specific examples as did the OP. However to base a conclusion on overall resort quality on that is short sighted.

 

[Huff]

I also felt there was quite a bit of 'empty' space at WDW (meaning at WDW you see Ride, Store, Store, Store, Eatery, Ride) while, because of size and space, it seems almost every acre of DL is used as best it can be (You get Ride, Ride, Ride)... Best place for this example, Adventureland...

Disneyland itself has quite a bit more rides and attractions than Magic Kingdom. Theres a lot packed into a smaller area.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

I have to disagree with you.

I have been to both resorts three times and live far enough away from both I can't really call either one my "home park." None of my vacations have been bad but the ones to DLR have been better than the ones to WDW. Probably because I don't have to spend as much traveling between parks and can get right into the action .

The incident with Marry Poppins and Bert was unfortunate but that kind of thing happens at both parks. These "characters" are only human (no matter what Disney wants the kiddos to think) and they make mistakes just like the rest of us.

 

[melancholywings]

I think it's more than location but also the time you go, crowd levels, etc. that will influence your experience. We have found no two trips are ever the same at the same park and have had both magical and horrendous experiences at both places.

 

[syudelson]

Actually, I don't really like it when the say, "have a magical day". It seems kinda fakey. I'm more impressed with a genuine sparkle in the eye and warm smile, no matter what words come out.



.

Have to agree with you -- reminds me of the flight attendents "buh bye."

 

[PirateFish989]

I think the issue isn't what was said, but rather how it was said. Everyone is entitled to their one opinions, but if you are going to come out of the blue and attack us, then we are going to attack you right back. I'm sorry you had one bad experience.

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

Have to agree with you -- reminds me of the flight attendents "buh bye."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toFm4CkDaUE