lisakramer
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2011
- Messages
- 332
I wanted to post something for others that haven't been to DL, but are WDW veterans...
I've been going to WDW almost every year since I was about 5 years old, that's 30+ trips by now. We are DVC at Saratoga and BLT. I've been as a honeymooner, babymooner, mom of a toddler, etc. I'm the family/friends Disney vacation planner. So, I know my WDW pretty well.
BUT - My little family of 3 just got back from a 5 night stay at Disneyland. The Disneyland podcast team was kind enough to have me on the show and help me make some plans for our trip. Here are my thoughts on the most important differences between DL and WDW.
In general, things are more relaxed/less structured at Disneyland.
Dining - Yes, you can make dining reservations, but it's not as big of a deal as it is at WDW. I made reservations for all of our sit down meals, because that's what WDW has trained me to do. We were there in low season, and nothing was crowded. We could have walked right in to all of the places we ate without a reservation. This could have allowed us a lot more flexibility than we normally have at WDW.
Another point about dining at DL is that all of the places, from counter service to sit down - OFFER DIFFERENT FOOD CHOICES - seriously. It's not just burgers and chicken fingers at every place. It's worthwhile to look at menus online so that you have an idea of the different offerings. And, believe it or not, the FOOD IS ACTUALLY GOOD. No, really, it is. It's overpriced, but it's actually tasty.
Character dining seems different as well. We had breakfast at the Plaza Inn. It was a breakfast buffet and there were a lot of nice choices for food. But the character interaction is the real difference. The characters are on their own, no visible handler. There are pros and cons to that method. Pros - the characters wander around and spend a great deal of time with each family. They truly are in character and do lots of fun acting and clowning around. Cons - Rude people will take advantage and drag the characters over to their table with no concern over the other guests, and there are no handlers to stop them.
Photopass - It's an interesting mix of differences with DL photopass photogs vs. WDW photogs. Cons - Not as many photographers in random places around the parks. They are located at the main points you would expect, castle, etc. Pros - Every single character we saw had a photographer with them. The photographers seemed more interested in posing your family and working with you to get really good pictures. We had one photographer in particular on Main St that we visited twice. He acted like we were celebrities. He waited till people were out of the background of our pictures, he moved us around, he took a lot of magic shots with our son, he was great! This was similar for a lot of the photographers we encountered.
Downtown Disney - You have to walk through downtown to get to the parks if you are staying on property. At first I was irritated by this because I'm not used to it, but walking through downtown on our way back to the hotel became one of my favorite things by the end of the trip. Downtown at DL is very different from WDW. It has an energy that WDW downtown does not have. Everything is very close together, dining, shopping, entertainment, all next door to one another. The shops are unique and interesting. The carts/booths are a nice variety and the people working them do act obnoxiously and try to grab you out of the crowd.
My husband and son had some "man time" and built a car at Ride Makerz. We shopped the Disney store. I loved Wunderground gallery and the Vault. The restaurants offer a nice variety of choices. It seems like there are people out and about all day. I saw a lot of people taking pastries and coffee back to the hotels in the morning.
The Parks -
DL - There is so much history in this park. I loved the feeling of walking in the park that Walt worked in. There is a sense of history and pride in the CM's and the guests alike here that is not the case in WDW. Speaking of CM's, we did not have a single negative experience while on vacation. Everyone went out of their way to make sure we having a wonderful trip. Everyone took notice of my son's bday button and made a point to talk to him. We took a tour, and our guides were fantastic. They were very fun and all of the kids on the tour had a blast.
In terms of attractions, there were some things that were down for rehab, but everything else was open and appeared to be in good condition. We waited less than 10 minutes for every attraction. Something to be aware of at DL is that everything is very close together and that looking at the map can be misleading. If you're accustomed to WDW, you'll think that something is halfway across the park and you don't want to walk "all the way over there", chances are good that it's really a lot closer than it looks on the map. Because things are so close together, it's easy to miss pathways that lead to some attractions. Try to go slowly and really watch where you are going. The details in this park are amazing.
Do take the train, even if it's not really your thing. There is a really cool dinosaur scene on the way to the Main St station that is worth seeing. Also, take the monorail, even if it's just roundtrip. It's very different from the monorail at WDW. And it's possible to ride in the front with the pilot, which is super cool!
DCA - I can see why this park was not well received at first, there are some things that are fairly generic that have been "Disneyfied". But there are a lot of fun things to see and do here. The most obvious is Carsland. The theming is beyond anything I have seen before. You truly feel like you are in the movie. The rides are fun, the shops are cute, and the food is good. My son fell in love with Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. Thankfully the lines for Mater and Luigi are short. We waited about 20 minutes at park open to get on Radiator Springs Racers. I would have liked to ride again, but my son didn't want to do it again. Oh well. Again, there were attractions that were down for rehab, but it wasn't a deal breaker.
This park feels larger than DL does. I think it's because things are more spread out here. Walking from one side of the park to the other side is more like what you'd expect at WDW.
We saw the Mad Hatter party one night, but didn't have the chance to hang out and enjoy the music. I'd like to go back and be able to enjoy this next time. It looked like it was a lot of fun.
Bug's Land - My son really enjoyed all of the rides, theming, etc. As a parent I did not enjoy this part of the park. It was a major time suck. All of the rides take very few kids at a time, so there is a lot of time spent in line here.
Do check out the building with Animation Studio, Turtle talk with Crush, etc. There is a lot going on in that little area and it's all a lot of fun. The Crush show is different from the one in Epcot, which is nice.
Summary -
I was pleasantly surprised by our experience at DL. It really is a different experience from WDW. So many people seem to think that it's just a smaller, older version of WDW and that is not the case at all. If you have any interest in Disney history, it is well worth the trip for that reason alone. For my family, I'll be planning trips west as often as possible now.
I would say that our trip was really special because of the CM's and the character experiences. People seemed genuinely happy to interact with us. The characters were over the top! Not just sign the book, pose for the picture, these guys were having fun with every kid. It really made a huge difference in my opinion of the parks. The food choices and quality were another big factor in my decision to come back more often.
Sure there are attractions that are different from WDW, but in my honest opinion it's the people that make me want to come back.
I've been going to WDW almost every year since I was about 5 years old, that's 30+ trips by now. We are DVC at Saratoga and BLT. I've been as a honeymooner, babymooner, mom of a toddler, etc. I'm the family/friends Disney vacation planner. So, I know my WDW pretty well.
BUT - My little family of 3 just got back from a 5 night stay at Disneyland. The Disneyland podcast team was kind enough to have me on the show and help me make some plans for our trip. Here are my thoughts on the most important differences between DL and WDW.
In general, things are more relaxed/less structured at Disneyland.
Dining - Yes, you can make dining reservations, but it's not as big of a deal as it is at WDW. I made reservations for all of our sit down meals, because that's what WDW has trained me to do. We were there in low season, and nothing was crowded. We could have walked right in to all of the places we ate without a reservation. This could have allowed us a lot more flexibility than we normally have at WDW.
Another point about dining at DL is that all of the places, from counter service to sit down - OFFER DIFFERENT FOOD CHOICES - seriously. It's not just burgers and chicken fingers at every place. It's worthwhile to look at menus online so that you have an idea of the different offerings. And, believe it or not, the FOOD IS ACTUALLY GOOD. No, really, it is. It's overpriced, but it's actually tasty.
Character dining seems different as well. We had breakfast at the Plaza Inn. It was a breakfast buffet and there were a lot of nice choices for food. But the character interaction is the real difference. The characters are on their own, no visible handler. There are pros and cons to that method. Pros - the characters wander around and spend a great deal of time with each family. They truly are in character and do lots of fun acting and clowning around. Cons - Rude people will take advantage and drag the characters over to their table with no concern over the other guests, and there are no handlers to stop them.
Photopass - It's an interesting mix of differences with DL photopass photogs vs. WDW photogs. Cons - Not as many photographers in random places around the parks. They are located at the main points you would expect, castle, etc. Pros - Every single character we saw had a photographer with them. The photographers seemed more interested in posing your family and working with you to get really good pictures. We had one photographer in particular on Main St that we visited twice. He acted like we were celebrities. He waited till people were out of the background of our pictures, he moved us around, he took a lot of magic shots with our son, he was great! This was similar for a lot of the photographers we encountered.
Downtown Disney - You have to walk through downtown to get to the parks if you are staying on property. At first I was irritated by this because I'm not used to it, but walking through downtown on our way back to the hotel became one of my favorite things by the end of the trip. Downtown at DL is very different from WDW. It has an energy that WDW downtown does not have. Everything is very close together, dining, shopping, entertainment, all next door to one another. The shops are unique and interesting. The carts/booths are a nice variety and the people working them do act obnoxiously and try to grab you out of the crowd.
My husband and son had some "man time" and built a car at Ride Makerz. We shopped the Disney store. I loved Wunderground gallery and the Vault. The restaurants offer a nice variety of choices. It seems like there are people out and about all day. I saw a lot of people taking pastries and coffee back to the hotels in the morning.
The Parks -
DL - There is so much history in this park. I loved the feeling of walking in the park that Walt worked in. There is a sense of history and pride in the CM's and the guests alike here that is not the case in WDW. Speaking of CM's, we did not have a single negative experience while on vacation. Everyone went out of their way to make sure we having a wonderful trip. Everyone took notice of my son's bday button and made a point to talk to him. We took a tour, and our guides were fantastic. They were very fun and all of the kids on the tour had a blast.
In terms of attractions, there were some things that were down for rehab, but everything else was open and appeared to be in good condition. We waited less than 10 minutes for every attraction. Something to be aware of at DL is that everything is very close together and that looking at the map can be misleading. If you're accustomed to WDW, you'll think that something is halfway across the park and you don't want to walk "all the way over there", chances are good that it's really a lot closer than it looks on the map. Because things are so close together, it's easy to miss pathways that lead to some attractions. Try to go slowly and really watch where you are going. The details in this park are amazing.
Do take the train, even if it's not really your thing. There is a really cool dinosaur scene on the way to the Main St station that is worth seeing. Also, take the monorail, even if it's just roundtrip. It's very different from the monorail at WDW. And it's possible to ride in the front with the pilot, which is super cool!
DCA - I can see why this park was not well received at first, there are some things that are fairly generic that have been "Disneyfied". But there are a lot of fun things to see and do here. The most obvious is Carsland. The theming is beyond anything I have seen before. You truly feel like you are in the movie. The rides are fun, the shops are cute, and the food is good. My son fell in love with Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. Thankfully the lines for Mater and Luigi are short. We waited about 20 minutes at park open to get on Radiator Springs Racers. I would have liked to ride again, but my son didn't want to do it again. Oh well. Again, there were attractions that were down for rehab, but it wasn't a deal breaker.
This park feels larger than DL does. I think it's because things are more spread out here. Walking from one side of the park to the other side is more like what you'd expect at WDW.
We saw the Mad Hatter party one night, but didn't have the chance to hang out and enjoy the music. I'd like to go back and be able to enjoy this next time. It looked like it was a lot of fun.
Bug's Land - My son really enjoyed all of the rides, theming, etc. As a parent I did not enjoy this part of the park. It was a major time suck. All of the rides take very few kids at a time, so there is a lot of time spent in line here.
Do check out the building with Animation Studio, Turtle talk with Crush, etc. There is a lot going on in that little area and it's all a lot of fun. The Crush show is different from the one in Epcot, which is nice.
Summary -
I was pleasantly surprised by our experience at DL. It really is a different experience from WDW. So many people seem to think that it's just a smaller, older version of WDW and that is not the case at all. If you have any interest in Disney history, it is well worth the trip for that reason alone. For my family, I'll be planning trips west as often as possible now.
I would say that our trip was really special because of the CM's and the character experiences. People seemed genuinely happy to interact with us. The characters were over the top! Not just sign the book, pose for the picture, these guys were having fun with every kid. It really made a huge difference in my opinion of the parks. The food choices and quality were another big factor in my decision to come back more often.
Sure there are attractions that are different from WDW, but in my honest opinion it's the people that make me want to come back.
I am a big sap though.
