Here Now at DLR...A Few Thoughts

[flyingjay]

I'm just gonna blast out a bunch of random thoughts about our trip in case some may find them useful. We did four days over the week of Mar. 27th.

We are a Canadian family of five (7, 5, and 3 year old). It's our third trip to DLR. We are staying off property.

Talk to other people in line ups. In Guardians (which I think is now my favourite ride), I introduced myself to a kind gentleman from San Fran who was originally fro Guadalajara. Initially, he was pretty quiet and we had a bit of a language gap at times, but he was the friendliest man. I ended up riding with him, his daughter and wife and we got to know each other quite well. After the ride, they asked if I wanted to meet up with them that afternoon as they had a couple extra FP's for Guardians. We met up and I brought my five year old son. He LOVED it! He talked their ears off the whole time. It was probably the most magical moments of the trip.

BBB for a seven year old princess might be the best thing ever.

Don't be afraid to stand further back for WOC as long as you're at the rail. My kiddies had a great view and we didn't have to lift them on our shoulders. View was awesome!

While we waited for WOC, we sat with a lady from Alaska and her 3 and half year old daughter. We had some great conversation and both of them were very sweet.

There were crowds, but they were milder than expected.

Disneyland had some serious technical difficulties for F! and the fireworks show on Mar. 27. Dragon didn't breathe fire and the sound didn't work for the fireworks show (actual pyro got cancelled that night).

Don't get too late a reso for Minnie & Friends breakfast. We did 10:40 and missed two (that we know of) characters and felt EXTREMELY rushed. We emailed guest services. We will call today and see if they'll comp us for our last day tomorrow with an earlier time...if not it's no big deal. Can't hurt to ask though.

If you're there for only one or two days, I think it's nuts not to get maxpass. It saved us hours and hours of lineups. It's probably what made the crowds feel lighter than I'm used to.

We were never early enough to rope drop, but we were always close. Even on the busiest days, we got TONS done in the mornings (and late nights).

Be at toon town for opening. Minnie came out to the gate opening and walked my son and daughter into Toon Town holding both their hands. That actually is probably tied for most magical moment. I got it on video and I'm pretty sure we'll treasure that forever.

My biggest advice is don't be afraid to get out of your shell. Be friendly...there were many wonderful people that we got to know...even if it was for 2 minutes.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Great summary!

 

[tanyaewa]

Thanks for the input! We’ve got a 10:30 Minnie and Friends - hmmm now I’m a bit worried

 

[limace]

Love this! We’ve had such great experiences chatting with folks-what an amazing time you had!

 

[sherilaine]

We had fantastic results with a late reservation at Minnie's breakfast so I don't think that is good general advice. It could have been a bad morning there for some reason. We have always seen a lot of characters and some of them more than once as the place begins to clear out and they have fewer people to meet. We also never felt rushed at all and found it to be a great brunch option for us as we are more hungry at that hour than early in the morning.

I entirely agree on MP - I will never visit without using it now, it saved us so much time on our last trip!

You say you didn't find the crowds too bad, which is encouraging, what other times have you visited DLR just to get a context for your experience?

 

[Liz Z]

Hi we're newbies to Dl and will only be there for 2 solid days. we have our tickets with Maxpass included

We're four adults that love character breakfasts. so far we are planning for Goofys Kitchen staying at DHL for our departure morning. And plaza Inn but i haven't heard of Minnie's breakfast.

Can you tell me what park that's in please. Starting to plan and our 180 is coming up in a little while.

So excited to finally being able to go to DL. Were WDW vets

Thank you
Liz

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Thanks for the input! We’ve got a 10:30 Minnie and Friends - hmmm now I’m a bit worried

We had a 10:40 reservation in January and we were even late and had a great experience. The CM who checked us in let us know that they food would be removed by 11:30 but that we were free to stay as long as we wanted. I made sure to order the made to order omelettes first and also went back in for some big plates of food right before they cleared everything away. Then we sat and relaxed and grazed on our food until after noon. We had lots of great character interactions and only missed one character (Rabbit). We were outside and I never saw Rabbit leave the indoor area other than the small covered patio right near the building. Other than missing Rabbit, we saw all of the other nine characters, and had multiple and extended interactions with some, including Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Chip & Dale.

 

[Shanti]

If you're there for only one or two days, I think it's nuts not to get maxpass. It saved us hours and hours of lineups. It's probably what made the crowds feel lighter than I'm used to.

Agreed. Maxpass is amazing. If you're doing a short trip, I recommend getting both Maxpass and park hoppers. We got a lot done that way.

We also stayed onsite & got to use EMH at both parks on consecutive days. Between Maxpass, PH tickets and EMH, we did everything we wanted at both parks, and some things multiple times, in just a day and a half on a weekend in early November. And this included things like character meals and Toon Town. It was awesome.

 

[Geemo]

The new Plaza Inn Dining Package for the parade could be making a difference for late CB reservations.
The time between a CB and Lunch Package might mean CM's need to move people through faster than before.

 

[limace]

Hi we're newbies to Dl and will only be there for 2 solid days. we have our tickets with Maxpass included

We're four adults that love character breakfasts. so far we are planning for Goofys Kitchen staying at DHL for our departure morning. And plaza Inn but i haven't heard of Minnie's breakfast.

Can you tell me what park that's in please. Starting to plan and our 180 is coming up in a little while.

So excited to finally being able to go to DL. Were WDW vets

Thank you
Liz

Just to give you some breathing room-180 days isn’t a thing at DL. It’s 60, and most the time you won’t need to reserve that far out even.

 

[Liz Z]

Thank you LOL.. I'm also panning for a WDW visit for October so that's what i was thinking

Thank you
Liz

 

[smartlabelprint]

Hi we're newbies to Dl and will only be there for 2 solid days. we have our tickets with Maxpass included

We're four adults that love character breakfasts. so far we are planning for Goofys Kitchen staying at DHL for our departure morning. And plaza Inn but i haven't heard of Minnie's breakfast.

Can you tell me what park that's in please. Starting to plan and our 180 is coming up in a little while.

So excited to finally being able to go to DL. Were WDW vets

Thank you
Liz

Plaza inn is Minnie

 

[smartlabelprint]

The new Plaza Inn Dining Package for the parade could be making a difference for late CB reservations.
The time between a CB and Lunch Package might mean CM's need to move people through faster than before.

I haven’t heard of this!

 

[Geemo]

The new Plaza Inn Dining Package for the parade could be making a difference for late CB reservations.
The time between a CB and Lunch Package might mean CM's need to move people through faster than before.

I haven’t heard of this!

It begins on April 13th which is a Friday.
You can see info here....
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/dining/disneyland/plaza-inn-dining-package/

 

[theluckyrabbit]

...My biggest advice is don't be afraid to get out of your shell. Be friendly...there were many wonderful people that we got to know...even if it was for 2 minutes.

So glad you had a great trip! And totally agree with your advice! The magic is all around at DLR -- don't be afraid to jump on in and make some yourself!

 

[AZMermaid]

We had that late reservation at Minnie’s a few years ago. It was a nightmare. We were sat outside, alone. That should have been a big red flag but we were new to character dining. 40 min go by... no characters. We kept seeing them circle to porch and then disappear. We finally went and complained at the host stand, hadn’t seen a server in all that time. They did send a few characters over and then kids from the porch area cut in on my toddlers. We did end up seeing 3 characters in the 80 min we were there, but I’ve read multiple reports of people seeing 8-12 characters. All the bad reports seem to have that “brunch” seating. In hindsight, we should have gone to City Hall, but it was our last day and we didn’t bother. But it’s been 5 years and we won’t go back.

 

[flyingjay]

Thanks for the input! We’ve got a 10:30 Minnie and Friends - hmmm now I’m a bit worried

10:30 shouldn't be too bad...I'd arrive 10 mins early to check in/pay and get your photo taken with Minnie. We waited a while to pay (there were people in front of us) and the photo took 10 mins or so. My son also has a gluten intolerance so the chef came out to talk to us about it (and btw...he was awesome!). That took a while too.

It's an amazing experience in general...I'd never want to discourage anyone from doing it. 10:30 should be fine as long as you get in the restaurant shortly after that.

 

[flyingjay]

We had fantastic results with a late reservation at Minnie's breakfast so I don't think that is good general advice. It could have been a bad morning there for some reason. We have always seen a lot of characters and some of them more than once as the place begins to clear out and they have fewer people to meet. We also never felt rushed at all and found it to be a great brunch option for us as we are more hungry at that hour than early in the morning.

I entirely agree on MP - I will never visit without using it now, it saved us so much time on our last trip!

You say you didn't find the crowds too bad, which is encouraging, what other times have you visited DLR just to get a context for your experience?

Our first experience (Mar/2017) with a late breakfast was FANTASTIC! That's the thing...we had something to compare it to. This time wasn't even close. We barely saw characters and it seemed to take forever for us to get seated.

We were there in mid Feb/2016, early Mar/2017 and this last week (late Mar/2018). The one Saturday in early Mar/2017 was almost suffocating. Anywhere near the hub I felt like I was walking like a penguin. Last week, it got busy in the mid afternoons...but nothing like that. I was pleasantly surprised.

With the Pier being refurbed, we spent a LOT of time in Disneyland Park. Not as much in DCA as before. I think DL is better now than it's ever been on any of our previous trips. VERY little closed down (just Dumbo and Splash)...tons of characters around the park...fairly easy to get FP's with Maxpass...very quiet mornings...we had an amazing vacation.

 

[nikkislaght]

Hi we're newbies to Dl and will only be there for 2 solid days. we have our tickets with Maxpass included

We're four adults that love character breakfasts. so far we are planning for Goofys Kitchen staying at DHL for our departure morning. And plaza Inn but i haven't heard of Minnie's breakfast.

Can you tell me what park that's in please. Starting to plan and our 180 is coming up in a little while.

So excited to finally being able to go to DL. Were WDW vets

Thank you
Liz

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/dining/characters/

 

[Disney Dory]

Thank you for sharing! It sounds like you had a great trip and have some wonderful memories!