Don't forgot Mr Toad's Wild Ride, no longer in WDW! A great dark ride.
I've been to DL a couple times in the past few years and the main thing I notice about it is how
dense it is. It's got probably more attractions than WDW's Magic Kingdom crammed into a smaller space. This is both more intimate and more claustrophobic.
I am one of the ones who feels that the DL Pirates is
not all that much better than the WDW one, for the following reasons:
1. The queue is just terrible compared to the WDW one. You're outdoors by some steps, and once you enter the building, you are in a hallway for maybe 20-30 ft then you board the boat. The WDW is much, much more immersive, probably one of the best queues in WDW.
2. The bayou scene is interesting but seems to drag on for a while. IMHO it's mainly there to get you to the drops that go below the railroad and to give the Blue Bayou diners something to look at. (Yes, you should try to eat there! I don't think it's as good as the best WDW restaurants but it is pretty good and a great experience.)
3. Worst of all, the long and pointless post-show travel to get back up to the load level, including passing by the people waiting in line. The last couple minutes of the ride are just there for technical reasons and the WDW one ends at a more appropriate time IMHO.
These are the kind of things that can be debated all day - that's just my opinion.
A few other observations... DL's Autopia is better than WDW's Tomorrowland Speedway... DL's Enchanted Tiki Room is about a million times better than the
abomination that is "Tiki Room Under New Management"... Downtown Disney is a bit dull in DL vs WDW... Eating late at night is much more difficult in DL!... CA's rollercoaster is great but their Tower of Terror is not nearly as good as the WDW one (but they do have an extra "ghost" scene and a very cool "shuddering" effect)... WDW's Main St Bakery is way better than DL's (especially the cinnamon rolls - oh, and no flies!)... DL Splash Mountain rafts are only one person wide... but DL's updated Space Mountain is really fantastic, with two-person-wide vehicles. I haven't been on the new WDW version but from what I've heard, I suspect that DL still has the better Space Mt... DL's "Remember Dreams Come True" fireworks show was incredible - much, much better than Wishes IMHO, but their new one doesn't look as good from the videos I've seen but probably still better than Wishes... and the World of Color show isn't running yet but it looks like it should be incredible! Oh, and the monorails look cool but are much better (and way more practical) in WDW.
Last trip, we stayed at HoJo's the first night (which seems to be one of the top-rated for DL visitors) and is was fine, then stayed at the DL Hotel, which was cool.
Have a great time - it's fun to see how the "other coast" lives!
If you do any other theme park stuff in CA -
skip Universal Studios! It's really, really lame, with only about 4-5 rides in the whole place and a couple shows. A friend of mine who lives in LA now loves
Legoland but we haven't seen it ourselves yet.
You will have a great time out here John. The end of January is one of the best times to visit DL as far as crowds. The down side is that Rivers of America will be drained during that time so there will be no riverboats, Pirate Liar (Tom Sawyer's Island), and Fantasmic. To bad because our Fantasmic is quite different than DW being performed on the Rivers of America. The biggest thing you will notice is how close everything is here compared to WDW. That is the one thing that you will notice right away is how narrow main street is compared to WDW. To us MK MS looks like a 10 lane freeway not a Main street. The good news is that your legs will not be as tired as walking around WDW but you can still put on the miles. You will be fine without the 70-200. I stopped taking anything beyond 105mm because of the closeness. If you have a D700 and a 50mm f/1.2 you will have a blast on the dark rides. I shoot with a 30mm f/1.4 on dark rides and it works great. The other difference between parks is how much narrower the canals are on POTC and IASW compared to WDW. Our second park, California Adventure, is a one or two minute walk across the entry plaza. As you have probably read, it is under considerable remodeling for the next two years but there is still a lot to see. Let me know when you will be out here and maybe we could meet up for a few shots. Any questions ask away.
Fair amount of pollution grays it out - maybe you'll get a nice ocean breeze to blow it out. If it looks all cloudy and nasty when you wake up don't worry about - it'll burn off by late morning.
