ChrisFL
Disney/Universal Fan and MALE
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2000
- Messages
- 9,235
EDIT: I guess you could call this a trip report, so mods, feel free to move it.
I visited DL on Friday (May 5th) and I had planned to meet a friend to go with me, but unfortunately she had to cancel.
Not being a stranger to solo tours as I've been doing that since my early teens, I ventured out to see how DL compares to WDW.
First, since Im not young, I skipped many of the rides for the younger set, but did manage to go on Peter Pan's Flight, Mr. Toad, Roger Rabbit's ToonTown Spin...all were fun, Peter Pan and Toad seemed shorter than their WDW counterparts (Though Toad at DL is all we have anymore), but still enjoyable. I could be wrong about the WDW Peter Pan since it's always a 2 hour wait every time I go and I never get to it. Roger Rabbit is quite fun and I really really wish they would have built it at WDW, would have lessened the impact of losing Toad as IMO it's a good spiritual successor.
Space Mountain, with the new Version 2 upgrades is AWESOME. Ok, I'd never been on the old version of DL's, but it's on another level entirely from the WDW version. I knew it was built after the WDW version and I believe it is longer since its only one track...the special effects they added are incredible and the track is very smooth and unlike the WDW version, the lift hill(s) don't sound like a Jackhammer!!
Buzz Lightyear was more fun as you could take the gun off the car to shoot, unlike WDW's (though I heard this may be changing at WDW?), scored 20,000 something, not that good compared to others I saw...hmm...?
Im much better at MIB at Universal anyway.
The matterhorn was an experience, the funniest part was the coaster cars, how can I explain them, they're like a flume ride inside but with a seatbelt and 2 handles to hold on to on the sides. It was quite a bit jarring but I expect that for a 50 year old, first in the world, steel coaster. The yeti seemed pretty cheap though. It's still a fun ride and since it's old and jerky it's a bit more scary than the other coasters.
Haunted Mansion was different on the outside, but the actual ride didn't seem much different than WDW, save for one scene with the widow bride.
Indy was a great ride, sooo much better than Dinosaur, lots of effects and the ending was quite scary and thrilling. The only downside was a bit of lack of storyline in the queue I thought.
Innoventions at DL is a bit of a show in the old Carousel of Progress building before you go to the main area...I think the preshow is a bit of a waste of time, but oh well...we saw a demo of all of the new tech gadgets, some interesting things but nothing made me think "that's the coolest thing I've ever seen"...I guess we're getting spoiled by our technology these days.
I went to DCA...briefly...I wanted to see how different their ToT is to MGM's...I had seen video of the ride before, and actually it's not as bad as I expected. It's definitely lacking in overall experience to the MGM version, but they did pretty well with what they had I guess.
Went on California Screamin...started to get to the launch area and apparently there was too much screamin coming from a kid in front of me, as they asked him if he was too scared to ride and took him off, don't know how they noticed...and I hadn't seen anything like that happen before. Anyway, ride was fun, it was long and one of the better Disney coasters to date
...but the big problem with the coaster is what is a problem with the whole park...it just doesnt have any theming in some areas, or consistent theming anywhere else. It's a mess from a design standpoint. I know this isn't news to most of you, and I was willing to give it a shot and see for myself before I make any judgements, but it's bad...as bad as people say it is. Im hoping the fixes to some of the park will happen and make it a bit less tacky at least.
I ate at the Taste Pilot's Grill with their computerized menu system which actually seemed to work pretty decent with the tourists I saw. Had a BBQ chicken sandwich, was decent, nothing special.
I went back to DL to ride Space Mountain again and visit some of the shops...overall a fun day...WDW Needs a revised Space Mountain, the Indy Ride, and Roger Rabbit's ride
I visited DL on Friday (May 5th) and I had planned to meet a friend to go with me, but unfortunately she had to cancel.
Not being a stranger to solo tours as I've been doing that since my early teens, I ventured out to see how DL compares to WDW.
First, since Im not young, I skipped many of the rides for the younger set, but did manage to go on Peter Pan's Flight, Mr. Toad, Roger Rabbit's ToonTown Spin...all were fun, Peter Pan and Toad seemed shorter than their WDW counterparts (Though Toad at DL is all we have anymore), but still enjoyable. I could be wrong about the WDW Peter Pan since it's always a 2 hour wait every time I go and I never get to it. Roger Rabbit is quite fun and I really really wish they would have built it at WDW, would have lessened the impact of losing Toad as IMO it's a good spiritual successor.
Space Mountain, with the new Version 2 upgrades is AWESOME. Ok, I'd never been on the old version of DL's, but it's on another level entirely from the WDW version. I knew it was built after the WDW version and I believe it is longer since its only one track...the special effects they added are incredible and the track is very smooth and unlike the WDW version, the lift hill(s) don't sound like a Jackhammer!!
Buzz Lightyear was more fun as you could take the gun off the car to shoot, unlike WDW's (though I heard this may be changing at WDW?), scored 20,000 something, not that good compared to others I saw...hmm...?
Im much better at MIB at Universal anyway.
The matterhorn was an experience, the funniest part was the coaster cars, how can I explain them, they're like a flume ride inside but with a seatbelt and 2 handles to hold on to on the sides. It was quite a bit jarring but I expect that for a 50 year old, first in the world, steel coaster. The yeti seemed pretty cheap though. It's still a fun ride and since it's old and jerky it's a bit more scary than the other coasters.
Haunted Mansion was different on the outside, but the actual ride didn't seem much different than WDW, save for one scene with the widow bride.
Indy was a great ride, sooo much better than Dinosaur, lots of effects and the ending was quite scary and thrilling. The only downside was a bit of lack of storyline in the queue I thought.
Innoventions at DL is a bit of a show in the old Carousel of Progress building before you go to the main area...I think the preshow is a bit of a waste of time, but oh well...we saw a demo of all of the new tech gadgets, some interesting things but nothing made me think "that's the coolest thing I've ever seen"...I guess we're getting spoiled by our technology these days.
I went to DCA...briefly...I wanted to see how different their ToT is to MGM's...I had seen video of the ride before, and actually it's not as bad as I expected. It's definitely lacking in overall experience to the MGM version, but they did pretty well with what they had I guess.
Went on California Screamin...started to get to the launch area and apparently there was too much screamin coming from a kid in front of me, as they asked him if he was too scared to ride and took him off, don't know how they noticed...and I hadn't seen anything like that happen before. Anyway, ride was fun, it was long and one of the better Disney coasters to date
...but the big problem with the coaster is what is a problem with the whole park...it just doesnt have any theming in some areas, or consistent theming anywhere else. It's a mess from a design standpoint. I know this isn't news to most of you, and I was willing to give it a shot and see for myself before I make any judgements, but it's bad...as bad as people say it is. Im hoping the fixes to some of the park will happen and make it a bit less tacky at least.
I ate at the Taste Pilot's Grill with their computerized menu system which actually seemed to work pretty decent with the tourists I saw. Had a BBQ chicken sandwich, was decent, nothing special.
I went back to DL to ride Space Mountain again and visit some of the shops...overall a fun day...WDW Needs a revised Space Mountain, the Indy Ride, and Roger Rabbit's ride
