Just back from DLR 7/18-7/21

[IBLarsen]

Hello! We are home from our trip and wanted to do a quick posting, not doing an official trip report. Our trip started with Legoland for 2 days, the beach (We hit La Jolla cove, Moonlight beach and Newport Beach). Then are 4 full days at DLR from Sun 7/18 through Wed 7/21. We have only previosly been the first week of October the past 2 years. So this was our first summer trip. It.was.crowded. Wow. I was talking to a few cast members who said they were having higher than usual mid July crowds. They said July has been busier than June this year even with the AP block outs. We were hoping mid week would get less crowded, it actually seemed to get more crowded as the week went on (or at least the same as Sunday).

A few highlights. We had breakfast with Minnie and Friends. We saw 11 characters while there! We had SO much interaction from the characters we could barely eat. It was GREAT. We saw Rafiki, Captain Hook, Fairy , Godmother, Max (goofys son), Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore, Minnie, chip and Dale.

Other Characters we saw throughout the park. In addition to the regulars (goofy, pluto, Donald Duck, etc). We saw the mean Queen from snow white by the wishing well. (She was great). Mary Poppins, Pinnochio and Gepetto (whom we have never seen there before). Alice and the Mad Hatter. My daughter got to go on stage to dance with Princess Tiana in New Orleans square. She does a little performance there everyday. At princess Fantasy Faire, there was Princess Tiana, Ariel, and Belle. We met Cinderella and Snow White at the ceremony.

Mornings were once again the best time to get anything done. Lines were crazy the rest of the day. No fast passes for GRR until at least 2:00pm. We did not see World of Color. I really wanted to, but just wasn't worth the waiting in line for a FP for 2 hours during the morning hours. We opted against the dining or picnics. We did see Aladdin this time, it was awesome! and of course we LOVE fantasmic!

I think I still prefer the October time to visit. Love the halloween decor and less crowds. Even with the huge crowds we seemed to have last October, I still think this July was worse for crowds (but hey, it's summer, it's to be expected). We won't get away with taking kids out of school for those off season visits for much longer

I tried Tower of Terror for the first time (I'm a wimp) and that will be the last time for me! Ha! Although my 5 year old DD LOVED it and begged to go on it again.

We had a super busy and super fun week Any questions, please ask!

~Brianna

 

[HydroGuy]

Thanks!

 

[haley's mom]

Can you tell me more about Minnie's? I am getting ready to make our reservations for October.

What time did you guys go? How long were you there? Was it the yellow rabbit or the white rabbit?

Thanks so much!

 

[Raindown]

I tried Tower of Terror for the first time (I'm a wimp) and that will be the last time for me! Ha!

The first time I went of ToT I so underestimated it. I thought 'Oh its just a little seat belt, it can't be that bad.' I don't scream on rides, I screamed on ToT. Plus I didn't know there was anything to hold on to at the time.

Glad you had a good time.

 

[Disney Dreams]

Glad you had a great trip!

...We saw Rafiki, Captain Hook, Fairy , Godmother, Max (goofys son), Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore, Minnie, chip and Dale....We saw the mean Queen from snow white by the wishing well. (She was great). Mary Poppins, Pinnochio and Gepetto (whom we have never seen there before). Alice and the Mad Hatter. My daughter got to go on stage to dance with Princess Tiana in New Orleans square. She does a little performance there everyday. At princess Fantasy Faire, there was Princess Tiana, Ariel, and Belle. We met Cinderella and Snow White at the ceremony.

Wow! You hit the jackpot with characters! How exciting! How wonderful that your daughter got to be part of the show. Such a great memory.

I tried Tower of Terror for the first time (I'm a wimp) and that will be the last time for me! Ha! ...

My first time was my first, only, and last. I will NEVER go on ToT again. I completely understand.

- Dreams

 

[gatorfreud]

So does ToT just drop twice? I know the WDW one is randomized and that thing drops like 10 times - too much for me!! I might try it at DLR if it's not so many...

 

[blackjackdelta]

It will be interesting to see how the late July and August crowds turnout. Love ToT, usually laugh my way through.

Jack

 

[mdsd8700]

We were just on ToT on Thursday several times and it dropped 3 or 4 times at least. Lots of airtime, it was great, we all laughed through the whole thing as well!

 

[blackjackdelta]

We were just on ToT on Thursday several times and it dropped 3 or 4 times at least. Lots of airtime, it was great, we all laughed through the whole thing as well!

It is for the most part a very psycological ride. Most people will experience bigger drops on a flight.

Jack

 

[caldad]

Thanks for the tip on breakfast!

 

[IBLarsen]

Can you tell me more about Minnie's? I am getting ready to make our reservations for October.

What time did you guys go? How long were you there? Was it the yellow rabbit or the white rabbit?

Thanks so much!

We scheduled Minnies Breakfast for Sunday (our Magic Morning day), at 10:00am. We had a light breakfast in the room to hold the kids over and wanted to get those first few hours in the park first before stopping for a sit down meal. There was hardly anybody at the restaurant (which is the Plaza on main st fyi). We were suprised it wasn't more crowded. I think that is why we got SO much character interaction, they were just hanging out waiting for people, so came around several times. The food is about what you would expect. They had an Omelet Bar, pancakes/mickey waffles, fruit, scrambled eggs, potatoes, biscuits and gravy, sausage and bacon and then cold cereal. It was a decent selection and average for breakfast buffet fare. The characters made it worth it however!

Oh and I think it was the Yellow rabbit from Winnie the Pooh (have to look at pics, but almost positive about that)

Oh and sorry, wanted to add that we were there for about 1.5 hours (remember - A LOT of character interaction, took awhile to get the kids to actually sit and eat, and for that price, they needed to fill up

 

[disneymom23]

We scheduled Minnies Breakfast for Sunday (our Magic Morning day), at 10:00am. We had a light breakfast in the room to hold the kids over and wanted to get those first few hours in the park first before stopping for a sit down meal. There was hardly anybody at the restaurant (which is the Plaza on main st fyi). We were suprised it wasn't more crowded. I think that is why we got SO much character interaction, they were just hanging out waiting for people, so came around several times. The food is about what you would expect. They had an Omelet Bar, pancakes/mickey waffles, fruit, scrambled eggs, potatoes, biscuits and gravy, sausage and bacon and then cold cereal. It was a decent selection and average for breakfast buffet fare. The characters made it worth it however!

We were there the same days as you. We ate at Minnie's on Tuesday after our MM. This is our 3rd time at Minnie's and we have had a great time every time. There is always a lot of character interaction and we always have a great time. The food is fine. We make our reservations for 10:00 so we are hungry after waking up so early. Love Minnie's.

Can't say the same for Goofy's. We ate there 2 years ago on our first trip to DL. We hardly saw any characters so we stayed away. This trip, we decided to try again. We had dinner there on our first night. First they put our family of 5 at a square table for 4, then they moved us to a rectangular table for 4 with a chair at the end. We weren't happy with that so we finally got a larger table, but it was a booth tucked in a corner. It was hard to get in and out to get food. We only saw 3 characters while we were there. The food was very good but we were paying more for the characters than the food. The food alone was not worth the $200 it cost us. We'll stick to Minnie's from now on.

I agree with the OP that the parks were packed. We went early, stayed late and took long breaks in the afternoon.

We did the premium dining for WOC. It was wonderful. I would do it again. The show was amazing.

 

[Kayla's Mom]

We scheduled Minnies Breakfast for Sunday (our Magic Morning day), at 10:00am. We had a light breakfast in the room to hold the kids over and wanted to get those first few hours in the park first before stopping for a sit down meal. There was hardly anybody at the restaurant (which is the Plaza on main st fyi). We were suprised it wasn't more crowded. I think that is why we got SO much character interaction, they were just hanging out waiting for people, so came around several times. The food is about what you would expect. They had an Omelet Bar, pancakes/mickey waffles, fruit, scrambled eggs, potatoes, biscuits and gravy, sausage and bacon and then cold cereal. It was a decent selection and average for breakfast buffet fare. The characters made it worth it however!

Very excited to hear this - I just made a PS for us last week for a Sunday in September at 10:10. Thanks for the report.

 

[kristie73]

A few highlights. We had breakfast with Minnie and Friends. We saw 11 characters while there! We had SO much interaction from the characters we could barely eat. It was GREAT. We saw Rafiki, Captain Hook, Fairy , Godmother, Max (goofys son), Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore, Minnie, chip and Dale.

I was there 3 days last week as well. Mon-Wed. We did Goofy's Kitchen for the character interaction. We had only been there one other time 3 years ago for my son's 4th birthday. We saw Goofy, Chip, Dale, Pluto, Minnie, and Aurora. I was disappointed that was it. The food was good, but for the money I wish there were more. We were there at 6pm on Tues.

I don't go often to know and hadn't been in the summer months in years. But I thought compared to Veteran's Day weekend, when I last went, it was pretty crowded. Especially California Adventure. I waited longer in lines than I remember before.

Glad you had fun. We had some highlights too and some not so magical ones, but all in all very fun time.

 

[Sherry E]

Brianna - I'm glad you had a good time, and a wonderful meal at Minnie and Friends! I remember your thread about whether or not to try ToT. I am one of those sorts who hates those kinds of rides and will never change my mind, so you won't find me going on ToT! You are a braver woman than I!



I just wanted to throw in a comment about Goofy's Kitchen for those commenting on the number of characters in relation to the price - that situation is not at all exclusive to Goofy's Kitchen. In fact, I have never seen more than 5 characters (and sometimes only 4) at the Critter Breakfast at Storytellers. From all the reports and photos, there seem to be no more than 5 characters at Surf's Up with Mickey (sometimes 4) - and they are basically charging the same thing that Goofy's is charging. And there appear to be no more than 5 Princesses at Ariel's Grotto (sometimes 4), and Ariel's is the same price, if not a wee bit more expensive, than Goofy's.

Goofy's has actually added characters over the years. A couple of years ago they were averaging about 5 every trip (every trip that I made, that is). Now they seem to range in the 5 - 8 characters ballpark at each meal, and that generally includes two Princesses. Sure, there may be fluke days here and there where shifts may be changing and only a few characters are onsite while they wait for others to show up, but I'm just giving you the normal experience I've had.

So it seems like the '5 character rule' applies across the board at all the character meals - except for at Minnie & Friends. M&F seems to have more characters than any of the other meals at DLR. I'm not sure why it is that DLR makes sure to have so many onsite in only one restaurant - they could certainly dig up some extra woodsy Disney characters to throw in the Critter Breakfast or more Princesses to throw into Ariel's, but for some reason they send all the characters to M&F and let the other restaurants fall to the wayside!

 

[blackjackdelta]

Brianna - I'm glad you had a good time, and a wonderful meal at Minnie and Friends! I remember your thread about whether or not to try ToT. I am one of those sorts who hates those kinds of rides and will never change my mind, so you won't find me going on ToT! You are a braver woman than I!



I just wanted to throw in a comment about Goofy's Kitchen for those commenting on the number of characters in relation to the price - that situation is not at all exclusive to Goofy's Kitchen. In fact, I have never seen more than 5 characters (and sometimes only 4) at the Critter Breakfast at Storytellers. From all the reports and photos, there seem to be no more than 5 characters at Surf's Up with Mickey (sometimes 4) - and they are basically charging the same thing that Goofy's is charging. And there appear to be no more than 5 Princesses at Ariel's Grotto (sometimes 4), and Ariel's is the same price, if not a wee bit more expensive, than Goofy's.

Goofy's has actually added characters over the years. A couple of years ago they were averaging about 5 every trip (every trip that I made, that is). Now they seem to range in the 5 - 8 characters ballpark at each meal, and that generally includes two Princesses. Sure, there may be fluke days here and there where shifts may be changing and only a few characters are onsite while they wait for others to show up, but I'm just giving you the normal experience I've had.

So it seems like the '5 character rule' applies across the board at all the character meals - except for at Minnie & Friends. M&F seems to have more characters than any of the other meals at DLR. I'm not sure why it is that DLR makes sure to have so many onsite in only one restaurant - they could certainly dig up some extra woodsy Disney characters to throw in the Critter Breakfast or more Princesses to throw into Ariel's, but for some reason they send all the characters to M&F and let the other restaurants fall to the wayside!

Minnie just has more friends then Goofy!

Jack

 

[chandraorme]

Goofy's kitchen is another GREAT place for characters....and it has a lowered kids buffet so they can help themselves. My kids love it. My daughter's first word was actually "goofy" which she said when we were there when she was about 11 months old....of course she didn't say "mama"!

 

[Sherry E]

Minnie just has more friends then Goofy!

Jack

I think you're right, Jack! Minnie apparently has more friends than Goofy, Chip & Dale, Ariel - and even more friends than Mickey himself!!! It must be the polka dot dress!

Goofy's kitchen is another GREAT place for characters....and it has a lowered kids buffet so they can help themselves. My kids love it. My daughter's first word was actually "goofy" which she said when we were there when she was about 11 months old....of course she didn't say "mama"!

That's so cute, Chandraorme! You mean she hadn't said "Mama" yet when she said "Goofy"? Wow! Goofy should be flattered!! You know, seeing as I don't have kids, I never paid attention to the kids' section of the buffet at Goofy's - but now that I think of it, you're right! It is lowered, isn't it? As many times as I've been there I don't think I ever noticed that!

 

[blackjackdelta]

I think you're right, Jack! Minnie apparently has more friends than Goofy, Chip & Dale, Ariel - and even more friends than Mickey himself!!! It must be the polka dot dress!

Hey Sherry, there have been rumors about Minnie going around for years, who knows what goes on.

Jack