lynzi2004
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2016
- Messages
- 942
We are just back from our first trip to DL! I scoured these boards looking for info before we went so I wanted to quickly post about our experience. We typically visit WDW once each year and have stayed everything from value to deluxe.
Trip details… December 14-18, flying Southwest STL to LGB, 3 day park hopper with Genie, staying at the Fairfield Inn on Harbour. 2 adults, 3 kids (11, 9, and 4)
Dec 14-Arrival day went smoothly, Lyft XL at 3pm was around $60, checked in and went to Downtown Disney! Ate at Goofy’s Kitchen which was fun for everyone…it had been 2-3 years since we had done much character dining. We thought the food was pretty good and the kids loved the unlimited desserts!
Dec 15-Starting at Disneyland! We left our room about 6:40 or so and were held at security until about 7:10, once opened we were through quickly and were held at the tapstyles until 7:30. Since this was our first visit, I wanted a good picture in front of the train station so we stopped to take that (about 5 min wait) and then we proceeded to the castle and lined up on the Tomorrowland side where we waited until 8. (I wanted to throw this timeline in there bc at WDW its imperative that you get everywhere early, we quickly realized at DL, there isn't near the rush! Our second Disneyland day, we left our room at 7:10, didn't stop for the train picture and was in the exact same spot for rope drop...thats unheard of at WDW!) Once the rope dropped, we rode Space, Matterhorn, Snow White, Pinnochio, Mr. Toad, Storybook Land Canal, Small World, and Tea Cups before a 10:30 breakfast at Carnation Cafe. Breakfast was good and we were sat in the gazebo area outside. It was fun to watch the Mainstreet vehicles go by while we ate. After breakfast, we did BTMRR (LL) Indiana Jonesx2 (LL and rider switch), Jungle Cruise (standby), Splash (standby), Pooh (standby) and MF (LL-broke down right as we were getting in line). It was almost 3pm at this point so we walked down Mainstreet and got a spot for the 3:30 parade in front of the Fire Station. After that we hopped to DCA where we rode Guardians (LL), Webslingers (LL), got a huge Pym's Kitchen pretzel, met Captain America, rode Incredicoaster 2x (LL and Rider switch). I also took the little one on Inside Out and Carousel while we waited with rider switch. Note to WDW veterans here...the ease of booking Genie even during these crowded times (Thursday was packed with MK holder) was so easy! Most everything was available within the next few minutes until later in the afternoon when it started pushing out a bit. By this time, it was getting close to 7pm we were getting tired and chilled! We had down jackets, gloves and Santa hats, but after being outside all day, we were just cold. My number one complaint with DL is the lack of indoor quick service! There were a few locations, but I think as a whole the weather is so good there year round, they just don't really need it. We had the Hungry Bear package for the second showing, so we got a spot for fireworks in front of the castle. I walked to Hungry Bear and got our to-go food and walked back (I definitely underestimated that walk, but I made it! lol) After we ate the kids took a quick nap on Mainstreet while waiting for the show. This was the first real let down/goof of our trip. We LOVE watching the show at WDW in front of the castle, but here it was meh...and less than 10 min from start to finish?! Say what?! We definitely should have watched at Small World or done the first Fantasmic viewing and watched from there, but live and learn! After the show, we headed over to the Fantasmic area and were seated in the second row with a great center view. We absolutely loved Fantasmic! It was one of the highlights of the day, as it had been 3-4 years since we had taken the time to watch at WDW. After the show we had HMH (LL) and we had collected a couple MEPs that we ended up using on BTMRR bc our feet were too tired to take us to Space! lol Over all it was a great day, we were in the park for 17 hours!
Dec 16-Getting up for our first DCA day was hard after our long DL day, so we let the kids sleep a bit, left the room by about 7:30 and we made it to the rope on Buena Vista street by 7:55am. We headed to Guardians first (SO MUCH BETTER THAN ToT at WDW!) and were able to ride it twice with essentially no wait, then Webslingers (30 min wait), we got another pretzel to eat in line and headed to the RSR line with a posted 50 min wait. It broke down for about 10 min and overall our wait was 65 min. But we loved that ride! We then did Mater's Junkyard and headed to Pixar Pier. We had Incredicoaster and TSM LL and then had lunch at Wine Country at 1pm. The chicken parmesan was excellent! After lunch, we headed to Grizzley Peak for Soarin' (LL), raft ride (standby), we then let the kids play for a bit in the Redwood Creek area which they loved. After that we had Guardians (LL) and watched the short Spider Man show. We then went on around to Buena Vista street and did Monsters Inc (LL), Philharmagic and the Animation Academy (Goofy). By this time, we had about an hour or so to kill before we needed to line up first showing of WOC with the virtual que. I had collected a couple MEPs from that morning so we used them for another Incredicoaster ride and we rode the Ferris wheel. We also did Goofy's sky school and the swings. We mobile ordered Corn Dogs and ate those while we were waiting on WOC. We had front row for WOC as well, we just hung out in the yellow meeting area and jumped in line as soon as they let us. That show was great as well, but once again, we were tired and cold by this point. I had LL for Matterhorn and Space for after the show but we were exhausted so headed back to the room.
Dec 17-last park day! Today was Disneyland again. Didn't leave as early...closer to 7:10 and walked through security with no wait and were held up the tap style about 15 people back until 7:30. Scanned in and lined up at the rope. Did Space, Matterhorn, Autopia, Submarines, Star Tours (LL), Buzz (LL), Alice (MEP LL), MF (LL), Rise (ILL), talked with Rey, R2D2, Kylo, and Chewwie, all before a 12:00 lunch at Hungry Bear. After lunch, we did the Lion King show and then hopped the train to the front and jumped to DCA. We did the Animation Academy (Baby Yoda), Guardians (LL), talked to Ironman, Spiderman show again and then headed into Carsland. We got here around 3:30 and our ILL for RSR was 5-6pm bc we wanted to see it in the dark. So we took some pictures, got milk shakes at Flo's, rode Luigi's standby, and finally then RSR. So much fun in the dark! From here we did Soarin (LL), Grizzley River (standby), Little Mermaid, and then had Incredicoaster (LL) and TSM (LL). We got a slice of Pizza at the boardwalk and rested up for a few minutes.Some of our group did Sky School and Zephyr, while the youngest snoozed in the stroller. It was around 8pm at this point. I was amazed at how much we had done today! And it was a Saturday before Christmas no less...AMAZING! We went back to DL to finish the night. We did the Lincoln show to warm up for a few minutes and then watched the fireworks from over in front of Fantasmic. Splash is my son's favorite so I took him on 2 rides back to back! It was chilly but thankfully we didn't get very wet. We then did Pirates (wow, so much better than WDW!), BTMRR (LL), took pictures in front of Small World, Matterhorn (LL) and one last ride on Space (LL). It broke down while we were in line and messed up my last ride of the night as we were hoping to take a spin on the monorail. It was the only thing we didn't fit in! But we were able to do Space as it came up just a few minutes before the park closed and we had stayed in line. So we then took a few pictures in front of the castle and took time to shop for our souvenirs in the Emporium. We had checked out a few dump shops after the rides, but this was our first time really shopping around. We finally exited the park at 12:45...tired, broke, but HAPPY! It was such a great trip!
Dec 18-Departure day. I walked to McDonalds and got breakfast while the kids slept. Around 9am, my son and I walked back to DTD as there was a shirt I was wanting that the Emporium didn't have. We found it right off the bat and took a few minutes to look around at the Grand Californian before walking back to our room. Our Lyft picked us up around 10:30am ($60 Lyft XL) for our 1:30 flight. We ended up being delayed a bit and didn't actually leave until closer to 3:30 but we eventually made it back to STL. It was a 3 hour drive to home after that and we pulled in right around 1am!
Overall, the only ride I was disappointed in compared to WDW was Splash. Otherwise, so many of them are so much better! The Genie situation here is 10x better! My only cons was the lack of indoor quick service and so many of the pathways are narrow and bathrooms small in the original parts of Disneyland (understandable given when it was built) but just odd at first coming from WDW. I thought the small castle would bother me, but I honestly didn't really notice. It was more charming as a whole. I would love to go back with just my DH sometime and really get to look around and enjoy the "Walt" features of the park. With our kids in tow and the amount of crowds milling around, it just wasn't conducive to browsing. I loved the amount of characters just walking about and it was fun to see them. We even got to ride Tea Cups with the Mad Hatter so that was fun! My only complaint in the character department was the CMs were very coy with when they would come out. For instance, we were wanting to meet Iron man. So we went to the area and he was already out meeting. BUT, the line was closed so we asked a CM when he would be out again so we could definitely get in line. The character locater on the app still showed him being out for almost an hour. The CM wouldn't commit to him coming back. She said, "Oh we don't know if Ironman will have time to come back out, he is very busy" (blah, blah, blah!) Listen here lady, we paid almost $800 for our tickets today and flew across the country so my 4 year old could meet Ironman!
We did get to talk to him from a distance, but we already had LLs in other areas of the park, so we couldn't just keep standing there and she specifically asked us not to form a line so IDK what I really think about that. At WDW if you want to meet someone, there is specific meet and greets for it. My DH thinks he likes Disneyland better and my 9 year DS does too. The 11 DD and me like either one, I might like the resort feel (pools, monorail, Skyliner situation) of WDW better for a week long vacation.
For any WDW to DL people who have questions, please feel free to ask away!
Trip details… December 14-18, flying Southwest STL to LGB, 3 day park hopper with Genie, staying at the Fairfield Inn on Harbour. 2 adults, 3 kids (11, 9, and 4)
Dec 14-Arrival day went smoothly, Lyft XL at 3pm was around $60, checked in and went to Downtown Disney! Ate at Goofy’s Kitchen which was fun for everyone…it had been 2-3 years since we had done much character dining. We thought the food was pretty good and the kids loved the unlimited desserts!
Dec 15-Starting at Disneyland! We left our room about 6:40 or so and were held at security until about 7:10, once opened we were through quickly and were held at the tapstyles until 7:30. Since this was our first visit, I wanted a good picture in front of the train station so we stopped to take that (about 5 min wait) and then we proceeded to the castle and lined up on the Tomorrowland side where we waited until 8. (I wanted to throw this timeline in there bc at WDW its imperative that you get everywhere early, we quickly realized at DL, there isn't near the rush! Our second Disneyland day, we left our room at 7:10, didn't stop for the train picture and was in the exact same spot for rope drop...thats unheard of at WDW!) Once the rope dropped, we rode Space, Matterhorn, Snow White, Pinnochio, Mr. Toad, Storybook Land Canal, Small World, and Tea Cups before a 10:30 breakfast at Carnation Cafe. Breakfast was good and we were sat in the gazebo area outside. It was fun to watch the Mainstreet vehicles go by while we ate. After breakfast, we did BTMRR (LL) Indiana Jonesx2 (LL and rider switch), Jungle Cruise (standby), Splash (standby), Pooh (standby) and MF (LL-broke down right as we were getting in line). It was almost 3pm at this point so we walked down Mainstreet and got a spot for the 3:30 parade in front of the Fire Station. After that we hopped to DCA where we rode Guardians (LL), Webslingers (LL), got a huge Pym's Kitchen pretzel, met Captain America, rode Incredicoaster 2x (LL and Rider switch). I also took the little one on Inside Out and Carousel while we waited with rider switch. Note to WDW veterans here...the ease of booking Genie even during these crowded times (Thursday was packed with MK holder) was so easy! Most everything was available within the next few minutes until later in the afternoon when it started pushing out a bit. By this time, it was getting close to 7pm we were getting tired and chilled! We had down jackets, gloves and Santa hats, but after being outside all day, we were just cold. My number one complaint with DL is the lack of indoor quick service! There were a few locations, but I think as a whole the weather is so good there year round, they just don't really need it. We had the Hungry Bear package for the second showing, so we got a spot for fireworks in front of the castle. I walked to Hungry Bear and got our to-go food and walked back (I definitely underestimated that walk, but I made it! lol) After we ate the kids took a quick nap on Mainstreet while waiting for the show. This was the first real let down/goof of our trip. We LOVE watching the show at WDW in front of the castle, but here it was meh...and less than 10 min from start to finish?! Say what?! We definitely should have watched at Small World or done the first Fantasmic viewing and watched from there, but live and learn! After the show, we headed over to the Fantasmic area and were seated in the second row with a great center view. We absolutely loved Fantasmic! It was one of the highlights of the day, as it had been 3-4 years since we had taken the time to watch at WDW. After the show we had HMH (LL) and we had collected a couple MEPs that we ended up using on BTMRR bc our feet were too tired to take us to Space! lol Over all it was a great day, we were in the park for 17 hours!
Dec 16-Getting up for our first DCA day was hard after our long DL day, so we let the kids sleep a bit, left the room by about 7:30 and we made it to the rope on Buena Vista street by 7:55am. We headed to Guardians first (SO MUCH BETTER THAN ToT at WDW!) and were able to ride it twice with essentially no wait, then Webslingers (30 min wait), we got another pretzel to eat in line and headed to the RSR line with a posted 50 min wait. It broke down for about 10 min and overall our wait was 65 min. But we loved that ride! We then did Mater's Junkyard and headed to Pixar Pier. We had Incredicoaster and TSM LL and then had lunch at Wine Country at 1pm. The chicken parmesan was excellent! After lunch, we headed to Grizzley Peak for Soarin' (LL), raft ride (standby), we then let the kids play for a bit in the Redwood Creek area which they loved. After that we had Guardians (LL) and watched the short Spider Man show. We then went on around to Buena Vista street and did Monsters Inc (LL), Philharmagic and the Animation Academy (Goofy). By this time, we had about an hour or so to kill before we needed to line up first showing of WOC with the virtual que. I had collected a couple MEPs from that morning so we used them for another Incredicoaster ride and we rode the Ferris wheel. We also did Goofy's sky school and the swings. We mobile ordered Corn Dogs and ate those while we were waiting on WOC. We had front row for WOC as well, we just hung out in the yellow meeting area and jumped in line as soon as they let us. That show was great as well, but once again, we were tired and cold by this point. I had LL for Matterhorn and Space for after the show but we were exhausted so headed back to the room.
Dec 17-last park day! Today was Disneyland again. Didn't leave as early...closer to 7:10 and walked through security with no wait and were held up the tap style about 15 people back until 7:30. Scanned in and lined up at the rope. Did Space, Matterhorn, Autopia, Submarines, Star Tours (LL), Buzz (LL), Alice (MEP LL), MF (LL), Rise (ILL), talked with Rey, R2D2, Kylo, and Chewwie, all before a 12:00 lunch at Hungry Bear. After lunch, we did the Lion King show and then hopped the train to the front and jumped to DCA. We did the Animation Academy (Baby Yoda), Guardians (LL), talked to Ironman, Spiderman show again and then headed into Carsland. We got here around 3:30 and our ILL for RSR was 5-6pm bc we wanted to see it in the dark. So we took some pictures, got milk shakes at Flo's, rode Luigi's standby, and finally then RSR. So much fun in the dark! From here we did Soarin (LL), Grizzley River (standby), Little Mermaid, and then had Incredicoaster (LL) and TSM (LL). We got a slice of Pizza at the boardwalk and rested up for a few minutes.Some of our group did Sky School and Zephyr, while the youngest snoozed in the stroller. It was around 8pm at this point. I was amazed at how much we had done today! And it was a Saturday before Christmas no less...AMAZING! We went back to DL to finish the night. We did the Lincoln show to warm up for a few minutes and then watched the fireworks from over in front of Fantasmic. Splash is my son's favorite so I took him on 2 rides back to back! It was chilly but thankfully we didn't get very wet. We then did Pirates (wow, so much better than WDW!), BTMRR (LL), took pictures in front of Small World, Matterhorn (LL) and one last ride on Space (LL). It broke down while we were in line and messed up my last ride of the night as we were hoping to take a spin on the monorail. It was the only thing we didn't fit in! But we were able to do Space as it came up just a few minutes before the park closed and we had stayed in line. So we then took a few pictures in front of the castle and took time to shop for our souvenirs in the Emporium. We had checked out a few dump shops after the rides, but this was our first time really shopping around. We finally exited the park at 12:45...tired, broke, but HAPPY! It was such a great trip!
Dec 18-Departure day. I walked to McDonalds and got breakfast while the kids slept. Around 9am, my son and I walked back to DTD as there was a shirt I was wanting that the Emporium didn't have. We found it right off the bat and took a few minutes to look around at the Grand Californian before walking back to our room. Our Lyft picked us up around 10:30am ($60 Lyft XL) for our 1:30 flight. We ended up being delayed a bit and didn't actually leave until closer to 3:30 but we eventually made it back to STL. It was a 3 hour drive to home after that and we pulled in right around 1am!
Overall, the only ride I was disappointed in compared to WDW was Splash. Otherwise, so many of them are so much better! The Genie situation here is 10x better! My only cons was the lack of indoor quick service and so many of the pathways are narrow and bathrooms small in the original parts of Disneyland (understandable given when it was built) but just odd at first coming from WDW. I thought the small castle would bother me, but I honestly didn't really notice. It was more charming as a whole. I would love to go back with just my DH sometime and really get to look around and enjoy the "Walt" features of the park. With our kids in tow and the amount of crowds milling around, it just wasn't conducive to browsing. I loved the amount of characters just walking about and it was fun to see them. We even got to ride Tea Cups with the Mad Hatter so that was fun! My only complaint in the character department was the CMs were very coy with when they would come out. For instance, we were wanting to meet Iron man. So we went to the area and he was already out meeting. BUT, the line was closed so we asked a CM when he would be out again so we could definitely get in line. The character locater on the app still showed him being out for almost an hour. The CM wouldn't commit to him coming back. She said, "Oh we don't know if Ironman will have time to come back out, he is very busy" (blah, blah, blah!) Listen here lady, we paid almost $800 for our tickets today and flew across the country so my 4 year old could meet Ironman!
We did get to talk to him from a distance, but we already had LLs in other areas of the park, so we couldn't just keep standing there and she specifically asked us not to form a line so IDK what I really think about that. At WDW if you want to meet someone, there is specific meet and greets for it. My DH thinks he likes Disneyland better and my 9 year DS does too. The 11 DD and me like either one, I might like the resort feel (pools, monorail, Skyliner situation) of WDW better for a week long vacation.For any WDW to DL people who have questions, please feel free to ask away!
. But you got to it on day 3 so I breathed a sigh of relief 
