Just Back~WDW Vet's DLR Trip Observations

[Mouse Man]

Good observations. I felt pretty much the same way you did when I took my first trip over spring break. Does your family now have a favorite Disney park? My sons love Disneyland now because it was so easy to get around. They could easily hop on over to ride Toy Story without much of a hassle. My wife still prefers WDW because she missed Epcot. World Showcase is her "happy place". I'm on the fence. I love WDW and DLR for different reasons.

Oh, I was the nightly "runner" to Marceline's for DW. I think I bought one of everything at some point!

 

[vakamalua]

We are WDW vets and DVC owners who haven't been to DL in 10 years. We plan to spend two days there in September and can't wait to be back in Walt's park!

 

[DeluxePrincess]

I'm excited about it... My wife, not so much... I want to spend my 3 full days out there exploring the 2 parks...

Well, you just might have to "ditch" her then. The place is amazing and your 3 full days will be needed to get the most out of it. Good luck! She'll come around.

Does your family now have a favorite Disney park?
Oh, I was the nightly "runner" to Marceline's for DW. I think I bought one of everything at some point!

We really can't say that we love one resort over the other. WDW and DLR offer different experiences and I wouldn't hesitate going back to either. It's harder for us to get over to DLR, being from Ohio. The airfare is higher and they don't offer considerable discounts like WDW does. Still, I would love to get back there within the next 5 years (hopefully, sooner).
You are a good man treating your wife to daily Marceline's treats! I miss the cookies!!

 

[hsmamato2]

First, let me just thank everyone on this board for the WEALTH of information!

sounds nice....if I may ask- how many days did you visit DL? we're going in a few months,and as WDW vets,my DH is SURE he'll be bored at DL within one day......my kids are older than yours,but still love all things Disney....

 

[DeluxePrincess]

sounds nice....if I may ask- how many days did you visit DL? we're going in a few months,and as WDW vets,my DH is SURE he'll be bored at DL within one day......my kids are older than yours,but still love all things Disney....

We stayed 5 nights and found it was perfect. If this is your first visit, I would not stay less than 3. Disneyland may be smaller than WDW, but there is more packed into their limited space. I don't think anyone in your party will be bored. Enjoy your trip! Wish I was going back.

 

[kkmcan]

sounds nice....if I may ask- how many days did you visit DL? we're going in a few months,and as WDW vets,my DH is SURE he'll be bored at DL within one day......my kids are older than yours,but still love all things Disney....

I would say 3 would be rushing. 4 would be good annd 5 would be even better. There is so much to see and do. Lots of little nooks and crannies to explore. Heck, I could spend at least 2-3 hours in the Animation building alone! Then there's all the shows and the fireworks and the parade. Aladdin will take you an hour.

There's no way your family will be bored. I know that our first trip to WDW was so cool just because it was a new place to discover.

If you plan your trip carefully and allow time to wander thru Redwood creek, around the Grizzly River area, in and out of the shops on Main street and Downtown Disney you will fill all those days and still probably not get to see everything.

 

[enchantedny]

I am a fellow WDW vet who just returned from her first visit to Disneyland. We were there from June 27th until the 30th. We stayed at PPH. I have to agree with you that DL's Fantasyland is much better than WDW's. All of our friends that have been to both actually would laugh about the castle but I liked it much better. It was all very quaint. Space Mountain is also much better.

I am still having a bit of a hard time adjusting back to East Coast time. Hopefully in a day or two I will be able to put together some coherent thoughts.

 

[DeluxePrincess]

I am still having a bit of a hard time adjusting back to East Coast time. Hopefully in a day or two I will be able to put together some coherent thoughts.

I've had 4 days to adjust to East Coast time and it's not working out so well! I've been waking up and staying up much later than my usual schedule. Still have lots of laundry to finish....

 

[mtnprotracy]

Thanks so much for posting this! It's just what I needed to get even MORE super-excited about our upcoming visit ! Glad you had such a wonderful time.

Tracy

 

[TeddiBarra]

Oh my gosh, you guys, I need to stop reading this thread. It's reminding me how awesome DLR is, and wondering if it's really "worth it" to spend twice as much to do WDW next year. . . A week stay at the Grand is starting to sound like an option that's almost more appealing!!

But I'm glad to see all the WDW vets who've found their love for the 'land. The closeness and simpleness of it all is magical in and of itself

RE: WOC- I don't think the Fast Passes make it easier or more necessary for "dining packages". The picnics, MAYBE, the dinner packages, no. WOC is great- WHEN you have a good view. Take that away and it's just painful and disappointing. Have done it with the best view (front railing), decent view (in the way back but higher up) and in the WC area, behind the Tall Family ... (bad view).

I too, hope eventually it will work like it does for F! Let people decided. When it gets full, the CMs could control it just like F! The reason they have the fast passes is because it's a way to control how many people come over and try to watch the show- it could cause a far worse congestion than you have at DL with F! Doing it this way, you only have as many ppl coming over to get into the area that can hold only so many. I hope it goes away. Those who WANT to stake out the good seats could, and those who don't , won't. You could easily prevent "all day stake outs" by doing the same thing they do with fireworks- CMS go up and tell those who are seated/waiting that they will be asked to move at a set time (or clear out). Anyway, that's a rabbit trail.

Sounds like you had a great trip!

 

[JulyGirl]

Did you use the pool at the Grand Californian? What did you think of the pool area?

 

[Tonyspad]

Sounds like we did nearly the same trip:

Ours included-
2-nights at the Mirage in a wonderful suite June 25-26
A visit to the Hoover Dam (must visit once in your life) June 26
Drive through the desert from LV to DL June 27
4- nights at the DLH in a club room June 27-July1
A visit to Grummans Chinese Theatre June 29

We had a great time at DL. We have been to WDW over 20 times and truly enjoyed the weather, being able to walk to the parks and the improvements of the rides over WDW. We still love WDW (actually we love the Polynesian Hotel) but DL is a GREAT place.

Please feel free to ask any questions.

 

[Disbabe]

Thanks for the report - we'll be there in 4 weeks for our very first trip to DL - personally I'm getting sooooo excited and cannot wait to see the differences (having experienced WDW 7 times).
We've also said this could be our one and only trip (coming from the UK), however, if its as good as everyone is saying then it's not likely to be!

 

[dalstitch45]

I am still having a bit of a hard time adjusting back to East Coast time. Hopefully in a day or two I will be able to put together some coherent thoughts.

I just got back last night. So far today, I slept half the day, and now I just do not feel like doing anything. Okay, I am on the Disboards so the day is not a total loss. The flight back really takes a lot out of you.

I got to see the preview of the 4th of July fireworks. It was really good. I wish I could have been there tomorrow to see the full show.

 

[MyYearWithTheMouse]

I loved reading this--thank you! When I was a DTD cast member I talked to tons of guests (obviously) and there were quite a few who had done both parks. I'll say, most people preferred WDW. But this past February we did a week at WDW and were just--exhausted. Our DS is 2 and it was SO hard for him. We brought our own stroller (holy moley, I couldn't believe the WDW rental strollers! My butt got numb just looking at them!) so he didn't have to do much walking, but he does still nap during the day and we kept having to go back to the resort to do it. I got really frustrated by the amount of time we ate up waiting for the bus and riding the bus and transferring from the bus getting in and out of the stroller for the bus and waiting for the monorail and waiting for the boat and getting in and out of the stroller depending on the boat and so on. At the end of the day I felt like we spent more time getting from place to place and walking through parks than we did enjoying everything. We will go back when DS is older and I think it will be better when he's got more staying power, but just the intimacy and size alone is one of the main DLR advantages I think. Even if you stay in one of the Harbor or Katella hotels, the walk to your hotel is totally doable.

The main things we liked about WDW were the things we don't have here--mainly Epcot, attractions we've discontinued (Peoplemover, Country Bear Jamboree), and the barber shop where DS got his first haircut. And the Winnie the Pooh ride. Gah, ours is so terrible--Pooh's drug trip!

But in the end, they're just completely different vacations.

 

[DeluxePrincess]

Did you use the pool at the Grand Californian? What did you think of the pool area?

We did swim in the afternoon 3 of our 5 days. The lounge chairs were the most comfortable I have ever tried! I could have easily napped there. There were 3 pools. My kids are fish so they preferred the deeper pool rather than the slide, although DD did the slide and said it was fun. What really impressed me was the pool staff went around asking if all those towels "saving" lounge chairs belonged to anyone. If nobody knew who the towels belonged to, they took them away. They would come by every 30 minutes or so. This really freed up chairs and I didn't see anyone having to search for a lounger. I actually went to the hot tub alone one night to relax. Gotta love DH who agreed to stay in the room with the kids. The hot tub was very relaxing. There were jet streams on the floor that I put my feet on and got sort of a foot massage thing going on.

And the Winnie the Pooh ride. Gah, ours is so terrible--Pooh's drug trip!

Is that your blog? Very funny! I will be saving it in my favorites to read more! I think DS had the same look as the child at the end of the blog. I agree with you on Pooh. WDW does have a better version. The honey pots are more comfortable too.

 

[MyYearWithTheMouse]

That is my blog--thank you for reading! I think what makes our Pooh ride even more disappointing is that it could have been really awesome, like the one at WDW (which was built before ours so it's not like they would have had to start from scratch). And I agree, the combs at WDW are so much more comfortable. I mean, I'm only 5'2" and when I'm uncomfortable on a ride vehicle, that's a problem.

 

[princesskayla]

Thanks for the comparision. I love WDW and went any chance I got. We never wanted to do DL as a family because we would rather spend the money and time at WDW. We have since moved to Alaska and are rather far from our happy place and are half heartly making plans to go to DL as a family. Thanks for the update - I am finally getting excited about it! I can't wait to see the minature storybook lands. That was by far my favorite ride at any Disney resort (that I have been to - see gotta go overseas!)

 

[nunzia]

I loved reading this--thank you! When I was a DTD cast member I talked to tons of guests (obviously) and there were quite a few who had done both parks. I'll say, most people preferred WDW. But this past February we did a week at WDW and were just--exhausted. Our DS is 2 and it was SO hard for him. We brought our own stroller (holy moley, I couldn't believe the WDW rental strollers! My butt got numb just looking at them!) so he didn't have to do much walking, but he does still nap during the day and we kept having to go back to the resort to do it. I got really frustrated by the amount of time we ate up waiting for the bus and riding the bus and transferring from the bus getting in and out of the stroller for the bus and waiting for the monorail and waiting for the boat and getting in and out of the stroller depending on the boat and so on. At the end of the day I felt like we spent more time getting from place to place and walking through parks than we did enjoying everything. We will go back when DS is older and I think it will be better when he's got more staying power, but just the intimacy and size alone is one of the main DLR advantages I think. Even if you stay in one of the Harbor or Katella hotels, the walk to your hotel is totally doable.

The main things we liked about WDW were the things we don't have here--mainly Epcot, attractions we've discontinued (Peoplemover, Country Bear Jamboree), and the barber shop where DS got his first haircut. And the Winnie the Pooh ride. Gah, ours is so terrible--Pooh's drug trip!

But in the end, they're just completely different vacations.

Flashback to our ONE trip to WDW waaay back. Stayed at the Beach Club so that was great. Kids were what..13, 10 and 8? They kept looking for the Matterhorn, and hated the whole bus/boat thing to get anywhere (except EPCOT.) They wanted rides and EPCOT only had a few. MGM was fun, Magic Kingdom was wacky and kind of 'wrong' after Disneyland (this was waaaay before DCA) there was no Animal Kingdom and we did visit one of the water parks, but the weather so amazingly awful we barely did anything there. It was March and I saved the newspaper "March Monster Roars"..snow in Crestview, tornado warnings..all our pictures have palms trees on the verge of being toppled form the wind. We somehow missed the big show at World Shocase becasue we didn't understand where it was We told the kids we wanted to go back and they looked at us like we were nuts..we want to give it another chance to see what the hoopla is about..so..maybe we can swing it in 2013, stay at BCV (although looking at October for F&W so maybe can't get in).
I swear it seemed like we were waiting for busses all day long and the stres of getting to a scheduled thing (dinner at the Polynesian Revue thing..ohh noo..how do we get there??!!) wore us out. The best thing about that WDW trip was that my son took a class (no longer offered) with animators that lasted most of the day and that cemented his goal of being an artist..which is his career..so thank you Disney Institute (I think it was called) They also had the BEST dining plan thing then..it wasn't a bunch of meals, but rather you paid so much for 3 specialty things. We did the Goofy Breakfast at the Beach/Yacht Club, the Polynesian thing and Yachtsman steakhouse. I still remember my kids' eyes when they saw that ice cream dessert..
OK..guess I'm ready to go back

 

[HydroGuy]

Flashback to our ONE trip to WDW waaay back. Stayed at the Beach Club so that was great. Kids were what..13, 10 and 8? They kept looking for the Matterhorn, and hated the whole bus/boat thing to get anywhere (except EPCOT.) They wanted rides and EPCOT only had a few. MGM was fun, Magic Kingdom was wacky and kind of 'wrong' after Disneyland (this was waaaay before DCA) there was no Animal Kingdom and we did visit one of the water parks, but the weather so amazingly awful we barely did anything there. It was March and I saved the newspaper "March Monster Roars"..snow in Crestview, tornado warnings..all our pictures have palms trees on the verge of being toppled form the wind. We somehow missed the big show at World Shocase becasue we didn't understand where it was We told the kids we wanted to go back and they looked at us like we were nuts..we want to give it another chance to see what the hoopla is about..so..maybe we can swing it in 2013, stay at BCV (although looking at October for F&W so maybe can't get in).
I swear it seemed like we were waiting for busses all day long and the stres of getting to a scheduled thing (dinner at the Polynesian Revue thing..ohh noo..how do we get there??!!) wore us out. The best thing about that WDW trip was that my son took a class (no longer offered) with animators that lasted most of the day and that cemented his goal of being an artist..which is his career..so thank you Disney Institute (I think it was called) They also had the BEST dining plan thing then..it wasn't a bunch of meals, but rather you paid so much for 3 specialty things. We did the Goofy Breakfast at the Beach/Yacht Club, the Polynesian thing and Yachtsman steakhouse. I still remember my kids' eyes when they saw that ice cream dessert..
OK..guess I'm ready to go back

As I just wrote over on the community board, WDW can be tons of fun if you learn to work the system. It has taken me a couple trips but I have learned how to keep transportation to a minimum. I get taxis here and there to get somewhere which is time sensitive. And I found things about WDW to which I have grown fond. Oh, and I try to avoid the worst weather months. Our March trip was deee-lightful weather - better than your typical SoCal weather in March and really just about like DLR in the summer. Highs were mid 70's up to 80 with clear skies for most of the time. Humidity was not a factor.

At WDW I love the DHS park even though WDW vets often rank it #4 or 3 at best. I still do not get Epcot and it does little for me. I will admit though that Epcot grows a little on me each time I go. Everyone gets excited about Illuminations. I feel zero magic about that show and IMO is laughable compared to WOC. Illuminations is a spectacle for sure - I saw it twice on my last visit from different vantage points just to get a better grasp of it (I have now seen it four times). It is a spectacle but it is not magical.

But WDW does have music. Lots of music which DLR lacks such as Off Kilter and Mulch, Sweat & Shears. And they do have those side-splitting Streetmosphere characters at DHS which are desperately needed at DCA. And they have some cool rides like Rock 'n Rollercoaster and Philharmagic and Expedition Everest that are quintessential Disney. Some cool shows like Festival of the Lion King. And lots of cool restaurants. When WDW vets talk about Disney immersion they are right. WDW delivers that in a way that DLR never can. You really have to slow down at WDW and spread things out more. At DLR we can zip through and catch our breath after the trip. At WDW you need to build in off-days and go to water parks and see shows like Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue. And catch the water pageant one night or see a Disney movie under the stars at the Fort Wilderness campground or the beach at the Beach Club. How about renting water craft and driving around the canals and lagoons? Soooo much to do at WDW you will never do it all...

I would encourage all DLR vets thinking about WDW to move outside the standard DLR strengths of rides and shows and make time for some of the little things WDW offers. There is so much Disney magic at WDW and you have to approach it in a different way than DLR...