Just left DLR... Here is my report

[yaya74]

My family just spent 2 1/2 daysbat DLR/DCA. Here is my report:

Hotel-- Carousel Inn and Suites.
We booked our trip through Costco. So our room had two queens. Room number was 206. I have requested for a room with hard-wood flooring and got a room with it. The room was clean. I find the size ok for two adults and two children. But my husband thought it was small. We stayed 3 nights (Thurs-Sunday). The first night was noisy. False fire alarm went off twice in the middle of the night. But the other two nights we didnt hear much noise. We used the elevator a lot and it worked just fine. Check-in was fine. Had no problem with the valet. The breakfast was very simple though. But something was better than nothing. The location was great!

Photopass plus
Awesome awesome awesome!!!!! We definitely got a lot of "family" pictures during the trip. I highly recommend it!

Dining-- Goofy's Kitchen (dinner)
We saw Minnie, Chip, Belle. The interaction was great. Food was great!

Ariel's Grotto (dinner & breakfast)
At dinner we saw Mulan, Cinderella, Snow White, and Belle. At breakfast we saw Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Both tumes Interaction were great. But dinner definitely had better food than breakfast for the cost of the meal.

French Market
French dip was delicious. The beignet was sooooooo good. Kids Mac n Cheese was just okay. I like the seating area though.

DLR/DCA
We went to DLR on Friday at 9am. The castle was decorated and closed for the filming of Christmas parade. The crowd was low. We went to Fantasyland first because of the age of my kids. The first ride was Alice in Wonderland which had spooked my DD4 who later on had fear of riding the dark room ride for the remainder of our trip. We skipped Fantasmics at this trip.
Then we went to DCA on Saturday at 9am. Lines at DCA entrance was longer than that at DLR. The line for RSR Fastpass was all the way down Cathay Circle at 9am. We did not ride RSR at all due to the wait. But we saw WOC which I thought we would skip. As mentioned in my other post, we stood outside of Ariel's Grotto entrance without a fastpass. We got there at 715pm and only a handful of people were in that area.The view was great because we were standing right against the white railing. In comparison to Fantasmic, I do prefer F over WOC which IS a good show by all means.
Overall, We definitely prefer DCA over DLR.

Citystroller
We rented a double stroller and two carseats from Citystroller. It was an awesome experience!


well, thats all folks. Please feel free to ask me any questions if any. Its my time to help!

 

[Elk Grove Chris]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[lurpee]

My family just spent 2 1/2 daysbat DLR/DCA. Here is my report:

Hotel-- Carousel Inn and Suites.
We booked our trip through Costco. So our room had two queens. Room number was 206. I have requested for a room with hard-wood flooring and got a room with it. The room was clean. I find the size ok for two adults and two children. But my husband thought it was small. We stayed 3 nights (Thurs-Sunday). The first night was noisy. False fire alarm went off twice in the middle of the night. But the other two nights we didnt hear much noise. We used the elevator a lot and it worked just fine. Check-in was fine. Had no problem with the valet. The breakfast was very simple though. But something was better than nothing. The location was great!

Photopass plus
Awesome awesome awesome!!!!! We definitely got a lot of "family" pictures during the trip. I highly recommend it!

Dining-- Goofy's Kitchen (dinner)
We saw Minnie, Chip, Belle. The interaction was great. Food was great!

Ariel's Grotto (dinner & breakfast)
At dinner we saw Mulan, Cinderella, Snow White, and Belle. At breakfast we saw Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Both tumes Interaction were great. But dinner definitely had better food than breakfast for the cost of the meal.

French Market
French dip was delicious. The beignet was sooooooo good. Kids Mac n Cheese was just okay. I like the seating area though.

DLR/DCA
We went to DLR on Friday at 9am. The castle was decorated and closed for the filming of Christmas parade. The crowd was low. We went to Fantasyland first because of the age of my kids. The first ride was Alice in Wonderland which had spooked my DD4 who later on had fear of riding the dark room ride for the remainder of our trip. We skipped Fantasmics at this trip.
Then we went to DCA on Saturday at 9am. Lines at DCA entrance was longer than that at DLR. The line for RSR Fastpass was all the way down Cathay Circle at 9am. We did not ride RSR at all due to the wait. But we saw WOC which I thought we would skip. As mentioned in my other post, we stood outside of Ariel's Grotto entrance without a fastpass. We got there at 715pm and only a handful of people were in that area.The view was great because we were standing right against the white railing. In comparison to Fantasmic, I do prefer F over WOC which IS a good show by all means.
Overall, We definitely prefer DCA over DLR.

Citystroller
We rented a double stroller and two carseats from Citystroller. It was an awesome experience!

well, thats all folks. Please feel free to ask me any questions if any. Its my time to help!

Thanks for the info! I was wondering what you would do differently with your DD4 regarding the Fantasyland Dark rides? I was thinking PPF's first maybe and perhaps just skip Snow White's all together?
Thanks!

 

[yaya74]

Thanks for the info! I was wondering what you would do differently with your DD4 regarding the Fantasyland Dark rides? I was thinking PPF's first maybe and perhaps just skip Snow White's all together?
Thanks!

She was not scared of the Peter Pan's ride because she likes to see stars. The mad queen at the end of the Alice Wonderland ride spooked her. Her fear got worse when we took her inside the Sleeping Beauty's castle, which she did asked to go in. She even refused to go to Winnie the Pooh ride. But we dragged her on and she did alright. I should have done differently was to warm her up with the outdoor rides first. We totally skipped the Snow White, Pinocchio and Mr. Toads. The next day she rode the Little Mermaids at DCA four times...

 

[danlkrim]

My DS7 sometimes gets scared on dark rides and has some loud noise sensitivity issues. We have been showing him rides on You Tube to see how he likes them and to avoid any surprises. He has also watched the Disney Parks programs on Netflix. We did not think of this before we visited WDW this past February and it might have helped. Now that he has seen these dark rides and knows what to expect he wants to ride things like the Haunted Mansion when we visit DLR in Feb 2013.