Our 3.5 day trip to DLR, the short version....

[Zoemakes5]

Here is a very condensed version of our DLR trip....3 days in the park and a half day in DtD and Stitch breakfast. A more complete trip report to follow......

Rides we went on (in no particular order):
Astro Orbiter
Buzz Lightyear
Autopia (x3)
Star Tours (x2)
Space Mountain
Disneyland Railroad
Teacups
Carosel (both parks)
Pinocchio
Dumbo
Mr. Toad
Small World
Roger Rabbit
Peter Pan
Big Thunder Mt. Railroad
Winnie the Pooh
Jungle Book
Indiana Jones
Pirates
Monsters Inc.
Soarin'
Golden Zephr
Jumpin' Jellyfish
Orange Stinger
Ferris Wheel


Shows/Parades we saw:
Aladin
Muppet 3D (three times!)
Jedi Academy (my younger son got picked to train!)
Fireworks (from accross the street, top of the Desert Inn)
Electric Light Parade (whoo hoo!)


Places we ate:
Taste Pilot's Grill for dinner
IHOP (for breakfast one AM, for dinner one PM)
Ariels for dinner
Naples (the guys ate there when the girls were at Ariels)
Plaza Inn for Character Breakfast
Stitch Character Breakfast
Rancho del Zolcalo for lunch
Coke Corner and Corn Dog Cart for lunch one day


Things I wanted to do that we didn't get to:
CA Screamin', Grizzley River Run, Tower of Terror, Animation house, Sourdough bread tour, the tortilla factory tour, Matterhorn, Innoventions

 

[JennCa]

Sounds great, would love to hear about your thoughts on the food.

Jenn

 

[Sleeping Becca]

Sounds like you got ALOT done! Glad you had such a great trip! Can't wait untill my May trip!

 

[Danauk]

Sounds fun, I'd love to hear how the crowds were particularly during EE and how many rides you namaged to get done during this time (if you did EE that is!!)
Also how was the Plaza Inn breakfast?

 

[Zoemakes5]

Sounds fun, I'd love to hear how the crowds were particularly during EE and how many rides you namaged to get done during this time (if you did EE that is!!)
Also how was the Plaza Inn breakfast?

We didn't do EE. We went on Thursday, 3/29, but didn't get to the park until 10:00, since we didn't get to our hotel until 2:45 am! We went straight for our breakfast/brunch. We also went on Friday, 3/30 which wasn't an EE day. Sat. we did Stitch breakfast, DtD (Build a Bear) and then headed down to San Diego for my niece's baptism. So, no early entry days there. We went back on Wednesday. We got there around 9am that day and managed to do most of Fantasyland in about an hour.
Crowds were TERRIBLE! If there's one feedback I have to DLR people, they need better crowd control. They frequently put "street performers" right in the middle of very crowded walkways that didn't have any other way to move. (Ex. right in front of the main store in Tomorrowland.) It definitely took alot of time to manuever through the park. All the character meal TS were sold out for the entire weekend when we were there at the beginning. Oddly enough, even with the crowds, the line rides weren't so very bad for the most part.
We used fastpass for just about everything we could. Fastpasses went very quickly. At 1pm on Thursday we had to wait until 6:30 for Autopia! Space Mt. and Screamin' were out of fast passes early in the day. On our third day, I went at 11 and got fast passes to Space mt. I got one for 7:10, but I got one! Whoo hoo! I made judicious use of the fast passes, such as sending DH to fantasyland with the kids while I went and got Indy, to Toon town when I got Space, etc. When I got the really late fp's, I'd wait until the two hour window and go get another one. We would do a little bit of park hopping to beat some of the crowds and go back to events long after the "window" for fast pass, but had no problems.
The longest ride line we stood in was close to an hour for Pirates on our third day there.
The LONGEST line was on Thursday when my Dad and step-mom stood in line to get food at Tomorrowland terrace. 1.25 hours (no kidding!) to get a sandwich! I thought they were crazy and kept suggesting going someplace else, but they kept thinking the line would eventually go faster. Really put a damper on what we were able to see that first day, and that was the only one my dad was there!

 

[hlbtimes2]

sounds like a great trip! But, I must say, I can't believe you went to muppets 3 times and didnt do the 3 of the best rides in DCA!

 

[Zoemakes5]

Sounds great, would love to hear about your thoughts on the food.

Jenn

At the character meals, I have to say the food was EXCELLENT! Much much better than I anticipated and frankly better than the character meals that I've been to in WDW. And, everyone in the family loved the food. The selection was good, the food was good, the service was okay to great, depending upon the place. Wasn't impressed with the Stitch breakfast, but more for the service (or lack of it) and much smaller and shorter character interaction. At Ariel's I had the meatloaf, my step-mom had the seafood cobb and Zoe had the fish sticks kids meal and all were GREAT! (Note to those who haven't been, the little girls--not just mine, but those around me--don't eat alot, as they're too busy looking for, waiting for, and interacting with the princesses. I had forgotten, but this happened the last time too. I simply brought her meal with me afterwards for when she got hungry.)

Rancho, great great great, and the portions, as our faithful Dis'ers told me, ginormous! Though I wish they had more choice in their kids meals. A cheese quesadilla or ground beef taco would have been good options there.

Taste Pilot's was a mixed bag for us. Everyone liked the ribs and fries and onion rings. I wasn't impressed with my hamburger. It was rather dry and the bun was sooo much bun. Not truly bad, but not very good.

Naples, I personally didn't go there, but the feedback from the guys was good. Except, DS took one bite of his kids' pizza (which he said was huge) and wouldn't eat any more, said it tasted "wrong".

Coke Corner chili cheese dogs were very nummy! The kids had corn dogs and liked them.

Our IHOP experience was very good. Got in and out quickly and the service was great. The food we ate was mainly breakfast food, even for dinner. I did have a club sandwich for dinner and enjoyed it.

I was frustrated by the lack of Mt. Dew (which I knew going in) and that the lemonade everywhere was diet (family is allergic to artificial sweeteners.)

Any other questions, let me know!

 

[Zoemakes5]

sounds like a great trip! But, I must say, I can't believe you went to muppets 3 times and didnt do the 3 of the best rides in DCA!

Well, it helped that it was a "walk right in" for the Muppets. It was, honestly, one thing that everyone in the party really liked and kept wanting to do again. We didn't do Grizzly because we really weren't at DCA much during the hotter times of day, and the early AM and the evenings were kinda chilly. Screamin was out of fast passes every time we got around to that area and there were only two or three of us who would have been interested in doing it or ToT, so it wasn't worth the 60-90 minute wait in line for just a couple of us. But, trust me, I was upset that we didn't go on those. I've never been on ToT (or WDW's version, either) and Screamin' is probably my favorite ride in the parks next to Splash Mountain, which was closed!