Lori:
I am a DLR veteran and just got back from my first WDW trip this past week. I did a lot of research on WDW and noticed some things that are different between DLR and WDW. I am going to write up a lengthy guide to DLR for WDW vets in the next few days and post it here, and you may want to keep an eye out for it. Here is a summary of some key differences:
1. Transportation - Wow, this was such a big issue at WDW - buses, boats, monorails, taxis. Or if you have your own car, parking, finding your way around on the roads, trams, etc. And lots of waiting for transportation.
Anyone who goes to DLR and does not stay at a close by hotel is making a huge mistake, IMO. Even the DLH and DLPP hotels are farther than you would think. The GCH is right there at the DCA and DL entrance. There are also a number of "good neighbor" hotels right there on Harbor across the street from DLR, and are much closer to the DLR gates than the DLH or DLPP. You can literally walk 1-2 minutes and be on Disney property.
What this means is that, if you are staying close enough, you can walk everywhere. We park our car at our hotel and never get on a bus, tram, car or any mode of transportation - other than our feet - for the whole trip. Want to take an afternoon break? At WDW this is often 45 minutes each way. At DLR it can be as little as 5 minutes.
2. Park Hopping - Want to park hop at WDW? Well, you may need to commit as much as one hour to get from one park to another. At DLR, it is a one minute walk from DL to DCA. And DTD is right there as well. What this means is that it is very practical to hop back and forth all day long. We typically hop every single day, and often more than once.
3. Weather - Obviously depends on what time of year you go. In July at DLR you can be 99% certain that you will not get rained on. In July at WDW, you can be 99% certain you will. Plus no humidity in CA. So 90 degrees feels pretty comfortable. It can get hotter - I have been to DL when it is 100 degrees - but it still was not as much of an issue as 90+ degrees at WDW in the summer.
4. Food - WDW beats DLR hands down on quantity and quality of restaurants. Eating out three meals a day can be time consuming, and for us personally we never eat out for breakfast. The only ADR (I think it is still called PS - Priority Seating - at DLR) we made last summer over a four day trip was at the Blue Bayou.
In short, the whole issue of making ADR's which seems to consume so many WDW visitors is just not much of an issue at DLR.
5. Special Dining Packages/ Character Meals
I may be wrong, but I think DLR sells these mostly to WDW vets who think they are necessary in order to get good seats or magical character meetings. We have never done anything like this and have always had a magical experience. Getting good seats for parades and Fantasmic takes a little research, but buying a special package is not even close to being worth it, IMO. Put another way, the money you spend on such things could be better spent at DLR in other ways.
6. Early Entry - at WDW there is no consensus on whether this is a good thing or not (we avoided all "Extra Magic Hour" parks at WDW even though we were on property, as the parks are less crowded on non-EMH days). However, at DLR using Early Entry (EE) is a no-brainer. It is important that you do Early Entry (EE) and do it right.
EE is typically on Mon/Tue/Thurs/Sat. Here is some advice on EE:
A. If you stay at a DLR hotel you can use EE for each day it is available. This is still, to my understanding, an unpromoted perk.
B. If you stay elsewhere and have a 3+ day ticket, you can use EE on one day
C. If you use EE, you should focus like a laser on FantasyLand
D. If you do not use EE, but it is an EE day at DL for others, that is a particularly good day to start at DCA. If you decide to go to DL on such a day, avoid FantasyLand like the plague until late in the evening at least.
E. If it is non-EE day for everyone (Wed/Fri/Sun) then that is a good day to start at DL FantasyLand or anywhere in DL for that matter.
7. FastPass - DLR has some idiosyncracies that do not exist at WDW that are worth noting - I discuss these in the link provided by Karyl:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=885132
And to my knowledge all advice given in this link is still valid in 2006.
If you are staying at a DLR hotel, it is also a no-brainer to book thru
AAA and get the "Enhanced FastPass" feature - something that does not exist at WDW.
8. Other Advice:
Absolutely, positively, DO NOT MISS the Remember Dreams Come True fireworks/laser/special effects show. It is like no other show Disney has ever produced. However, DLR made the decision that most of the effects would only be visible from the hub area or far up Main Street. IMO, it is a no-brainer to watch Remember from this area. What this means is that you will need to arrive about an hour before the show starts to secure a good spot. Just make sure you have a good view of the castle. A good view of the Matterhorn too is a plus but not critical.
IMO, Fantasmic at DLR is much better than at WDW. If possible, go to the second showing as you can get good seats 30 minutes ahead of time.
I did not see anything at WDW that surpassed the Aladdin show at DCA. The only thing that came anywhere close was Beauty and the Beast at MGM Studios. Plan to see Aladdin. It is in the Hyperion Theater at DCA which has three major seating sections. Most would say that the mezzanine offers the best seats. Try to get there 30 minutes early.
RideMax - this neat little software can really help if you feel at all uncertain about what ride order to do. For $15-20 it can really add to your experience. See
www.ridemax.com. They now have a version for WDW which has a lot of potential, IMO, but does not work as well as the DLR version at this point in time.
) by HydroGuy. If you read only his posts you will find out most everything you need to know. Here are a couple of links to get you started:
) Why is that? Since Space Mtn (SM) was given as an example lets work with that. SM is a FastPass (FP) ride. That means that as long as you take a few minutes to pick up a SM FP you can ride it any time of day with a short line. However, there are a number of DL rides that do not have FP and also build up long lines - maybe not quite as long as SM but still close to an hour. I would argue that these are the rides you should do first thing. 
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