Quick Review of Last Week's Trip

[Jiminy'sGirl]

We spent our Spring Break at DLR (with a few days in San Diego) this past week. We have never been to DLR before, but my kids had been to WDW 5 times. They are 14, 12 and 7. It was a big week of comparing and contrasting the two!

Hotel: Springhill Suites on Ball Rd.

We booked this on points entirely. I preferred a Harbor Dr location based on info found here, but couldn't resist 5 free nights. We loved this hotel. The rooms are spacious, the hotel is quiet, clean and the service was friendly and fast. Breakfast was much better than anticipated and the coffee was actually good. The walk to Mickey and friends parking was SO EASY. We have honestly walked further to refill our mugs at several WDW resorts. It is safe, quick, easy, and we actually loved riding the tram into the park. There was something really magical about it. So glad we went with this resort. However, if you are someone who wants dining (non Disney) close by this wouldn't be a great choice. We stay in the parks open to close so eat all our meals there.

DLR vs WDW

Wow its small. That is all we kept saying. The castle is... tiny. But, as the week wore on we came to appreciate walking to DTD for lunch or a break from crowds. The compactness is really kind of neat. We did miss the ambianace of 4 parks versus 2. But we stayed busy for 5 straight park days.

Rides

They break down a lot in DLR. That said, we enjoyed several more at DLR than we do at WDW, such as: Splash Mtn, Hyperspace, Buzz and Big Thunder. We loved Alice and Mr Toad, Mickey's Fun Wheel, and Carsland. The surprise hit of the trip was Mater's JJ. That ride is so darn cute! We have the songs stuck in our heads.

Crowds

Not as bad as I prepared myself for. Walking in Tomorrowland was a bit crazy on Saturday and Sunday, but aside from that crowds were manageable to us. Wait times were never too crazy an d we liked using the legacy FP like in the "old days.." We had forgotten how great it is to work that system.

Overall Feel


For us, WDW wins. This is so subjective and I know many will disagree. Being in the original park was very cool, and it is beautiful. But we did not get the same feels that we get when we drive into WDW. Walking onto Main St for that first visit of the trip did not have the same "all the feels" moment for us. We are not sure why. We all agreed that while DLR is amazing and better than WDW in some ways, WDW is where it is at for us.

 

[tbholc81]

We spent our Spring Break at DLR (with a few days in San Diego) this past week. We have never been to DLR before, but my kids had been to WDW 5 times. They are 14, 12 and 7. It was a big week of comparing and contrasting the two!

Hotel: Springhill Suites on Ball Rd.

We booked this on points entirely. I preferred a Harbor Dr location based on info found here, but couldn't resist 5 free nights. We loved this hotel. The rooms are spacious, the hotel is quiet, clean and the service was friendly and fast. Breakfast was much better than anticipated and the coffee was actually good. The walk to Mickey and friends parking was SO EASY. We have honestly walked further to refill our mugs at several WDW resorts. It is safe, quick, easy, and we actually loved riding the tram into the park. There was something really magical about it. So glad we went with this resort. However, if you are someone who wants dining (non Disney) close by this wouldn't be a great choice. We stay in the parks open to close so eat all our meals there.

DLR vs WDW

Wow its small. That is all we kept saying. The castle is... tiny. But, as the week wore on we came to appreciate walking to DTD for lunch or a break from crowds. The compactness is really kind of neat. We did miss the ambianace of 4 parks versus 2. But we stayed busy for 5 straight park days.

Rides

They break down a lot in DLR. That said, we enjoyed several more at DLR than we do at WDW, such as: Splash Mtn, Hyperspace, Buzz and Big Thunder. We loved Alice and Mr Toad, Mickey's Fun Wheel, and Carsland. The surprise hit of the trip was Mater's JJ. That ride is so darn cute! We have the songs stuck in our heads.

Crowds

Not as bad as I prepared myself for. Walking in Tomorrowland was a bit crazy on Saturday and Sunday, but aside from that crowds were manageable to us. Wait times were never too crazy an d we liked using the legacy FP like in the "old days.." We had forgotten how great it is to work that system.

Overall Feel


For us, WDW wins. This is so subjective and I know many will disagree. Being in the original park was very cool, and it is beautiful. But we did not get the same feels that we get when we drive into WDW. Walking onto Main St for that first visit of the trip did not have the same "all the feels" moment for us. We are not sure why. We all agreed that while DLR is amazing and better than WDW in some ways, WDW is where it is at for us.

We got back last week from a similar trip to yours! We did a 9 da trip to CA; 3 days in San Diego, 3 days DLR (mid week), and 3 more days back in San Diego. I think we would agree with almost everything you said. Like you guys this was our first trip out to DLR and we are WDW veterans.It was my wife 2 kids (ages 5 and 18 months) and myself. DLR seemed to us like it was much more about going on the rides, than it was about anything else Disney. I really liked the Star Wars presence in Tomorrowland, and loved how they did the overlay in Hyperspace mountain. We would also agree that many of the rides are much better in DLR.

One thing we were curious about were the Crowd levels. We went from Tuesday- Thursday (Feb. 28- March 2) and thought that it "felt" crowded. We asked a cast member on Tuesday about whether or not it was crowded. He told us that the park only had 30K that day and they were able to handle over 80K, which we thought was interesting. The parks were predicted to have very low crowds, but I would guess they were more moderate than low. I think really the sidewalks aren't as wide and there are a lot of places in DL that made it seem more crowded than usual (like fantasyland, which you could barley walk around). Also being able to actually see a lot of the lines you have to stand in makes them seem longer. Most of the ques are outside unlike WDW where they are undercover and very well themed. Despite how crowded we thought it was sided from the major rides (space mountain, Peter Pan, Cars etc....) we never really waited more than about 35 minutes to get on a ride because of effectively using Fastpasses and rider swaps. One thing we thought was out of control was trying to find a place to watch the parade. People were camped out hours in advance and it was so hard to find a place to go we ended up skipping it every night (which wasn't a big deal, we just saw it at WDW in September and planned on that being the last time we'd ever see it).

Rides did break down a lot, in our three days the Cars ride broke down like 5 times (3 times on Wednesday when we were in line), Splash Mountain went down, The Roger Rabbit ride (when we had our fast passes), Indiana Jones went down when my wife was ready to get on. Some of it was bad luck, but still annoying.

Overall we really liked it, and loved the food in California Adventure! We really want to go back when we can see the World of Color and the DLR Fireworks.

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

We got back last week from a similar trip to yours! We did a 9 da trip to CA; 3 days in San Diego, 3 days DLR (mid week), and 3 more days back in San Diego. I think we would agree with almost everything you said. Like you guys this was our first trip out to DLR and we are WDW veterans.It was my wife 2 kids (ages 5 and 18 months) and myself. DLR seemed to us like it was much more about going on the rides, than it was about anything else Disney. I really liked the Star Wars presence in Tomorrowland, and loved how they did the overlay in Hyperspace mountain. We would also agree that many of the rides are much better in DLR.

One thing we were curious about were the Crowd levels. We went from Tuesday- Thursday (Feb. 28- March 2) and thought that it "felt" crowded. We asked a cast member on Tuesday about whether or not it was crowded. He told us that the park only had 30K that day and they were able to handle over 80K, which we thought was interesting. The parks were predicted to have very low crowds, but I would guess they were more moderate than low. I think really the sidewalks aren't as wide and there are a lot of places in DL that made it seem more crowded than usual (like fantasyland, which you could barley walk around). Also being able to actually see a lot of the lines you have to stand in makes them seem longer. Most of the ques are outside unlike WDW where they are undercover and very well themed. Despite how crowded we thought it was sided from the major rides (space mountain, Peter Pan, Cars etc....) we never really waited more than about 35 minutes to get on a ride because of effectively using Fastpasses and rider swaps. One thing we thought was out of control was trying to find a place to watch the parade. People were camped out hours in advance and it was so hard to find a place to go we ended up skipping it every night (which wasn't a big deal, we just saw it at WDW in September and planned on that being the last time we'd ever see it).

Rides did break down a lot, in our three days the Cars ride broke down like 5 times (3 times on Wednesday when we were in line), Splash Mountain went down, The Roger Rabbit ride (when we had our fast passes), Indiana Jones went down when my wife was ready to get on. Some of it was bad luck, but still annoying.

Overall we really liked it, and loved the food in California Adventure! We really want to go back when we can see the World of Color and the DLR Fireworks.

We found crowds to be best on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 7 and 8. They were relatively light in the streets, but wait times stayed consistent all 5 days we were there for the most part.

DCA food was great - we agree!! And we got lucky on Wednesday with a surprise soft opening of Food and Wine... Yummy stuff.

We saw WoC - good show, on par with Illuminations. Though Illuminations is a bit stale at this point. The fireworks were... fireworks. Sort of on the same level as my city's 4th of July show. I didn't feel the same magic I feel at Wishes. I completely understand that they can't do such a huge show in the middle of Anaheim, though. We skipped MSEP. We have seen it at WDW and the people plopping down at 4pm to wait for it was intimidating, We definitely missed a 3pm parade option.

It is so fun to compare and contrast the two! I am glad we have both options. My big kids enjoyed the "ride after ride after ride" scene. I am sure we will visit DLR again!

 

[disneycat321]

I love reading these because DLR is our home and we have ventured to WDW twice so far, our first time being for our honeymoon in 2010. It's so interesting to hear the opposite perspective.

I'm glad you both had great trips!

I do agree with you both about DCA food being better than DL, although to us WDW wins for food hands down, times a million. I mean obviously WDW is much bigger so there would be more TS options, but I also think the majority of TS options there are just better.

As for ride closures, RSR and Indiana Jones both go down all. the. time. Especially RSR. Other than those two though, we actually felt like we experienced just as many ride closures on our trips to WDW, so that's interesting. Of course, it may have seemed like more because when we went in June there were several temporary closures for weather.

You're both right about the crowds and congested walk ways. On our first trip to WDW, we heard people complaining about how crowded it was. We were totally shocked because we had been rejoicing over how empty it seemed and how low the crowds were to us! Our perspective was very different coming to WDW from DLR, the land of tiny walk ways and bottlenecked crowds. It always feels more crowded in DLR than it does at WDW, no matter how long the lines are.

We would choose WDW over DLR because it's such an immersive vacation experience, there's so much there, and we absolutely adore Epcot. We also love the resorts and that there are more options than the $500+ a night options at DLR like GC and DLH. However, DLR is our home. I get that magic feeling walking down Main Street in DL and in MK.

Also, I love our little pinky, but Cinderella's castle...

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

I totally get where you are coming from and I'm glad you had a good time at the original Disney park even if you do still like WDW better. I do wonder if your experience might have been slightly different if you had stayed onsite?

I think which park is your favorite often boils down to whichever park you grew up visiting or went to first. I have visited WDW twice now. I loved it and definitely want to go back. But I still love Disneyland best. Even though Disneyland is smaller, I think of it like the difference between a charming old fashioned hardware store that still sells stick candy and has all sorts of nifty stuff stored in its nook and crannies vs The Home Depot which is SO much larger but lacks much of the charm.

 

[constanze]

I totally get where you are coming from and I'm glad you had a good time at the original Disney park even if you do still like WDW better. I do wonder if your experience might have been slightly different if you had stayed onsite?

I think which park is your favorite often boils down to whichever park you grew up visiting or went to first. I have visited WDW twice now. I loved it and definitely want to go back. But I still love Disneyland best. Even though Disneyland is smaller, I think of it like the difference between a charming old fashioned hardware store that still sells stick candy and has all sorts of nifty stuff stored in its nook and crannies vs The Home Depot which is SO much larger but lacks much of the charm.

I grew up going to DL. And loved it, still do. My family still lives in CA but I don't, so stay on site when I visit. We started going to WDW around 1998. Although, I still adore Disneyland, and visit about every year for a few days, to me it doesn't compare to WDW where there is just SO much to do and is more like a destination. Our average stay (on-site) is about 7-10 days. They are both magical, but for us, DL is good for a quick Disney fix, but WDW is where we prefer to go for longer family vacations.

 

[constanze]

I grew up going to DL. And loved it, still do. My family still lives in CA but I don't, so stay on site when I visit. We started going to WDW around 1998. Although, I still adore Disneyland, and visit about every year for a few days, to me it doesn't compare to WDW where there is just SO much to do and is more like a destination. Our average stay (on-site) is about 7-10 days. They are both magical, but for us, DL is good for a quick Disney fix, but WDW is where we prefer to go for longer family vacations.

I should add that I'm almost 50 years old. I started going to DL in the 1970's...and then WDW in 1998.

 

[ashley0139]

I totally get where you are coming from and I'm glad you had a good time at the original Disney park even if you do still like WDW better. I do wonder if your experience might have been slightly different if you had stayed onsite?

I think which park is your favorite often boils down to whichever park you grew up visiting or went to first. I have visited WDW twice now. I loved it and definitely want to go back. But I still love Disneyland best. Even though Disneyland is smaller, I think of it like the difference between a charming old fashioned hardware store that still sells stick candy and has all sorts of nifty stuff stored in its nook and crannies vs The Home Depot which is SO much larger but lacks much of the charm.

I think this is why I feel equally strongly about them right now. I grew up on the east coast so I went to WDW several times as a kid and a several as an adult. I LOVE WDW for the immersive vacation it offers, and if I HAD to pick one or the other I would pick WDW. But I've been a Disneyland annual passholder for almost 4 years now, and I feel immense love for it as well. It's my "home" park now.

I don't think WDW lacks charm at all though. I think a lot of DL people go into their WDW trip believing it will lack charm/the same magic so it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

 

[GatorChris]

DLR vs WDW

Wow its small. That is all we kept saying. The castle is... tiny. But, as the week wore on we came to appreciate walking to DTD for lunch or a break from crowds. The compactness is really kind of neat. We did miss the ambianace of 4 parks versus 2. But we stayed busy for 5 straight park days.

Rides

They break down a lot in DLR. That said, we enjoyed several more at DLR than we do at WDW, such as: Splash Mtn, Hyperspace, Buzz and Big Thunder. We loved Alice and Mr Toad, Mickey's Fun Wheel, and Carsland. The surprise hit of the trip was Mater's JJ. That ride is so darn cute! We have the songs stuck in our heads.

Crowds

Not as bad as I prepared myself for. Walking in Tomorrowland was a bit crazy on Saturday and Sunday, but aside from that crowds were manageable to us. Wait times were never too crazy an d we liked using the legacy FP like in the "old days.." We had forgotten how great it is to work that system.

Overall Feel


For us, WDW wins. This is so subjective and I know many will disagree. Being in the original park was very cool, and it is beautiful. But we did not get the same feels that we get when we drive into WDW. Walking onto Main St for that first visit of the trip did not have the same "all the feels" moment for us. We are not sure why. We all agreed that while DLR is amazing and better than WDW in some ways, WDW is where it is at for us.

My thoughts exactly. After 10 years of doing WDW, it became a cost issue of travel and we started doing DL back in 2013. And I still see it as very small in every way. And yes, the rides break down a lot. I take a lot of flack for pointing that out, so it's nice to hear others saying the same thing. I do like all the different rides at DL that aren't at WDW, but I miss the rides at WDW that we don't have in Anaheim. So that's a draw. And for sure Mater's JJ is a fun ride - funny music (the Dad Gum song) and the flinging around makes it one of our top 5 rides at DL.

And it sounds like last week was a real winner for crowds, which is completely opposite of the week before when we were there. It was nuts! I still agree with you on WDW giving you the "Feels" that I've never really gotten at DL. Even when we stay onsite (PPH and DLH), we still never got that bubble feeling or immersive feeling we get at WDW. I can't explain it.

DLR seemed to us like it was much more about going on the rides, than it was about anything else Disney. I really liked the Star Wars presence in Tomorrowland, and loved how they did the overlay in Hyperspace mountain. We would also agree that many of the rides are much better in DLR.

This right here. There are a lot of rides at DL that are better than their WDW counterparts. But I think you nailed it that DLR is more about the rides. WDW is more about just being there. Sure, there's plenty of rides and that's why you go to Disney. But the vibe you get at Epcot, AK, and the huge lands at MK is so different than at DL. It seems so compact and so crowded at DL that you can't really enjoy the ambiance for trying not to get run over or maneuvering through the herds. It just seems like at WDW you can take it all in better. Not sure how, but you just can.

Man, this thread really has me missing Orlando. At least in the winter time.

 

[Magalex]

Thanks for the review! We are WDW Vets and we had our first trip to DL in July 2013. We are returning this June 2017. We are staying at the Candy Cane Inn again. We thought DL was just as awesome as WDW(yes large and different) but we just loved the California weather. We were busy all the time. It is compact but they fill it. Just as magical and brilliant attractions and shows. We do add the OC Beach Tour to our trip(Highly recommend)

 

[elaine amj]

Loved your review and we experienced pretty much the same thing when we went to DLR for the 60th. We stayed for 7 nights (with 5 park days) across the street at the Fairfield Inn & Suites. It was amazing to be able to walk to the parks so quickly. It was fabulous being able to park hop so quickly and easily (I would sometimes run over to the other park to grab FPs and then head back to my family). And the rides that are similar - by and large, DLR's versions were MUCH better (Space Mountain with music was insanely awesome!).

And Mater's JJ was a huge hit with us too! Lines would get so short at the end of the night, we'd always make the time to hop on for a ride. The spinning was too much for DH but my kids and I would get on and laugh and laugh and laugh.

At the end of the day though, my heart remains at WDW. Like you said, there's just something about being at a huge destination resort with 4 parks, 2 waterparks, and so much more.

I'd happily go back to DLR (LOVED California in general), but for now, most of my plans will revolve around WDW.

 

[Jiminy'sGirl]

Oh yes.... The CA weather wins hand down!!!! Sooo gorgeous!

I do find charm in both parks. I think a previous poster was correct - the park you start at feels like "home" and there's just no beating that.

When we were grabbing Hyperspace FPs my son remarked that the building and music reminded him of Epcot. We all got sad.

Then we remembered how awesome Hyperspace is and we were all smiles!!!

 

[Claireywalsh]

This is such a great discussion -I am planning our first DL/DCA trip for September and I am so excited to be going to the original park. We have been to WDW 7 times and have our favourite rides/foods etc We know the way round the parks and where stuff is so the unknown of DL/DCA and discovering the things we sort of are already familiar with all over again is getting me so pumped for it!!
It will be our first trip to California too

 

[avalovesminnie]

We were just at WDW for Princess half marathon weekend and we're comparing to DL since we live in the Bay Area and have been 3 times in the last 2 years. So opposite comparison! How do you deal with the wait times and fast pass plus? Or maybe it was just busy when we were there?? It felt really hard to do many rides except for our FP and the popular FP we could only get later in the day so really hard to get a fourth FP. I liked the wide open walkways and wish we had more time at Epcot, though hordes of people drinking and little kids don't mix that well. Maybe do world showcase earlier in the day? I loved the resorts and would love to find any hotel in CA that has that resort vibe!! The transportation/ buses was so time consuming too, is renting a car better??

 

[disneycat321]

I grew up going to DL. And loved it, still do. My family still lives in CA but I don't, so stay on site when I visit. We started going to WDW around 1998. Although, I still adore Disneyland, and visit about every year for a few days, to me it doesn't compare to WDW where there is just SO much to do and is more like a destination. Our average stay (on-site) is about 7-10 days. They are both magical, but for us, DL is good for a quick Disney fix, but WDW is where we prefer to go for longer family vacations.

This is how we feel, too. Disneyland is a weekend trip for us, but WDW is a 7-10 day vacation. I would like to try a little longer stay at Disneyland at some point, but I know we couldn't occupy ourselves for 10 days like we did on our last trip to WDW. 10 days and there was still a ton of stuff we didn't get to do! There's just so much there.

Don't get me wrong - I love and adore Disneyland - but they're very different experiences for us.

 

[tbholc81]

We were just at WDW for Princess half marathon weekend and we're comparing to DL since we live in the Bay Area and have been 3 times in the last 2 years. So opposite comparison! How do you deal with the wait times and fast pass plus? Or maybe it was just busy when we were there?? It felt really hard to do many rides except for our FP and the popular FP we could only get later in the day so really hard to get a fourth FP. I liked the wide open walkways and wish we had more time at Epcot, though hordes of people drinking and little kids don't mix that well. Maybe do world showcase earlier in the day? I loved the resorts and would love to find any hotel in CA that has that resort vibe!! The transportation/ buses was so time consuming too, is renting a car better??

Yes wait times and FP+ make it a completely different experience, and the crowds were probably pretty big due to Run Disney events. The key at WDW is to really plan your day with the FP+s and be there for rope drop. It's definitely a plus to stay on property so you can do the FP+ 60 days in advance and get early times for your first 3. If you get to the park early you can get right to a popular ride before lines, and then get a couple more rides in before lines get long, then use FP. I guess when at MK we really don't plan on doing a lot of rides like we did at DLR. We do a lot of the meets, take a mid day break, and then do a lot of the rides at night. Lines are very short during parades and fireworks. We also park hop a lot at WDW. So if we finish our FPs at WDW we might go to EPCOT to eat.

I guess all in all WDW is just a lot more of advanced planning than DLR.

 

[mom2rtk]

I guess all in all WDW is just a lot more of advanced planning than DLR.

That's no lie.

 

[GatorChris]

Oh yes.... The CA weather wins hand down!!!! Sooo gorgeous!

I do find charm in both parks. I think a previous poster was correct - the park you start at feels like "home" and there's just no beating that.

Definitely agree about the weather. Even when it's hot, it's not Florida hot. And most of the year it's just brilliant.

But I'll disagree on the "first park" syndrome. Growing up in CA, DL was our destination for family and for school trips. But when I went to WDW, it changed everything. I didn't even think about DL anymore. In fact, we won 3 day tickets to DL and went in 2006 when we were in the middle of our 10 year WDW run, and we just couldn't stop comparing it to WDW. There was a Disney feel, but no bubble or "escape" feeling. The improvements to DCA definitely helped a lot so that now DL is in the same ballpark as WDW. It's definitely a good replacement for this budget-minded dude.

I loved the resorts and would love to find any hotel in CA that has that resort vibe!! The transportation/ buses was so time consuming too, is renting a car better??

Definitely agree about the "vibe" thing at the WDW resorts hotels. I've not gotten that resort/escape feeling at either the PPH or the DLH. And the Grand Cali is too expensive for me to want to see if they have the vibe there. And I'm definitely onboard with transportation. While I love getting on a bus and heading to a park and not having to drive around, waiting for a WDW can be bad at times. Especially when you wait for 30 minutes, only to have three ECV pull up last minute, each with families of 10 all boarding before you. That's something that happened a lot and I don't miss it when I'm at a hotel within walking distance to the DL parks.

 

[avalovesminnie]

[QUOTE="be there for rope drop. It's definitely a plus to stay on property so you can do the FP+ 60 days in advance and get early times for your first 3. If you get to the park early you can get right to a popular ride before lines[/QUOTE]
With jet lag and bus transport times we were having a hard time making rope drop! At DL walking 10 min from our hotel we would have without a problem but we seemed to always have a 10-15 min wait. Is driving faster? Also at 9:30 on a regular 9 am opening day the wait for Space Mountain was 70 min already, is that normal? I thought I had planned but I couldn't book FP til like day 57 because of the travel agent and we were stuck with later in day FP for a few things. Ah well, next time!

 

[BriannaRuth]

So a question for you WDW regulars -- I've only been once (just so happens the once is my avatar!) and the main reason I haven't been back was ... the HEAT. OMG. We were there in September and it was a bajillion degrees outside but the humidity was just the worst. I remember walking outside the door of AKL at 7 am or so and just getting hit with heat and humidity. I was tired before I even got on the bus. I kept looking at the temperatures in DL the same day and it was like 70 so I was constantly wishing I was there.

Anyway -- is there any time of year you can go when you're guaranteed it won't be hot and humid? It seems like I've checked weather even in the winter and it's sometimes still hot and humid. We're from Seattle so we have to plan pretty far in advance to get decent airfares, so I can't wait on a weather report to book.