Blue32
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2012
- Messages
- 1,563
The Cast
This was our very first trip the DLR as a family. I had been to DL two different times as a kid but both were extremely short one day trips and did not even come close to experiencing all DL had to offer, even at that time (first visit was over 25 years ago and the 2nd was a few years after that). My wife and two daughters, ages 6 and 4, had never been to any Disney park before this. Everything I write here is based on our opinion about the DLR and may differ from what others experiences are. We had four full days in the parks(Tues.-Fri.) and took a break on Wed. and Fri. so my youngest could nap.
Our Stay
We stayed at the Del Sol Inn for 5 nights (Mon.-Fri.) and found it to be adequate. The best things about this place were the short walk, reasonable price, and the Kids room with bunk beds. We really felt like our kids at this age would benefit from having their own space to sleep (they sleep in bunks at home as well). The not so great things were the carpets were starting to show their age (but they did always seem clean) and the tub floor was the textured kind and had black stains on it. It seemed clean but the staining remained. Also the breakfast here was in our opinion quite poor. Everything here tasted extremely cheap. After two days of trying their items, I went to the ABC mart and bought a box of cereal and used the Del Sol bowls and milk and we ate in the room. I would consider staying here again if the price was right and I felt I still needed the bunk beds. Otherwise we may consider another Motel close by.
Crowds
We planned this trip for the week after Thanksgiving for a couple reasons. I did receive an extra week of vacation this year in the month of November that I needed to use before the end of the year. Also we felt like our kids were getting to the right ages to experience almost everything at the DLR without having to skip too many attractions. Also, I had read here that the week after Thanksgiving was a great low crowd time to go. Overall, I felt like it was a good week crowd wise. But, our first day (Tues.) in the park did not go exactly as planned and we felt like that day was quite a bit busier than the rest of the week. Im not sure if it was really busier, or just my perception of things.
When we arrived at Security that first morning for our MM (about 50 mins. early), we were the third family in our line and when we got to the turnstile we were 2nd in our line, I believe. Our goal was to get most of the rides we wanted to do in FL done that first hour. Our MM was kind of a mess. They started letting people thru the turnstiles about 10 mins. early and I thought that was a bit odd. As we made our way down Mainstreet, my wife and I were both getting a bit misty eyed seeing the excitement of our kids. Then we got held up by a rope drop at the end of MS. Even though we were toward the front of the rope, a ton of people got ahead of us and we ended up with about a 13 min. wait for PP. We then rode Dumbo and Alice during our MM and that was it. We ended up playing catch up the rest of the day, and still got quite a bit done. But our MM was less than magical.
The Parks
We all loved DL and DCA. We all felt there was a lot more to like in DL though. My DD4 loved the LM dark ride though so we rode this one many times with no waiting. As an adult, I now see how small these parks are and even after reading about it, was amazed by how close everything is together. It does make navigating with a couple kids a bit tricky but I loved the fact that you didnt have to do a ton of walking to get from one land to another. For me personally, Tomorrowland was my least Favorite area. We thought Star Tours was really cool. My DD4 was the spy! And Space was a great ride! Everything else for us in this area was just ok though. Buzz and Nemo were well liked by the kids. Every other area of the park was great though. Cant wait to see the details of the PFF when that opens up. DCA, even though does not have the richness of detail that is in DL, is still a neat park. And there is a lot to do here. My kids liked Bugs Land, even though this area could use some better rides. And Carsland is knockout, but you guys already know that!
The Rides
We all had our personal favorites. My wife and I thought POTC was probably the best ride in both parks. We did ride RSR and thought it was fun but we only rode once. I just wasnt willing to give up too much more time to ride it again. I got FPs on Thurs. morning. It took me about 16 min. after park opening to get them and I was lined up under the entry to CCT. My DD4 probably liked the LM ride the best. My DD6 had a harder time picking just one. But she LOVED SM and the LM ride. We thought the Monsters Inc. ride was also really well done and rode that several times with no wait. Other family favorites were PP, RSR, Small World Holiday, Soarin and BTMRR. We all rode Matterhorn once because to our surprise, DD4 was JUST tall enough to ride. I thought it was a tad bit rough, but I was expecting much worse after hearing all the reports. I think my kids would have enjoyed this ride a little more if they were not in the seat all by themselves. There were also things that we never got around to riding either because of the weather or because of time constraints and not wanting to split up too much. On our list for next time& HM, TOT, Screamin, GRR, Goofys, and Indiana Jones!
The Shows
DLR has so much going on! We saw the Christmas Parade and thought it was good (kids liked it more). We saw the fireworks on our first night& good show. My DD4 fell asleep in the stroller just before the show so she missed them. We saw the Disney Jr. puppet show, Tiki Room, Turtle Talk w/Crush, and Aladdin. Everyone LOVED Aladdin. Great show! We also saw WOC. WOW!!! My wife and I thought this was hands down the best show and maybe the coolest single thing we saw at DLR. We did miss Fantasmic because of the rain, however. I was looking forward to comparing WOC and Fantasmic but I will have to wait until next time for that.
The Food
I was looking forward to some great food but in reality only had some good food. I couple hits and a couple misses, but in fairness, we also only ate at the CS places to save on time and money. We liked the chicken at Plaza Inn (does anyone NOT like this chicken?
), Turkey Plate at Flos, and the Carne Asada platter at Rancho. My kids also really like the MS corn dogs. I really liked Ralphs Beignets, and everyone else really enjoyed the Tigger Tails.
Other thoughts&
DTD is a glorified mall. Although it is nice looking area, we did not spend too much time here. But the extra food options are nice. We all enjoyed our meal at the Rainforest Café on our arrival day.
Friday was probably our best day in the parks as far as what we got done. We got there early. We were toward the front of our turnstile. They opened the gates on time and away we went. This felt like our TRUE Magic Morning. Walked onto PP and other favorites in FL, had about a 7 min. wait for the Princess Meet and Greet, even walked right onto Nemo about an hour and a half after park opening. At first I thought it was the threat of rain keeping people away. But by lunch time the rain started to really come down and the people just kept pouring into the Parks. It makes me wonder if we could handle a summer visit as long as we got to the parks early every day.
We spent 4 days in the parks and even we had a great stay, 5 days would have been better for us. Also, our next trip might have to be in late Spring or early summer to avoid the greater chances of rain.
Id like to thank everyone here on the Dis. For the most part, everyone is real friendly here, and there are so many things I learned on the boards that made our trip a really great one. Ill be lurking here from time to time until we get ready to plan our next trip to the DLR.
This was our very first trip the DLR as a family. I had been to DL two different times as a kid but both were extremely short one day trips and did not even come close to experiencing all DL had to offer, even at that time (first visit was over 25 years ago and the 2nd was a few years after that). My wife and two daughters, ages 6 and 4, had never been to any Disney park before this. Everything I write here is based on our opinion about the DLR and may differ from what others experiences are. We had four full days in the parks(Tues.-Fri.) and took a break on Wed. and Fri. so my youngest could nap.
Our Stay
We stayed at the Del Sol Inn for 5 nights (Mon.-Fri.) and found it to be adequate. The best things about this place were the short walk, reasonable price, and the Kids room with bunk beds. We really felt like our kids at this age would benefit from having their own space to sleep (they sleep in bunks at home as well). The not so great things were the carpets were starting to show their age (but they did always seem clean) and the tub floor was the textured kind and had black stains on it. It seemed clean but the staining remained. Also the breakfast here was in our opinion quite poor. Everything here tasted extremely cheap. After two days of trying their items, I went to the ABC mart and bought a box of cereal and used the Del Sol bowls and milk and we ate in the room. I would consider staying here again if the price was right and I felt I still needed the bunk beds. Otherwise we may consider another Motel close by.
Crowds
We planned this trip for the week after Thanksgiving for a couple reasons. I did receive an extra week of vacation this year in the month of November that I needed to use before the end of the year. Also we felt like our kids were getting to the right ages to experience almost everything at the DLR without having to skip too many attractions. Also, I had read here that the week after Thanksgiving was a great low crowd time to go. Overall, I felt like it was a good week crowd wise. But, our first day (Tues.) in the park did not go exactly as planned and we felt like that day was quite a bit busier than the rest of the week. Im not sure if it was really busier, or just my perception of things.
When we arrived at Security that first morning for our MM (about 50 mins. early), we were the third family in our line and when we got to the turnstile we were 2nd in our line, I believe. Our goal was to get most of the rides we wanted to do in FL done that first hour. Our MM was kind of a mess. They started letting people thru the turnstiles about 10 mins. early and I thought that was a bit odd. As we made our way down Mainstreet, my wife and I were both getting a bit misty eyed seeing the excitement of our kids. Then we got held up by a rope drop at the end of MS. Even though we were toward the front of the rope, a ton of people got ahead of us and we ended up with about a 13 min. wait for PP. We then rode Dumbo and Alice during our MM and that was it. We ended up playing catch up the rest of the day, and still got quite a bit done. But our MM was less than magical.
The Parks
We all loved DL and DCA. We all felt there was a lot more to like in DL though. My DD4 loved the LM dark ride though so we rode this one many times with no waiting. As an adult, I now see how small these parks are and even after reading about it, was amazed by how close everything is together. It does make navigating with a couple kids a bit tricky but I loved the fact that you didnt have to do a ton of walking to get from one land to another. For me personally, Tomorrowland was my least Favorite area. We thought Star Tours was really cool. My DD4 was the spy! And Space was a great ride! Everything else for us in this area was just ok though. Buzz and Nemo were well liked by the kids. Every other area of the park was great though. Cant wait to see the details of the PFF when that opens up. DCA, even though does not have the richness of detail that is in DL, is still a neat park. And there is a lot to do here. My kids liked Bugs Land, even though this area could use some better rides. And Carsland is knockout, but you guys already know that!
The Rides
We all had our personal favorites. My wife and I thought POTC was probably the best ride in both parks. We did ride RSR and thought it was fun but we only rode once. I just wasnt willing to give up too much more time to ride it again. I got FPs on Thurs. morning. It took me about 16 min. after park opening to get them and I was lined up under the entry to CCT. My DD4 probably liked the LM ride the best. My DD6 had a harder time picking just one. But she LOVED SM and the LM ride. We thought the Monsters Inc. ride was also really well done and rode that several times with no wait. Other family favorites were PP, RSR, Small World Holiday, Soarin and BTMRR. We all rode Matterhorn once because to our surprise, DD4 was JUST tall enough to ride. I thought it was a tad bit rough, but I was expecting much worse after hearing all the reports. I think my kids would have enjoyed this ride a little more if they were not in the seat all by themselves. There were also things that we never got around to riding either because of the weather or because of time constraints and not wanting to split up too much. On our list for next time& HM, TOT, Screamin, GRR, Goofys, and Indiana Jones!
The Shows
DLR has so much going on! We saw the Christmas Parade and thought it was good (kids liked it more). We saw the fireworks on our first night& good show. My DD4 fell asleep in the stroller just before the show so she missed them. We saw the Disney Jr. puppet show, Tiki Room, Turtle Talk w/Crush, and Aladdin. Everyone LOVED Aladdin. Great show! We also saw WOC. WOW!!! My wife and I thought this was hands down the best show and maybe the coolest single thing we saw at DLR. We did miss Fantasmic because of the rain, however. I was looking forward to comparing WOC and Fantasmic but I will have to wait until next time for that.
The Food
I was looking forward to some great food but in reality only had some good food. I couple hits and a couple misses, but in fairness, we also only ate at the CS places to save on time and money. We liked the chicken at Plaza Inn (does anyone NOT like this chicken?
), Turkey Plate at Flos, and the Carne Asada platter at Rancho. My kids also really like the MS corn dogs. I really liked Ralphs Beignets, and everyone else really enjoyed the Tigger Tails.Other thoughts&
DTD is a glorified mall. Although it is nice looking area, we did not spend too much time here. But the extra food options are nice. We all enjoyed our meal at the Rainforest Café on our arrival day.
Friday was probably our best day in the parks as far as what we got done. We got there early. We were toward the front of our turnstile. They opened the gates on time and away we went. This felt like our TRUE Magic Morning. Walked onto PP and other favorites in FL, had about a 7 min. wait for the Princess Meet and Greet, even walked right onto Nemo about an hour and a half after park opening. At first I thought it was the threat of rain keeping people away. But by lunch time the rain started to really come down and the people just kept pouring into the Parks. It makes me wonder if we could handle a summer visit as long as we got to the parks early every day.
We spent 4 days in the parks and even we had a great stay, 5 days would have been better for us. Also, our next trip might have to be in late Spring or early summer to avoid the greater chances of rain.
Id like to thank everyone here on the Dis. For the most part, everyone is real friendly here, and there are so many things I learned on the boards that made our trip a really great one. Ill be lurking here from time to time until we get ready to plan our next trip to the DLR.
