swankybeth
<font color=teal>Loves bubble tea!<br><font color=
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2000
- Messages
- 3,098
I just wanted to share our experience at DL and DCA from our trip last week. DH and I are huge WDW fans and were really looking forward to checking out DL. Unfortunately, we were pretty disappointed. Here is a rundown, in no particular order, of our experience.
-We stayed at HoJo's and were VERY unhappy with our stay. We had a DL view, which was the only nice thing about our room. We had a view of the Matterhorn, monorail, and California Screamin'. The freeway/Harbor Blvd noise was unbearable, we could literally hear it all night long. When we turned on the A/C it was so noisy, it sounded like there was an airplane in the room! The beds were very hard, pillows were thin, and so were blankets. We did get extra pillows and blankets, but it was kind of ridiculous to sleep with 3 pillows each!
DH also didn't like the fact that the hotel was on a major road, rather than inside a resort area like in WDW. That part didn't bother me, though.
-We hated the fact that a lot of rides did not have wait times posted, pretty annoying if you've never been there and have nothing to compare the size of a line to, just wait endlessly.
-Some attractions that we weren't impressed with: Mulholland Madness (just jerky and painful, not fun), Enchanted Tiki Room (we love WDW's, so we thought we'd like this one even better, but no).
-We had bad experiences at 2 out of 3 of the Disney sit down restaurants that we tried. Yamabuki was just really awful. The miso soup had no flavor, either did the ginger dressing on the salad. We received half of our dinner sushi rolls with our appetizers and then it took 20 minutes to get the other rolls, which were so bad we couldn't eat them (and DH will eat pretty much anything). We were really looking forward to trying Blue Bayou for the atmosphere and food. The atmosphere was great, but the food definitely was not. We split the andouille sausage stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer and ended up with meatballs plopped onto mushrooms.
I had a pork dish, which was very bland, but it did come with some very tasty potatoes. DH had steak and shrimp. Also pretty bland. We had a very nice breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen, though. Despite Disney losing our PS, we were still seated quickly and enjoyed the variety of foods. The Mickey waffles, enchiladas, and french toast were some of our favorites.
-The price of counter service food is outrageous at DL! I know it's no bargain at WDW, but $8.29 for a burger and fries at Taste Pilots is crazy!
We did enjoy the bleu cheese burgers there, as well as the sourdough bread bowls in the Pacific Wharf area.
-We did the Fantasmic dessert buffet, and I have mixed feelings about it. It was not "worth" $53, but I don't regret doing it. Waiting forever with zillions of people is not fun. When we went to the Disney Gallery area we were unsure as to exactly where to go, so we asked a CM who led us to the back stairs near Pieces of Eight and were told to wait for someone to escort us. We got there early (9:45 for the 10:30 show), so we thought nothing of it. Another family who had buffet tickets showed up there to wait also. We were waiting and waiting until finally at 10 after 10, we asked why it was taking so long. We were told we were at the "wrong" spot, no apologies. Anyway, the desserts were nice, and they make great hot chocolate! The viewing was very good, but I don't see the big fuss over DL's Fantasmic. The only thing I thought was better was the increased firework use during the show. I thought DL's and WDW's versions were pretty much equal.
-The parks were pretty crowded, we thought it would be emptier, but we found out that a lot of CA schools were on Spring Break. We used the touring plans from the Unofficial Guide and did pretty well, though.
-Early Entry was a joke. The lines for DL at early entry time were stretching almost to California Adventure! We headed for Peter Pan only to have it break down on us when we were next in line. By the time we left the queue area, early entry was nearly half over.
-Of course there was a lot of stuff that we did like, it wasn't all negative, you know! We loved DCA's version of TOT, much cooler than MGM's. The Aladdin show was terrific, I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed it. We did the wine tasting and really enjoyed it, it was nice and relaxing. California Screamin' is a great coaster, you don't even really get banged around too much on it. D.U.H. was hysterical! It was just like being at Comedy Warehouse in WDW. We saw them 3 times over the course of the trip. I loved Alice in Wonderland, one of my favorite Disney movies and they did a great job with the ride. Tom Sawyer Island is much nicer at DL. At WDW we get kinda bored, but at DL we spent a lot of time exploring the caves. Loved the barrel bridge! Peter Pan's Flight is better at DL. The opening bedroom scene in particular as compared to WDW's just blows it away. We really liked the Grand Canyon and dinosaur scenes (reminded us of Ellen's Energy Adventure) on the railroad, very cool! Indiana Jones was awesome!
-The outlet store was great. I got a hoodie for $12, marked down from $38. I also got a v-necked shirt for $12 that they're still selling in the parks for $26. One of the best deals was the 8 oz boxes of assorted Mickey chocolates were selling for $6 plus buy one get two free. Guess what I brought back to the office?
That's about it. I don't regret going on the trip at all (although DH does). I still had fun, it just wasn't what I was expecting. I'm also not trying to bad mouth DL, just be honest about my experience.
-We stayed at HoJo's and were VERY unhappy with our stay. We had a DL view, which was the only nice thing about our room. We had a view of the Matterhorn, monorail, and California Screamin'. The freeway/Harbor Blvd noise was unbearable, we could literally hear it all night long. When we turned on the A/C it was so noisy, it sounded like there was an airplane in the room! The beds were very hard, pillows were thin, and so were blankets. We did get extra pillows and blankets, but it was kind of ridiculous to sleep with 3 pillows each!
DH also didn't like the fact that the hotel was on a major road, rather than inside a resort area like in WDW. That part didn't bother me, though.-We hated the fact that a lot of rides did not have wait times posted, pretty annoying if you've never been there and have nothing to compare the size of a line to, just wait endlessly.
-Some attractions that we weren't impressed with: Mulholland Madness (just jerky and painful, not fun), Enchanted Tiki Room (we love WDW's, so we thought we'd like this one even better, but no).
-We had bad experiences at 2 out of 3 of the Disney sit down restaurants that we tried. Yamabuki was just really awful. The miso soup had no flavor, either did the ginger dressing on the salad. We received half of our dinner sushi rolls with our appetizers and then it took 20 minutes to get the other rolls, which were so bad we couldn't eat them (and DH will eat pretty much anything). We were really looking forward to trying Blue Bayou for the atmosphere and food. The atmosphere was great, but the food definitely was not. We split the andouille sausage stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer and ended up with meatballs plopped onto mushrooms.
I had a pork dish, which was very bland, but it did come with some very tasty potatoes. DH had steak and shrimp. Also pretty bland. We had a very nice breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen, though. Despite Disney losing our PS, we were still seated quickly and enjoyed the variety of foods. The Mickey waffles, enchiladas, and french toast were some of our favorites. -The price of counter service food is outrageous at DL! I know it's no bargain at WDW, but $8.29 for a burger and fries at Taste Pilots is crazy!
We did enjoy the bleu cheese burgers there, as well as the sourdough bread bowls in the Pacific Wharf area. -We did the Fantasmic dessert buffet, and I have mixed feelings about it. It was not "worth" $53, but I don't regret doing it. Waiting forever with zillions of people is not fun. When we went to the Disney Gallery area we were unsure as to exactly where to go, so we asked a CM who led us to the back stairs near Pieces of Eight and were told to wait for someone to escort us. We got there early (9:45 for the 10:30 show), so we thought nothing of it. Another family who had buffet tickets showed up there to wait also. We were waiting and waiting until finally at 10 after 10, we asked why it was taking so long. We were told we were at the "wrong" spot, no apologies. Anyway, the desserts were nice, and they make great hot chocolate! The viewing was very good, but I don't see the big fuss over DL's Fantasmic. The only thing I thought was better was the increased firework use during the show. I thought DL's and WDW's versions were pretty much equal.
-The parks were pretty crowded, we thought it would be emptier, but we found out that a lot of CA schools were on Spring Break. We used the touring plans from the Unofficial Guide and did pretty well, though.
-Early Entry was a joke. The lines for DL at early entry time were stretching almost to California Adventure! We headed for Peter Pan only to have it break down on us when we were next in line. By the time we left the queue area, early entry was nearly half over.
-Of course there was a lot of stuff that we did like, it wasn't all negative, you know! We loved DCA's version of TOT, much cooler than MGM's. The Aladdin show was terrific, I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed it. We did the wine tasting and really enjoyed it, it was nice and relaxing. California Screamin' is a great coaster, you don't even really get banged around too much on it. D.U.H. was hysterical! It was just like being at Comedy Warehouse in WDW. We saw them 3 times over the course of the trip. I loved Alice in Wonderland, one of my favorite Disney movies and they did a great job with the ride. Tom Sawyer Island is much nicer at DL. At WDW we get kinda bored, but at DL we spent a lot of time exploring the caves. Loved the barrel bridge! Peter Pan's Flight is better at DL. The opening bedroom scene in particular as compared to WDW's just blows it away. We really liked the Grand Canyon and dinosaur scenes (reminded us of Ellen's Energy Adventure) on the railroad, very cool! Indiana Jones was awesome!
-The outlet store was great. I got a hoodie for $12, marked down from $38. I also got a v-necked shirt for $12 that they're still selling in the parks for $26. One of the best deals was the 8 oz boxes of assorted Mickey chocolates were selling for $6 plus buy one get two free. Guess what I brought back to the office?
That's about it. I don't regret going on the trip at all (although DH does). I still had fun, it just wasn't what I was expecting. I'm also not trying to bad mouth DL, just be honest about my experience.
!
,
