Watchtower
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2012
- Messages
- 204
Just returned from a wonderful DLR trip that was 2 years in the making. Most of it was great, but there were a few disappointments.
Paradise Pier Hotel: Wonderful stay here! The CM's were great, even upgraded us to a Theme Park View room, although our window was covered in plastic on the first day because of the new paint job they're doing on the exterior. By the time we returned to our room on Wednesday afternoon to rest our feet and re-apply sunblock, the plastic was gone and we had an amazing 8th floor view of DCA! Would definitely stay here again. Yes, it's expensive, but it's the cheapest option to get MM and EE every day they're offered, which (due to the crowds) was priceless!
Crowds and Weather: It was as if it was peak season in the summer. It was in the 90's all week, and the crowds were about 3 times more than expected during a time when kids should be back in school and the rest of America should be in their "normal" routines. But no....it felt like it was July. The 10-day forecast called for temps in the mid-80's, but as the days of our vacation came closer, the reports added another 10 degrees to that. And summer weather must equal summer crowds; many areas of both parks were a gridlock of people. Wait times for rides reflected about an 8 out of 10 on the touringplans wait-time scales. The Matterhorn kept a consistent 30-45 minute wait all day, Haunted Mansion was about the same. Pirates stayed around 15 minutes and spiked to 20 every once and awhile. Even the Jungle Cruise had a 30 minute wait at times. On the southern side of the resort, RSR had 90 to 120 minute waits (even the single rider line was a 60 minute wait when we checked at one point), Flying Tires stayed at 40 most of the day, and we waited 20 minutes during a low point to ride Screamin'. The crowds were a major disappointment. I kept looking at the sea of people, saying "it shouldn't be like this right now....
"
Halloween Merchandise: All sold out! I only wanted one souvenir from this trip; a new Villains or Halloween Time coffee mug. Everywhere I asked, the CM's said all the Halloween merchandise sold out already for the year. They gave a few suggestions of which stores on property MIGHT still have something in stock, but after searching everywhere, nothing. Sure, there were a few Jack Skellington and Frankenweenie items, but no Villains or even a "Halloweentime 2012" mug. Greatly disappointed about this. Will have to find something online and convince myself I got it while I was on vacation.
Carsland: As we walked into this new, 12 acre section of the park, my partner said "this is freakin' me out. It's like we're walking into the movie". That pretty much sums it up; Disney's attention to detail at it's best. We did RSR on our first EE morning on Wednesday (stying onsite and getting EE was really the only way to get to this ride in the Standby line). Great ride.....but then, everybody here already knows that. We rode it 2 and a half times during our four days in the park. Yes.....there was a half. We got in the single rider line on Thursday night at about 7pm, waited about 20 minutes, ended up in the same car together, and it broke down in the show building section of the ride. They ended up escorting us off the ride and gave us fastpasses that could be used the next day since it was already 7:30 and the park closed at 8pm. We did Mater's once and Louigi's once during our stay. Louigi's was "meh", and Mater's was fun...but nothing I'd have to ride more than once per trip.
Matterhorn: Used to be one of my favorites. Only did it once this trip. I knew going into it that the new seats would be uncomfortable, so that wasn't a surprise for me. If anything, they weren't AS BAD as I was expecting. I could swear, however, that the ride isn't as fast as it used to be. Maybe they had to slow it down so the seats WOULDN'T cause people serious injury....I don't know. Kind of a disappointment. The line stayed at 30+ minutes throughout the day, even during Magic Morning, so my partner and I did the single rider line. It was only worth waiting for once...
All in all....I don't regret going. I saved up for two years and had a great time. It IS Disneyland, after all. I just wish the buzz around all the new stuff (Carsland, Buena Vista St., the Matterhorn refurb) would have worn off and crowd levels were more normalized. This was a big year for the parks since they unveiled so much all at once in June, and it seems everyone is going out of their way to check it all out. Maybe in a year or two, the buzz will wear off and crowds will stabilize back to what would be expected....at least until they have another big expansion and/or remodel.
Paradise Pier Hotel: Wonderful stay here! The CM's were great, even upgraded us to a Theme Park View room, although our window was covered in plastic on the first day because of the new paint job they're doing on the exterior. By the time we returned to our room on Wednesday afternoon to rest our feet and re-apply sunblock, the plastic was gone and we had an amazing 8th floor view of DCA! Would definitely stay here again. Yes, it's expensive, but it's the cheapest option to get MM and EE every day they're offered, which (due to the crowds) was priceless!
Crowds and Weather: It was as if it was peak season in the summer. It was in the 90's all week, and the crowds were about 3 times more than expected during a time when kids should be back in school and the rest of America should be in their "normal" routines. But no....it felt like it was July. The 10-day forecast called for temps in the mid-80's, but as the days of our vacation came closer, the reports added another 10 degrees to that. And summer weather must equal summer crowds; many areas of both parks were a gridlock of people. Wait times for rides reflected about an 8 out of 10 on the touringplans wait-time scales. The Matterhorn kept a consistent 30-45 minute wait all day, Haunted Mansion was about the same. Pirates stayed around 15 minutes and spiked to 20 every once and awhile. Even the Jungle Cruise had a 30 minute wait at times. On the southern side of the resort, RSR had 90 to 120 minute waits (even the single rider line was a 60 minute wait when we checked at one point), Flying Tires stayed at 40 most of the day, and we waited 20 minutes during a low point to ride Screamin'. The crowds were a major disappointment. I kept looking at the sea of people, saying "it shouldn't be like this right now....
"Halloween Merchandise: All sold out! I only wanted one souvenir from this trip; a new Villains or Halloween Time coffee mug. Everywhere I asked, the CM's said all the Halloween merchandise sold out already for the year. They gave a few suggestions of which stores on property MIGHT still have something in stock, but after searching everywhere, nothing. Sure, there were a few Jack Skellington and Frankenweenie items, but no Villains or even a "Halloweentime 2012" mug. Greatly disappointed about this. Will have to find something online and convince myself I got it while I was on vacation.
Carsland: As we walked into this new, 12 acre section of the park, my partner said "this is freakin' me out. It's like we're walking into the movie". That pretty much sums it up; Disney's attention to detail at it's best. We did RSR on our first EE morning on Wednesday (stying onsite and getting EE was really the only way to get to this ride in the Standby line). Great ride.....but then, everybody here already knows that. We rode it 2 and a half times during our four days in the park. Yes.....there was a half. We got in the single rider line on Thursday night at about 7pm, waited about 20 minutes, ended up in the same car together, and it broke down in the show building section of the ride. They ended up escorting us off the ride and gave us fastpasses that could be used the next day since it was already 7:30 and the park closed at 8pm. We did Mater's once and Louigi's once during our stay. Louigi's was "meh", and Mater's was fun...but nothing I'd have to ride more than once per trip.
Matterhorn: Used to be one of my favorites. Only did it once this trip. I knew going into it that the new seats would be uncomfortable, so that wasn't a surprise for me. If anything, they weren't AS BAD as I was expecting. I could swear, however, that the ride isn't as fast as it used to be. Maybe they had to slow it down so the seats WOULDN'T cause people serious injury....I don't know. Kind of a disappointment. The line stayed at 30+ minutes throughout the day, even during Magic Morning, so my partner and I did the single rider line. It was only worth waiting for once...
All in all....I don't regret going. I saved up for two years and had a great time. It IS Disneyland, after all. I just wish the buzz around all the new stuff (Carsland, Buena Vista St., the Matterhorn refurb) would have worn off and crowd levels were more normalized. This was a big year for the parks since they unveiled so much all at once in June, and it seems everyone is going out of their way to check it all out. Maybe in a year or two, the buzz will wear off and crowds will stabilize back to what would be expected....at least until they have another big expansion and/or remodel.
