Just got back from DLR. Here is my report:
Trip in from Tucson was not bad at all. The only backup we encountered (on a Tuesday) was as we tried to get on the 57; otherwise it was smooth sailing.
We went without a plan, as we have always done.
Crowds:
We were in DLR from Wednesday, the 11th, thru Saturday, the 14th, went to Knotts on Sunday, the 15th, and back to DLR on Monday and Tuesday, the 16th and 17th.
Our first day, Wednesday, was lovely. We got to the entrance 15 minutes after opening, went directly to FL, waited 10 mins for PP, and after that walked right on to Dumbo and the Carousel. Walked on to IJ at 10:30 with no wait, waited 10 min for Pirates. Got a FP for Splash and waited 20 min in the FP line.
At the same time, part of my family tried to do RSR but it was closed until 11 a.m. They did Luigis but werent impressed; Towmater was fun; lines for those two were busy but bearable -- 10 mins for Towmater and 45 mins for Luigis after Towmater.
Wednesday turned out to be our lightest crowd day.
On Thursday we decided to do our MM -- big mistake. Too many people -- Wednesday was much lighter. I would not rush to do a MM again.
Friday was not bad -- got to ride whatever we wanted without super long waits.
On Saturday we decided to try RSR again and arrived at DCA a few minutes before opening. Two of our family got into the standby line for RSR and waited one hour and got two switch passes (we had 2 infants with us). After they got off, my daughter and I got into the FP line with the switch passes and waited 10 mins. The ride is awesome!!
After the first two riders got off, the wait had risen to 150 minutes in standby, 50 mins in singer rider line.
After six days we decided that the best time to ride the major rides is definitely first thing in the morning.
Monday and Tuesday (16th and 17th) were horrendously busy. We did a couple of rides and spent a lot of time sitting and relaxing.
On Tuesday, ride times at 2 p.m. were: 15 mins for Pirates although it looked like it would have been much worse; 38 mins for Screamin; 60 mins for Toy Story; 90 mins for ToT; 75 mins for GRR; 75 mins for Soarin; 1 hr for Space
.
A lot of the traffic problems are caused by parades. DLR has way too many parades that block off the flow of people.
My daughter took my granddaughter to the Wilderness Trail. She got to do lots of climbing and ride on a zip line. You have to be under 12 and between 42 and 63 to ride the zip line.
Food:
At Disneyland:
Breakfast at Carnation Cafe -- got in with no wait. We all enjoyed our breakfast. The Mickey waffle was delicious, as was the sausage link. I was surprised to find out that the sausage was made of chicken.
On another day I had the French toast at Tomorrowland Terrace, which was very good.
My daughter had the grilled cheese and tomato soup at Jolly Holiday and pronounced it very tasty. My husband and I had the croissants and to our surprise they were still warm -- lovely.
My family had the chicken skewer, asparagus skewer and veggie skewer at Bengal Barbecue -- both very good.
My husband had two burgers at DL -- one at Hungry Bear and one at Village Haus -- and said they were both an improvement over the burgers he had in former visits.
At the French Market, we had the pasta, citrus chicken, and jambalaya. I tasted all the dishes and didnt really care for the chicken.
On Monday we ate at Cafe Orleans -- Monte Cristo and Pommes Frites, of course. My husband and I split both and still had trouble finishing it.
We decided to try the famous turkey leg and found it to be excellent. The meat was tender and juicy.
Now to the best:
I had the Fried Green Tomato Sandwich, sweet potato fries, and Bumblebee Cupcake at Hungry Bear. Oh my, the sandwich was scrumptious -- very large -- split it with my daughter. And the cupcake -- a definite must have. (My daughter had the chicken sandwich which she pronounced to be OK but was disappointed that it was on wholegrain bread and not white, and there was no ranch dressing or bbq sauce to put on the sandwich.)
The corn dog -- oh the corn dog -- wait....let me breathe.... thanks, Im OK now. The corn dog is just too good to describe in words. In fact, it moved my husband to create a very special DLR plan: Ride a couple of rides, sit a while, eat a corn dog; ride a couple of rides, sit a while, eat a corn dog; continue as desired. Really -- they are delicious.
My granddaughter got to have a tigger tale -- hers was covered in dark chocolate. She obviously enjoyed it because she ate the whole thing.
Curiously, one of the longest lines in DL was the Dole Whip line at the Tiki Room.
At DCA:
Had lunch at Flos -- our family had the pork dinner, beef dinner, and turkey dinner. All three meats were very flavorful. All of the sides were good except for the peas and carrots, which were dreadful -- the peas were cooked but the carrots were basically raw, and there was no seasoning whatsoever. My daughter had the mud pie and enjoyed it; I had the apple pie with cheddar cheese. The pie was good but the cheese had hardened so was inedible. All in all, Flos was acceptable but not a place I would run to.
LaBrea -- didnt eat a meal here but did buy two muffins -- chocolate and blueberry -- which both went into the garbage after one bite.
On Friday we all had lunch with the princesses at Ariels Grotto. My granddaughter had gotten the full package that morning at BBB (dressed as Ariel). The food was excellent. The appetizer tray had salad, cheeses, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberries, olives, shrimp & lobster salad, carrots & celery. Our family all enjoyed our entrees. The dessert tray had a white chocolate shell, cookies, mini cupcakes, chocolate lava cake.
My husband, daughter, and I ate at Ralph Brennans Express. Husband and I had the popcorn shrimp; daughter had the red beans & rice. My daughter oohed and ahhed the whole time she was eating the red beans & rice. Had the beignets for dessert; Im sure I dont have to describe how good they are.
Had lunch at Taste Pilots -- cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, chili cheese fries, onion rings. The nuggets were huge -- enough for two people. The onion rings were real onion rings -- not minced onions. All this food was good.
Had dinner one night at Naples and I must admit I was disappointed in the pizza. The ingredients were excellent but the pizza itself was too hard to eat -- very sloppy. The mozzarella was cut into squares instead of shredded, which made the cheese just slide off the pizza. Very hard to eat and not enjoyable. The minestrone soup, on the other hand, was superb. If I had it to do over again, I would have had a bowl of minestrone (which was very large) and an appetizer.
Went to the new Starbucks -- which is huge. Its a very nice place to relax and cool down.
Had two hot fudge sundaes at the ice cream shop next to Starbucks -- oh my they were good. Also had one at the Ghirardelli shop but didnt think it was nearly so good.
We had four children with us -- ages 5, 7, and twins 23 months. We found all the kids meals to be pretty good.
Miscellaneous notes:
If you need a power nap, two good places are the Tiki Room and the Disney Jr. Playhouse in DCA. All you need is a shoulder to lean on.
On our second night, we were walking down Main Street to leave for the evening and happened to get to the Emporium as the fireworks began. We simply stepped into the street, which the CMs allowed, and watched the fireworks from there. The view was perfect and then it was an easy exit. In the future, this is what I would do -- just head to the end of Main Street right before the fireworks start.
I found the horse with the gold tooth on the carousel!!
I have only one major complaint about DLR -- the toilet paper. Its absolutely atrocious. I cant believe that a multi-billion dollar operation like DLR would use such an inferior product. From now on I will be bringing my own TP (Im serious).
And the paper towels -- theyre OK but the machine only dispense a small piece so you have to stand there and wait for two or three pieces to dispense. The majority of people were doing this.
Bringing in food. We didnt do this but saw many people who did. I saw several folks with large coolers and food containers so obviously they are not restricting this very much.
At one time we were sitting at a table outside of Taste Pilots. A family of about 8 people sat at tables beside us and took out large containers of cooked ramen, plus other foods, plates, utensils, etc., and ate their lunch there without purchasing anything from TP. A few minutes later, another large family sat on the other side of us and brought out huge packets of rice and veggies. No one said anything to them about eating at the tables meant for Taste Pilots customers.
On all six days, we pushed three strollers through DL and DCA. Two of them were for our twin babies and the other we used when our grandson got sleepy. When we werent using it, we covered it and called it our fake baby. I am proud to say that I only ran into someone once and that was my husband so it doesnt count. There were a couple of times when kids walked into my stroller because they were walking and looking behind them instead of where they were going. We both apologized and all was well.
The only discourteous people I encountered were at the security tables. A couple of them were just not friendly. How hard is it to say Hello and smile? And I cannot figure out what they are looking for. I thought it was food items but one of them made me open two tiny zipper compartments in my purse so it couldnt be food. Drugs, maybe?
Sadly, although I wore my green Mickey ears the whole time, I never saw another Disboarder.
Trip in from Tucson was not bad at all. The only backup we encountered (on a Tuesday) was as we tried to get on the 57; otherwise it was smooth sailing.
We went without a plan, as we have always done.
Crowds:
We were in DLR from Wednesday, the 11th, thru Saturday, the 14th, went to Knotts on Sunday, the 15th, and back to DLR on Monday and Tuesday, the 16th and 17th.
Our first day, Wednesday, was lovely. We got to the entrance 15 minutes after opening, went directly to FL, waited 10 mins for PP, and after that walked right on to Dumbo and the Carousel. Walked on to IJ at 10:30 with no wait, waited 10 min for Pirates. Got a FP for Splash and waited 20 min in the FP line.
At the same time, part of my family tried to do RSR but it was closed until 11 a.m. They did Luigis but werent impressed; Towmater was fun; lines for those two were busy but bearable -- 10 mins for Towmater and 45 mins for Luigis after Towmater.
Wednesday turned out to be our lightest crowd day.
On Thursday we decided to do our MM -- big mistake. Too many people -- Wednesday was much lighter. I would not rush to do a MM again.
Friday was not bad -- got to ride whatever we wanted without super long waits.
On Saturday we decided to try RSR again and arrived at DCA a few minutes before opening. Two of our family got into the standby line for RSR and waited one hour and got two switch passes (we had 2 infants with us). After they got off, my daughter and I got into the FP line with the switch passes and waited 10 mins. The ride is awesome!!
After the first two riders got off, the wait had risen to 150 minutes in standby, 50 mins in singer rider line.
After six days we decided that the best time to ride the major rides is definitely first thing in the morning.
Monday and Tuesday (16th and 17th) were horrendously busy. We did a couple of rides and spent a lot of time sitting and relaxing.
On Tuesday, ride times at 2 p.m. were: 15 mins for Pirates although it looked like it would have been much worse; 38 mins for Screamin; 60 mins for Toy Story; 90 mins for ToT; 75 mins for GRR; 75 mins for Soarin; 1 hr for Space
.
A lot of the traffic problems are caused by parades. DLR has way too many parades that block off the flow of people.
My daughter took my granddaughter to the Wilderness Trail. She got to do lots of climbing and ride on a zip line. You have to be under 12 and between 42 and 63 to ride the zip line.
Food:
At Disneyland:
Breakfast at Carnation Cafe -- got in with no wait. We all enjoyed our breakfast. The Mickey waffle was delicious, as was the sausage link. I was surprised to find out that the sausage was made of chicken.
On another day I had the French toast at Tomorrowland Terrace, which was very good.
My daughter had the grilled cheese and tomato soup at Jolly Holiday and pronounced it very tasty. My husband and I had the croissants and to our surprise they were still warm -- lovely.
My family had the chicken skewer, asparagus skewer and veggie skewer at Bengal Barbecue -- both very good.
My husband had two burgers at DL -- one at Hungry Bear and one at Village Haus -- and said they were both an improvement over the burgers he had in former visits.
At the French Market, we had the pasta, citrus chicken, and jambalaya. I tasted all the dishes and didnt really care for the chicken.
On Monday we ate at Cafe Orleans -- Monte Cristo and Pommes Frites, of course. My husband and I split both and still had trouble finishing it.
We decided to try the famous turkey leg and found it to be excellent. The meat was tender and juicy.
Now to the best:
I had the Fried Green Tomato Sandwich, sweet potato fries, and Bumblebee Cupcake at Hungry Bear. Oh my, the sandwich was scrumptious -- very large -- split it with my daughter. And the cupcake -- a definite must have. (My daughter had the chicken sandwich which she pronounced to be OK but was disappointed that it was on wholegrain bread and not white, and there was no ranch dressing or bbq sauce to put on the sandwich.)
The corn dog -- oh the corn dog -- wait....let me breathe.... thanks, Im OK now. The corn dog is just too good to describe in words. In fact, it moved my husband to create a very special DLR plan: Ride a couple of rides, sit a while, eat a corn dog; ride a couple of rides, sit a while, eat a corn dog; continue as desired. Really -- they are delicious.
My granddaughter got to have a tigger tale -- hers was covered in dark chocolate. She obviously enjoyed it because she ate the whole thing.
Curiously, one of the longest lines in DL was the Dole Whip line at the Tiki Room.
At DCA:
Had lunch at Flos -- our family had the pork dinner, beef dinner, and turkey dinner. All three meats were very flavorful. All of the sides were good except for the peas and carrots, which were dreadful -- the peas were cooked but the carrots were basically raw, and there was no seasoning whatsoever. My daughter had the mud pie and enjoyed it; I had the apple pie with cheddar cheese. The pie was good but the cheese had hardened so was inedible. All in all, Flos was acceptable but not a place I would run to.
LaBrea -- didnt eat a meal here but did buy two muffins -- chocolate and blueberry -- which both went into the garbage after one bite.
On Friday we all had lunch with the princesses at Ariels Grotto. My granddaughter had gotten the full package that morning at BBB (dressed as Ariel). The food was excellent. The appetizer tray had salad, cheeses, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, strawberries, olives, shrimp & lobster salad, carrots & celery. Our family all enjoyed our entrees. The dessert tray had a white chocolate shell, cookies, mini cupcakes, chocolate lava cake.
My husband, daughter, and I ate at Ralph Brennans Express. Husband and I had the popcorn shrimp; daughter had the red beans & rice. My daughter oohed and ahhed the whole time she was eating the red beans & rice. Had the beignets for dessert; Im sure I dont have to describe how good they are.
Had lunch at Taste Pilots -- cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, chili cheese fries, onion rings. The nuggets were huge -- enough for two people. The onion rings were real onion rings -- not minced onions. All this food was good.
Had dinner one night at Naples and I must admit I was disappointed in the pizza. The ingredients were excellent but the pizza itself was too hard to eat -- very sloppy. The mozzarella was cut into squares instead of shredded, which made the cheese just slide off the pizza. Very hard to eat and not enjoyable. The minestrone soup, on the other hand, was superb. If I had it to do over again, I would have had a bowl of minestrone (which was very large) and an appetizer.
Went to the new Starbucks -- which is huge. Its a very nice place to relax and cool down.
Had two hot fudge sundaes at the ice cream shop next to Starbucks -- oh my they were good. Also had one at the Ghirardelli shop but didnt think it was nearly so good.
We had four children with us -- ages 5, 7, and twins 23 months. We found all the kids meals to be pretty good.
Miscellaneous notes:
If you need a power nap, two good places are the Tiki Room and the Disney Jr. Playhouse in DCA. All you need is a shoulder to lean on.
On our second night, we were walking down Main Street to leave for the evening and happened to get to the Emporium as the fireworks began. We simply stepped into the street, which the CMs allowed, and watched the fireworks from there. The view was perfect and then it was an easy exit. In the future, this is what I would do -- just head to the end of Main Street right before the fireworks start.
I found the horse with the gold tooth on the carousel!!
I have only one major complaint about DLR -- the toilet paper. Its absolutely atrocious. I cant believe that a multi-billion dollar operation like DLR would use such an inferior product. From now on I will be bringing my own TP (Im serious).
And the paper towels -- theyre OK but the machine only dispense a small piece so you have to stand there and wait for two or three pieces to dispense. The majority of people were doing this.
Bringing in food. We didnt do this but saw many people who did. I saw several folks with large coolers and food containers so obviously they are not restricting this very much.
At one time we were sitting at a table outside of Taste Pilots. A family of about 8 people sat at tables beside us and took out large containers of cooked ramen, plus other foods, plates, utensils, etc., and ate their lunch there without purchasing anything from TP. A few minutes later, another large family sat on the other side of us and brought out huge packets of rice and veggies. No one said anything to them about eating at the tables meant for Taste Pilots customers.
On all six days, we pushed three strollers through DL and DCA. Two of them were for our twin babies and the other we used when our grandson got sleepy. When we werent using it, we covered it and called it our fake baby. I am proud to say that I only ran into someone once and that was my husband so it doesnt count. There were a couple of times when kids walked into my stroller because they were walking and looking behind them instead of where they were going. We both apologized and all was well.
The only discourteous people I encountered were at the security tables. A couple of them were just not friendly. How hard is it to say Hello and smile? And I cannot figure out what they are looking for. I thought it was food items but one of them made me open two tiny zipper compartments in my purse so it couldnt be food. Drugs, maybe?
Sadly, although I wore my green Mickey ears the whole time, I never saw another Disboarder.
that cracked me up
