IloveDisney77
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 6, 2009
- Messages
- 200
Hi Everyone (sorry this ended up being so long...I kept adding stuff) -
We returned home a couple of weeks ago from our first trip to DLR and we had a fantastic time!!! I wanted to thank all of you for your fantastic advice/guidance with a special shout-out to Hydroguy for all of the information you put together especially the visiting DLR guide for WDW vets and the Fastpass guide
. Each of those are must-reads for any WDW vet planning a trip to DLR.
Prior to conducting the research/planning, I like many WDW vets were all ready to compare WDW with DLR. However, because of the all the great insights from many of you on this forum, we altered our expectations...sure, we couldn't help to compare some aspects of it but at the end of the day, we loved it for what it was...the original as Walt intended (I’ll admit, I did have something in my eye the first night we headed out of the park at dusk and could clearly see the light in Walt’s apartment on…damn bugs).
I’ve read a number of posts recently with WDW vets less than enamored with DLR and just wanted to provided our perspective of what we experienced.
Castle- Yup…everyone was right it IS smaller(quite a bit actually)….you know what, so what…it is stunning none-the-less. In fact, it “fits” in perfectly within the smaller size of the park. Also, being able to do the walk through the castle was great and my dd6 especially loved it.
Magic Morning- So great…you can get so many rides done in that one hour. We did MM 3 times and did 6 rides, 8 rides and then 6 rides in just that first hour. Great use of time even though we had to get up at the crack of dawn. This is direct opposite to us avoiding the WDW EMH (Extra Magic Hours) park at all costs during our trips due to the heavy increase in attendance it brings.
Summer Weather- This one is pretty easy….SoCal versus Florida…heat but with no humidity or heat with also losing half your body weight each day…hmm, I’ll take SoCal for a $1000 Alex.
Rides- Some are better at DL and some are better at MK…frankly those that are better at DL outweigh those that are better at MK. SM and Pirates are much better here than at MK. Splash while longer at MK is still great at DL. Also, there are many more additional rides at DL, especially in Fantasyland, than in MK. Personally, I also like the “feel” and look of Fantasyland much better at DL than MK(one of my daughter’s favorite rides the entire trip was Toad as she liked “driving” the car). I also like how when you exit a ride at DL you aren’t dumped into a shopping area like you are many times at WDW. It makes it so much easier when leaving a ride to head to the next ride/attraction without first having to tell your daughter many many many times throughout the day…”put that down, not now, maybe later, we’ll think about it, fine we’ll buy it but just this one
….”
Fastpasses- OMG…no comparison what so ever…DL wins hands down…If you have a runner, in this case me, by noon you can have 5 or 6 fastpasses. In fact, one day I had 7, (might have been 8, I can’t remember) as I hopped over to DCA for a couple. This is while still doing all the rides we wanted during the morning. The return times for rides is also so much closer to the current time. So many times at WDW, when you get a fastpass, regardless of the time of day, it is at least an hour and many times 2 hours later…it makes saving them up for use later in the day much harder. Also, there were a number of times where in late afternoon you could still get a fastpass for some rides for only 45 to 50 minutes later which really surprised me. This was especially true at ToT and BTMRR. I actually thought it odd because the standby wait times were usually around 30 t0 40 minutes for the ToT but you could get a fastpass that was 45 minutes later. I guess some people really wanted to wait in line. It also made it our live so much easier to have use of the automatic FP for staying at a Disney hotel. We encountered a very minor issue at check-in and the cast member to make it up to me (which frankly there was nothing to make up for) gave me 6 vouchers for each of us instead of the 2 we were supposed to get. I wasn’t about to turn him down though All of those were used on Star Tours so we didn’t have to get the horrendous line just to get a FP. For those people who did, it really screws up your ability to collect FP since you’d have to wait 2 hours to get another after waiting in line 20 to 30 minutes just to get one.
DL Park overall-I just loved the look, feel, vibrancy, and history of the place. As an aside, that area between the two seems like such a waste of space, you’d think they could do something to “Disney up” that area.
Getting around- We had the tale of two trips. Night one we stayed at the Sheraton Park Hotel and while the hotel was fine, we hoofed it to the parks and back for a day and a half…not fun. Nights 2 -5 we stayed at VGC in a 1 bed-room with a great view of DCA and a pretty good view of WOC. Being able to walk 3 minutes to one park and 7 minutes to another park was glorious…there really isn’t another word to describe it. Also, VGC is by far and away the best property currently within DVC.
Princess Faire/Coronation/Story Time- Hands down from a princess perspective, DL wins this one in a landslide…having to sit through countless meet and greets, meals, etc over the past 4 years, this area is a much better princess area and overall interactive experience than anything at WDW. Character meals are better at WDW, especially related to the princess, but in terms of an area to meet and interact with them this one was fantastic!
Aladdin- Wow…such a great show and the Genie was so funny.
The always debated Disney magic- Yes, it is definitely within DL. I didn’t feel “it” whatever “it” is the same way as I do when I’m at WDW but it is there. Hell, how could the magic not be there…this is where it all started. I really do believe that the “It/Magic” feeling is probably most strongly tied to whichever Park you first went to as a child. I could be wrong but that is my 2 cents. With that said, the magic does evaporate some while walking over to DCA. For full disclosure I also don’t get the same feeling when I’m at DHS either. Both of the parks strike me as very similar (at least until Carsland opens).
Special Moment- Of all of our trips to WDW (with many special memories), our most memorable moment occurred at DLR on my daughter’s birthday. Since we are from the East Coast, we didn’t want to keep our 6 year old up to 9 every night to see the fireworks or other shows. We did tell her though we would go to the fireworks on her b-day. Her birthday was on a Friday and we spent some time in the parks doing the rides she wanted, a surprise makeover at BBB and then lunch with the princesses. We headed back to the room for a nap. Early evening we headed back into the park in time to see the parade and to begin figuring out dinner and where to sit for the fireworks. As we were walking near the castle scoping out where we would want to be for the fireworks I asked a CM where he would recommend. I mentioned it was my daughter’s b-day and that this was the only night of our trip she was going to be able to see the fireworks and we wanted to make sure we staked out a clear line of sight for her. He replied “in that case, I recommend watching the fireworks from the VIP seating area in front of the castle”. I was dumbfounded to say the least. He took my name, wrote it on a piece of paper and told me to go to the rope line directly behind the statute before 9:30 and they would let us in. At 9:00 with ice cream in hand we went to the rope, gave our name and were escorted into roped off seating area directly in front of the castle with our own bench. Wow is all I can say. It truly was a “Magical” night.
1 minor complaint (just one) and 1 surprise-
Walkways- They just weren’t made to handle the crowds…of course how was Walt to have known that….Even when the wait times for rides weren’t bad, the amount of people in the walkways/pathways was just awful. One early afternoon, we were leaving Critter Country and where heading out of the park for our break. We took the “Shortest” route through New Orleans Square/Adventureland and literally hit a mass of people just past the Pirates entrance and could barely move for 5 to 10 minutes as we were working out way through the crowd. We didn’t make that mistake again For those WDW Vets, think of Easter time or Christmas time in terms of people walking around aimlessly in walkways but in terms of actual wait times for rides it was more similar to early spring break crowds. It was an odd thing to get used too. I'm conditioned to see crowds and expect long wait times
Waiting for shows(mostly Fantasmic)- Oh my…I’ve never seen anything like this at WDW. For Fantasmic, people had begun staking out their spots 4 to 5 hours before the first show. I mean not only staking out spots but people putting out blankets for the prime viewing spots. There were lots of people with their books, kindles and iPads to pass the time. The only thing I can think off is given the number of locals who go the parks on any given day, they are probably content to go stake out a spot, send someone to get food, have a picnic and watch the show without any regard to the fact that they just spent 4 or 5 hours waiting for a 25 minute show. At WDW, it isn’t unusual for die-hards to stake out spots for Illuminations or get in line for Fantasmic an hour or two ahead of time but 4 hours…wow…this didn’t impact us at all as we weren’t seeing the show but I was certainly surprised.
At the end of the day did I ultimately prefer one over the other….yes. Main Park versus Main Park we all preferred DL(minus the whole walkway congestion thing) to the MK(this pains me to say…sorry Cindy…I’m cheating on ya with your cousin Aurora). Comparing the overall resorts, other parks, etc. to one another, DLR to WDW…WDW. Why? I personally love Epcot and AK (MK goes without saying) and one of the nice things about WDW is that you have 4 completely different parks to enjoy during your stay(I’m not getting into the whole transportation debate as it doesn’t impact us personally as we don’t use the buses). For me it goes beyond the quantity of rides of DLR versus WDW (some big DLR and WDW proponents always want to point out the number of rides of one versus the other which while true has no bearing on why I prefer one over the other…”well we have 4 parks with X number rides but we have 2 parks with almost as many rides…” blah blah blah) and instead translates into different feelings we as a family get when going to the various parks. We have different expectations/feelings each morning based on the park we will be going to….we love that. Also, one of the things we very much enjoy doing is heading over to Epcot in the early evening and riding a couple of rides, walking around the lake, maybe seeing a movie, having a nice dinner, my daughter seeing a few characters and then either jumping on the monorail or walking back to the room.
Someone on this board had made the suggestion to consider DLR as 1 big park versus 2 individual parks. I didn’t understand that comment until I got there. Once there, it is so true. With only a football field separating the two gates, it didn’t feel as we were entering a different park, more so it felt like another extension of DL, similar to walking through the gates up to ToonTown (which by the way is head and shoulders above the one the WDW used to have). While it is great to have all of that within walking distance of one another, I didn’t get the same vibe of going into the different parks and enjoying the different experiences.
However, the experience that we did have at DLR was great and we will most definitely go back every 3 years. Thanks again everyone! You helped make a DLR fan out of me and my family!
We returned home a couple of weeks ago from our first trip to DLR and we had a fantastic time!!! I wanted to thank all of you for your fantastic advice/guidance with a special shout-out to Hydroguy for all of the information you put together especially the visiting DLR guide for WDW vets and the Fastpass guide
. Each of those are must-reads for any WDW vet planning a trip to DLR.Prior to conducting the research/planning, I like many WDW vets were all ready to compare WDW with DLR. However, because of the all the great insights from many of you on this forum, we altered our expectations...sure, we couldn't help to compare some aspects of it but at the end of the day, we loved it for what it was...the original as Walt intended (I’ll admit, I did have something in my eye the first night we headed out of the park at dusk and could clearly see the light in Walt’s apartment on…damn bugs).
I’ve read a number of posts recently with WDW vets less than enamored with DLR and just wanted to provided our perspective of what we experienced.
Castle- Yup…everyone was right it IS smaller(quite a bit actually)….you know what, so what…it is stunning none-the-less. In fact, it “fits” in perfectly within the smaller size of the park. Also, being able to do the walk through the castle was great and my dd6 especially loved it.
Magic Morning- So great…you can get so many rides done in that one hour. We did MM 3 times and did 6 rides, 8 rides and then 6 rides in just that first hour. Great use of time even though we had to get up at the crack of dawn. This is direct opposite to us avoiding the WDW EMH (Extra Magic Hours) park at all costs during our trips due to the heavy increase in attendance it brings.
Summer Weather- This one is pretty easy….SoCal versus Florida…heat but with no humidity or heat with also losing half your body weight each day…hmm, I’ll take SoCal for a $1000 Alex.
Rides- Some are better at DL and some are better at MK…frankly those that are better at DL outweigh those that are better at MK. SM and Pirates are much better here than at MK. Splash while longer at MK is still great at DL. Also, there are many more additional rides at DL, especially in Fantasyland, than in MK. Personally, I also like the “feel” and look of Fantasyland much better at DL than MK(one of my daughter’s favorite rides the entire trip was Toad as she liked “driving” the car). I also like how when you exit a ride at DL you aren’t dumped into a shopping area like you are many times at WDW. It makes it so much easier when leaving a ride to head to the next ride/attraction without first having to tell your daughter many many many times throughout the day…”put that down, not now, maybe later, we’ll think about it, fine we’ll buy it but just this one
….”Fastpasses- OMG…no comparison what so ever…DL wins hands down…If you have a runner, in this case me, by noon you can have 5 or 6 fastpasses. In fact, one day I had 7, (might have been 8, I can’t remember) as I hopped over to DCA for a couple. This is while still doing all the rides we wanted during the morning. The return times for rides is also so much closer to the current time. So many times at WDW, when you get a fastpass, regardless of the time of day, it is at least an hour and many times 2 hours later…it makes saving them up for use later in the day much harder. Also, there were a number of times where in late afternoon you could still get a fastpass for some rides for only 45 to 50 minutes later which really surprised me. This was especially true at ToT and BTMRR. I actually thought it odd because the standby wait times were usually around 30 t0 40 minutes for the ToT but you could get a fastpass that was 45 minutes later. I guess some people really wanted to wait in line. It also made it our live so much easier to have use of the automatic FP for staying at a Disney hotel. We encountered a very minor issue at check-in and the cast member to make it up to me (which frankly there was nothing to make up for) gave me 6 vouchers for each of us instead of the 2 we were supposed to get. I wasn’t about to turn him down though All of those were used on Star Tours so we didn’t have to get the horrendous line just to get a FP. For those people who did, it really screws up your ability to collect FP since you’d have to wait 2 hours to get another after waiting in line 20 to 30 minutes just to get one.
DL Park overall-I just loved the look, feel, vibrancy, and history of the place. As an aside, that area between the two seems like such a waste of space, you’d think they could do something to “Disney up” that area.
Getting around- We had the tale of two trips. Night one we stayed at the Sheraton Park Hotel and while the hotel was fine, we hoofed it to the parks and back for a day and a half…not fun. Nights 2 -5 we stayed at VGC in a 1 bed-room with a great view of DCA and a pretty good view of WOC. Being able to walk 3 minutes to one park and 7 minutes to another park was glorious…there really isn’t another word to describe it. Also, VGC is by far and away the best property currently within DVC.
Princess Faire/Coronation/Story Time- Hands down from a princess perspective, DL wins this one in a landslide…having to sit through countless meet and greets, meals, etc over the past 4 years, this area is a much better princess area and overall interactive experience than anything at WDW. Character meals are better at WDW, especially related to the princess, but in terms of an area to meet and interact with them this one was fantastic!
Aladdin- Wow…such a great show and the Genie was so funny.
The always debated Disney magic- Yes, it is definitely within DL. I didn’t feel “it” whatever “it” is the same way as I do when I’m at WDW but it is there. Hell, how could the magic not be there…this is where it all started. I really do believe that the “It/Magic” feeling is probably most strongly tied to whichever Park you first went to as a child. I could be wrong but that is my 2 cents. With that said, the magic does evaporate some while walking over to DCA. For full disclosure I also don’t get the same feeling when I’m at DHS either. Both of the parks strike me as very similar (at least until Carsland opens).
Special Moment- Of all of our trips to WDW (with many special memories), our most memorable moment occurred at DLR on my daughter’s birthday. Since we are from the East Coast, we didn’t want to keep our 6 year old up to 9 every night to see the fireworks or other shows. We did tell her though we would go to the fireworks on her b-day. Her birthday was on a Friday and we spent some time in the parks doing the rides she wanted, a surprise makeover at BBB and then lunch with the princesses. We headed back to the room for a nap. Early evening we headed back into the park in time to see the parade and to begin figuring out dinner and where to sit for the fireworks. As we were walking near the castle scoping out where we would want to be for the fireworks I asked a CM where he would recommend. I mentioned it was my daughter’s b-day and that this was the only night of our trip she was going to be able to see the fireworks and we wanted to make sure we staked out a clear line of sight for her. He replied “in that case, I recommend watching the fireworks from the VIP seating area in front of the castle”. I was dumbfounded to say the least. He took my name, wrote it on a piece of paper and told me to go to the rope line directly behind the statute before 9:30 and they would let us in. At 9:00 with ice cream in hand we went to the rope, gave our name and were escorted into roped off seating area directly in front of the castle with our own bench. Wow is all I can say. It truly was a “Magical” night.
1 minor complaint (just one) and 1 surprise-
Walkways- They just weren’t made to handle the crowds…of course how was Walt to have known that….Even when the wait times for rides weren’t bad, the amount of people in the walkways/pathways was just awful. One early afternoon, we were leaving Critter Country and where heading out of the park for our break. We took the “Shortest” route through New Orleans Square/Adventureland and literally hit a mass of people just past the Pirates entrance and could barely move for 5 to 10 minutes as we were working out way through the crowd. We didn’t make that mistake again
For those WDW Vets, think of Easter time or Christmas time in terms of people walking around aimlessly in walkways but in terms of actual wait times for rides it was more similar to early spring break crowds. It was an odd thing to get used too. I'm conditioned to see crowds and expect long wait timesWaiting for shows(mostly Fantasmic)- Oh my…I’ve never seen anything like this at WDW. For Fantasmic, people had begun staking out their spots 4 to 5 hours before the first show. I mean not only staking out spots but people putting out blankets for the prime viewing spots. There were lots of people with their books, kindles and iPads to pass the time. The only thing I can think off is given the number of locals who go the parks on any given day, they are probably content to go stake out a spot, send someone to get food, have a picnic and watch the show without any regard to the fact that they just spent 4 or 5 hours waiting for a 25 minute show. At WDW, it isn’t unusual for die-hards to stake out spots for Illuminations or get in line for Fantasmic an hour or two ahead of time but 4 hours…wow…this didn’t impact us at all as we weren’t seeing the show but I was certainly surprised.
At the end of the day did I ultimately prefer one over the other….yes. Main Park versus Main Park we all preferred DL(minus the whole walkway congestion thing) to the MK(this pains me to say…sorry Cindy…I’m cheating on ya with your cousin Aurora). Comparing the overall resorts, other parks, etc. to one another, DLR to WDW…WDW. Why? I personally love Epcot and AK (MK goes without saying) and one of the nice things about WDW is that you have 4 completely different parks to enjoy during your stay(I’m not getting into the whole transportation debate as it doesn’t impact us personally as we don’t use the buses). For me it goes beyond the quantity of rides of DLR versus WDW (some big DLR and WDW proponents always want to point out the number of rides of one versus the other which while true has no bearing on why I prefer one over the other…”well we have 4 parks with X number rides but we have 2 parks with almost as many rides…” blah blah blah) and instead translates into different feelings we as a family get when going to the various parks. We have different expectations/feelings each morning based on the park we will be going to….we love that. Also, one of the things we very much enjoy doing is heading over to Epcot in the early evening and riding a couple of rides, walking around the lake, maybe seeing a movie, having a nice dinner, my daughter seeing a few characters and then either jumping on the monorail or walking back to the room.
Someone on this board had made the suggestion to consider DLR as 1 big park versus 2 individual parks. I didn’t understand that comment until I got there. Once there, it is so true. With only a football field separating the two gates, it didn’t feel as we were entering a different park, more so it felt like another extension of DL, similar to walking through the gates up to ToonTown (which by the way is head and shoulders above the one the WDW used to have). While it is great to have all of that within walking distance of one another, I didn’t get the same vibe of going into the different parks and enjoying the different experiences.
However, the experience that we did have at DLR was great and we will most definitely go back every 3 years. Thanks again everyone! You helped make a DLR fan out of me and my family!
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Ah well, I got to watch it from the room a couple of times and then once from the Villa viewing deck which wasn't that great. 
It was so much easier keeping my kids away from all those temptations at DLR! We actually went into very few gift shops with the kids and I really appreciated that. It was a relief not to hear something like, "Mom can I get these life-sized Yeti gloves...please, please...?" 
I second this one!
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