What to expect at DLR, view from a WDW vet

[Diszona]

This was a great post and just the kind of info I was looking for tonight. DH and I go to WDW 2x per year and I've been more than 20 times. I got to spend a few hours at DL once 10 years ago when I was in Anaheim for a conference but that's the only time I've been. DH has never even been on a plane, so even though we've talked about doing ALL the disney parks in our lifetimes, I was skeptical. Well, 2 weeks ago I won an essay contest and our prize was 4 rt airline tickets anywhere in the US! Disneyland here we come! We're DVC owners too, so airfare and hotel are taken care of - no way for DH to get out of this one! Now I've got to learn all there is to know about DL and not drive DH nuts in the process!!

You will have a great time on your trip. DLR is a wonderful place and is right up there for me with WDW (no quite up with 'home' but it certainly is close). Make sure you take time to really 'see' the park and all of the little touches around NOS and the castle. You will have a blast!

 

[Sherry E]

Thanks! On the character meals, my biggest issue with the ones we have been to as DL is there seemed to be fewer characters and they would come out at a much slower pace. For example the last time we went to Goofy's Kitchen we saw all of 3 characters the entire meal. One was Pluto who greeted us for our picture, one was Goofy of course and one was Mulan. Chip and Dale were there but they had already been to our section before we sat down and never came back out. Again, this is just from our experiences so we may have just been unlucky but these gaps in characters seem to happen more at DL then WDW.

I loved the fireworks and shows at DL. We would definitely see them again we would just be prepared to stand.

I think maybe you were unlucky at the character meals - or, perhaps, you had different expectations that they didn't live up to. I don't know if it's good to tell WDW vets to not bother with the character meals at DLR, because they could be missing out on some wonderful experiences.

I've read posts from WDW vets who visited DLR and they thought that the WDW character meals were far and away better than DLR's. But I've also read other WDW vets' reviews of DLR character meals and they said they preferred ours to WDW's. One person who was a WDW vet recently said that "Goofy is a much better chef than Mickey"!! And yet another person said that Minnie & Friends has many more characters than any of the WDW restaurants have.

It's the same thing for the assessment of which Resort's Cast Members are nicer. I've read some WDW vets' reviews that said the CM's and the guests were much nicer in WDW, and I've read some WDW vets' reviews which said the CM's and guests were so much better at DLR!!

I think it boils down to that everyone has a different perspective and opinion, no matter which Disney resort they are used to, I guess! What one person dislikes, another might love...and vice versa.

 

[Diszona]

I think maybe you were unlucky at the character meals - or, perhaps, you had different expectations that they didn't live up to. I don't know if it's good to tell WDW vets to not bother with the character meals at DLR, because they could be missing out on some wonderful experiences.


It's the same thing for the assessment of which Resort's Cast Members are nicer. I've read some WDW vets' reviews that said the CM's and the guests were much nicer in WDW, and I've read some WDW vets' reviews which said the CM's and guests were so much better at DLR!!

You are probably right about not telling WDW not to bother with the character meals, I probably should have worded that differently. It could be just bad luck on my part or it could be the last one we went too made such a bad impression that it has stuck in my head. We will likely try them again in the future and hopefully we will have better luck.

As far as the CM's it wasn't like they have been rude or unfriendly at DL. To take it even further, while we have had better (again, relative term it isn't like the DL CMs were awful) experience with the MK CMs, our worst experience came at DHS, where they were outright rude to us. The biggest issue I have at DL is when they have trouble answering questions or give you the completely wrong answer. We have run into this more at DL than WDW. It isn't anything terrible but it is something that has stood out to me.

Again, these are just my own personal observations and certainly not meant to be a put down of DLR.

 

[HydroGuy]

As far as the CM's it wasn't like they have been rude or unfriendly at DL. To take it even further, while we have had better (again, relative term it isn't like the DL CMs were awful) experience with the MK CMs, our worst experience came at DHS, where they were outright rude to us. The biggest issue I have at DL is when they have trouble answering questions or give you the completely wrong answer. We have run into this more at DL than WDW. It isn't anything terrible but it is something that has stood out to me.

Again, these are just my own personal observations and certainly not meant to be a put down of DLR.

I wonder sometimes how closely this relates to our familiarity with the resort. At DLR I rarely ask CMs questions and so they seem nice and knowledgeable. At WDW - especially on my first trip there - I got so much misinformation from well-meaning and attentive CMs I just about lost it. One night at MK I had a JC CM tell me not to bother trying to ride Splash Mtn that night because it always closes at dusk!

Overall I think the CMs at DLR and WDW are very good and friendly. I have not seen a big difference myself.

 

[Diszona]

I wonder sometimes how closely this relates to our familiarity with the resort. At DLR I rarely ask CMs questions and so they seem nice and knowledgeable. At WDW - especially on my first trip there - I got so much misinformation from well-meaning and attentive CMs I just about lost it. One night at MK I had a JC CM tell me not to bother trying to ride Splash Mtn that night because it always closes at dusk!

Overall I think the CMs at DLR and WDW are very good and friendly. I have not seen a big difference myself.

You could be on to something about the familiarity with the resort and the need to ask CMs questions skewing the impression they leave you with. Also, like I said some of it could just be the luck of the draw and as we go to DL more and more the additional exposure will change my impression of how the two stack up.

I will say that while the DL CMs were not unfriendly they did not seem as openly friendly overall as what I have experienced at WDW. Again, I am willing to let this opinion change the more times I visit the park and my sample size increases.

 

[drinkme]

I enjoyed reading your comparisons, too. I live in the Midwest, so neither park is my "home" park. I've been to both parks an equal number of times. I like both parks, but I think WDW can be very overwhelming, while DLR is a more easy-going trip where I don't have to plan anything but getting my hotel room. I agree with most everything you have to say, except about the CMs and the fireworks. I think the DLR CMs are much more friendly & helpful than the WDW CMs. Also, I like the fact that at DLR I don't have to find a spot to watch the fireworks 1/2 hour before the show starts. I hate that at WDW. It seems in order to see the fireworks or a parade, you need to get a spot so early. At DLR it seems you can just wait until the last minute, just kinda stop where you are, and watch the fireworks.

We went to Phoenix to visit family in January, and then drove to DLR. We stopped at the Wheel Inn for lunch (and visited the infamous Dinosaur museum...lol). We thought we would make that an annual trip. Where do you stop on your way to DLR?

 

[Sherry E]

You are probably right about not telling WDW not to bother with the character meals, I probably should have worded that differently. It could be just bad luck on my part or it could be the last one we went too made such a bad impression that it has stuck in my head. We will likely try them again in the future and hopefully we will have better luck.

As far as the CM's it wasn't like they have been rude or unfriendly at DL. To take it even further, while we have had better (again, relative term it isn't like the DL CMs were awful) experience with the MK CMs, our worst experience came at DHS, where they were outright rude to us. The biggest issue I have at DL is when they have trouble answering questions or give you the completely wrong answer. We have run into this more at DL than WDW. It isn't anything terrible but it is something that has stood out to me.

Again, these are just my own personal observations and certainly not meant to be a put down of DLR.

There's kind of a running 'joke,' I guess you could call it, on this section of the DIS about how the CM's seem to have mixed information. Some CM's are aware of certain things and other CM's have no clue about them. One CM will tell you something very clearly (i.e. "Yes, you can do this"), while another CM will tell you something to the opposite ("No, we don't allow that")!! This does not happen constantly enough to be that big of an issue in the scheme of things, but it seems that many people on this board have experienced it. I guess I always assumed that it was a Disney CM issue in general - at all the theme parks - but now I'm wondering if it's exclusive to DLR!!

 

[quantumottle]

...2 weeks ago I won an essay contest and our prize was 4 rt airline tickets anywhere in the US! Disneyland here we come!

How cool! Congrats on the essay contest win! I envy not only your upcoming trip to DL but also your writing skills. =)

 

[Diszona]

We went to Phoenix to visit family in January, and then drove to DLR. We stopped at the Wheel Inn for lunch (and visited the infamous Dinosaur museum...lol). We thought we would make that an annual trip. Where do you stop on your way to DLR?

We don't really stop, we are more of the 'get the driving part over with' types. We are on the southeast side of the Phoenix area so we usually try to time it so we leave in the afternoon, get the West side of town before rush hour picks up, eat something then head on our way. We do stop for gas before leaving AZ to take advantage of the lower prices. We usually get in to the hotel sometime around 10. We have DVD players for the kids, we load them up with Disney movies to 'prime' them for the trip and they are happy the whole time. We aren't too worried about getting in late because with the excitement of a Disney trip we aren't getting the kids to sleep early anyway.