After having been to WDW many many times, we decided to give DL a try when my daughter was visiting the area with friends. We spent 2 1/2 days and stayed offsite but in walking distance.
There were some things we absolutely loved, and others we weren't so crazy about. We both are glad we went, and would go back someday, but both agreed that we're WDW people.
We LOVED the Guardians ride (and I was prepared to dislike it because I'm a huge Twighlight Zone Fan). It was just too much fun to NOT like it (that Guardians soundtrack is killer). Indiana Jones just blows Dinosaur away. We didn't even bother riding Dinosaur on our trip to WDW last year. We may never ride it again lol. Small World is SO gorgeous and having part of the ride outdoors was fun. Cars Land is pretty great. Having everything so close together was like a dream. The Animation Academy building was a LOT of fun. I wish WDW had something similar. It wasn't crowded, was a nice place to relax indoors, and had interesting activities. The weather was pleasant, cool in mornings and evenings, but hot midday, with no humidity. Space Mountain was SO much smoother and I thought it was more fun (BUT the queue is KILLER - there weren't a lot of people in line, but we walked, and walked, and walked for what felt like miles, across an empty courtyard, what appeared to be a rooftop, through a big empty room, etc.) Pirates was also better, IMO.
It was quite unpleasant walking past homeless people on the way to the park, and a guy tried to sell me drugs in front of Walgreens one evening while I was waiting for my daughter who ran inside for snacks to take back to our room. The manager came out and ushered me into the store when he noticed, and the guy ran away. We were not crazy over the basic outdoor queues, with chains zigzagging back and forth like a local amusement park. I guess WDW has spoiled us with the indoor interactive queues that always have something fun to see and/or do. We didn't care for the food. Portions seemed small, lines excessively long, and we didn't care for many of the options (just our personal taste, I guess, or maybe it's a west coast thing). The CMs did not seem as friendly or as "into" their roles. Maybe it was just us, or maybe just the time we were there (post covid). RotR CMs seemed to not want to be there and really detracted from the experience. I missed Epcot, but it is my favorite park. This one may be unfair because I'm so familiar with WDW, but we kept getting lost. I had an especially difficult time finding restrooms. They didn't seem to be as plentiful, and were sometimes behind things, making them difficult to find. DL also felt like there were some dead ends where we would have to turn around and backtrack. I missed being in the "Disney Bubble."
The castle is small, but we weren't really disappointed. We knew it was small. We liked that there was something inside to see, and found it rather charming.
Considering how far I had to travel to get there, I would not go back just for DL. It would need to be only part of the trip with some other destination or activities in mind. I think it's certainly worth visiting once, at least, for any Disney fan.
