Will WDW planning knowledge work in DLR

[Mr. Baloo]

Hi all,

We are experienced WDW vacationers... and understand how to plan out our day at WDW so we can get a lot done.... will we be able to easily plan our days using the knowledge from back in the paper fastpass days to plan our day at DL and CA successfully?

I looked for sites that offer touring plans.. but could not come up with any good ones....

Baloo

 

[figment_jii]

Yes and no...I think having an understanding of how the paper/legacy FP system worked in WDW will help you use it in DLR. There are a few differences that are worth noting:

• As long as your ticket has been used to enter DL or DCA, you can pull FPs in either park. In WDW, you could only get FPs for the park that the ticket had been used to enter.
• The FPs for the shows (at this point, only WoC) are disconnected from the rest of the FP system. So you can get the WoC FP and then immediately get an attraction FP without having to wait.
• DLR does not have an official/set grace period (either before or after the time window opens). It's up to the discretion of the CMs, so plan to arrive during your FP window.
• Related to the first point, the two parks are "disconnected" from each other. Basically this means you get a FP in DCA and the immediately hop over to DL and get a FP there without having to wait. Buzz Lighyear (in DL) is the only "disconnected" attraction FP at this point, so you can get one and then immediately get another FP in DL.

In general, DLR and WDW are different resorts and while you can use some similar planning strategies, be prepared to be flexible and not assume things at DLR are the same as they are at WDW. For example, I know that's common to try and avoid the EMH parks at WDW (I don't tend worry about this when I go, but I see it mentioned pretty frequently). At DLR, that's less of an issue...the impacts of EMH/MM pretty much dissipate after a few hours, so it's not as important to avoid the EMH/MM park. (Note: Typically there are no evening EMHs)

Another big difference is park hopping. You'll get mixed advice about whether to hop or not, but if you do opt to hop, it's a lot easier to do so at DLR. DL and DCA are only about 110 yards apart; you can see the DCA ticket gates from DL's ticket gates and vice-a-versa. It's like walking from Epcot's FW to WS. DTD is also located immediately to the west of the theme parks.

 

[VandVsmama]

I agree with figment. It depends. DLR does enforce FP return times, so gone are the days of yore in which you could grab FP after FP and not use them during your FP window, but use them later in the day when you felt like it.

Going to EMH/MM is WORTH IT! Most of DL visitors are locals. So on weekends, they will tend to show up late morning and they stick around all day and all evening long. During the week, the locals will tend to show up late afternoon/early evening when they get off of work...they'll have dinner at the parks, go on a couple of rides, see fireworks and/or a parade, and go home. Sometimes, if there is a new attraction that's debuted or if it's an attraction that's just come off of being refurbished, locals will go to DL for the evening with the one sole purpose of going on that single ride, and they'll be willing to wait in line for a couple of hours in order to do so.

Park hopping:
It is VERY easy at DLR. Given average crowds, probably 10 min max (but more like 5 min) from DL Town Square, exit DL, walk across the Esplanade, show your ticket at the gate, and go through the turnstiles into DCA. I have found that the locals are usually more in love with DL than DCA, so if it's really busy at DL, it's very convenient to hop over to DCA where crowds might be a little lighter.

Everything is more compact:
DL's Fantasyland is a good example of this and it's why getting up early and getting to rope drop is so advantageous at DLR. You could end up going on 6-7 rides in that first hour alone.

Peter Pan doesn't have FP, btw. Also, at DL, Winnie the Pooh almost never has a line and if it does, it moves very quickly. I have found that the first 3 hours that the parks are open are the golden hours with lower crowds, lower wait times, etc.

How many people are in your group? Any kids? If so, what ages? What are your family's favorites at WDW? Are you thrill ride people or do you have anybody in your group who would just hurl if you took them on Thunder Mountain Railroad? Does anybody have disabilities requiring a scooter or wheelchair or a disabled card (autism, for example)?

Also, what dates are you thinking of going? Will you be staying within easy walking distance of the main gate or staying farther away and driving to the parks? In other words, are you thinking of taking a midafternoon break or just soldier through all day?

 

[sheetz]

As others have said, your skills will transfer over, but you will need to learn different rules.

 

[ktlm]

Yes and no. We love both places. DLR really does not require as much planning as WDW. It is compact and very easy to get from one place to another. So, in the aspect that you don't need to overplan, the answer is no. However, just like at WDW, rope drop is your friend in terms of short lines (actually we find it even more so at DLR), knowing which are the most popular rides and how to get to them first or get FPs for them will save time, using FP effectively can save time, knowing where the single rider lines are and utilizing them can save time, knowing to focus on one area and try to finish things there instead of criss-crossing the park a bunch, knowing how to stake out spots for parades and evening shows and other of your WDW strategies will translate very well.

For DLR we usually make ADRS at 60 days out, and typically book WOC and Fantasmic dining packages (of course Fantasmic is down now), but outside of that, we don't go in with any big plans and we LOVE it. We know that for CA we want to grab a RSR FP early, try to ride it or TSM (no FP at DLR) at rope drop and other than that we have no planning other than when to get to WOC to stake out a spot (which you need to do even with the dining package). We find that we don't even use FP that much at CA because we don't need it. In the summer, we typically need one if we want to ride Grizzly River Run in the afternoon and we have to somewhat plan (or check back several times at least) to time pulling the FP to get to ride when we want, but even in June and July we have found Soarin at a 20 minute wait in the afternoon more than once. For us, if the line is 20 minutes or less, we typically don't bother with FP. Like the old FP WDW days, we use FP as needed. For DL, we know to run to Peter Pan at rope drop (no FP), grab a FP for Star Tours (the line is much longer than at WDW), and then we probably will grab FPs during the day for Space, Splash and Indiana Jones. (Indiana has a single rider line, so we can use that too). We just use FP as necessary. We love the freedom we have at DLR. It is so great not to have to deal with FP+ there!

 

[ktlm]

One other thing, being a WDW vet, I can not imagine going to DLR and not hopping. To us, it is like one big park. The walk between the parks is shorter than walking from where the bus drops you off to the gate at most WDW parks. We have gotten from the back corner of DL to the back corner of CA in 10 minutes. We go back and forth between parks all day. I look at the wait times app, and if the lines for the rides are a lot longer in the park we are in, then we hop to the other park for a while. If one park opens earlier or stays open later, we always hop over and take advantage of that extra time. If DD really wants to ride one of the rides in the other park that day, we just go do it. You don't even have to go through bag check to hop. There is a plaza between the parks and the bag check is on each side of the plaza to get enter the plaza itself. You can cross back and forth across the plaza to go from park to park. It literally takes less than 5 minutes to get out of one park and into the other.

 

[MikeRx]

My take on the planning differences. And yes, I've done both coasts this year...In addition to the excellent post above...

First for the similarities:
1. Rope Drop: While its important at WDW, its mission critical in the DLR. The local crowds are the bread and butter for DLR and they don't show up at 8am, but by 11am it can be very crowded and headed worse...
2. Don't waste the first two hours on things that don't have a real wait at 3pm

Now for the change up:
1. In addition to what Figment said above, we never use the EMH in WDW as the 20+ hotels all push people to the EMH park and overwhelm them early. In DLR we ALWAYS use the MM or EMH as the push from 3 hotels is far less impactful and it adds another line free hour to our day. Remember that in DL the MM sees only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland open...for the golden hour.
2. Early breakfast in the park will not help like it sometimes does in WDW (Be Our Guest and Crystal palace come to mind). You loose too much un-crowded time "finishing" or gulping breakfast in our opinion. We typically plan for a latter breakfast after we've done the attractions while there are lower crowds. Carnation Café and The Plaza are our favorites for a later breakfast and a chance to watch the crowds roll in after we did the key attractions.
3. Meals are planned at 60 days not 180. You may not need to plan at 60 days, but if you are like me you will be able to sleep better when they are done. Key restaurants like Blue Bayou and Carthay Circle may book up so plan ahead especially if you do during busier times.
4. Park hours are released 45 days out...yes only 45 days out. Use sites that have historic hours to estimate times and show times to help set your day.
5. Hop - yes, enough said...
6. Don't skip a ride in DL because you don't like it in WDW. Despite similar theming or names, many of the rides are different enough to give you a fresh perspective. Pirates and Space are far superior in DL (I our opinion), while we like Splash in WDW. Ride the "only in DLR" rides as I just rode the "only in the Magic Kingdom" rides/attractions on Monday!
7. While everything including the bathroom has a FP+ in WDW...Not everything that should have a Fastpass actually has a Fastpass in DLR...Peter Pan & Alice ...nope, Midway Mania...nope....so plan accordingly and ride early to avoid lines
8. The Monorail is mostly an attraction and has limited transportation value aside from getting from the DLH or the far end of Downtown Disney into the park or out. Enjoy the ride and the views...
9. We generally use the dinner packages to enjoy better locations for the nighttime spectaculars/parades. With F! down until late 2017 we are going to try the Blue Bayou package for the Paint the Night Parade and we always do a WOC package at the Trattoria (bad experience at Carthay has us refusing to try again); for many Fatpasses work. We didn't find the dinner package helpful in DHS for F!.

And a don't forget or two:
1. Eat Dole whip while watching the Enchanted Tiki Room show...
2. Look up inside the stores, the theming is everywhere and I dare say a bit better than WDW.

I hope this helps. I try to slow down in the DLR and enjoy the history. Take the free tour of the DLH and GC too.

Mike

p.s. sorry for the overlap with the above posters. They posted while I was typing!

 

[Mr. Baloo]

Thanks so much for the detailed responses. We are really looking forward to our trio. I think the biggest bummer so far is Fantastic being down. Had heard so many good things about the west coast version.

Thanks again,

Baloo

 

[ktlm]

Thanks so much for the detailed responses. We are really looking forward to our trio. I think the biggest bummer so far is Fantastic being down. Had heard so many good things about the west coast version.

Thanks again,

Baloo

We really prefer the west coast version and it is a bummer....BUT you will get to see Paint the Night which is absolutely amazing. DH loved it and he doesn't usually care about parades. You get to see World of Color too- and don't let the talk about the old v. new version bother you- since you haven't seen the old version I bet you love the new version. WOC is very impressive- way more than I thought it would be. Even with the Fantasmic dining package it took a lot of time because that area filled up fast and you had to get in line and stake out your spot at least an hour in advance- so the fact that it is down will free up some wonderful evening time for you!!! Don't miss seeing Carsland after dark- it is beautiful! It is fun to be there when the lights go on. RSR is a whole different experience at night too, so if you get a chance you definitely want to ride it once at night! Have a great trip!!!

 

[marciemi]

Thanks everyone for this info! Another WDW vet (and local) who's heading to DL for a few days in April and trying to figure out the best plans. I had no idea on much of this - just ordered my unofficial guide so hopefully that will help too!