Your best tips for WDW vets

[BRC6C]

We are one week out from our DLR trip. "We" is DH and myself and DS who is a 12-year-old Disney fanatic! DS is a character junkie as well as loving the history and stories of all things Disney. We are relatively frequent WDW visitors, but haven't been for over a year. We are staying at the Carousel Inn and have 5-day park hoppers. If you got to plan our trip what would you have us do? Eat? And See?

 

[Sherry E]

This is a thread about DLR for WDW vets, and it is very helpful - http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-dlr-guide-for-wdw-vets.1162599/.

ETA: Originally I asked when you were going. Never mind -- I reread your post and saw that you're going in one week!

 

[HydroGuy]

See the shows...

Disneyland Forever fireworks
Paint the Night Parade
World of Color
Fantasmic (better at DL)
Aladdin (stage show, better than any of the WDW shows)

I would make sure to do the above shows which will probably take up three of your evenings. Also, if you can make it work see the Soundsational parade, Mickey & the Magical Map and the Mad T Party.


Ride the rides...

You probably know the ones now you want to do. For sure hit Indy, POTC, RSR and CA Screamin. There are only five rides which are identical between DLR and WDW - TSMM, Soarin, ST, ITTBAB and LM. Try to hit most all the rides at DLR as the DLR versions are often better.

Try to ride day and night:
RSR, Matterhorn, GRR, CA Screamin. BTMRR and Splash are also fun and based on WDW you know what to expect with those and the experiences are similar n this regard.


Eat the food...

Not quite the variety as WDW, but there are a lot of good choices:

Table service:
Blue Bayou (DL)

and, depending on the person,
Carthay Circle Restaurant (DCA)
Cafe Orleans (DL)
Tangaroa Terrace/Trader Sam's (DLH)

Counter service
Flo's Dine-in (DCA)
Pacific Wharf Cafe (DCA)
Plaza Inn is pretty good (DL)

Again, there are lots of other good options.


Experiences...

At DL
Walk through Sleeping Beauty's Castle
Abe Lincoln
Main Street Cinema
Pirates Lair on Tom Sawyer Island

At DCA
Animation Academy


Characters:

Mickey's house and Minnie's house would seem like a no brainer for DS12
a

Hope that helps!

 

[ktlm]

Carsland at night is a must see. RSR is like a different ride at night. RSR has a single rider line. You can get multiple rides using it. Ask the CM at the entrance about how long the single rider wait is. Also at some point walk the path along RSR to the pier both duty long the day and after dark. It is beautiful, especially looking back at it from the pier entrance. There is usually a photopass photographer there at night and those are some of our favorite shots.

Oswald has a meet and greet at California. That is a must for a Disney fanatic.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

My suggestion is not to compare WDW to DLR. Just enjoy DLR as a totally different experience. Tony Baxter once said that WDW was made to be spectacular and DLR was made to be charming. With that in mind, you'll have so much fun experiencing DLR and enjoying all the differences.

 

[BRC6C]

Thanks everyone! We are really looking forward to our trip and I'm pleased the app came out just in time for us!

 

[CAmommy]

Don't miss Space Mountain! Disneyland's version is amazing and way better of an experience!

 

[alicat8]

Know that Peter Pan doesn't have FP! It also has some upgrades that DW doesn't have (I really didn't like what they did to the flying over London scene...) And Small World has a bunch of new movie characters added. Even if your son isn't into them-walk through Cars Land and Bugs Land-really great theming!