DLR people, get me pumped for WDW

[Castillo Mom]

I'm a California girl, born and raised and DLR is very near and dear to my heart. As you can see by my signature, I've been to WDW multiple times. I became a Disney Vacation Club member because of WDW and both of my home resorts are based in WDW, so that says a lot in and of itself!

I agree with what many others said which is to judge WDW on it's own merits. There are similarities and differences, we have some attractions that they don't and vice versa. As for attractions that exist on both coasts, sometimes DLR does it better and sometimes WDW does. DLR is compact and charming, WDW is huge but has many more resorts to choose from and the seediness of the surrounding area doesn't exist the way it does in Anaheim. We have mostly great weather here, but despite the heat and humidity of WDW, we find the periodic downpours in Orlando to be fascinating which can cause the parks to empty - when that happens, weather the storm and enjoy the parks! DLR quick service is generally better, but there are many more full service dining options with amazing food, especially in Disney Springs. DLR consists of two parks but WDW has four plus two water parks.

Long story short, we love both DLR and WDW equally and magic exists on both coasts. Now go find it!

 

[LizzyS]

Live in California and DL AP Holder. Went about 6 times last year. Also a DVC owner and just got back on Tuesday from a five night trip to WDW, my second. We did three parks during the trip. Had a great time but DLR and WDW are two completely different experiences.

I think managing expectations is critical. When i got to DLR i want to get on rides; when i went to WDW i didn't expect to get on any E ticket rides that i didn't have a FP+ for and i was fine with that. Not too big of a deal for me because my kids are 4 and 6 and my 4 year old can't go on a lot of the big rides. I thought of it as i'm vacationing at WDW, if i get on a ride great, if not i'll just do it at DLR on a weekend getaway.

I agree with a lot of other posters that Epcot and Animal Kingdom were the most enjoyable because they have no DLR counterpart. Animal Kingdom is my favorite. Love walking around without an agenda and just seeing all the animals and other details. The festival of the lion king is a must see. Unfortunately my AK day was cut short but a torrential downpour. Be prepared for rain. IT WILL RAIN.

I did a short day inside the Magic Kingdom and the whole time i couldn't help but compare all the rides to the DLR version. Small world is not as detailed, but the Dumbo ride's play area was a hit for my kids and allowed me to wait out a downpour. I ended up doing five to six kiddie rides for the 5 hours i was in Magic Kingdom and considered that a win.

We also did an after hours event at Hollywood Studios and it was soooo worth it. We pretty much spent all our time in Toy Story Land. Got on Slinky dog dash four times, the longest wait being 20 mins, shortest being about 10. Awesome ride. My new favorite. If you can catch an after hour event i highly recommend it. Great way to get on a lot of rides with minimal waiting.

I think one of the best things about WDW is the resorts. I stayed at Port Orleans Riverside this time and loved it. There are SOOO many resorts on property and they are all gorgeous. We took a day to walk over to the French Quarter and spent an afternoon at their pool and then went to Disney Springs for dinner. Disney Springs is great. Some amazing food and shopping for the wife. We tried Jaleo and it was out of this world good (make sure to get the salt air margarita there). I honestly wish i only did two parks and spent another resort/pool/Disney Springs day.

How old are your kids? i think that would determine how you tour also. Would also help you decide if you want to get a car or not. We rented a car for one day to get groceries and did gatorland, which was a lot of fun also.

All in all, i think the best way to put it is i go to DLR to visit the theme parks, but i go to WDW to enjoy a relaxing vacation in hot weather on a beautiful sprawling resort that has multiple theme parks, restaurants and hotels.

Hope this helps. I think you will have a great time.

Excellent points here AND we stayed at POR last year and also loved it. What a great resort and so easy to stroll over to POFQ, too!

 

[ErinAlb]

We are planing a trip to WDW next year and I must say its all really stressful. You have to plan everything out months in advance with no knowledge other than what you see on youtube and read on blogs. You have to geographically coordinate your fast passes with dinner reservations. You just can't say hey lets eat there and then lets do this. Everything is a plan. And the quality of the restaurants there seems to change all the time so what you book today might be a bad place to eat a few months from now. And going places there seems like a time consuming stressful journey. If it was up to me I would NEVER go there but my wife has been dying to go for years, so for better or worse, we are going at some point between October 2020 and February 2021. We are going to try to rent DVC points and that in and of itself is a convoluted mess of uncertainty especially when planing it out with the uncertainty of your vacation days on your job which adds more stress. But one thing I can say for sure is that Disney World is a much more expensive and stressful vacation than Disneyland.

Coordinating FPs with ADRs (and stage shows) (and mid-day breaks for small kids) (and transit time) (and location within a big park) is overwhelming to me, too. I don't know how likely it is that the FPs we want will be available at the times we want them — and if they aren't, it will be hard to come up with new plans on the fly at 6 a.m. on our FP booking day. We all have different priorities, people's priorities have different weights, and some things are more likely than others to be do-able without a Fastpass. So re-triaging FPs quickly and fairly without creating schedule conflicts, as the minutes tick by and they all get gobbled up is ... daunting.

It's also hard to anticipate what might change. Park hours and EMHs have changed since we booked our ADRs, the park hasn't disclosed very much yet about how it plans to handle SW:GE (which opens a few weeks before we arrive), and some of our priority attractions appear to have inconsistent operating hours in the fall. It does feel like guests are expected to make a lot of advance planning commitments without a reciprocal level of certainty from the park.

That said, it looks like there also are lot more things at WDW that aren't so schedule-dependent; interactive exhibits, screen and animatronic shows, play areas, street entertainment and some of the more frequently-played stage shows. At DLR I sometimes felt pulled away from these sorts of things because there were so many rides we wanted to (and could) squeeze in. I think we just need more time at both places!

 

[tarheelalum]

Coordinating FPs with ADRs (and stage shows) (and mid-day breaks for small kids) (and transit time) (and location within a big park) is overwhelming to me, too. I don't know how likely it is that the FPs we want will be available at the times we want them — and if they aren't, it will be hard to come up with new plans on the fly at 6 a.m. on our FP booking day. We all have different priorities, people's priorities have different weights, and some things are more likely than others to be do-able without a Fastpass. So re-triaging FPs quickly and fairly without creating schedule conflicts, as the minutes tick by and they all get gobbled up is ... daunting.

I agree. Its all really absurd for WDW to make it so complicated. Luckily this will be a one and done trip for us so whatever happens, happens. I'd much rather not waste the time and money on WDW. I tried to get her to go to Tokyo Disney instead but she is set on WDW. We are going for at least 10 days so hopefully we'll get to do everything we want without too much stress. I'd much rather just go to Disneyland instead and do whatever, whenever we want. I'm not into a OCD planing vacation.

 

[BillFraser29]

The planning does seem overwhelming at first, especially when compared to the lack of planning it takes to tackle DLR. The most important key is to make sure your ADR and Fastpass selections line up, park wise. And most ADR's are easier to change than FP's are, so I tried to favor the FP scheduling and revise the ADR with exception of those hard to get ADRs.

And once you get to WDW and all the plans are set, everything kind of just flows into place. I did OCD plan and as soon as we got to the parks my wife basically said "I don't want to be strapped down to a plan, can we just wing it?" I simply said let me pick where we rope drop and we'll go from there, and it worked out where we nearly followed my plan step-by-step just by hitting all of our FP and ADR, and then winging everything else. Other than airline/hurricane issues, the trip was a piece of cake once we got there.

 

[longboard55]

I actually like the fast pass pre plan, easy to set up and we will go 3 in a row.

 

[paradesintherain]

People keep saying that the FP system is overwhelming and locks you into a plan, but I’ve had great luck, on multiple trips with refreshing the app! Seriously, do a little research on that and I guarantee it’ll enhance your experience. I almost never use the FPs I prebook because I’m always modifying them to an earlier time or a better attraction.

Also people keep saying that a lot of the rides are inferior at Disney World, which is, I guess somewhat true. But then some of the rides are way better! Like Splash Mountain. The two Space Mountains are drastically different rides and I love them both for their different experiences. Plus Magic Kingdom has the PeopleMover where Disneyland has a rotting track!

As for the other parks I prefer Dinosaur to Indiana Jones; Flight of Passage is just incredible every single time; Expedition Everest is an amazingly fun coaster (take that Matterhorn!)

I don’t know what the fireworks are like at Disneyland right now - last time I went it was Disneyland Forever, which I loved. But Happily Ever After is a magical show with breathtaking fireworks and impressive projections. Makes me cry every time!

 

[jlmarr]

Saw this on Twitter the other day: “I don’t think there’s a more humid location on earth than one step outside of the Orlando international airport.”

 

[ErinAlb]

People keep saying that the FP system is overwhelming and locks you into a plan, but I’ve had great luck, on multiple trips with refreshing the app! Seriously, do a little research on that and I guarantee it’ll enhance your experience. I almost never use the FPs I prebook because I’m always modifying them to an earlier time or a better attraction.

From what I've read, this technique works very well for Magic Kingdom bc there are so many rides, but not so much lately in Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios — especially if you're trying to move up Flight of Passage or Slinky Dog for more than 1 or 2 people (we'd have 5-7 for those). They've also just moved all of the rides in Hollywood Studios to Tier 1, so you won't be able to add any ride FPs until you've tapped FPs for two of the shows (i.e. Tier 2s), which don't open until late morning and will have to be at least an hour apart.

And to be honest, between other FPs, ADRs, stage show times and a needed afternoon break, it sounds kind of hard to move around an FP on the fly, while we're in the park, without creating a schedule conflict or tiring everyone out criss-crossing the park to out-of-the-way rides.

I can see how this technique works great for people who have gone multiple times and have had a chance to do the high-profile rides, or who can afford long trips with multiple days in a given park, because they can be more flexible with some of the hard-to-get FPs. We've got one day in Animal Kingdom and one day in either Hollywood Studios or Epcot (haven't decided), so once we build a plan around certain FPs, changing everything might be kind of hard. We will probably do this in Magic Kingdom, though.

I actually don't really care whether the individual rides are better at DLR or WDW. I think Pirates of the Caribbean will be the only one where we notice the difference. They're still cool rides, and I'm sure we'll enjoy them!

 

[Kimpossible1]

the seediness of the surrounding area doesn't exist the way it does in Anaheim.

I've been to Disneyland twice and live near WDW, and don't think the area is "seedy" especially around WDW. I believe it is each persons' perspective as there are a few areas of Orlando that are questionable, but there are probably some of those in Anaheim too. We had a rental car and drove around quite a bit, so I didn't just see around Disneyland. However, there were many homeless people hanging around the crosswalk on S. Harbor Blvd. to Disneyland begging every morning and night as we entered and left the park.