WDW Vet's 1st Trip to DL & U

[loribell]

So the guilting worked, huh?

A great update!

 

[travelmel]

yes...you DO need to finish universal



is it me, or does FairyGodmother look odd? (kind of masculine maybe )

Great pix...luvin' every minute of it

Yes, FGM does look a little bit like a trannie in that pic, yea?

Great TR!

 

[RVGal]

A teenager with a smile?!?!!!! And they said it couldn't be done.

Great pictures again. I hate rope bridges too. And I wind up crossing them somehow or another on vacation too. What is up with that?

Looking forward to Universal. Whenever that may be.

 

[keishashadow]

im not touching the fairy gender issue it's all good imo; 'she' was in charactar though & did a good job too...more low key than the others.

not far off the mark as to U up&coming, later if not sooner ; will give it best shot...some cool pics

ps thanks all for the kind remarks & plowing thru all the pics

 

[DeterminedOne]

Hi K - we are WDW vets planning our first trip to Disneyland. I wanted to get your thoughts on what you thought of the crowds at the park, particularly DL. From the pics I've seen the park always appears really crowded like shoulder to shoulder people and that kind of scares me. I also wanted to find out why it took an hour to board the monorail. Do you know if that's normal wait time or were they having some sort of problem? Could you have walked back to your hotel instead?

I'm still trying to familiarize myself with everything. I bought the Unofficial Guide but it's not nearly as detailed (IMO) as the WDW version so thanks for answering my questions. Nice report.

 

[keishashadow]

Hi K - we are WDW vets planning our first trip to Disneyland. I wanted to get your thoughts on what you thought of the crowds at the park, particularly DL. From the pics I've seen the park always appears really crowded like shoulder to shoulder people and that kind of scares me. I also wanted to find out why it took an hour to board the monorail. Do you know if that's normal wait time or were they having some sort of problem? Could you have walked back to your hotel instead?

I'm still trying to familiarize myself with everything. I bought the Unofficial Guide but it's not nearly as detailed (IMO) as the WDW version so thanks for answering my questions. Nice report.

thanks
im thinking the crowds r hit or miss . We didn't get to DL until almost noon yet breezed thru almost everything we wanted to see by early evening , this being the Saturday before 4th of July. Im thinking it was due to fact that the blackout period had just begun for SOCal peeps? It was a bit more crowded the following days, yet we did follow the UG recommendations (Indy 1st as it had tech issues & was shut down frequently during our 5 days there). I also picked up the passporter for DL & found it helpful.

certain areas did tend to bottleneck, while crowded, thinking mostly just due to issue of walkways being narrower: near Indy, area around POC & fantasyland in general. However, the crowds r scary for Fantasmic...if possible, plan on late show; seemed less hectic. Otherwise, grab a snack & some pavement , insuring a spot where u can sit near the front...the sitting & standing areas r clearly designated by ropes (if u know what to look for, we didn't lol)

Additionally, the crowds @ DL def seemed to build during the day (think rope drop ala WDW to get a jump on things) and don't forget the FP tricks (multiples allowed to be held...a thread is somewhere on the board detailing how to maximize collecting them...we didn't quite reach that level, yet found it a great benefit not to have to keep criss crossing the park)

if u have any other questions, feel free to ask, enjoy DL it's an amazing experience

the monorail is more of an attraction than transportation imo. It was subject to alot of tech issues when we were there too ; so we took to asking a CM @ entrance before we entered the line in DL. Im not sure why the line took so long to board in DL. Never was it backed up more than the 1st ramp, yet it did easily take an hour twice...not sure if that would be an applicable test of how long or not. Perhaps a local would be able to guage the wait time better based upon the line's length. Will state that we walked over several times to find it closed entirely.

The wait was always much shorter @ the station in DTD. Guidebooks indicated that resort guests had priority on riding, not sure if it is still in effect as we never had to use, no longer than 20 min wait.

Yes, the walk to the parks was amazingly short, will say it's comparable to the walk from the Contemporary Resort to MK (if not shorter), just @ the end of the day, was tired & hoped to save some wear & tear on our feet

 

[DeterminedOne]

Thank you for your time and thorough answers.