WDW Vet's first trip to DL - 7/28-8/2/05

[angey77]

Even though it was a bit crowded, I can say my first time to DL was wonderful. I'll just give a quick run-down, with my comparisons to WDW, for those who are looking for the differences from an old, familiar face.
So some observations here.
What WDW has on DL:
Room key doubles as charge card and you don't have to carry around an extra piece of paper for charging purposes
A castle that takes more than 10 seconds to walk through. I knew the castle was small, but I had no clue it was so narrow!
Order when it comes to lines for characters!!! I FINALLY saw the Evil Queen, I ran to stand in line, and it was just 100 people, mostly non-English speaking, mobbing her with no "handlers" to organize everyone. She was basically carried through the hub by a mass pushing! Same with Mickey's house in Toontown. We got to the back room and it was a free-for-all fiesta. geesh. Needless to say, no pics with Mickey
Transportation - nice to have buses after a long day
Food seems to be a bit better, in park, a bit more variety, a little less expensive
Fantasyland opens a bit quicker after the fireworks
Maybe I'm biased, but its a close call, I like Wishes better. And when the fireworks started, and they were playing Wishes, I thought someone was playing a trick on me
Early Entry means 8a sharp, you're in the gate
Splash Mountain has a lot more story. DL's seemed like it would be one big drug-induced hallucination, with miscellaneous things pinned here and there in hopes of someone comprehending it. However, it feels like DL has a much faster drop than WDW, which is great in my book.
OK, now what DL has on WDW:
Proximity! Love the fact I didn't have to walk forever to go from one land to the next, and my hotel (Disneyland Hotel) was a 10-minute walk from the main gates
Detail on every building, every attraction. DH and I could not get over the Haunted Mansion had a St. Aug grass lawn! (That's all we have in Louisiana).
Amount of attractions - far more than WDW's Magic Kingdom, especially Fantasyland
SPACE MOUNTAIN! Kicks WDW's booty (I don't know what all these DL people are complaining about!). I wouldn't mind two years without SM at WDW if they did that to it
Toontown is much cooler
Autopia is much better, not just a race track
Tiki Room is NOT under new management, and we like it that way
Fireworks has MULTIPLE Tink flights and lasers shooting fireworks during Star Tours (cool effect)
Indiana Jones, woo hoo!
I loved looking at things and saying "Walt did that" or "Walt saw that." Loved the history.
And as far as DCA, they could chop off Paradise Pier and the park would benefit much from it. OK, so I might be bitter since Screaming was broken due to that accident (just a TAD bitter), but the rest of the rides back there were Six Flags New Orleans caliber, which basically means I don't think they were good enough to be "Disney". We only went to that part of the park and Bug's Land Saturday night and swore DCA was the worst park EVER! OK, what is up with Heimlich's Chew Chew Train? It was so bad, it hurt. hehe. But then we returned Sunday and realized "Ahh, the best part of the park, we didn't hit!" Needless to say, Soaring, GRR, Aladdin and ToT put DCA back on the map for us.
Even though most FPs were sold out by around 3-4p, we managed to get at least three per day for each ride (unlimited FP with AAA). Waits were running around 45-120 minutes for E-attractions, except for in the mornings. DL is DEFINITELY a morning park. Oh, and the parks would get worse crowd-wise after dinner. We tried to catch the fireworks then Fantasmic Sunday night. umm, no. It was a mob of people to get over to Fantasmic, and DH and I are not crowd people. Then we corralled to Tomorrowland via Frontierland and Fantasyland, and there are a ton of people there too. Then Monday we saw people sitting and waiting for Fantasmic beginning around 6p, and we said "umm, no." So (blasphemy), we missed Fantasmic. I just couldn't justify waiting all afternoon, and night time was crazy. Monday, we did early entry, and even though we left the hotel at 6:30a, it was worth it. The only thing that stunk was they wouldn't board the monorail until around 7:05. But we got into FL and did it all before opening, except the Storybookland boats, which we never got to due to lines and closures for the parade But we saw a cat drinking water on Casey Jr.! I got a pic of him. hehe. And also the big perk of early entry was walk-on to Matterhorn. OK, so I am ready for this one. The line had been wrapping around the sucker all weekend, so we didn't go on it yet. Well, we go on and DH hates it since it basically beat the hoo-hoo out of him (we rode the Tomorrowland side).
As far as food, we ate at Hungry Bear, French Market, the Mexican place in DCA (not that impressive were the nachos), churros, lots of Mickey bars, the sorbet from the carts (that was really good), breakfast at Club Buzz, Whitewater Snacks (??) at Grand Californian, Bengal BBQ and Napa Rose, which was EXCELLENT. Everything we had there was so good, especially the Tahitian vanilla creme brulee tart on top of raspberries. mmm.
OK, I'm sure there is more, but my head is still spinning. If anyone has any questions, I'll try my best to answer them!

 

[puggymom]

Thanks for posting this, I am a WDW vet making my first trip to "Walt's park" in 29 years. I'm really looking forward to seeing FL and riding Space and Indiana Jones. Plus I can't wait to see Mr. Toad again, I really miss in WDW.

 

[Michelle2]

Great report!
I am the opposite. I am a DL vet that just made a first trip to WDW about a year and a half ago, but the comparisons you made were pretty much right on the money as the things that I compared when I went to WDW. Certain rides I liked better than DL, others were best at DL. But since I stay onsite too, I just can't get over the convenience and quick access DL has. (I am really biased.)
Add in a 3rd park, and you have a whole new jumble of comparisons. All have their pros and cons and unique things.
Glad you had a great time albeit the crowds!
p.s. We are super sad about California Screamin too....It was one of our #1 faves!

 

[Handbag Lady]

Another DL vet here. We're planning my second ever trip to WDW which is three weeks from today.

Thanks for the compare and contrast. Will there be an essay due Tuesday? Seriously, it's nice to see your opinion so I'll know what to look for. The first time I went to WDW, I was just flabbergastereded. My husband proposed to me at Epcot and we saw a shuttle launch from the Space Center and then we had a whirlwind four-day stay in the World. I barely remember what we did outside of me being shocked to be in Liberty Square thinking someone stole NOS!!!!

Now, I know this is wrong on so many levels, but "Under New Management" wasn't so bad the first time I saw it seven years ago. Of course, I had no idea they would make it permanent so I am so sorry!

Our castle isn't small...er, um, it's efficient.

 

[dawnrose]

Another DL vet with our having just experienced our first visit to WDW last June. I have to say, I agreed with much of your comparison...Thanx for sharing and I'm glad that, like us, you seem to enjoy both!

 

[jlima]

But we saw a cat drinking water on Casey Jr.! I got a pic of him. hehe.

OMG!! Is this the cat you saw?

This is from November 2004; this was taken on the steps to the old Skyway station, very near the exit to Casey Jr.

 

[angey77]

OMG!! Is this the cat you saw?

This is from November 2004; this was taken on the steps to the old Skyway station, very near the exit to Casey Jr.

That is the cat!!!
That is too funny.

 

[jlima]

Let's see your picture!!

 

[angey77]

OK, here he is, although the pic is a bit blurry. But there is a story behind that. We are at Early Entry, basically no one waiting for Casey Jr. outside of my husband and myself (initially), and he makes me sit in the MONKEY CAGE with him. Two grown adults in the monkey cage. Let's not mention he is 6'2". lol. So, with the little bit of space I had between bars to shoot my camera out of, I could not turn my camera to capture clear pictures while in motion.
So, without further ado, I give you KITTY-ZILLA!!

 

[jlima]

I have had a DL AP since 1989 and occasionally you would see see lots of cats in the park, particularly at the train stations in New Orleans Square and Toontown. I'm sure they are removed periodically but I'm also sure it's not something anyone at DL wants to publicize! I had not seen any cats at DL for several years until last November when I saw this guy; I don't recall seeing any on the last few trips. This guy must have 9 lives, if he's been living at Disneyland for this long!

We ride in the monkey cages all the time! And the caboose. What a great ride.

 

[princesslondon]

Just like you we are a family of WDW vets, however we are considering DL. What is your suggestion as far as days to spend in DL? Also were you happy with your hotel and walking wise is the new hotel in California Adventure a better bet?
Thanks

 

[angey77]

Just like you we are a family of WDW vets, however we are considering DL. What is your suggestion as far as days to spend in DL? Also were you happy with your hotel and walking wise is the new hotel in California Adventure a better bet?
Thanks

We spent three days during the rush of summer and did a lot of stuff, but not all of it. But we also duplicated our favorites rides quite a few times. However, we did have that extra time to duplicate the attractions since we booked through AAA and had unlimited FP, so that was a huge factor in our time. I would say if you are going during peak season, allow at least four days total for both parks if you want to see and do everything. I'm sure some DL vets will give some opinion as to what they think also.
We were very happy with DL Hotel in all aspects. Both DL Hotel and GC seem to have their perks, location-wise. With DL Hotel, you are near the monorail into Tomorrowland. It's not a bad walk at all (almost like a walk from the Jazz Buliding of ASMu to the bus stop ... about five minutes). I'm not sure of the walk to it from GC. As far as GC, they have a resort-guest-only entrance into DCA, which we always took advantage of to avoid the hustle of the front gates. It empties you out by Grizzly River Run, so in the morning, you can hit the back of the park while everyone else is still filtering in through the front.
When we were planning our vacation, I took everything into consideration to determine our hotel choice. But when it came down to it, we went with DL Hotel since it is the original hotel and my DH wanted to stay there as a child. The GC reminded us a lot of WL. We are glad we ended up not booking it because we have been wanting to stay at WL for a long time, and we finally have it for this December. We would almost feel like we were staying at the same resort twice if we had booked GC also.