Some DL thoughts from yet another WDW vet...

[Ava]

Thank you for the report! We’re WDW vets making our first trip to DLR in a few weeks. I’m also a little nervous about using MaxPass, being used to having 3 FPs in place in advance at WDW, so it’s nice to read that you were able to figure it out fairly quickly and get a system down. I’ve been reading suggested touring plans for DLR but the FPs are always somewhat of a wild card as you don’t know what return time you’ll get before you are there.

 

[bumbershoot]

I feel like in DL they ask so often if you're an AP because they WANT to give you a discount vs in WDW where you practically have to drag it out of CMs that discounts exist...

Exactly.

And for many many people the dining plan at WDW is not a savings, so they are asking if you are using something that would cost you more money than needed.

I prefer being asked about something that I could totally do if I felt like it (aka own an AP).

We were out of state AP holders for a total of 4 years, and have been ticket-users the other years, since '05, and I still don't know what the AP culture is like. All I ever see at Disneyland are happy groups of people having tons of fun.

On CMs asking about APs: since DLR doesn't have a Dining Plan (and when we did, it wasn't very good, so no one misses it!), any discount at all is greatly appreciated. APs are expensive, and pass holders will take any savings that comes along. CMs are really good at trying to help us save wherever possible, and we love them for that!

Agreed.

But it seemed like the CM at the time was not going to give in, and I had to explain the system to him ("No, a FP IS a RS... that's what they give you when you set up a RS").

Grizzly has always been funky with switch. They've always been funky with single rider, too. It gets changed there. And with all the NEW changes, it makes sense that there was confusion.

Can't help ya with RSR since I've only ever done that ride single rider.

 

[BayouQueen]

Great trip report, Ray! It made me smile that you guys liked DCA better than DL. So many of us have watched that park "mature" since it first opened. So nice to see it's come to a point where it's a favorite. Sweet!

 

[smartlabelprint]

We were there the same exact time as you and came from Florida with over hundreds of visits to WDW over a lifetime and annual passholders for the last 15 years. We made the mistake of coming our first day into Disneyland at 5:30 and it was MOBBED! Like Christmas week mobbed at Magic Kingdom. It was very overwhelming to us. We stayed maybe an hour and decided to switch over to CA. We fell in love with it right away. (We had 2 families with both of us having 15 year old daughters.) It got us away from the crowds and we stayed and watched Paint the Night. We loved it. We were staying at the Grand Californian so it was awesome with the back entrance right into the hotel. We were in the parks the next 3 days at exactly 8am so that helped us do everything and Friday at 9 because the park didn't open until an hour later. (we rode every single ride between the 2 parks minus Nemo submarine) We figured out the fast pass system and used it quite a bit. (didn't do max pass as we were doing fine with the old fashion system, had planned on it one day but was not needed) I agree on Cars land area. That was totally awesome. We loved the 2 smaller rides as well as Radiator Springs. We rode it 3 times over our visit. My daughter was definitely upset that Incredicoaster and Fun Wheel were not opened. We loved the characters interactions at the park and the food we had was so good. All quick serve places. I honestly went with little hope of liking it and we ended up loving.

As for Disneyland, we went back all day Wednesday & Friday to give it another go. After we figured out the lay of the place we decided we did like it. Our first impression was just not a good one. We went right on Matterhorn and used fast passes throughout the day. Between the 2 days we rode everything and quite a few of them multiple times. (matterhorn, space mountain, autopia, splash, thunder, etc). I loved all the smaller rides that we do not have. (Alice, storybrook, Pinocchio, etc) We were one of the first people to ride Pirates when it opened on Friday morning. We saw the Fireworks, Fantasmic and the pixar parade while there. We also did the Minnie breakfast at the Plaza Inn. The characters were the best and let me tell you how many characters meals I have been to over the last 15 years. Having teen girls who both have grown up Disney, they agreed that it was by far the best of any character interactions we have ever had at WDW. We did the 10:30 seating which was recommended to me and I bet Minnie, Capt Hook and Chip spent at least 15 minutes each as the restaurant was closing. They were dancing and making videos with the girls. Every other character came around at least 3 times as well.

So our once in a lifetime trip to CA is not going to be that. We spent our first 4 days in Hollywood/LA area and we had a great time there as well. My daughter wants to do a mini trip for her 16th birthday in September. Just trying to see how we could do it all. Her biggest request is to go back to California Adventure. We do have enough points for the plane tickets, sooooo we may be back.

DL gets busy in the afternoons. That’s typically when we hop over to DCA.

 

[Sunstar]

Thank you for your report! My DH and I are going in February with our DS, who's 5, and a 2 1/2 month old. We're very curious about how the trip is going to go, as this will be our first trip with kids. We've been to WDW bunches of times and I've been to DL once, but never with kids.