Our First DL Trip!

[cjlong88]

Today is our departure day. I thought I’d take a minute to write up my experiences and thoughts. We go to WDW 2-3 times per year and this was our very first time in DL.

Overall, I’m more impressed with DL than I am with specifically MK in WDW and if I had to pick one to visit, I would pick DL in the heartbeat.

Space, Big Thunder, and Pirates were far and away better attractions than their counterparts on the east coast. Adventureland felt more realized with its theming. The Indiana Jones attraction was incredible! I enjoyed the layout differences in SWGE and found it to be much less crowded. In general, everything felt more quaint and we really enjoyed the little details. Fantasyland is really adorable. Mr Toad was fun but also bizarre. At the end of the ride my partner and I looked at each and I asked, “Did we just visit hell?” It made the cast member chuckle at least. The ride I’ll never need to do again is the Matterhorn. It makes WDW’s Space Mountain seem like the smoothest coaster in the world. Never have I gotten off a ride and said “ow”. But man, that one is rough!

DCA had some great rides and themed areas, but overall it lacks things to do and a good chunk of the park is not that great. I would definitely choose Hollywood Studios over DCA. Avengers Campus was AWESOME. Guardians and Web Slingers were both super fun attractions. We really enjoy the fact that you can ride these attractions multiple times and have different experiences. Cars Land was fine…it was well themed. Radiator Springs Racers was fun, although once was enough for us. Loved Grizzly River Run and Incredicoaster (especially the coaster at night). Pixar Pier looks great after sunset.

It was crowded, but doing WDW many times prepared us for managing crowds, so we were able to navigate them just fine. Our longest wait was RSR at about 40 minutes. Everything else was under 30 minutes simply because of timing, rope drop strategy, etc. We were able to ride our favorites 2-3 times no problem. Knowing when to ride an attraction is key.

Saw Pete and Ryno at Pixar Pier the other day in front of Lamplight Lounge. It’s kind of crazy to see people you watch on YouTube in real life. Didn’t say hello…but if either of you read this….hello!

DL is awesome. I would definitely visit again. I loved the predictability of the weather. I loved how close everything was so we could walk everything and get there in minutes. There were so many new things to see and experience, which made our visit fresh and exciting.

 

[evilmommie]

So glad to hear you had an amazing time at the original. Your first visit to Disneyland?! So special. Loved reading your thoughts. Glad you had a great time.

 

[SherylLC]

I'm so glad you had a great experience! WDW vs. DL is apples and oranges but I grew up in SoCal so DL has my heart.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

It was crowded, but doing WDW many times prepared us for managing crowds, so we were able to navigate them just fine. Our longest wait was RSR at about 40 minutes. Everything else was under 30 minutes simply because of timing, rope drop strategy, etc. We were able to ride our favorites 2-3 times no problem. Knowing when to ride an attraction is key.

Could you expand on this a bit? We've been to WDW a lot but trying to adjust our strategies for Disneyland (going in September).

I have heard it's a locals park and gets busy in the afternoon so rope dropping helps a ton.

 

[cjlong88]

Could you expand on this a bit? We've been to WDW a lot but trying to adjust our strategies for Disneyland (going in September).

I have heard it's a locals park and gets busy in the afternoon so rope dropping helps a ton.

Sure thing!

Things That Worked for Us:

• We got there early! Being at the front of rope drop on our first day was a game changer.
• We checked the app. Doesn't take long, and seeing things ebb and flow throughout the day helped us know what a good, low-end wait time was for each attraction. Doing this the week before our trip also helped a ton.
• We had a plan and a backup plan (and sometimes another backup plan). If something went down, we had a plan B so we weren't wasting time trying to figure out what do to next. This is our WDW strategy and it works wonders.
• We utilized the single rider lines. They were huge time savers.
• We knew which rides had consistently high waits throughout the day and which ones would move up and down more often. Rides with consistently high wait times that didn't see much change in their wait time throughout the day were (mostly) put at the beginning and end of the day.

Below is a more thorough play-by-play of our experience in case you want to see exactly what we did in what order and how long the waits were.

DAY 1

Disneyland:
We arrived at security about 70 minutes before the park opened. We waited in the far left line, closest to the row of trees. Right at 7am we reserved our BG for RotR. I think it was around 7:30ish when they started moving us through security. Because we were on the far left, we were able to move all the way over to the left side where more security lines open up. That meant we were able to get right up to a security guard while everyone else was staying to the right and lining up. From there we quickly walked over to the DL turnstiles and was the 3rd party in our line. After letting us through the turnstiles, we entered Main Street and kept right. We were right at the front of the pack.

Rope drop occurred exactly at 8am we headed straight to Space Mountain, which was a walk-on. By the time we exited the ride, it was already posted at 40 minutes. Being at the front of rope drop really helped us ride the wave of crowds the entire morning. From there we rode Matterhorn (10 minutes), Snow White (5 minutes), Pirates (5 minutes), Haunted Mansion (10 minutes), and the DL Railroad (walk-on) before our boarding group for RotR was called. Being at the front of rope drop and getting Space and Matterhorn out of the way quickly really set us up to enjoy low waits the rest of the morning. Those two reached higher wait times and we didn't really see them budge the rest of the day.

After RotR we checked the app and noticed Indiana Jones was down, so we grabbed drink and a snack and headed over that way. We ate our snack and beverage and just as we were finishing up, the ride opened back up. We hopped right in line and waited only about 10 minutes. This attraction went down one other time during our stay and we did the exact same thing. Grabbed a snack/drink, made our way close to the attraction, then hopped right in line as it opened back up. It typically had a 45-55 minute wait throughout the day, so we tried to capitalize on the ride breakdowns to ensure a shorter wait. This strategy requires luck, but it worked out for us each time.

Because we had a park hopper ticket and our RotR BG was called well before noon, we were able to try for the Web Slingers BG (my husband has the fastest fingers and phone so he grabbed it no problem). We ate lunch, took some photos, enjoyed the marching band, did some shopping, and soaked in the atmosphere. Seriously...we love everything about how DL is themed. We headed over to DCA to ride some attractions before our BG was called.

DCA:
We grabbed a snack and explored the park a bit, just to get the lay of the land. We checked wait times and decided to ride Incredicoaster (10 minutes), TSM (15-20ish minutes), and Little Mermaid (walk-on) before were were called to ride Web Slingers. By that time it was about 3:30pm we went back to the hotel to rest our feet and relax a bit.

We headed back to the parks at 7:00 for our dining reservation at Lamplight Lounge. Afterwards it was dark enough where we got to ride Incredicoaster (10 minutes) at night, which was much more exciting with the entire ride and pier lit up. We then headed to Soarin' (5 minutes) right at park close. From there we headed back to Disneyland to ride Big Thunder (15 minutes). We timed it perfectly and were able to ride it as the fireworks were going off. It was so magical! The final chain lift's explosive effects are really super cool.

We headed back to the hotel around 10pm and made our plan for Day 2. We took note of which rides we still wanted to ride and the order we would like to try to accomplish them.


DAY 2

DCA:
Because we had such a long day, we decided to have a more relaxed start to the day. We grabbed another BG for Web Slingers that morning (thanks, husband!) and then started getting ready for the day. We arrived at security around 7:45am. Because we were so far back in the rope drop crowd, we decided to start with GotG, which was a great choice because it was only a 10 minute wait. Afterwards our BG was called for Web Slingers. We REALLY enjoyed that ride and were bummed we could only do it once per day. From there, we headed to Grizzly River Run (5 minutes). This ride got a VERY long wait midday, and because it was already warm, we decided it would be great to ride it while everyone else was in Avengers Campus or Cars Land.

From there, we only had one attraction we had left on our list and it was Radiator Springs Racers. Had we been at the front of rope drop, this would have been our ride of choice to start with. We opted for the single rider line. It would have been a much shorter wait had the ride not experienced down time (about 10-15 minutes). We waited about 40, but it was posted at 110, so I'm calling that a WIN. It was mid-morning and we hit every attraction we wanted to experience in DCA at least once, so we explored the lands a bit more, did some shopping, ate some snacks, and then grabbed drinks at Carthay Circle Lounge (reservation).

It was around 1:30pm and we decided to head back to DL to ride some attractions we missed.

Disneyland:
Pinnochio, Mr. Toad, and Alice in Wonderland only had 10-20 minute waits each so we hit those first. From there we re-rode Big Thunder (15 minutes), Pirates (30 minutes -- it's so much better than WDW's it upsets me that they didn't do WDW's like DL's), and Indiana Jones (supposed to be 55 minutes but it shut down briefly before opening back up so we only waited 15 minutes). We then headed back to the hotel a bit for some R&R.

That evening we headed back to DL and tried the single rider line for Space Mountain. It was a great choice because NO ONE was using it. There was only 4 people in front of us and we were on in minutes (posted 60 minute wait). From there we thought about doing Splash, Peter Pan, and Millennium Falcon, but chose not to. We've done MFSR many times at WDW, and we finally dried off from Grizzly so didn't want to chance getting wet on Splash. Peter Pan was one ride that has always been "meh" for us so that was an easy one to skip (at least for this trip).

We decided to do IASW (walk-on). We walked through Toon Town, which was about all we needed to do there. Nothing looked to interesting to us. Indiana Jones went down (AGAIN) and we walked over (AGAIN) and we caught it just as it reopened (AGAIN). Was one of my favorite rides the entire trip so I really enjoyed going on it with a minimal wait all 3 times. Around 8:00 pm we headed back to DCA for dinner before getting in line for Guardians right at park close. Glad we rode it a second time because the scenes were completely different! We weren't expecting that, so it was the perfect way to close our trip. We could have ran over to DL and done Splash or something else, but we decided to turn in and enjoy some fireworks from our hotel balcony.

We didn't get to do everything, but we did our must-do's and really enjoyed ourselves. While we enjoy dining and soaking in everything, the attractions we can't do at WDW were our biggest priority and we were so glad that we took the time to re-ride our favorites.

Overall

• Wait times were often inflated, but sometimes they were spot on. I never stood in a line that was longer than posted.
• We knew what we wanted to ride and made it a priority list. Things at the top of the list were checked off first. If we didn't hit it all, then it wasn't a big deal. And having that mindset really made this trip FUN and easy because nothing was "make or break". We can always visit again!
• In my opinion, Space Mountain and Radiator Springs Racers are the best rides to rope drop so long as you are at the front of the rope drop crowd (this is complete and total opinion...I know others will say differently)
• We could have probably done everything once but decided to enjoy the attractions we really liked two or three times.
• My favorites (in no particular order): Indiana Jones, Space Mountain, Pirates, Mr. Toad, Big Thunder, Snow White, Guardians of the Galaxy, Incredicoaster, and Web Slingers.

 

[eplcreel]

Thanks for all the information. We are thinking about going out to DL so this will be extremely helpful.

 

[nyy]

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences! It sounds like you had an awesome trip! Your strategies seemed to work perfectly!
We have been to WDW many times, but never DL. We would really love to go, but have never made the jump. We live in upstate NY, and DRIVE to WDW, so we would either have to fly (which I have irrational fears of) or extend our travel time by several days.

It seems from your report, and others I have read, that it is very easy to hop back and forth between parks. Would you say you did less walking? How would you compare the size of each park to parks at WDW?

Which resort did you stay at and how did it compare to any WDW resorts you have stayed in?

 

[cjlong88]

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences! It sounds like you had an awesome trip! Your strategies seemed to work perfectly!
We have been to WDW many times, but never DL. We would really love to go, but have never made the jump. We live in upstate NY, and DRIVE to WDW, so we would either have to fly (which I have irrational fears of) or extend our travel time by several days.

It seems from your report, and others I have read, that it is very easy to hop back and forth between parks. Would you say you did less walking? How would you compare the size of each park to parks at WDW?

Which resort did you stay at and how did it compare to any WDW resorts you have stayed in?

We really wanted to stay onsite, but we opted to stay at the Marriott Fairfield Inn using points. It was a super short walk to the parks. Not the nicest hotel, but because all we did was sleep and nap while we were there, it served it's purpose. Got a decent view of the fireworks, and had no noise problems all three nights. Had we stayed longer, I think we would have done an on-site stay though.

 

[cjlong88]

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences! It sounds like you had an awesome trip! Your strategies seemed to work perfectly!
We have been to WDW many times, but never DL. We would really love to go, but have never made the jump. We live in upstate NY, and DRIVE to WDW, so we would either have to fly (which I have irrational fears of) or extend our travel time by several days.

It seems from your report, and others I have read, that it is very easy to hop back and forth between parks. Would you say you did less walking? How would you compare the size of each park to parks at WDW?

Which resort did you stay at and how did it compare to any WDW resorts you have stayed in?

I'm just now realizing I didn't answer all of your questions...oops!

Yes, we definitely did less walking. Comparing the size of Disneyland to the size of Magic Kingdom, DL is smaller. I was always shocked at how quickly we walked from one side of the park to the other. DCA is small and quite easy to navigate, more similar to the size of Hollywood Studios (maybe even smaller??). We could get to the back of the park in no time. We might have walked the same amount of steps, but only because we had longer days and no transportation time that allowed us to sit.

The off-site hotels are literally across the street from the walkway that takes you both DCA and DL turnstiles. SO EASY. It couldn't have taken us longer than 8-10 minutes to get from our hotel door to the parks, and that was walking at a very slow, easy pace.

 

[nyy]

We really wanted to stay onsite, but we opted to stay at the Marriott Fairfield Inn using points. It was a super short walk to the parks. Not the nicest hotel, but because all we did was sleep and nap while we were there, it served it's purpose. Got a decent view of the fireworks, and had no noise problems all three nights. Had we stayed longer, I think we would have done an on-site stay though.

I'm just now realizing I didn't answer all of your questions...oops!

Yes, we definitely did less walking. Comparing the size of Disneyland to the size of Magic Kingdom, DL is smaller. I was always shocked at how quickly we walked from one side of the park to the other. DCA is small and quite easy to navigate, more similar to the size of Hollywood Studios (maybe even smaller??). We could get to the back of the park in no time. We might have walked the same amount of steps, but only because we had longer days and no transportation time that allowed us to sit.

The off-site hotels are literally across the street from the walkway that takes you both DCA and DL turnstiles. SO EASY. It couldn't have taken us longer than 8-10 minutes to get from our hotel door to the parks, and that was walking at a very slow, easy pace.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions! I really appreciate it!
Now I just need to figure out how to get across the country... LOL.

 

[Jaina]

Very helpful trip report, and I'm so glad you had a great time!

 

[chickapin parterre]

Matterhorn is an international roller coaster icon and will never be changed. When built, it was the first of its kind and very experimental when Walt introduced the attraction, so the rough ride will never be changed, regardless how many times they change the design of the bobsled, and for me it reacts like what I see during the olympics.