I am planning a family reunion in December at WDW but it seemed so far off that I decided to take my 6 year old nephew, mother and sister to DLP for a few days.
The DLP trip was planned before I planned my solo trip in August but I figured you can never have too much Disney. I had never been to DLP and neither had my nephew. I was a little apprehensive as I love WDW so much and wasn't sure how I would feel about DLP.
We decided to stay at the Davy Crockett Ranch. Our cabin had 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a nice deck outside with a bbq. Downside to staying there was that there is no Disney transport so we had to drive to the parks together and back and couldn't split up during the day. Also no Wifi at the ranch except at the saloon and even there it was spotty.
The parks themselves where okay, I guess once you have been to WDW you are spoiled but I just did't feel the magic at DLP. No special touches that made me feel emotional, we were there before park opening and waited by the closed gate. Once it was time for the park to open 2 CM just walked up and opened the gate. No music, no characters, the same when you walk up Main Street. Just a few replica cars driving up and down, CMs driving spoke very little English and didn't interact with guests.
Because we were staying at Disney we could use the extra morning hours but we only did this once at it was not worth getting up early for. Only 2 lands are open for the extra morning hours, Fantasy and Discovery Land and not all rides in those lands are open. Because of this it was busy at the few things that were open.
There were a few things I did really like, the castle is beautiful and you can go inside and admire the stain glass windows. The dragon underneath the castle was very cool. POTC was a bit nicer than in WDW, I loved The Casey Jr. train and Minature land in Fantasy Land.
The Toy Story area in Studios was very fun, my nephew loved the parachute ride and toy car ride. I liked the theming of that part of the park but the rest was a bit boring, ToT was shorter but still fun, Ratatouille is very well done but it gave me slight motion sickness even tough the ride was very smooth. I didn't ride Crush as the line was always ridiculous long and I don't care for coasters that much anyway and my nephew was too short for it.
We waited 20 min for the Frozen Welcome, I was looking forward to this, not because I am a Frozen fan but because I was hoping for some Disney Magic. Behold the Frozen Welcome parade
Here is the start
And this is the finish
That's right, it was just a coach with Anna and Elsa in it. No music, no dancers, just a coach.
We were all very disappointed.
All in all we had a nice couple of days and I would take my nephew again in a few years but it just felt more like a theme park and not Disney.
Not sure if I didn't enjoy it as much because I got let go from my job that I love on Sunday and we arrived on Monday. Maybe if I had been feeling happier I would have enjoyed it more. Hopefully I'll find a new job before my planned solo trip otherwise I will have to cancel that.
I am not a great photographer like some people on this site but I did take a few more pics with my phone.
I love Up so was happy to see these guys.
The Snow White ride was very cute, my mother loved it as Snow White is her favourite princess.
Fire breathing dragon underneath the castle.
Glass stained window at the train station.
The DLP trip was planned before I planned my solo trip in August but I figured you can never have too much Disney. I had never been to DLP and neither had my nephew. I was a little apprehensive as I love WDW so much and wasn't sure how I would feel about DLP.
We decided to stay at the Davy Crockett Ranch. Our cabin had 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a nice deck outside with a bbq. Downside to staying there was that there is no Disney transport so we had to drive to the parks together and back and couldn't split up during the day. Also no Wifi at the ranch except at the saloon and even there it was spotty.
The parks themselves where okay, I guess once you have been to WDW you are spoiled but I just did't feel the magic at DLP. No special touches that made me feel emotional, we were there before park opening and waited by the closed gate. Once it was time for the park to open 2 CM just walked up and opened the gate. No music, no characters, the same when you walk up Main Street. Just a few replica cars driving up and down, CMs driving spoke very little English and didn't interact with guests.
Because we were staying at Disney we could use the extra morning hours but we only did this once at it was not worth getting up early for. Only 2 lands are open for the extra morning hours, Fantasy and Discovery Land and not all rides in those lands are open. Because of this it was busy at the few things that were open.
There were a few things I did really like, the castle is beautiful and you can go inside and admire the stain glass windows. The dragon underneath the castle was very cool. POTC was a bit nicer than in WDW, I loved The Casey Jr. train and Minature land in Fantasy Land.
The Toy Story area in Studios was very fun, my nephew loved the parachute ride and toy car ride. I liked the theming of that part of the park but the rest was a bit boring, ToT was shorter but still fun, Ratatouille is very well done but it gave me slight motion sickness even tough the ride was very smooth. I didn't ride Crush as the line was always ridiculous long and I don't care for coasters that much anyway and my nephew was too short for it.
We waited 20 min for the Frozen Welcome, I was looking forward to this, not because I am a Frozen fan but because I was hoping for some Disney Magic. Behold the Frozen Welcome parade
Here is the start
And this is the finish
That's right, it was just a coach with Anna and Elsa in it. No music, no dancers, just a coach.
We were all very disappointed.
All in all we had a nice couple of days and I would take my nephew again in a few years but it just felt more like a theme park and not Disney.
Not sure if I didn't enjoy it as much because I got let go from my job that I love on Sunday and we arrived on Monday. Maybe if I had been feeling happier I would have enjoyed it more. Hopefully I'll find a new job before my planned solo trip otherwise I will have to cancel that.
I am not a great photographer like some people on this site but I did take a few more pics with my phone.
I love Up so was happy to see these guys.
The Snow White ride was very cute, my mother loved it as Snow White is her favourite princess.
Fire breathing dragon underneath the castle.
Glass stained window at the train station.
Haven't been there for months! Thanks for the share! And off course following along!
