A few of you may know that I was on a business trip to LA last week. I was thus able to take an afternoon off and visit DL - I figured I had been to WDW so many times that it would be fun to do a comparison with the original park that started it all.
I arrived at the park at about 1pm. The crowds were at a low to medium level I would say. I was actually a little surprised that there were as many people there that there were, seeing as it was a Wednesday afternoon. Since I was solo this time (first time going by myself), I decided to just do the major attractions and skip the kiddie based rides altogether. Yeah, there are some good A-B-C-D ticket rides but I had neither the time nor desire to do them by myself.
Anyway here is the order in which I traversed the park :
#1 Main Street USA and Cinderella's Castle - okay, it's true. Disneyland IS smaller than WDW. MSU is a bit more quaint and the castle is, should I say, tiny? I was shocked to see the size of the castle .. lol.
#2 Indiana Jones Adventure - first of all, let me just say that the queue here is mind blowing. I could not get over the detail and absolutely massive length of this queue. I could see it easily holding two to three hours worth of guests (which I'm sure it does at times). From the outside temple entrance to the caves and winding corridors inside, this is Disney at it's best. Probably the best queue I have ever seen. Plus, in order to contain the central part of the ride the ride building must be huge! All you see of the building is the temple entrance - I was astounded by the sheer size of the attraction and the way you can not see any of the show building. I really enjoyed the ride and can obviously see why many people think this the finest Disney attraction.
#3 Pirates of the Caribbean - the first thing that you notice .. almost no queue! It is kinda weird that you just walk straight onto the ride. After that, though, it is better than the WDW version in every way IMO. From the Bayou restaurant and the swamp at the beginning, to the two waterfalls, to the immersive caves, and finally to the newer animatronics, I found the DL version to be quite delightful. Since PoTC is my favorite overall attraction at WDW, this was a great surprise.
#4 Haunted Holiday Mansion - while I feel that the holiday decorations are well done, it just wasn't for me. I can see how kids would enjoy them but it really took away from the Mansion, for me. The WDW version of the HM definitely is much better IMO.
#5 Big Thunder Mtn Railroad - most of the theming at BTMRR is similar to the WDW version, except the queue is a bit shorter I think. As for the ride though, I felt like the DL version went a bit quicker. Could that be? The ride definitely felt more intense to me - I liked it a lot. I made sure to ride in the back row as well for the best experience and I was not disappointed. My vote goes to the DL version.
#6 The Matterhorn Bobsleds - basically no theming in the queue here, just some back and forth meandering towards the loading zone. The ride is very old, of course, and you can see it in the equipment. I have to say, I was not expecting much from this attraction at all due to it's age. However, having ridden it now I can see that I truly enjoyed it. Wow, was it rough though! There are lots of turns and the presentation of the Yeti creature was pretty neat - it gave me a small fright since I didn't know it was coming - haha. All in all, I would rate this as plain ol' fun.
#7 Innoventions - first of all, you have to wait outside until the show begins and there is no shade right at the entrance. That is a problem as it was quite warm that day. Strike one. When you get into the attraction they go through some spiel in ones of the areas, which was mildly amusing. The rest of the attraction has technology and small kiosks to peruse .. more directed at kids I would think. I made a bee-line for the exit.
#8 Space Mountain - ah, finally. The piece de resistance. I've always loved SM at WDW but lots of others seem to think the DL version is better. Well, here is my eval. You start off in a completely different style of queue .. on the roof of a building. I didn't like it at first but it's kinda neat how you can see out over Tomorrowland. Then you go back into the show building and weave your way through to a large loading area .. huge really. The space ship in there is enormous and I was impressed. Now for the ride .. the first thing I noticed was the side by side seating position. That is new to me. Then I noticed the way they load extra cars for handicapped or disabled persons .. very clever and novel! The ride itself was sensational and smooth. Felt a lot faster than the WDW version - may have just been the darkness I suppose. The only small downside to me was the lack of large straight down drops. I seem to remember only experiencing one small drop - most of the ride was just going around corners. I think WDW has a couple of larger vertical drops. It didn't detract from the ride, of course, but I think would've improved the ride nonetheless.
#9 Star Tours - this is basically identical to the MGM version. It's still a fairly fun attraction IMO. Several people on the ride with me were genuinely giggling throughout, which tells me it's still a good experience for some. I've been on it enough to be sort of numb to the effects but it's better than a kick in the shin.
Here is where I started doing repeat rides - at this point it was only about 5pm, so I had done all of these attractions (and ate lunch) in approx. 4hrs. Not too bad, eh? That's the beauty of small crowds and going solo.
#10 - Indiana Jones
#11 - Matterhorn
#12 - Space Mountain
#13 - Indiana Jones (yeah, it was a great queue and ride!)
#14 - Jungle Cruise - the ride itself is very similar to the WDW version .. a few differences here and there. Our captain was extremely funny and into his character, which made the experience a lot of fun.
I called it a day at this point to avoid the large crowds leaving the park. The time was about 7:15pm, so that means I did 13 attractions (and ate lunch and dinner) in approx. 6hrs 15mins. It was plenty of time to do all of the good stuff - obviously you would need at least a full day if you were with kids, but since I was not I was satisfied with my tally.
Thanks to anyone who convinced me to go over to DL during my last thread a couple of weeks ago. I had a blast and would certainly go back, hopefully this time with my wife and future kids!
I arrived at the park at about 1pm. The crowds were at a low to medium level I would say. I was actually a little surprised that there were as many people there that there were, seeing as it was a Wednesday afternoon. Since I was solo this time (first time going by myself), I decided to just do the major attractions and skip the kiddie based rides altogether. Yeah, there are some good A-B-C-D ticket rides but I had neither the time nor desire to do them by myself.
Anyway here is the order in which I traversed the park :
#1 Main Street USA and Cinderella's Castle - okay, it's true. Disneyland IS smaller than WDW. MSU is a bit more quaint and the castle is, should I say, tiny? I was shocked to see the size of the castle .. lol.
#2 Indiana Jones Adventure - first of all, let me just say that the queue here is mind blowing. I could not get over the detail and absolutely massive length of this queue. I could see it easily holding two to three hours worth of guests (which I'm sure it does at times). From the outside temple entrance to the caves and winding corridors inside, this is Disney at it's best. Probably the best queue I have ever seen. Plus, in order to contain the central part of the ride the ride building must be huge! All you see of the building is the temple entrance - I was astounded by the sheer size of the attraction and the way you can not see any of the show building. I really enjoyed the ride and can obviously see why many people think this the finest Disney attraction.
#3 Pirates of the Caribbean - the first thing that you notice .. almost no queue! It is kinda weird that you just walk straight onto the ride. After that, though, it is better than the WDW version in every way IMO. From the Bayou restaurant and the swamp at the beginning, to the two waterfalls, to the immersive caves, and finally to the newer animatronics, I found the DL version to be quite delightful. Since PoTC is my favorite overall attraction at WDW, this was a great surprise.
#4 Haunted Holiday Mansion - while I feel that the holiday decorations are well done, it just wasn't for me. I can see how kids would enjoy them but it really took away from the Mansion, for me. The WDW version of the HM definitely is much better IMO.
#5 Big Thunder Mtn Railroad - most of the theming at BTMRR is similar to the WDW version, except the queue is a bit shorter I think. As for the ride though, I felt like the DL version went a bit quicker. Could that be? The ride definitely felt more intense to me - I liked it a lot. I made sure to ride in the back row as well for the best experience and I was not disappointed. My vote goes to the DL version.
#6 The Matterhorn Bobsleds - basically no theming in the queue here, just some back and forth meandering towards the loading zone. The ride is very old, of course, and you can see it in the equipment. I have to say, I was not expecting much from this attraction at all due to it's age. However, having ridden it now I can see that I truly enjoyed it. Wow, was it rough though! There are lots of turns and the presentation of the Yeti creature was pretty neat - it gave me a small fright since I didn't know it was coming - haha. All in all, I would rate this as plain ol' fun.
#7 Innoventions - first of all, you have to wait outside until the show begins and there is no shade right at the entrance. That is a problem as it was quite warm that day. Strike one. When you get into the attraction they go through some spiel in ones of the areas, which was mildly amusing. The rest of the attraction has technology and small kiosks to peruse .. more directed at kids I would think. I made a bee-line for the exit.
#8 Space Mountain - ah, finally. The piece de resistance. I've always loved SM at WDW but lots of others seem to think the DL version is better. Well, here is my eval. You start off in a completely different style of queue .. on the roof of a building. I didn't like it at first but it's kinda neat how you can see out over Tomorrowland. Then you go back into the show building and weave your way through to a large loading area .. huge really. The space ship in there is enormous and I was impressed. Now for the ride .. the first thing I noticed was the side by side seating position. That is new to me. Then I noticed the way they load extra cars for handicapped or disabled persons .. very clever and novel! The ride itself was sensational and smooth. Felt a lot faster than the WDW version - may have just been the darkness I suppose. The only small downside to me was the lack of large straight down drops. I seem to remember only experiencing one small drop - most of the ride was just going around corners. I think WDW has a couple of larger vertical drops. It didn't detract from the ride, of course, but I think would've improved the ride nonetheless.
#9 Star Tours - this is basically identical to the MGM version. It's still a fairly fun attraction IMO. Several people on the ride with me were genuinely giggling throughout, which tells me it's still a good experience for some. I've been on it enough to be sort of numb to the effects but it's better than a kick in the shin.
Here is where I started doing repeat rides - at this point it was only about 5pm, so I had done all of these attractions (and ate lunch) in approx. 4hrs. Not too bad, eh? That's the beauty of small crowds and going solo.
#10 - Indiana Jones
#11 - Matterhorn
#12 - Space Mountain
#13 - Indiana Jones (yeah, it was a great queue and ride!)
#14 - Jungle Cruise - the ride itself is very similar to the WDW version .. a few differences here and there. Our captain was extremely funny and into his character, which made the experience a lot of fun.
I called it a day at this point to avoid the large crowds leaving the park. The time was about 7:15pm, so that means I did 13 attractions (and ate lunch and dinner) in approx. 6hrs 15mins. It was plenty of time to do all of the good stuff - obviously you would need at least a full day if you were with kids, but since I was not I was satisfied with my tally.
Thanks to anyone who convinced me to go over to DL during my last thread a couple of weeks ago. I had a blast and would certainly go back, hopefully this time with my wife and future kids!
