So I finally got an opportunity to make a DLR visit again. It's been awhile, probably since 2013 since I was there last. But this time, with the help of the Costco promo, I'd be there with a full 3 day, PH, MLL package. I'll share my thoughts and learnings from this trip.. and will follow on with other stuff from my LA stay.
Where to stay? Last time the wife complained about the walk after the park kind of took her out of the mindset, when we stayed closer to the convention center. So this time, proximity was a priority. It seems most of the properties have renovated and there are a ton of chains on top of the classic motels that used to be the harbor favorites. I considered the Garden Inn and Home2Suites.. but the extended walk past the HoJo was a turn off. The other alt was Hyatt House down on Katella.. but ultimately wanted to give one of the motel classics a try and opt'd for the Camelot Inn. The location was great. It was right next to Panera for breakfast, and distance wise feels hard to beat. The only negatives were.. we were in the very last rooms on the floor.. which meant maximum walking distance. And two.. probably the worst water pressure I've ever experienced.. like.. barely spitting at you showers. Otherwise the room was modern, tho the wife didn't like the bed.
Crowds? I'm normally a fan of Touringplans.. but I really felt let down. For Sept 12th, they were predicting a 3. I was hoping that would mean 15-20min max on lesser rides, and hopefully 30-45 on popular stuff, with the few outliners like Rise of course being hour plus. While I got a ton of rides in on Friday (I think I counted 13), that was all totally using LL, I paid for Rise Single use LL, and the park still felt jammed. If this was a 3.. I was like.. wth would a 8 be?? Pure hell. And in their 'what we observed', they somehow called DL a 2 that day.. which is basically as low as they go. It has to be a math anomoly because experience wise, it wasn't any 2. I honestly felt I wouldn't want to be there if it was anything more than maybe 50% more than what I saw. We were there again on Sunday, which they again predicted as a 3 and observed a 2.. and it was FAR more enjoyable on Sunday. I know their stuff is based on observed numbers.. but their maths didn't match my experience in the park in general.
While return times were generally very short.. posted standby waits were not. Peter Pan was 30-50mins most of the day. HM was 45-60 all day long.. Tiana was like 45mins most of the time, etc. If this is a '2'? Count me out for any real crowded day. It was really apparent when even the FL attractions needed like 30min waits until the end of the night. Now obviously I used LL to manage this, and for the first time I really tried using TP's touring plans for like 90% of the scheduling.. but I had usability concerns with the TP lines app too which I guess I can save for later.
DL comments? First.. thank god there are benches still. Unlike WDW.. which purged them. I've had decades of back issues including multiple surgeries and extended standing really takes a toll on me.. and I need sitting breaks to prevent an overload. Thankfully DL has benches all over the place.
I do feel like a lot of the colors felt a little more sun bleached than in the past.. areas like IASW, and others kinda stood out to me. Show standards seemed good.. nothing really stood out to me as with with no obvious gaffs.
Photopass has always been a bit of a hodgepodge at DL vs WDW.. feeling like DL never really wanted to buy in.. and I'm sure giving it away in maxpass and now in other bundles undercuts it's direct revenue contribution too. But why doesn't DL put photopass cameras at most of the character meets?? And why after all these years are attractions like Buzz not updated for the attraction photos?
Photopass is one area where the DL app worked well for us.. and I do like the easy linking for both rides and photopass folks. That was a big positive.
An area where DL's app is weaker than WDW is dining, and specifically search and menus. Like, if a venue had mobile order, the app wanted to push you immediately to starting an order if you clicked on it from the map instead of just letting you have the option to browse the menu first. Also, while search did work for food options, search is global without filters so you can't easily search for say... pretzels and find DL locations with them.. you find all locations everywhere, and then have to scroll and then look at menus (or mobile order) to try to look at the matches. WDW's food search (at least in the past) was better.
The same goes for Merch. WDW had merch shopping more integrated.. meaning you could scan an idea, and find all stores that sold that item. Making finding other sources for something, WAY easier. While DL has mobile checkout which is nicely done.. I couldn't find how to search for items at different stores. Also, mobile checkout has some quirks. In DCA, we were in the store attached to the starbucks location... wife wanted a traveler mug they had.. so I used mobile checkout, scanned the item, and paid. But.. there was no mobile check desk.. Turns out, app only listed Elias & Co when I did mobile checkout. I didn't know the name of the store when I was inside it.. and I picked it, and it let me checkout. Well, that's not the store I was in
I had to have a CM walk me across the street to get scanned over there. CM's couldn't handle the scenario at all in the first store, and were confused on why it let me scan and checkout.
I did successfully use mobile checkout a few times.. it seems useful. But I really miss what I could do in WDW last time, which was scan an item and find it in different stores. We had a really hard time finding any clothing in medium for women... that would of helped us know where else to look for an item when it wasn't available in the store you were in.
Mobile ordering is better than it used to be.. but locations that ONLY offered mobile order annoyed me. Plus, I found often just going to the counter was going to be faster than mobile order anyway. C+ score for mobile food ordering I think.
Where to stay? Last time the wife complained about the walk after the park kind of took her out of the mindset, when we stayed closer to the convention center. So this time, proximity was a priority. It seems most of the properties have renovated and there are a ton of chains on top of the classic motels that used to be the harbor favorites. I considered the Garden Inn and Home2Suites.. but the extended walk past the HoJo was a turn off. The other alt was Hyatt House down on Katella.. but ultimately wanted to give one of the motel classics a try and opt'd for the Camelot Inn. The location was great. It was right next to Panera for breakfast, and distance wise feels hard to beat. The only negatives were.. we were in the very last rooms on the floor.. which meant maximum walking distance. And two.. probably the worst water pressure I've ever experienced.. like.. barely spitting at you showers. Otherwise the room was modern, tho the wife didn't like the bed.
Crowds? I'm normally a fan of Touringplans.. but I really felt let down. For Sept 12th, they were predicting a 3. I was hoping that would mean 15-20min max on lesser rides, and hopefully 30-45 on popular stuff, with the few outliners like Rise of course being hour plus. While I got a ton of rides in on Friday (I think I counted 13), that was all totally using LL, I paid for Rise Single use LL, and the park still felt jammed. If this was a 3.. I was like.. wth would a 8 be?? Pure hell. And in their 'what we observed', they somehow called DL a 2 that day.. which is basically as low as they go. It has to be a math anomoly because experience wise, it wasn't any 2. I honestly felt I wouldn't want to be there if it was anything more than maybe 50% more than what I saw. We were there again on Sunday, which they again predicted as a 3 and observed a 2.. and it was FAR more enjoyable on Sunday. I know their stuff is based on observed numbers.. but their maths didn't match my experience in the park in general.
While return times were generally very short.. posted standby waits were not. Peter Pan was 30-50mins most of the day. HM was 45-60 all day long.. Tiana was like 45mins most of the time, etc. If this is a '2'? Count me out for any real crowded day. It was really apparent when even the FL attractions needed like 30min waits until the end of the night. Now obviously I used LL to manage this, and for the first time I really tried using TP's touring plans for like 90% of the scheduling.. but I had usability concerns with the TP lines app too which I guess I can save for later.
DL comments? First.. thank god there are benches still. Unlike WDW.. which purged them. I've had decades of back issues including multiple surgeries and extended standing really takes a toll on me.. and I need sitting breaks to prevent an overload. Thankfully DL has benches all over the place.
I do feel like a lot of the colors felt a little more sun bleached than in the past.. areas like IASW, and others kinda stood out to me. Show standards seemed good.. nothing really stood out to me as with with no obvious gaffs.
Photopass has always been a bit of a hodgepodge at DL vs WDW.. feeling like DL never really wanted to buy in.. and I'm sure giving it away in maxpass and now in other bundles undercuts it's direct revenue contribution too. But why doesn't DL put photopass cameras at most of the character meets?? And why after all these years are attractions like Buzz not updated for the attraction photos?
Photopass is one area where the DL app worked well for us.. and I do like the easy linking for both rides and photopass folks. That was a big positive.
An area where DL's app is weaker than WDW is dining, and specifically search and menus. Like, if a venue had mobile order, the app wanted to push you immediately to starting an order if you clicked on it from the map instead of just letting you have the option to browse the menu first. Also, while search did work for food options, search is global without filters so you can't easily search for say... pretzels and find DL locations with them.. you find all locations everywhere, and then have to scroll and then look at menus (or mobile order) to try to look at the matches. WDW's food search (at least in the past) was better.
The same goes for Merch. WDW had merch shopping more integrated.. meaning you could scan an idea, and find all stores that sold that item. Making finding other sources for something, WAY easier. While DL has mobile checkout which is nicely done.. I couldn't find how to search for items at different stores. Also, mobile checkout has some quirks. In DCA, we were in the store attached to the starbucks location... wife wanted a traveler mug they had.. so I used mobile checkout, scanned the item, and paid. But.. there was no mobile check desk.. Turns out, app only listed Elias & Co when I did mobile checkout. I didn't know the name of the store when I was inside it.. and I picked it, and it let me checkout. Well, that's not the store I was in
I had to have a CM walk me across the street to get scanned over there. CM's couldn't handle the scenario at all in the first store, and were confused on why it let me scan and checkout.I did successfully use mobile checkout a few times.. it seems useful. But I really miss what I could do in WDW last time, which was scan an item and find it in different stores. We had a really hard time finding any clothing in medium for women... that would of helped us know where else to look for an item when it wasn't available in the store you were in.
Mobile ordering is better than it used to be.. but locations that ONLY offered mobile order annoyed me. Plus, I found often just going to the counter was going to be faster than mobile order anyway. C+ score for mobile food ordering I think.
