Tom's 2013 DLR Trip Report

[Figments Friend]

For tech heads, watching WOC from BEHIND is pretty cool. Once you have seen it from the front a couple of times, have fun seeing what those lights and fountains really do by watching it from the opposite side of where the crowds are.

Worth a look....

 

[Tom]

For tech heads, watching WOC from BEHIND is pretty cool. Once you have seen it from the front a couple of times, have fun seeing what those lights and fountains really do by watching it from the opposite side of where the crowds are.

Worth a look....

We did....and you're right! Their tech is incredible there and at fantasmic.

 

[Figments Friend]

I am visiting in September and looking forward to DLs 'Fantasmic'.
I missed showings the other two times i have been to DL, and i know full well it blows WDWs version out of the water.
Really looking forward to seeing the Maleficent dragon in the flesh. YouTube does not capture the scope.

Saw WOC three times when i was there last year. The 'backside of water' take on a entirely NEW meaning when you watch this show from behind.
Glad you were able to catch it from that angle !

 

[TP2000]

I'd heard people say before that the Matterhorn is really an icon, and not the castle. I didn't really "get" that until we were there. The Matterhorn is always what drew my eye, what made me raise my camera.

The first time we walked on Main Street we were rope dropping Magic Morning, and the biggest impression I remember having was "Oh my! They have real gas lamps!"

Being the first one in the group to spot the Matterhorn has been a childhood rite of passage for Westerners for over 50 years. And until the 1980's when they started building 30+ story buildings in Orange County, the Matterhorn was the tallest structure in the county.

As for the real gas lamps at Disneyland on Main Street and in New Orleans Square, I think that's due to the widespread use of natural gas for residential and commercial uses in Southern California. I've never lived in central Florida, but I don't remember natural gas being as big a deal in the South. It probably was too expensive to get a system going for the gas lamps at WDW, because of that.

But Main Street and Liberty Square at Magic Kingdom Park and World Showcase at Epcot would benefit cosmetically and charm-wise if they had real gas lamps like Disneyland.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Being the first one in the group to spot the Matterhorn has been a childhood rite of passage for Westerners for over 50 years. And until the 1980's when they started building 30+ story buildings in Orange County, the Matterhorn was the tallest structure in the county.

As for the real gas lamps at Disneyland on Main Street and in New Orleans Square, I think that's due to the widespread use of natural gas for residential and commercial uses in Southern California. I've never lived in central Florida, but I don't remember natural gas being as big a deal in the South. It probably was too expensive to get a system going for the gas lamps at WDW, because of that.

But Main Street and Liberty Square at Magic Kingdom Park and World Showcase at Epcot would benefit cosmetically and charm-wise if they had real gas lamps like Disneyland.

I don't think I noticed that until my most recent trip... it was shocking to see something like that! Never would I have guessed that they would have real gas lamps on MSUSA in 2013! It's really cool; it's one of those things where no matter what kind of light bulb or little flickering effect you can make, you won't be able to make something as real and as cool as a real flame in that lamp.

 

[RandomPrincess]

We still spot the Matterhorn on our drive to DL!

 

[Tom]

Whew! I'm officially done with my Trip Report. Brutal honesty was the name of the game - and I hope the WDW purists don't hate me for some of my comments

 

[RandomPrincess]

Loved your review on Carsland! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I really enjoyed it and I'm really looking forward to seeing all the new changes.

I still haven't seen Carsland it year we are 1 year out from our DL trip next summer and can't wait to show it to my kids. They will be 3 and 5 and I know my son will just be in heaven he adores Mater and McQueen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed he gets to 40 inches by then, he's 36 now. A 2 year old kid can grow 4 inches in a year. Right?

 

[Tom]

Loved your review on Carsland! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I really enjoyed it and I'm really looking forward to seeing all the new changes.

I still haven't seen Carsland it year we are 1 year out from our DL trip next summer and can't wait to show it to my kids. They will be 3 and 5 and I know my son will just be in heaven he adores Mater and McQueen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed he gets to 40 inches by then, he's 36 now. A 2 year old kid can grow 4 inches in a year. Right?

If they're even remotely interested in the Cars franchise, they're going to be beside themselves when they see the place. I'm not necessarily a Cars "fan" (saw the first one once, didn't see Cars 2), but it really didn't matter - just like it didn't when I visited Uni/HP. It's overwhelming. Plan to spend a LOT of time there

As for getting to 40"....keep stretching him out, and try some "lifts" in his shoes if necessary. I wouldn't normally condone that if it were something like a coaster, but the height restriction on Cars/Test Track seems fairly arbitrary. I'm sure there's scientific data that goes into it, but a few inches isn't going to cause him to fly out of the car, lol.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Loved your review on Carsland! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I really enjoyed it and I'm really looking forward to seeing all the new changes.

I still haven't seen Carsland it year we are 1 year out from our DL trip next summer and can't wait to show it to my kids. They will be 3 and 5 and I know my son will just be in heaven he adores Mater and McQueen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed he gets to 40 inches by then, he's 36 now. A 2 year old kid can grow 4 inches in a year. Right?

Hiking. Boots.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

If they're even remotely interested in the Cars franchise, they're going to be beside themselves when they see the place. I'm not necessarily a Cars "fan" (saw the first one once, didn't see Cars 2), but it really didn't matter - just like it didn't when I visited Uni/HP. It's overwhelming. Plan to spend a LOT of time there

As for getting to 40"....keep stretching him out, and try some "lifts" in his shoes if necessary. I wouldn't normally condone that if it were something like a coaster, but the height restriction on Cars/Test Track seems fairly arbitrary. I'm sure there's scientific data that goes into it, but a few inches isn't going to cause him to fly out of the car, lol.

It is somewhat arbitrary: my 3YO daughter was *barely* 40" with help and my 5YO son was around 42"... they were exactly the same height while sitting down.

 

[WDWFigment]

Great report. Good seeing you both out there, and sorry we didn't get a chance for more than a passing hello that night. It was a hectic layover-day or us.

Glad you had a great time at Disneyland, despite circumstances that were definitely not the best (that weather was brutal!). I think you'll only love it more the next time you go, assuming normal weather. Interesting commentary, most of which I think are spot-on. I won't waste any time by pointing out the many items of yours with which I agree.

Instead, a few notes based on things I remember...

-Magical! - Not nearly as good as RDCT, but you did miss a lot with Dumbo grounded. Even without Dumbo, I still think it's better than Wishes, but that's a close call. Someone else commented about never waiting for fireworks at Disneyland. That's a bit surprising to me. I've always noticed far, far larger crowds for Disneyland fireworks. Anything at Disneyland is going to be insanely busy on its opening/reopening day. Even if it's not something the locals really love.

-Casey Jr/Nemo Subs - I think your opinions here are colored by negatives you experienced (waiting in the heat and being with a bad group). Both of these attractions, in my opinion, are top notch. Definitely have to do Casey Jr. first thing in the morning.

-Buena Vista St. - BVS was cooler last year when it first opened before some of the displays were dumbed-down, and is probably most appreciated by those who saw this area as Sunshine Plaza. That this is the same space as that is really incredible.

-Grizzly Peak - I'm not a huge fan of Grizzly River Run, but you only spent time in this area when exiting/entering the park?! This is the second most beautiful area of DCA, and one thing that didn't really need much fixing. The way this land is integrated with GCH is incredible. Even the play area is gorgeous here. Next time, spend some time exploring here (or plan a ride on GRR right before going back to your room at the GCH).

I think that's about it. Again, glad you had such a great time at Disneyland. We need to find a time to do dinner again...early June?

 

[RandomPrincess]

Hiking. Boots.

LOL - I remember my little brother wore cowboy boots on a couple of trips to DL when we were little.

 

[RandomPrincess]

-Casey Jr/Nemo Subs - I think your opinions here are colored by negatives you experienced (waiting in the heat and being with a bad group). Both of these attractions, in my opinion, are top notch. Definitely have to do Casey Jr. first thing in the morning.

I love to ride Casey Jr at night. My favorite time is during the fireworks beautiful.

 

[Tom]

Great report. Good seeing you both out there, and sorry we didn't get a chance for more than a passing hello that night. It was a hectic layover-day or us.

Glad you had a great time at Disneyland, despite circumstances that were definitely not the best (that weather was brutal!). I think you'll only love it more the next time you go, assuming normal weather. Interesting commentary, most of which I think are spot-on. I won't waste any time by pointing out the many items of yours with which I agree.

Instead, a few notes based on things I remember...

-Magical! - Not nearly as good as RDCT, but you did miss a lot with Dumbo grounded. Even without Dumbo, I still think it's better than Wishes, but that's a close call. Someone else commented about never waiting for fireworks at Disneyland. That's a bit surprising to me. I've always noticed far, far larger crowds for Disneyland fireworks. Anything at Disneyland is going to be insanely busy on its opening/reopening day. Even if it's not something the locals really love.

-Casey Jr/Nemo Subs - I think your opinions here are colored by negatives you experienced (waiting in the heat and being with a bad group). Both of these attractions, in my opinion, are top notch. Definitely have to do Casey Jr. first thing in the morning.

-Buena Vista St. - BVS was cooler last year when it first opened before some of the displays were dumbed-down, and is probably most appreciated by those who saw this area as Sunshine Plaza. That this is the same space as that is really incredible.

-Grizzly Peak - I'm not a huge fan of Grizzly River Run, but you only spent time in this area when exiting/entering the park?! This is the second most beautiful area of DCA, and one thing that didn't really need much fixing. The way this land is integrated with GCH is incredible. Even the play area is gorgeous here. Next time, spend some time exploring here (or plan a ride on GRR right before going back to your room at the GCH).

I think that's about it. Again, glad you had such a great time at Disneyland. We need to find a time to do dinner again...early June?

Based on some of the comments in this thread, I'm starting to wonder if we really missed something during Magical! - even more than just Dumbo and Tink. I guess if we're out there during the "summer" season again (which we're going to try our hardest to avoid), we'll have to reserve a better spot that's not behind a tree, and hopefully see it in full working order. But to be fair, outside of Wishes, I don't really get into any fireworks shows. I think we enjoy Wishes for nostalgia and other meaningful reasons.

With Casey Jr, they had 1 train running (not sure if this is standard) and it was going extremely fast, relative to what I thought it should be doing. So a short, speedy ride, coupled with the heat, probably made for the negative experience. I think a nighttime ride would be more entertaining though. It definitely was on the Canal Boats.

I could definitely tell that Nemo was a better attraction than it came across to us. I wish we could have chosen to ride it more than once, and during better times during our trip, but with it not having FastPass and the lines always being long (and as slow-moving as 20k used to be), we just couldn't make it work. But hey, something else to put on the "why we have to go back" list!

I never actually had a park map with me (Kayla was in charge), so I'm looking at one now. I'm pretty sure I was only in Grizzly Peak when we were walking to and from the GCH. I think we were just drawn to Cars Land so much that we didn't spend much time anywhere else.

You're probably right that BVS would have made more of an impact on us had we seen what it was before. The whole entrance to the park and "main street" just made us feel as if we were back in DHS. It was nice, but we didn't have the advantage of knowing how bad it was before.

Sounds like we need to compare notes, so we can make a better list of what we need to do next time, lol. Dinner sounds good. June is pretty open.

 

[Tom]

I love to ride Casey Jr at night. My favorite time is during the fireworks beautiful.

So they keep Casey Jr running during the fireworks? They had to stop the Canal Boats during them, and then re-start once the fireworks were over.

 

[TrolleyFollower91]

We didn't run a timer, but during our 5 days of park hopping, I'm pretty sure we spent more time in this park. In Florida, the majority of our time is in the MK. It's just flat out my favorite park there. But in California.....I'm really torn. Emotionally I WANT my favorite park to be DL (since it was the first, and Walt's, etc), but I actually think I enjoyed being in DCA more. It's a completely different ambiance, but no matter where we were, it felt wide open, clean, and downright magical (in its own way).

Just got back from DLR in March and I completely agree with these sentiments. As much as I loved DL, I LOVED DCA. It just embodies "Disney" for me.

The load/unload system is hokey, for lack of a better word. Elevator doors open, then you walk through a hallway to get to another set of elevator doors to get in the vehicle. That just seems like a major design flaw, or "crap, we're out of money, just build the thing". The Rod Serling voiceover during the ride sound like if they had hired me - it's not even close. I think we rode it twice, simply for the fact that we had PhotoPass+ and wanted to get additional ride photos. It would not be on my list again if there were any sort of wait - and that's unfortunate.

YES. It was so ridiculous when you're used to the WDW version. Plus the loading and unloading took forever!! We had PP+ too and that was the only benefit of going on it.

No matter where we stood in the land, we felt like we were IN the movie. Never has a Disney theme park transported me so successfully to the replicated time/place/location/movie like this land did. There are no sight line issues. There are "real" mountains and canyons as far as you can see. The street is freshly paved. Every detail is perfect....just perfect.
------
But as my wife and I have discussed, we don't WANT Cars Land to come to WDW, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it is a landmark land that DLR deserves to keep for itself. By keeping the unique experience, it will coerce more of us mid-westerners and east-coasters to venture west and give this destination some much-deserved love.

I absolutely agree 100%. I think Cars Land coming to DHS would ruin it. It needs to stay in DCA- and this is coming from a person who goes to WDW 5 times a year but is lucky to make it to DLR every 8 years. Also, I HATE waiting for TSMM at DHS- could you imagine the line for RSR if they brought it? I would not want to walk down Route 66 with thousands of my closest friends just to ride it.

Thanks so much for writing this trip report- I loved your thoughts and it brought back memories of my great trip! I agree with everything you said- I love finding other WDW vets who've experienced DLR!!

 

[AmongMadPeople]

-Magical! - Not nearly as good as RDCT, but you did miss a lot with Dumbo grounded. Even without Dumbo, I still think it's better than Wishes, but that's a close call. Someone else commented about never waiting for fireworks at Disneyland. That's a bit surprising to me. I've always noticed far, far larger crowds for Disneyland fireworks. Anything at Disneyland is going to be insanely busy on its opening/reopening day. Even if it's not something the locals really love.

Regarding Magical, I think two additional things besides Tink/Dumbo affected the experience. First, some lady crawled through the bushes and pushed her way past me after it started to take flash photos of the entire show. Distracting no matter how much you try to ignore it. Second, I have a vague memory of reading that large shells in DL shoot slightly off center, but I can't find evidence of that now. If that is the case, I think we were on the disadvantageous side of the hub for that.

 

[AmongMadPeople]

Also, I HATE waiting for TSMM at DHS- could you imagine the line for RSR if they brought it? I would not want to walk down Route 66 with thousands of my closest friends just to ride it.

Yes! Especially getting rid of a stage show and an attraction to make room for it. If they do add some sort of Cars Land to DHS, crowds and lines will be outrageous.

 

[RandomPrincess]

So they keep Casey Jr running during the fireworks? They had to stop the Canal Boats during them, and then re-start once the fireworks were over.

The last time I road during the fireworks was 2008. But they were running it the whole time.