Will I like Disneyland?

[TP2000]

Monday was Columbus Day. Banks were closed, schools had it off, parades were held, Franki Valli performed at the White House for the prime minister of Italy, etc., etc.

Columbus Day week is always busy at Disneyland.

 

[Philo]

Do Peter Pan, Alice In Wonderland and Matterhorn Bobsleds first thing, and save the submarines for close to park closing. You will make much better use of your time.

Thanks for all the info. I'm trying to digest all the information in the Unofficial guide but it's taking a while.

What about rides like Space Mountain? Should we head to that early or late?

Any information on DCA? We will be at both resorts for arount 3.5days so we (should) have time to do both parks. Any quick tips for a beginner (bearing in mind that I will be there from April 3rd - 7th which covers a weekend and is probably going to have Easter Crowds )

 

[Rufus T Firefly]

Any information on DCA? We will be at both resorts for arount 3.5days so we (should) have time to do both parks. Any quick tips for a beginner (bearing in mind that I will be there from April 3rd - 7th which covers a weekend and is probably going to have Easter Crowds )

The one basic tip that I give all beginners is: Arrive Early. If you are there when the gates open, you will be surprised at how much you can do before the parks fill up in the early afternoon.

 

[THertel88]

Only one thing I dislike is that you can see California Adventure from the road driving into the resort area. It takes away from the Disney feel

 

[sponono88]

Only one thing I dislike is that you can see California Adventure from the road driving into the resort area. It takes away from the Disney feel

And this is a bad thing because...? You can see the Matterhorn from the freeway as well.

 

[TP2000]

And this is a bad thing because...? You can see the Matterhorn from the freeway as well.

I can see the Matterhorn from my deck. And the Sun Wheel and Space Mountain and the Disneyland Hotel, etc.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andycastro/2936875607/

 

[agent86]

Not sure what the haters are talking about, because I was also extremely impressed with the Nemo Submarines on my last visit. It blows Epcot's version away, believe me.

I don't know that this is really a very powerful comparison. The Epcot version is so incredibly dull and disappointing, that it wouldn't take much for something to "blow it away". Having said that, the Nemo Submarines are definitely NOT worth the wait. The sad thing is that if you never ride it, then you're left always wondering "Is it really as bad as people say it is?" On the other hand, if you wait in line for any more than, say, 20 to 30 minutes tops, then you'll likely regret having wasted that time that you could have spent doing something vastly more entertaining.

 

[nolatron]

My wife and I visited Disneyland 3 weeks ago for the very first time (after 10 years of yearly trips to WDW), and we were both pleasantly surprised. We were in the parks for 2.5 days (Tuesday afternoon to Thursday), and visited both DCA and Disneyland.

Probably the number 1 thing we loved about the resort was the compactness of it. We stayed at the Grand Californian resort, so we had a private entrance directly into DCA about 50 yards from our room. It was awesome. Getting from DCA to Disneyland was a matter of walking across the plaza (both front gates face each other).

The parks themselves are laid out nicely compact. Not like a "omg, it's so small" compact, but you could walk across the park and not feel like your trekking a mile. I don't know how the size compares to the MK at WDW, but everything just felt closer. I also got this feeling of...like, this is Walt's park you could say because it still has a lot of original rides that WDW got ride of or never had.

Lines during the week were pretty low, a few rides were long. Our longest wait was 40 minutes for Toy Story while Space Mountain was a 15min max wait. We rode that 4 times our stay. It's SOOOOOOO much better than WDW. DCA was the same way, most rides were short lines except for Toy Story. We rode the screamer twice and both times it was about 15mins or so. The Rapids ride was about the same. Of course this was mid-week. Weekends will surely be longer waits.

We found several rides we liked more at DL (pirates, space mountain, nemo), while we preferred others at WDW (Splash mountain, railroad). But we certainly were not disappointed at any point in the vacation.

 

[wilary]

I had similar feelings before my first trip to DLR this past April. Aside from being completely underwelmed by their "castle" (I used "s to emphasize how underwelming it was), I had a really good time.

It's a very weird feeling. Disneyland Park seems very familiar, but it's different. Almost like Bizarro MK. Some stuff is just out of place like Star Tours and HISTA in Tomorrowland.

Some of their attractions are just better (see Pirates and Space Mountain). Plus you get stuff we don't have in FL (see Matterhorn, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Subs, Sun Wheel, Cali Screamin). If you catch it right, you get the old school Main Street Electric Parade. And I think that Indiana Jones is quite possibly the best attraction in any Disney park.

Try to go to Blue Bayou and/or Cafe Orleans if you can. Best Monte Cristo ever.

It will be very crowded on the weekends. Lots of locals, you know. But otherwise, I think it's safe to say that if you love WDW, you will feel the same for DLR.

 

[nolatron]

It's a very weird feeling. Disneyland Park seems very familiar, but it's different. Almost like Bizarro MK. Some stuff is just out of place like Star Tours and HISTA in Tomorrowland.

Exactly. It's like, "Hey! I know this place... I... think.." heh.