Disney_pups2
04-06-2013, 06:01 PM
Ok.. here is my rundown.
FYI: I will talk about EVC usage as I needed to rent one the last day and Handicap/assisted passes at the end.
Disneyland:
We arrived right at what we found out after our 3 days in parks, was their busiest time, 4-9:30 pm time frame. It seems that people use the parks as a "jaunt to" after school and such if they are local so the parks get overloaded at these times. Early morning and after the 9:30 fireworks at DL was awesome times to catch the rides missed or do them again! It being Easter weekend didn't seem to really add too many people to the parks as a lot of rides were still only a 20-30 min wait which is a good day at WDW parks..lol. Disneyland still runs all Mainstreet cars which is AWESOME!!! I love that! They also have the buttons at City Hall available which was sooo fun!! We got our "anniversary" button and they would wait for you to approach to say "happy anniversary" and some would make conversation about how many years. I felt so special!! It must have been said over 100 times! This park now has a spot in my heart!!! Though it is very different from WDW.. it is a little gem that all should see and love! With that said. There were differences and some were not good at all, especially for a WDW Vet as our expectations are quite skewed as Disney has done a great job spoiling us.. would you agree? lol.
Differences: Disneyland was more crowded but not busier than WDW if that makes sense. It is simply a smaller space therefore seems to be overflowing with guests when it's not. The wait times reveal this truth. We preferred DL's It's a small world and space mountain, their space mountain was faster and smoother and their IASW was just so pretty outside I couldn't stop taking pictures!!! They had more scenes than us too. DH preferred DL's Pirates over WDW. I didn't think that their Fantasmic was "better" than WDW as many here have said.. just different aspects, it seemed much smaller than WDW's display.
The magic is somewhat missing at DL in my opinion at some points. One thing that was a horrible turn off for me was that 5 rides in one park that we were either already on, in line for or approaching were shut down due to issues. This has not happened to me in the over 100 times I have been to WDW. I noticed a lot of poor maintenance too. A lot of things were being picked at and missing paint or things and would take a whole 20 minutes to redo and make pretty which Disney World does take care of and DL did not. It seemed that the DL does not take as much pride in their parks as WDW. This is what lost the magic in some ways for me. They did not have the merchandise available that WDW does. ALL of items we asked for more of or other sizes, they were out of! Again, never had this happen at WDW. I thought that overall it was a great experience and I got to see Disney's original dreams come to fruition but at the same time it was heart breaking to see how the park was bordering looking worse than a six flags or other in my opinion lower grade park. Another magic breaker was that the magic music is not piped through all speakers during the day as WDW parks do. I think this would help a bunch! Also, some of the rides which require the cast be in character.. they were not! I will of course be returning and with more family, as I still think that it has it's own magic and is still a gem!!! The original will always have it's special place but I think they need to concentrate on saving it.
It was super nice to see Captain Eo again!!! Missed him much! I missed the wedway, as it was shut down.. sad to see the tracks and no train on it.
DCA: This park was a nice visit ONCE! It was almost completely void of the Magic that The Disney's offer and WDW counter parts. Even Animal kingdom to me offers that "Disney feel" but this park really seemed to have lost it. It has a very odd design as for the layout. Cars land was very cute and open feeling! Great addition I think. A lot of the rides and areas at this park are very much "boardwalk" style and some are quite boring because they aren't telling a story which is what Disney is known for. They tried to keep Disney in it but I think between the poor park layout and non themed areas it didn't help. Cars land really reeled it back in though!! I really did not care of this park very much and really feel it is nothing more than a classier version of a six flags with Mickey here and there. The rides here were breaking down also, which was disheartening again. If you have a fast pass and the ride breaks down by the way .. which seems to happen here a lot, they don't shut off the passes out so you can get another, so you are stuck. Please if you know a ride is shut down and had a FP for it, at the ride you wish to ride discuss this with the attendant and sometimes they can allow you 'fast pass" access to their ride in exchange. The lady running Soaring did go above and beyond and offer a second pass for all our "broken down ride" inconveniences which to me is spectacular Disney magic. I felt like a yo yo in this park..lol.
EVC and Assisted passes:
EVC is rented OUTSIDE the gates to the parks and can be used in either park but not in DTD. In DL the assisted pass allows you majority of the time through the exit right to the ride OR they will allow you through fast pass for a cut down wait time. At DCA, they make you take wheel chairs and EVCs through the rides and in most parts you will skip "parts" of the line. They load most of these at the exit anyways, so this doesn't make much sense to take up the line with a large EVC but it is what it is. IF you are getting a pass for a mentally challenged person with say severe anxiety, Autism, Deletions.. etc... I do not know for sure, but have an inkling that they may have a different pass for your situation. IF They don't have another type of situation available, then this park may need to be skipped because they will expect your child or person to be in line for sometimes an hour or so and this is not helpful to a person such as my son with a deletion, super ADHD, and a mix of other ailments including the physical.
Thanks to those of you that suggested Blue Bayou.. We thought the food was excellent and it was wonderful for an anniversary dinner!!!
**Carthay's at DL is a MUST! It was very delicious, pricey but awesome! Great dining with great seats for the show!
World of color was Beautiful!!! Not really over the top as Disney usually does.. but very nice! It seems that they are in a "memories" stage and are remembering their movies and such as Disney land's fireworks was themed much the same.. touching here and there which was very nice!!!
FYI: I will talk about EVC usage as I needed to rent one the last day and Handicap/assisted passes at the end.
Disneyland:
We arrived right at what we found out after our 3 days in parks, was their busiest time, 4-9:30 pm time frame. It seems that people use the parks as a "jaunt to" after school and such if they are local so the parks get overloaded at these times. Early morning and after the 9:30 fireworks at DL was awesome times to catch the rides missed or do them again! It being Easter weekend didn't seem to really add too many people to the parks as a lot of rides were still only a 20-30 min wait which is a good day at WDW parks..lol. Disneyland still runs all Mainstreet cars which is AWESOME!!! I love that! They also have the buttons at City Hall available which was sooo fun!! We got our "anniversary" button and they would wait for you to approach to say "happy anniversary" and some would make conversation about how many years. I felt so special!! It must have been said over 100 times! This park now has a spot in my heart!!! Though it is very different from WDW.. it is a little gem that all should see and love! With that said. There were differences and some were not good at all, especially for a WDW Vet as our expectations are quite skewed as Disney has done a great job spoiling us.. would you agree? lol.
Differences: Disneyland was more crowded but not busier than WDW if that makes sense. It is simply a smaller space therefore seems to be overflowing with guests when it's not. The wait times reveal this truth. We preferred DL's It's a small world and space mountain, their space mountain was faster and smoother and their IASW was just so pretty outside I couldn't stop taking pictures!!! They had more scenes than us too. DH preferred DL's Pirates over WDW. I didn't think that their Fantasmic was "better" than WDW as many here have said.. just different aspects, it seemed much smaller than WDW's display.
The magic is somewhat missing at DL in my opinion at some points. One thing that was a horrible turn off for me was that 5 rides in one park that we were either already on, in line for or approaching were shut down due to issues. This has not happened to me in the over 100 times I have been to WDW. I noticed a lot of poor maintenance too. A lot of things were being picked at and missing paint or things and would take a whole 20 minutes to redo and make pretty which Disney World does take care of and DL did not. It seemed that the DL does not take as much pride in their parks as WDW. This is what lost the magic in some ways for me. They did not have the merchandise available that WDW does. ALL of items we asked for more of or other sizes, they were out of! Again, never had this happen at WDW. I thought that overall it was a great experience and I got to see Disney's original dreams come to fruition but at the same time it was heart breaking to see how the park was bordering looking worse than a six flags or other in my opinion lower grade park. Another magic breaker was that the magic music is not piped through all speakers during the day as WDW parks do. I think this would help a bunch! Also, some of the rides which require the cast be in character.. they were not! I will of course be returning and with more family, as I still think that it has it's own magic and is still a gem!!! The original will always have it's special place but I think they need to concentrate on saving it.
It was super nice to see Captain Eo again!!! Missed him much! I missed the wedway, as it was shut down.. sad to see the tracks and no train on it.
DCA: This park was a nice visit ONCE! It was almost completely void of the Magic that The Disney's offer and WDW counter parts. Even Animal kingdom to me offers that "Disney feel" but this park really seemed to have lost it. It has a very odd design as for the layout. Cars land was very cute and open feeling! Great addition I think. A lot of the rides and areas at this park are very much "boardwalk" style and some are quite boring because they aren't telling a story which is what Disney is known for. They tried to keep Disney in it but I think between the poor park layout and non themed areas it didn't help. Cars land really reeled it back in though!! I really did not care of this park very much and really feel it is nothing more than a classier version of a six flags with Mickey here and there. The rides here were breaking down also, which was disheartening again. If you have a fast pass and the ride breaks down by the way .. which seems to happen here a lot, they don't shut off the passes out so you can get another, so you are stuck. Please if you know a ride is shut down and had a FP for it, at the ride you wish to ride discuss this with the attendant and sometimes they can allow you 'fast pass" access to their ride in exchange. The lady running Soaring did go above and beyond and offer a second pass for all our "broken down ride" inconveniences which to me is spectacular Disney magic. I felt like a yo yo in this park..lol.
EVC and Assisted passes:
EVC is rented OUTSIDE the gates to the parks and can be used in either park but not in DTD. In DL the assisted pass allows you majority of the time through the exit right to the ride OR they will allow you through fast pass for a cut down wait time. At DCA, they make you take wheel chairs and EVCs through the rides and in most parts you will skip "parts" of the line. They load most of these at the exit anyways, so this doesn't make much sense to take up the line with a large EVC but it is what it is. IF you are getting a pass for a mentally challenged person with say severe anxiety, Autism, Deletions.. etc... I do not know for sure, but have an inkling that they may have a different pass for your situation. IF They don't have another type of situation available, then this park may need to be skipped because they will expect your child or person to be in line for sometimes an hour or so and this is not helpful to a person such as my son with a deletion, super ADHD, and a mix of other ailments including the physical.
Thanks to those of you that suggested Blue Bayou.. We thought the food was excellent and it was wonderful for an anniversary dinner!!!
**Carthay's at DL is a MUST! It was very delicious, pricey but awesome! Great dining with great seats for the show!
World of color was Beautiful!!! Not really over the top as Disney usually does.. but very nice! It seems that they are in a "memories" stage and are remembering their movies and such as Disney land's fireworks was themed much the same.. touching here and there which was very nice!!!