Finally getting around to posting a quick trip report! We got home on July 11th and was thrown right into work catch up so I forgot. Someone on another thread asked me to post my thoughts on the DLH 2 bedroom suite so I am killing two birds with one post!
We arrived at DLH around 1:45pm after our LAX flights and checked in right away. We used a car service to pick us up from LAX, take us to Target to pick up a few things and then on to the hotel. We used the same service to go back to LAX and I can highly recommend Executive Car Service. We have used Lansky's in the past but Executive is our new go-to for sure! For a large (6 passenger) SUV round trip LAX-DLH including one stop was just under $400USD (218.50 with the stop, 178.25 without, both with a tip added on in advance) The driver who picked us up at LAX was amazing! Our flights were delayed and my sister landed at a different terminal than we did but he was great about all of this. We did end up giving him an extra tip in cash because he was so helpful!
Our room was not quite ready yet so we went to Trader Sam's for food and drinks. We had a reservation for 2:50 but they were able to accommodate seating us almost an hour early because we were willing to sit outside.
We had booked a 2 bedroom junior connecting suite and decided to add on club level for $250/day for the suite. I am of two minds if it was worth it but being able to sit and watch the fireworks in the lounge with a glass of wine while the music was piped in was great! I had made a request to be in the Frontier Tower because BTMRR is my sister's favourite ride but unfortunately they were not able to do that, even with the CM trying to give us a pixie dust upgrade. The suites were 100% sold so there was no other option but to keep our original suite in Fantasy Tower. This did mean that we had to go over to Adventure Tower for the lounge but it was not that big a deal, although it would have been nice to be closer to the lounge.
So, DLH has multiple 2 bedrooms suites so it can get a bit odd trying to book and knowing which one is which. I tried to book another type of 2 bedroom suite but this was the only one available at the time I booked.
We were in the junior connecting suite, afaik all suites of this type are in Fantasy. It was a regular room with connecting door to a 1 bedroom suite. The single room had 2 Q beds, the other side had a bedroom with 1K bed, the living room had a Q size sleeper sofa plus a twin sized pull down bed under the TV. There was a single bathroom shared by the 1K bedroom and a single bathroom in the 2Q room. There was NO balcony at all.
We had previously stayed in a 2 bedroom suite in Frontier tower and I was really hoping to get this configuration but I believe this was the upgrade the CM was trying to get for us. That one is, I believe, is the 2 bedroom Family suite but I am not 100% sure on that. The suite had a single door to an entry way, one door on either side of the entry. One door opened to a King room with a full sized pull out couch and bathroom. The other door opened to the 1 bedroom. There was a powder room at the entrance with a toilet and sink. After that was a bar area with tons of storage, a bar sink, and a small fridge. Then there was an eating area, a living room area with another pull out couch. After that was the bedroom with a king bed, a dressing area, and another full bathroom. The suite was the entire end of the tower so there was a large balcony that went from the single bedroom, wrapped around and continued to the other bedroom. We could see the fireworks from the balcony. Amazing!
We had 5 day hoppers with G+ so we went into the park around 3pm. I did get the room ready notification while we were eating but we decided to go right to the park.
Our first 2 1/2 park days were great for crowds and on the 8th I was able to fish for MEP quite easily and ended up with 3 fairly easily. I got 2 on the 9th but only 1 on the 10th. Definitely going to use this technique for future trips until Disney IT figures out how to close this loophole!
The 9th and 10th got really busy after around 11am and stayed busy the rest of the day. At one point on the 9th, Incredicoaster was at an insane 110 minutes!
The 10th was our last day and we had a LL for Space at 8:30pm. Now, the LL for Space had been long, in my experience, as compared to our March 2022 trip but this last night was crazy! We were stuck in the LL for well over 30 minutes when I had to tap out. I had gotten way too much sun and was feeling pretty icky, so I left DH, DS, and DSis in the line while I went back to the hotel to lie down. They ended up waiting almost an hour to get on Space and then got stuck in the fireworks crowds trying to leave the park. It took them over 30 mins from the exit of Space to the DL exit!
Quick note on food:
Trader Sam's: Food was just ok, nothing was great and I might give this a miss in the future.
We ate at Blue Bayou on our first night. DH, DS, and I had eaten there on a few previous trips and while we had previously not been super thrilled with the food, this trip was definitely the best meal we have had at BB. It was good enough for me to want to go back again.
We did Carthay Circle for dinner on our second night and as always, we really enjoyed the meal. The Parker House rolls were fantastic and well worth going just for those!
July 8th, we had a late breakfast at Carnation Cafe and it was just ok. For some reason, they have taken the regular breakfast off the menu, y'know, bacon and eggs. There was a breakfast sandwich as well as waffles or pancakes. We did the Chef's Counter at Napa Rose to celebrate our son's 18th birthday the next day. As always, it was great but there were a few hiccups that we had not experienced in any of our 3 previous times doing this. My sister and I let the chef know that we do not eat mushrooms at all but one of our dishes had them. There was also a bit of confusion with one of the courses. My sister does not eat red meat and she was originally given a beef dish. They figured out that she had been given my plate but then we needed to figure out if there were red peppers on the dish as I am allergic to them. Not a big deal, the dish was safe for me, but it was a bit of a change from the previous times where everything was perfect. We did the wine pairing for the 3 adults and we did not leave feeling as though we needed more wine, lol! The bill was a bit eye watering as usual.
July 9th we had lunch at Wine Country and it was as good as ever. That night we did the WoC dessert party which was amazing.
July 10th we had dinner at Lamplight Lounge and this was another one that none of us were super thrilled with, along with Trader Sam's and Carnation Cafe.
For quick service, we ate at Pym's and Red Rose both of which were as good as our March 22 trip.
So, the Club Lounge. It was nice to be able to pop in and grab a light breakfast along with a mimosa or two but we found that the offerings there did not change at all day to day. We never made it to the 5-7pm Magic Hours so I have no idea what the hot and cold hors d'oeuves were but I can say that the macarons there late at night were really great! I think that if we had spent more time there we might have felt as though it was value for the cost but this was my sister's first stay at DLH so I was totally willing to bougie it up for her!
Final thoughts on the hotel. We have stayed at the DLH now 4 times and at GCH/VGC 4 times as well. For our family, we are now going to only look at the Grand. Not that there was anything wrong at DLH but for us, the walk at the end of the night just felt brutal! And yes, I know that some rooms at the Grand are as far a walk as the DLH, but at least you are walking inside the Grand for part of it in the nice cool AC!
Flights home were a bit of a cluster, we were all flying WestJet back to either Ottawa (my sister) or Victoria (the 3 of us) and when we arrived at LAX we found out that the entire WestJet computer system was down hard. All flights were delayed and they were handwriting out baggage tags and boarding passes! When we did get home, only 1 of our 3 bags made it onto our second flight and it took almost 48 before we got them back.
Phew, that was longer than I expected! Thank you to anyone who managed to get through all of that.
Happy to answer any questions about any of this.
and need to swap out my reservations. I am planning on doing the GCH his spring/summer, so maybe I need to just tell myself to wait.
