I relate to a lot of what the rest of you are saying here. We were at DL last Fri and Sat. First time to DL in October since about 6 years ago. We had fun, but it felt...I don't know..."off" from our prior visits.
This was our first time back since DL reopened post-pandemic. The CMs were all great. But the lines for the rides were worse than when we were at WDW in early June this summer. I don't want to go to DL again unless we can use
Genie+. We really missed FP. The HM line was insane. Got stuck in that line on Fri evening...got in line when the app said 45 min wait and then it climbed to 90 min. I think we waited about an hour for it. Not worth it!
We did 2 days at DL itself and skipped DCA entirely on this trip. Tried 3 times for ROTR BG's and didn't get any. On Saturday, they went within 2 seconds. Really.
I don't like mobile order. I don't like how with mobile order, you can't customize anything. WDW handles mobile order a lot better...you still can't customize stuff there on mobile order either, but at least their mobile order pick up operates more smoothly right now than at DL.
I also didn't like how I had to constantly check the app to see which QS locations were mobile order and which were not. That was frustrating and annoying. We had lunch at the Plaza Inn on Saturday and OMG the lines for food there. Sheesh!
I don't like how it's impossible to get an ADR anywhere right now.
I think we'll pass on going in October again. DTD on Saturday afternoon was insanely crowded. We escaped to the DLH lobby for a couple of hours of peace & quiet in the middle of the afternoon.
Also, the choices of merchandise in the World of
Disney store in DTD are just BLEH! It's all just so generic and boring right now. For the first time ever, my kids didn't spend one dime of their spending money on any DL souvenirs.
My DH was ready to leave after lunch on Saturday, but he's the non-Disney person of our group. It was frustrating that we couldn't go to Tom Sawyer's Island (which would be a good escape from the crowds), couldn't go on Fast Choo Choo (BTMRR under refurb), and the line for Space Mtn, HM, IJ, and Pirates all were in the 45-90 min range on Saturday.