We visited DLR June 18-23 (Tue-Sat) with kids and DGD3 on her first Disney trip. We had four full park (Tue-Fri) days. Everyone else left on June 23 and I stayed in SoCal on business and got to visit solo DLR on the evenings of June 25-26 (Mon-Tue). I stayed at CCI for 2 nights. We had MP for all of us.
The Good 
o Stayed for first time at a DVC and rented points to get a one BR suite at GCV. That went perfectly and was awesome. Not
that much more than getting two good neighbor hotel rooms. I booked the dates in August 2017 and had to pay 100% in advance (the DVC owner had been burned in the past by folks paying a deposit then backing out). I made a room request and got my first choice room on the 6th (top) floor with great views of DCA,
o We used EMH all four mornings - only slightly on Day 1. That worked very nicely for us.
o We did a character meal at Plaza Inn on Day 1. My first ever. We wanted DGD3 to have character time. It was really nice. We went for 9:30AM.
o Before the PI on Day 1, we went to Toontown right before opening a 8:50AM. DGD3 loves Minnie Mouse and we were hoping she would come out at opening. But it was Goofy and Pluto. Nevertheless, we had a GREAT experience. We were at the front going into TT and our only goal was Minnie's House as we had breakfast Res at 9:30. As we approached it, Minnie came out front and DGD3 ran up to her and gave her a big hug. Then Minnie took her hand and took her through her house to the M&G photo spot. I was right behind to take photos and video!
o A close second priority was Anna & Elsa and we did that on the morning of Day 2. We had about a 15 minute wait. That went great.
o Saw the Frozen show at DCA for the second time. That show is SO GOOD! A worthy replacement for Aladdin. DGD3 loved it. There was a delay for about 5 minutes in the middle of the show due to a staging issue.
o Found out the Multi-Experience FPs are now limited only to FP rides in the same park as the original FP
o Got to dine at Rainforest Cafe
on its final night in DTD - June 19.
o Originally WOC was our main night time show for DGD3. We had a Dessert Party reservation for re-opening night on June 22. But WOC was cancelled for the summer due to a broken element on the platform.
o Paint the Night turned into the main night time show for DGD3. I saw it several times at DL and it is just as good at DCA. We watched it near LMAUA on the Paradise Bay side. We arrived about 40 minutes early to get our spot. DGD3 loved it.
o Also saw Together Forever (Pixar) fireworks on our final night. My first time seeing that show and I was not impressed. RDCT and DLF were much better IMO.
o Saw Fantasmic without DGD3 and DW. We got HB reserved seating and that worked out great
o DGD3 really loved the Storytelling Royal Theater - we saw both shows of Beauty and the Beast and Tangled. BOTB was the 1st three shows when we were there.
o DGD3 rode BTMRR a couple times, Splash Mtn once, ST twice, and RSR 3 times. Also Jumping Jellyfish and SSS I think four times each, LOL. RSR and SSS were favorites for her.
o Reduced park hours - I complained about this ahead of time but with DGD3, it ended up working to our advantage because we were onsite and could use EMH. If we were offsite, it would not have worked in our advantage. For posterity, Disney decided to reduce park hours at DL and DCA the week we visited from late June hours going back at least to 2012. They ended up expanding DL hours on some days back to the normal 8AM-Midnight hours. DCA was open 9AM-10PM most days. One day DL opened at 9AM. Disney seemed to be anticipating lower crowds with AP blockouts and, as a result, reducing hours. I think this is flat out wrong. But it seems to be the way Disney is going. Read more about my thoughts on this below in the Bad section. We used EMH every day and by far the hardest day was Thursday at DL when EMH was at 7AM. We made it to the turnstiles at 6:20AM and were in prime position to ride PP which happened as planned.
We were the 3rd group in our queue at the turnstiles and since they did not let anyone in before 7AM that day, we were through the turnstiles at 10 seconds after 7AM and did not have to scramble as much against others headed to EMH.
o Incredicoaster - This is both in the Good and Bad sections - no one was able to ride it (the Bad) except I was able to when I came back solo on June 25. Being solo I was able to get cancelled MP/FP and got three of those on June 25. During the day IC does not feel very different from California Screamin so I was meh about it. But the night time version! Wow, that is better! Definitely will shoot for IC night time rides in the future.
o Lansky Limo service - they delivered. Literally. Both directions from SNA even with a delayed inbound flight by 2 hours. We used them as we needed a car seat for DGD3.
o Tigger Tails - as delicious as always!
o Gingerbread Mickeys - where have you gone? Only place I can find them now is at DCA - Clarabelles.
The Bad 
o Pixar Pier - Meh. Need I say more?
o Incredicoaster - It officially opened on Day 5, Saturday, when we had to check out of GCV. With the reduced park hours and no EMH on Sat, amazingly DCA did not open until 9AM. My DAP was blocked out, but I had purposely bought 5 day PH tickets for the kids so they could have an extra day to ride IC. Disney really messed up crowd control and IC did not start until 9:30AM that day. The kids gave up and never got to ride it.
Disney is supposed to know how to do this. One of the kids with me on this trip DS27 came with me to WDW in May 2017 on Pandora opening day plus Pandora Day 2. Those crowds were WAY worse than IC and handled MUCH better at WDW. There were ropes and tape so you could see where the queues were. The queues were much longer than IC (like 4-5 hours standby) but WDW had excellent directions where to go and had a CM standing at the end of a queue with a sign that said "End of the line", Brilliant. DLR did none of that.
See this thread I started -
Looks like an epic fail at Incredicoaster on opening morning (
https://www.disboards.com/threads/l...at-incredicoaster-on-opening-morning.3689701/)
o Crowds - yes it is Disney and yes there are crowds. HOWEVER...I used the DLR calendar in August 2017 to pick non-refundable dates at GCV. I picked dates when SCAPs were blocked as experience over many years shows crowds are more moderate on those. Then, in early June, some clueless executive decided to unblock those SCAPs PLUS allow them to bring friends at a 40% ticket discount. The result was totally predictable. The parks were swamped about as crowded as I had ever seen them. On Day 4 one of the SCAP category blockouts was left in place and the crowds were wonderfully much less. Less people in walkways and standby waits for rides very modest. It was wonderful. Disney messed this up. BADLY.
For more on my thoughts on this, see:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/wow-the-crowds.3689184/
https://www.disboards.com/threads/n...-opening-and-ap-blockouts-june-18-30.3682212/
o World of Color cancellation - as a mechanical engineer myself, Disney is making some engineering mistakes that just should not happen. First , the Yeti at WDW broke only 1-2 years into his life at EE (back in 2007-2008). Mistake #1. They cannot get him out and fix him because they built him into the EE mountain (Mistake #2). Amazingly, a couple weeks before our trip, when WOC was down because of PxP retheming, something broke on the platform. They could not re-open as planned on June 22. WOC is my favorite of all Disney shows. It is down for 4-6 months, apparently. This made me sad to miss the show, of course. But things do happen that cause rides and shows to break. But a platform breaking? Really? Who designed the thing? That person should be found and fired, frankly. Not acceptable engineering IMO.
o Soarin during EMH - we did EMH at DCA on Day 2, Wednesday. As they often do, Disney decided to let non-EMH guests in early to DCA and queue up for normal park opening at a rope. But they did not stop non-EMH guests from riding Soarin. So when we stopped by Soarin, all those unblocked SCAPs (and their friends) I complained about earlier were allowed into the Soarin line to ride it. It was 40 minutes long standby during EMH! Sheesh. We got double-whammied by Disney! SCAPs and their friends and then non-enforcement of EMH which I paid for to be at GCV. Disney, what the heck are you doing?
So we got FPs for like 11AM. We came back to use our FPs. And guess what? The FP return line was all the way to Smokejumpers! I have NEVER seen a FP return line that long unless a ride had been down. Which Soarin hadn't. We had to skip Soarin that day because we had FPs at DL which we would miss if we had waited in that Soarin FP line.
o MP (easy to purchase at park opening - NOT!) - DW and I have DAPs with MP purchased for the whole year. So no need to buy MP each day. With the kids and 5 day PH tickets, we had to purchase MP. I wrote
this thread ahead of time to check on this, and was told it was easy and quick. It was neither for me. On each day, the DLR app wanted me to enter my security code. That means fishing my wallet out of my pocket and entering it. EACH DAY. Yes, by Day 3 I remembered it. However, on Day 1, after fishing out my CC, the DLR app rejected my CC (the one I always use and have used for many years at Disney - both DLR and WDW). So I had to fish my wallet out again and enter a different CC. That was a pain as we were making our way to Dumbo for DGD3. OK, Day 2 remembered the CC but again asked for the security code of a CC I do not use as often. Fish it out again. Day 3...we arrived at 6:20AM for EMH DL. We entered DL. The DLR app MP purchase was not working. For us or anyone else. I could get MP for DW and me (with our DAP/MP). I got an email from Disney saying I needed to call their guest support number. I did. That person was no help and said MP could not be purchased during EMH and told me to go to guest services. I missed a ride with DGD3 trying to talk to this clueless CM on the phone. In the end, MP purchase started working for us (and everyone else) at about 7:50AM - 50 minutes into EMH - which also made us lose one MP opportunity. Finally on Day 4 MP purchase worked smoothly.
The Ugly 
We enjoyed DLR and DGD3 had a nice first trip. However, we paid a lot for this trip staying at GCV. There were some magical moments for sure and a few awesome and magical CM encounters which went above and beyond. We got our #1 requested room at GCV which was a nice bonus. So I need to say there were some real good things on this trip. But DW and I both felt afterwards that, overall, Disney did not deliver as they should have. With the stunts Disney is pulling at WDW about reduced staffing, and the stunts they are now pulling at DLR regarding reduced park hours (on days they charge the highest ticket prices, no less), plus the unblocking of SCAPs 10 months after they publish blockout dates (and 2 weeks before our trip), DW and I are ready for a break and to spend our vacation dollars somewhere else.
Yes of course we will return to DLR (and WDW) at some point in the future. But for now we have a bit of a bad taste in our mouth. We are taking a break and going other places for awhile. I am not sure I will come to D23 Expo 2019 after some of the terrible failures at D23 Expo 2017 with queue control. Hopefully Disney's antics will bite them somewhere it hurts (like the bottom line) and they will relearn lessons that they learned many times in the past already. As I have said elsewhere, I think some Disney executive somewhere who thinks he/she is smarter than everyone else, or is just plain ignorant, is now making decisions. I hope that person gets identified and asked to leave the company as soon as possible. Or, better yet, sent to manage a new Disney park in Siberia.
The rude and impatient side of me wanted to walk past everyone, and just use the 2nd scanner and walk to the rides, but I didn't want to cut those who were waiting and probably just didn't know how to use the scanners.
