Back from DisneyLand

I am finally back from DisneyLand. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful suggestions and feedback. There are some glaring differences between DLR and WDW which I did not realize until this visit both in the parks themselves as well as with Pin Trading. I actually liked DLR more compared to Magic Kingdom because of the intimate feeling as well as the wonderful detailing (you can tell that Walt had his hand in on every aspect of DisneyLand). Some of the rides were far superior such as Pirates.

As for pin trading as well as pin selection I think the WDW has crushed DLR. There seemed to be much less selection in pins to purchase. One thing that annoyed me was that I saw a set that I wanted to buy in California Adventure - I believe it was in Cars Land. I figured I would buy it in a shop as I was leaving....could not find it anywhere. The next day we went to DisneyLand and they did not have the set so we decided to go to DTD to get the set which they also did not have. I asked at the World of Disney and the person said it was only sold in Cars Land - Funny thing is that it was the pin set for the Haunted Mansion!!!! I was in DLR for 5 days and only saw one person at any of the trading tables after walking by them many times (but that is not a big deal...I like trading with cast members because we end up talking forever about pins etc).

That leads me into my 2nd annoyance. The Cast Members that I asked to see their pins ALL gave me attitude. One actually pulled the hip lanyard off his belt slammed it on the counter and said "Here!!" to some poor kid...I decided not to ask him LOL. There were a few that rolled their eyes or just had some type of annoyed look / body posture.

Finally I did actually get to go to Disney Soda Fountain...talked my tour guide into giving us time to stop!!! It was awesome!! Thanks for all the people pressuring me into going!!

Overall, I loved it and will actually be changing my WDW annual pass over to the Premier passport so that I can go to WDW and DLR each year!!!

What mansion set are you talking about? The Vinylmation set?

Guy the Ghoul said:

What mansion set are you talking about? The Vinylmation set?

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No...I cannot find them on pinpics. They came on a lanyard it was either 6 or 8 pins with the various ghosts on them.

I'm really sorry to hear that about the cast members! When we were at DLR on Memorial Day weekend they were all so nice; some of our best times there were chatting with people after asking to see their lanyards.

Maybe the heat was getting to people or something.

Thats odd! I had the exact opposite experience when I went to DLR! I thought the pin trading was much much better at DLR than WDW. When I was at DLR, there were at ~15 people trading at the tables on the weekends, and ~5 on Thursday and Friday.

I do, however, agree with you about one thing. DLR is better than Magic Kingdom! Pirates is wayyyyyyy better at DLR, and the food is way better! haha

That sounds like the open edition HM starter set. Most of the pin stores at DLR should carry it, but being summer crowds, it may have temporarily sold out.

Odd CM's are usually nice to me though one time a guy told me i had to wear a lanyard or he was not trading..

i didn't have time to fight so i moved on don't let them hurt you or mess up you're fun

I thought the food was pretty equal between DLR and WDW....we loved the food at Flo's Cafe, Wine Country Trattoria, and Cafe Orleans. We liked the food at Ariel's Grotto but it was WAY overpriced. The only restaurant we hated was Blue Bayou....service was great but food was a nightmare...I actually got sick from it haha.

The Cast members were super nice and I had lots of fun conversations and learned so much about the parks as well as Walt himself....just the ones that were asked for pins looked like they were asked 1 too many times.

That's really odd. I have an annual pass to DLR and every single time i go the barrels or LGM are packed with traders and collectors. And as for the cast members, they are the nicest and I've never had a problem with them. Sorry you saw that.

Thanks everyone...I am not worried about it...it did not ruin my wonderful vacation at DLR!!! I really feel bad more so for the kid who was really polite and had the cast member slam the lanyard on the counter on them.

Glad you enjoyed Disneyland! I love it more that WDW (sorry!) because of World of Color, more detailed Pirates, Splash Mountain actually HAS a water fall (did I just miss it or is WDW's Splash Mountain dry on the drop?), a very different Haunted Mansion, A MUCH BETTER SPACE MOUNTAIN (with MUSIC!). But I agree with the pin trading. WDW has so many more pins (that Downtown Disney store is HUGE!) and even in Epcot or Hollywood Studios, there is a wide array. Both have their pros and cons. I've never had a bad experience with cast member trading so sorry that you did! Maybe because there was an influx of college students from the Disney College Program. So glad you are going to come to both now

I'm not surprised about merchandise disappearing... I was set on picking up a "Deadly Nightshade" cookiejar for a friend, which were everywhere the first day we were in Disneyland. The very next day the entire resort was sold out. I gotta' remember to get things as soon as I see 'em.

Glad you enjoyed yourself. I think people are surprised that even though Disneyland Resort is smaller, you can do much more in a day since there are so many attractions (I believe DL and DCA combined have more attractions than all 4 WDW parks combined) plus park hopping is so easy to do. I do envy the amount of dining that WDW has. While DLR food is, as you said, as good as WDW, there just isn't the variety that WDW has, especially when it come to table service restaurants.

Is this the HM starter set you were looking for? I actually bought that set for my friend's wife when I played tour guide during their first trip to DLR. It is a nice set and they could probably ship one out to you if you never got a chance to get it before your trip ended.

At DLR, CMs are not required to wear a lanyard. Most choose to do so because they like interacting with guests. I'm surprised someone as grumpy as the one you saw had a lanyard, although I supposed anyone can have a bad day.

Lately I've being digging DCA thanks to carsland and TOT which is true both parks give you lot's to see..

bombardon3 said:

Is this the HM starter set you were looking for? I actually bought that set for my friend's wife when I played tour guide during their first trip to DLR. It is a nice set and they could probably ship one out to you if you never got a chance to get it before your trip ended.

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Yes that is the set I was talking about.

World of Color is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! Best end of the night show in all of the Disney parks!!

preciousawakenin said:

World of Color is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! Best end of the night show in all of the Disney parks!!

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I couldn't agree more! I even have the dang song on my iPhone. No shame.

I'm sorry you experience that bad cm, but the times I've traded with them I had no problems. It really depends on the person.

I'm also sorry you had the not-so-great experiences with CMs. DLR is my *home* park and I've very rarely encountered rude CMs. But as stated above, everyone has a bad day now and then. I didn't find pin trading with CMs at WDW all that much fun, they seemed to have the same rack and Hidden Mickey pins as DLR (both times).

I enjoyed reading your comparisons of WDW and DLR. I pretty much agree with you (I've been to WDW twice, and within one year's time)!

The only restaurant we hated was Blue Bayou....service was great but food was a nightmare...I actually got sick from it haha.

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This one really shocks me! You are probably the only person I've ever heard tell that got sick from food at Blue Bayou! Whoa...sorry you had that experience.

I'm glad you had a good time at DLR/DCA (and DSF) though, and hope you come back.

I'm glad you had fun! Let me know if you want me to pick up the HM set for you.

Thank you everyone for the comments...I will 100% be back at DLR in the near future!!! After getting back and going through the pins I have bought I must say that DLR may have less of a pin selection than WDW but their pins are super cute. Sometimes it is better to have quality over quantity. I also LOVED that DLR did not push the merchandise such as making you walk through the gift shops after getting off of a ride. I was in shock since like 90% of WDW rides do that. I think that it goes back to Walt truly developing DisneyLand and he was about having fun with family and not taking out a loan to go on vacation.