Seasoned WDW Visitor on a First Visit to DL

[srcrmcky#1fan]

In February, my husband went on our first venture westward! I've been to WDW many, many times, but never to DL. Our original destination was to Vegas, but we decided to take one day out and drive to DL. We arrived in Vegas on a Thursday and spent 2 full days sightseeing and gambling.
We headed to DL on a Sunday, so we picked up our rental car the day before. We left for DL EARLY...we were on the road at 6am. There was minimal westward traffic at that time and we made the drive in 3 1/2 hours from our hotel (Paris-Las Vegas) to the Disneyland parking lot. For any midwesterners, the drive was beautiful. We'd never seen the desert and the moutains are gorgeous!
We parked and took the tram to the main gate. We got our tickets and headed off to the original...DL. I was so excited that I nearly started crying! I had been waiting for years to see Walt's original park and the feeling of being there was truly amazing!
Walking onto Main Street and seeing Sleeping Beauty's Castle provided a surprise. After seeing the magnificient Cinderella Castle in WDW, Sleeping Beauty's castle seemed "dwarfed", but impressive none the less.
We headed off to my favorite attraction, the Haunted Mansion. We also experienced Pirates of the Caribbean, the Matterhorn, Mr Toad's Wild Ride, Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, and Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. I wanted to make sure that I experienced all of the rides not at WDW along with my WDW favorites! A few other favorite rides, Space Mountain, Disneyland Railroad, Spash Mountain, were closed for refurbishment in preparation for the 50th anniversary celebration.
We only spent about 7 hours in the park. I am just so happy that I actually made it there and was able to see Walt's original creation for myself.
We headed back from CA about 5pm and the traffic headed toward CA was outrageous...boy were we happy that we left for CA early enough to beat most of the rush! We also stayed tuned to local traffic channels which helped us out a lot! We made it back to Vegas about 9:30pm, took a nap and headed out for more sight-seeing!
Overall, it was a great time. I'm glad we made it out there and it was a memorable experience. (Undoubtedly, it was the best part of my Vegas trip!) I'm hoping to make it out there again for more than 1 day and designate a trip just to Disneyland!

 

[tinknsnow]

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

I am trying to prepare for the smaller Sleeping Beauty castle already.

 

[BriarRosie]

Great report!

But as a WDW veteran, I have to ask:

Did you feel disoriented trying to find your way around the west
side of the park? LOL! "Hey! New Orleans Square? How did
this get here??"

It took me a while to get used to Critter Country, too. ;-)

I compare the strange feeling to coming home to find that someone re-arranged the furniture while I wasn't there.
That's how it felt. LOL!

 

[IluvKingLouis]

Did it really only take you 3.5 hours? Wow. I thought it was closer to a 5 hour drive. We will definately consider doing this next time we're in Vegas. I haven't been to DL since they added CA. I'm curious to see the new park.

 

[srcrmcky#1fan]

Here are answers to the questions/comments posted so far:
***I don't know if you can really be prepared for the differences in the castle. It's one of those, "I still can't believe THAT is the castle!" It's amazing, but in a different, more quaint way!
***Although DL and WDW MK appear very similar, in reality, they are really very different. I didn't realize how different they were until we visited. I was really surprised at how large New Orleans Square is (compared to Liberty Square). It really does feel familiar, yet "rearranged"!
***The drive really did only take us 3 1/2 hours. We didn't speed (maybe only 5 to 7 miles over the limit) and we didn't hit any wrecks, construction, or delays. I can easily see how any type of obstruction would really delay the drive. (I have read on previous drives that the drive has taken up to 8 hours due to delays.) But, if traffic is flowing, you can easily make it in 3 1/2 hours. I would've liked to spend more than part of a day there, but we didn't have enough time this trip. So, you can do it in a compact 1 day trip. The key is leave early (especially on a Sunday when there is a lot of traffic heading back to California). If you plan it right, like we did, you can make it there when or shortly after the parks open!
Thanks for your comments and let me know if you have any other questions!