Disneyland Advice

[awhen]

After living in Florida for 30 years, I finally get to go to Disneyland in a few weeks. I'm looking for advice on how to approach it. It'll be me, my wife, and our 2 children (both under 10 but both out of strollers). We've scheduled 4 days for Disneyland. We (or at least I) want to see it all, but we're hoping 4 days is enough to do so in a somewhat leisurely way. That said, we're not opposed to making some plan, just not a hectic plan that involves rushing from fastpass kiosk to fastpass kiosk. We're not exactly experience travelers, especially with the kids in tow.

Do we need park hopping for 4 days? I'm not sure if splitting down the middle at 2 days apiece for the parks is the way to go.

 

[kingcooger]

After living in Florida for 30 years, I finally get to go to Disneyland in a few weeks. I'm looking for advice on how to approach it. It'll be me, my wife, and our 2 children (both under 10 but both out of strollers). We've scheduled 4 days for Disneyland. We (or at least I) want to see it all, but we're hoping 4 days is enough to do so in a somewhat leisurely way. That said, we're not opposed to making some plan, just not a hectic plan that involves rushing from fastpass kiosk to fastpass kiosk. We're not exactly experience travelers, especially with the kids in tow.

Do we need park hopping for 4 days? I'm not sure if splitting down the middle at 2 days apiece for the parks is the way to go.

PM sent

 

[Teknik_DC2]

4 days should be plenty to see everything at a easy pace. Just like I would never go to Universal Orlando without a park to park ticket I would never do Disneyland without a parkhopper ether.

 

[April]

I'm leaving in two days to do four days at Disneyland, so I can let you know when I come back how it was. I imagine it's going to be slightly busy with the 60th going on. I went back in December for one day and just spent it at Disneyland, so that's the only park I'll have any experience with going into this trip.

 

[Brian G.]

After living in Florida for 30 years, I finally get to go to Disneyland in a few weeks. I'm looking for advice on how to approach it. It'll be me, my wife, and our 2 children (both under 10 but both out of strollers). We've scheduled 4 days for Disneyland. We (or at least I) want to see it all, but we're hoping 4 days is enough to do so in a somewhat leisurely way. That said, we're not opposed to making some plan, just not a hectic plan that involves rushing from fastpass kiosk to fastpass kiosk. We're not exactly experience travelers, especially with the kids in tow.

Do we need park hopping for 4 days? I'm not sure if splitting down the middle at 2 days apiece for the parks is the way to go.

I've been to Disneyland on 2 separate occasions - one was for 2 days, the other for 4 - and we got a lot done both times. Obviously the 2 days was a little bit more hectic, but the 4 days, we had chances to sit down, relax and enjoy everything without the need of rushing. 4 days is plenty of time, honestly.

What days are you going? Fri-Mon? Thurs-Sun?

 

[kingcooger]

I am not sure how much experience either of you has with the Disneyland Resort, but since both of you have so many days, I would recommend you make your early entry day Disneyland and get Tomorrowland out of the way first (Nemo, Space Mountain, and Star Tours being the priorities). As the parks open head over to Adventureland and hit up Indy, Big Thunder, and Splash Mountain (unless you are willing to do single rider in which case just hit this later). With any luck you should be able to scratch a lot of rides off of your list within the first two hours of the parks being open.

Given the amount of days you have the nighttime spectaculars should be no issue as you can easily take in Paint the Night and Disneyland Forever on the same night.

 

[UNIrd]

I think 4 days is perfect and, at this point, necessary between the two parks. Especially if you're planning on taking in the new parade, new World of Color, new Fireworks show, and Fantasmic, anything less with any real leisure time is pushing it.

Also, don't mean to offer opposing advice from kingcooger but I actually recommend the early entry for Fantasyland rides and get those out of the way with minimal waits (Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Toad's, Snow White, etc.)..

 

[kingcooger]

Also, don't mean to offer opposing advice from kingcooger but I actually recommend the early entry for Fantasyland rides and get those out of the way with minimal waits (Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland, Mr. Toad's, Snow White, etc.)..

Pan will not be open when they are going and the others almost always have walk on wait times post-fireworks when most people leave the park. If Pan were open, I would definitely go the Fantasyland route.

Speaking of nighttime, Big Thunder, The Matterhorn, Storybook Land Canal Boats, and The Jungle Cruise are all better at night so take that into account too.

 

[Brian G.]

Personally, I'd make a list of the rides that are different than the Orlando versions and make a plan of attack based on priority.

 

[kingcooger]

Personally, I'd make a list of the rides that are different than the Orlando versions and make a plan of attack based on priority.

That is fair. Here's a list off the top of my head with fastpass and single rider lines indicated.

Differing rides
Space Mountain (fastpass)
Finding Nemo
The Matterhorn (single rider)
Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin (fastpass)
Alice in Wonderland
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Snow White's Scary Adventures
Pinocchio's Daring Journey
Storybook Land Canal Boats
Casey Jr. Circus Train
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (fastpass)
(arguably) The Jungle Cruise
Indiana Jones Adventure (fastpass, single rider line)
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Haunted Mansion (I have heard they are running fastpass due to Hattie)
(arguably) Splash Mountain (fastpass, single rider line).

 

[Jon84]

Once you're done with the rides you'll have loads of time for meet and greet if you want to and generally soaking up the atmosphere. It's a very relaxed resort compared to WDW!

 

[awhen]

Once you're done with the rides you'll have loads of time for meet and greet if you want to and generally soaking up the atmosphere. It's a very relaxed resort compared to WDW!

We are counting on it! We haven't been to Disneyworld since 2012 so we're ready. And we probably won't go back for a few more years so not concerned about duplicate rides.

We'll be going on Monday-Thursday so hopefully that helps crowds a tiny bit. We definitely want to see all the nighttime shows and fireworks.

Thanks everyone for the advice so far.

 

[Jon84]

We are counting on it! We haven't been to Disneyworld since 2012 so we're ready. And we probably won't go back for a few more years so not concerned about duplicate rides.

We'll be going on Monday-Thursday so hopefully that helps crowds a tiny bit. We definitely want to see all the nighttime shows and fireworks.

Thanks everyone for the advice so far.

The new shows look really good. Enjoy your trip

 

[Cole]

4 days is enough to do literally everything the entire resort has to offer. I went for 2 days, one day cali adventure and the other DL (wrote a trip report on it if you want more info). I ran out of things to do in literal hours at DCA and I did everything in DL in one full day, lots of things twice. There were a couple closed attractions and the crowds weren't bad whatsoever so take that for what it's worth. 4 days is enough to try many restaurants, soak in details and overall enjoy things more, your definitely gonna have a blast

 

[kingcooger]

Fair warning to all traveling to Disneyland, The Matterhorn Bobsleds have long lines early right now thanks to the new Harold animatronic. I had early entry and still the line was long for standby. I would highly recommend single rider for this if at all possible.

Also, RSR still has a long line first thing in the morning for both fastpass and the ride itself. Using the single rider line my wife and I got on it twice in the first 20 minutes of the park being open. By the end of the night, even single rider is long but still it is about third of the standby wait.

One last note about the new shows. People line up for the first Paint the Night parade about two hours beforehand because when that ends the fireworks start. We got there about a half hour before the show began and were able to find decent viewing. The fireworks themselves are best experienced on Main Street as they surround you with projection effects. You will probably miss the Matterhorn projections, but you will still be able to see the castle so the only loss is the Nemo sequence which hardly compares to what you gain.

 

[awhen]

Thanks for the update! We'll be there next week, definitely looking forward to it.

 

[kingcooger]

No problem.

Also, for anyone else who does not know, the Storytelling at the Royal Theater Presents Frozen show has a fastpass located on the left side of the hub. This fastpass is disconnected from the rest of the system (like Fantasmic's) and I would recommend getting one if you plan on seeing the show as it is always packed. Even if you do not like Frozen, the show manages to be amusing thanks to the vaudeville theme/actors. Better yet, it occasionally mocks audience expectations and the material itself.

 

[awhen]

Got back late Saturday night. Short report: the whole family thought it was awesome. All the advice definitely helped. One obligatory pic then I'll post a little more in the Trip Reports section when I have time to digest it all.