How many days at Disneyland? Numerous California Adventure closures in January

Chickkypoo

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 25, 2004
I'm trying to determine how many days we should spend at Disneyland, and how many we should spend touring around LA. I was originally thinking 4 days for Disneyland, but I now see that Mickey's Fun Wheel, California Screamin', Redwood Creek Trail, It's Tough to be a Bug, Grizzly River Run, and Goofy's Sky School will all be closed at California Adventure. That doesn't leave a lot left to do at that park. Is this now a half day park? Do I only need 2 days to do both parks at a leisurely pace? I've been to Disneyland twice, last time was in 2010. Hubby has never been, but he has been to WDW, HK Disney and Tokyo Disney.
 
IMHO: No way can you do both parks at a leisurely pace in 2 days even with half of DCA closed. At least 3 days. You need to account for crowds, parks are constantly crowded now- especially during "off peak" times and with half of DCA closed you can definitely count on everything else in DCA having extra long lines.
 
We have gone two days with park hoppers when it has not been very busy and we always needed an extra day. 3 Days is the minimum we go now.
When are you planning on going? And remember just because rides will be down does not mean it will be less busy.
 
We will be in the area from Jan 27-Feb 3. The first and last day are travel days, so we have 6 full days in the area. The crowd calendar is showing that week as extremely quiet.
 


We will be in the area from Jan 27-Feb 3. The first and last day are travel days, so we have 6 full days in the area. The crowd calendar is showing that week as extremely quiet.
I think I'd start with a three day hopper. This should give you the ability to leisurely tour both parks.
If you feel the need for a 4th day, you can upgrade your tickets.

Looking at the schedule figment_jii maintains, your dates look good.
https://www.disboards.com/threads/2018-calendar-of-events-school-breaks-and-dlr.3635162/

It's after the NAMM conference and before the Super Bowl.

Enjoy
Geemo
 
We will be in the area from Jan 27-Feb 3. The first and last day are travel days, so we have 6 full days in the area. The crowd calendar is showing that week as extremely quiet.
DIS secret time: I'm sorry but throw ALL Disneyland crowd calendars in the nearest trash bin. Their accuracy for Disneyland is horrible.

Most accurate guide is the AP blackout calendar (+ Figment's event thread), if days are blacked out look for slightly lighter crowds. (This doesn't apply Xmas-New Years though for anyone else reading this!) Also, during "off season" things like fireworks & fantasmic only run Fri-Sun FYI.
 
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You can have an awesome time in 2 days, but you won't do it all. It also depends if you do open to close, or if you come late and take breaks.
 


2 full days isn't even enough time to do Disneyland Park at a leisurely pace!! (We get 4 day hoppers and don't get to do near everything in both parks!)
 
We had 5 days, split amongst the parks with Early entry at Grand Californian 3 days, Disneyland 2. It was a “leisurely” trip but still exhausting, lol! We also had a 6 & 9 year old, had one table service reservation a day, afternoon breaks and Fantasmic and WOC dinner and dessert reservations. We rode Californian Screamin once on date night, never made it to Tough to be a bug, Goofys sky school was closed and only my husband and son rode Grizzly River Run while my daughter and I saw Frozen. We did everything we wanted (including the BBB princess stuff) except I forgot to go to the Fairy area to see Tink and friends! Plenty to keep us busy. We did spend about an hour and a half total at the Red wood creek challenge over 2 days visiting Santa and playing.
 
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OT a bit, but this is a reason why we haven't headed out west yet. Every time we start planning a trip to Disneyland, there is SO much closed. At WDW, if Splash is closed, no way is another E-ticket closed. We're booked for June of next year, but are keeping a close eye on things. California Screamin' is closed until summer, so that's up in the air.
 
OT a bit, but this is a reason why we haven't headed out west yet. Every time we start planning a trip to Disneyland, there is SO much closed. At WDW, if Splash is closed, no way is another E-ticket closed. We're booked for June of next year, but are keeping a close eye on things. California Screamin' is closed until summer, so that's up in the air.
Definitely OT. And dude- Disney's Hollywood Studios right now.
 
Definitely OT. And dude- Disney's Hollywood Studios right now.

Absolutely. I guess that's not a huge deal for us, as the major attractions we hit (ToT, Rock n Roller Coaster, Star Tours, Toy Story) are all up. The attractions that closed were never a big deal to us, with the exception of the Great Movie Ride. Plus, the Studios ranks 4th in terms of our parks.

I've never been to DL. Maybe it's a different vibe. At WDW, if 2 e-tickets were closed at the same time, there would be mayhem.
 
I would say minimum 3 days (get park hopper tickets). In DCA you will still have Monsters Inc, GOG, the 3 rids in Cars land, Soarin, the 4 rides in Bugsland, The Golden Zephyr, King Tritons Carousel, TSMM, Silly Symphony Swings, The Little Mermaid, Jumpin Jellyfish and this does not include any meet and greets or shows!

Have A Magical time!!
 
We did 4 day park hopper in August and the only DCA rides in the list that we went on was Grizzly River Run and It's Tough to be a Bug (and both of those were just once). At DCA, we loved Radiator Springs, Mater, Luigi ride, Soarin, Toy Story, Monsters Inc and my son also loved Guardians. We went on those multiple times and were not bored at all. We also saw WOC which was amazing (dessert party), and the Frozen show. We also had MaxPass which was amazing for booking the headliners and booking a ride at park B when you were still at park A.
 
We did 4 day park hopper in August and the only DCA rides in the list that we went on was Grizzly River Run and It's Tough to be a Bug (and both of those were just once). At DCA, we loved Radiator Springs, Mater, Luigi ride, Soarin, Toy Story, Monsters Inc and my son also loved Guardians. We went on those multiple times and were not bored at all. We also saw WOC which was amazing (dessert party), and the Frozen show. We also had MaxPass which was amazing for booking the headliners and booking a ride at park B when you were still at park A.
Oh yeah- MP is AWESOME, especially on shorter trips. Really helps maximize your time in the parks!
 
I now see that Mickey's Fun Wheel, California Screamin', Redwood Creek Trail, It's Tough to be a Bug, Grizzly River Run, and Goofy's Sky School will all be closed at California Adventure.
You might want to double check this list. Last I checked Goofy's Sky School is scheduled to open in mid-late December. I haven't looked at the schedule for January but I can't imagine they're closing it again so soon after a long refurb. It's Tough to be a Bug is almost always down because they use that theater for other things - it's not a huge loss IMO. Redwood Creek Trail only takes up as much time as you give it and if you don't have small children who like to run and climb, you can basically just stroll through it when lines are long everywhere else. The rides that are down don't usually have long lines, and all the rides with really long lings (RSR, Toy Story, Guardians) will still be running, so IMO the missing rides won't make that big of an impact time-wise.

For reference, we just got back from a 3-day trip. Granted, we took our time and did leisurely things like people watching and window shopping, and we took daily breaks. In those three days, the only ride on your closure list that we went on was Screamin, which only had a 10-minute line. We still had so much we wanted to do at DCA that we barely set foot in DL (we only rode Space and BTMRR). We rode RSR, Guardians and Toy Story a few times each, rode some of the smaller rides, ate food, watched street entertainment, staked out a good spot for WoC, and all that kept us plenty busy.

If you were only interested in rides and did not want any re-rides, you could probably do DCA in a half day if you get there fairly early and do back to back FP for RSR and Guardians before the return times get late, skip the kiddie rides, and ride everything else standby. But that's not what I would call a leisurely pace.
 
You might want to double check this list. Last I checked Goofy's Sky School is scheduled to open in mid-late December. I haven't looked at the schedule for January but I can't imagine they're closing it again so soon after a long refurb. It's Tough to be a Bug is almost always down because they use that theater for other things - it's not a huge loss IMO. Redwood Creek Trail only takes up as much time as you give it and if you don't have small children who like to run and climb, you can basically just stroll through it when lines are long everywhere else. The rides that are down don't usually have long lines, and all the rides with really long lings (RSR, Toy Story, Guardians) will still be running, so IMO the missing rides won't make that big of an impact time-wise.

For reference, we just got back from a 3-day trip. Granted, we took our time and did leisurely things like people watching and window shopping, and we took daily breaks. In those three days, the only ride on your closure list that we went on was Screamin, which only had a 10-minute line. We still had so much we wanted to do at DCA that we barely set foot in DL (we only rode Space and BTMRR). We rode RSR, Guardians and Toy Story a few times each, rode some of the smaller rides, ate food, watched street entertainment, staked out a good spot for WoC, and all that kept us plenty busy.

If you were only interested in rides and did not want any re-rides, you could probably do DCA in a half day if you get there fairly early and do back to back FP for RSR and Guardians before the return times get late, skip the kiddie rides, and ride everything else standby. But that's not what I would call a leisurely pace.
It’s tough to be a bug is only down on January 8. It’s to remove the Coco screening stuff.
 
another vote for three days.....in addition to all the thrill attractions....DCA and Disneyland are works of art.....at night.....different environment at night. RS is breathtaking at night, if the waterfall pathway l is open at GRR, a fun place to walk, the pier lit up if not border boarded. And Disneyland, for a first time visitor, NOS, ROA Matterhorn, BTMRR at night, jungle cruise at night, the train, canal boats, monorail around FL.....and first time visitor has to do autopia at night, less painful in the dark.
 

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