How many days is the perfect amount of time for Disneyland?

[davidc1]

Was wondering how many days you would stay at the resort to experience all the attraction?

 

[DLR29]

Depends on when you go. Most people will say 3 days bare minimum, although with the Little Mermaid and Star Tours and Carsland opening in the future, that 3 days will certainly become 4-5 minimum.

If you go during a less crowded time, definitely include at least 1 weekend day to see the fireworks and/or Fantasmic (they are not shown on weekdays in some months).

More crowded times mean longer park hours, and these are personally my favorite times to go because with using FP and knowing a bit about the resort, we still get a ton of stuff done.

 

[Zoemakes5]

5, and depending on the time of year, you may need to make sure that 2 or 3 of those days are weekend.

 

[blackjackdelta]

We do between 5-6 every year. With the new attractions as mentioned and the time of the ? it could get longer. If you are a commando you can do most in 3 days depends on what you like, where you stay(how much time in transition, ages of the folks you are traveling with, etc.) But is classical Disney and you will have fun, but plan your trip.

Jack

 

[HydroGuy]

If you want to feel like you had a solid visit and you are doing the adults only or teens or kids old enough to ride all the rides, then...4 days.

If you are still doing the Fantasyland with 4-year-olds thing then 3 days is more than enough.

 

[Marilynbn]

For a leisurely stay with some time at the pool at your hotel I would say 5. We have a pretty good system down and usually stay 4 days to minimize cost but never 3.

~Marilyn

 

[goldies 5]

We do 7 every year. We are able to relax more and not feel so rushed.

 

[mystic_path]

I wouldnt do anything less then 3, even when it's the slower time of year. There are many things to see and take in, and you will find your favorites that you will want to do over again. Honestly 5 is a good round off number. Disney sells tickets in the US for up to 6 day hoppers, and in Canada 7 day hoppers. We usually go for 7 day hoppers, and can see everything in 4 days at a leisurely pace. But having an extra few days for favorites is a nice bonus.

 

[DTFVolunteer]

I have been twice during a slower "off" season and I still have yet to experience some attractions (mind you I do some of my favourite attractions multiple times).

First official trip was three days and I had a list of about 14 attractions I hadn't set foot near at the end of the three days.

Last week's trip was 4 days and I still have yet to go on a few rides.

Depends on the days that you choose as other people have commented above... we were there Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat and got 15 attractions done on Wednesday, but only 6 or 7 on Saturday as line ups were much longer and the park was much more crowded (and we were a lot more tired, so we couldn't walk as fast ).

If I could do my trip last week over, I would have booked an extra day off work and had a day of relaxation instead of 4 days straight of go, go, go. By the time we got home we needed a vacation from our vacation!

A

 

[ladypage]

How many people, and what are the ages?

My boyfriend and I went in mid March for four days in honor of his 18th birthday, and it seemed kind of perfect. We wandered around a lot, and just took in the atmosphere everywhere. We walked back and forth to our hotel at least once a day, (about a 30 minute walk each way) and hung out awhile and walked back.

We pretty much avoided Fantasy land all together, because that was by far the busiest. The only things we rid there were Alice and Snow White.

I wish we had rid some more stuff, and we did have the time, but we didn't utilize it. We really had a good time though. We also did DCA, so you can see it's possible to enjoy it. On day 4 all we did was wake up, go in to grab the stuff I wanted to buy, and leave to catch our plane.

If it's your first time though, I would allow a bit longer.

 

[Susie63]

We went to DL for the first time last year and we were in the parks for six days and still did not see and do everything. You just can't factor in the amount of time you will just be looking around at the view......especially if it is your first time. We looked at all the botony,the architecture,the train and the mainstreet vehicles.Rode the monorail several times. There is a lot to see your first time. My next time is seven days in the park...in February.

 

[Hound 109]

If one is a tourist who prefers shopping malls & Universal Studios to all things Disney......then i'd say 2-3 days.

If one is a Disney lover & wants to enjoy Walt's personal touches (large & small) & wants to enjoy all the shows & new attractions.....& wants to celebrate "the original" properly.....then 4 days minimum....maybe 5 or 6.

(& GET UP early everday. )

 

[jcatron243]

We have done 3, 5, and 6 days. With just my DH and I 3 days was almost too much. With the kids (now 5 and 7) 3 days wasn't enough and 6 days was a bit much. This year we are doing 5 days and I think it will be perfect!

 

[BecomingObsessed]

I think it depends on the ages of the people you're traveling with. We have two little girls and 3 days is enough time for us because of exhaustion reasons alone (Fantasyland can be a tiring place!). We're always ready to go home by day 4 and that's with taking breaks in the middle of the day.

 

[Brady's Mom]

We like to be in the area for 6 ish days. We typically plan 5 days for the parks. We prefer slow/low season since we like the shorter lines. We love to break up our trip with a rest day. We head to the beach, do a little dinking around the area, check out any fun things we might like to do, try a restaurant that's recommended on Yelp without having to worry about interfering with our park time, or just laze around and swim a little.

The break during the middle of our trip gives us a nice break and helps us rejuvenate. We've done our "break" several different ways. We've taken the whole day and done basically nothing, we've skipped DLR in the morning and headed to the beach, then back to DLR. We've headed into DLR in the morning and then out at noon or so to go to the beach and out to a good restaurant and then early to bed. Our family consensus is that we like to go to DLR first and then head to the beach. It fits our family pattern really well.

Like I said above we like low season and shorter hours - our kids stay on a more regular sleep schedule, nobody gets super cranky, we don't feel bad about leaving DLR early (by 7pm) because we've done everything we've wanted to do that day. We spend some down time in the hotel room and decompress. It works for us.

 

[davidc1]

Hey that sounds like how my trips are..slow relaxed and not rushed. I'm still trying to figure out how you guys do it in off season since the hours are limited and shows/rides may be down. So five days in the park is enough for you to see everything?

 

[jen7233]

I think part depends on amount of kids/ages or people with you! For us Disneyland three days was enough my kids are 2 and 4.

 

[Dobie]

The Dobies stay four nights, and leave for the airport right after lunch on the fifth day. We typically stay Sun-Thurs or Mon-Fri. We always go in the summer, it is always busy, it is usually hot (although last August was perfect!) and we always do our favorites several times. We don't do everything, but everytime we go we make a point of doing something we have never done before. We are always sad to leave but have never left feeling like we were too rushed or didn't get to stay long enough.