2 days in DL?

[alisonbestford]

Hi, copied this from my post on the CA forum

We will be visiting Disneyland in May this year

Myself, my partner and my 14 year old daughter

My question is will a two day hopper give us enough time in the parks?

We've visited Florida before and I understand that DL is nowhere near as big.

We don't do the commando type "be there at opening and don't leave until closing" thing and plan to visit on the Monday and Tuesday (week before Memorial weekend)

We're staying at the beach for a week and plan to drive in to DL and Universal before driving up the coast to SF and flying home.

Any thoughts?

 

[peajay18]

I was lucky enough to visit DL in April last year and there are some big differences to WDW that make it much easier to manage on a shorter stay.

Without turning this into a WDW vs DL debate, we used our WDW experiences to help us decide what to concentrate on at DL.

The 2 parks are even closer together than the Paris parks, and you can walk from one to the other in less than 5mins.
Unlike WDW, it's pretty easy to walk from one end of the park to the other in no time, so backtracking isn't as much of an issue.

We approached our DL trip by looking at what was exclusive to DL and making sure we definitely hit those attractions - that included Matterhorn (which was down for refurb ), Alice in Wonderland, Mr Toad, Nemo subs, Indiana Jones.
Then it was which attractions does DL have the "best" version of - Pirates, Small World, Space Mountain.

We also made sure to see World Of Color and Fantasmic by booking the dining/desert packages. This meant we didn't spend valubale time staking out a viewing spot.
IMO , Fantasmic at DL is much better than WDW but World of Color is a must-see.

There are some attractions you could skip if you so desire - Tower of Terror, Star Tours, Little Mermaid, Buzz Lightyear and Splash Mountain are all much the same as WDW (or in some cases, better at WDW)
The Haunted Mansion is different enough to make it worthwhile.

Another thing that took me by surprise is that DL's lines aren't all indoors like most of WDW, so if it looks like Buzz or Pirates are queuing out the door that's only because you board the ride practically as soon as you get inside.

The only other tip I'd give you, is if you plan to see Carsland at DCA it might be worth getting there at ropedrop...

Hope that's of some use.

 

[chmurf]

My question is will a two day hopper give us enough time in the parks?

We've visited Florida before and I understand that DL is nowhere near as big.

We don't do the commando type "be there at opening and don't leave until closing" thing and plan to visit on the Monday and Tuesday (week before Memorial weekend)

We're staying at the beach for a week and plan to drive in to DL and Universal before driving up the coast to SF and flying home.

DL is nowhere near as big as WDW but there are a whole lot of things to do

May is not crazy busy, but it's gonna be busy.
You mentionned that you stayed at the beach. well, depends on where that beach is ... you'll probably face over 1 hour of driving before reaching the park. And if you're not the "get up early" type you'll hit the parks at the same time as the crowds.

Cars land will be busy (I guess it always is)

2 days with hopper might be a little short in your situation. Unless you are willing to skip all the rides and attractions that match (more or less closely) those you may know from WDW or DLP (and that would be a pity to skip the DL version of these attractions).

If you can manage a third day, you'll feel more comfortable
(my $0.02)

 

[alisonbestford]

Hmmm, thank you everyone
The drive from the beach will take us at least an hour by my reckoning.
I'll have a talk to DD as I know, for a fact, that I'll struggle to get my partner to visit 2 days never mind 3
We've told him he can go off and do something else of his choosing but I'll have a proper think.
Pirates, Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion are "must dos" and I'd like to visit the rides that aren't in WDW. Other than that I think we're pretty much relaxed about our time there.

 

[zavandor]

DL is going to enforce the return time of fastpasses so existing visit strategies must be reconsidered.
The two parks in Anaheim have the same total number of attractions than the 4 parks in Orlando. So it's a lot!
3 days is the minimum to see everything, 4 is the best amount. But if you have two days, go anyway, just choose in advance what you don't mind to miss.

Have you read the Hydroguy post for WDW veterans visiting DL. Containg very valuable information.

 

[Linda67]

I went to DL for the first time last October and had a 5 day park hopper

You could certainly hit all the big headliners in a couple of days but if you really want to soak up the atmosphere and take in the details of the parks, you would be pushing it with two days

It really depends on what your main objective is for the trip

 

[irenep]

We had 5 days in DL and it still wasn't enough.
I expect you will have time to do most of the headliners though especially if you make best use of the fastpasses. Apart from the ones already mentioned, make sure you don't miss California Screamin (my favourite roller-coaster in all the parks)