2 weekend days at LL vs. extra day at DLR?

[jenjersnap]

I can't stop jiggering with our schedule! It's a compulsion!

We were originally going to go to Legoland on Sat. (we're staying in Carlsbad our first two nights in CA), then onto DL on Sunday, have a character brunch and check out the parks. We are staying at DL until Thursday morning then figured we'd head back to LL for another day (try to be there at opening on Thursday).

But, I realized that another day of DL MM on Thursday is very tempting. So if we visited LL on Sat and Sun, then continued to DL later on Sun than we'd originally planned, we could then stretch out DL to Thursday.

Is it just insane to plan two weekend days in early June at LL? Can we get everything done by being there at opening? Without waiting in too many lines? (DH really wants to spend 2 days there ... he thinks the boys are going to loooooove LL) My kids do not do any rollercoasters so we'd be skipping those. We'd have to push the kids a bit in any case since it doesn't open until 10 am (11 am our time). We'd usually plan a break but with such limited hours, we'd hope the little guy would nap in a stroller those days.

Is it worth braving two weekend days at LL to squeeze that last MM out of DL? Or, is the original plan of 3.5 days at DL just fine for first-timers?

Any thoughts are appreciated. I am putting this in the general theme parks forum but I hope our DL experts see it as well.

 

[sportbettor]

I can't stop jiggering with our schedule! It's a compulsion!

We were originally going to go to Legoland on Sat. (we're staying in Carlsbad our first two nights in CA), then onto DL on Sunday, have a character brunch and check out the parks. We are staying at DL until Thursday morning then figured we'd head back to LL for another day (try to be there at opening on Thursday).

But, I realized that another day of DL MM on Thursday is very tempting. So if we visited LL on Sat and Sun, then continued to DL later on Sun than we'd originally planned, we could then stretch out DL to Thursday.

Is it just insane to plan two weekend days in early June at LL? Can we get everything done by being there at opening? Without waiting in too many lines? (DH really wants to spend 2 days there ... he thinks the boys are going to loooooove LL) My kids do not do any rollercoasters so we'd be skipping those. We'd have to push the kids a bit in any case since it doesn't open until 10 am (11 am our time). We'd usually plan a break but with such limited hours, we'd hope the little guy would nap in a stroller those days.

Is it worth braving two weekend days at LL to squeeze that last MM out of DL? Or, is the original plan of 3.5 days at DL just fine for first-timers?

Any thoughts are appreciated. I am putting this in the general theme parks forum but I hope our DL experts see it as well.

We go to Legoland and Disneyland all the time. Last trip we split 3 days DL 5 days Legoland. I dont know how old your sons are but my son is 6 and he likes Legoland much more than Disneyland. In fact when we were driving to Disneyland from the airport to start the vacation he said he wanted to drive to Legoland for the whole vacation and just skip Disneyland.


Two days at Legoland should allow you to see everything pretty easily. You might want to reconsider the no rollercoaster thing though if your children are old enough to ride. My son wont ride rollercoasters or things with drops (ie no Space, Splash, Tot etc at DL). But he loves the Dinosaur Coaster and Dragon Coaster at Legoland because there are no steep drops on either one. They are both pretty much just a series of banked turns.

Another thing that Ive personally noticed is that weekends arent that much more crowded at Legoland than weekdays. Not like the weekend/weekday difference at Disneyland anyways. I think your plan for the 2 weekend days at Legoland and the rest at Dland is the way to go

BTW learn all the ins and outs of Fastpass for Disneyland before you go. It will save you hours and hours of waiting.

 

[jenjersnap]

Thank you for the thoughts! I'd really like to get some other opinions. A SD native told me to avoid LL at all costs on a summer weekend, lol, but it really works out better for us to go on Sat and Sun since I realized that we'll have to transport all our luggage to LL on that Thurs ... a complication that has me quite concerned.

 

[sportbettor]

I live in NorCal not SoCal so someone that lives there probably has a better opinion than me. But we have APs for both and go pretty often for people not living there.

What Ive seen is that Legoland is absolutely more crowded on the weekends like your friend said. But it is nothing like how Disneyland gets slammed on summer weekends. But again, the people that go to these parks every day/week would have a better viewpoint than me.

 

[mmmears]

I would stay away from DL on a weekend if at all possible! The difference between weekend and weekdays is huge. We were able to do all of Legoland in 2 half-days without riding on more than one coaster, and we really like Legos. We went early so we would be there for the opening and quickly did all the rides we could before the crowds showed up. Afternoons we spent at the hotel swimming pool -- very relaxing. Plus you would save going back and forth -- which takes a considerable amount of time during rush hour. We have a LONG drive down to LA, and once we get there we use the car as little as possible. Also DL has many, many attractions packed into a compact area -- so it fills up faster and takes longer to "cover" that park than any other we have ever been to.

I hope this helps and I hope you enjoy your vacation!