3 day or 4 days at DL?

[ashpinoza]

weve always done 3 day passes. havent been in ten years! so im SOOOO excited to be going next may because it was always tradition, always went but then we moved. so i am also excited to see the CA park as i have never been there! BUT...we also have a son who will be almost two at the time. i am wondering if 4 days at the parks will be pushing it for him. do you think 3 days is enough for both parks? or should we aim for the 4 day tickets? thanks

 

[bluegrizzlies1]

4 days would be great you wont have to rush things

 

[HydroGuy]

On a forum of Disney fans like this it is easy for everyone to say "more days is better!". You will have fun either way with 3 or 4 days. We have only ever done one four day trip and everyone thought it was one day too much - for us. But if we had not gone in 10 years then four days might have been more welcome.

Do you think it will be 10 more years until you go again? Then maybe four days would be worth it. If you think you will be back in a year or two then maybe three days will be right. Especially with a two-year-old.

 

[wrightut]

I think, with young kids, that three days probably would be fine.

We just got back from our first ever trip to Disneyland, with an 8 year old, a 5 year old and a 3 year old. Between both parks, we spent about 4 hours the first day, 8 hours the second day, and 9 hours the third day (and the third day we took a long break for naps, since we wanted to stay up late and do the fireworks and Fantasmic). It was plenty. We certainly didn't do every single thing, but with our kids the ages they are, that wasn't going to be really feasible anyway. We did a lot of splitting up and swapping out with the younger two, who couldn't or didn't want to ride the bigger rides. We still had a blast!

We actually had the 5 day park hopper passes, since we bought the "5 days for the pricec of 3" passes. We thought about going back for half a day on the fourth day, but the kids were frankly worn out and we had other plans for that evening, so we just hung out, took in a movie at Anaheim's Gardenwalk, and rested a bit.

That's my take. I'm sure there will be some who will disagree and it probably depends on your kids, but for us three days was just right for this trip.

 

[VictoriaAndMatt]

I think if you can go for 4 days I would. You are going to want to stop and take breaks. Go back to the hotel and let your kid nap. If you stay for 3 days, yes, you will still enjoy your trip but it will be much more rushed. I think the more time you have to relax, especially with little ones, the more you will enjoy your time at Disney.

 

[Sherry E]

On a forum of Disney fans like this it is easy for everyone to say "more days is better!". You will have fun either way with 3 or 4 days. We have only ever done one four day trip and everyone thought it was one day too much - for us. But if we had not gone in 10 years then four days might have been more welcome.

Do you think it will be 10 more years until you go again? Then maybe four days would be worth it. If you think you will be back in a year or two then maybe three days will be right. Especially with a two-year-old.

I totally agree with you, HydroGuy. I think, Ashpinoza, if you don't foresee being able to get back to DLR for a long time, then take the extra day and make it a 4-day trip. You can space everything out so that there are nice rest periods for the little one and no one has to feel rushed or overwhelmed. Also, I don't know how interested you are in the 'noticing the details' aspect of things, but that is something some folks like to do when they have extra time - they just kind of wander around at a leisurely pace and take in all the little hidden gems and out of the way nooks that you may not get to see in a typical, hectic, fast-paced day at DLR.

But, if you plan to be back to DLR again very soon, I think you could get away with 3 days. With my group of friends, and we don't have any kids, they are at an age now where they get their fill of DLR pretty early on in the day, and either need to take the mid-day rest breaks to recharge the batteries or only stay in the parks for a few hours and leave altogether. They get impatient and tired sooner than I do Because I like to take in all the wonderful details as well as try aimlessly to kick my friends' butts on Toy Story Midway Mania, for me a good trip would be a 4-day trip, where I could spend two of those days with them, enjoying all the rides and character meals, and the other two days solo, where I could look in any shops I wanted and stop to take any pictures I wanted, without worrying that I was making someone wait on me. I have had long chunks of time away from DLR in the past, and so much changed during those periods that I feel I need to soak in everything I can now, just in case I have to go for another long block of time without being able to go to DLR.

So I always thinks more time at DLR is better if you are not going to be back there again for a long time, but if you think this will be one of many trips in the near future, then 3 days should be okay.

 

[LuLusApple]

I take DD12 and DGD1 with me most of the time. We stay minimum 3 days.
The longer we stay the more relaxed it is, with DGD1. We go at her pace, if she is cranky we take a break if she is tired we go back to the hotel, when she is hungry we eat.
It makes us all less stressed
We went back for the first time in April after a 2 year absence, so much had changed. We spent 6 days. My whole family on my sig tag. It was great. We bought APs and still go 3-4 days. What I am saying is if you havnt been in 10 years, go four. You can go slower see things more spread out and not feel like oh my gosh it's my last day I have to stay here from 8am-12pm cause I missed so much

 

[FourM's]

We always do a four day park hopper when we take the kids. It allows you to take things at a slower pace knowing you have plenty of time, no feeling rushed. Like PP said you can schedule in time to go back to your hotel for naps or a pool break. I always figure its doesn't cost very much to do a 4 day instead of a 3 day park hopper, why not!

 

[pixiewings71]

I would do 4 days, why? Because you feel more relaxed and able to take breaks whenever you need them. We have APs and go all the time, I'd still rather go for 5 days or more than for the quick 2 day weekend trips we tend to do now.

 

[Krissy Marissy]

As a mom of 2 young kids my vote is for four days. This way you can spend 1/2 a day at the pool and not feel like you are wasting park time. We took a six day trip in june and it was perfect. We got up late, took looooong naps and left when we wanted, sometimes before 9. We didn't rush and didn't feel like we were missing out if we left the park for four hours in the afternoon.

It is your decision and you know your family best. But four days with a break on the third day at the pool etc will probably go a long way vs three straight days

 

[ashpinoza]

On a forum of Disney fans like this it is easy for everyone to say "more days is better!". You will have fun either way with 3 or 4 days. We have only ever done one four day trip and everyone thought it was one day too much - for us. But if we had not gone in 10 years then four days might have been more welcome.

Do you think it will be 10 more years until you go again? Then maybe four days would be worth it. If you think you will be back in a year or two then maybe three days will be right. Especially with a two-year-old.

oh no way i would EVER wait ten years again! lol. it was tradition for my mom and i to go every couple years for a nice long SOCAL trip. we moved to illinos due to an illness in the family about 7 years ago. i met my husband, who has NEVER been to disney anything, or even on vacation and only to ONE theme park which he went ot with me this year. we now have been together 6 years and have our wonderful baby so we are making it OUR tradition now! although my mom doesnt want to give it up either so shes comin with us this year! but we will definetely be going every 1-2 years. every year unless we do some other vacay like visiting family. so we will be goin alot from now on!

 

[ashpinoza]

As a mom of 2 young kids my vote is for four days. This way you can spend 1/2 a day at the pool and not feel like you are wasting park time. We took a six day trip in june and it was perfect. We got up late, took looooong naps and left when we wanted, sometimes before 9. We didn't rush and didn't feel like we were missing out if we left the park for four hours in the afternoon.

It is your decision and you know your family best. But four days with a break on the third day at the pool etc will probably go a long way vs three straight days

WELLLLLL, i dont think i personally or my family would ever spend half of our vacation day in the pool, condidering we could do that at home. we would probably go to the pool for an hour or so in the evening. but i would rather be able to go slowly. so i think we have agreed to do a 4 day trip!

 

[wrightut]

Yeah, we aren't big pool people either. We did swim for a while after our long day at Disneyland (we were there from 8-4) but only until we were ready for dinner and an early bedtime since we had MM the following day.

I know I posted that three days for us was good, but four will be good too. FWIW, we didn't feel rushed when we did our three days - we bought the 5 day parkhopper in case we did feel rushed and wanted to go for part of a fourth day, but ended up not doing it. However, we don't have napping kids at all anymore, although we did enforce a nap for everyone on our MM day so we could stay out late enough for the fireworks and Fantasmic. So a 2 year old will probably need more breaks that our kids did, since they are a bit older.

Have a great time!