5 days in the parks, wwyd?

[Bobsmom]

DS and I will be arriving into LAX at 10am on a Tuesday (2/20) and departing Saturday at 3pm. That gives us a morning, an afternoon, and 3 whole days. We will have single park tickets and this will be our second trip to DL, and we are definitely doing DL on Thurs for our early morning. He's almost 10 and as long as he's fueled with snacks, he can go go go (we once spent a 14 hour day in MK at WDW and had a blast). I expect we will need one full afternoon to rest and swim but otherwise plan to stay most of the day (we are at Marriott suites so it's a bit of a trek to hotel and back). We plan to see WoC once, and Fantasmic once. I'm trying to decide if it makes sense to do DCA on our arrival and departure days with 3 DL days in the middle, or perhaps do an afternoon in DL, half day in DCA with swimming and naps, 2 more DL days and a DCA day when we leave.

So I guess my biggest question is about DL on an afternoon/evening. We are normally rope-droppers so i have no idea what it's like to arrive at, say, 3pm.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

If you don't already have it, download the free DLR app now and start keeping track of wait times, FP availability and distribution times, and anything else that interests you in the afternoons and evenings. By watching the times each day between now and your trip, you'll have a very good idea of how things should look by the time you get to DLR. Keep track of the rides you are most interested in -- you'll see how long the lines are and how quickly FPs are going each day. This will help you get a better idea of what you'll want to do on your arrival day. Also, were you looking at getting MaxPass for your visit or at least for your first day?

 

[limace]

I would definitely get hoppers if you can-we never hop at WDW but wouldn’t go without it at DL. It’s an entirely different beast-the parks are so close that it’s like walking between the halves of Epcot.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

If you can I would get park hoppers. It's not that much more to add that option to a 5-day ticket and the extra flexibility will be really nice.

 

[cruisehopeful]

With that being a holiday week (will be very busy in the parks), I think you will enjoy getting out for the swimming break or even something else like downtown Disney. Since a large part of DCA will be walled off, it will probably be a half day park again. However, the popular rides (Soarin, GOTG, Toy Story Mania and Radiator Springs) will have very long wait times. You may end up doing a whole day there just to get use of fastpasses for those. I suggest getting there at opening and using MaxPass if you plan on doing those rides. During busy times like that week, rides that normally have a 20 min line will probably have a 45 min line.

Personally, I like to go with the flow and not plan too much. I never know how much the crowds will impact my enjoyment. It's not unusual for me to go into DL and decide it's too busy after an hour and I head to DCA. If the walls are still going to be up and you have holiday crowds, it will be pretty crazy, especially in Adventureland/New Orleans Square and of course, Main street where the walls are. It's a little easier to avoid Main St by using the train, but there's no getting around the cluster in Adventureland area. I was just there 2 days ago and the park wasn't even busy, but there was still a total cluster walking through Adventureland.

 

[HydroGuy]

When I have a late arrival I usually focus on seeing shows that day and shopping with DW.

Get FPs for World of Color and see it on your first night. If you stick with single park tickets then other things to do at DCA with a late arrival...

o Great day to shop, wander around Buena Vista Street, watch the street shows and characters at leisure, and maybe have a sit down dinner somewhere
o FPs should be available for at least some of the rides, so get those where available
o See the Frozen stage show
o Spend an hour or more at the Animation Studios
o Take a drawing class at the Animation Studios
o Rides pretty easy to do without excessive lines include LMAUA, MJJ, MI and ITTBAB

 

[Bobsmom]

Thanks for the responses. Since we plan on using maxpass for our two heaviest DL days the budget does not also allow for the upgrade to hoppers. We had hoppers last time we went but we also had a fp runner and the parks were still disconnected. So for me maxpass seemed to be the better value this time.

I will keep an eye on the app, that's a great suggestion, thank you. I think we'd focus on headliners, plus a couple personal faves like hm and Mr toad, if we did dl for our half day. We make use of single rider when available, too.

At this point I think I'm leaning back toward my plan of DCA for that first afternoon, hydroguy's list plus sr rsr is what I was thinking. But will watch the app and get a sense from that, too. Thanks everyone!