Advice on Schedule - First Timers

[marlana323]

Hi. We are heading to Disneyland in April (with a 4 and 5 year old) and below is the schedule that I've planned and would love any feedback or suggestions to changes I should make. I think we are going during a busy time...

April 6 - arrive at LAX in afternoon - head to DL w/ dinner at Goofy's Kitchen
April 7 - Magic Morning and rides - 11:00 BBB
April 8 - SeaWorld
April 9 - Zoo
April 10 - Legoland
April 11 - TT - DCA - WOC
April 12 - Plaza Inn at 8:00 breakfast - DL
April 13 - character breakfast and depart for LAX

Thanks for any input. Can hardly wait!

 

[Briarrose1306]

I see that you're heading to SeaWorld and the Zoo, so I'm assuming you're renting a car, I might be worried about all the drive time (especially on a Friday). Not sure if it would be a better idea to fly into San Diego first to do all that stuff and then head to DL for the second part of the trip. It might save you time. Plus, if you're little ones have never been to DL, they might get frustrated (for lack of a better word) going to DL for one day and then not going back for another three. That's just my opinion though. Hope I helped!

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Seems to me like a lot of travel, more than I would enjoy personally. I wonder if with kids the ages of your children you would do better to spend some more time at DL and cut back on the extra travel. Legoland is in Carlsbad which is a 50-60 minute drive with no traffic. Seaworld and the zoo are in San Diego which will easily by a 90 minute drive with no traffic. Will you be doing a split stay or driving each day?

Legoland is a really good choice for kids those ages and should definitely be done in the beginning or middle of your trip rather than the end. As for Seaworld or the Zoo, if it were me, I would choose at most one of those if you're already doing Legoland and Disneyland. We actually haven't been to either Seaworld or the zoo since they just don't appeal to my family's interests all that much. Each of these places have their fans, but I do remember several of my friends commenting that they had wished they'd waited until their kids were a little bit older to try them out. Their kids back then were about the ages of yours now.

 

[tlovesdis]

Will you be staying in SD or driving? If you are driving, it is going to take close to 2 hours on Thursday and Friday, maybe even longer, to get to and from SD as traffic will not be pretty!

 

[marlana323]

We are scheduled on a shuttle to and from. We went through a travel agent (family member) and I've been concerned about her scheduling and was concerned since we've never been.

 

[sonnyjane]

We are scheduled on a shuttle to and from. We went through a travel agent (family member) and I've been concerned about her scheduling and was concerned since we've never been.

It's just a lot of travel time. As the others said, it could easily be two hours each way, so if you're not staying in San Diego, those two days are probably going to seem VERY long, especially if the shuttle wants to leave early and return late. The zoo and SW involve TONS of walking, but I guess the upside is that if you're not the one driving, you can sleep on the way down and on the way back up. Legoland isn't quite as far, about 30-45 minutes less than it will take to get to SW and the zoo.

 

[Captain Hindsight]

Wow.. you are scheduling your 3 long drives back to back to back... You may consider sneaking a DCA day in there to break up the insanity... Also consider Wild Animal Park instead of the zoo. It is half the distance. Also what hotel are you staying at?

 

[marlana323]

We were trying to book on the weekends when it is supposed to be busy at DL. Any suggestions for which day to swap? Thanks!!

We are staying at Disney's Grand California.

 

[Captain Hindsight]

I'd swap April 10'th and 11'th. Do Disneyland and another MM on Sunday (TTMM is a waste of time) then do DCA WOC in the evening. Then do Legoland on Monday. Don't forget to do another MM on Tuesday. I see you have a breakfast scheduled... move it til after MM! You are staying at the Grand... You can do MM every day its available to you!

 

[marlana323]

Thanks Captain Hindsight! I appreciate it!

 

[Bungle]

I wouldn't split it up. If you can move stuff around so that you spend the last two days in SD. Maybe stay the night there? That is a LOT of road time and kind of odd scheduling.

Is this the only time line your travel agent has?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I'd swap April 10'th and 11'th. Do Disneyland and another MM on Sunday (TTMM is a waste of time) then do DCA WOC in the evening. Then do Legoland on Monday. Don't forget to do another MM on Tuesday. I see you have a breakfast scheduled... move it til after MM! You are staying at the Grand... You can do MM every day its available to you!

Good suggestions.

You definitely want to take advantage of MM if you're not too exhausted to do so. You could just eat some light snacks in the morning of your Plaza Inn day and push your reservation out to one of the last seatings. Then it will be more like having brunch than breakfast. You will have had the opportunity to get a bunch of rides in first.

I still suggest that you skip either Seaworld or the Zoo. That is a lot of travel time! Plus, you're staying at the Grand. Take some more time to enjoy the Disney immersion or even the hotel amenities. It's really not that expensive to bump 3-day hoppers up to 4-day hoppers.

 

[marlana323]

Thanks all. I have contacted the Travel Agent to try to remove the zoo from the package - we are currently signed up for the City Pass so will hopefully remove that add another DL day.

Thanks again!

 

[Captain Hindsight]

Thanks all. I have contacted the Travel Agent to try to remove the zoo from the package - we are currently signed up for the City Pass so will hopefully remove that add another DL day.

Thanks again!

You know ith the City Pass you can go to the Zoo OR the Wild Animal Park!

 

[starshine514]

We're driving, hitting Sea World first on our way to DL. We have SW APs and my girls (4 and 6) love SW. They hated the SD Zoo, though (and yes, they do like other zoos). It will be a long drive, one that I wouldn't want to repeat 2 days in a row unless I had to. I don't think I would try all of that unless I was staying overnight in SD. We haven't been to the Wild Animal Safari Park, but I believe it is in Escondido, which would be a shorter drive.

I think I would cut at least one of the day trips out and do an extra Disney day instead. That should be a little less tiring for all of you. My girls get fussy when they're stuck in a car for too long - they need to get out and play!

 

[mgmgbooks]

When we visited two years ago, my kids had just turned 7. They didn't really understand that Disneyland was the best of the places we were going to visit - and it turned out that they preferred Legoland to Disneyland! Legoland wasn't nearly as crowded nor as hot which had a huge impact. They enjoyed Sea World but weren't into the San Diego zoo or the Wildlife Park. We spent 1-1/2 days at Legoland which wasn't enough for them. Every kid is different, however. Some kids barely enjoy Legoland and others Love it! We rented a car to go to the San Diego area. I was able to walk to the rental agency from the DL Good Neighbor hotels and drop it off at the airport when done. Lots of things to think about - aren't there?

 

[Love Tink]

When I saw your OP, I just assumed you were staying in the San Diego area during that part of your stay. But do I understand correctly that you are driving down there and back three times? That will really be awful.

Why not just stay in San Diego if you want to hit the attractions down there? That would be a lot less exhausting!

 

[DTFVolunteer]

Hi all - new to Disboards, avid DLR fan (fourth trip in 1.5 years happening in two weeks!)

My hubby and I did the Southern California CityPass in February 2010 - it was great!

Our schedule was:
Sunday - drive to San Diego from Long Beach (after cruise) and Sea World
Monday - San Diego Zoo
Tues - drive straight to Universal Studios then back to Anaheim (pouring rain all day and got stuck in the WORST traffic jam of my life, which apparantly is normal for SoCal)
Wed - DLR
Thur - MM then DCA
Fri - DLR and Fireworks
Sat - fly home

I would not recommend driving back and forth from Anaheim to San Diego each day - not only does it take out from your time at each location, but who wants to spend 4 hours a day on the road on your vacation? We don't even have kids to worry about (yet) and I can't imagine keeping kids occupied for four hours each day on a shuttle.

We stayed at a hotel in San Diego about five-ten minutes from Sea World and about 20 mins from the Zoo, stayed at hotel in Anaheim within walking distance of the parks.

Did you know that admission to Universal Studios is included in the CityPass? Legoland is not. We used every ticket in the pack and it was definitely worth the money. Since it poured on the day we were at Universal Studios - and I mean it POURED - we got rain passes to go back which we couldn't use

Allie

 

[chrissiecutie]

Hi. We are heading to Disneyland in April (with a 4 and 5 year old) and below is the schedule that I've planned and would love any feedback or suggestions to changes I should make. I think we are going during a busy time...

April 6 - arrive at LAX in afternoon - head to DL w/ dinner at Goofy's Kitchen
April 7 - Magic Morning and rides - 11:00 BBB
April 8 - SeaWorld
April 9 - Zoo
April 10 - Legoland
April 11 - TT - DCA - WOC
April 12 - Plaza Inn at 8:00 breakfast - DL
April 13 - character breakfast and depart for LAX

Thanks for any input. Can hardly wait!

YIKES!

Perhaps we have different vacation "styles" but I personally would never schedule a vacation this way. As others have said, just way too much travel time and I prefer to do as little travel once I arrive at my destination as possible. I would much rather sip a cocktail poolside or eat at a yummy restaurant then be stuck in LA traffic!

I'm curious as to why you are splitting up your destination spots? Why not just do SeaWorld, Legoland, etc and then head to Disney??

I wonder if maybe you haven't alloted enough time for Disney? It's going to be busy with Spring Break crowds so this will add to overall time frame.

And I just have to ask...why are you flying into LAX?? I've always found it to be one of the more expensive airports in SoCal to fly in and out of....typically Long Beach and Santa Ana/John Wayne are the cheapest and really only 30 mins (give or take traffic) to Disney.

I'm sorry to be so negative, don't mean it to sound that way...but IMO, there's just so many things I wouldn't do and I've been going to SoCal and Disney for well over 25 years.

Taking out the zoo was a good 1st step! A zoo is a zoo, right? If you've been to the one in your area then you know what they are like.

I would fly in closer to San Diego, do SeaWorld and Legoland OR fly into Burbank and do Universal Studios (this is our 2nd choice for theme parks after Disney and well worth visiting!) then head to Disney and spend a couple days there and fly out of Long Beach or SantaAna. One thing to remember when driving in SoCal...it will probably always take you twice as long as you think it will. So I avoid any "back and forth" driving at all costs! I do NOT want to spend my vacation in SoCal traffic!

The other thing I notice is that you've scheduled late nights and early mornings. This is another thing I try to avoid while on vacation. I would try and do a late night followed by sleeping in, swimming etc and then getting to the parks mid day- if you can. Or do an early morning but then come back to the hotel around dinner time to rest and regroup. Don't underestimate the power of the pool!

As I said earler, maybe we really do have different vacation "styles". My objective is to always see the parks and incorporate as MUCH rest and relaxation time as possible. Good luck to you...you'll have fun no matter what you choose to do!

 

[marlana323]

YIKES!

Perhaps we have different vacation "styles" but I personally would never schedule a vacation this way. As others have said, just way too much travel time and I prefer to do as little travel once I arrive at my destination as possible. I would much rather sip a cocktail poolside or eat at a yummy restaurant then be stuck in LA traffic!

I'm curious as to why you are splitting up your destination spots? Why not just do SeaWorld, Legoland, etc and then head to Disney??

I wonder if maybe you haven't alloted enough time for Disney? It's going to be busy with Spring Break crowds so this will add to overall time frame.

And I just have to ask...why are you flying into LAX?? I've always found it to be one of the more expensive airports in SoCal to fly in and out of....typically Long Beach and Santa Ana/John Wayne are the cheapest and really only 30 mins (give or take traffic) to Disney.

I'm sorry to be so negative, don't mean it to sound that way...but IMO, there's just so many things I wouldn't do and I've been going to SoCal and Disney for well over 25 years.

Taking out the zoo was a good 1st step! A zoo is a zoo, right? If you've been to the one in your area then you know what they are like.

I would fly in closer to San Diego, do SeaWorld and Legoland OR fly into Burbank and do Universal Studios (this is our 2nd choice for theme parks after Disney and well worth visiting!) then head to Disney and spend a couple days there and fly out of Long Beach or SantaAna. One thing to remember when driving in SoCal...it will probably always take you twice as long as you think it will. So I avoid any "back and forth" driving at all costs! I do NOT want to spend my vacation in SoCal traffic!

The other thing I notice is that you've scheduled late nights and early mornings. This is another thing I try to avoid while on vacation. I would try and do a late night followed by sleeping in, swimming etc and then getting to the parks mid day- if you can. Or do an early morning but then come back to the hotel around dinner time to rest and regroup. Don't underestimate the power of the pool!

As I said earler, maybe we really do have different vacation "styles". My objective is to always see the parks and incorporate as MUCH rest and relaxation time as possible. Good luck to you...you'll have fun no matter what you choose to do!

Thanks chrissiecutie. I do appreciate the feedback! We went with a travel agent who is a family member on my husband's side and lets say it hasn't gone well for me. Unfortunately, I was going along with her because I don't know the area much but now that I'm learning thanks to everyone on here I'm trying to get it changed but of course I'm having some difficulties with her. Thanks again and hopefully we can get this fixed!