Advice on what park on what day

[twinkies in WDW]

Traveling with spouse and 2 teen girls. We will be traveling in and likely won't arrive to the park until 2 or 3 pm the first day. The second day we have the entire day. Trying to decide if I should do Disneyland on the full day and California Adventure the next or vice versa.
my thinking is that Disneyland is open until midnight on day 1 so we should do it on the day of arrival. But I have heard DCA doesn't take as long to do. Suggestions?

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Are you only doing these two days? Will you have park hoppers?

 

[twinkies in WDW]

Yes we only have these 2 days. I was not planning to do park hopper

 

[duckboyone]

Yeah I'd for sure spend your long day in DL, but either way you will miss some things. But that just gives you a reason to come back again, right?

I say that because not only is DL larger and there is more to do, like everyone has been saying, it's the "original", and you need to take as much time to experience it as you can, IMO.

Also, it sounds like you are definitely a candidate to add-on Genie+. In DCA, if you ride Radiator Springs Racers, Incredicoaster, and Guardians of the Galaxy, walk around the park a bit and see things, everything else is bonus. Hope that makes sense and helps.

 

[twinkies in WDW]

Yeah I'd for sure spend your long day in DL, but either way you will miss some things. But that just gives you a reason to come back again, right?

I say that because not only is DL larger and there is more to do, like everyone has been saying, it's the "original", and you need to take as much time to experience it as you can, IMO.

Also, it sounds like you are definitely a candidate to add-on Genie+. In DCA, if you ride Radiator Springs Racers, Incredicoaster, and Guardians of the Galaxy, walk around the park a bit and see things, everything else is bonus. Hope that makes sense and helps.

Yes! That helps alot Thanks

 

[twinkies in WDW]

So if we do DCA on our short day and not get there until 2-3pm, will we be able to use genie+ for the fast lane for radiator springs, incredicoaster and Guardians in the amount of time we have there?

 

[disneylover102]

So if we do DCA on our short day and not get there until 2-3pm, will we be able to use genie+ for the fast lane for radiator springs, incredicoaster and Guardians in the amount of time we have there?

Definitely. So Radiator Springs isn’t included with genie+ so you have to buy that separately but that should be easy (also note that a way to skip the line for free is the single rider line which never takes more than half an hour so if you’re willing to ride separately from each other definitely do that). And then if you buy genie+ you’ll for sure be able to get Guardians and Incredicoaster and probably other genie+ rides too (Soarin’ and Toy Story are the hardest ones to get but you could probably get those if you do those first, they run out faster than Guardians or Incredicoaster). It depends on your priorities. Also note that WEB Slingers (the Spider-Man ride) is one can buy separately like Radiator Springs

 

[Pluto468]

I agree, I would do DCA on the short day and Disneyland for your full day. It might be worth investing in a hopper if you only have 2 days. That way you could spend time at both parks on each day if you wanted to. You would potentially be able to see night time entertainment at one park even if you spent the majority of your day at the other one. Also opens up more chances of getting dinner reservations you might want.