Advice please on 3 day Disneyland Itinerary

[Aussie Bambi Girl]

Hi friends,

I'm trying to sort out the best 3 day itinerary for December, to include one character breakfast and one Magic Morning early entry (draft below). As a first timer, I have no idea which combination will work best ... where do you think I should put the MM and where should I put the Character Breakfast? Should I put MM on the day with the shortest hours (ie Tuesday rather than Thursday) in hopes of smaller MM crowds? I thought Wed would be the quietest day as it has no MM, so I thought to maximise rides this day rather than put Plaza Inn Character breakfast here. Going in circles and could use some untangling ...

Dec-09 Tues 9am Disney Character Breakfast Minnie and Friends?; Park open 8am-6pm: fireworks at 5.45pm; go to DCA (10am-9pm) rather than deal with crowds of Disney EARLY ENTRY DAY? or should I put MM here as it's a 7am start that many people wouldn't want and put character breakfast on Thursday instead?

Dec-10 Wed 9am-10pm: Disneyland; (do Nemo today)

Dec-11 Thu 9am-10pm: Disneyland Day 2 (use early entry day at 8am or character breakfast at 9am?);

All feedback on this itinerary would be most appreciated. Thanks for sharing your expertise.

 

[EnnEss]

Im not sure how you think MM will impact crowds throughout the day, but generally it doesnt in any noticeable manner at any time of year.

Wednesday wont be slower than tuesday or thursday again in any noticeable way, like ride lines. The days are as busy as they are kind of thing. Weekends are predicatably busier, thats about it. Tuesday could be busiest for you, could be Wednesday. There's no way though that MM effects night time lines at all. DCA is always pretty slow at that time of year, particularly at night.

I think whichever you decide to do will be fine, and you're probably over thinking it a little bit. Relax, and enjoy your trip! You didnt say specifically when you're going, but given those hours im guessing first week or so of December. Its one of the slowest times of the year. Lines will be a non issue except for a wait for Nemo and TSMM.

 

[ballarinamom]

I like to do Minnie's on EE mornings but at the 10:20 seating. That way, I don't lose any of the prime ride time. Another option would be to do Goofy's Kitchen for dinner after the fireworks. You could take the monorail over to DTD, walk a short bit to DLH and then get into DCA through GCH entrance after. We prefer the Goofy's dinner food quality for any of the character meals. There is also a wide variety of characters.

 

[ballarinamom]

If you did your EE on Tuesday, grab a muffin or something to munch on in line waiting to get into the park. You could ride for 3 1/2 hours and Minnie's would be a true brunch so you won't have to kill time with 2 meals

 

[Aussie Bambi Girl]

Im not sure how you think MM will impact crowds throughout the day, but generally it doesnt in any noticeable manner at any time of year.

I think whichever you decide to do will be fine, and you're probably over thinking it a little bit. Relax, and enjoy your trip! You didnt say specifically when you're going, but given those hours im guessing first week or so of December. Its one of the slowest times of the year.

Thanks heaps EnnEss In Orlando, Extra Magic Hours apparently equals unbearable crowds throughout that day. I guess because we've had to plan DisneyWorld so carefully to get everything done in the time we have available (yup - 1st 2 weeks of December), I thought we had to take the same approach for Disneyland. Guess we should just relax a bit on this and enjoy the ride. We won't get to Disneyland until Day 15 of our 21 day trip, so we'll probably be a bit tired before we even get there - I'll take a chill pill

 

[Aussie Bambi Girl]

I like to do Minnie's on EE mornings but at the 10:20 seating. That way, I don't lose any of the prime ride time. Another option would be to do Goofy's Kitchen for dinner after the fireworks. You could take the monorail over to DTD, walk a short bit to DLH and then get into DCA through GCH entrance after. We prefer the Goofy's dinner food quality for any of the character meals. There is also a wide variety of characters.

Thanks so much ballarinamom I will factor in all of your advice. Our only reason for wanting to do a character meal is to meet Minnie and Mickey, and I heard Mickey never shows up at Goofy's Kitchen? I do like the idea though of having our character meal outside of park time so we can concentrate on rides. I guess because it's the slow season it shouldn't take too much out of our program to line up to meet Mickey and Minnie in the park. I just didn't want to come all the way from Australia and miss meeting these two characters in person Thanks for sharing your expertise

 

[silence]

We prefer Minnie's as our character meal. We LIKE being in the park when we are there, so I hate traveling outside of the park for a meal.

The only time we do a character meal outside is say, for instance, when the park opens at 10, we will schedule a character breakfast at one of the hotels.

I agree with prior posters.....I would schedule the breakfast for later in the day so basically "brunch" so you can get rides in when the park is less crowded first thing in the morning and then have it basically be two meals in one.

 

[Aussie Bambi Girl]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Silence It does seem a bit more convenient to have a character meal on site. I'm liking this idea of brunch after some intensive ride focus - I think I'm convinced. It's looking more and more like brunch!

 

[Hound 109]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, Silence It does seem a bit more convenient to have a character meal on site. I'm liking this idea of brunch after some intensive ride focus - I think I'm convinced. It's looking more and more like brunch!

I very much agree with this.

One can accomplish as much the first 2 - 2.5 hours of DL opening as you could the following 4-5 hours. Plus the first 2.5 hours you can have 3-4 FPs collected for later.

After quality touring the first couple of hours, one can really enjoy a nice relaxed character meal. (& with a buffet you take care of two meals...& you can always snack early in morning or in the afternoon....DLR "snacks" are the best.