Aghh!!! WDW "expert" so confused with DL!

[runmommyrun]

I've already posted a couple of times, bought a book and I still can't decide! (Yes, I have problems when it comes to planning Disney vacations!). Are 5 nights too much for a first-time trip to Disneyland with 8 & 9 year old boys? Both watch WAY TOO MUCH Disney and Disney XD TV and are psyched to try CarsLand and California Adventure, plus we want to leave some downtime mid-day because we love to swim. I don't want to short-change them, but I still am baffled by the scale difference between WDW, which we are use to, and DL. Our trip is hopefully a beginning to a week at Aulani (assuming we get reservations we want). I just don't want to book 5 nights and the boys be bored. The first day will mainly be travel from Chicago, so we may not get there til mid-late day. Any thoughts are appreciated! I'm shocked at the difference from planning a WDW vacation to a West Coast trip!

 

[ociana]

Personally, I think 3 park days are needed if you do not take big breaks and 4-5 if you like daily swim/rest breaks. We (my boys are now 12 and 14) are DLR veterans but did WDW last fall and booked 6 park days since we were sure we would need them with 4 whole parks to visit! It turned out that we had done everything multiple times by the end of day 5 and the last day was just for more repeats of our favorites. What I found to be the key difference about the scale difference is that DLR is more ride focused - nearly the same total number of rides in less than half the space.

A 5 night visit should be perfect for you and give plenty of time to go back through things that you want to revisit without the boys ever hitting boredom. Also, there are attractions right down the street if you really feel you need more. Knotts Berry Farm, Medieval Times and more are just a trolley ride away!

 

[MsDisATC]

I don't think it's too much for you, especially if the first day will be a little laid back. I think 2 days per park (give or take, plus or minus a hopper, etc) is reasonable, especially if you want to take it slow, leave mid-day, and possibly repeat attractions. This will give you enough time to enjoy everything, see all the shows and parades you want to see, and still get to experience DTD and the resorts if you'd like.

I've taken first timers through in 2 days only, 1 for each park, and while we CAN do absolutely everything, it's tough and rushed. It requires being there at rope drop and making use of every last second until closing, racing hither and thither, no breaks, and planning routes like its the apocalypse. It's fun and it works for 2 days, but I think 5 would be really great for a first time family looking to enjoy a vacation.

 

[Queenie11078]

We wrapped up a five day stay here at DLR and I think five days was too much. We bought four day park hopper passes and saw everything we wanted to see in three days and hardly park hopped. ( this included RSR and all CarsLand attractions) we spent our last day just walking around and shopping. My kids are aged 5 and 16 and we all agreed it was one day too many.

 

[Argento]

A great primer for WDW vets: A DLR Guide for WDW Vets

 

[bumbershoot]

"Are 5 nights too much for a first-time trip to Disneyland with 8 & 9 year old boys?"

I don't think so.

We've just booked an 8 night trip, and this is one of many, many trips we've taken since '05. Our first big, "real" Disneyland trip was for over a week! (and when we go to WDW and Universal Orlando we're there for about 2 weeks)

But we LOVE going to things over and over again. The bare minimum is not something we enjoy. We're "volume riders", LOL.

 

[Zoiebear]

I would say 5 too much 3 is probably max

 

[luv2plan]

I would say 4-5 days are great, 2-3 days at DL, 1-2 days at CA. Your arrival day can be fun just walking through the parks and riding a few things.

Happy planning!

 

[Escape2Disney]

I'd say it really depends on your priorities. Do you plan to ride everything? Watch shows and parades? Take mid-day breaks? Are you typically commando vacationers, or do you prefer to take a more leasurely tour of the parks?

I'd suggest looking at the website with the kids and determine what they want to ride/see. If it's a small list, 3 days would be fine. If they seem to want to see/ride everything, 5 is better.

Just my humble opinion

 

[Bungle]

If this is their first trip I would say it is just about right. We did a four night stay with 3 days in the park last time and it wasn't enough. This was before carsland opened, so this time it will be a 4 or 5 day stay. That is such a fun age for DL you will have a great time

 

[SplashMo]

5 days is fine. In particular you are looking at 4.5 days.. No problem. park hop for sure. Arrive early each day at the parks. Make some reservations for lunch... You dont need as much advance notice on the reservations as WDW...

 

[martikus]

We just did our first trip in April and we did 6 park days. We didn't think it was too many. It took us 5 to fit in everything we wanted and the 6th day we went back on all our favorites and we still didn't see everything. We took a break each day around 2pm to go back to hotel and rest. 6 days let us see everything without rushing. I think you will love having 5 days.

 

[kkmcan]

It really does depend on what kind of pace you like to keep while touring. Do you stop in shops along the way, take in the details or are you madly rushing from ride to ride?

If you want a more leisurely pace with several hours in the afternoon to relax and swim then 5 will be perfect, especially for first time visitors. There is so much to see and do!

We can do all of our favorites several times over in 2 1/2 days now. But we've been doing Disneyland for years and we skip over Toontown, most of Fantasyland and we aren't big shoppers in general. We don't do sit down restaurants at all either.

We did a 5 day trip last October and didn't feel we got to do enough. We were with a big party, it was very hot and crowded.

 

[lwilkison]

I've already posted a couple of times, bought a book and I still can't decide! (Yes, I have problems when it comes to planning Disney vacations!). Are 5 nights too much for a first-time trip to Disneyland with 8 & 9 year old boys? Both watch WAY TOO MUCH Disney and Disney XD TV and are psyched to try CarsLand and California Adventure, plus we want to leave some downtime mid-day because we love to swim. I don't want to short-change them, but I still am baffled by the scale difference between WDW, which we are use to, and DL. Our trip is hopefully a beginning to a week at Aulani (assuming we get reservations we want). I just don't want to book 5 nights and the boys be bored. The first day will mainly be travel from Chicago, so we may not get there til mid-late day. Any thoughts are appreciated! I'm shocked at the difference from planning a WDW vacation to a West Coast trip!

We (DH, DD[4yrs] and myself come from Vancouver, BC, Canada, and we always plan about 10 days. The first and last days just for travel, the first day we get there we put our things into our hotel and walk to DTD and have lunch/supper (depending on what time we arrive) pick up our tickets so that the next morning we can be there for rope drop. We take our time, especially with kids because it is simply a lot of everything and you need to take breaks. We leave the park for lunch, head back to hotel room and have a nap/break/swim and when we are rested enough (we don't watch the clock) we return and go until supper time and leave again, have supper and depending on how tired we are go back for fireworks

This still leaves us enough room that there is one day in there where we don't have to do anything besides relax @ water park etc. We stayed @ Hojo. We could even hop on city bus and go somewhere

We have found for our family this curbs the meltdowns (for mom and dad too )

Have a great trip

 

[XGrumpy1]

I don't think that is too long at DLR, but if you get done there is a lot to do in LA, that is for sure.

 

[PinkBudgie]

I'm always amazed when someone asks how long people say 3 is enough. I can't imagine thinking 3 days is enough! I guess it depends on you and your family's personality. For us, 3 days was enough before they built DCA and it was just DL. And now that they've added things to DCA the past few years, we went to 4 days, then 5 and a half last year before CL. And we will do 5 and half days this year too, but I'm thinking we should have just gone ahead and done 6.

We take time out each day to go back for naps around 3pm until about 5 or 6. We try different places to eat. We spend an evening walking around DTD enjoying the street musicians and shopping. We do other attractions besides rides- go to the gallery, Lincoln, the Animation building (take a drawing class and so much more in there), wander through Innovations, see Aladdin, F!, fireworks, parades in DL and DCA, WOC, and still go on our favorite rides everyday as well as try new ones. And we still haven't seen Billy Hill in several years, so it will be priority this year.

So, I guess it depends on how much you want to do and how hard it is for you and your family to be on vacation for long. The answer isn't the same for everyone.

 

[snowy76]

I'm always amazed when someone asks how long people say 3 is enough. I can't imagine thinking 3 days is enough! I guess it depends on you and your family's personality. For us, 3 days was enough before they built DCA and it was just DL. And now that they've added things to DCA the past few years, we went to 4 days, then 5 and a half last year before CL. And we will do 5 and half days this year too, but I'm thinking we should have just gone ahead and done 6.

We take time out each day to go back for naps around 3pm until about 5 or 6. We try different places to eat. We spend an evening walking around DTD enjoying the street musicians and shopping. We do other attractions besides rides- go to the gallery, Lincoln, the Animation building (take a drawing class and so much more in there), wander through Innovations, see Aladdin, F!, fireworks, parades in DL and DCA, WOC, and still go on our favorite rides everyday as well as try new ones. And we still haven't seen Billy Hill in several years, so it will be priority this year.

So, I guess it depends on how much you want to do and how hard it is for you and your family to be on vacation for long. The answer isn't the same for everyone.

After our first visit last week, ITA. Some of our best memories were when we just slowed down and soaked in the atmosphere, especially on Main Street and over at Buena Vista Street sitting by the fountain at Carthay Circle.

DS surprisingly loved the Animation Academy and wanted to do it multiple times. We wanted to see WoC, F! and Magical so that ate up a lot of time (waiting in decent spots, etc.) and with four park days DS got to ride some of his favorites multiple times - but we still didn't hit everything. I wish we'd had one more day.

Hard for me to explain - but I think DL has many day visitors that are used to popping in and out and are content with short visits. IMO if you're a WDW vet who likes/is used to being immersed in the Disney feeling that the size of WDW gives you, then you're going to want more time in DL to soak it all in for that similar experience.

 

[HydroGuy]

Four park days is really the minimum to feel one had a solid visit to DLR. Especially for a first timer.

For anyone who says they can "do it all" in 2 days I have to believe their definition of "all" means skipping a lot of things? Did they go to Pirates Lair? See F!, WOC, fireworks, Aladdin, and Soundsational? Did they walk the the castle? See Abe Lincoln? Watch the new street shows at DCA? Go to The Disney Animation building? Go to the Mad T Party?

Maybe with three commando days open to close and complete exhaustion one could it. For most normal people four days is needed minimum.

 

[cyclenut]

Four park days is really the minimum to feel one had a solid visit to DLR. Especially for a first timer.

For anyone who says they can "do it all" in 2 days I have to believe their definition of "all" means skipping a lot of things? Did they go to Pirates Lair? See F!, WOC, fireworks, Aladdin, and Soundsational? Did they walk the the castle? See Abe Lincoln? Watch the new street shows at DCA? Go to The Disney Animation building? Go to the Mad T Party?

Maybe with three commando days open to close and complete exhaustion one could it. For most normal people four days is needed minimum.

Could not agree with you more. We are frequent visitors and take short trips but we occasionally take in the parks as vacationers with family or friends. If all you care about is hitting the most popular rides, then you can get it done in 3 days ... But only if you plan carefully, move quickly and plan for long days.

As frequent visitors we find there are so many different ways to enjoy the parks and so much to enjoy about them. I would say that 5 days is ideal. It gives you the chance to move just a little slower and soak in the sights and sounds. You really can miss a lot if you rush from one line to the next, focusing on conquering the schedule.

With 5 days, keep a steady pace and move deliberately but know you don't have to rush. Now that DCA really is a full day park, i suggest day 1 in one park and the second park the next day. After one full day in each you will have a good idea of what else you want to do, but there will still be a long list of things left unseen.

 

[MsDisATC]

Four park days is really the minimum to feel one had a solid visit to DLR. Especially for a first timer.

For anyone who says they can "do it all" in 2 days I have to believe their definition of "all" means skipping a lot of things? Did they go to Pirates Lair? See F!, WOC, fireworks, Aladdin, and Soundsational? Did they walk the the castle? See Abe Lincoln? Watch the new street shows at DCA? Go to The Disney Animation building? Go to the Mad T Party?

Maybe with three commando days open to close and complete exhaustion one could it. For most normal people four days is needed minimum.

Yes we've done all that in 2 days And has even included character breakfasts and visiting Mickey in his own house. I think it would be much more difficult now with Cars Land included, though.

In any case I don't recommend it as it is more efficient than it is fun, but it is possible. And I think 5 days is much nicer.