Any last minute tips or tricks?

[cwbronco]

Ok we are leaving in just a little over a week and I am putting my itinerary up for any criticism/comments. I've searched as much as I could so if anybody feels like they have some additional advice don't be shy. We are staying at the Anabella from the 15th through the 20th.

Attraction wise:
Tuesday- We will roll into to town around 1 P.M. after a long drive. If the room is ready we will take a nap and then head to the park but if not we will mosey around DL until it is. For the first night there we are planning on taking it easy and relaxing while taking in as much of the little things about DL we can. We have a 7:20 WOC dinner reservation at WCT for the second show. Between dinner and the show I'm planning on exploring CA and sneaking in to any rides that may have short lines or fast passes that we can get.

Wednesday- I'm thinking we will want to sleep in and try and recover from the 14 hour drive and day at the park from the previous day. I'm planning on sleeping in until 9 A.M. Being that its a grad night and nobody knows how WOC will effect things I didn't want to stake to much on riding a lot of the must do rides this day. We will spend the morning riding the smaller rides and collecting fastpasses. Then I want to try and hit Aladdin up for the 1:50 show. After that lunch/nap. From then on just messing around the park using fast passes and whatever until around 8ish when we start staking out a spot for the fireworks.

Thursday- Its a grad night so we are doing Sea World and won't be visiting either of the Disney parks.

Friday- This is the day I want to start hitting the rides seriously and trying to get done as many as we can. The park opens at 9 so I was thinking of being at the security tables around 8:40 (good time?). We will do our Mickey's Toon town thingy on this day then hit the rest of the park hard only stopping for a lunch and a nap mid-afternoon. I'll be using Ride Max to pick out the itinerary for rides. This day we are going to try and see F! so I'm thinking we will hang out in critter country then run over to the viewing area once the first show heads out.

Saturday- On Saturday we are using our magic morning so hopefully we will be in the park at 7. I'm guessing we should be in the security lines around 6:40 ish. After that I think the day will be similar to Friday except that we will switch over to CA right around 10 A.m. when it opens. Then Saturday night we will hit either F! or the fireworks if we weren't able to see them before and if we were able to we will just ride while the crowds are over at the show.

Sunday- If we aren't exhausted and Disney'd out by then we will sleep in until 8:30 or so and head over to the park until around 11 when we have to check out. I hear the 20th will be busy so if we do go in to the parks it will just be to wrap up whatever we weren't able to see the first four nights at the parks. Then after 11 we will start our 14 hour journey back home

Food:
-We have the dinner reservation for the WCT our first night there.
-We have two gift certificates for the house of Blues.
-Another gift certificate for Catal
-Vouchers for Goofy's kitchen (we want to do dinner for this one but not sure what day to go)
-Then $10 off coupon for the RFC.

Other than that we are planning on sharing snacks in the parks and bringing breakfast items and other snacks from home. We are a couple of college kids so we are used to scraping by on snacks for meals. That and I'll be bringing a cooler with me that we can store whatever groceries we bring that wont fit in the fridge in the room.

Ok there it is have at it. TIA!

 

[skiingfast]

I would try for F! or Firworks on Thursday first, rather than Friday. I don't know their schedule for you dates but my reason is that on Friday people will get off work and come to the park.

I'd also get into DL early on Sunday, if it's your last day just try to pick a few things that you want to do again since as you know the park will get busy and if you show up late the best things may have big lines only allowing one ride in a couple hours.

Work the FPs every way you can!

 

[egritz]

From everything I've read, you want to be at the turnstiles no later than 30 minutes before park opening to be at the front of the crowds, so you may want to adjust your planned times to be at the security gates to be about 45-50 minutes before park opening.

 

[Eeee-va]

Your plan sounds fine, but as someone who always likes to be prepared for every situation, I'll give you my thoughts so you won't be completely taken aback if any of them come true:

Tuesday - Just FYI, it's unclear as to how many rides/attractions will even be open when you get done with your dinner. There has been SOME speculation that all of Paradise Pier's attractions (or all but Toy Story Midway Mania) will be closed for World of Color. I'm not sure that will happen, but if it does, your choices of things to do will be a touch more limited. You should definitely be able to find a few things to look at though.

For Wednesday, the "smaller" rides are in most cases are the ones that don't have Fastpasses and that fill up quickly. So don't be shocked if Fantasyland is swamped by the time you get there. Then again...my definition of "sleeping in" is generally followed by the words "'til noon" (or later!). If you just sleep in a couple hours, that may be different. If you want an optimal spot for fireworks you may need to start before 8 PM (I've heard Grad Nite fireworks can be super-crowded), but you can monitor crowds on your own. (Ideally I'd say to get there at opening but it's a vacation, not a forced march. )

For Friday, the earlier you're at the gates the better, IMO. That is a good day for Fantasyland if you like (particularly Peter Pan's Flight if that's a priority). I think you will be OK for Fantasmic! that day, especially given you really don't have any earlier opportunity. If you don't mind having the end of the show "spoiled" for you, I would hang out near the Haunted Mansion and edge up to the seating area during fireworks, if that's feasible. If you're in Critter Country after Fantasmic! lets, out I think you MAY be too far away to get front seats. We'll have a bit of a better idea once we see how Fantasmic! crowds are during the opening weekend of WoC.

Saturday, I think you're probably OK. Ideally you might be to the security gates slightly earlier, but even most tourists don't want to get up at 6 AM or earlier on vacation. We arrived at security at 6:40 AM that time of year (the tables weren't open yet for some reason!!!) and were right by the gates for opening.

IF you can get to the parks at least a little before 8 AM on Sunday I think that will be better--sleeping in until 8:30, I'd think you'd be getting to the gates around 9:30, and then you'd have to leave at maybe 10:30...an hour seems an awful lot like a tease to me.

Since I want you to be safe on that long drive home personally, I think I'd choose between leaving the parks early on Saturday (with crowds descending on the parks for World of Color, that might be a sensible choice if you don't need to use that night for Fireworks/Fantasmic!) and then enjoying a beautiful Sunday morning at the parks, or else staying late on Saturday and skipping the parks on Sunday. You'll be surprised how empty Disneyland is at opening, so visiting for just a couple hours in the morning might be worth it.

Have a great trip!

 

[cwbronco]

Thanks Eeee-va! That was exactly what I was looking for.

 

[ceezers]

I would do your MM as early as possible. Then you can hit all those rides and later in your trip you can just do the repeat rides you want to.