Arrival Day Plans...Opinions wanted

[2wildchildzmom]

OK could someone look these plans over and see if they are doable....

Saturday Sept. 26

Arrive Long Beach Airport at 9:24AM

Goofy's Kitchen 12:00pm-1:30pm

Aladdin 1:50pm show

Jedi Training Academy 3:30 pm show

Go back to hotel for nap!! 4pm to 8pm

POTC 8pm
Indy jones after that
Watch Fireworks 9:30pm (I am guessing they are after the 1st fantasmic)

Fantasmic 10:30pm Second show

So doable or too much? I am worried about the goofy to aladdin show particulary.

Thanks!!!

 

[mad hatter fan]

I am unsure about the other things, but I don't think the timing will work between your Goofy's ressie and the Aladdin show time. Most people line up quite a while before the Aladdin show, especially if you had wanted to sit on the ground or middle floors. I definitely prefer the view from one of those over the highest seats. (Sorry, I forgot the names for them) Besides, it would take you maybe 10 - 15 minutes to get to the Aladdin theater from Goofys.

 

[lcasa]

Yeah - seems way to tight to get from Goofy's kitchen thru the turnstiles and into the Aladdin theater - even without the line-ups.

Airport to Goofy and 8pm plus seem fine.

I recommend watching the fireworks from the area in front of Fantasmic - the crowd for the 9 show will be watching, and leave after the fireworks, openning up lots of space for the 10:30 show. You won't see Tink or Dumbo well, but it's the only way to get a good spot for Fantasmic.

 

[mad hatter fan]

Also, make sure to get fastpasses for Indy before your break!

 

[disneychrista]

I think you are pushing it for the goofy's to alladin, it will take you 15 - 20 mins to get the theater from Goofy's and that is if there are no lines at either security or the enterance.

And Pirates including time in line is going to take 30 - 45 minutes, the ride alone is about 20 mins. Then Indiana Jone is going to take about an hour. So the chance of you getting to Main Street for the Fireworks by 9:25 is not likely.

I do think it is a good idea to stay on that side of the park, do the two rides and then position yourself to get a good seat for Fantasmic. You will get to see some of the fireworks from the riverfront.

 

[ykmom]

Sounds very busy to me, especially if you have been up early to get travelling. Could you leave the character meal for a different day and take some time to just enjoy the atmosphere?

 

[2wildchildzmom]

Thanks so much!! Ok back to the drawing board

How about

Goofy's 12-1:30pm

Grab FP for Indy to use at night

JTA 2:25pm

(is this too tight?)

Aladdin 4:15pm

Back to Hotel til 8pm

Back to DL

POTC at 8pm
Indy with FP's at 8:40 ish
Fireworks at 9:30pm (thanks for the tips about positioning!)
Fantasmic at 10Pm

We will have priority seating for fireworks (Happiest Haunts Tour) on Sunday so it is not critcal to be in a good spot tonight. Also I kinda wanted to get the JTA and Aladdin done on the first day and focus on rides the rest of the vacation. We will have three and 1/2 more days at DL. We also wanted to start the magic with Goofy's.

So want to you think?

Thanks again this is really helping!!

 

[disneynerd420]

I think that sounds do-able but in my experiance, I have never spent that much time at Goofy's kitchen. I think you may find yourselves done early unless there is a huge crowd.

 

[2wildchildzmom]

Good point, I wasn't sure about the time frame for Goofy's. We usually don't spend that much time at a regular restaurant. How much time to schedule?

 

[disneynerd420]

I say give it an hour. I'm usually done in 45. But I have also never gone that late so I can't guarantee it.

 

[mad hatter fan]

My family can easily spend 1 1/2 hours at a character meal. Sometimes it can take quite a bit of time for all of the characters there that day to filter by you. If I were you, I would leave enough room in your plans for the day so that you can spend the extra time at Goofys if you want and don't have to feel rushed to leave if everyone is still having fun or you are waiting for the last character, etc.

 

[disneychrista]

I think how long you spend at goofy's depends on if you have young kids or are collecting character autographs or photo's. My kids are older and are not so much into the characters (most of the time).

 

[tammie33]

Isn't this the last day that Pirates is open? I hate to say it... but I have a feeling you are going to spend more than 40 minutes in that area if so. I think your revised plan sounds doable, but I'd be prepared to do Indy after Fantasmic if need be.

 

[LisainCalifornia]

If it were me, I wouldn't do all of the shows. On your first day, you want to be free to walk down main street, looking at everything, and then go on some rides. The kids will be so excited to be there as well, and not wanting to rush from show to show. The DL shows are wonderful--but all in good time. Once the kids see all of the rides and everything there is to see on Main St., they may just want to do that.

Goofy's kitchen is wonderful for kids, and it is a long meal--typically. In order to get your money's worth, you should plan for an hour and a half or so. You don't want to rush through it, because you are paying for that character face time for your kids.

I typically like to make reservations to eat a Carnation Cafe on my first day there. That way you are already in the park, and have a nice lunch that lets you people watch on Main St. while you make your plans. After lunch it is easy to get over to Fantasy Land or Tomorrow Land from there. We also make time for the parade on that first day (the 6:30 show, typically)--as a welcome to DL type of thing. We also make certain to shoot for fireworks starting on the first night, because fireworks are so often cancelled. That way you know you can see them.

With my kids, I know there are certain rides that they dream about all year long. It's a Small World, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Peter Pan's Flight, Astro Blasters, Indy, Jungle Cruise, etc. I make it a point to make certain we can get on a handful of those our very first day, just so they won't be kept waiting forever. If I tried to take them to Aladin first, it would be very difficult.

I say save Aladin (and you need to line up about 40 mins prior to get a good seat--even if you have priority seating--you need to get there early) for a day when you plan on riding Soarin' (best ride ever), Toy Story, and Grizzly River Run. That way you will have several hours in California Adventure. You can even plan to do the parade there that night.

Of course this is all just my opinion.

Have fun,
Lisa

 

[LisainCalifornia]

Oh, and doing Fireworks and Fantasmic on the same night will be VERY difficult. I know people have done it, but with kids it is really hard. You may need to split that into two different nights.

 

[2wildchildzmom]

You guys are great and I love all of the suggestions.

I think I will plan a full 90 mintues so we won't feel rushed.

POTC's last day is Sunday Sept 27 and we will hopefully ride it both on Sat. and Sun. but I didn't think that it would more crowded that usually. Ridemax doesn't have it being more that a 7 min. wait.

I think we will just watch the fireworks from the fantasmic area and wait for those people to leave and watch the second Fshow, it will only be playing two nights that we are there.

My kids are fine with not riding a bunch of rides on the first day (in theory they are OK with it ) I have talked with them about the schedule and what we will be able to do everyday. When we went to WDW four years ago they were good about just following a (my) schedule.

I did think about moving Aladdin to our last day, but right now there is no Aladdin scheduled on Oct.1 thurs.

Now a new glitch, I just saw that the Pixar Parade is only on Fri, Sat., Sun., Mon., Tues. This means the only night we could squeeze the PP in would be arrival day at 5:15pm right after Aladdin, which cuts into our rest time at the hotel. I asked the kids if the wanted to watch any parades and the oldest was like "No, I don't want to see any parades except the Pixar one"

Crazy!!

 

[Judy from Boise]

After sitting on a plane the last thing i would want is a sit down meal, followed by a sit down show! I would hit the parks and stretch my legs and wander, and catch counter service when it hits my fancy! By the end of the trip sitting is much more appreciated!

 

[LisainCalifornia]

I agree with Judy about the sitting thing.

I guess you can sort of see the fireworks from the rivers of America--but you lose out on all of the images projected on the front of the castle. The reason that the DL fireworks are so great is watching the images they have created that go with the castle--listening to the music and seeing it all there head on. If you are off to the side, they are just fireworks--which you can see anywhere. You want to be able to look at the castle head on, so you can see everything associated with their great fireworks show, in my opinion.

The Pixar parade is good, but the one in DL is actually much better.

Have you guys been to DL before? If yes, then my advice may be different.

The ridemax estimation about the wait for Pirates is pretty off. Although Pirates can be a fast moving line, it also can be a VERY long line that goes slowly if it is super crowded. It is really hit or miss with that one.

 

[Sherry E]

We like to start our day at Goofy's too, and for the record, I have NO kids, but my friend and I easily used up our 90-minute allotment last time we were there. We used to be in and out of there in about an hour or so, but last time we wanted to be a bit more leisurely, taking time to revisit the buffet and see if there was anything delicious we skipped over on the first food run and getting repeated visits to our table from characters. I say do what you had in mind, get every penny's worth of your time at Goofy's, and plan on staying the full 90 minutes, even if you don't end up doing it. Also, characters sometimes trickle in an out of the restaurant as time rolls on. There have been times where we got up to leave in less than 90 minutes, and just as we walked out, in came a new character or two.

 

[ballarinamom]

I think running over to DCA just to watch Aladdin is a long way to go when you can add it as a nice break on your DCA day, It can easily be an extra 45 minutes to an hour for hopping over to DCA (depending where you are) and getting over to DCA in time to line up for the show.