Arriving tomorrow!!! Please some advice

[Tino]

My family touches down at 11:50 am. We land in John Wayne Airport. Staying at HOJOS. It's my wife and I and my six and 3 year old kids. We are hoping to get to Disneyland by mid afternoon. We want to experience some rides before calling it a day after a long trip from Nyc. Any advice on rides we can hit at that time that will have reasonable waits. I assume Submarine Voyage is out of question. Any help would be great.

 

[basketballmom]

John Wayne airport is our favorite. It's very small and very close to Disneyland. I'm sure someone will be able to answer your rides question...my kids are older so we head straight to Big Thunder! We did take my younger nephews and niece last year and Jungle Cruise was a nice beginning for their first Disneyland trip.

 

[Tino]

My son just misses the height requirment. He is 39 inches tall. My daughter did it in Disneyworld last year and loved it.

 

[skiingfast]

Nemo Subs will be tough. Probably a 45 minute wait until late at night. There will be a lot of shorter waits looking more inviting.

I'd look at Jungle Cruise or POTC for short waits. Buzz and Small World may have small waits too.


Hopefully the kids sleep on the way and it's a good night to take in F! and or Magical fireworks.

 

[wannagoback]

I think Buzz would be a good first ride for your kids! Then maybe head up to Toon Town and play around there for a while. And you can stop by Small World on the way if the line is short.

 

[Dobie]

The Dobies always go on POTC first!

 

[mousterpiece]

POTC and Haunted Mansion are always some of our first stops any day we're at the park. They're a great way to dive right into the magic!

 

[HydroGuy]

See shows like WOC, Fantasmic, or Aladdin or parades like SoundSational are often a good activity on days with late arrival.

 

[katiemac1875]

I vote POTC! We always ride it first and last at WDW!!!! Oh and a few times in the middle!! We will be at DLR for our first time ever next week! I can't wait to ride DL POTC!!!!

 

[QueenDoOver]

There is so much to take in with kids that age. Are they afraid of dark rides at all? I might not start with Pirates myself. Jungle cruise, a train ride. Buzz, toon town. Stroll through the park and follow their lead, stop for characters if you see them. Listen to the band. Ride the mainstreet transportation. I think bugsland is great for the younger set too. If your little ones are really diverse in their interests, maybe divide and conquer a bit. My youngest was a ride warrior by six but at three it was completly different. It is great to just take those late arrival days as they come. I am having one myself on a Saturday and I know we will have to be much more relaxed than our usual commando selves, but I'll take a late arrival day at DL over a no arrival day!

 

[jacs1234]

If it were me, I might do the jungle cruise, then check out Tarzans tree house and go down to Pooh (which is always fairly short) then I'd go to fantasy land and maybe do Pinochio's and I'd HAVE to wait in line for Peter Pan.

 

[I❤MICKEY]

We were there in early June with our 3 year old and 6 month old. We expected to get into the park by 3 but were delayed. As we already bought our tickets we still went but didn't get into DL until 7:30. It didn't leave much time but...

Our first ride was the Matterhorn. My son loved it. We did rider swap so he got to go on twice.

The Buzz Lightyear ride in DL was a favorite and there was hardly any wait. I think the longest was 20 minutes. The line moves super fast.

We then went to the race track (race cars on track) - I'm sure that isn't the name but I can't recall. Very short wait there too.

We didn't attempt going to POTC because everyone was already lining up for Fantasmic but the line for it always seemed short too.

I saw a few other posts about Nemo. We went in the morning and there was hardly any wait at all. Maybe 15 minutes. It was one of our first rides on our first full day in the park.

 

[rentayenta]

The Dobies always go on POTC first!

Get outta my head. Always POTC first especially if arriving in the afternoon. I try to ride IASW first but then I end up alone. Haters.

 

[stubby]

We got into the park around 2 on our first day last trip and rode POTC and HM with almost no wait and grabbed FPs for Indie. Then we went on Pooh again no wait. We did Splash(but wouldn't recommend that this time of year.)

 

[PinkBudgie]

We arrived last Sunday at 3:30 and went to Mermaid first. It was only 20 min. Other rides we save for afternoon are TSMM and Monsters. We have found those lines to be the shortest in the afternoon. POTC is always a fast line so that's doable too. It might also be a good time to watch a parade or see Turtle Talk with Crush.