At DLR now, a few thoughts UPDATED with additional thoughts p.2

[Mugglemama]

My understanding is that on Magic Mornings the parking structure opens 90 minutes before normal park openinng and 60 minutes before park opening on other mornings.

If we have to use the parking structure - which we only do on day trips - otherwise we get a walking distance hotel - we drop off the entire group at the Harbor entrance and then I park the car and join them in line. There is a parking lot there you can pull into and make the drop. We did this in August. We drove from Riverside 40 miles away on a Wednesday, and with the traffic uncertainties we left extra early and in fact arrived at DLR at about 7:10AM on a day when DL opened at 8AM. I dropped everyone off at Harbor, parked the car, and had good luck with parking location and tram timing and was back to join the group by 7:30.

thanks! i will google earth the harbor entrance, because i have no idea where that is.

just talked to my MIL - she IS willing to pull my nieces out of school for the trip, which means we can go in May! woohoo! (we homeschool, so we can go anytime, although i have to wait for my college freshman daughter to get out and i think her last day is may 12th).

about MM - normally we get these with our tickets, but this year we were planning to buy DAP's so that we could stay for an extended period of time, plus get another trip out of it next year before they expire. i've heard people talk about buying hopper passes, and then upgrading to AP's. if i wanted to get a MM during that first week when my in-laws will be with us, i could then, theoretically, purchase hopper tickets for that week, and then upgrade to DAP's before they expired, is that correct? and in doing so, we're not actually spending any more money than we would have if we'd just bought the DAP's first?

i really hijacked this thread. my apologies to anyone who is annoyed by that!!

 

[HydroGuy]

thanks! i will google earth the harbor entrance, because i have no idea where that is.

See http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=33.8086464&lon=-117.9185343&z=18&l=0&m=b

It is on the right and labeled "DL 15 Minute Parking Area"

 

[Mugglemama]

See http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=33.8086464&lon=-117.9185343&z=18&l=0&m=b

It is on the right and labeled "DL 15 Minute Parking Area"

fantastic, THANKS!!

 

[pixiewings71]

thanks! i will google earth the harbor entrance, because i have no idea where that is.

just talked to my MIL - she IS willing to pull my nieces out of school for the trip, which means we can go in May! woohoo! (we homeschool, so we can go anytime, although i have to wait for my college freshman daughter to get out and i think her last day is may 12th).

about MM - normally we get these with our tickets, but this year we were planning to buy DAP's so that we could stay for an extended period of time, plus get another trip out of it next year before they expire. i've heard people talk about buying hopper passes, and then upgrading to AP's. if i wanted to get a MM during that first week when my in-laws will be with us, i could then, theoretically, purchase hopper tickets for that week, and then upgrade to DAP's before they expired, is that correct? and in doing so, we're not actually spending any more money than we would have if we'd just bought the DAP's first?

i really hijacked this thread. my apologies to anyone who is annoyed by that!!

The entrance is off of Ball, it's pretty easy to find actually. And yes, you can get hoppers for everyone, use your MM's and then upgrade to the DAP, as long as you won't have any black out days during your trip you'll be fine upgrading as soon as the MM is gone. Or if you're staying onsite you can upgrade any time. Like I said, just make sure there are no black out days to worry about. DAP have most Saturday blocked....

 

[Mugglemama]

The entrance is off of Ball, it's pretty easy to find actually. And yes, you can get hoppers for everyone, use your MM's and then upgrade to the DAP, as long as you won't have any black out days during your trip you'll be fine upgrading as soon as the MM is gone. Or if you're staying onsite you can upgrade any time. Like I said, just make sure there are no black out days to worry about. DAP have most Saturday blocked....

we have friends & family in the area to visit, and i have to make a (very sad )trip to the cemetery (lost my dad last april - haven't been back to the cemetery since the funeral), so we planned on doing that on the weekends that we are in SoCal. so the saturday blockout is no big deal, and i'm not sure i'd even attempt to go on a sunday (maybe just to DCA?).

now all i'm trying to figure out is if that tuesday thru friday immediately following Memorial Day is usually good or bad, crowd-wise. i don't mind avoiding that holiday monday, and am hoping-hoping-hoping that the Mem Day crowds are just for the 3 day weekend, for the most part. do you happen to know?