Best DCA Strategy

[MaddlesMom]

Just hoping someone can help me out to see if my plan sounds semi reasonable... We are a family of 4 traveling to California, and this will probably be the ONE and ONLY time we get to Disneyland. We have been to Disney World 4 times in the last 5 years, so I am comfortable there, but this is all new. We will be at the parks on July 24, 25, and 26. I bought 3 day hoppers, with a magic morning, but I do not think we will be using that. In my mind we will do Disneyland Friday, DCA Saturday and then probably a mix on Sunday... And realizing I may be wrong On Friday and Sunday DCA has extra magic hours so I was trying to avoid those places those days (at least on Friday, but might need to go there Sunday)

My main concern is DCA... It is a MUST that we do Radiator Springs Racers, meet Anna and Elsa, as well as Toy Story Midway Mania... We will also do WOC, but I am not super worried about that at this point... Obviously, I want to avoid waiting an hour for them. I subscribed to tourningplans.com but for some reason they do not have meet Anna and Elsa, so I was not sure how a plan would work...

Here is my thought... Get to DCA early... I was thinking 7:30 for an 8:00 opening. I think we enter and have hubby get the fast passes for Anna and Elsa, head to RSR do a ride, then get a fastpass to ride again later. Hopefully by that time our return window for Anna and Elsa will be open. After that I figured we would head to TSMM... I am willing to wait a reasonable amount of time for TSMM (20ish minutes) but also thinking that by the time we do RSR and Anna and Elsa it will be most likely after 9.

Figuring that most likely this is our only trip there I wanted to be able to ride RSR more than once. Chances are good we will be back back to DW, so if we ride TSMM one time that would be OK, but it is one of our most favorite rides.

 

[jammyjam25]

If you don't get to TSMM early I think you are going to be hard pressed to find it with less than a 30-45 minute wait throughout the day, but you may get lucky!

Also, if you're able to wait out the RSR fastpasses until you're able to pull an evening return time, do it! Riding it during the day and at night are completely different experiences and both worth it.

Have a great trip.

 

[MouseEXP]

Anna and Elsa is a very easy Fastpass to get
RSR is pretty easy and tends to sell out around 12pm

You have to decide if you want to ride RSR once or twice.

RSR Twice:
Park opens at 8am, try to get to the entrance 30-15 minutes before it opens
Get a RSR FP at opening
Then head to TSMM then Screamin, Funwheel, and Goofy at Paradise Pier.
You can save Swings, Jellyfish, Zephyr, Triton, and Mermaid for later in the day.
Its more important to finish with Goofy by 9am-915am.
Then ride Grizzly, grab a FP for WOC if you need it, then ride Soarin.
Should be about time to use your first RSR FP, before you use it get a 2nd RSR FP and Anna and Elsa FP for later. If you want to ride RSR at night (which is the best experience FYI) you can grab the 2nd RSR FP after you use the first RSR FP.

RSR Once:
Park opens at 8am, try to get to the entrance 30-15 minutes before it opens
Get a Soarin FP first
Then head to TSMM then Screamin, Funwheel, Goofy, and Mermaid at Paradise Pier.
You can save Swings, Jellyfish, Zephyr, and Triton for later.
Then ride Grizzly, grab a FP for WOC if you need it, use FP for Soarin.
Grab FP for RSR and Anna and Elsa.

 

[Disney Kidd]

I'm not sure how old your kids are, but you could also do SR for RSR. If that works, I would get a FP for RSR then head directly to TSMM. Ride RSR with your FP, then go a second time at night using the SR line.

 

[TechGuy]

We rode twice most days we were in DCA. Get a FP on you way in, ride stand-By or single rider and then come back for your FP time slot. You could pull another FP if you wanted a third time. It would be easiest to do DCA on the mornings DL has EE.

If you have little ones, do the EE and do Fantasyland to get all the rides in. We rode ALL of the FL rides before 9:00, on a Saturday EE last month (except PP, it was the last week it was closed for renovations) .

 

[guynhawaii]

Aloha,
What worked for my family this past June/ July:
Used EMH. Entered DCA at 0700. Hit TSM twice followed by Screamin twice. Then Soarin. Done by 0800. Got a RSR FP and hit ToT. Took a break and hit GRR followed by the rides at PP. Was able to use two RSR FPs. Saw Aladin in the afternoon. Ate lunch at Paradise Cove. Good luck with whichever schedule you go with. Don't recommend using the RSR stand by line. RSR tends to break done often.

 

[Andona]

Aloha,
What worked for my family this past June/ July:
Used EMH. Entered DCA at 0700. Hit TSM twice followed by Screamin twice. Then Soarin. Done by 0800. Got a RSR FP and hit ToT. Took a break and hit GRR followed by the rides at PP. Was able to use two RSR FPs. Saw Aladin in the afternoon. Ate lunch at Paradise Cove. Good luck with whichever schedule you go with. Don't recommend using the RSR stand by line. RSR tends to break done often.

This sounds like a perfect plan for us. Do you mind me asking, when you picked up your first RSR Fastpass what was the return time?

TIA
Andona

 

[Girimama33]

Mouse EXP has a great plan.
You definitely want to get TSMM out of the way as early as possible. I was there last week and RSR definitely is not a crazy as it used to be.

 

[guynhawaii]

This sounds like a perfect plan for us. Do you mind me asking, when you picked up your first RSR Fastpass what was the return time?

TIA
Andona

Aloha,

The first return was late AM and the second return was late afternoon. The big challenge is for RSR to be operational. It breaks down often. We had a pair of FPs we couldn't use because it was broken down during our time period. We returned later but the FP line was just as long as the stand by line. From my personal experience, Carsland and RSR are best enjoyed at night. Good luck!