My wife, two kids and I spent one day in the parks last Sunday. We're taking the kids though the American Southwest so Disney was one of many stops.
With the early start we were able to fit in a large number of rides. We made a decision before going to skip the shows this trip. I would definitely like to head back for Aladdin, WOC and Fantasmic. There are some rides we also chose to skip because we have been (will be going) to WDW about very other year or so. The skipped rides were based on posts on this forum identifying similar ride experiences.
In total we were able to fit in 23 different rides (some twice) in that one day. It would have been a little higher except for two things:
1) We planned on staying the whole day but the kids waved the white flag around 9:30 PM. In fact I had to give my daughter a piggy back ride to the hotel since she was so tired.
2) Radiator Springs Racers, Ariel's Undersea Adventure and Goofy's Sky School were all down about the same time. We had already done Mater's and Luigi's and had the kids go through some of the smaller Paradise Pier rides while waiting. We ended up doing Toy Story with a posted 40 minute wait that turned out to be 70 minutes. It was apparently having issues also.
We did get on RSR and Ariel but did not see Goofy up before heading back to Disneyland. RSR was great - much better than the old Test Track at Epcot. The lines are crazy though after a stoppage.
When we left we still had fastpasses for Indiana Jone - rode earlier in the day - and BTMRR which I like to ride at night. My wife stayed and shopped for a little longer and handed them out.
A few of observations:
1) We exchanged a day of WDW non expiring tickets. I misunderstood the process a little. I thought it was an exchange at the ticket booths but we were directed to the gate for the exchange. We headed to an empty ticket line and the whole thing only took a couple of minutes.
2) I got in line for RSR fastpasses at 7:37. I got to the fastspass machines around 8:25 and had a return time of 11:45 - 12:45. We received three separate Ariel fastpasses for up to six people.
3) We had Cinderella on our list because it has been removed from WDW. The Disneyland version is different and better and we rode it twice.
4) Mr. Toad's is a lot of fun and we rode it twice
5) We hopped over to Disneyland at 9:00 AM (7:00 AM MM hours and 8:00 AM general entry) and were able to walk onto most rides the first hour. We did not do Peter Pan or Dumbo though Dumbo seemed like a short line.
6) The kids pooped out right around the start of the fireworks and I was surprised that Main Street and the hub were cordoned off for viewing only.
Overall we had a great time. I wish we had a couple of more days so we could slow down and do and experience more but that was not possible. (We are now twelve nights through our fifteen night/thirteen hotel trip.)
Thank you for of your help. I learned a lot from these boards that helped us maximize our one day. This board is not as active as some of the WDW boards but the signal to noise ratio is much higher.
With the early start we were able to fit in a large number of rides. We made a decision before going to skip the shows this trip. I would definitely like to head back for Aladdin, WOC and Fantasmic. There are some rides we also chose to skip because we have been (will be going) to WDW about very other year or so. The skipped rides were based on posts on this forum identifying similar ride experiences.
In total we were able to fit in 23 different rides (some twice) in that one day. It would have been a little higher except for two things:
1) We planned on staying the whole day but the kids waved the white flag around 9:30 PM. In fact I had to give my daughter a piggy back ride to the hotel since she was so tired.
2) Radiator Springs Racers, Ariel's Undersea Adventure and Goofy's Sky School were all down about the same time. We had already done Mater's and Luigi's and had the kids go through some of the smaller Paradise Pier rides while waiting. We ended up doing Toy Story with a posted 40 minute wait that turned out to be 70 minutes. It was apparently having issues also.
We did get on RSR and Ariel but did not see Goofy up before heading back to Disneyland. RSR was great - much better than the old Test Track at Epcot. The lines are crazy though after a stoppage.
When we left we still had fastpasses for Indiana Jone - rode earlier in the day - and BTMRR which I like to ride at night. My wife stayed and shopped for a little longer and handed them out.
A few of observations:
1) We exchanged a day of WDW non expiring tickets. I misunderstood the process a little. I thought it was an exchange at the ticket booths but we were directed to the gate for the exchange. We headed to an empty ticket line and the whole thing only took a couple of minutes.
2) I got in line for RSR fastpasses at 7:37. I got to the fastspass machines around 8:25 and had a return time of 11:45 - 12:45. We received three separate Ariel fastpasses for up to six people.
3) We had Cinderella on our list because it has been removed from WDW. The Disneyland version is different and better and we rode it twice.
4) Mr. Toad's is a lot of fun and we rode it twice
5) We hopped over to Disneyland at 9:00 AM (7:00 AM MM hours and 8:00 AM general entry) and were able to walk onto most rides the first hour. We did not do Peter Pan or Dumbo though Dumbo seemed like a short line.
6) The kids pooped out right around the start of the fireworks and I was surprised that Main Street and the hub were cordoned off for viewing only.
Overall we had a great time. I wish we had a couple of more days so we could slow down and do and experience more but that was not possible. (We are now twelve nights through our fifteen night/thirteen hotel trip.)
Thank you for of your help. I learned a lot from these boards that helped us maximize our one day. This board is not as active as some of the WDW boards but the signal to noise ratio is much higher.
