CA or DL?

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We just booked a trip to California to visit my aging grandparents who live outside of LA.

We are hoping to get in one day at the parks with our children ages 9, 7 and 2.5 at the time.

Would you pick CA or DL?

I'm the only one of us who has been to DL. However, we have been to WDW more times than we can count. We do not know when we will make our next trip.

My DH's grandfather passed in February and we have been waiting for money so that we could go visit my grandparents. He just received a check that his grandfather bequethed to each of the 25 grandchildren. We used that to buy our airline tix.


So which park would you choose?

Or is there something else you might do with children while in the LA area?

We will be there for 5 days and didn't anticipate more than one day to "run off" and do something while visiting my grandparents. Our trip will be in mid-December.

TIA!

 

[Kayla's Mom]

Could you buy a 1 day parkhopper? That way you can do both. It's very easy to hop between parks. If you absolutely want to stick with one park, I would choose Disneyland.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Hi! Over here we call it DCA.

It is possible to get a one day park hopper and see both parks in one day. Hopping takes a minute to walk to the over park. But if you only wanted to pick one I would go with DL. There is a lot more there for smaller children. If you wanted to see the highlights of both parks, I would get to DL before opening. Go see the Fantasyland rides first, then HM and POTC. Then around lunch go over to DCA, which is usually less crowded, and go see the Bugs Land and other things of interest. Then go back to DL for the evening. It depends on when you go and what the hours are too.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I hadn't considered a park hopper.

We did Universal (in Orlando) a coupel of years ago with a special deal where you could do Islands and the studios and we never made it out of Islands b/c there was so much to do.

That would be my only hesitation. If we'd have enough time in the day to do both. Since noone but me has ever been to DL and none of us have hit DCA, I'd think my family would be inclined to stick around in which ever one we hit first.

Are these big parks? And is it often busy in mid-December?

 

[PinkBudgie]

Well, you could hit the highlights. DL has a lot packed into a small space. DCA is a little more spread out and often feels less crowded. You could agree ahead of time that you will head over to DCA at lunch time.
I haven't been during mid December, but a good way to check is to see what the hours are. If the hours are long, then they expect it to be more croweded. Also see if it is blocked out for all APs but Premium. That also means they are expecting more people.

One other thing. If you got a one day park hopper you could buy it ahead of time on the Disneyland web site and print out etickets. You then take this directly to the gates and they give you a regular ticket to use in the parks. This saves you the step of having to buy a ticket from the ticket booth which you would have to do if you only bought one day tickets for Disneyland.

 

[marcemc]

I hadn't considered a park hopper.

We did Universal (in Orlando) a coupel of years ago with a special deal where you could do Islands and the studios and we never made it out of Islands b/c there was so much to do.

That would be my only hesitation. If we'd have enough time in the day to do both. Since noone but me has ever been to DL and none of us have hit DCA, I'd think my family would be inclined to stick around in which ever one we hit first.

Are these big parks? And is it often busy in mid-December?

I would say that if you go mid-december (specially if it is a weekend) I would stick to one park. After the 20th it usually gets busy (as far as I can remember).

It is a tough choice. If you MUST choose ONLY ONE park I would say D. CA is nice but you can't beat D magic, and the decorations for Christmas and the huge tree in main street and Mickey with the Santa hat. That alone to me it's worth it.

The most important thing is YOU ARE GOING TO DISNEY
Just my 2 cents. Hope it helped.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

How 'bout both ~ we visited both parks in 1 day last month, while it's not ideal it's doable - you can check out my mini report here ~
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32765258&postcount=1

 

[Kayla's Mom]

It is a tough choice. If you MUST choose ONLY ONE park I would say D. CA is nice but you can't beat D magic, and the decorations for Christmas and the huge tree in main street and Mickey with the Santa hat. That alone to me it's worth it.

I forgot about Christmas decorations...my choice for one park would be DL anyway, but with the Christmas decorations alone....definitely DL!!

 

[disneychrista]

yep if you can only do one, of course you have to go with Disneyland.

 

[pixiewings71]

I say do both. You could do it with no problems depending on when in Dec you're going. Give us a date and a day of the week and we can give you more info. We went Dec 07, the 15-17th and it was great. Lower crowds all 3 days.

 

[specialks]

I am voting for DL. With the ages of your kids I think there are more rides at DL for them. Also, I notice you are a Pooh fan and there is a ride & characters at DL for them. According to the Unofficial Guide the least busy time to visit is after Thanksgiving until the week before Christmas. You could do a park hopper, start at DL, hit DCA for a couple of rides mid-day, then go back to DL to close out the day.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Well--I wanted to book an night at the GC--just put in my request and keeping fingers very crossed.

In any case--was looking to hit a park on either Monday or Tuesday (December 14 or 15). Definitely, I preferred to avoid the weekend and it would be stinky to show up at Grandma and Grandpa's house to say--hi, we're here, we're going to Disney, see you on Monday.


We fly in on Friday and that gives us the weekend with my grandparents. And we fly out on Wednesday afternoon (out of Ontario as they live something like 11-15 miles from that airport.)

 

[Hound 109]

Well--I wanted to book an night at the GC--just put in my request and keeping fingers very crossed.

In any case--was looking to hit a park on either Monday or Tuesday (December 14 or 15). Definitely, I preferred to avoid the weekend and it would be stinky to show up at Grandma and Grandpa's house to say--hi, we're here, we're going to Disney, see you on Monday.


We fly in on Friday and that gives us the weekend with my grandparents. And we fly out on Wednesday afternoon (out of Ontario as they live something like 11-15 miles from that airport.)

Hold everything....I was under the impression that you were on VERY tight budget.....staying with Gramps.....& eating pork & beans all week to afford ONE day at the park.

If you can afford a night at the GCH, then you can afford TWO days at the park (& stay somewhere else cheaper if you must, but definitely get.....at a minimum a TWO DAY park hopper). & visit either Sunday/Monday or Monday/Tuesday (probably mon/tue would be better for alot of reasons).

You all will have a blast. Read all of HydroGuy's tips, get to the park at opening everyday, park hop each day & enjoy TWO glorious days at DLR.

 

[pinktink83]

I wouldnt do DCA...your 2.5 will only be able to do a few rides over there (mostly in its a bug land, which is cute, but not worthy of an entire day trip IMO), and the 5 year old will be pretty limited, too. The feeling over there is more like a State Fair, not a fantasy land. It also has shorter hours than DL. If anything, get hopper tickets so you can go early to DL to see the rides that are different than WDW, then hop over to DCA in the afternoon when DL gets crowded, hit the best rides, then when the DCA closes (usually around sunset) you can hop back over to DL and finish up with fireworks and parades, etc.

 

[pixiewings71]

I disagree with the PP, I agree with Hound 100%. If you can stay at the GCH then go for a 2 day hopper, even if you don't use all of day 2 go for a few hours in the morning. If you doing the 14-15th you can check into the GCH on the 14th in the early morning, do all day in both parks and then get up early on the 15th, get your Magic Morning at DL then check out and head out after that. Not spending a bunch of time in FL on Monday will help. BUT as I said previously, those dates will probably be slower, we are there the 12-16th for DD9s bday trip (her bday is the 15th) and our history has shown lighter crowds then.

 

[disneynerd420]

Two parks in one day is very doable. You may not get everything done, but if you get there at park opening and use fastpass, you can get a lot done.

 

[wendylady36]

Assuming you're only going for one day, then I'd say do Disneyland.

I agree that both parks are doable, but given that you'll have three kids with you, it would be easier on you, and them, if you just stick to one park.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Hold everything....I was under the impression that you were on VERY tight budget.....staying with Gramps.....& eating pork & beans all week to afford ONE day at the park.

If you can afford a night at the GCH, then you can afford TWO days at the park

We have DVC, so the stay would be free at DVC. My grandparents are unlikely to go with us to the parks and we are only going for 5 days.

Something to think about though.

Staying with the grandparents b/c we are visiting them afterall. I think they are an hour from Anaheim.

 

[kirkson]

I wouldnt do DCA...your 2.5 will only be able to do a few rides over there (mostly in its a bug land, which is cute, but not worthy of an entire day trip IMO), and the 5 year old will be pretty limited, too. The feeling over there is more like a State Fair, not a fantasy land. It also has shorter hours than DL. If anything, get hopper tickets so you can go early to DL to see the rides that are different than WDW, then hop over to DCA in the afternoon when DL gets crowded, hit the best rides, then when the DCA closes (usually around sunset) you can hop back over to DL and finish up with fireworks and parades, etc.

couldn't agree more. Maybe in 2011 when the re-boot is done it will be worthwhile, but now DCA is, for me, just a place to escape DL when it gets too crowded. DCA as it stands now is pretty lame

 

[PinkBudgie]

couldn't agree more. Maybe in 2011 when the re-boot is done it will be worthwhile, but now DCA is, for me, just a place to escape DL when it gets too crowded. DCA as it stands now is pretty lame

How sad. I've always liked DCA. I don't think its lame at all. But I have to agree, it sure is gonna get better!