California Adventure help

[millie0312]

Hi everyone-
We are leaving on our trip tomorrow night (!!!!) and I'm feeling overwhelmed about a game plan for CA. We do best with a basic plan that we can change if needed. We are going Sunday with EE. I trying to minimize wait time, get all the rides we want (we only have 1 park per day passes and 1 day at CA) and maximize FP use if it helps- I'm pretty sure my plan falls a bit short and could use some pointers- I tried to mix our needs with pointers from this board and the unofficial guide- here's what I have:
- arrive 30 mins before opening
- RSR using wide right
-TSMM
-Luigi's
-Mater's
- Get FP for RSR
- get FP for WOC
- Goofy's sky school
- SOC
- fun wheel
- monsters inc
- lunch in park- 30 mins
- yuck and roll
- zephyr
- rest at GCH- 1-2 hours
- silly symphony
- viva Navidad
- the little mermaid
- redwood creek challenge
- get TOT FP
- jumpin jellyfish
- tree lighting
- Pixar parade
- dinner in park- 30 mins
- Aladdin
- turtle talk (possibly)
- get FP for Ca Screaming
- flik's flyers
- Francis ladybug boogie
- it's tough to be a bug
- GRR
- WOC

Any tips, ideas or help to make it better would be MUCH appreciated! TIA

 

[SMD]

Is the order in which you plan to do things? There's some unnecessary running around to opposite ends of the park in that plan. Why would you do Goofy's, then Soarin' then back to the Fun Wheel then Monster's Inc after the Fun Wheel, only to have lunch when there's no food really near Monster's Inc. And if you're getting an FP for WoC after RSR, why not do Soarin' then? I'd group things, like Golden Zephyr and Jumpin' Jellyfish together, at least.

Also, I understand doing RSR then TSMM, that's a crisscross that makes sense. But you should get an RSR FP before you do Mater's and Luigi's. If your return time comes up, you can always skip one and then go back after RSR. But if you wait, you may get a very late return time or on a busy day risk that they'll run out before you get through the 4 rides you have planned.

 

[Viva Las Disney]

Looks pretty good to me, the only thing I'd change is to hit GRR before you go back to your hotel, you'll get wet, possibly soaked, and WOC can be cold even in dry clothes, waiting in wet clothes sounds terrible.

I'd also recommend mousewait to keep an eye on wait times, depending on how busy the park is it's not uncommon to see TOT and Cal Screamin at 20 or less at various times during the day, even TSMM will occasionally fall under 30, if you get lucky you can re-ride all of them with relatively little wait.

I love DCA, it's a beautiful park and has a great variety of rides, some really good quick service restaurants, and Aladdin is a great show. Even if you decide not to do Turtle Talk it's worth walking through the animation academy building just because it's very cool inside.

Have fun, DCA has a ton to see so you may not get to everything in one day but that just leaves something for the next trip.

 

[SplashMo]

If you are stating onsite be sure to use the main gate to enter and arrive 45 minutes early. DO not use the gate at GCH to enter...

 

[SplashMo]

Instead of going back to the hotel you could see Aladdin and/or learn to draw at the Animation Academy. I like to eat at Taste Pilots grill for lunch because it is indoors and quick. Lots of food is outdoors.

 

[millie0312]

Is the order in which you plan to do things? There's some unnecessary running around to opposite ends of the park in that plan. Why would you do Goofy's, then Soarin' then back to the Fun Wheel then Monster's Inc after the Fun Wheel, only to have lunch when there's no food really near Monster's Inc. And if you're getting an FP for WoC after RSR, why not do Soarin' then? I'd group things, like Golden Zephyr and Jumpin' Jellyfish together, at least.

Also, I understand doing RSR then TSMM, that's a crisscross that makes sense. But you should get an RSR FP before you do Mater's and Luigi's. If your return time comes up, you can always skip one and then go back after RSR. But if you wait, you may get a very late return time or on a busy day risk that they'll run out before you get through the 4 rides you have planned.

I put the rides I wanted in touring plans then changed some of the order from suggestions on the board- I was wondering if there might be a better way to do it! Is there any rides that have FP that you need a FP for or risk waiting for a LONG time or rides that you have to ride on early morning or the line will never go down (like TSMM)? Maybe if I put those in order first then I can group in the rides that are closer together and doesn't matter if you ride them later in the day.

 

[millie0312]

Looks pretty good to me, the only thing I'd change is to hit GRR before you go back to your hotel, you'll get wet, possibly soaked, and WOC can be cold even in dry clothes, waiting in wet clothes sounds terrible.

I'd also recommend mousewait to keep an eye on wait times, depending on how busy the park is it's not uncommon to see TOT and Cal Screamin at 20 or less at various times during the day, even TSMM will occasionally fall under 30, if you get lucky you can re-ride all of them with relatively little wait.

I love DCA, it's a beautiful park and has a great variety of rides, some really good quick service restaurants, and Aladdin is a great show. Even if you decide not to do Turtle Talk it's worth walking through the animation academy building just because it's very cool inside.

Have fun, DCA has a ton to see so you may not get to everything in one day but that just leaves something for the next trip.

Thanks- this sounds like a good idea since it'll be cool anyway! I will try to plan GRR right before we go to our hotel. I think we will def keep an eye on the times to see if we can miss some of the wait

 

[millie0312]

Instead of going back to the hotel you could see Aladdin and/or learn to draw at the Animation Academy. I like to eat at Taste Pilots grill for lunch because it is indoors and quick. Lots of food is outdoors.

Thanks- it'll be cool so eating indoors would probably be welcome for us!

 

[figment_jii]

I second SMD's recommendation to group rides and avoid criss-crossing the park as much as possible. It may not seem like much, but you do lose time when you're running back and forth across the park. I would do as suggested, do RSR and TSMM during EMH, then get FP for RSR and WoC (which show time do you want? If it's the second show, you might have to wait on the WoC FP until they finish distributing FPs for the first show). After that, I would deal with the park by group/land.

I would also highly recommend moving GRR to some point when you can easily get back to your hotel or bring a change of clothes with you. You will mostly likely get very wet on that ride, which means WoC would be very uncomfortable if you're cold and wet while watching it.

I'm also inclined to say that you'll have some trouble with the tree lighting, Pixar Parade and Aladdin schedule. For Sunday, the tree lighting is at 5:00 pm, the parade starts at 5:15 pm and the last Aladdin is at 6:20 pm. You also have dinner scheduled between the parade and Aladdin. You can probably see the parade and tree lighting from the same place, but it's about 20 minutes long (from when it reaches you). I'm guessing it'll clear Carthay Circle somewhere around 10 minutes after is starts; so that's about 5:45 pm. That only leaves you 35 minutes for dinner and to get to Aladdin, which you should get there before the show starts so you can get a good seat. I would either try to eat while waiting/watching the parade or wait to have dinner after the parade.

 

[rtravels]

Hi, I was there this weekend and it was the most crowded I have ever seen Disneyland. I went the same weekend two years ago and it wasn't nearly as busy. We still had a blast and got on everything we wanted but it was a sea of humanity. They were using those corridors behind main street to get people in and out faster which was pretty fascinating and very effective. Also, the candlelight processional was happening which is insane and shouldn't be allowed with the crowd issues but that's another story.

California Adventure felt a lot better by comparison. It was still busy but was never clogged with people like Disneyland.

Monsters Inc. wasn't open when we were there as they are still working on the Frozen fun area. I highly recommend Carthay Cirlcle for the World of Color lunch. We loved the restaurant and the reserved area for the show.

 

[tksbaskets]

If you are stating onsite be sure to use the main gate to enter and arrive 45 minutes early. DO not use the gate at GCH to enter...

If you're on property I'd differ from this suggestion. The FP distribution for RSR doesn't begin until the normal park opening. I'd skeedaddle from the GCH entrance over to Paradise Pier, ride TSMM, CS, and if open the fun wheel. If you've ridden what you want on PP, head over to Carsland and ride some of the smaller stuff (not much of a line for rides other than RSR) Then head over to Bugs Land where the FPs are distributed for RSR at park opening. Get a FP.

Have a snack/breakfast. When you can get another FP head to TOT and get one. Ride S/B if not too long. When that FP for TOT is used, head to Soarin' and do the same.

Take in a showing of Aladdin - one of the best shows at the park.

Just my quick 2c while on a break at work.

TK