Critique my plan please!

[stephv710]

First I want to thank everyone on these boards for all the tips..all of my planning has been based on your experiences.

I wil be taking my 10 year old niece to Disney for her first time Aug 1-3. I think this looks like a pretty good time, as most APs are blocked.
We will also have my 80 yo father who will be in a wheelchair, his wife and my 25 yo daughter. Based on recommendations from this board, I am going to order a wheelchair from Deckerts to be delivered to the hotel.

I am a So. Cal resident and live an hour and a half from the park..but haven't been in 10 years (I know....*gasp*) They will be flying in on Sunday from the Northwest.

Here is my plan so far, tell me what you think:

Sunday - Pick up the folks at airport at noon and head straight for Anaheim. Check into hotel (Crowne Plaza - Pricelined for $59). Now here's where I'm stuck.

Since I have 3 day passes, should we start on Sunday with DCA for a few hours or do we need an entire day there? I'm thinking we relax and swim for a couple hours, head to DCA from about 4-10. Is that enough time? The other idea is to do DL Mon and Tues and then DCA part of Wed before heading home. PS, I've never been to DCA so I'm not quite sure.

For our DL days (2) I'm thinking that we concentrate on one side of the park the first day and then the 2nd half of the park the next day (of course getting there at opening) While it sounds good in my head, a very excited 10 year old may talk me out of that. What do you usually do on a two day plan? I think we will take a break in the middle of the day and go back to the hotel for a swim and nap.

I really want to see F! but can't justify $300 for all of us to have a seat and dessert. Nor do I want to sit and wait for 4 hours......still pondering this one.

I want to make this a magical trip for my niece, but haven't been the mom of a 10 yo in quite a while. She's not the girly type so not so into princesses. I want to get her something to have for her at the hotel. I'm thinking new Disney pajamas, or a backpack, t shirt or ???? Any ideas?

One last question (for this thread anyway!). What type of snacks did you bring with you? I'm planning to have a backpack with water and snacks.

Thanks!

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

1) Parkhop! The parks are across the way from each other. Don't limit yourself to only going to one park a day.

2) There is ALOT for the 10 yr old to do in DCA. Our recent trip included almost 2 full days in DCA (out of 5 days). The other thing is that many rides in DCA close at 8 pm due to WOC.

3) Fantasmic! is definitely worth seeing. We lined up around 7:30 last month and got great spots (for 20 of us!!!). In front of Cafe Orleans (behind the premium seating of F!) there is a light tower that is lowered before the show. We line up right behind it since it raises up just before the show starts.

4) Take advantage of FPs.

5) Ideas for the 10 year old: Target, Michaels craft store, and Party City have great Disney goodies in their dollar sections. I got Disney lanyards at Party City for $1 last month. Maybe find some Tinkerbell things (kinda girly but with some sass!). Also there is the Disney outlet that will have some discounted shirts, etc. And the Disney store is clearing out their summer stuff right now too.

 

[PinkBudgie]

Welcome!

First, I wouldn't plan on setting aside certain days just for DL and others for DCA. They are not hard to go back and forth between. We usually start at DL in the morning and then go to DCA in the afternoon, then maybe back to DL later. There is more to do at DCA than just one morning at the end. Toy Story ride is not to be missed.

Did you want to see WOC?

If it was me, I'd probably use that first day to arrive, get settled in, and maybe go visit DTD. Depending on when you had to leave that last day, of course. You could then have a more uncrowded morning time on the third day instead of busier afternoon. And if the plane is late, it will take more time.

If you have a Magic Morning on your ticket, use that day to get in early and do Fantasyland. If not, do it first thing on a non magic morning.

I have two boys so can't help with what a 10 year old girl might like. You could ask her mother about it.

 

[shanni]

I have a dd that wil be ten next month. She is WAY into the peace and save the earth stuff right now. I know a lot of her friends are too. Over on the disign board someone has a cute "Peace, Love, Mickey" disign that I plan to put on a shirt for my dd when we go next year. HTH!

 

[fidoprincess]

Plan on doing Disneyland early in the am, as early as you can. If you have early entry, try to make it and then go in and do Fantasyland. Learn how to do fastpass, see the links in the sticky and collect fastpasses along the way. Once Disneyland gets really crowded, head over to CA and do some things there. If you read the fast pass guide, you can even send your daughter over to CA while you are in DL to get some fastpasses for the popular rides there like soaring for example.

Depending on if you will see woc, you could have your daughter get those fastpasses early in the am and just spend the rest of the day at CA or you can skip woc, and head back over to DL and see Fantasmic and the fireworks. It seems that some people are having luck watching the fireworks from in front of the castle closest to the side of fantasmic and then rushing over to the second show of fantasmic and still getting a good spot.

Agree with the other posters, you really have to park "hop" to make the most of your time.

Here is the link to the outlet. http://www.disneystore.com/Outlet/cdo/12845/
I just bought a bunch of stuff for my 10 year old and her friend. They are not girly either so I got a few tshirt for only $5 because they will like to wear them in the park. PJs for that age were hard to find, it seems they are all too small but they add new stuff everyday. I also got autograph books for them and a couple of really cheap stuffed animals just for fun.

 

[Eeee-va]

Have you bought your admission yet? Right now there's a 5-day hopper for the price of 3 days. Then you could do your arrival day and departure day!

If you just have 3 days, then I'm not sure...IF you don't mind spending the money for a character meal, then you could do Goofy's Kitchen on your arrival (dinner) or departure (brunch) day. That's a nice way to extend the Disney magic without buying a full day's admission, IMO.

Don't forget to use your Magic Morning (almost all 3-day hoppers have it). You'll get in the park an hour early on one day--I think Tuesday will be your day. That will get most of Fantasyland out of the way. You could likely finish off Fantasyland and Tomorrowland in 2-3 hours using Magic Morning, and have the rest of the day to explore the rest of the park.

I've never heard anyone actually follow the "half of the park in one day, half in the other day" strategy successfully. But to try to keep that in mind, I'd probably use this as a start. (Flip Monday and Tuesday if for some reason you DON'T have Magic Morning.)

*Monday - "left" side of Disneyland (grab Fastpasses to use for later, too). If time allows, go back to It's a Small World and Storybook land (if you like), and Toontown. I'd probably break at 2 PM or later (I am assuming your father will need a break), then come back in the evening. Use Fastpasses, visit what you missed, and if you like, do Fantasmic! (you may be able to be in the wheelchair area, though I'm not sure there's seating there) or fireworks. With luck you can get most of what you want to do in Disneyland done except Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.

*Tuesday - Fantasyland during Magic Morning, and anything you missed around there on Monday, then Tomorrowland, then anything else you missed on Monday. On the way out, I'd perhaps send a "runner" to DCA to get Soarin' Fastpasses, then take as early a break as I could manage. Return to DCA as early as possible (maybe 3 PM?) - close. Remember to do the Paradise Pier rides before 8 PM or so, as excepting Toy Story Midway Mania and Mulholland Madness, they will close for World of Color. I'd also try to do Aladdin that day. Keep in mind that starting at maybe 6:30, you can't make a circle around "Paradise Bay", so I'd do that section as early as possible. Otherwise you walk all the way around from California Screamin' to Mulholland Madness...and then have to circle back allllllll the way around to get out. If you like, you can do World of Color with a picnic meal...

*World of Color - spend $15 apiece and get a Picnic "meal" (order online for the 9 PM show). I do feel that Fantasmic is the superior show, granted, and you will have to wait a while for World of Color, fair enough--but with your father in a wheelchair, I think you will get the wheelchair section, which should include some bench seating. You should probably look into it further if it interests you (my dad uses a wheelchair but HATES Disneyland, so I'll never get to try it)--but I believe you would get a small meal and probably seating, for a 90 minute wait and $15. Pretty sweet compared to Fantasmic's dessert.

You can finish off DCA on your last (or first) day. Crowds will be MUCH lighter if you do it in the morning of your last day, but the park won't open all the way until 10 AM...still, IMO you can probably get more done in 3 or 4 hours in the morning than 4 or 5 hours at night.

I agree with others who say to not be afraid to park hop. Even if the distance bothers you, you may find you're able to do one park before your break and one after.

Have a great trip!

 

[amym2]

Ditto with the others who suggested you not specify days for each park. It is so easy to go back and forth. Also as others mentioned, read up on using Fastpasses. It worked well for us to start with DL on our MM day then head to DCA at 9:30 to ride Soarin then line up for TSMM which opens at 10am. Personally, if I had 3 day passes and my option was to use one day from 4-10pm in a park or save it for the day we left (assuming you have more than a couple of hours), I would save it for the last day. The crowds are huge at 4pm and some of the FP will be out for the day. By 7pm when WOC people start lining up, it is very hard to get around anywhere on that side of the park. You could probably do Aladdin and ToT that afternoon if that ends up being your plan.

 

[firefly87]

I want to make this a magical trip for my niece, but haven't been the mom of a 10 yo in quite a while. She's not the girly type so not so into princesses. I want to get her something to have for her at the hotel. I'm thinking new Disney pajamas, or a backpack, t shirt or ???? Any ideas?

One last question (for this thread anyway!). What type of snacks did you bring with you? I'm planning to have a backpack with water and snacks.

Thanks!

Maybe for your niece you could get her a lanyard and a few Disney pins to get started on trading? My son and niece (ages 11 and 10) love doing this on every trip and have quite the pin collection going.

As for snacks, we always bring in food to the parks (inlcuding lunch!). Def. bring your own water bottles. You can buy a case of water for what it costs to buy 2 waters in the park! Some snacks we've done is trail mix, beef jerky, rice krispy treats, chewy granola bars, fruit snacks, grapes, or sliced apples & peanut butter.

 

[kim3339]

Don't think this has been mentioned, but what about wondering down Downtown Disney? You could walk down from one of the parks and then take the monorail back to DL, then she could see DL and DCA from a cool prospective. They have a rock star type makeover place kind of like the Bippidi Boutique in DL, but not sure how expensive that is.

 

[dalepool]

Do you think you Father might need to rest after flight? Remember depending on how far from airport they are you still have 90-120 minute wait in airport. flight if non-stop takes a bit over two hours, then transporting to resort takes 30 min. Just getting there might be a big day for him.

Having him rest while you all swim sounds like a great idea.

For WOC you can get passes if you order the picnic meals. There are 4 kinds costing 15.00 each, Much less then the sit down restaurants. I have not been to this show, I do know they have special sitting areas for wheel chair and up to 5 in said group but ask for policy on this to make sure. You would need the passes -- or that is what I think. You can also get a pass for the show at the Grizzly Bear Run attraction.