Disneyland in August! Any good advice for travel, maybe discounts?

[kaylalovesminnie]

Okay. I have been to Disneyland lots of times. I know theres really no discount with tickets. I have done ticket share before and stuff but this time its all us.


There will be 2 adults (me and my mom), my 2 cousins (both girls...ages 10, and 12) and my brother who is 17.


I have never been to Disneyland in August and lots of people tell me 2 things:
1. It's crowded
and
2. It's hot!

Anyone have any good experiences going in August in the past?
We will be going for 2 days with park hoppers.
My cousins have never been and I am hoping to show them a good time


Any help will be very much appriciated

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Because of increased crowds and heat, I recommend going with a 3 day park hopper if possible over the two day pass. I realize circumstances may not allow that, but with the increased crowds in DCA because of Toy Story Midway Mania, you will have more time to experience everything.

Because of the ages of your party, I recommend touring Fantasyland late at night after the fireworks. Around 10:30-11:00pm, Fantasyland rides(except Peter Pan) begin to get very short lines, so you can get a lot done in a brief amount of time instead of fighting the crowds in the afternoon.

Likewise, be on Main Street when the park opens. The crowds are much thinner early in the morning and you can get more done, especially on the big attractions. Plus early on, you can collect more fastpasses than later in the day especially for those attractions that tend to run out of them. If you're tired from getting up early, take a nap in the afternoon to beat the heat(and the crowds).

 

[DLR29]

I went in August last year with two of my friends and we got so much done in 2 1/2 days. If you want my trip report is in my sig. Check it out because we rode 58 rides and saw most of the big entertainment shows. We were at the parks 38 total hours faint: ) and we were tired, but it was so fun.

Just because it's crowded does not mean at all that it isn't "Do-able". Here are my top 3 tips for getting a ton done during somewhat busy seasons:

1. Arrive early early early early. #1 tip. If you can't do anything else, do this. Get to the gates 30-45 minutes early and you will not wait in any lines for pretty much the first hour. Most people show up around 9:30-10AM so if the park opens at 8AM you can have a lot of time to enjoy short lines.

2. Use FastPass as much as possible. Hydroguy has some great threads on FP. It works very much like the WDW ones, but there are some advantages to DLR FP. For one, Grizzly River Run(DCA) and Roger Rabbit (DL) are not connected to their own park's central FP system, allowing you to obtain FPs for them even while holding onto another ride's. Also the proximity of the parks from each other makes it very easy to hop and be holding FPs for both parks at the same time.

3. Understand the attractions. Know which rides have long lines, which rides have high capacities, which rides have FP or single rider lines. You don't want to be riding Pirates at 8 in the morning because that ride has such a high capacity that you can get on with a short wait almost anytime. On the contrary, you don't want to ride Peter Pan, Dumbo or Nemo at 1 in the afternoon when their lines are 60min+. Research on the DIS and other sites, maybe buy the unofficial guide, as it's very good at this kind of tip.

And I would add another just for this summer. If you want to ride Toy Story Midway Mania with a relatively short line, you will want to line up at the DCA gates by at least 9:00. When the park opens at 9:30 rush to the front of the rope drop leading to Paradise Pier and then at 10 when the ropes are dropped, rush over to TSMM. Hopefully you will only have to wait in line for maybe 30-45 minutes (as opposed to 3-4 hours which has been reported recently)

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I don't think most guests realize how much you can get done in the first two hours the park is open. You can collect more fastpasses(early on your next window begins after the current fastpass starts, so you may find that you have an hour window instead of a 2 hour window).

 

[Queenbillabong]

For the end of Aug, the parks open later (9 a.m.). How important are MM versus just at park opening for the last week of August? We're going then and I'm waffling between the Hojo (although apparently I cannot get the ent. rate then even though the dates are supposed to be available ) or the DHL to get the MM.............

 

[samkj]

I just got an email from Get Away Today for a summer deal. I'm not sure if it'll help since you're only planning on 2 day hoppers.

Only Get Away Today gives you 2 Magic Morning Early Entries* with each 3-Day Disneyland® Resort Park Hopper® Bonus Ticket purchased and a FREE 8x8 Mickey scrapbook when you book your vacation online.

Plus, when you book your 3-Day or longer Disneyland® Resort vacation by July 15 for travel through August 31, 2008 and use promotion code "Summerfuel" you'll get a FREE $50 Gas Card to help get you there!

 

[dmked]

I just got an email from Get Away Today for a summer deal. I'm not sure if it'll help since you're only planning on 2 day hoppers.

Does "summerfuel" work on tickets only or do you have to have a package?

 

[avalon451]

Okay. I have been to Disneyland lots of times. I know theres really no discount with tickets. I have done ticket share before and stuff but this time its all us.

As a previous poster said, if you can possibly do 3 days, do it. Then you will get a 3-day hopper pass, which will automatically get you at least one Magic Morning. Then you can get there an hour early and get on all the good stuff early, beating the worst of the crowds.

As far as there being no discounts with tickets-- true; but you CAN purchase 3-day hoppers through GetAwayToday, and you will get 2 MM instead of just 1. If you were going to be there, say, Tue Wed and Thu, you would be able to get in the parks an hour early on Tue and Thurs. That translates to lots of stuff to ride with very little wait time.

Read Hydroguy's sticky thread at the top of the forum page, especially the one about "Getting the most out of FastPass during high season": http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1520483

HTH!

 

[ToodlesRN]

we are also going at the end of August 24-29th with my sister and her boys, this will be our 1st trip during peak season as we usually go during off peak times with our little boy. I was wondering the same how busy it will be, but I am hoping that some states will be startiung school by then.