Disneyland Newbie (sort of) Questions

pdarrah

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Jun 3, 2004
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I am planning a trip to DL for June 3-7 (we fly in 2 days before and leave the morning after - so 5 full days :yay:. We are 5 adults - myself, DH, DS18 and my parents. Basics are booked: Hotel (Candy Cane Inn), Flights, Rental Car (to/from airport + extra day visit to Huntington Library&Garden), park tickets.

It has been a long time since any of us have been to Disneyland. My mother is a complete newbie - she has been to WDW a few times, but has never been to DL. My father actually visited DL in 1955 :D but has never been back since then. DS18's only DL trip was 2 days (sort of) at DL in 2008 before a DCL cruise out of LA. (Most memorable moment of that trip is when I tripped and we got to ride the ambulance ride to the Emergency room! ) However, DS18 has been to WDW around 25 times. DH & I were last at DL in 2010 for 1 day - we were supposed to be having a grownups only trip to Southern CA, but we couldn't resist the lure of DL - we didn't tell DS we had been there without him for several years! :duck: I have been to WDW over 50 times (totally lost count) and DH is probably around 40+ times.

So that very TLDR description is basically explaining why I feel like a total newbie trying to plan a DL vacation for us.

DH, DS & I will be at DLR for the entire 5 days. My parents will only be there for June 3-4.

As a long time DISBoards user, I have been browsing around this DLR area for a week or so and trying to get my bearings. I was hoping that the sticky "DLR Info/Links - Maps, Hotels, DISer Reviews, Hydroguy's tips, NEWBIE INFO here!" would be a great resource, but I am getting a little worried that it is going to just confuse me more! The 1st two threads I clicked on there have out of date info and now I am worried that if I try and use those links to get up to speed on planning a DL trip I am going to just get confused on what is actually true NOW vs what was true in the past. For example, the Photopass thread first page is all old info. There has been added some big, bold text that says it is old info which is really nice, but the current info is actually burried near the end of the very long thread and the only way to know that is to dig through that whole thread. The DL info for WDW vets was looking really promising, but again the 1st page info is 3 years old and even I know that there are things there that have changed. My fear is that there will be stuff there that has changed that I DON'T already know and I am going to believe the old info...

So any input from other recent DLR newbies? Are there threads that were current and helped you figure it all out? Is it still worth it to read the out of date threads and hope you come across corrected info as you continue to read here? Any suggestions for threads you found particularly helpful?

THanks for any help :worship:
pdarrah
 
I do still think it's worth reading "A DLR Guide for WDW Vets"; most of the general information is still the same. The are that is most likely to be out-of-date soon is going to be the FP section (13). Currently DLR is still using the legacy system, but that might change at any point when they introduce MaxPass. Also, at this point, there are no disconnected attraction FPs (WoC is still disconnected).

In terms of the crowds...that's another thing that has likely changed a lot since 2014. There really aren't any "low crowd" times anymore (except perhaps when it's pouring rain). There are still peak and non-peak days, but even the non-peak days seem to have crowds. So just keep that in mind and don't expect to be able to walk on to attractions very often (except perhaps at rope drop).

In terms of the other threads...I would start reading maybe three or four pages from the end to get a sense of what the current discussions are and go from there.
 
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It's still worth it to read the old threads. Here's the general advice that I've used from those threads for our family vacations to Disneyland. These are the suggestions I've taken from others here that have worked out really really well for us:

  1. Use the EMH that comes with your ticket as early in your trip as possible. You can use EMH on Tues, Thurs, or Sat.
  2. EMH at that time of year will probably be 7-8 am. Yeah, it's early. But it's TOTALLY WORTH IT! Get up early at the crack of dawn and you will have the park practically to yourself. You can probably go on up to 6 rides in Fantasyland in that first hour. No joke. I've done it a couple of times now myself.
  3. Take an afternoon break back at your hotel if you get worn out, cranky, or tired of the crowds. Since you're staying at the Candy Cane Inn, you don't have to walk back to your hotel. Just hop on the hotel shuttle instead!
  4. If you want to go on Peter Pan without a wait or with minimal wait, be at the park entrance 30+ min before park opening. Your best bet would be to be at park entrance on your EMH day by 6:30 am. Then walk with purpose to Peter Pan when they let you in.
  5. If you want to see fireworks, plan on doing that on your first evening at Disneyland. Fireworks are often cancelled because of high winds at upper elevations. So if fireworks are cancelled that night, you still have 4 other evenings to try to see them. If you wait until the last night of your trip, you could end up missing out.
  6. Have each person in your group pick THE #1 ride/attraction that they want to do/see. Try to do all of those #1 picks on your first day there. We do this because if the ride happens to break down, we still have a couple more days left to try to get on that ride. If you DO happen to get to do all of them on Day 1, then you can go on those #1 picks again the rest of your trip and that's icing on the cake.
  7. Once you get to do all of everybody's #1 picks, the rest of the trip is awesome regardless of what happens.
  8. We don't force our whole family to spend every waking moment with each other. So sometimes DH or I need some down time. Or DH or I want to browse in a store or wants to go on a ride that nobody else wants to go on. Whoever doesn't need solo time will trot off with our kids and then we swap. We've learned that this helps keep the Theme Park Crankies at bay.
Fast Pass:
  1. It's still the "old paper FP system" at Disneyland. No magic bands. And no "Max Pass" yet.
  2. CMs stick to the return times that are printed on the FPs. So if it says your return time is 12:30-1:30 pm, don't show up at 2pm and expect to still be able to use the FP.
  3. Buzz Lightyear has FP, but it's now "connected" to the rest of the DL FP system. Just a few weeks ago, it wasn't, so you could hold FP for Buzz and another DL ride at the same time. That's no longer the case. Dang it!
  4. You have to physically insert each person's ticket into the FP machine. The machine spits out your FP with a return window time slot printed on it.
  5. You can grab a FP for another ride starting at the beginning of the return window of your previous FP ticket. So let's say you first grabbed a FP for Star Tours at 8:00 am. It has a return time of 9:00 - 10:00 am. Beginning at 9:00 am, you can get a FP for another FP ride.
  6. So the best way to maximize use of FP at DL is to get another FP for another ride BEFORE you use your FP that you already have. Using the above example, before you get on Star Tours using your 9-10 am FP, get a FP for Hyperspace Mountain. THEN go to Star Tours using your Star Tours FP. Lather, rinse, repeat throughout the day.
  7. World of Color FP are not connected to anything else. So you can hold WoC FP **and** FP for another DCA attraction at the same time.
  8. You can also get a FP for a Disneyland attraction, then send a runner over to DCA with everybody's tickets and get a FP for a DCA attraction (RSR, for example).
  9. Right now, Toy Story doesn't yet have FP, but it will soon. They've put up signs and stuff for it. I think it'll go into effect with Max Pass.
  10. Meet & greets don't have FP. You don't need one for them anyway.
I have some more info, but will include in a second post.
 

Other info I found useful:

  • If you don't want to wait a long time to meet Mickey Mouse, go to the entrance to Toon Town 1 hour after DL's regular park opening. In June, the reg park opening time is usually 8:00 am (with EMH being 7-8 am). Toon Town will open 1 hour after that at 9:00 am. Goofy or another character will open the gates (with the help of CMs). Walk directly to Mickey's house and meet him with no wait or minimal wait times. The other main characters (Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Pluto) will also be in Toon Town and you can meet them there, too, with minimal waits. Wait a couple of hours after that and you're looking at 45 min to see Mickey in his house in Toon Town.
  • Dining is not as huge of a deal at DL compared to WDW. You can book dining reservations up to 60 days in advance. But for dining packages, it's usually 6 weeks before hand because they have to wait for the official Disneyland entertainment schedule to be posted online first. Don't worry about this. this is something that WDW vets often really stress out about. And when you get to that 60 day window, you do not have to be on the phone at midnight. It's ok to wait until normal human daylight hours to call. :-)
  • DL & DCA have some pretty decent CS restaurant options. It's not all theme park burgers & hot dogs, especially at DCA.
  • Don't miss Animation Academy in DCA. It's super fun and you walk away with a free souvenir that you drew yourself of a Disney character. Repeat as many times as you want. I'm so glad that i listened to people here who said to try it out. It's one of our family's favorite things to do.
  • Meeting characters is really easy. They roam around the park a lot at Disneyland. Especially in Fantasyland during the first hour or 2 after park opening. We've regularly seen Alice, the Mad Hatter, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, and the queen of hearts just roaming around. So you can talk to them and take pictures and stuff WITHOUT WAITING! And without having to use a FP (well, you couldn't use a FP anyway, but even if they offered one, you don't need it).
  • if you eat a meal at Carnation Cafe, you might luck out and get to see Chef Oscar, who has worked at Disneyland for almost as many years as it's been open. I think it's something like 57 or 58 years that he's been working there.
  • At Coke Refreshment Corner on the hub end of Main Street in the afternoon, Alice and the Mad Hatter play musical chairs with kids. Ask at Coke Corner earlier in the day for the time. Even if your kids are all grown up, it's fun to chill out and watch for awhile.
  • In Carsland at dusk/sundown, they play the "Sh-boom" song from the Cars movie while they turn on all the neon lights. It's only a couple of minutes long, but it's pretty neat.
  • Mary Jo on the DIS Unplugged podcasts has talked in past podcasts about the flag retreat ceremony on Main Street in Disneyland. I haven't seen it yet in person myself, but I watched a video of it on Youtube and it's just like Mary Jo says...it's very moving. Gunny is a CM who's retired from the armed forces and he's been THE guy who does the flag retreat at Disneyland for years. He honors each veteran there during the short ceremony and the way he folds and cares for the flag is so wonderful and loving. It's hard to have a dry eye watching it.
  • There's a machine in the Adventureland Bazaar store called Shrunken Ned. You put in something like $0.75 in quarters and Shrunken Ned says something silly and the machine spits out a prescription card with a humorous saying on it. There's also a similar machine in New Orleans Square on one of the side streets near the Blue Bayou, but I always seem to miss it when we are at DL.
  • Just a heads up - the monorail at DL is not air conditioned. And it only goes between Tomorrowland and DTD.
  • Download the Disneyland app to your smart phone to look up ride wait times, FP return times, and character meet & greet locations and times.
 
Meeting characters is really easy. They roam around the park a lot at Disneyland. Especially in Fantasyland during the first hour or 2 after park opening. We've regularly seen Alice, the Mad Hatter, Peter Pan, Captain Hook, and the queen of hearts just roaming around. So you can talk to them and take pictures and stuff WITHOUT WAITING! And without having to use a FP (well, you couldn't use a FP anyway, but even if they offered one, you don't need it).

I will add the flip side to them walking around etc is that if there is someone you have your heart set on they can be difficult to track down.
 
Because I'm a newbie I have no clue what all the short cuts are like DS1, DH, DLR etc. it makes me think of Robin Williams from Good Morning Vietnam:


Adrian Cronauer: Excuse me, sir. Seeing as how the V.P. is such a V.I.P., shouldn't we keep the P.C. on the Q.T.? 'Cause if it leaks to the V.C. he could end up M.I.A., and then we'd all be put out in K.P.
 
Also, if u get a chance to hang out in the DLH lobby, it might be extra fun. We went to explore (and for a chilled out break) even though we were staying just across the street. A few characters popped in and played with the kids around. We had fun then after a few mins, plopped ourselves onnthe lobby couches. A few minutes later, Goofy came to play specifically with my DH and DS and we had the most amazing interaction!!!

I have to say, I was bery much surprised with how lines built in Fantasyland at rope drop. Peter Pan was insane immediately (expected) so we thought we would try some of the others. We were shocked at how long we had to wait for Casey Jr Circus Train and Storybookland Canal Boats. The Matterhorn was a breeze in comparison (on a super insanely crowded day).
 
Because I'm a newbie I have no clue what all the short cuts are like DS1, DH, DLR etc...

The Newbie Info sticky thread up at the top of this forum has many helpful threads, including this one: DLR Abbreviations List. :)
DLR = Disneyland Resort
DH = Dear Husband
DS1 = either Dear Son age 1 or Dear Son #1 (if there are multiple sons in one family) -- context will make this clear

Keep reading and hang in there. You'll get the hang of it in no time!
 
If you want to see fireworks, plan on doing that on your first evening at Disneyland. Fireworks are often cancelled because of high winds at upper elevations. So if fireworks are cancelled that night, you still have 4 other evenings to try to see them. If you wait until the last night of your trip, you could end up missing out.

THIS. So true! We always watch fireworks on the first night for this reason! On our last trip we were there 6 nights and fireworks were cancelled 4 times... oy!
 
Wow! :lovestruc Thank you so much for all the information!

I do still think it's worth reading "A DLR Guide for WDW Vets"; most of the general information is still the same. The are that is most likely to be out-of-date soon is going to be the FP section (13). Currently DLR is still using the legacy system, but that might change at any point when they introduce MaxPass. Also, at this point, there are no disconnected attraction FPs (WoC is still disconnected).

In terms of the crowds...that's another thing that has likely changed a lot since 2014. There really aren't any "low crowd" times anymore (except perhaps when it's pouring rain). There are still peak and non-peak days, but even the non-peak days seem to have crowds. So just keep that in mind and don't expect to be able to walk on to attractions very often (except perhaps at rope drop).

In terms of the other threads...I would start reading maybe three or four pages from the end to get a sense of what the current discussions are and go from there.

Thanks for the FP info - It was when I started reading about disconnected FPs that I started really wondering if I was just going to confuse myself since I thought I remembered reading this was NOT the case any more.

What all, exactly, are you trying to do while at Disneyland?

Obviously, we only get to DLR rarely, so we want to do as much as we can with the time we have. My parents will only be there for 2 days and they bought 2-day non-hopping passes. Current plan is to spend Sat June 3 at CA - maybe end the evening with the WoC Dessert Party - and then Sun June 4 at DL. The remaining 3 days (Monday-Wednesday) will be just DH, DS18 & me and we have park hoppers. Hopefully, we can use the MM on the Tuesday. Since we are WDW regulars, we are more interested in doing things that are unique or different at DL. I don't see much need to ride something like Winnie the Pooh which I believe is nearly identical to the ride at WDW, but we would definitely want to ride Space Mountain which I've heard is quite different. I still need to go through everything and figure out which are "need to do" vs "OK to skip"!

DS18 is a huge Walt Disney fan. We did the Walking in Walt's Footsteps tour with him back in 2008 (he was 9) and he loved it - most of his DL memories are from the tour. For him, since he doesn't remember a lot of that earlier trip, I think a big part of this trip is just seeing the original park that Walt created. He is skipping his high school graduation ceremony so we could fit this trip into a crazy busy schedule! In his thinking, a trip to DL is a much bigger deal (and there is always his college graduation ceremony in 4 years) LOL :love:

Personally, I am really curious about my fathers take on it all. He literally hasn't been there since 1955. He spent 1 day at Disneyland in late summer that year, so only a month or so after it opened. He was 15yo at the time.

It's still worth it to read the old threads. Here's the general advice that I've used from those threads for our family vacations to Disneyland. These are the suggestions I've taken from others here that have worked out really really well for us:

:thanks: Thank you so much for all the detailed info! It looks like a lot of the "old" fastpass stuff we remember from WDW will work. I definitely remember "stacking" FP by getting the next one right before riding the 1st.

We'll be hopefully seeing WoC the 1st night and the DL fireworks the 2nd night. If either is canceled, my parents will be out of luck (but they probably don't actually care that much - they just want to spend time with DS18, he is an ONLY grandchild) The 3 of us will have 3 more chances to see the shows, so hopefully that will work out. Of the 2, I am more concerned about seeing WoC since that is totally new for us. Although I'm sure there are differences, we have seen a lot of fireworks over a castle over the years!
 
-Fantasyland closes during the fireworks (Peter Pan, Mr. Toad, Snow White, Pinocchio, BBB, The Castle and Castle Walk-through, etc) I am not sure of exactly how long it closes for but it feels like its hours. Alice, Carrousel, Casey Jr., Dumbo, Tea cups and Storybook remain open although Storybook stops during the actual show.

-Unlike WDW Winnie the Pooh and Little Mermaid are pretty much walk-ons all day. Snow White and Buzz can be as well.

-Starbucks is empty in both parks during the "pre-rope drop" but insane right after the park opens.
 












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