DL Experts: Help plan my trip!

[mgpan]

The week we are looking at going across country to DL there are Halloween Parties on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We will travel on Saturday and return on a Sunday giving us full days Sunday through the following Saturday. We will have 5 day hoppers to tour the parks but also want to spend two of the 7 full days touring the L.A. area (Observatory, seal beach, maybe Knotts, etc.). So... which days would you go to the Disney parks and which days would you tour the local area? There are three of us and we will have a 6 year old with us. I am hearing weekend days may or may not be more crowded than weekdays. Would you choose a Monday with a Halloween party and shorter hours over a Thursday with no party for instance? Would you prefer to go weekdays over weekends regardless? After 17 or so trips to WDW, i know what would be best there. DL on the other hand, I need help from the veterans! Any input appreciated. And yes, we are considering buying party tickets one night.

 

[Fantaluminishes]

If you decide to do the Halloween party, I'd factor that into my plans. Last year at WDW, I went to MNSSHP on my last theme park night. It was my first party, and it was a nice end to the Magic Kingdom portion of my trip. So if you choose to do the DLR Halloween party, I'd suggest going on Friday, and making it your last Disneyland Day. Then you can take 1 day off mid-week for some LA sightseeing, and do some more on Saturday.

Another thought since you mentioned Knott's. They have the original Halloween event known as Halloween Haunt. I believe it's been renamed "Knott's Scary Farm". This is a separate ticket event, but really fun. Although it might be too intense for a 6-year old.

 

[zanzibar138]

Keep in mind that at that time of year F! and the fireworks will only be shown on weekend nights (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) where there isn't a party. So if you want to see those two shows, make sure you go on at least two weekend nights where there is no party. MHP have their own fireworks display which can only be viewed in full if you go to a party.

 

[teambeaman]

DL is more of a locals park and there are no fall breaks in the surrounding school districts. That being said, I would spend weekdays in the parks (lower crowd levels) and weekends touring the surrounding sights (less traffic).
Also, MNSSHP is WAY more crowded at DL than WDW. There are a lot of rides that are closed for the party which means highly increased wait times for the rides that are open. That, coupled with less space overall, makes for a very crowded and frustrating night. Be prepared for long lines and to navigate through extremely dense pathways. We love MNSSHP at WDW, but hate it at DL (and I grew up in So Cal and know DL like the back of my hand).

 

[millie0312]

If you decide to do the Halloween party, I'd factor that into my plans. Last year at WDW, I went to MNSSHP on my last theme park night. It was my first party, and it was a nice end to the Magic Kingdom portion of my trip. So if you choose to do the DLR Halloween party, I'd suggest going on Friday, and making it your last Disneyland Day. Then you can take 1 day off mid-week for some LA sightseeing, and do some more on Saturday.

Another thought since you mentioned Knott's. They have the original Halloween event known as Halloween Haunt. I believe it's been renamed "Knott's Scary Farm". This is a separate ticket event, but really fun. Although it might be too intense for a 6-year old.

I would call and ask about Knott's for younger kiddos- sometimes you can take them during the day and have the fun Halloween stuff and they won't bring out the scary stuff until 5-6 pm or so (they will give you a time). Our 6 flags here does a Halloween park during that time but they are kid friendly during the day and tell you to have kids under 12 out by 5 pm or they will be scared. We were stuck eating dinner at 5 pm and thought they would probably give a little window of time since the food lines were LONG but they meant the time they said and at 5 pm scary dressed characters were roaming the parks and the haunted houses were open and you could easily see them. There also were areas we had to walk through that were spooky even though the actors clearly saw we had a young kid with us and did NOT scare us because of it (they were there to scare others walking past). My DD who was just barely 6 then was fairly scared just seeing the actors all painted and dressed up but one was really nice and talked to her to ensure that she knew they were all people dressed up which was nice because it helped her realize Halloween wasn't as scary as she thought as well as the park people, so good learning experience in a lot of ways. Anyway- worth it to go to Knotts just make sure you don't get stuck in the scary times/zones!

 

[mgpan]

DL is more of a locals park and there are no fall breaks in the surrounding school districts. That being said, I would spend weekdays in the parks (lower crowd levels) and weekends touring the surrounding sights (less traffic).
Also, MNSSHP is WAY more crowded at DL than WDW. There are a lot of rides that are closed for the party which means highly increased wait times for the rides that are open. That, coupled with less space overall, makes for a very crowded and frustrating night. Be prepared for long lines and to navigate through extremely dense pathways. We love MNSSHP at WDW, but hate it at DL (and I grew up in So Cal and know DL like the back of my hand).

We've been to WDW MNSSHP before and special events were nice, but not worth the extra $$$ to us since rides did not seem have shorter wait times than during the day. Interesting to note the Halloween parties at DL can be the same.

We do have an interesting set of circumstances, F! and fireworks only on weekend nights and there's a party scheduled for at least one of them, a party in the middle of the week (three total during our trip) and our first visit as well. I might check out ridemax as the six year old is a ride junkie! Just hope we can do most everything (I know we'll miss some special touches) with a 5 day PHP even with the party and weekend schedule.

 

[teambeaman]

Even with a 2 day php during the weekday you should be able to do almost everything, so 5 days will definitely have you covered. For the most part, it's easy to get a lot done at DLR because of it's compact size. The only exception is at the actual parties and that is mainly due to the amount of attractions that are closed. You should have more than enough time to get everything you want done!

 

[rentayenta]

The week we are looking at going across country to DL there are Halloween Parties on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We will travel on Saturday and return on a Sunday giving us full days Sunday through the following Saturday. We will have 5 day hoppers to tour the parks but also want to spend two of the 7 full days touring the L.A. area (Observatory, seal beach, maybe Knotts, etc.). So... which days would you go to the Disney parks and which days would you tour the local area? There are three of us and we will have a 6 year old with us. I am hearing weekend days may or may not be more crowded than weekdays. Would you choose a Monday with a Halloween party and shorter hours over a Thursday with no party for instance? Would you prefer to go weekdays over weekends regardless? After 17 or so trips to WDW, i know what would be best there. DL on the other hand, I need help from the veterans! Any input appreciated. And yes, we are considering buying party tickets one night.

Will you be staying on or off property? That will be a factor due to availability of MM/EMH for onsite guests. You'll also have access with your hopper.

We base our beach days on the weather. October weather can vary. I'd look at the forecast as your dates approach and visit the beach on the warmest projected day.

 

[mgpan]

So we just have the one early entry with the PHP tickets. The trick is going to be deciding which will have lower crowds, weekdays or weekend days, party or non-party days (since partygoers get in at 3pm), etc. Sounds like we'll start elsewhere in the local area for Sunday, begin our DL touring on Monday-Wednesday going more to CA on Tuesday because of the party, local are on Thursday and finish up in parks on Friday, making an exit when the party starts to go do last minute shopping at DCA and maybe a ride or two before calling it a night. Any opposing ideas please let me know! Thanks!