DL ticket worth it for half day

[fiveminutes]

I will be participating in the SWRC per the Weekend of the 13th. I will be flying in the 13th and landing around noon at LAX. I plan on hitting the expo after picking up the rental and checking in to an off-site. I haven't been to DL or USH since I lived in Long Beach about 8 years ago, so I'm going to hit both parks for just one day. I have a park hopper for the 15th, (I'll be at Universal on the 14th), would it be a good plan to pick up a single day single park ticket for either DCA or DL after I hit the expo on the 13th?

When it comes to wait times, how much worse is it than WDW? I'm an AP for WDW, so I'm used to a lot of crowds and I'm good at maximizing my time and planning, but it seems that DL is a whole other beast! Doesn't seem like there you are able to do much pre-planning, and that drives my OCD nuts lol. Any tips for a long since removed Californian navigating DL?

 

[gottalovepluto]

My advice comes with the caveat that I have never been to the parks on a race weekend & they can be very different than a normal weekend crowdwise...
Check the park hours to see how late it will be open. If they're open till 11pm or midnight in DL I'd go into the parks the first night. Download the DL app to start getting an idea of wait times for various attractions. Also double check your ticket math. Wouldn't it be cheaper to add a second day to your one day park hopper than to buy a new single day ticket?

 

[StormyCA]

Upgrade to a 2-day hopper.

A 1-day/1 park ticket is between $95-$119 depending on the type of day. A 2-day hopper is $235.00. A peak 1-day hopper (which I assume is what you have) is $169.00 To upgrade would be $66.00.

 

[SMD]

Can you upgrade your hopper or get a twilight ticket through race ticketing? You can easily make a day out of packet pick up, the expo and DTD.

 

[Darkbeer1]

Another option, visit Knott's berry Farm, a one day ticket is $43 if bought in advance, so using a half day isn't as "painful" as a Disneyland ticket and its higher costs.

 

[fiveminutes]

Can you upgrade your hopper or get a twilight ticket through race ticketing? You can easily make a day out of packet pick up, the expo and DTD.

I haven't looked at any ticketing options through race ticketing. I can look into upgrading to a two-day park hopper, as long as I don't have to use it on consecutive days. I'm not a super big KB fan, so that wouldn't be an option to me. I was an it shocked how much more expensive it was with on site hotels and tickets compared to WDW

 

[Disney_Alli]

I haven't looked at any ticketing options through race ticketing. I can look into upgrading to a two-day park hopper, as long as I don't have to use it on consecutive days. I'm not a super big KB fan, so that wouldn't be an option to me. I was an it shocked how much more expensive it was with on site hotels and tickets compared to WDW

Tickets never need to be used on consecutive days all allotments simply need to be used within 14 days.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I've attended this race weekend the two years and will be attending it again this year. The crowds in the park will be high on the 15th - much worse than the 13th. You have many people in for the weekend only of the race and trying to get their park time and worth for their park tickets. The crowds were bad enough that initial Sunday post Rebel Challenge that we won't go into the parks on Sunday and plan our trips accordingly. I admit we're spoiled as we can go to WDW fairly often so we aren't people that feel like we have to do EVERYTHING in a trip. We also won't deal with extremely long lines for a ride.

 

[fiveminutes]

I've attended this race weekend the two years and will be attending it again this year. The crowds in the park will be high on the 15th - much worse than the 13th. You have many people in for the weekend only of the race and trying to get their park time and worth for their park tickets. The crowds were bad enough that initial Sunday post Rebel Challenge that we won't go into the parks on Sunday and plan our trips accordingly. I admit we're spoiled as we can go to WDW fairly often so we aren't people that feel like we have to do EVERYTHING in a trip. We also won't deal with extremely long lines for a ride.

I'm an AP for WDW and I go any time I want, and I'll be there for the little pro bowl 5K (I'm a sucker for medals!), so I'm not trying to hot things that are at WDW, just mainly hit the rides that are DL exclusive (it might be childish, but I love Mr. Toads!), or have different themes than the roses at WDW, which is why I was thinking about upgrading to the 2-day park hopper and going on the 13th as well as the 15th. I know for Dark Side, WDW really didn't seem that much more busy compared to regular crowds around that time