DL vs DCA - how many days?

[Laur0406]

When we went to the parks in Feb 2017 with 4 day single park tickets, we did DL, DL, DCA, DL. My son was almost 4. We didn't need more than one day at DCA. That was before Avengers Campus, Guardians, etc. We spent a lot of time in Cars Land because it's awesome, and went on rides more than once, and left before the park closed.

Now, son is almost 9 and loves everything superheroes and we're hoping to come in March this year. I think there is more to do at DCA now. Do you think one day would be enough?

We have one park per day tickets again (which we bought in Dec 2019 and planned to use in March 2020 lol). We had MaxPass on those tickets so will have a credit coming to us, we could use to either add Genie+ or apply the credit (and then pay a bit more?) to convert the tix to park hoppers, or just as a gift card. What should we do? LOL

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

we had almost the same exact tickets! 5 daypass with MaxPass, booked in December for a March trip.

When we finally went, we did 2 days at DCA.
Although they’ve added Avengers Campus, there really isn’t a whole lot additional. WebSlingers ride, the Dr Strange show, and some short Avengers live action show. The Animatronics Spider-man is cool, but it lasts about 5 min total.

on a 4 day, we would probably do 3 days at DL. But with your son, figuring out a way to have two days for WebSlingers is probably a good idea. I’m guessing you bought a four day pass? So no way to do a park hopper for just a day?

splitting it two and two won’t be bad - there’s still plenty to do at DCA, but there’s always too much to do at DL, so we like as much time there as possible.

 

[Laur0406]

we had almost the same exact tickets! 5 daypass with MaxPass, booked in December for a March trip.

When we finally went, we did 2 days at DCA.
Although they’ve added Avengers Campus, there really isn’t a whole lot additional. WebSlingers ride, the Dr Strange show, and some short Avengers live action show. The Animatronics Spider-man is cool, but it lasts about 5 min total.

on a 4 day, we would probably do 3 days at DL. But with your son, figuring out a way to have two days for WebSlingers is probably a good idea. I’m guessing you bought a four day pass? So no way to do a park hopper for just a day?

splitting it two and two won’t be bad - there’s still plenty to do at DCA, but there’s always too much to do at DL, so we like as much time there as possible.

Thank you, this is so helpful! I am not sure if we can add park hoppers for one day. Maybe to avoid it we should do DCA on the last day in the park

 

[Steven G]

id do park hoppers when you get 4 or more days, even 3 days. the incredicoaster and radiator spring racers are near the top of our favorite rides, so it would be hard to only have one day to ride those.

 

[Cal-Pie]

For any trip longer than 3 days, I really think it's worth having the hopper. It's so nice to be able to bounce around and finish what you might have missed. It also gives you flexibility with entertainment.

 

[Rich M]

For us Park Hopper is best always. Its so easy to walk from one park to the other. DCA is not an all day park for us at all and there is times when DL is so crowded that we would rather just go to DCA.

 

[Pluto468]

I'd convert to hoppers if you can. Especially if your son likes alot of things at DCA. If you can't do that, I'd do 3 days at DL and one at DCA.

DCA isn't necessarily going to take up a whole day, but sometimes the way timing works out you aren't able to get onto a certain ride you want. It would be helpful if you can go back more than once in case something like that happens.

 

[Epicnemesis]

You will do everything in DCA in a day. The question then becomes do you want to do everything once or more than once.

I‘ll echo everyone else in saying park hopper if you can spring it that way you can devote a day to DCA and then hit the highlights of that park whenever you want the rest of the trip. You still spend the majority of your time in DL but you have the flexibility to hop over and hit a few rides in a few hours.

 

[808blessing]

I disagree. 2 days each. So fun!!! So much to do at Pixar Pier too.

 

[ajb_tic_tac]

This is why I love Disneyland so much. With DL and DCA so close, with a park hopper it is like being at the single most impressive Theme Park ever.

 

[DLgal]

Upgrade to park hoppers.

You will appreciate the ability to hop when one park gets annoyingly crowded or several rides go down at the same time.

Choose DL as the starting park on 3/4 days.

 

[gelatoni fan]

I'd go for park hoppers over Genie+ and pick Disneyland for 3/4 days unless you really want to rope drop Web Slingers more than once.

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

While I understand the Park Hopper love that is being shared, personally, I’ve never bought a Park Hopper ticket! Both parks to me have more than enough to fill a single day of activity, so why pay extra to be able to leave a perfectly good Disney Park? Especially since the cost is so high - it’s cheaper to add an extra day than it is to add PH to a four day ticket.

So I understand that days at the parks may be a limiting factor, so in cases like this, PH can be great, but we’ve always been lucky enough (and pushed hard enough) to be able to add an extra day.

 

[Schmerold4]

I am not a big fan of park hopper tickets as we feel you could easily spend a day and not be rushed to see everything. I would take the Genie+

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Thank you, this is so helpful! I am not sure if we can add park hoppers for one day. Maybe to avoid it we should do DCA on the last day in the park

When you add a park hopper option to a multi-day ticket it costs the same whether you use it for one day or all four days.

I’m all for park hoppers although I really despise the new “can’t park hop until 1pm rule.” Even so I’m still in favor:

1. So there’s less pressure on your ONLY day to see and do all you want.

2. In case a major attraction like Webslingers or Radiator Springs Racers is down for most or all of the day.

3. So you can trade parks if one park becomes overly crowded but the other looks less crowded.

4. So you can experience meals at the awesome restaurants in DCA or specialty treats.

5. So you can hop to DL for fireworks after DCA closes early on your DCA day.

6. So you can pop over to DCA repeat a favorite ride or two (or three!).

One thing to keep mind since you already have non-park hopper tickets… the reservations are not the same. You can’t upgrade your tickets to park hoppers until you’re there so you can do it at the ticket booth (WHY Disney? WHY???). If there aren’t any park hopper reservations left for your days they won’t upgrade you to a hopper. It’s stressful and annoying. Not sure when you’re going but lately the reservations have been pretty open so as long as it’s not a holiday or a random busy weekend you might be OK.

 

[whoever]

We've ALWAYS done Park Hoppers and used them. Now with the current restrictions on Hopping, I would probably rethink it.

 

[julesann]

I'd go for park hoppers over Genie+ and pick Disneyland for 3/4 days unless you really want to rope drop Web Slingers more than once.

I think park hoppers and rope dropping RSR is something to consider as you might not want your 9 year old to, and he may not want to, do single rider. So that might make 2 mornings at DCA to rope drop WS and RSR--can always hop to DLR on those days.

 

[smartlabelprint]

We’ve always done hoppers but with the 1 pm rule and our kids needing limited time in the parks it’s not worth it to us. Do you have half a day you could add? For example if you arrive in the afternoon or leave the next evening? That would be worth a 5th day upgrade imo.

 

[Aspencreek]

We usually do 4 or 5 days at the parks and if we aren't doing park hopping then one day at DCA is all we do. So much more going on at DL and we never get tired of it there, but DCA loses steam for us pretty quickly in comparison.