DL/WDW split?

[D0naldDuck!]

Hey everyone,
I've been throwing around the idea of a two week vacation after I graduate grad school in December 2019. My trip would happen sometime between Jan-Mar 2020. At first I considered a split between DL and Aulani but Hawaii is going to be very expensive right out of grad school. My family does an annual WDW trip so I thought maybe do a split trip between DL and WDW?

I fly out of PHL (Philadelphia). I think 5 DL days, 6 WDW days, and the remaining 3 days are travel. I have never been to DL or California. Would 5 days out there be enough?

I'm in the very beginning stages of this trip, so I haven't researched what all is around DL. With WDW, unless you have a car or get a taxi, you can't really go outside WDW property so I'm not sure if it's the same with DL.

I also want to apologize. I know there are a ton of these threads on these boards and I will read through them but I created this one so if someone replies, I'll get the email notification with the response.

 

[HydroGuy]

Five days would be enough. Four would probably be enough during off-season.

This thread and the stickies at the top are good places to find more info: "A DLR Guide for WDW Vets" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599

 

[SMD]

What did you want to do off property? You can walk across the street from the parks and there are motels and chain restaurants. If you wanted to go to Hollywood or something, that's more involved. If you also wanted to do 3-4 park days, that's really going to limit how far you can go to do things off property.

 

[disneychrista]

I would do 3/4 DL. 7/8 WDW but I haven't been to WDW in 15 years.

 

[figment_jii]

That sounds like a lot of fun...very busy, but a lot of fun!

I think 5 days is enough to do most things in DL, but it's worth noting that no one really knows what crowd patterns and crowds will be like in early 2020. In theory, Star Wars Land should have opened by then, which will (most likely) impact crowd patterns considerably (much like DL 60th Anniversary did). At this point, the only other things to keep in mind are holidays and holiday weekends tend to be busy, there is (historically) shorter hours and less entertainment during the non-peak periods, there are refurbishments in the early part of the year (to remove overlays), and there might be special events that would increase crowds more (e.g., AP Days, F&W Festival, etc.). Easter is late in 2020 (April 12), but Spring Break season is likely to start at some point in late-March/early-April.

I'm in the very beginning stages of this trip, so I haven't researched what all is around DL. With WDW, unless you have a car or get a taxi, you can't really go outside WDW property so I'm not sure if it's the same with DL.

DL is not like WDW, in that the "real world" is very close by (you can actually see the "real world" from some places inside the park (e.g., the monorail). That being said, DLR is surrounded by mostly motels/hotels, residential areas, and some small strip mall. So, if you want to venture outside of DL (e.g., the beach) any distance, I would either rent a car or look into a ride-share service (in 2.5 years, it hard to say which ones will be around).