Do DLR Dis'ers Park Hop or NOT?

[Disneyfriend]

Parkhopping at DLR is sort of like "land hopping". As in, visit Fantasyland, then hop to Frontierland. Wouldn't it be strange to read about someone who plans to visit Disneyland and said "we plan to visit Fantasyland on Monday. Tuesday will be our Tomorrowland day. Then Wednesday will be our Advetureland day."? DCA and DL are like extensions of the same park. It is closer to get to get to some parts of DCA from Main Street Disneyland than to get to some locations inside Disneyland itself.

Folks park hop for the same reason they do not spend all day in a single land. Namely, you can experience a lot more if you shift from land to land, and you can also experience more if you shift from park to park.

Hydroguy, thank you for responding to my question. And thank you a million times over for all you have done to help us DIS'ers maximize our Disneyland trips!! You have truly been gracious and generous with your time and advice.

Now, I do hear what you're saying in that DL and DCA are extremely close to each other. I get that it is *not* like at WDW, where park hopping can easily take 30-60 minutes by the time you factor in transportation and security.

So that explains why I should not hesitate to park hop. But I am sincerely having trouble figuring out why I proactively *should* park hop during the slow season, when both parks are open 10-8.

In your example, well, I understand why I would not spend all day in Fantasyland. There's just not enough there to keep a family busy all day. When we tour WDW's MK, for instance, we can happily start in Fantasyland, then spend the rest of the morning/midday in Tomorrowland. We might spend 4-6 hours in those two lands, eat, and then head back to our hotel for a break. Makes sense.

But the difference is that one *can* easily spend the entire day in DL. One doesn't "need" to hop over to DCA because they've run out of things to do, right?

So should we hop between the two parks to maximize fastpass opportunities? (I understand that the two parks are not connected in this regard.) Or should we especially park hop on Magic Morning days when we can enter DL at 9?

To put it another way, would you mind sharing what your strategy might be for a 4-day weekday trip during a slow time of year, when both parks are open 10 - 8?

I apologize for being dense. If left to my own instinctive devices, I think my rough plan would be something like this:

M - Hit DCA when it opens; spend maybe 2/3rd of the day there. Bed early.
T - Enter DL for early entry at 9 am. Spend 2/3rds of the day there - maybe brief rest - then DCA for World of Color with WoC dinner package.
W - Hit DCA when it opens; spend maybe 2/3rd of the day there. (We adore Toy Story Mania, Soarin', and Tower of Terror and need to do them all at least twice.) Will go to DL by afternoon if feeling "done" with DCA. Bed early.
TH - Enter DL for early entry at 9 am. Spend the rest of the day there, with a possible afternoon break.

So in my example, the only day that I would definitely plan to park hop is on Tuesday. This is primarily so that I'm not doing an early entry morning right after a late night for WoC. But really, there's not much of a difference between a 9 am DL opening and a 9:30 (unofficial) DCA opening anyway.

Thanks for bearing with me! I am truly trying to understand how to maximize my park hopping opportunities here.

 

[HydroGuy]

Hydroguy, thank you for responding to my question. And thank you a million times over for all you have done to help us DIS'ers maximize our Disneyland trips!! You have truly been gracious and generous with your time and advice.

Now, I do hear what you're saying in that DL and DCA are extremely close to each other. I get that it is *not* like at WDW, where park hopping can easily take 30-60 minutes by the time you factor in transportation and security.

So that explains why I should not hesitate to park hop. But I am sincerely having trouble figuring out why I proactively *should* park hop during the slow season, when both parks are open 10-8.

In your example, well, I understand why I would not spend all day in Fantasyland. There's just not enough there to keep a family busy all day. When we tour WDW's MK, for instance, we can happily start in Fantasyland, then spend the rest of the morning/midday in Tomorrowland. We might spend 4-6 hours in those two lands, eat, and then head back to our hotel for a break. Makes sense.

But the difference is that one *can* easily spend the entire day in DL. One doesn't "need" to hop over to DCA because they've run out of things to do, right?

So should we hop between the two parks to maximize fastpass opportunities? (I understand that the two parks are not connected in this regard.) Or should we especially park hop on Magic Morning days when we can enter DL at 9?

To put it another way, would you mind sharing what your strategy might be for a 4-day weekday trip during a slow time of year, when both parks are open 10 - 8?

I apologize for being dense. If left to my own instinctive devices, I think my rough plan would be something like this:

M - Hit DCA when it opens; spend maybe 2/3rd of the day there. Bed early.
T - Enter DL for early entry at 9 am. Spend 2/3rds of the day there - maybe brief rest - then DCA for World of Color with WoC dinner package.
W - Hit DCA when it opens; spend maybe 2/3rd of the day there. (We adore Toy Story Mania, Soarin', and Tower of Terror and need to do them all at least twice.) Will go to DL by afternoon if feeling "done" with DCA. Bed early.
TH - Enter DL for early entry at 9 am. Spend the rest of the day there, with a possible afternoon break.

So in my example, the only day that I would definitely plan to park hop is on Tuesday. This is primarily so that I'm not doing an early entry morning right after a late night for WoC. But really, there's not much of a difference between a 9 am DL opening and a 9:30 (unofficial) DCA opening anyway.

Thanks for bearing with me! I am truly trying to understand how to maximize my park hopping opportunities here.

No problem.

There are certain things we want to do at each park that might not fit into whole days. Aladdin show at DCA. World of Color at DCA. Fantasmic at DL. Dinner at Blue Bayou. Lunch at Wine Country Trattoria. And then Laser Man at DCA ElecTRONica. New SoundSational parade at DL. Fireworks.

Then there are certain rides we like to do both day and night. Big Thunder Mtn RR. Matterhorn. Splash Mtn. California Screamin. Tower of Terror.

It can be hard to do all this when it is one park per day.

Also, we want to do things like Star Tours multiple times. That requires getting into DL early to get FPs. But we may not want to spend all day at DL. We just want to make sure we do Star Tours at some point. So we can grab ST FPs first thing in the morning. And then come back later in the day to ride it.

Those are a few of the reasons.

 

[bumbershoot]

Disneyfriend, you certainly don't have to, it's just a nice option to have.

Perhaps you guys would like to use a Magic Morning to visit Fantasyland, but then spend the rest of the day in DCA. That's when hopping comes in handy. Or the kids just want to run over to bug's land and ride Flik's Flyers a few times, before heading back to Small World. That's another time that the ease of hopping at DLR is handy.

It's entirely possible to fill up an entire day in either park (in my opinion)...but you don't *have to*, and it's not hard to hop if you feel like it.

 

[Disneyfriend]

Disneyfriend, you certainly don't have to, it's just a nice option to have.

Perhaps you guys would like to use a Magic Morning to visit Fantasyland, but then spend the rest of the day in DCA. That's when hopping comes in handy. Or the kids just want to run over to bug's land and ride Flik's Flyers a few times, before heading back to Small World. That's another time that the ease of hopping at DLR is handy.

It's entirely possible to fill up an entire day in either park (in my opinion)...but you don't *have to*, and it's not hard to hop if you feel like it.

Hydroguy and Bumbershoot, thank you very much for your clarifications.

I think I got it now . . . it my circumstances, there is no huge "compulsion" or self-evident reason to necessarily park hop every day, but there is simply the freedom to do depending on our desire to experience attractions multiple times and/or at different times of day, or because we want to spend only a few hours at a given park on a given day.

Thanks again.

 

[HydroGuy]

Hydroguy and Bumbershoot, thank you very much for your clarifications.

I think I got it now . . . it my circumstances, there is no huge "compulsion" or self-evident reason to necessarily park hop every day, but there is simply the freedom to do depending on our desire to experience attractions multiple times and/or at different times of day, or because we want to spend only a few hours at a given park on a given day.

Thanks again.

That is pretty much it!