Do you think 3 days in DL and CA is enough??

[Roandlilsmum]

We are going to DL at the end of march for 3 days 2 nights, we are hoping to get there on the thursday by 10 am at the latest, i have requested an early book in at the hojo, so if that happens we can drop all our stuff of there then head to the park for day 1, i think my youngest will probly last till around 10 pm that night and she will be asleap LOL
then the whole day friday in both parks, then goofy dinner that night.
Sat up early for MM and rest of day atthe parks probly till around 9-10 pm then DH has to drive home, around an hour drive!!

do you think this will be enough time to see and do just about everything? we probly wont spend alot of time in the hotel, just to sleep really.

Thanks (first time going with 2 young kids)

 

[DizFan13]

You can tour at a very steady pace and see everything, or pick what is most important and go a little easier. I believe the consensus is that three full days is good to see everything, at least once. With younger kids, you may not move through everything very quickly, but you certainly will have a wonderful time in three days! The rest will depend on crowds and weather.

One other thing, the HoJo will let you leave bags even if your room isn't quite ready. Their customer service is far above par!

 

[Roandlilsmum]

Great, Thankyou

 

[joeysmommy]

We like to stay for 4-5 days so we can take things at a leisurely pace. My boys are 6 and 8 so we can maneuver through crowds a little easier now without strollers.

You can see and do most of what you want in 3 days but you will wish you had 1 more day.

 

[CrazyDuck]

The younger the kids the more time you need... My 3 and 6 year old need 6 days in the park and we still did not do everything... though sometimes we didn't make it back to the parks after their 3 o'clock naps! so YMMV!

 

[Disney Dider]

I would say probably not, but if its all you have then Id take it!

 

[wvnative]

We (I travel with teenagers) find that 3 and a half days works best for us. We tend to get her right around lunch time on day one and we stay til closing. Then we do two full days (with one being a MM day) and then we leave around 3 pm (we have a 6 hour drive) the fourth day to head home. When we've only done 3 days, we always feel like we missed something. If we do 5 days, we feel like we've been there, done that by the end of day 4.

I agree that if 3 days is what you've got, I'd certainly take it. 3 is way better than none after all. lol

 

[HydroGuy]

We are going to DL at the end of march for 3 days 2 nights, we are hoping to get there on the thursday by 10 am at the latest, i have requested an early book in at the hojo, so if that happens we can drop all our stuff of there then head to the park for day 1, i think my youngest will probly last till around 10 pm that night and she will be asleap LOL
then the whole day friday in both parks, then goofy dinner that night.
Sat up early for MM and rest of day atthe parks probly till around 9-10 pm then DH has to drive home, around an hour drive!!

do you think this will be enough time to see and do just about everything? we probly wont spend alot of time in the hotel, just to sleep really.

Thanks (first time going with 2 young kids)

Three days with focus is enough to have a solid trip and feel like you did experience most of DLR. You will not see everything if for no other reason that a lot of things will be closed in March. Have a great trip.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

3 days at the end of March ~ nope sorry, Spring Break/Easter crowds. Other times of the year 3 days can be plenty, even when the hours are 10am-8pm. How old are you kids? I'd suggest strollers ~ if my DD sits in a stroller all day at Disney she has no problem lasting into the evening ~ it's DS & I who are worn out.

 

[deejdigsdis]

We were there for 4 days in Nov. with three kids -- ages 9, 6, and 3 at the time. I figured that would be plenty of time to see and do everything available and then go back to our favorite things again. I was wrong. We didn't make it to everything. Reason 1 -- The hours were 10 -8. That was for 3 of the days. Our last day was a Friday, so the hours were 8 - midnight. Reason 2 -- We aren't a rush-around-everywhere kind of family. I did a bit of rushing to get Fast Passes, but in general we had a plan of what we were going to do and when, but we weren't running to get to where we were going. Reason 3 -- Only our oldest child was interested in the faster-type rides. So I would ride Space Mountain with him while my husband sat with the other 2 kids, then when we got off my husband would hop in line with him and I'd sit with the other 2 kids. It didn't take incredible amounts of time to do this, but it did take extra time. The lines were generally between walk-on and 10 minutes for just about everything, with the exception of Toy Story Midway Mania -- that was 30 min. both times we rode it. We did get to do some things 2 or 3 times, but there was actually quite a bit that we missed out on.

I hope you have a great time!

 

[CrazyDuck]

Reason 3 -- Only our oldest child was interested in the faster-type rides. So I would ride Space Mountain with him while my husband sat with the other 2 kids, then when we got off my husband would hop in line with him and I'd sit with the other 2 kids. It didn't take incredible amounts of time to do this, but it did take extra time.

Next time "child swap"!

 

[Roandlilsmum]

Thanks for the Info,
yeah i was worried being the begining of the holidays, but was the only time my husband could take off work, might have to see if he can take an extra day off and stay 4 days
i have a 5 yr old and a 2.5 year old, we will bring a stroller for the 2 yr old, and thinking of renting another one for the 5 yr old as he has terrible asthma, so cant walk for too long.
looks like when we go, DL will be open till midnight each day so that will be good, at least my hubby can still go on the rides with the 5 yr old, because i know my 2 yr old will be asleap by 10 at the latest!!
We dont like to rush either, but least we live an hour away now not 24 hours away LOL so we are hoping to come twice a yr at least!!

Thanks again

 

[deejdigsdis]

Next time "child swap"!

We did that our first day for Splash Mountain. We rode as a whole family, then we all got in line a bit later to ride again. When we got to the loading area and DS3 realized what we were in line for, he started crying and saying he didn't want to go down that hill again. So I got out of line with him -- used those little stairs to get to the other side of the loading area. We waited right there for the others to get off. While we were waiting I asked a CM for a child swap pass. I hadn't used one of these before. Anyway, it was my understanding that I would either be able to get right on (I had already stood in the entire line and was waiting right there) when they got off, and take one of the other kids with me, or I would go through the single rider line or something. The CM told me to go show it to the CM at the very front of the line, so I did. I was told I had to just stand in the normal line. I could see no benefit to having a child swap pass if I had to just go through the whole line again anyway. The lines were all so short, so no big deal, but I didn't get the purpose of the pass if that's the way it worked. So we didn't go that route again.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Child swap is great ~ you walk up the fast pass line, some rides you walk up through the exit *I think*

OP a stroller for your 5 year old is a great idea, instead of renting one ($$) do you have a spare at home or one you can borrow, or even buy another stroller ~ if you rent all 3 or 4 days you may as well, DD's Disney stroller is a Mac Volo ~ it's great!

 

[bumbershoot]

I would say probably not, but if its all you have then Id take it!

Agreed! Though for me, it's "definitely not".

i have a 5 yr old and a 2.5 year old, we will bring a stroller for the 2 yr old, and thinking of renting another one for the 5 yr old as he has terrible asthma, so cant walk for too long.

We dont like to rush either, but least we live an hour away now not 24 hours away LOL so we are hoping to come twice a yr at least!!

Thanks again

I would strongly urge you to get/bring a stroller to take to the hotel with you for the 5 year old, especially with his asthma. The hardest, longest, most tiring part of the day is the walk back to the hotel, and I'm saying that even if you're staying at the Grand, depending on where your room is. Walking back to our room at the Grand was so so so long, I started counting steps, while carrying my exhausted sleeping 5 year old.

Renting the stroller is great, but you can't even take it into DTD (you can take it across the esplanade to hop parks), let alone to your hotel, so I would really recommend bringing your own for both.

We did that our first day for Splash Mountain. We rode as a whole family, then we all got in line a bit later to ride again. When we got to the loading area and DS3 realized what we were in line for, he started crying and saying he didn't want to go down that hill again. So I got out of line with him -- used those little stairs to get to the other side of the loading area. We waited right there for the others to get off. While we were waiting I asked a CM for a child swap pass. I hadn't used one of these before. Anyway, it was my understanding that I would either be able to get right on (I had already stood in the entire line and was waiting right there) when they got off, and take one of the other kids with me, or I would go through the single rider line or something. The CM told me to go show it to the CM at the very front of the line, so I did. I was told I had to just stand in the normal line. I could see no benefit to having a child swap pass if I had to just go through the whole line again anyway. The lines were all so short, so no big deal, but I didn't get the purpose of the pass if that's the way it worked. So we didn't go that route again.

NO, that's not the way it's supposed to work.

However, it's possible there was an explanation problem. Did the CM point you all the way back to the beginning of the line? Or did he say "go in here", to what *looked* like the regular line? Because the FP entrance is right at the place where you enter the building, and it *looks* like you're going to be in the main line, but it's actually a much much shorter line that makes the standby people shoot dirty looks at you, LOL.

I've been in a situation where the CM absolutely thought he was being clear, but I absolutely knew that I wasn't understanding him, so I can very much see that something like that might have happened, if he was pointing you to the FP entrance that looked just like the regular line.

 

[deejdigsdis]

NO, that's not the way it's supposed to work.

However, it's possible there was an explanation problem. Did the CM point you all the way back to the beginning of the line? Or did he say "go in here", to what *looked* like the regular line? Because the FP entrance is right at the place where you enter the building, and it *looks* like you're going to be in the main line, but it's actually a much much shorter line that makes the standby people shoot dirty looks at you, LOL.

I've been in a situation where the CM absolutely thought he was being clear, but I absolutely knew that I wasn't understanding him, so I can very much see that something like that might have happened, if he was pointing you to the FP entrance that looked just like the regular line.

You know, that very well could have been the case. I can't remember now if they had the FP line open in the morning for that ride. I DO remember they didn't have the FP machines on for HMH, where we had been right before heading to Splash. I remember because I thought it was strange, and I remember asking about them and the CM for HMH telling me "You won't need those today." It just wasn't what I was expecting. Like I said earlier, the lines were just short anyway for most rides. I figured that since I had already stood in the entire Splash line, getting out of line at the loading area, I would be able to just get on the ride right there and not go through any line at all. But anyway, what you said makes a lot of sense and it could have happened that way. I was indeed sent to the CM at the entrance of the building. There was no line right there at all for either Standby or FP. Sheesh, now I feel like I need a re-do trip!

 

[Jrsy Boy]

I agree that if 3 days is what you've got, I'd certainly take it. 3 is way better than none after all. lol

I would definitely agree with this...but I will also add that I did a three-day trip with my DW and DS, who turned 13 on our first day, and we felt like we had plenty of time to do and see everything that we wanted to. We may not have had time to see everything, but we didn't really have that desire either. I'd do a three-day trip again in a heartbeat.

 

[rentayenta]

I don't think it's enough time but of course, work with what you've got. I think 5 days is optimum.

 

[Roandlilsmum]

Thanks everyone!!
ye i will definatly buy another stroller i forgot about the walk back to the hotel, plus yeah it would be cheaper just to buy one of those $20-$30 strollers.

DH's work wont let him take anymore time off, so we will have to make do with the 3 days, maybe next trip we can stay longer, and like others said, we probly wont do everything as the kids wont be able to do everything!!

very true three day is better than none!!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Thanks everyone!!
ye i will definatly buy another stroller i forgot about the walk back to the hotel, plus yeah it would be cheaper just to buy one of those $20-$30 strollers.

DH's work wont let him take anymore time off, so we will have to make do with the 3 days, maybe next trip we can stay longer, and like others said, we probly wont do everything as the kids wont be able to do everything!!

very true three day is better than none!!

Great ~ but be careful some of the less expensive strollers look like strollers for children to push their dolls/bears ~ super short handles, I'm 5'5" and my back ached after pushing a *cheap* stroller for an afternoon. I've heard good things about the Jeep umbrella stroller *it's lower in price for a decent stroller ~ http://www.amazon.com/Jeep-Wrangler...ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1266534078&sr=1-5

What stroller do you currently have? Maybe your older child could use it....