Experienced Disney World couple going to Disneyland for 1st time

[Off Island]

My wife and I have been to Disney World with our 3 kids 6 times over the past 4 years and love it. We are going to be in Cali this week (no kids this time) and want to hit Disneyland.

-We will be there this Tuesday, Nov 14th from 2pm until close.
-It is just my wife and I, no kids so we don't need any meet n' greets or character meals.

1. What is the best way to buy two one day tickets? Just get them upon arrival?
2. What will crowds be like. There is a marathon there over this weekend. Will it be close to back to lowe crowds on Tuesday?
3. How do fast passes work for this type of trip? We always stayed on site for DisneyWorld trips so booked way in advance. This trip to Cali we are offsite and just buying 1 day tickets.
4. What are the must-do's at Disneyland compared to DW?
5. Will the NBC overlay on the haunted mansion be gone already?
6. Are all the Christmas decorations up?
7. Anything else a DL rookie (DW vet) should know?

THANKS!!

 

[Angie Ramp]

You can just buy them upon arrival. Are you sure you don't want Park Hoppers. It is literally a 5 min walk to CA. Carsland should not be missed.

I'm not sure about crowds but shouldn't be to bad.

There are two ways to do fast passes. Just go pull paper fast passes at the attraction on want or pay $10 per day per person on the Disneyland App and make your fast passes as you are able on your phone.

Must do's- Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Carribean, Radiator Springs Racers, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Matterhorn. Any other rides that they don't have at the Magic Kingdom.

Yes the overlay will be up through Christmas

Yes decorations should all be up.

Maybe have lunch in the Blue Bayou.
If you buy park hoppers try to catch World of Color.

 

[Lesley Wake]

So excited for your first DL trip!

For tickets, you can get on arrival at the main ticket booth. But a better strategy is to get online (at least 24 hrs in advance). Then you print it out and go direct to the turnstiles, where they give you your ticket. Saves the lines at the ticket booths! And you can buy MaxPass online so don't have to worry about adding it via app.

Crowds-may not be too bad. Marathon crowds should be gone by Tuesday. I'll actually be there Tuesday afternoon too!

At DL, you can't book FPs in advance. But I would absolutely recommend getting MaxPass, especially for a 1-day trip. It will allow you to book via your phone and you can often get passes that have an earlier time than the regular fastpasses. If you don't get MaxPass, you will need to get a FP by going to each ride, which can mean you may be in Tomorrowland and want to grab a FP for Splash Mountain, so would need to travel all the way across the park! With Maxpass, you can just book it while you are in line somewhere else. Here is a post I wrote on another thread about tips to use MaxPass: https://www.disboards.com/threads/just-added-maxpass-to-my-ap-any-tips.3643516/#post-58392849

Disneyland must-dos: Haunted Mansion Holiday, Pirates of the Caribbean (2 drops and a longer ride), Indiana Jones, dark rides in Fantasyland (Snow White, Pinocchio, Mr. Toad, Alice in Wonderland), simple rides at Fantasyland (Storybook Land Canal Boats, Casey Jr Train), Matterhorn (can be very jerky, but its fun to ride and see over the park), Toontown (even if you don't do rides, it's fun to walk around and see the decorations), It's a Small World Holiday, Space Mountain (much better than at WDW-smoother and you sit side by side, not in a row), Buzz Lightyear (low wait time and the guns are easier to shoot), moments with President Lincoln (a classic), Disneyland railroad.
California Adventure must-dos: Festival of Holidays (food booths and entertainment-definitely try to see Holiday Drummers, those guys are my favorites), Guardians of the Galaxy (so much fun), Radiator Springs Racers, walking around Carsland and Bugs Land, California Screamin'.

Unfortunately there won't be Fantasmic or fireworks on Tuesday, but you should try to see World of Color that evening instead. You can get a fastpass that morning in California Adventure, which won't affect your ability to get FPs for other rides.


Some general things to know:
-There are more rides at Disneyland vs WDW. I think the numbers work out that there are almost more rides at DL alone than all of the parks at WDW!
-Ride breakdowns, unfortunately, happen more often at DLR. The rides are older than at WDW and there can be more people riding them over and over again. So get your priorities done earlier, to ensure they won't break down and prevent you from riding!
-I know you don't care about character meets, but characters in general are cool at DL because they wander around more. So, even without waiting in line, you can see Dr. Facilier walking by you in New Orleans Square, or Captain Hook chasing Peter Pan in Fantasyland!
-I have found counter service food at DLR better than at WDW, so you don't need to "waste" time at a table service restaurant.
-In general size, DLR has a smaller footprint than WDW. But because the 2 parks are close together, I found I walk just as much at WDW because I can go back and forth between the 2 parks.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

But a better strategy is to get online (at least 24 hrs in advance). Then you print it out and go direct to the turnstiles, where they give you your ticket. Saves the lines at the ticket booths! And you can buy MaxPass online so don't have to worry about adding it via app.

Some general things to know:
-There are more rides at Disneyland vs Magic Kingdom.
-Ride breakdowns, unfortunately, happen more often at DLR. The rides are older than at WDW and there can be more people riding them over and over again. So get your priorities done earlier, to ensure they won't break down and prevent you from riding!
-I have found counter service food at DLR better than at WDW, so you don't need to "waste" time at a table service restaurant.
-In general size, DLR has a smaller footprint than WDW. But because the 2 parks are close together, I found I walk just as much at WDW because I can go back and forth between the 2 parks.

I agree that it's a better strategy to get your tix online before going to the parks and just print them out at home (or link them to the Disneyland app on your smartphone) so you can avoid long lines at the ticket booths and go straight to the turnstiles.

 

[figment_jii]

5. Will the NBC overlay on the haunted mansion be gone already?

Haunted Mansion Holiday runs through the end of the holiday season (early January), so baring some technical difficulty, it should be open when you're there!

6. Are all the Christmas decorations up?

The holiday season official starts today, so most of the decorations should already be up. There might be some things that trickle in over the next few weeks, but mostly it should all be there!

Now that the holiday season has started, fireworks will be presented nightly (but F! is still on weekends only), as is the Christmas Parade. WoC is also being presented nightly. Personally, I like fireworks better, but WoC is something that is fairly unique to DLR. I would see if you could find a YouTube video of both and see which you like better. The biggest drawback is that WoC takes up a fair amount of time if you want a good view. (This assumes you have park hoppers - I was guessing you're going to DL for sure because you asked about HMH.) Are you getting a Park Hopper? With only part of one day, I'd almost be inclined to say that you're better off focusing on just one park rather than trying to go to both.

 

[BrianL]

You might be interested in this conversation I was having on the WDW borad a couple of days ago about ride differences at WDW/DLR:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/disneyland-wdw-ride-differences.3646266/#post-58445633

Also, I can always recommend the great Hydroguy's guide to DLR for WDW vets. It is super helpful!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/a-dlr-guide-for-wdw-vets.1162599/

 

[Off Island]

Ya'll are awesome. This helps me a ton!!