Experts Needed: Must Have Walt Disney World AND Disneyland Experience

[c.mouse]

Background: We live in Ohio but I (Dad) grew up in SoCal and I have visited DLR tons of times. Our family hasn't visited DLR since Cars Land opened but we have many WDW trips under our belt.

I'm comfortable saying that I have honed to perfection, planning for our family trips to WDW which usually have to be taken in July because of school, sports, activities, etc.. My wife and twin 12yr olds make up our family. We usually tour "Disney Commando Style"

Here is my "problem": We've been invited on a family trip over Memorial Day weekend to Disneyland. We'll get to the park on Thursday the 27th in the afternoon and check out Monday morning. We have a 3 BR suite at the Grand Californian with my sister and brother-in-law. We'll be on the concierge level with access to their services.

(NOTE: we usually stay at moderates and value hotels when at WDW. We sometimes rent points for AKL. We've only stayed in Good Neighbor hotels at DLR in the past).

Finally... I need advice from experts with current DUAL Disney experience on planning our 3 days at DLR over the crazy Memorial Day Weekend.

We have Magic Morning hours on Saturday, our first full day. If possible, I'd like to take advantage of the fact that the Grand Californian is actually in California Adventure and has it's own guest entrance to the park.

Our priorities are to experience the rides and attractions that make DLR different than WDW.
Indian Jones
Matterhorn Bobsleds,
California Adventure - RS Racers
Hopefully, Hyperspace Mountain will still be going on.
Different Haunted Mansion and Pirates experiences

I know that the (paper) FP's will be gone by Thursday afternoon for Radiator Springs Racers. Can the concierge service help to hook up FP's?

I have a Lines subscription from Touringplans.com. Are DLR touring plans effective?

Any help/hints will be greatly appreciated.

c.mouse

 

[PatMcDuck]

I go to WDW and DL each year at least once.

I do not think they will get you FP in concierge? (but I have only done concierge at PP). 2 suggestions for RSR, are single rider line (it can be 1/4 to 1/3 the wait of the regular line!) and also riding it on one of your other 2 days with a FP. Carsland should be visited after dark, too. Daytime is wonderful, but after dark, it is stunning.

Single rider is available on many rides at DL, and that can save you time, assuming you have no very young kids. Matterhorn, Soarin', California Screamin' have Single Rider as well. (It may help with getting on rides between FP on a busy weekend)

You may get to see the new Frozen show that replaced Aladdin.

Sounds weird to some, but I always, ALWAYS make time to ride Casey Jr. and the Storybook Canal boats. Those are a must for us, along with Toad, and I try to ride the other Fantasyland rides that are unique to DL. Also extra fun? They still allow guests to ride in the front of the monorail. (however if it is very hot, they stop running the monorails because they have no AC).

You must see Paint the Night parade, and the World of Color. (Their Fantasmic is better than the WDW version, but it is closed for now (SW construction).) I enjoyed the daytime parades, like Pixar one at DCA. I am not usually a parade person, but the PTN one is very cool. Last trip, the fireworks were cancelled for wind every night (!) but they include projections on the castle, Matterhorn, or Small World. I have only see SW so far, next trip I hope to see them from the other locations.

Many guests walk back and forth during the day, from one park to the other. So easy. EE will be your friend, because that first hour is golden, the locals are still driving on the way in, parking, etc.

 

[c.mouse]

Thanks! This is the kind of info I'm looking for.

 

[sharonabe]

I want to second and third the use of single rider line at RSR. We rode at least 3 times in less than an hour using the single rider line. It is shorter than the FP line. Now that does mean you won't be in the same car, but for pure ride time, it's the best. Get a FP on one of your other days, so you can all ride in the same car and get your picture, but otherwise, use that single rider line.

Don't forget to get your FP for World of Color too.

 

[Fuhnuh]

For RSR FPs, if you have park hoppers, one of you could run get RSR fast passes before they are out on the day you are mostly in DL. I've done this many times, timing it so we get and evening ride on RSR.

 

[Mainemama]

Look into Ride Max as an alternate to Touring Plans. Also, I found all of California Adventure to feel "new" compared to WDW. Sounds like a wonderful quick trip!

 

[hiroMYhero]

The FPs for World of Color are at Grizzly River Run and you can hold that FP and another DCA FP at the same time.

We did rope drop through the main entrance and followed the "wide right" directions for Radiator Springs Racers. We were on the ride in 15 minutes. Hydroguy has the directions in his posts on the DLR boards and @mesaboy2 can also describe it for you. *On the DL boards, some note it's faster to enter the park using the main entrance rather than the small GCH entrance. It is nice to exit directly to GC.

Rope dropping Matterhorn will be best for your other morning. We did this in November (Veterans' Day) and it was a walk-on.

I agree with the others: Paint the Night is a must-do.

Also, in addition to having two FPs in DCA, you can also have a DL FP as the parks aren't connected FP-wise.

Sometimes Pirates and Indy aren't open at park opening. That's why we'd always send one person to Space for FPs (me) while the others headed directly to Matterhorn.

 

[Lumiere Lover]

Radiator springs racers is very beautiful at night. Try to do it once during the day and once at night.

 

[bumbershoot]

Going through the Grand's entrance is usually the longer way to experience the early hour. The rides that are open aren't necessarily close to that entrance, and unless you're in line drastically early (upwards of an hour) you are goin to be behind the hundreds of people who entered from the main entrance. Even when we stayed at the Grand we did early entrance from the main gates.

 

[c.mouse]

Great Info... I'm taking notes...!

 

[Jfine]

We're WDW regulars and went to DL a few months ago over the holidays. Also stayed at GC. For FP priority, I'd do Hyperspace Mountain, IN Jones, POTC/HM. Agree with doing RSR during the day and at night. I'd also do Matterhorn during the day and night. The yeti was definitely more intimidating at night. I'd also make a little time to explore Carsland at night, it's really pretty awesome. If you like coasters, I'd do California Screamin. If you use GCH entrance for EMH, I'd head straight to RSR or CS. We were able to get those both done and in line for Soarin before the park officially opened. We also enjoyed the rides in FL that aren't at WDW: toad's wild ride, Alice, etc. You may already know this, but the time change killed us. Our room overlooked DTD, so one night we watched fireworks from our balcony.

 

[squeezle]

Great tips! Thanks everyone Following for my upcoming trip.

 

[TinkFan74]

Because you are staying at a Disney hotel you actually get extra magic hours every morning, alternating between the two parks, these are so helpful, especially over the holidays. We were there over Christmas two years ago and we got so much done in that first hour. The early mornings at California Adventure were awesome because it was only people from the three Disney hotels for the first hour. I am also a proponent of the single rider lines, while there in January I only waited 15 minutes for Indy.

 

[cheshiregirl]

Someone said this already, but under no circumstances should you use the GCH entrance to DCA for EMH. Walk out to DTD and go to the main gates about 20-30 minutes before the posted time. Head back and ride TSM first thing--you can often ride at least twice with no wait. Then ride Screamin' before heading to Carsland to ride the two smaller rides and hop into the RSR line right before the park opens. The sign will likely give a higher estimate than it will actually take.

Take some time in the afternoon to take in the sights and sounds of Buena Vista street. It often gets overlooked because it opened the same time as Carsland. There are citizens (like DHS) who are great fun to interact with and two fantastic performing groups--The Newsboys (like Newsie), and Five & Dime (jazz group with an incredible female vocalist). The hand dipped to order ice cream bars from Clarabelle's (tucked in between the candy store and Starbucks) are unique to this park. I recommend getting the "whole herd" of topping which includes blue raspberry pop rocks that tickle your tongue. Two other cool BVS experiences are the chance to do meet & greet with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and riding the Trolley back to TOT.

At DL, your top priorities at the start of the day should be knocking out Peter Pan, Toad, Alice and Matterhorn during EMH and then send one person to get SM FP while everyone else hits Buzz (so much better than FL due to non-fixed guns). Buzz has FP, but rarely needs it. After Buzz hop on Star Tours to see the new Force Awakens scene.

Don't worry about FP for Indy unless the line is at least 20 min long. If it's queuing outside then FP will save time, otherwise it won't.

POTC and HM don't have FP but the lines tend to move quickly.

Both Splash and BTMRR are different than in WDW. Splash FP will go fast on a warm day in May, but BTMRR tends to be a 20-30 min wait throughout a lot of the day. Riding BTMRR late at night is my favorite way to end the day, but Splash will also have the shortest lines of the day right before close.

As far as evening entertainment goes, I'm not in love with the current version of World of Color. From my perspective I think you can skip it unless you are a huge fan of Walt Disney himself or of Neil Patrick Harris. At DL the Disneyland Forever fireworks are pretty cool (although more of a celebration of Disney music than Disneyland), and Paint the Night is phenomenal. But, in order to experience it optimally, I always wait until the second parade of the night--it will be much less crowded.

One final thing to note is that Fridays from about midday until close tend to be miserable in both parks due to all the local APs that come to hang out. We tend to make dinner reservations outside the park (Storyteller's, Steakhouse 55, Naples, Ralph Brennan's) or head to Tangaroa Terrace/Trader Sam's at the DLH because the parks tend to be too crowded to even move. Sunday afternoons are also uncomfortably crowded most weekends. But by about 8 pm on Sunday the crowds will disperse and the last couple hours of the day will be glorious!

 

[KVH]

+1 to what cheshiregirl says. We've used much of the same strategy for DCA. Also, on early entry days to DL, walk AWAY from maingate back to the monorail in DTD. Will take you to the "back" of the park and you'd be amazed how much you can get done before rope drop.

 

[SplashMo]

Here is a must read: http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-dlr-guide-for-wdw-vets.1162599/

For sure skip the GCH entry during the morning.

Pick out your reservations in advance and get reservations where needed. In DCA a casual CS place that is air conditioned is Smoke Jumper's grill. In DL an air conditioned place is Red Rockett's Pizza Port. I just throw that out because both places are air conditioned and have food that appeals to a wide audience. Many of the places to eat in DL are outside or half inside half out. WDW spoils you with air conditioned and DLR not so much...
Single rider line is good for RSR and often good for Indy.

Be at the gate 45 minutes early and plan to park hop between the parks to get more rides in.

 

[pa. dad]

I have not stayed at the grand californian but I did check out the lobby and it seemed like a nice place.
Seems like you're trying to concentrate on attractiions that are unique or different in Ca than in FL?
I think due to the higher # of attractions in DL that it will take a lot longer to do that park as opposed to the DCA park. Maybe 1 day total at DCA and 2 days at disneyland.
One tip- the nemo Subs, which are just great, do not have fast pass so get there real early.