First time DL, a little confused

[CyndiLouWho]

Will be there in March. I know it's going to be busy, which I usually try to avoid, so I've been reading threads & trying to plan. I read about MM & EMH. We are not staying onsite, so we'll have one MM. The part I'm not clear on is access to Parks on our non MM mornings. So if the park opens at 9 am, EMH would be 8 am, correct? And is it true that we can still access parts of the park at 8, but not rides, even without EMH?

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

You are correct that if the parks open at 9am, MM/EMH will be at 8am. Sometimes they allow guests without MM/EMH to enter Main Street during that period but they have ropes at the end of MS that you won't be able to pass if you don't have MM/EMH privledges. It's a great time to look in the shops or get a cup of coffee, though. Or wait at the ropes so you're one of the first to get to rides that aren't open during MM/EMH.

 

[chickapin parterre]

what days are you there, it may not be a problem with the mornings

 

[CyndiLouWho]

We will be there last week of March, Monday thru Thursday. A busy time to be sure.

I'm thinking Monday DL, Tues DCA, Weds DCA, Thurs DL MM. We will have hoppers, so probably hop later in the day.

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

We will be there last week of March, Monday thru Thursday. A busy time to be sure.

I'm thinking Monday DL, Tues DCA, Weds DCA, Thurs DL MM. We will have hoppers, so probably hop later in the day.

I'll be arriving (along with a bus load of middle school band students) just as you are leaving! You should have less busy days than those of there over the long weekend. I don't think my daughter's band teacher realized that is a three-day weekend for most of Los Angeles.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Good to know, but the crowd calendars all show 8/10 crowds so I know it will be crazy. Hoping by going during the week, we will avoid a little of the insanity.

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

Good to know, but the crowd calendars all show 8/10 crowds so I know it will be crazy. Hoping by going during the week, we will avoid a little of the insanity.

Smart. It's always best going in with the assumption that the crowds will be insane and being prepared with sanity-saving measures. If the crowds end up being reasonable, it's just a pleasant surprise. Since spring breaks are all over the board from mid-March to mid-April, it's hard to know if there will be any "normal" crowds during that period.

 

[chickapin parterre]

Your mornings will be great, because on Tuesday you will be in DCA, and as you have planned correctly, MM on Thursday, which is a good choice because it will give you a better startegy to plan Fantasyland, observe the mad Peter Pan rope drop crush and see how empty NOS is only hours into the morning. Wednesday morning will be your best hours in the park for the entire week, so plan that morning out in Disneyland. As for Monday, you could open Disneyland , then hustle over to DCA to grasp how RSR works with lines and fastpass times. You have DCA as a wednesday, scratch that, it already has on site folks visiting before you enter

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I get that DCA Wednesday is not ideal, but was planning 2 days in each park & that leaves no other options. Since both Monday & Weds are EMH at DCA, I don't see any choices for DCA that are optimal.

 

[chickapin parterre]

Wednesday morning will be the best hours of your entire visit, don't waste it in DCA, spend two or three hours in Disneyland Wednesday then head to DCA, you will get more done in Disneyland during those 2-3 hours in Disneyland Wednesday than all of Monday's opening to close. As a first timer to Disneyland, you have no tradition of Disneyland, so use Monday and Tuesday for DCA, the beauty of a park hopper, is that you can open every morning at Disneyland, and still have plenty of time to see DCA. ?The reason that first timers spend 1.5 days in DCA is to see RSR at night, walk grizzly at night, WOC and Bugs land.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Our top rides are RCR, FNSV, Soarin, California Screaming, maybe BLAB. Matterhorn would have been my top must do, but will be closed.

Will there be enough time to get to everything if we do DL first, then DCA?

First trip to WDW was a disaster. 2 subsequent trips have made us pros, even hitting 3 parks in a day. But we will probably never get to DL/DCA again, so I feel the pressure to "do everything "

 

[chickapin parterre]

just finshed watching the best parade in the world.....DCA is going to be easier to accomplish (to where you may actually be underwhelmed ) than you are anticipating, you could do everything in DCA in one day or less, with the exception of RSR. you have plenty of time to research and read here about the complicated fastpass, single rider and stand-by strategies for fast pass with RSR. But it has to be viewed three times, day time, the neon lighting time and dark night . And you do know that DCA is only a block away from Disneyland, if even that far. so seeing both parks the same day, every day is standard practice for us Disneyland folks.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Thanks! Originally I wasn't going to get hoppers, until I realized how close the parks are.
Appreciate the input.

I am mostly concerned about Spring Break crowds.

 

[chickapin parterre]

spring break is very random on the west coast and should not be a specific week crowd problem. Also California is a very unique state in how it schools its children, they are all over the map on schedules, private schools, home schooling and public school districts, so no fear of all of California showing up on your week

 

[chickapin parterre]

hrere in oregon, every district is under the control of the superintendent of the state of Oregon. So spring break happens on the third week. It use to be the tradition that spring break was basketball tournament schedule , but they have left that format. And Washington is the different week. But neither state influences disneyland by a crush of folks heading to Disneyland. Utah and Arizonia seem to carry that crush of spring break folks. With the hopper, you will have a great time and may very well find Disneyland more relaxing than WDW. Hopefully some folks will post here to support the Wednesday morning or in the next months you will read about Wednesday mornings.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

March will be crowded for Spring Break in general, I don't mean specific areas. The crowd calendar prediction sites have crowds increasing as March progresses. We are in IL, and Spring Break is decided by each school or district so it will be any time between early March & Easter.

 

[chickapin parterre]

...the crowd calendar is actually upping its levels, because, Disneyland has indeed become all about the crowds. So they are not going to forcast low numbers. However, which is what you are doing now, is that if you plan,research and understand the intricacies of Disneyland, you will actually be able to avoid the crowds and be surprised how easy it was navigate the park and enjoy your vacation. And the other concept about crowds at Disneyland is that a % of the folks are not there to ride attractions all day long, but to take in a meal, stroll about and ride 2 or 3 specific choices. For lack of a better word in our Disney culture, Disneyland, above all other Disney parks is more about the pilgrimage than particapting

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Great info! My only regret in booking this trip is anticipating crowds. We have been to WDW in February, September & the week before Thanksgiving. All lower crowd times. I would never go to WDW for Christmas or NYs. Just pictures of Christmas crowds make me cringe.

 

[chickapin parterre]

well the flip side of crowded is that you will be able to do everything Disneyland except ROA, where as if you planned for a less crowded time of the year, you would have missed attractions closed for refurbs in both parks, shorter park hours and weather issues. march is a very ideal time to visit and considering all of my Thanksgving visits and October visits, march visits have been great for crowds and weather. Though my October visits were before UEA became popular and the mass marketing of Halloween. Thanksgiving is an odd crowd flow because it is not a set date. So in my notes, March has always been a very manageable visits, but i always encounter significant to me attraction closure each time

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I am totally bummed that Matterhorn will be closed. Also Mickey's Fun Wheel. Neither of which is at WDW so especially disappointing.