djmeredith
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2005
- Messages
- 1,896
5 park days: Fri July 25, Mon July 28, Tues July 29, Wed July 30 (DCA evening only), Thurs July 31.
We were a party of 7 WDW vets: my parents (age 69), me (age 43), and my 4nephews (ages 6-11).
We stayed in a fabulous condo near the convention center, but I recommend staying onsite or directly across the street if at all possible to save time and money on parking. If you plan to rent an ECV, this becomes a true necessity because loading the ECV in and out of the rental minivan requires 2 able bodied people and was a major pain (figuratively and literally, lol).
I completely underestimated the effects of leaving home on an early flight and the 3 hour time change. This had a huge negative effect on our first few days. We were up at 5 a.m. for our flight from KY and arrived in CA at 10:00 a.m. local time. However, we couldn’t get into our condo until 4:00. I thought we could just pass the hours at Downtown Disney having lunch and soaking up the Disney magic until we could get into the condo. That was a huge, hot mistake! Everyone was sooo tired and needed a nap, but we had nowhere to go. I strongly recommend that if you are traveling with kids from the east coast you schedule a flight later in the morning/day or make sure you can get into your room early enough for a nap. I seriously cannot stress how much of a problem the exhaustion was that first day and its effects on the next couple of days.
As a WDW vet, DLP seemed extremely crowded at first, but I think it was just that everyone is forced to be closer together because of the smaller space overall. The Adventureland area was the worst, always wall to wall people!
My mother has to use an ECV, so we rented from Apple Scooter. It worked fine all week, but we had trouble returning it to them at the scheduled drop off time because no one was at the store. We ended up having to ask (and of course tip) bell services at PPH to store it until Apple could pick it up. The Apple employee called right after we dropped it of at PPH and said he missed us because he had gone to our condo to pick it up because he missed the note that said we would be dropping it off. I would rent from them again though since it was so much cheaper than Deckerts.
We thought the new return time system for wheelchairs and ECVs worked very well. It basically worked like a Fast Pass. However, we had to turn the scooter in at 5:00 p.m. on our last day so Mom was without it that last evening. She has difficulty being on her feet for long periods of time due to medical issues so we went to City Hall to request a DAS. We thought that would allow her to continue getting the wait times so she wouldn’t have to be on her feet during long lines. We explained that Mom had used a scooter all week, but we had turned it in and still wanted to enjoy the parks longer on our last day. The CM politely told us that she couldn’t give Mom a DAS because those were designed for people with intellectual impairments. I told her I thought they were meant for anyone who had physical OR intellectual difficulties who could not wait in line. (I also explained that my mom did have intellectual impairments caused by a recent stroke.) The CM said that individuals with physical impairments were expected to rent a wheelchair or ECV in order to receive assistance. However, since it was our last few hours of the trip she said she would go ahead and issue one. Luckily it all worked out. FWIW: I checked the website for the DAS policy when we got home and it clearly says DAS is for anyone who needs assistance, so more training on this may be needed.
We used both the Mickey and Friends garage and the Toy Story lot. We thought Toy Story was much more convenient, especially with the ECV. We never waited more than a minute or two for a Toy Story bus even at park closing time, and since they are full size buses our whole family always got to ride together on the same bus. However, the Mickey and Friends tram does not accommodate ECVs, they use a mini bus instead. This caused a back up of families waiting for the mini bus near closing time. When it was our turn, the mini bus filled up so quickly that the kids and I had to jump on the tram instead while my parents rode the mini bus with the ECV.
We had 4 day park hoppers, and it was not enough for us to see and do everything we wanted. I had planned to have early park mornings for opening, breaks in the afternoon for swim and nap, and then evenings/late nights in the parks. I know this plan works great for many families, but it was a disaster for us. By the time we got back to the condo, the kids would swim for a while and get more worn out, but then none of them ever fell asleep during nap time (except the 6 year old on one day). After swimming (which the kids really loved) there wasn’t much time left to nap before dinner time. So they were still tired when we returned to the parks in the evenings. Plus, we only made opening the first two days.
The kids were so tired in the evening! 2 of the 4 kids (oldest and youngest) fell asleep during F!. And we would’ve missed WOC all together if I had not added a 5th day just for an few evening hours at DCA just to see WOC (though we squeezed in a few rides while my parents held our WOC spot). We had purchased the 4 day hoppers through Orbitz (during the Ebates 20% deal earlier this year). They were buy 3 days, get 1 free. When we upgraded them to 5 days, we got credit for full price 4 day passes so the upgrade was a great deal (approx. $20 per person)! I was so glad we did it since we would’ve missed WOC if we hadn’t.
I previously said 4 (actually 4.5) days was not enough for us to do everything we wanted, but in reality we prioritized doing our favorites several times instead of doing some other things. We rode Space Mtn 3 times, Splash 3 times, Pirates twice (hint: there was NO wait during F!), BTMRR twice, IJ 3 times, California Sceamin’ 3 times, TSMM 4 times (longest wait 30 minutes). We would not have been able to do some of these multiple times without the ability to get wait times because of my mom’s ECV usage, and two big doses of pixie dust
.
4 days during high crowds in summer would be sufficient if you plan well. Arriving at opening is key to getting A LOT done in with very little wait time (especially Fantasyland and Toon Town). However, if you plan to go to the parks 4 or more days with kids, you will definitely need a break day away from the parks to sleep in and relax. If this will be your "once in a lifetime" trip to Disneyland like it was for us, I urge you to invest in at least 4 park days if you are visiting during high crowd times.
It was HOT! We are from KY where it is hot and humid, but still found it uncomfortably hot (and we even took afternoon breaks). Mister fans are a must, Frog Togg neck coolers are a big help, and LOTS of free ice water!! Although it did cool off quite a bit at sunset, we never needed jackets or long pants.
As a WDW vet I thought Splash, POC, IASW, Space Mtn, and BTMRR were all better at DL. Pirates was awesome! The kids loved the TNT part of BTMRR. I loved the Disney characters in IASW. Mickey and the Magical Map was cute, but I would not make it a priority if you are “ride” people. I personally was not impressed with Aladdin, though the rest of my party liked it. (I would've rather spent that time riding Monsters Inc, which we missed). I like WDW’s F! better, but loved WOC.
Wow, I didn’t mean for this to be so long but I appreciated all the tips from recent visitors when I was planning. Feel free to ask me any questions.
Edited to add: I want to give everyone here on the DL side of DIS, a huge thanks for being so kind and helpful as I researched and planned this trip. I couldn't have done it without all the great info I found here.
We were a party of 7 WDW vets: my parents (age 69), me (age 43), and my 4nephews (ages 6-11).
We stayed in a fabulous condo near the convention center, but I recommend staying onsite or directly across the street if at all possible to save time and money on parking. If you plan to rent an ECV, this becomes a true necessity because loading the ECV in and out of the rental minivan requires 2 able bodied people and was a major pain (figuratively and literally, lol).
I completely underestimated the effects of leaving home on an early flight and the 3 hour time change. This had a huge negative effect on our first few days. We were up at 5 a.m. for our flight from KY and arrived in CA at 10:00 a.m. local time. However, we couldn’t get into our condo until 4:00. I thought we could just pass the hours at Downtown Disney having lunch and soaking up the Disney magic until we could get into the condo. That was a huge, hot mistake! Everyone was sooo tired and needed a nap, but we had nowhere to go. I strongly recommend that if you are traveling with kids from the east coast you schedule a flight later in the morning/day or make sure you can get into your room early enough for a nap. I seriously cannot stress how much of a problem the exhaustion was that first day and its effects on the next couple of days.
As a WDW vet, DLP seemed extremely crowded at first, but I think it was just that everyone is forced to be closer together because of the smaller space overall. The Adventureland area was the worst, always wall to wall people!
My mother has to use an ECV, so we rented from Apple Scooter. It worked fine all week, but we had trouble returning it to them at the scheduled drop off time because no one was at the store. We ended up having to ask (and of course tip) bell services at PPH to store it until Apple could pick it up. The Apple employee called right after we dropped it of at PPH and said he missed us because he had gone to our condo to pick it up because he missed the note that said we would be dropping it off. I would rent from them again though since it was so much cheaper than Deckerts.
We thought the new return time system for wheelchairs and ECVs worked very well. It basically worked like a Fast Pass. However, we had to turn the scooter in at 5:00 p.m. on our last day so Mom was without it that last evening. She has difficulty being on her feet for long periods of time due to medical issues so we went to City Hall to request a DAS. We thought that would allow her to continue getting the wait times so she wouldn’t have to be on her feet during long lines. We explained that Mom had used a scooter all week, but we had turned it in and still wanted to enjoy the parks longer on our last day. The CM politely told us that she couldn’t give Mom a DAS because those were designed for people with intellectual impairments. I told her I thought they were meant for anyone who had physical OR intellectual difficulties who could not wait in line. (I also explained that my mom did have intellectual impairments caused by a recent stroke.) The CM said that individuals with physical impairments were expected to rent a wheelchair or ECV in order to receive assistance. However, since it was our last few hours of the trip she said she would go ahead and issue one. Luckily it all worked out. FWIW: I checked the website for the DAS policy when we got home and it clearly says DAS is for anyone who needs assistance, so more training on this may be needed.
We used both the Mickey and Friends garage and the Toy Story lot. We thought Toy Story was much more convenient, especially with the ECV. We never waited more than a minute or two for a Toy Story bus even at park closing time, and since they are full size buses our whole family always got to ride together on the same bus. However, the Mickey and Friends tram does not accommodate ECVs, they use a mini bus instead. This caused a back up of families waiting for the mini bus near closing time. When it was our turn, the mini bus filled up so quickly that the kids and I had to jump on the tram instead while my parents rode the mini bus with the ECV.
We had 4 day park hoppers, and it was not enough for us to see and do everything we wanted. I had planned to have early park mornings for opening, breaks in the afternoon for swim and nap, and then evenings/late nights in the parks. I know this plan works great for many families, but it was a disaster for us. By the time we got back to the condo, the kids would swim for a while and get more worn out, but then none of them ever fell asleep during nap time (except the 6 year old on one day). After swimming (which the kids really loved) there wasn’t much time left to nap before dinner time. So they were still tired when we returned to the parks in the evenings. Plus, we only made opening the first two days.
The kids were so tired in the evening! 2 of the 4 kids (oldest and youngest) fell asleep during F!. And we would’ve missed WOC all together if I had not added a 5th day just for an few evening hours at DCA just to see WOC (though we squeezed in a few rides while my parents held our WOC spot). We had purchased the 4 day hoppers through Orbitz (during the Ebates 20% deal earlier this year). They were buy 3 days, get 1 free. When we upgraded them to 5 days, we got credit for full price 4 day passes so the upgrade was a great deal (approx. $20 per person)! I was so glad we did it since we would’ve missed WOC if we hadn’t.
I previously said 4 (actually 4.5) days was not enough for us to do everything we wanted, but in reality we prioritized doing our favorites several times instead of doing some other things. We rode Space Mtn 3 times, Splash 3 times, Pirates twice (hint: there was NO wait during F!), BTMRR twice, IJ 3 times, California Sceamin’ 3 times, TSMM 4 times (longest wait 30 minutes). We would not have been able to do some of these multiple times without the ability to get wait times because of my mom’s ECV usage, and two big doses of pixie dust
. 4 days during high crowds in summer would be sufficient if you plan well. Arriving at opening is key to getting A LOT done in with very little wait time (especially Fantasyland and Toon Town). However, if you plan to go to the parks 4 or more days with kids, you will definitely need a break day away from the parks to sleep in and relax. If this will be your "once in a lifetime" trip to Disneyland like it was for us, I urge you to invest in at least 4 park days if you are visiting during high crowd times.
It was HOT! We are from KY where it is hot and humid, but still found it uncomfortably hot (and we even took afternoon breaks). Mister fans are a must, Frog Togg neck coolers are a big help, and LOTS of free ice water!! Although it did cool off quite a bit at sunset, we never needed jackets or long pants.
As a WDW vet I thought Splash, POC, IASW, Space Mtn, and BTMRR were all better at DL. Pirates was awesome! The kids loved the TNT part of BTMRR. I loved the Disney characters in IASW. Mickey and the Magical Map was cute, but I would not make it a priority if you are “ride” people. I personally was not impressed with Aladdin, though the rest of my party liked it. (I would've rather spent that time riding Monsters Inc, which we missed). I like WDW’s F! better, but loved WOC.
Wow, I didn’t mean for this to be so long but I appreciated all the tips from recent visitors when I was planning. Feel free to ask me any questions.
Edited to add: I want to give everyone here on the DL side of DIS, a huge thanks for being so kind and helpful as I researched and planned this trip. I couldn't have done it without all the great info I found here.
