First trip this Friday (Advice please)

[Rusty Shackleford]

Good morning,

My wife and I are DL vets. This coming Friday we will be taking two close friends of ours "both are sisters" to DL and DCA for the first time in their lives.

This will be their first time ever flying or coming to Cali.

Years ago they agreed that their first time to visit would be together, now at 23 and 21 we are getting to take them for their first trip.

We will have 2 days for both parks. This won't be enough to see and do everything but it's what we have, we will make the best out of it.

We plan to get there before the park is open and stay until closing. I plan on using RideMax as a starting point for our schedule

We will be treating them to dinner at RFC and Ariels. They don't do red meat so we have decided to skip out on BB.

Club 33 is a dream for the four of us, but we won't be able to attend for obvious reasons. At this point I haven't met any members.

I plan to take them to Town Hall and get their first visit badges, etc.

Even after multiple trips I would love to hear any advice that everyone might have for a first visit.

Once again,

2 Females, 21 & 23.
1st Visit for both.
Two days, 4/8 and 4/9"Fri & Sat". DL on Fri DCA Sat.
Both of them are extreme Disney fans.
We plan on attending WoC and RDCT.

I don't mind spending a little on this trip since it will be their first trip and I want them to remember it for the rest of their lives.

Thanks everyone,

Rusty

 

[DlandAmanda]

We took one of my friends for the first time, he was 24 at the time, and we went for 2 days. We tried to focus on the "staple" Disneyland rides that we know an adult would enjoy. We did Indy first to sell him, then Thunder Mountain, and the other faster rides. I know we did the teacups, which ended up being his favorite. I guess it just depends on what characters they like. I believe we avoided most of Fantasyland, except for maybe Peter Pan, as we figured those rides wouldn't interest him. We had to do Muppets 3-D at DCAP, as the show is really funny and I think people don't seem to think about it. Again I guess you just have to know your friends and what they would like or wouldn't. Our friend was hesitate about going to a "kids amusment park" that's why we did the fast rides first, then eased him into the other stuff. I love the 1st visit buttons, such a good idea. If they are really into Walt and being at the park that he built, maybe try and do one of the special secret Disneyland things, like try and take a ride on the Lilly Belle, and make sure to try and point out the cool stuff (like Walt's old apartment above the fire station). These are things that make me feel the magic of the parks! Best of luck!

 

[DLR29]

Just a few tips off the top of my head:

1. Don't set your schedule for 1-park, 1-day. With a 2 day ticket, it should be automatically a hopper, so might as well take advantage of it. Think of the resort as one big park that happens to be separated into two gates 100 feet apart. It also really helps with FP because you can get a FP at DL and then immediately hop and get a FP at DCA without waiting for that DL FP to become good. Hop, hop, hop!

2. See Remember Dreams Come True on Friday. The unwritten rule here on the DIS is to see the fireworks as early on as possible in your trip just in case winds cancel it out later. The weather this weekend isn't supposed to be great also, which will hopefully keep the crowds a little bit lower, but has potential to disturb the fireworks.

3. It will be crowded because it will be a weekend during Spring Break. But getting there early and using FP a ton will help with that. That's another advantage of hopping that i just thought of. When DL starts getting crowded in the late morning, just hop on over to DCA where the crowds shouldnt' pick up until early afternoon.