First trip to DisneyLand! Help me plan

[HappyGrape]

Travelling me, the family planner.

My husband, who nearly divorced me when I told him I booked WDW for our 10th year wedding anniversary, now refuses to entertain any suggestions about skipping DisneyLand on our West coast trip. Complete Disney convert

My son, 10 year old (since yesterday!). Mad about Test Track, Thunder Mountain and Toy Story at WDW

3 Visits to WDW, 1 to DisneyLand Paris!

We will have 5 days, park hopper tickets but day 1 and 5 will be late arrival and early leave

Arriving Monday 26th of June and leaving Friday

First to do - deciding on what day to use our Magic Morning Hour, and what parks to visit in the morning each day

 

[VandVsmama]

You'll be able to use Magic Morning on either Tues or Thurs. I'd suggest to do it on Tuesday since you'll have more energy earlier in the trip.

Be sure to download the Disneyland app before your trip! It has ride wait times and FP return times on it, so it's very helpful.

If your son is a fan of Test Track, don't miss Radiator Springs Racers! Toy Story just got FP this past week. FP for RSR tends to run out by 11:00 am.

 

[3TinksAndAnEeyore]

You'll be able to use Magic Morning on either Tues or Thurs. I'd suggest to do it on Tuesday since you'll have more energy earlier in the trip.

Unless you are staying onsite at the Grand Californian (GCH), Disneyland Hotel (DLH), or Paradise Pier (PPH). Then you can use your hotel room key to access one of the parks each day:

Tuesday-Disneyland
Wednesday-DCA
Thursday-Disneyland
Friday-DCA

You should definitely read an overview of how Disneyland and WDW differ. One of the best threads for that is older, but still useful:

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

Many of the other threads on the DLR Info/Links Sticky Link at the top of the main page are also very useful.

I agree with VandVsMama that if you only have the one MM to use it on Tuesday before you get too tired. And plan to show up at least 45 minutes prior to MM opening time so you don't spend half your MM waiting to be let in the gates. Those first 30 minutes are great for being able to get on 5-6 of the Fantasyland rides with hardly any wait, but halfway through MM the lines start picking up. I'd recommend not using your MM (assuming you only have one) on rides like Space Mountain where you can get a Fastpass (FP) to ride later.

VandVsMama puts together really awesome ride strategy lists! You can probably find some on other threads if she doesn't put one here. ;-)

Have fun planning!

 

[HydroGuy]

First to do - deciding on what day to use our Magic Morning Hour, and what parks to visit in the morning each day

I always suggest to use MM on the first possible day. Especially in the summer hours when the parks open at 8AM. That 7AM MM will come awfully early when you have to get up at 6AM or earlier to (preferably) get to the gates by 6:30-6:40AM.

If you put it off, as each day goes on during your trip and the weariness sets in, you may decide to just skip the MM. So I would say use the MM on Tuesday.

Thanks to @3TinksAndAnEeyore for linking my thread. When the DIS went to the new forum software a few years ago and shortened the allowable length of threads, and made it so I could not update my old thread easily like I used to, I knew I had to write a whole new thread and break it into pieces. And I just have not gotten around to it yet.

 

[HydroGuy]

On your second question about which parks on which days, it does not really matter unless you are a rope drop person. If you are, then it matters for about the first hour of the day.

By summer when you visit, all shows will show every day (except for maybe Mickey and the Magical Map), so there is no disadvantage to going to any park on any day. Except for early entry parks with MM/EMH.

Basically, if you have early entry MM/EMH (like Tuesday) you go to DL. If not, you go to the park without MM/EMH.

So basically, here would be your "starting park" schedule if you arrive at rope drop each day:

Tuesday: Start at DL and use MM
Wednesday: Start at DL because DCA has EMH
Thursday: Start at DCA because DL has MM/EMH
Friday: Start at DL because DCA has EMH

That gives you 3 starting days at DL and 1 at DCA. If you need a sleep in morning with a late start, then do that Wednesday or Friday so you do not miss DCA rope drop.

 

[Khokhonutt]

Wow, I jump on to share HydroGuy's DLR for WDW vets post and I see not only that someone beat me to it, but the man himself has commented on this post! Woohoo!

We'll be in the parks the same week as you. I'll second the recommendation to go through HydroGuy's threads. There's also a June check-in thread with a lot of discussion.

Our schedule is a little different from yours. We'll be driving in on Sunday, doing the parks Monday through Friday, then driving out on Saturday. That said, we're planning MM on Tuesday for the same reason everyone else has said. I know coming from the east coast getting up for MM hours will be easy that day, for us at least. I'm also planning on following pretty much what Hydro recommended, for the same reasons. Everything I've read here says hitting rope drop is when you'll get the most riding in.

A couple of things I'd look for that are kind of in flux at the moment. You may read that Buzz Lighthear in DLR is not linked in fastpass, that recently changed and it is now linked. The Toy Story ride in DCA just got fastpass this week. And Matterhorn will get fastpass when it comes off refurbishment, later this month I think. You also may read that the parks are not linked for fastpass, that changed this week as well. This is all in preparation for a new wrinkle to the fastpass system called MaxPass. There has not been an official announcement from Disney regarding MaxPass since it was announced earlier this year, but there's tons of speculation on it (and a couple of threads discussing it here). In short it's a paid option that will allow you to book fastpasses using your phone. It's not supposed to be like what WDW has now where you book days or weeks in advance. They're supposed to limit access to in park use only, but you should be able to book fastpasses for both parks, no matter which park you're in.

My speculation is that we'll see this implemented before we get to DLR. I'm not excited about something like this changing last minute, so I'm hopeful if it's going to happen before we arrive, that it happens as soon as possible, so we can get a feel for how it works and how it will impact our plans.

 

[HappyGrape]

What about world of colour? I read that they are disconnected too?

I am well behind in terms of planning. I am really just starting today! I read the California Adventure section of touring plans and will try to learn about this park only first. I am not overly interested in max pass as we won't have internet access and roaming charges are way too much! Even if it's available when we arrive, there isn't much I can do about it.

 

[Khokhonutt]

What about world of colour? I read that they are disconnected too?

I am well behind in terms of planning. I am really just starting today! I read the California Adventure section of touring plans and will try to learn about this park only first. I am not overly interested in max pass as we won't have internet access and roaming charges are way too much! Even if it's available when we arrive, there isn't much I can do about it.

World of Color remains disconnected and speculation is that it will stay that way. The same is being said about Fantasmic, if it's running when we get there, but right now that's not looking like it will happen.

Yeah, I'm not getting worked up about the MaxPass thing, but I do want to keep up with it, so I know how it may affect our planning. I'm not ruling out paying for it at this point, but we'll see.

Not sure if you've ever used any of the planning programs, but the general consensus that I've found is that ridemax.com is a little better with Disneyland than touringplans.com. I've never used them in WDW, but I did pay the $15 for RideMax for DLR, not so much so we can follow it step by step, but so we can have ideas on how to approach things. I'm curious how this whole fastpass change will affect the background info they use to generate plans, we'll see.

 

[HydroGuy]

OP, since you have been to WDW (as well as DLRP - I love that castle!) one thing to make sure you understand is that DLR is not like WDW when it comes to Magic Morning (MM) or Extra Magic Hours (EMH).

At WDW, it is common advice to avoid going to parks that have EMH. Certainly if you are staying offsite. Even if staying onsite and having EMH privileges, there are still many who would suggest going to a non-EMH park. I almost always avoid EMH parks.

At DLR, it is all different. The relatively limited number of people at DLR going to EMH in addition to the ease and frequency of parkhopping means it does not noticeably matter if you go late to an EMH park. You only notice it for about the first hour of the day. Maybe two. After that it is not important.

That is why I say to skip starting at rope drop at an EMH park if you do not have EMH that day.

One final comment for others who may come across this thread. If you have to go to DL park on a day with MM/EMH and you do not have MM/EMH, if you arrive at rope drop it is best to go straight to Adventureland/Frontierland/Critter Country. All those sections that are closed during MM/EMH. Only FantasyLand and TomorrowLand are open for MM/EMH. So if you "turn left" into Adventureland/Frontierland/Critter Country at rope drop you are the same level playing field as everyone who has been in the park early for an hour already.

One final, final note. Once Star Wars Land opens I expect all of this will change. But that is 2 years away.