First visit!

glocon

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
My adult son and I will be visiting DL for the first time this summer… I’m so excited!

We have been to WDW a few times but I know this trip will be very different. We will only have 2 days and those days will most likely be a Saturday and Sunday.

Would you all advise that we spend both at DL or one day each at DL and CA?

There are so many more rides that we would want to do at DL, and we could spend time seeing shows and just absorbing it all if we did 2 days at DL.

But there are things we’d love to see and do at CA as well.

This would probably be in early June, and hopefully we would be staying at an on-site resort so would have EE.

I think we would come back for another visit at some point in the future (I’m sure I would want to).

Suggestions?
TIA!
 
I recommend that you get park hoppers. Cars Land in DCA is wonderfully themed, and also has one of the best rides (Radiator Springs Racers). All the mountain theming around Grizzly River Run/Highway 49 is also beautiful. So do allow some time at DCA even if you want to focus on DL.
 
Second the hoppers. I definitely recommend doing both parks. Hopping takes 5 minutes at DLR and DL is usually open a couple of hours later than CA in the summer. So you could spend a good part of the day at CA, and then leave at some point in the evening and get some more hours in at DL.
 


Another vote for hoppers. I'm a WDW regular and I know a lot of people don't do hoppers there due to the transit time involved. At Disneyland, the park gates are like 100 yards across the Esplanade (which is inside the secure area) from each other, making park hopping a breeze. Cars Land alone is worth visiting CA. With two days, I would do a park reservation for each park, so that you can start a day at each park, and then hop based on what you want to do. As a PP has already mentioned, DL is usually open later than CA, so you could start at DL, hop to CA for a while, then hop back to DL for parades, projections, fireworks, whatever else interests you. The flexibility a park hopper gives you is well worth the cost.
 
I'd get hoppers for sure. There's so much to see at both parks. There are also more opportunities for dining and night time entertainment if you have hoppers.

Have fun!
 
I cannot stress this enough- Get there early! If you are there at rope drope , especially on a weekend, you will improve your wait times early on. There have been days were we will ride more rides in the first two hours than we do the rest of the day.
 


I did my first DL trip last July (and will do my second this June!) after many WDW trips. Definitely get the hoppers - we went back and forth several times per day, which is so different from WDW. If you search threads, you'll find which rides are identical to WDW and which are different - Pirates is much better at DL, Buzz is better, and I liked Space Mountain more at DL (I know there are more but those immediately come to mind). I would start the first day at DL and the second at DCA.

We did the dessert party for WOC and will do it again this summer. The desserts were nothing special but it was great to be able to sit for the show.

We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and will again. There are closer options, but DLH was always what I pictured when going to DL. :goodvibes
 
Also--- we have been in June many times. Don't worry about having to be there on Saturday or Sunday--- with a couple of levels of passes blocked, in our experience those are the best days of the week to be there in June! Monday and Tuesday have been way more crowded than Saturday and Sunday on our June trips.

We also love DLH- originally being WDW people, it was also what we pictured when going to DLH. I also second that the WOC dessert party would be a good splurge if you want to see WOC. It makes it so much easier and it is a good view where you aren't blocked by the people standing in front of you. WOC is different than anything they have at WDW. We really enjoy it!

Definitely get there at opening. We don't always make rope drop, but we are usually there within 10 minutes of opening. Because of the local crowds, the first 2 hours of the morning it is usually easy to get a ton done. Also, at CA, the single rider line for RSR can save you a lot of time- or is good for a 2nd ride. It can also sometimes be really useful for Incredicoaster, and although I haven't yet done single rider there, I've heard Webslingers.
 
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Well it sounds like hoppers are a must!

I was looking at DLH too.

Where do you get into the parks for EE from there?
Is it crowded first thing in the morning?
 
There's always a crowd at rope drop but compared to later in the day, it's completely worth getting there early and going through your list of attractions. You will get a lot accomplished before 11am. If you do EE because you're staying at DLH, you're even more ahead of the game. I would stress buying the individual lightning lane passes so you can maximize your time. I always direct new people to Disneyland Daily as she has great information and plans to help first timers.
 
If you're staying at DLH, you'll go through security just outside the hotel and walk through Downtown Disney to get to the turnstiles. The security entrance from DLH is on the other side of the parks from Harbor Blvd. It was never crowded for us (we are rope drop people), but they didn't have EE last July.
 
Thanks everyone- this is all so helpful!
I’m going to look at Disneyland Daily now😃.
 
Hi!

My family and I did our first trip to DLR last summer! Feel free to DM or look through my trip report if you have any questions!
 
BroadwayHermione5- if we are only at the parks for two days- Saturday and Sunday- do you think it would be too much to do a Fantasmic dinner on the Saturday and a WoC dessert party on Sunday?
Would that take too much time away from the parks?
We’d love to see both, and would love to have seats for both.
 
If you've done Fantasmic before at HS, I would skip. It's cooler at DLR since you're much closer but it's the same show. World of Color you should definitely do. We typically only do one CA day but always fit WoC in since it's later in the night and you can always go back over to DL when CA closes.
 
If you've done Fantasmic before at HS, I would skip. It's cooler at DLR since you're much closer but it's the same show. World of Color you should definitely do. We typically only do one CA day but always fit WoC in since it's later in the night and you can always go back over to DL when CA closes.
It’s probably been about 10 years since we’ve seen F! but I hope to be back at DL after this trip again.
We live in TN and our son moved to San Diego last year so DL will be easier for us now.
But he doesn’t like to take time away from work so it will be only short trips, and most likely just on weekends.
We can save one of the shows for next time.

Is WoC shown on grad nights?
 
One thing to keep in mind is that park hours tend to be longer in DL than WDW. When we went last summer, DL hours were 8am to midnight. California Adventure closed earlier (maybe 9 or 10?). We got a tremendous amount done in two days, but we did have genie+.
 
You should definitely do rope drop to get ahead of the locals. Remember that you'll be coming west and it will 2 or 3 hours later than it is at home - 7:30am at Disneyland is 9:30 or 10:30 at home (depending on where you live). This really helped us be able to get up early. So much better than WDW where it's an hour earlier than home.
 

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