For Disneyland repeat visitors - Which land do you visit first?

[Avalon_toon]

Do you typically go to one particular land first, and if so, which one? Or do you mix it up each time you visit?

 

[ArchOwl]

I definitely have patterns that I end up repeating, but usually my plans take into consideration the crowds for each day and things like MM or EMH.

But normally if I choose DL to start, I will go to Fantasyland first or Tomorrowland. In DCA I normally start with Toy Story or Screamin'. But my plans are fairly flexible and can change quickly if something is down or if another attraction is appealing.

The other variable is my traveling companions and what they like. If it is someone's first visit, I may approach my plans differently.

 

[rentayenta]

Adventureland, always Adventureland.

 

[McNs]

DL, through the castle and usually straight for the teacups.

DCA, to Cars Land via the entrance near Pacific Wharf. Best done very first thing in the morning when there is no one there, makes for a great photo.

 

[knitster]

We have a quirky little tradition that we started completely unintentionally. We get there at park opening and head straight for the tiki room, then to Pirates. This started because of a mishap on our first trip, but continued because there is *never* anyone in the tiki room at rope drop, so we get the whole place to ourselves! My kids love it, so they asked if it could be our "thing".

 

[Indiana Scott]

Adventureland, always Adventureland.

Us too. We spend the vast majority of our time there.

 

[Mister Skellington]

Fantasyland first! No kids for us either, but the lines for Peter Pan etc. are SOOOO long if you don't get there first thing. Then off to Adventureland!

 

[ColdNeverBotheredMe]

We have a quirky little tradition that we started completely unintentionally. We get there at park opening and head straight for the tiki room, then to Pirates. This started because of a mishap on our first trip, but continued because there is *never* anyone in the tiki room at rope drop, so we get the whole place to ourselves! My kids love it, so they asked if it could be our "thing".

That's awesome! The last time we were there, we headed straight to Indiana Jones at rope drop, and when we passed the tiki room the cast member there was yelling "Come visit the tiki room! First attraction of the day... the tiki room!" and the crowd was basically just completely ignoring him, or laughing a little, and no one was going over.

We pretty much always do Indy first and then BTMRR, Frontierland seems to be nearly deserted first thing in the morning, at least the times we were there....

 

[Aladora]

For disneyland, it's gotta be Space Mountain and for California Adventures our son always picks Monsters Inc.

 

[thewelts]

Our tradition is to ride Pirates first at DLR!

(Actually we always go to DCA the day we arrive as it is a travel day/partial day in the parks. We save DLR for our first full day)

 

[lalasmama]

I believe I read somewhere (Unofficial Guide to Disneyland, perhaps?) that crowds most often go to the right--under the train tracks to the right for whatever reason, and that they will then end up in Tomorrow and Fantasy first, and continue, most often, counter-clockwise. Because of that, we head to Adventure first. It's seemed to serve us well, as we're usually on Indy pretty early on!

 

[gottalovepluto]

New Orleans square (usually arrive around lunchtime) for food & POTC!

 

[corinne76]

I believe I read somewhere (Unofficial Guide to Disneyland, perhaps?) that crowds most often go to the right--under the train tracks to the right for whatever reason, and that they will then end up in Tomorrow and Fantasy first, and continue, most often, counter-clockwise. Because of that, we head to Adventure first. It's seemed to serve us well, as we're usually on Indy pretty early on!

This is pretty much what we do
Peter Pan is my fave so we hit that first last year. It was the first trip for the kids so I'm thinking we will just continue the tradition

 

[luv2sleep]

Tomorrowland always first. Since I was a kid!

 

[cmpeter]

Depends on the day and if we DL or DCA on our first day. If at DL, it's Peter Pan. If at DCA, it's TSMM.

 

[Epek]

Unless we're trying to do something special, like Elsa/Anna meet or a AP holder thing, we let our 4 yr old dictate the day. He will usually already have a list of things he's been talking about since the previous trip that he wants to do. We plan the day based on that and crowds. Before he came along- Adventureland first most of the time!

 

[StyledSugar]

Adventureland, always Adventureland.

^^^^Yep! We did it our first trip as a family and we've continued it every trip since.

 

[AZpharmacist]

Critter country for Splash Mountain! Then Indy, Space Mountain and Matterhorn.

This next trip will be my first trip with my toddler and first multi day/ DCA trip, so it will be very different. We will do fantasyland first one day, then adventurland the next day.

 

[Congo Queen]

Very interesting to see the diversity of responses on this thread, and I am totally surprised by the number of people heading to Adventureland first. I love Adventureland (Tiki Room and Jungle Cruise being two all time favs of mine and my daughter loves IJ). However, I have traditionally found that I can easily enjoy the Adventureland attractions late morning or even midday with relatively short wait times. So I have always headed the family to Fantasyland first (we stay onsite mostly so use our extra magic hour at whatever park is offering it that day) to try to whip out all those rides during the early hour - with PP being first. That strategy worked for years but this summer (July 2014) was the first time it didn't. Fantasyland was so much more crowded during the EMH than it had every been before - long lines and fighting the crowd just to get from ride to ride. It was downright unpleasant. I think a combo of improved economy and more people knowing value of their EMH in Fantasyland has scotched its usefulness during high season of summer. So may take a different tact when we visit again next summer.

 

[lovebug33]

Without kids, Indiana jones first and then big thunder. With kids, it's fantasyland.