Friend going 4/26-4/29- pls help with plan

[rentayenta]

My friend just called and said she's taking her daughter (6) and son (11) to Disneyland for the first time in a week. I can hardly work with this type of pressure.

They will be in the park by about 10 am Monday, all day Tuesday, and half of a day Thursday. Wednesday they will be in Sea World. I know, I know.

With 2 1/2 days, staying off property at the Clarion and park hoppers- where do I start? Her DD likes the Princesses so AG is obvious. Her son is ambivalent (until they get there of course). They are not afraid of any rides and meet all height requirements except for Screamin'.

Tips, tricks, MM, help!!! She is not a planning nut like me- she just needs some general guidlelines and I don't work well in generals. I was talking to her and overwhelmed her.

and

 

[sonnyjane]

Lol first of all, I hope the dates in your title are wrong, or else they are already here

I have stayed at the Clarion before. It was perfectly nice, comfy bed, just a little too far away to walk comfortably (about 1.25 miles from the gate). Learned that lesson the hard way The only bummer is that Clarion charges $12 or $14 (can't remember) for parking, so if they drive to the parks, they'll be paying twice for parking - once at Clarion, once at the park. I can't remember but I think there may be a shuttle they can look into for a small fee.

I went to the parks yesterday for the day with friends and it is pleasantly uncrowded. TSMM was 25 min and Indy and Space were 30, but other than that everything was walk-on.

I'll leave the big touring suggestions to the pros, just wanted to chime in on the Clarion!

 

[rentayenta]

Lol first of all, I hope the dates in your title are wrong, or else they are already here

I have stayed at the Clarion before. It was perfectly nice, comfy bed, just a little too far away to walk comfortably (about 1.25 miles from the gate). Learned that lesson the hard way The only bummer is that Clarion charges $12 or $14 (can't remember) for parking, so if they drive to the parks, they'll be paying twice for parking - once at Clarion, once at the park. I can't remember but I think there may be a shuttle they can look into for a small fee.

I went to the parks yesterday for the day with friends and it is pleasantly uncrowded. TSMM was 25 min and Indy and Space were 30, but other than that everything was walk-on.

I'll leave the big touring suggestions to the pros, just wanted to chime in on the Clarion!

for pointing out the date error. She thinks the Clarion is a block away. They are flying into LAX, double and won't have a car.

She should have asked me to help her plan before she booked.

 

[Mister Toad]

for pointing out the date error. She thinks the Clarion is a block away. They are flying into LAX, double and won't have a car.

She should have asked me to help her plan.

Well I have done single day trips to one park and have been able to ride pretty much every ride, many of the big rides twice. Visiting both parks I was able to catch all I wanted on a busy day in one day. If you have limited time to do things, and need to find the best way to fit everything in, I had a lot of success with this software called Ridemax. You pretty much plug in the rides you want to go on and it spits out a schedule that minimizes wait time. I really liked it, I would recommend checking it out.

Other than that, how are they planning on getting from LAX to the park? It looks like the resort transit, plus transit from the aiport to hotel would at the very least equal the cost of a rental car, and likely exceed it.

The Clarion is probably walkable, but not with young kids, I have walked from the Hilton but it was two 25 year olds. I would suggest looking into a rental car and the ridemax software. Helped me a lot on short trips.

 

[rentayenta]

Well I have done single day trips to one park and have been able to ride pretty much every ride, many of the big rides twice. Visiting both parks I was able to catch all I wanted on a busy day in one day. If you have limited time to do things, and need to find the best way to fit everything in, I had a lot of success with this software called Ridemax. You pretty much plug in the rides you want to go on and it spits out a schedule that minimizes wait time. I really liked it, I would recommend checking it out.

She would never ever do something like Ridemax. She is always 30 minutes late to everything. I love Ridemax however.

Other than that, how are they planning on getting from LAX to the park? It looks like the resort transit, plus transit from the aiport to hotel would at the very least equal the cost of a rental car, and likely exceed it.

They are taking a shuttle as she doesn't want to drive in CA. She also said there is some shuttle picking them up for their Sea World day.

The Clarion is probably walkable, but not with young kids, I have walked from the Hilton but it was two 25 year olds. I would suggest looking into a rental car and the ridemax software. Helped me a lot on short trips.

Looks like ART comes to the Clarion so I will suggest that.



Planning for someone who doesn't plan like I do, let alone plan at all, is difficult. I don't do vague. I appreciate all the insights thus far.

 

[sonnyjane]

for pointing out the date error. She thinks the Clarion is a block away. They are flying into LAX, double and won't have a car.

She should have asked me to help her plan before she booked.

The Clarion appears to be just a block or two away on aerial maps, but I used mapmyrun.com to calculate that it was about 1.25 miles from the hotel to the gates shortly after my three-day trip last year, which ended with me wanting to amputate my own feet lol. I am an athletic 26 year old, and 1.25 miles four times a day (to the parks and back twice because of afternoon breaks, so 5 miles total) was far too much in addition to all the walking around the parks. As you just mentioned, maybe ART is the way to go

 

[rentayenta]

The Clarion appears to be just a block or two away on aerial maps, but I used mapmyrun.com to calculate that it was about 1.25 miles from the hotel to the gates shortly after my three-day trip last year, which ended with me wanting to amputate my own feet lol. I am an athletic 26 year old, and 1.25 miles four times a day (to the parks and back twice because of afternoon breaks, so 5 miles total) was far too much in addition to all the walking around the parks. As you just mentioned, maybe ART is the way to go

I will pass along this info, she'll need it. She hasn't been in years so it's like starting from scratch.

 

[Mister Toad]

The Clarion appears to be just a block or two away on aerial maps, but I used mapmyrun.com to calculate that it was about 1.25 miles from the hotel to the gates shortly after my three-day trip last year, which ended with me wanting to amputate my own feet lol. I am an athletic 26 year old, and 1.25 miles four times a day (to the parks and back twice because of afternoon breaks, so 5 miles total) was far too much in addition to all the walking around the parks. As you just mentioned, maybe ART is the way to go

At a big hotel, I would say just grab a cab, wouldn't be more than $10 tops. Makes life easier on everyone.

 

[rentayenta]

At a big hotel, I would say just grab a cab, wouldn't be more than $10 tops. Makes life easier on everyone.

Is the Clarion big? I know ART also makes stops which can really add time.


For now, I will direct her to:

• arrive 30 minutes before park opening
• grab a Fast Pass every time she can either when her window is up or every two hours
• make any PS stat!
• skip Sea World

Anything else you can think of? She will need to hit ToonTown as well which is not paramount for us. Any tips there? Will she have MM access with her Hopper?

 

[rentayenta]

Just bumping in case anyone has any other general tips I am missing.

 

[Mister Toad]

Just bumping in case anyone has any other general tips I am missing.

If she is spending a lot of time in Toon Town, let her know of the good trick that Roger Rabbit is not connected to the rest of the fastpasses, so she can always get new ones for that.

 

[rentayenta]

If she is spending a lot of time in Toon Town, let her know of the good trick that Roger Rabbit is not connected to the rest of the fastpasses, so she can always get new ones for that.

I think they'll do one morning- thanks!

 

[brenda1966]

If her kids are 6 and 11 I doubt she'll be spending a lot of time in Toon Town. LOL.

I second getting a taxi for that morning ride to DL so she can be at the gate prior to opening. Is she getting a 3 day pass -- I think she should have one early entry on that.

As for Sea World -- it's a fun day, so I wouldn't discourage it necessarily. I would tell them to do the dolphin feeding. It's the highlight. You need to get to the feeding line early in order to get in.

 

[nana50]

Some people aren't nuts like we are. Maybe it isn't imperative to her that they do everything. Also I have done Disneyland in 2 days plenty of times. I don't want to go on everything. Most people don't. Also there is nothing wrong with doing a day at Sea world. Some people do enjoy seeing something besides roller coasters. Don't stress so much. They will get there when they get there, (probably not at opening) and go on what rides look like fun to them. Don't overwhelm her with plans. Give her some tips, and let her enjoy whatever kind of trip they end up with.

 

[nana50]

Sorry, I double posted.

 

[rentayenta]

Some people aren't nuts like we are. Maybe it isn't imperative to her that they do everything. Also I have done Disneyland in 2 days plenty of times. I don't want to go on everything. Most people don't. Also there is nothing wrong with doing a day at Sea world. Some people do enjoy seeing something besides roller coasters. Don't stress so much. They will get there when they get there, (probably not at opening) and go on what rides look like fun to them. Don't overwhelm her with plans. Give her some tips, and let her enjoy whatever kind of trip they end up with.

I explained that I don't want to overwhelm her although is says she wants to know everything. She thinks she wants to know but I don't believe her.

If her kids are 6 and 11 I doubt she'll be spending a lot of time in Toon Town. LOL.

I second getting a taxi for that morning ride to DL so she can be at the gate prior to opening. Is she getting a 3 day pass -- I think she should have one early entry on that.

As for Sea World -- it's a fun day, so I wouldn't discourage it necessarily. I would tell them to do the dolphin feeding. It's the highlight. You need to get to the feeding line early in order to get in.

I will tell her about the dolphin feeding- cool!