Going to DL Monday 6/18 for the day... advice?

[lb2000]

I am taking my daughter and her friend to DL on Monday to celebrate my daughter's 10th bday. We are So. Cal Select APs, but we have some tix we won at an auction to use. They are Park Hoppers... I have a few questions:

1. Should I just forget about DCA on Monday? We can wait for Carsland until the fall since we have our APs.

2. If I upgrade my daughter and my pass to the So. Cal. AP, we can go in on Sunday and Monday and just use our auction tix for our guest... we could go ahead and do some rides Sunday night, but will the parks be crazy until closing Sunday night? We have a 7:45 reservation at Goofy's Kitchen, but I kind of wanted to try to see the second showing of Fantasmic Sunday night with the girls, will it be a circus even at the later show? Should we skip it?

3. No real question here, but it's been a really long time since I've gone in the summer... any tips regarding what we should hit at opening on Monday and how to make the most of our day are appreciated. My daughter and I have been to DL many many times, but her friend has not, so I'd like to make sure she gets to do some really fun things!

Thanks!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

You could maybe skip CL but all of DCA??? Here's how we spent 1 day at DLR *mid July 2009* you could use Single Rider lines - RSR and Matterhorn have it now!! What about driving up Sunday night and staying in a nearby hotel....?

ETA ~ do you have more than 1 day? If so that's great! I read it as you're only visiting on Monday.

 

[disneegrl4eva]

1. Should I just forget about DCA on Monday? We can wait for Carsland until the fall since we have our APs.

2. will the parks be crazy until closing Sunday night? We have a 7:45 reservation at Goofy's Kitchen, but I kind of wanted to try to see the second showing of Fantasmic Sunday night with the girls, will it be a circus even at the later show? Should we skip it?

3. No real question here, but it's been a really long time since I've gone in the summer... any tips regarding what we should hit at opening on Monday and how to make the most of our day are appreciated. My daughter and I have been to DL many many times, but her friend has not, so I'd like to make sure she gets to do some really fun things!

Thanks!

to answer question #1..i dont think i would skip DCA altogether but keep in mind that you are not going to get to ride much of anything so I would decide ahead of time which rides are most important to you and make a beeline for the FP machine starting with whichever ride you want to do in CL and make sure that as soon as you have the availability to get another FP that you are there ready to get it

#2..as you said yourself, Sunday is not a block out day for So Cal AP holders so they will be there in force...I think though that they will mainly be there for CL so I would suggest that you steer clear of DCA on sunday and do it on monday....DL may not be horribly bad this weekend because everybody wants to be at DCA...I would NEVER tell you to skip F!..im totally biased in that area but I will say that Ive always done the second show unless Im doing the preferred dessert seating...I will however, suggest that you make sure you figure out where you want to be at location wise at the show and make sure you are near there before the first show ends because if you arent in the area its going to make it very difficult to get to a good spot because of all the crowds coming off of ROA and there are roped off areas by FL, MS, AL and FL so the crowds coming off can get through before they release the masses who just came off of watching fireworks...my favorite spot is right in front of the shack on Tom Sawyer Island and behind the bars you can sit...alot of people will stay seating for both shows so you have to manuever yourself into the crowds while the first show people are coming out to get into a space where you can sit down at...the wait is less than an hour and I totally think its worth it....

#3...this is the day I would do DCA and for that i revert back to what I said in #1..firstly, be there at park opening, decide ahead of time which rides are most important to you and make a beeline for the FP machine starting with whichever ride you want to do in CL and make sure that as soon as you have the availability to get another FP that you are there ready to get it...if RSR is a big priority then I would make a beeline for a FP there first