Going tomorrow (8/30) - Last Min ?s

[bsmcneil]

Aah. The quickly planned trip is happening (yay) to celebrate my 9/1 birthday. A few questions though!

How can you get to Paradise Pier Hotel from Disneyland (particularly before DLR opens)? Should we drive from our hotel (Desert Inn) to PPH? Taxi?

Which fastpasses should I get first/what has the longest waits?

On Monday, Fantasmic is at 8:15 and Magical is at 8:40. Can you see these on the same night usually? It seems really tight (I'm a WDWer - so I may be confused).

That's it for now...we'll see what comes up in the next 12 hours.

OH - so we will arrive around 3/4 tomorrow - really 4/5 after the hotel. Should we go straight to DLR or DCA?

 

[tothesea]

Aah. The quickly planned trip is happening (yay) to celebrate my 9/1 birthday. A few questions though!

How can you get to Paradise Pier Hotel from Disneyland (particularly before DLR opens)? Should we drive from our hotel (Desert Inn) to PPH? Taxi?

Which fastpasses should I get first/what has the longest waits?

On Monday, Fantasmic is at 8:15 and Magical is at 8:40. Can you see these on the same night usually? It seems really tight (I'm a WDWer - so I may be confused).

That's it for now...we'll see what comes up in the next 12 hours.

OH - so we will arrive around 3/4 tomorrow - really 4/5 after the hotel. Should we go straight to DLR or DCA?

Paradise Pier is not far from Desert Inn (if it's the one I'm thinking of on the corner of Katella and Harbor). If it is that one, it's a quick and easy drive. You could walk, if you are used to walking already. If you have kids with you though, or just want to save your energy for the parks, and not have to bring your car back to the hotel before going to the park, a cab would be good.

Monday night is rumored to be the reveal of the much anticipated dragon in Fantasmic! That said, it may be really crowded for the show. You'll be cutting it really close to make it for Magical also, but it can be done. (And it's so worth it!)

Just my opinion, but if you leave Fantasmic as soon as it's over and head toward Main Street you should be fine. The key for watching from Main Street is to be as close to the middle of the street as possible because the trees block your view of the castle otherwise. You may be a little farther back on Main Street, but it's still an amazing view and you'll have speakers nearby.

Fastpasses--Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Indiana Jones are the fastpass rides that end up with the longest wait times. And of course at DCA, the river rapids and Soarin. Not sure if it's always the case, but Splash fastpass machines sometimes open later in the morning. If that's always true, don't waste time going all the way over there first thing in the morning unless you want to go ahead and ride. Sorry, just don't know for sure on this!

Hope this helps, and happy birthday!

 

[99haunts]

When it comes to the fireworks, I watched once from main street and once much closer to the castle on my last trip. Main street was really neat because at the end there is a little surprise! However, we looked and looked and didn't see Dumbo or Tink. Maybe I'm blind! The next night when we were closer we saw both clearly. After F! you'll probably have a better chance of getting a spot on Main Street. Just wanted to let you know that both have advantages!

I would recomend getting splash before indy, just in case. Splash sells out much faster! On the other hand, if you don't end up with a splash fp and you dont mind riding at night, the lines will be much shorter then.

Have fun