Help a first-timer plan?

[dreamin'boutdis]

I'm so excited to have a few days for our first visit to Disneyland! I have tried to do some research, but I still have no idea what I'm doing! Our trip is coming up in less than a month, so I thought I should ask for help... can y'all offer some advice?

Our specifics:

2 Adults, no children
We will be in California 10/24 - 10/26
We have 3 day, park-hoppers with 1 early morning entry
Planning to buy MaxPass
We were not able to get Halloween party tickets (sold out )
We want to see WoC and are willing to pay for the dessert party, or the dining package
DH wants to eat at Blue Bayou

October 24
- flight lands at SNA at 9:45 a.m.
- planning to UBER to our hotel (within walking distance of parks)
- afternoon in parks

October 25
- all day in the parks

October 26
- morning/early afternoon in the parks
- mid-afternoon take train to San Diego for the night before cruise 10/27

If this was your trip, what would you do? Thank you in advance!!!

 

[audrianna890]

I will sit down and answer more of your questions in a bit. But really quick - chances are good that you can still get halloween party tickets at the gate. Sources have said that Disney held back a large amount of tickets this year.

 

[dreamin'boutdis]

I will sit down and answer more of your questions in a bit. But really quick - chances are good that you can still get halloween party tickets at the gate. Sources have said that Disney held back a large amount of tickets this year.

Thanks so much! This gives me great hope that we may get lucky and be able to do the Halloween Party!!!

 

[audrianna890]

I'm so excited to have a few days for our first visit to Disneyland! I have tried to do some research, but I still have no idea what I'm doing! Our trip is coming up in less than a month, so I thought I should ask for help... can y'all offer some advice?

Our specifics:

2 Adults, no children
We will be in California 10/24 - 10/26
We have 3 day, park-hoppers with 1 early morning entry
Planning to buy MaxPass
We were not able to get Halloween party tickets (sold out )
We want to see WoC and are willing to pay for the dessert party, or the dining package
DH wants to eat at Blue Bayou

You will need to book reservations ASAP for both WoC and BB. I checked BB and there are still openings on your dates. I didn't check WoC though. BB reservations are usually full pretty quickly. I'm actually surprised they still had some but it's probably your party size (I'm usually looking for 5). The last I tried to do standby seating for BB, they turned me away stating that they were completely full so I've always reserved since then. Reservations will need to be guaranteed by a credit card, but you won't be charged anything upfront.

October 24
- flight lands at SNA at 9:45 a.m.
- planning to UBER to our hotel (within walking distance of parks)
- afternoon in parks

Be prepared that afternoon/evening will be busy, comparatively speaking to first thing in the AM. Even on busy days in the AM, the park will still feel more empty than at 5 PM.

Also, this is the only day that will have a halloween party on the days you will be there. DL will close early for non-party goers. You will have to go to a ticket booth to try to get tickets as soon as you can after arriving. You might even think about having Uber drop one of you at the hotel with luggage and the other at the park to get tickets, and then back to the hotel to get settled in. Even then, there's no way of knowing if you'll arrive in time to get tickets. Hope for the best, be prepared for the worst!

If you get in, my recommendation is to get off Main Street. We've been to the party once and got completely overwhelmed and never left Main Street and the crowds were ridiculous. But from further research after the fact, going to other areas of the park that are pretty dead is standard.

October 25
- all day in the parks

October 26
- morning/early afternoon in the parks
- mid-afternoon take train to San Diego for the night before cruise 10/27

If this was your trip, what would you do? Thank you in advance!!!

I think you might have to choose - WoC dining package or BB. Because BB is sold out for Mickey's Halloween Party, if you can get tickets. If you do WoC that night (if no party tickets) and BB the next day, that would work. But, again, I'm not sure on WoC reservations. And if you go to the party, you'll have to squeeze both into Day 2. Not impossible, but for me personally, I'd be special dining-ed out. Lol

Definitely download the app, if you haven't already, and start familiarizing yourself with where characters you want to see hang out and ride locations and whether they have FP or not. It'll help in the long run.

I can't give you any info about MP because I've never used it. I've got littles.

And lastly - take a deep breath. It's supposed to be fun! Don't feel the need to plan within an inch of your life. Plan the must-dos and let the rest flow! Not following a strict plan of attack will help with getting overwhelmed by crowds, ride closures, etc.

 

[rtfelt]

I assume you're looking for advice on how to actually spend your days at DLand, since you already have hotel and transportation. I'll give some overall input first. The parks are busier on days around a Halloween Party. Those going to a party, don't want to waste a hopper ticket, when they've already paid for a party that evening, so the parks, especially DL is slow on the morning of a party, but that means all those peeps go to the parks on the other days. DCA can get crowded on the evening of a party as all those without party tickets go to DCA for the evening. It's worse on a Friday night, which you're not going to have, but it can still be more crowded. Since you won't arrive until after RD on Tuesday, then you'll need to do EE at DL Thursday, but you should be able to get a lot done with an 8 am RD. On Tuesday, assuming you get there about noon, get a WOC FP and look at MP returns for DL and DCA rides. By the time you get there the FP for GotG and RSR will likely be gone, but if they're not then I suggest getting at least one of them to use that evening in DCA during the party. What you do depends so much on the FP return times, which are nearly impossible to predict beforehand, but since DL closes early for the party, and you don't get there until afternoon, I would probably focus on FP rides at DCA that you can reserve for evening riding and shows and entertainment at DL for the afternoon. With MP, you can reserve a FP as soon as you enter the park, especially during EE even if you don't have EE, so get to the park early enough on the non-EE day, to get in and reserve GotG or RSR before RD. It's hard to know how else to guide you without knowing your focus. Do you want to do the FL rides or only "big" rides and such. You essentially only have 2 days, so you won't be able to see and do everything, so you need to decide on your priorities.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Since you have so few days I'd skip the party.

 

[farmfresh]

I think skipping the party is the way to go. Use that night for WOC, then book BB for your other night. See if you can get dessert party seats, but if not, you could still do a dining package.
You have a nice and early EE on Thursday ay 7am, so even with a mid afternoon departure you could get a lot done. That would be the ideal time for Fantasyland. Then pick up any rides you missed Wednesday.
Wednesday DCA has MM which you are not eligible for, so start over at DL and do SM, ST etc. Using Max pass means you can still book FPs for DCA rides - if you don't grab FPs on the first day for rides there, use this am to do so.
Two adults can get a lot done in a short time so even with the party scheduling you will have a great time .

 

[audrianna890]

I think you're going to have to decide if the party is something you REALLY want to go to. It's extra money you'd have to spend and it wouldn't leave you open for WoC.

On the other hand, if you do go, the rides that are open, have significantly less wait times than your standard day (especially during such a busy time). I've looked out of curiosity at the app during parties and nothing is above 20 minutes. I know that may not always be the case, and I know the app can be inaccurate sometimes. But I've heard similar reports before too.

Once you've decided on trying to get into the party or not, I think the rest of your plans will sort of fall into place.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Check the Halloween Party thread on this forum. People have reported getting tickets to sold out parties by calling. The only party reported to be truly sold out is the Oct. 13th party.