Help with DL planning please!

[qbren2u]

My family of 5 is headed the DL in August for 2.5 days. We are frequent WDW visitors but this is our first time in DL. We arrive on Thursday at lunch time and check out Sunday morning. Any help is appreciated. We are foodies and love to experience/ride everything. TIA!

 

[SMD]

Eat food and ride everything is kind of vague. What threads have you read or what planning sites are you using? The ADR window is open for August, what ones have you made? What kind of tickets do you have, 2 or 3 day? Hoppers? Do you want a touring plan based on "ride everything"? That's asking a lot, especially without ticket type info.

 

[5forMickey]

If your staying onsite I would recommend using your early entry (my favorite thing). Also, I would try and get reservations at some of the restaurants if you are foodies -- BB is one of our favorites.

 

[DLRExpert]

#1 get to the park entrances 30 minutes before it opens.
#2 avoid the early entry park if you do not have access to it.
#3 make reservations ahead of time. Blue Bayou and Cathay Circle are popular in the park. My opinion Napal is the best but also most expensive.
#4 Visit a In N Out. It's a Southern California experience

 

[ChloroformSdxn]

I would check the ride closure/refurbishment list. It would be awful if a ride was closed on one day of your trip, and you missed it thinking you could do it the other day. My understanding is that BTMRR and PotC are completely different, so definitely check those out. Hyperspace Mountain is great.

A good way to double your early entry is to make a reservation for Minnie's Breakfast in the park. You can get a reservation for before the park opens, and then you can avoid the lines since there's a separate entrance.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

At Disneyland, you can make Dining reservations 60 days before. I highly advise them even though it's much less busy than WDW just because of the time of year you're going- it'll be busy! Definitely try the Macarons at the stands at Downtown Disney and definitely make reservations at Wine Country Trattoria in California Adventure and Blue Bayou at DL. To do the Cars ride (Radiator Springs Racers) be there right at opening and speed walk straight there- we got right on doing this and the rest of the day it was a two hour wait.

 

[Gari14]

Make sure you go on California Soarin (if you're into coasters) early rather than later as it gets super busy around lunchtime

 

[MommyLove]

If you like to experience everything, you may not have enough time with 2.5 days. Is there any way to give yourself more time in the parks?

How old are the kids? (Can they go park commando, do they need nap breaks?) Where are you staying? It could help give you some suggestions.

 

[qbren2u]

The kids are all teenagers so we should be good. We are staying at the Disneyland Resort. We have 3 day park hoppers but no ADR's yet. What is the best planning site? Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

[tzeitel]

POTC will be such a nice surprise! It is different and longer than the one at WDW It does not seem like you have a lot of time (and on a weekend it is even less) so not sure if doing TS every day would be a good thing since it takes time away from the actual park. If you do want to have a TS meal - Blue Bayou for the atmosphere or Carthay Circle for the food. If you do not plan on TS, that is ok. DLR and DCA have some really good CS options. Mac n' cheese or chili cones in Carsland is a fun, fast meal. Rancho Del Zocalo has pretty good food (and big plates) in DLR, I also like the skewers in Bengal BBQ and the fried chicken at The Plaza is legendary on the Dis. My favorite so far has been beignets at Ralph Brennan's for breakfast (DtD). If you can you should try The Cove Bar, great lobster nachos (among other goodies) and amazing view of DCA. Check out my TR for our 2 day trip this past Feb - we did tons in very little time. What we did find to be a time saver - the WOC package. We did the Trattoria and it was pretty good and did not have to line up hours before the show to get a decent view. Have not done the DLR dining packages and have not needed it. The 2 times we have gone to DLR during the 60th we found great spots for both the fireworks and the parade without the package.

For the parks - get there early. Someone mentioned :30 minutes before park open. I would say get there even earlier if you want to do rope drop. The lines at the turnstiles are super slow since many people have a voucher for their tickets. That means the CM at the turnstiles has to take their photo and have them sign their tickets. No big deal, except there are so many ppl with vouchers it takes forever - not to mention the ppl who have their vouchers or tickets at the bottom of their bag and did not think of taking them out before they go to the turnstile etc. When we went in Feb ppl were lining up an hour before the park opened.

 

[kelmac284]

Get there before it opens as even in Summer you can do a lot in the first few hours. For the more popular restaurants like Carthay, Blue Bayou, Napa Rose you will want to make dinning ressies. Even thing like carnation cafe with their amazing potato soup it is a good idea.

Another place no one talks about that is excellent is Catal in downtown Disney. Not Disney themed but amazing food!

I would def try to do all the things that DW doesn't have for sure. Toad, Alice, Storybook boats, Indy etc. And things that are different like Pirates, Haunted, Thunder Mountain.

Disneyland even in the crowded summer is much more doable in that I have gotten dinning ressies same day or a day before vs having to do the 180 and they still have paper fp so if you get one and immediatley use it then you can get another. Plus I believe they still have the 2 hour window so you can get another one after 2 hours even if you haven't used your first one. So for example lets say you try to get Space but the return time isn't till the evening. If you got the fp at say 10 a.m. for 7 p.m. return then you can go back at say noon and get a new fp for something else. At least it was that way last time I was there. That is another nice feature different then DW.

Def try and see the paint the night and fireworks as they are awesome and you can easily walk to the parks if you stay close enough otherwise there is good shuttles.

Have fun!! We will be there in August as well.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

This thread will give you lots of helpful info: A DLR Guide for WDW Vets.

 

[daneenm]

kelmac284 has suggestions that are spot on with mine (Catal on the balcony was our favorite meal). In addition, I would add Naples and Carnation Cafe for brunch. We did brunch at 10:30 on our 3rd day so we could do Magic Morning and get lots of rides in before the crowds.

Our 3 teens were in line at 6:30 am every day but then by about 1:00 needed a break. We napped and swam and were ready to go again at 5:00 or so. We still did most everything and many things twice.