How bad is DCA right now?

[sophies*mom]

We are planning to go in a couple months, and wondering...

We're spending two days in the parks, and and planning on buying 2 day park hoppers but honestly how bad is DCA right now with all the construction?

My thoughts were going to Disneyland the first day and then starting at California Adventure the next, and not expecting to spend the entire day there and ending back up at Disneyland in the late afternoon or evening.

Thoughts?

 

[sonnyjane]

Definitely buy two-day hoppers. There are a lot of construction WALLS up, but as far as attractions being closed, all the rides are open, they are just working on the new Carsland and Buena Vista St. projects. Plus it's cheaper to buy a 2-day hopper than it is to buy a one-day ticket and then a one-day hopper ($173 vs. $185).

 

[sophies*mom]

Sorry if this doesn't make much sense, lol. The question in my head didn't translate well with my fingers, haha.

I guess I'm wondering if we will spend an entire day busy at DCA or is there so much construction happening that we won't spend a whole day there and end up back at Disneyland in the evening?

 

[sophies*mom]

Definitely buy two-day hoppers. There are a lot of construction WALLS up, but as far as attractions being closed, all the rides are open, they are just working on the new Carsland and Buena Vista St. projects. Plus it's cheaper to buy a 2-day hopper than it is to buy a one-day ticket and then a one-day hopper ($173 vs. $185).

Thanks. I had to edit my OP because it didn't make sense (to me) but you answered based on what I was thinking

We've never park hopped when starting out at Disneyland. That's a park you want to be at from opening to closing!

 

[sonnyjane]

Thanks. I had to edit my OP because it didn't make sense (to me) but you answered based on what I was thinking

We've never park hopped when starting out at Disneyland. That's a park you want to be at from opening to closing!

Yes, but DL has longer hours than DCA, so even on a day you want to devote to DCA, you can still start and end your day at DL, making the hoppers totally worth it.

 

[sophies*mom]

Ooh! That's right! Good point, thanks for pointing that out. I wasn't thinking about that.

 

[myxdvz]

It depends whether you like the shows. We spent 1.5 days in DCA in our last visit coz we did the rides and almost all the shows.

Rides: Soarin, ToT, Little Mermaid, TSMM, Screamin', Mickey's Fun Wheel, Goofy's Skyschool, Jumpin Jellyfish, almost all the rides in Bugs Land, Monsters Inc - we even skipped some rides we didn't like

Shows/Parades: Aladdin, Disney Jr. Live, Animation Studio (they have 12 characters you can draw, we only went to 1 show), Turtle Talk with Crush, Sorcerer's Workshop, Muppets, Tough to be a Bug, Pixar Pals, Phineas and Fern's Rockin' Rollin' Dance Party, World of Color

This doesn't include looking for characters We only had autographs with those we saw: Woody, Sully, Handy Manny, Jake, Lightning McQueen and Mater. We didn't even have time for Duffy ... but I think there may be more we just didn't see

So I think if you want to do all of those, that's at least a day. Most shows only happen every 20 mins, or every 30 mins.

 

[BlueBayou]

We are a park hopping family. My DD11 and DD8 really like DCA too. Sometimes on days when we start out at DL - in the early afternoon they will want to go to DCA.

We go about every year - so with us, we don't have the feeling that we must hit everything.

There were a ton of construction walls up when we were there in October. While I would avoid planning a one in a lifetime trip right now - if you are already going to be going - I would not skip DCA because of the construction.

 

[howieebub]

It depends on how you want your experience to be. There's a lot to do at DCA if you want to experience everything. There are lots of shows and although the ride lines are not as long as Disneyland, there's still a lot of attractions. Definitely can spend a full day there.

 

[sophies*mom]

Thanks everyone. This is actually my 8th or 9th time (lost count) but the rest of my group's very first (every single one of them--all 8!) so I'm just trying to make it worth their while, really.

 

[karenbardwell]

when is the construction expected to be done? We are going in mid may. thanks

 

[GrandBob]

The official word from Disney is still simply "Summer 2012", but the unofficial word is that they're trying to open Buena Vista Street (the cause of all the construction walls) around the middle of June. Sorry, I think the walls will still be there in May.

-Bob