How do you plan which park for which day? HELP!!

[jacobsmommy]

We have been to DL once (three years ago) and WDW many times. We will be at DL from Tues., June 22 (arrive at Orange county airport at 9:45 am) until Saturday, June 26th in the late morning. I know there'll be a grad night on that Thursday, but other than that, how do I plan which park to do when? We are staying at Fairfield Anaheim, so we'll have the early entry morning and Toontown early entry too. It'll be me, dh, 6 yo ds, and 2 yo dd. We'll want to do Fantasmic, the fairy nightime thing, and the fireworks. I don't care much about the new thing at California Adventure. We'll probably do dinner at Goofy's Kitchen and breakfast at Minnie's.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[HydroGuy]

The easy answer is...you don't.

Here are some guidelines that work for me and many others:

o Think of DL and DCA as one large park with two gates. With that, you are not so much thinking of which park which day as much as which area you want to visit.

o If you can get the munchkins up early enough, start each day at DL because it opens earlier. Then it is a matter of deciding when and whether to hop to DCA. If you do hop to DCA, the earlier the better. But it is still effective to hop to DCA in the afternoon.

o Days when DL has MM and you do not have MM are good days to sleep in and start the day at DCA

o Being at DL or DCA revolves a bit around entertainment that day. If you want to see Fantasmic then of course you will need to be at DL. But unless you have a dessert res, you can do Fantasmic any day it is scheduled. So it is then a matter of deciding when you want to do it.

o Most days you should park hop - "Why I ParkHop at DLR" by Hound 109 www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1491961

 

[DTDkettleCORNfan]

We always try and to DL first, and definitely last. We always want our first day inside one of the parks to include walking up Main Street toward the castle (sigh). And we always want to end there as well. Have a wonderful trip!

 

[jacobsmommy]

I was thinking-that Wednesday morning do rope drop at DL for subs and other rides/fireworks that night at DL

Thursday-Early Entry and Toontown early morning

Friday-DCA rope drop and Fantasmic at DL that night

Which park would you recommend around lunchtime on that Tuesday (our arrival day). Our flight gets in to SNA at 9:45 and we are taking Super Shuttle to Fairfield Anaheim.

 

[rentayenta]

We always try and to DL first, and definitely last. We always want our first day inside one of the parks to include walking up Main Street toward the castle (sigh). And we always want to end there as well. Have a wonderful trip!

We do something similar. We always start in Disneyland. I mean, can you start any other way??? But we end with Soarin' as our last ride when in Disneyland. In WDW, we end in MK.


OP, at this point, look at last year's park hours and kinda guess from there. That's what I am doing. And Hydroguy is spot on when he says to look at it as one big park with 2 ways to enter. It is so easy to park hop.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

The easy answer is...you don't.

Here are some guidelines that work for me and many others:

o Think of DL and DCA as one large park with two gates. With that, you are not so much thinking of which park which day as much as which area you want to visit.

o If you can get the munchkins up early enough, start each day at DL because it opens earlier. Then it is a matter of deciding when and whether to hop to DCA. If you do hop to DCA, the earlier the better. But it is still effective to hop to DCA in the afternoon.

o Days when DL has MM and you do not have MM are good days to sleep in and start the day at DCA

o Being at DL or DCA revolves a bit around entertainment that day. If you want to see Fantasmic then of course you will need to be at DL. But unless you have a dessert res, you can do Fantasmic any day it is scheduled. So it is then a matter of deciding when you want to do it.

o Most days you should park hop - "Why I ParkHop at DLR" by Hound 109 www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1491961

This helps me a lot, too. At WDW we are used to using TGM, and I have been looking for something similar for DL, and so far I haven't found one. Any rules of thumb are welcome to us newbies.

 

[rentayenta]

This helps me a lot, too. At WDW we are used to using TGM, and I have been looking for something similar for DL, and so far I haven't found one. Any rules of thumb are welcome to us newbies.

Ridemax works well for Disneyland. www.ridemax.com

 

[Amy and kids]

I was thinking-that Wednesday morning do rope drop at DL for subs and other rides/fireworks that night at DL

Thursday-Early Entry and Toontown early morning

Friday-DCA rope drop and Fantasmic at DL that night

Which park would you recommend around lunchtime on that Tuesday (our arrival day). Our flight gets in to SNA at 9:45 and we are taking Super Shuttle to Fairfield Anaheim.

Isn't Toontown early entry on Wednesdays? Ridemax told me that it is when I was doing our itinerary.

 

[bumbershoot]

Any rules of thumb are welcome to us newbies.

If it's a MM day and you do not have MM (or are not using your MM that day), do NOT go into Fantasyland (or Tomorrowland, really) that morning. There's no point, the lines will be backed up with an hour's worth of people already. Take those mornings to play in other areas of the park. Or go to DCA!

Isn't Toontown early entry on Wednesdays? Ridemax told me that it is when I was doing our itinerary.

It's on 4 different days.



I personally wouldn't do MM and MTTMM on the same day. I thought about it, but realized that it would just be too much, and might make other days pale a bit. Plus, for MTTMM you do want to get in line outside TT a bit early. And by doing that, you're leaving lovely short FL lines to go stand in a line.

Since MTTMM doesn't really offer much apart from the little tiny parade and ceremony that you can't get by being at TT early on a normal day, I just wouldn't do that. On a normal day you can get there early, get in line (the stroller brigade as I have experienced it), and see the characters and ride the two rides, spend time exploring, and it's just about the same as a MTTMM day! Don't forgo the FL/TL stuff for it, and don't stay in FL/TL so late into MM that you're late to MTTMM, because then you're behind all those who were early.


We personally would like to go back in time and hang out in DCA's bug's land FIRST, before entering DL at all. The rides there are all out in the open. No scary dark relatively enclosed lines like for Alice, Pinocchio, Snow White, or even Peter Pan. You can see the lines, you can see the rides. And the "teacups" (ladybug boogie) don't seem to do the extra spin that the Fantasyland teacups do.

My family likes bug's land pretty much, hmm, more, or the same (for different reasons) as we do FL, and DCA is where we do enjoy starting sometimes and almost always leaving from.

Yikes, time is marching on and DS and I gotta get going! If I think of more I'll post it later.

 

[S. S. Columbia]

Isn't Toontown early entry on Wednesdays?

MTTMM is Mon., Wed., Fri., and Sat.

 

[mcnerthney]

We will see you at Rope Drop on June 23! We decided on that day because it is a Wednesday--no MM. Also, APs are blocked. When we do Disney, it's always a one day trip. That's when RideMax is absolutely necessary!

 

[Somegirl]

We will see you at Rope Drop on June 23! We decided on that day because it is a Wednesday--no MM. Also, APs are blocked. When we do Disney, it's always a one day trip. That's when RideMax is absolutely necessary!

My DD17 and I will be there too! I'm hopping that day isn't too crazy since the APs are blocked. Can't wait!