How many days at each park? 4 day ticket

[Boardwalk_bride]

I bought 4 day, on park per day, genie + tickets for mid/late April. It is our first time to DLR - we have been to WDW many times. I'm wondering how many days at each park? I figured an even split, but now that I am looking, there seems to be a lot more rides at DL vs. DCA. For reference, we are two mid 30s and one who will be 6 when we visit. Our 6 year old just started doing roller coasters. None of us are 'obsessed' with any one Disney thing - we are more about the parks in general.

I only bought on park per day tickets. I get stressed planning, especially with a kid, so decided to take park hoping away from decision making.

TIA

 

[Pluto468]

My first thought is Disneyland-DCA-DL-DL. In the past I've sometimes skipped DCA altogether, but they have some really cool things now and I could see spending 2 days there, especially if you want to take your time and have the chance to see WOC. Radiator Springs is so cool and I bet your son would like it.

That said, you will have absolutely no problem spending 3 days at Disneyland. There's so much to do, and it's really amazing.

Kind of a long shot, but if you did DCA in the first couple of days and loved it, you could see if it was possible to switch one of your DL days to DCA. It would just depend on availability that week.

Such a tough decision! I'm sure you'll have loads fo fun whatever you do

 

[goofy1954]

We did 4 days our last trip with park hoppers, 2.5 DL and 1.5 DCA. For us, 3:1 was just overweighted to Disneyland. Maybe consider upgrading to a hopper for that "swing day"?

 

[Tom_E_D]

We did 4 days our last trip with park hoppers, 2.5 DL and 1.5 DCA. For us, 3:1 was just overweighted to Disneyland. Maybe consider upgrading to a hopper for that "swing day"?

Doesn't it cost as much to add the park hopper option for one day as it does for all four days?

 

[ktlm]

I would think about adding the hopper. Unless something has changed, it is $60 per ticket no matter how many days your ticket is, so you would want to add it on or before your first day to get the whole value.

While hopping has lost some of its value with hopping not being allowed until 1:00 p.m. (we used to hop for lunch a lot of days and that puts that out for us), by WDW standards, DL/CA is like one park. It isn't like hopping at WDW. Where a lot of WDW hopping can take an hour or more, DL/CA hopping is typically a 5 minute process (except for right at 1:00 p.m. when the time restriction lifts and a bunch all hop at the same time). You can literally get from the back of DL to the back of CA in 10 minutes-- we have done it. The parks are separated by a plaza-- walking between parks takes less time than walking from the resort bus stop to the gate at the WDW parks. I think it is about 100 yards to walk from park gate to park gate (a football field). As further example of the closeness of DLR, walking from DLH to DL/CA is a walk through DTD that is the same length as walking from the Yacht Club to International Gateway at WDW. One of the best things about DLR, as opposed to WDW, is everything is easily walkable and it takes no travel time to get anywhere.

You don't have to plan as much at DLR as you do at WDW. We have historically hopped back and forth a lot depending on what the kid might suddenly want to ride or do, and what the wait times are looking like at both parks.

If you add the hopper, you won't have to stress as much about which park which day as you will have flexibility. Still some stress because with the hopper 1:00 p.m. restriction you still have to plan which park to start at to hit the most popular rides that you want to achieve on your trip with the shortest lines.

 

[TinkAgainU]

Just a reminder that Rope Drop is a HUGE advantage at both Disneyland and DCA. If you cannot stay at a Disney hotel, there are plenty of hotels in walking distance (actually Closer to the front gate than Disney hotels). I would do rope drop and evenings, and plan to rest for part of each day - 4 days is a LOT of walking even at DL/DCA

DCA is worth at least one day - at night (for example the CARS land) is magical - great area for dinner and to watch the cars go by from a back patio at Flos. Guardians is entirely different than in Fl. World of Color water show is excellent. Soarin' is good (but like everything else the lines can be long). Maybe do DL/DL/DCA/DL ? You'll want practice time with Genie+ as it makes a lot of difference too - but again - Rope Drop and returning for last couple hours of closing will give you much shorter lines.

P.S. Galaxy's Edge is another area you'll want to appreciate at night too, even if just walking thru.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

Thanks everyone! I know people are very pro park hoping, and I totally get it from everything I’ve read, but I do struggle with anxiety and it will just cause me a lot of stress. Maybe once I go, and understand the parks, I’ll think about it for next time (assuming we go back).

We are definitely rope droppers - staying up late might be a challenge as we are coming from Toronto area, so 3 hours ahead.

I’ll read back through all of this and look at the attractions again.

 

[starlite_]

Thanks everyone! I know people are very pro park hoping, and I totally get it from everything I’ve read, but I do struggle with anxiety and it will just cause me a lot of stress. Maybe once I go, and understand the parks, I’ll think about it for next time (assuming we go back).

We are definitely rope droppers - staying up late might be a challenge as we are coming from Toronto area, so 3 hours ahead.

I’ll read back through all of this and look at the attractions again.

Personally I felt less anxiety with hoppers because I did not feel like I had to do everything on my DCA day, if that makes sense. And if for some reason the park I was in had a lot of rides breaking then I could just go across the esplanade.

 

[cmph]

Check on closures during your time too, so you have a good idea of what will be open that your family likes.

FWIW, my kids (now teens) don't actually like DL better than DCA. (The shock and horror LOL!) That is partially b/c DL feels so massively overcrowded in some areas, and they have no patience for the inability to find a place to sit and eat if they want a snack. And partially it's b/c they like the rides in DCA. They have no interest in Fantasyland rides, which really pads the overall DL ride numbers. At that age, they wanted to re-ride BTMR on repeat and liked Indy, Space, Splash, Matterhorn. (They would have liked GE if it had existed.) In DCA, they love Incredicoaster more than anything (although one of mine wouldn't go at that age). Back at that age, they tried to kill me on the Wheel of Death and loved RR, Soarin', activities in the animation building, and the Redwood Creek Challenge - the latter was something they did for hours but isn't open during full park hours. YMMV based on your kiddo's activity level though. (They would have liked Marvel stuff if it had existed.)

Something else to consider are the characters your child might like to see - there were really a ton of Marvel characters to meet plus the little live show things (Spider Man, Dr. Strange) in DCA, but if your child is all about the princesses - DL is the place to be.

 

[chezcurrie]

What’s your 6-year old in to? If it’s cars or marvel or toy story vs Star Wars then I’d do 2 days in DCA. My boys *love* DCA. My youngest is quite the artist as well and I’m pretty sure he would spend all day at animation academy if I let him. While I am very pro hopper at DL (not at WDW, so much stress to do it all) with 4 days I think you could accomplish everything you want even with an even split between the parks. Coming from Toronto (been there done that) I would say plan to rope drop those first 2 days but the third day do a later start and get some sleep. The jet lag is usually gone by day 3 and you’ll be exhausted (in a good way) from those first 2 days. So I might suggest: DL - DCA - DCA late start - DL.

 

[TinkAgainU]

Ummm... they also have wine for sale in DCA. Just sayin.... a glass of wine or an aspirin make the walk easier late in the day...

In DL the Autotopia ride (always a big hit with kids) is fun if you don't have a track of some sort near where you live already, it is a very basic driving trail... lower wait times and still fun in the dark, near the train station if you want a ride to the front gate at the end of the night (and the train goes past dinos enroute to leave).

 

[Kerr84]

I would book DL, DCA, DL, DL and then at the end of the second day, you could switch your last day to DCA if you feel like you need more time there or want to see things again.

 

[ComeToSocialize]

First, I echo what everyone says about really considering park hoppers - it's $60 extra regardless of the number of days in the ticket, so only $15/day for you... I would rather spend my money there than on G+ for example! Park hopping at DLR is nothing like WDW - I think of it as just one large park. It's nothing like WDW where you're figuring out busses, monorails, etc. To put it in perspective, the walk from Sleeping Beauty Castle to Soarin (in DCA) is shorter than the walk from Space Mountain to Star Wars Galaxy Edge all in DL! I get stressed / feel trapped when I DON'T have a parkhopper, and would only consider no park hopper if I'm doing a 1 day, Disneyland only day.

That being said, if park hopper is out the window, I would do DL, DCA, DL, DL. If your 4th day is not on a weekend, you're likely to be able to change your reservation on the evening of day 2 if you decide you really love DCA and want another day. If you rope drop DCA, you can do all the worthwhile DCA rides pretty easily in 1 day (particularly with G+ and if you buy ILL for Radiator Springs), but the nice thing about DCA is the food and drink and exploring things like Cars Land or the Redwood trail, which you'll miss if you just race from ride to ride.

If your priority is just rides rides rides though, then do 3 DL days.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

Thanks again for all of this! Our daughter is very girly, but I’m quite certain would prefer cars land to the castle. In WDW she was more excited at HS than MK, although that was 3 years ago.

We have two bus trips booked, so our plan is Mon, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday parks, Wednesday and Saturday already have tours booked. I did reserve DCA-DL (Mon, Tues) and same order for Thurs-Friday.

It looks like there are lots of great suggestions here so I’ll take another look. I would like to be able to slow down and really look at things, and not all rides. As someone mentioned, I can see our daughter getting absorbed in the animation studio - she likes to draw.

We are okay to skip some rides that are at WDW, since we go at least every 5 years, unless they are significantly different.

 

[wench]

Another big fan of park hoppers here. I never get them at WDW, but at DLR they’re a must for me. But if you don’t want to get them, I’d go with the advice from Kerr84. I would book DL days 1, 3 & 4 w/ DCA on day 2. After having spent a day in each you can decide if you want to change day 3 or 4 to DCA. DCA rarely, if ever, runs out of reservations for one day tickets, so it should be easy to switch if you want to go back.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

Another big fan of park hoppers here. I never get them at WDW, but at DLR they’re a must for me. But if you don’t want to get them, I’d go with the advice from Kerr84. I would book DL days 1, 3 & 4 w/ DCA on day 2. After having spent a day in each you can decide if you want to change day 3 or 4 to DCA. DCA rarely, if ever, runs out of reservations for one day tickets, so it should be easy to switch if you want to go back.

Great, thanks. I think we might go with that. I'll look into all the things we really want to do at DL - I also realize toontown might add an extra layer. We did take our daughter to Canada's Wonderland last week, and she had no interest anymore in smaller kids rides (carousel, etc.) and just wanted to line up for coasters kind of similar to Thunder Mountain and the Goofy one. So, I'm hopeful we can at least remove smaller rides from the list!

 

[Poppyko]

You are on the right track, and I agree with the others. My 5 year olds prefer DCA - and my adventure seeker loves goofy, RSR, swings, swinging wheel, and can’t wait to do incredicoaster. This last trip we only did DCA, and there were zero complaints

 

[wench]

Great, thanks. I think we might go with that. I'll look into all the things we really want to do at DL - I also realize toontown might add an extra layer. We did take our daughter to Canada's Wonderland last week, and she had no interest anymore in smaller kids rides (carousel, etc.) and just wanted to line up for coasters kind of similar to Thunder Mountain and the Goofy one. So, I'm hopeful we can at least remove smaller rides from the list!

Try not to discount all the smaller rides. Storybookland Canal Boats for example. By no means is it a thrill ride, but it’s so different from anything at WDW. And if you get lucky, you might see a giant duck rampaging through a miniature fairytale town. DL ducks are the best!

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

Try not to discount all the smaller rides. Storybookland Canal Boats for example. By no means is it a thrill ride, but it’s so different from anything at WDW. And if you get lucky, you might see a giant duck rampaging through a miniature fairytale town. DL ducks are the best!

Oh we will def do that! It's more like the 'jumping jellyfish' or other midway types that we have at parks near us.

 

[Music City Mama]

We have two bus trips booked

What did you wind up booking? We're going to DLR for our first time this summer and I'm looking into this as well.