How many days DL?

[gometros]

We just booked the Vancouver to San Diego cruise on the Wonder and plan to rent a car and drive up to Disneyland for a few days. I haven't been there since 2006 and my wife on thirty years. What's the rule of thumb for number of days in DL? Is three enough for the two parks when time is not a big issue? I'm thinking with the drive up, Saturday will be a day to relax and then spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the parks before flying home east on Monday. We don't really have to fly home until Tuesday the latest. Hoping to use our points at GCH.

 

[Diszona]

Three should be enough. The parks at DL are right across from each other which makes it easy to get from one park to the other (as opposed to WDW where the distance can make hitting more than one park in a day difficult). We usually spend 4 days and we can hit pretty much everything at a fairly relaxed pace, so I don't thing 3 days should be a problem. I will say that the weekends tend to be crowded so that may make things a little more hectic for you, but you also should be able to catch the nighttime shows.

 

[gerilyne]

I think 3 should be enough to do most things at the 2 parks. We usually go for 5 days since I know we can't stay away from the park on our arrival day. We tried.

 

[Sky07]

5 if you can. But 3 would work.

You didn't say if you are taking children. If you are, I would shoot for 4.

 

[keiraliz]

Three days are reasonable. Disneyland isn't nearly as big as Disney World, and as Diszona stated, the parks are very close to each other, so spending three days there shouldn't be a problem. My family and I usually go for four or five days, but we could do it in three days if we really wanted to. We just enjoy Disney so much that we like to make it last!

 

[Stitch35]

5 if you can, even if its on your relaxation day just to take in a show and ride a couple rides. I can never stay away on our arrival day. We leave Saturday morning for a quick 3 day trip, but know we won't be able to "do it all". 3 is a fast paced vacation 4-5 is a lot more relaxing.

If you aren't traveling with young children you can take advantage of single rider which can expedite some of the rides. DL is smaller in size then WDW, but not in attractions. DL packs a bunch into its limited space.

 

[mummabear]

What time of year are you going?
5 days. Gives you a lot more time to fit in the shows, parades, grab a nice meal (I suggest Blue Bayou).
However anything over 3 will feel like a nice amount of time.

 

[HydroGuy]

We just booked the Vancouver to San Diego cruise on the Wonder and plan to rent a car and drive up to Disneyland for a few days. I haven't been there since 2006 and my wife on thirty years. What's the rule of thumb for number of days in DL? Is three enough for the two parks when time is not a big issue? I'm thinking with the drive up, Saturday will be a day to relax and then spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the parks before flying home east on Monday. We don't really have to fly home until Tuesday the latest. Hoping to use our points at GCH.

Four days will allow you to have a good solid visit. Anything less and you will leave feeling like you did not have quite enough time. Five days is better if you want to take things at a relaxed pace.

 

[gometros]

Three should be enough. The parks at DL are right across from each other which makes it easy to get from one park to the other (as opposed to WDW where the distance can make hitting more than one park in a day difficult). We usually spend 4 days and we can hit pretty much everything at a fairly relaxed pace, so I don't thing 3 days should be a problem. I will say that the weekends tend to be crowded so that may make things a little more hectic for you, but you also should be able to catch the nighttime shows.

Yeah, too bad about the weekend, but since the cruise ends 10/1, that creates a little less flexibility.

5 if you can. But 3 would work.

You didn't say if you are taking children. If you are, I would shoot for 4.

Oops, I thought I covered everything, but tend to forget that little detail since I'm a grandfather in training.

What time of year are you going?
5 days. Gives you a lot more time to fit in the shows, parades, grab a nice meal (I suggest Blue Bayou).
However anything over 3 will feel like a nice amount of time.

First week of October, which should be good crowd-wise with the exception that it is a weekend. When I went last time, I was in the San Jose area on business, so I flew down and took a long weekend. This was June during the World Cup, and I don't recall it being too bad even then. Of course there have been a few changes.

Sounds like the concensus is four days, which we can do easily. Still have a long way to go. Thanks!

 

[Kristina4109]

The longest I ever stayed at DL was three straight days, and it was very satisfying. HOWVER, I'm a SoCal resident so we had already been there many times. Plus, if we didn't hit a certain ride we knew we'd be back soon, so we didn't have that pressure.

 

[gometros]

The longest I ever stayed at DL was three straight days, and it was very satisfying. HOWVER, I'm a SoCal resident so we had already been there many times. Plus, if we didn't hit a certain ride we knew we'd be back soon, so we didn't have that pressure.

Exactly. My wife has not been there in thirty two years, so everything is pretty much new and we went long before we started going regularly to WDW, so it will be like looking at it through different eyes. Even I haven't been there in eight years and PoC and Blue Bayou were closed then and there was no cars land either, it is worth it to me to spend the time to enjoy it.