How many days do I really need at Disneyland?

[peterpanandwendy]

We went with a one year old and a three year old and we did FULL days… 7am to at least 8pm every day, never leaving the park (the kids took stroller naps) and we needed four days.

 

[TGM]

Is one day per park enough?

 

[Disney Dudette]

We, too, like 5 days! To fully enjoy our trip and not feel rushed we like 5 days. Especially with little ones, it's definitely needed because for us it takes longer to do things and allow for proper napping, etc. We went when my daughter was 14 months old for 5 days and it was just right! Edited to include that was taking an afternoon break for a nap and staying in the park until about 10 ( she fell asleep in the stroller earlier) and we still didn't do everything. So, as a newbie to DL, I'd recommend a little more time to experience it if it's possible! enjoy your trip!

 

[Aladora]

We usually do 5 day hoppers and we always take a midday break, although depending on flights the first or last day is usually a half day. This trip we are heading to Universal first so we are only doing 4 days in DL but they are all full days. Arrive Sunday evening, Monday-Thursday in the parks and leave early Friday morning.

I know you CAN do DL/DCA in less time but for our family this is the perfect amount of time.

 

[disneychrista]

Is one day per park enough?

I would say no. You need 2 - 3 days for Disneyland and 1.5 - 2 days for DCA.

 

[TGM]

I would say no. You need 2 - 3 days for Disneyland and 1.5 - 2 days for DCA.

Ok. I am going to Southern California next year, and my group is still working out what we are going to see, and it doesn't look like DLR is high on anybody else's lists, so we will be at DLR for 2 days max.

 

[disneychrista]

Ok. I am going to Southern California next year, and my group is still working out what we are going to see, and it doesn't look like DLR is high on anybody else's lists, so we will be at DLR for 2 days max.

IF you can only do 2 days, make sure to get Park Hoppers. That way you can hit the highlights in both parks without limiting yourself to just one per day.

 

[luulu1999]

Ok. I am going to Southern California next year, and my group is still working out what we are going to see, and it doesn't look like DLR is high on anybody else's lists, so we will be at DLR for 2 days max.

You can get a little feel of it one day each maybe pick the top 10 things you want to do most and try that out but to get to ride everything and see everything not even close....but 2 days is better than 0 days

 

[luulu1999]

We usually do 5 also with park hoppers, last year my kids were 5&6 we would get up early go to the parks (usually 30 mins after opening) when crowds started to get bad go back to our hotel which was right across the crosswalk, I always wanted to go back for a nap of course their idea of resting was swimming so naps never happened then go back in the early evening for night time fun, i actually considered next year doing 4 days but I think we are going to stick with 5

 

[TGM]

Thanks!

 

[carrierael77]

We did 5 days in April when not so busy. This time we are doing 5 + Halloween party. We simply ran out of time last time.

That said, we were a bit leisurely. We spent time soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the park, visiting shops etc.

If you are there for the rides and aren't into shopping or taking your time then it is doable. I personally wouldn't enjoy as much though cause I would feel a bit rushed. I feel like disneyland isn't the place to be efficient, and go,go,go. It is the place to relax and enjoy.

 

[mfleeting]

Our first visit was this past November over Thanksgiving. We were there for 3 days and there's barely anything we didn't do that we wanted to do. We used the extra magic hour and that really helped us get a lot of stuff done (we did larger rides so we could avoid the waits like Cars). We did stay later than 5pm BUT we took breaks almost everyday to go swimming and took long meal periods. We rarely even used the fast passes and took time to go see characters as well. We did have hoppers but truthfully it was a waste; we did 2 days at DL and 1 day at California Adventure and never used the hopper capabilities.

So I would think you could do it in your time frame just fine.

 

[NannyBeBe]

I never ask how many days I need. I ask how many days can I have.

 

[mrsincredible3]

Thank you for all of the responses, they were very helpful. I ended up booking with five day non-hopper tickets. We plan to utilize extra magic hours most mornings. Our first day will be like noon - 7pm (day 1), and our last day will be opening to maybe 11:30am (day 5). Then we will have three full days, with the hopes of using the pool in the late afternoon on one or two of those days. I think that should be enough time for our family. We don't shop, we move pretty quickly. Of the five days I am aiming to spend a total of 2 full days worth at DL broken up over three days, and about 1.5 days for DCA, leaving us a little time for swimming and a character meal. I can always add on the hoppers if we get there and decide we need them. But I'd rather use that money for a character meal and some souvenirs .

 

[4Siamese]

We did 7 our last trip and loved it. 5 days is our norm. Everyone that asks me at my job (where i am the resident disney fanatic and unofficial disney go to person) I tell them 3 days minimum.

 

[taniahappy]

I would say 5 is perfect

 

[Mich1218]

We did 2 full days and 2 half days with hoppers. We never hop at WDW, but it was so easy to hop here I'm glad we got it. We hit all but one or two things on our list, rode most our favorites 2 or 3 times and had plenty of time to meet characters.