How many days? Please help!

[proud mom]

I am traveling to California on business and will be heading to Disneyland after the business portion of my trip. This will be around March 9th. I will be traveling solo and I'm trying to decide if I should do two nights in a hotel or one. Two nights means 3 park days while 1 hotel night would mean 2 park days.

What do you think? How will the crowds be that time of year? How are the park hours? They are not up on the official site yet.

Thanks for your help!

 

[figment_jii]

You can look at the historic March hours on the links provided by HydroGuy. Just note that the March 2015 hours are a guesstimate. Official hours are released 45-days in advance (usually).
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2291124

I don't think the parks will be super-busy in early March, because Easter isn't until early April. The peak of Spring Break (based on the Disneyland.com AP blockout calendar) is the week before and after Easter, so you should miss that. Whether they'll have started longer operating hours (i.e., ramping up to Spring Break), is not yet known. I would expect they'll only have evening entertainment on the weekends (except F! which is running nightly at this point because WoC is down). There are a few school districts with Spring Break during that period (primarily Arizona it seems).

In terms of going to the parks for two or three days, it really depends on what you want to do. If you wanted to ride everything and see all of the shows, you'd need more than three days. If you're more selective, you can probably get a lot done in two days. Personally, if finances and timing are not an issue, I would go for three days. Spent most of one day in each park and then spend the third day either picking up stuff you missed or re-visiting things you liked best.

 

[squidlet]

I usually go solo for 3 days during the "off season". That gives me plenty of time to experience the parks without feeling rushed or having to skip things due to time constraints. For me, 2 days leaves me wanting more and 3 days is more than enough.

Have a great time -- solo trips are a lot of fun!

Park hours will most likely be 10am to 8pm, Mon - Thur.

 

[HydroGuy]

You can look at the historic March hours on the links provided by HydroGuy. Just note that the March 2015 hours are a guesstimate. Official hours are released 45-days in advance (usually).
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2291124

I don't think the parks will be super-busy in early March, because Easter isn't until early April. The peak of Spring Break (based on the Disneyland.com AP blockout calendar) is the week before and after Easter, so you should miss that. Whether they'll have started longer operating hours (i.e., ramping up to Spring Break), is not yet known. I would expect they'll only have evening entertainment on the weekends (except F! which is running nightly at this point because WoC is down). There are a few school districts with Spring Break during that period (primarily Arizona it seems).

In terms of going to the parks for two or three days, it really depends on what you want to do. If you wanted to ride everything and see all of the shows, you'd need more than three days. If you're more selective, you can probably get a lot done in two days. Personally, if finances and timing are not an issue, I would go for three days. Spent most of one day in each park and then spend the third day either picking up stuff you missed or re-visiting things you liked best.

Pretty good advice. OP, pay attention to Single Rider lines (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32518085&postcount=5) and use them. You can do a lot in two days solo. Especially with the large number of refurbs in the works before May. But three days will let you be very thorough.

Note that if you go on weekdays the entertainment is likely to be reduced. Will you be there on weekdays or weekend?

 

[proud mom]

Pretty good advice. OP, pay attention to Single Rider lines (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=32518085&postcount=5) and use them. You can do a lot in two days solo. Especially with the large number of refurbs in the works before May. But three days will let you be very thorough.

Note that if you go on weekdays the entertainment is likely to be reduced. Will you be there on weekdays or weekend?

I will be there weekdays because my work event is all weekend. I'll get there Monday but probably not super early because I have to travel from the convention location -- not in Anaheim.

 

[TheChapman6]

3 days with Disney longer is always better!

 

[HydroGuy]

I will be there weekdays because my work event is all weekend. I'll get there Monday but probably not super early because I have to travel from the convention location -- not in Anaheim.

Since you are on a DLR forum of course everyone here almost always wants to visit as many days as possible. I will say that mid-week early March is going to have the following...

1. Lots of refurbs in prep for the 60th anniversary

2. Reduced entertainment and park hours (see "Historical DLR Park Hours, Entertainment and Refurbs" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2291124). WOC will be down for refurb so no option there, and Fantasmic likely will not show on weeknights.

Since you are solo and can use single rider lines, my gut tells me that two days will be enough for you since there will not be that many shows available for you to see.

Hope that helps!