How's My Current Plan Look?

[lugnut33]

We are going the last week in April and am starting to pull together a plan. Does anybody see aany flaws or problems in it? I'm sure i'll be adding things, but this is the start.

Arrive Monday April 26th, 1:40pm at John Wayne Airport. If everything goes good we will check-in at The Carousel Inn by 3 and be in the park by 3:30-4:00. We'll just go slow and enjoy that we are there. We'll do some hidden Mickey hunting.

Tues. April 27th - It's a Magic Morning so the park should open at 8, we'll arrive at 7:15. We will utilize the Day 1 touring plan found in the Unofficial Guide (have used the UG for our trips to WDW and it's worked awesome). Lunch and Dinner will be quick service locations.

Wed. April 28th - It's a Toon Town Madness Morning, and since the park and Toon Town will open at 9, we'll be there by 8:15. We'll hit up Toon Town from 9-10 and then we have a ressie for a Character meal at The Plaza Inn at 10:30. With the 10:30 time we will have both breakfast and lunch. After that, it's going to be exploring DL and DCA, no real plan. Dinner will be at Quiznos in our hotel so we can use the $25 gift certificate we got.

Thursday April 29th - Another magic morning, but we can't get in to enjoy it since we are staying off site. However, we will be in there right at 9 and follow Day 2 of the touring plan from the UG. Lunch and dinner at quick service locations.

Friday April 30th - This will be our DCA day. We will follow the UG touring plan on this . The exception will be meeting up with the folks from the Disney Podcast Network for a get-together at the Aladdin show. Meals will all be quick service. Plan on giving each daughter $30 to spend on Midway games.

Saturday May 1st - Plane leaves John Wayne Airport @ 10:25. I figure if we leave by 8 am we should be good.

Thanks for the opinions.

 

[DLR29]

Sounds solid. The only one thing I would recommend is to not set specific days for specific parks. Since park hopping is so easy, I would hop between parks every day.

Also, I don't know how reliable the UG DLR touring plans are. I know that the WDW ones are fantastic. But I have picked up the UG for DLR and some things I've read are a little outdated or not helpful. If anything, I would use just the DL one and not the DCA one. The major problem that I see with the plans is that it doesn't allow for hopping, which I see as a huge advantage at DLR.

 

[Boo Bear]

Everything looks great to me! I trusted the UG WDW touring plans and can't imagine they'd let you down for DL. I hope you have a fun, safe and magical trip!

 

[lugnut33]

Sounds solid. The only one thing I would recommend is to not set specific days for specific parks. Since park hopping is so easy, I would hop between parks every day.

Also, I don't know how reliable the UG DLR touring plans are. I know that the WDW ones are fantastic. But I have picked up the UG for DLR and some things I've read are a little outdated or not helpful. If anything, I would use just the DL one and not the DCA one. The major problem that I see with the plans is that it doesn't allow for hopping, which I see as a huge advantage at DLR.

Yeah, I've used them at WDW with success also and that's why I trust them. As for the hopping, I feel like we should finish up with the plans pretty quickly and can hop if we want. I could spend all day though in just one area of DL if given the chance.

In the UG they do call all the rides by their new names, like "silly symphony swings". So I know it can't be too outdated.

 

[lugnut33]

Everything looks great to me! I trusted the UG WDW touring plans and can't imagine they'd let you down for DL. I hope you have a fun, safe and magical trip!

I can't wait. I'm getting more excited by the day.

 

[Disney Dider]

Just wondering how you know the hours. They are not out yet...

 

[lugnut33]

Just wondering how you know the hours. They are not out yet...

Sorry, I should have explained that. I don't know the hours, just taking an educated guess based on past history.

 

[Eeee-va]

Sounds like a lot of fun overall!

I'd consider starting Friday in Disneyland provided Disneyland opens first that day. Since there's no Magic Morning, if you get to Disneyland at opening you can go to Fantasyland or Tomorrowland, which will already be busy on Thursday when you get in. (You could even go back to DCA when that park opens.)

That said, I think the Day 2 of the UG says to do the west side of the park anyway? If you're wedded to those UG plans then it might not matter quite as much. (But you could still possibly get some Fantasyland "bonus time" or a quick spin on Space Mountain on Friday, if DL opens before DCA).

Are you all huge morning-people? I'm curious if all the pros here think 45 minutes early is necessary. I know when we had a Magic Morning on a Sunday in June, the bag check actually didn't even open up until about 15 minutes before the park opened for MM. Granted, this was peak season so Magic Morning was at 7 AM, so I'm guessing crowds that early in the morning were somewhat smaller than they will be for your trip. But for myself, I'd personally probably figure to hit bag check 30 minutes before park opening. Being even tenth in line instead of first really isn't THAT big a deal. (But then again, Disneyland's about the only thing that will get me up cheerfully that early in the morning. If you all LIKE to get up early in the morning, then that might be different.)

I am super-cheap and I would personally allocate less money at the Games of the Boardwalk. I think $30 apiece could be up to 12 games for each girl and I don't know if that would really be fun. I think that would add up to 2 or 3 plays of each game, which may be too much. (I'd also check the DISboards for the games that you get a guaranteed win on, as there are a couple, and those will be good for your DDs, IMO.)

If nothing else, I wouldn't buy $30 cards for each daughter until you knew she wanted to play that much. I don't know if they offer any refunds or anything on the pre-paid game cards, if you buy more than you want to.

I know when I was a kid, I would have had more fun with 50 pennies and $10 worth of quarters at the Penny Arcade (which in DL has real antique amusements and penny machines). Your kids might find it old-fashioned, of course, but I think most kids would be at least mildly interested in pressed pennies (and nickels/etc.)--for the price of the cheapest game at the Boardwalk (plus five pennies) your child can have FIVE miniature bronze plaques of their choosing! And the historic "flipbook" amusements you can crank yourself are pretty neat.

Have a great trip!

 

[WonkaKid]

Sounds like a lot of fun overall!
Are you all huge morning-people? I'm curious if all the pros here think 45 minutes early is necessary.

I always like to be the first one in line so I often arrive at the park 45 minutes before it opens. However, on my most recent trip (about three weeks ago) I walked in and got close to the rope at 8:50 because I'd just driven down from LA. It didn't make that much difference -- I was still one of the first ones on Peter Pan.

Rob