If you were to split the parks...

[onlyoneash]

We are fans of just doing one park per day, so we got 4 day tickets and are going to do 2 days at each park.

The goal for us is to just split the 2 parks up each into 2 sections. So half of Disneyland one day and the second half another day. And then one half of DCA and the second half another day.

I know most people use the first day to ride a bunch and then the second day to hit their favs again. But we have a 6 yr old who refuses to use a stroller even when exhausted and a toddler, so it's important not to run back and forth across the parks.

How would you split Disney and DCA?

Carsland vs. the rest of DCA?
Fantasyland + Tomorrowland vs. the rest of Disneyland?

 

[gottalovepluto]

No- that's just not practical out here. You'll find yourself done with Carsland in 3-4 hours... Here's my recommendation: just start in the part of the park that is most important to you and proceed to the closest attractions until you call it quits for the day. And since you have a six year old I'd bump ToonTown to the top of your to-do list! (Mickeys Magical Map in Fantasyland provides a nice afternoon break if you want the 6 year old to get off their feet.)

Honestly, I'd plan 1 day DCA & try to do everything you're interested in, 2 days DL and then make a call on the last day if you want DL or DCA. Given the young kid I suspect you many want that day in DL.

 

[onlyoneash]

Honestly, I'd plan 1 day DCA & try to do everything you're interested in, 2 days DL and then make a call on the last day if you want DL or DCA. Given the young kid I suspect you many want that day in DL.

The hours for DCA when I go are 10am-8pm. Minus 1 hr for lunch (Wine Trattoria) 1 hour for dinner and another one hour break somewhere for toddler to take a nap. We are planning on being in line for WOC 45-60 min early so minus one hour there too.

I figure we will end up having about 6 hours at most in DCA, do you think that is enough time to do most of the rides there? I just worry that if we only do one day, that will be a lot of running around (me and DH would at least like to ride swap GOTG, RSR, and Soarin at some point on our trip)

 

[blackjackdelta]

That would drive us crazy. We move back and forth daily. Just depend on what rides we want to do and what time it is. We used MAXPASS and many things so much easier. When 4 four kids were youger, we did not use a stroller(2-8) Definatey not even time to do all the rides not even close.

Jack

 

[gottalovepluto]

The hours for DCA when I go are 10am-8pm. Minus 1 hr for lunch (Wine Trattoria) 1 hour for dinner and another one hour break somewhere for toddler to take a nap. We are planning on being in line for WOC 45-60 min early so minus one hour there too.

I figure we will end up having about 6 hours at most in DCA, do you think that is enough time to do most of the rides there? I just worry that if we only do one day, that will be a lot of running around (me and DH would at least like to ride swap GOTG, RSR, and Soarin at some point on our trip)

Oh, yikes! Well, 1.5 hours for WCT lunch. (Just because you have a res doesn't mean you won't have to wait 15+ mins just to get to your table. Been there.) Exiting the park for a nap is 1-2 hours depending on your child's nap skills (we were horrible nap takers as kids on Disneyland trips, wouldn't sleep for anything when we knew the park was open so we took pool breaks from the park instead fwiw). An hour early for good WOC standing spots... Yeah- no way would you get everything done in 1 day. Sorry about that, I just assumed you weren't taking a break & weren't interested in nighttime shows. Sucks about 10am-8pm hours but alas that's not untypical for off-season DCA.

 

[onlyoneash]

Sucks about 10am-8pm hours but alas that's not untypical for off-season DCA.

Yeah, we are pretty disappointed with that.

Ok, so I will plan for sure to visit DCA again for a second day. So that begs the question...how do I split up DCA?

 

[Niltiac]

I don't think cars land will fill a whole day unless you want to ride everything repeatedly. There are only three rides, and only one of them has a long line (and you can get FP for that). Bugs land is right next to it and your toddler might enjoy that, and GotG is there too, so I would combine that whole side as one day. Then on the other day you would have the pier area and grizzly area. If your toddler can nap in the stroller, the redwood challenge trail is a fairly quiet area where you can let the 6yo run around while the toddler naps.

 

[onlyoneash]

I don't think cars land will fill a whole day unless you want to ride everything repeatedly. There are only three rides, and only one of them has a long line (and you can get FP for that). Bugs land is right next to it and your toddler might enjoy that, and GotG is there too, so I would combine that whole side as one day. Then on the other day you would have the pier area and grizzly area. If your toddler can nap in the stroller, the redwood challenge trail is a fairly quiet area where you can let the 6yo run around while the toddler naps.

Ok, this is exactly what I was looking for!

So Day 1:GOTG, Cars/Bugs land and Redwood trail (and maybe Disney Jr) Day 2: Paradise Pier and Grizzly

An advice on splitting DL?

 

[az4boys]

The hours for DCA when I go are 10am-8pm. Minus 1 hr for lunch (Wine Trattoria) 1 hour for dinner and another one hour break somewhere for toddler to take a nap. We are planning on being in line for WOC 45-60 min early so minus one hour there too.

I figure we will end up having about 6 hours at most in DCA, do you think that is enough time to do most of the rides there? I just worry that if we only do one day, that will be a lot of running around (me and DH would at least like to ride swap GOTG, RSR, and Soarin at some point on our trip)

If the primary goal is to minimize walking, you could change what part of the park you are in after you do lunch, break, and dinner. You'll be walking for those anyway so you don't necessarily need to go back to the part of the park you started in to save walking. In fact, it might be more walking to keep going back to the same area after each break.

 

[Niltiac]

Ok, this is exactly what I was looking for!

So Day 1:GOTG, Cars/Bugs land and Redwood trail (and maybe Disney Jr) Day 2: Paradise Pier and Grizzly

An advice on splitting DL?

I would do redwood trail on day 2 (it's in the grizzly area), of course if the toddler needs to nap both days you can do it twice. If you want to do Monsters Inc I would throw that in on day 1 as well. It usually has a short line.

Disneyland is a little trickier to split up, especially with younger kids. I'm not sure if your 6yo would want to go on "big kid" rides so it's hard to prioritize. I think you have a pretty good idea doing tomorrowland and fantasyland (throw in toontown too) on one day. There are a lot of rides for young kids in fantasyland, and a few big kid rides. That leaves you a large area to cover on the second day (frontierland, new orleans, critter country, adventureland, tom sawyer island), but there are only 1-2 rides in each of those lands and with young kids you might not go on all of them. For example, frontierland has one ride and it's a (mild) coaster. If your 6yo is not ready for coasters, you can skip that land entirely, or just walk through and look around. By the way, tom sawyer island is another play area and a good place to take the 6yo while the baby naps.

 

[Niltiac]

By the way, tom sawyer island is another play area and a good place to take the 6yo while the baby naps.

Right after I posted that it occurred to me that you have to take a raft to the island and I'm not sure if strollers are allowed, so maybe it's not the best place for naptime. Maybe someone with stoller-aged children could clarify. But it is a nice place to let the kids run around and take a break from rides.

 

[casagray]

Day 1:GOTG, Cars/Bugs land and Redwood trail (and maybe Disney Jr) Day 2: Paradise Pier and Grizzly

I am NOT an expert, but if were going to split DCA in half, I'd do it like this:

Day 1:bugsland, cars, lunch, pull GOTG fastpass, hollywood lane, break, rest of Hollywood lane, dinner, GOTG, head over for WOC. Hollywood lane has monsters inc and turtle talk. It also has a nice large air conditioned room that shows non-stop clips from Disney movies and benches. Disney Jr. is also in the hollywood lane area.

Day 2: Grizzly, ariel, paradise pier ... and if you want to, back to cars land. The park is small, and depending on what you like (I think Paradise Pier has a lot rides that are upscale versions of a local fair), you may find yourself wanting to redo Mater's or Luigi's ride again instead.

Have you looked into renting something like this
https://citystrollerrentals.checkfront.site/inventory/austlen-entourage
So you six year old can stand and glide (which is not sitting in a stoller....although he can sit if wants.)?

 

[smartlabelprint]

I'd add a 5th day.

 

[onlyoneash]

I'd add a 5th day.

I wish! We are already adding a 4th day on (actually a half day as our flight leaves at 5ish) plus we wanted a beach day. With my particular kids, 5 days would be rough!

As they get older we will be adding on more days and going in the summer when the hours are longer.

I am trying to prioritize rides, realizing we will be missing out on some plus planning around closures, shorter hours and such! I didn't think planning Disneyland would be so tricky!

 

[casagray]

While there has been some debate about using touringplans.com, you might find them really useful for your trip.

 

[Linkura]

Our plan for DL is to focus on the Adventureland+Frontierland+NOS half on our arrival day, which will be a shortened day due to not landing until 10:30 AM. Then focus on the Fantasyland+Tomorrowland half on our next day. However, we also plan on being flexible if rides are down or have long waits.

For DCA, there's only four rides we're interested in, so we're just doing those all together.

 

[onlyoneash]

Our plan for DL is to focus on the Adventureland+Frontierland+NOS half on our arrival day, which will be a shortened day due to not landing until 10:30 AM. Then focus on the Fantasyland+Tomorrowland half on our next day. However, we also plan on being flexible if rides are down or have long waits.

For DCA, there's only four rides we're interested in, so we're just doing those all together.

I'm thinking we will be doing something like that too!

 

[DellyHoliday]

I would do

DCA1: Hollywoodland (Disney JR dance party if he's into it, Frozen)+ Grizzly + Bugsland + the long lunch at WCT
DCA2: Carsland + Paradise Pier + redo favorites

DLP1(non MM day): Frontier + Adventure + New Orleans + Critter Country
DLP2(MM day): Fantasy (during MM) + Tomorrow + Toon Town + redo favorites if you got time

If it was me, I would go to DLP 3 days and DCA 1 day even if the day at DCA is short, because there are way more things to see and do at DLP. I liked

Honestly, I'd plan 1 day DCA & try to do everything you're interested in, 2 days DL and then make a call on the last day if you want DL or DCA. Given the young kid I suspect you many want that day in DL.

this advice!

 

[onlyoneash]

I would do

DCA1: Hollywoodland (Disney JR dance party if he's into it, Frozen)+ Grizzly + Bugsland + the long lunch at WCT
DCA2: Carsland + Paradise Pier + redo favorites

DLP1(non MM day): Frontier + Adventure + New Orleans + Critter Country
DLP2(MM day): Fantasy (during MM) + Tomorrow + Toon Town + redo favorites if you got time

If it was me, I would go to DLP 3 days and DCA 1 day even if the day at DCA is short, because there are way more things to see and do at DLP. I liked this advice!

Yes, they will totally be into the dance party!

And one of our DL days we have Cafe Orleans F! reservations, so it will be perfect to do the Frontier, adventure, etc....that day.

 

[KBinCO]

we're also park hoppers... i see no need to split DCA. I would do Carsland first for sure, but you can walk from one end of the park to the other in under 10 mins, so hit up everything you want to first or check the app for short wait times, but don't limit yourself to one side of the park for an entire day.