Is there generally a "better day" to visit each park?

[theostwalts]

Having been to WDW many times, I know that people have opinions on which days are "best" for different parks. We usually start off at MK because that sets the mood for the trip. With Disneyland, are there better days for DL or CA? Specifically weekdays?

Thanks

 

[MICKEYFIL]

If you are an early morning person and you are not staying on site, I found it better to go to CA on the non early morning entry day. The park was a little less full already and it made things easier to set up if you want to get fastpasses for RSR at the beginning. Of course all of this is different if you are staying on site.

I would suggest going to DL on your first day, because for me it sets the mood, just like you said. The early morning entry in DL is fine if you can take advantage of it because it will let you do a few things beforehand.

 

[mom2rtk]

You can't compare it to WDW. DLR is more like one big park.

That said, DCA handles peak days better, so we try to spend weekends there. But it's very fluid.

 

[sherilaine]

The concept of going to one park per day is lost on us - our last trip I don't think there was a park day where we did not visit both parks at least once. We do as one of the PP mentioned, staying off site we start at the opposite park that has EMH that day - and with our MM we used it on the Saturday as it had an 8AM opening vs. a 10AM opening on the Tuesday and Thursday. We got a lot done from 7AM to 8AM. We often have a FP runner who will go to the opposite park and grab a FP as it takes no time to do this. DCA can be a break from DL once the afternoon crowds settle in - there is much more space in that park so you don't get the bottle necks like you see in Adventure Land or Tomorrow Land.

 

[theostwalts]

If you are an early morning person and you are not staying on site, I found it better to go to CA on the non early morning entry day. The park was a little less full already and it made things easier to set up if you want to get fastpasses for RSR at the beginning. Of course all of this is different if you are staying on site.

I would suggest going to DL on your first day, because for me it sets the mood, just like you said. The early morning entry in DL is fine if you can take advantage of it because it will let you do a few things beforehand.

I will be staying at the Disneyland Hotel. And am I right to say that MM really won't matter to me since I will have EMH with the onsite stay?

 

[theostwalts]

I keep telling myself that I can just walk to the other park. I guess I won't really understand that until I get there!

 

[sherilaine]

I will be staying at the Disneyland Hotel. And am I right to say that MM really won't matter to me since I will have EMH with the onsite stay?

Yes, EMH will get you an hour early entry into DCA on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and into DL on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday - so the MM on your ticket is redundant.

And yes, you can easily walk to the other park - it's super close.

 

[MICKEYFIL]

I keep telling myself that I can just walk to the other park. I guess I won't really understand that until I get there!

They have a WDW simulator at Disneyland. They park a bus in front of entrance and you can sit on it for thirty minutes. Sorry, that might sound mean, but just pointing out the difference in distance to hotel and park.

If you are staying on site, then it is irrelevant which day you go early. Just remember that for the most part, unless someone wants to correct me, you can not get a fast pass until the EMH or MM is over. Some people line up a little early to get the RSR fastpass for main opening, but generally it isn't that much of a line.

 

[robin2588]

We stayed onsite last year May and had park hoppers. Our first park day was a Sunday and we wanted to start in Disneyland, but did not want to pass up EMH in DCA. So we arrived at security in DTD at 6:15 and were first in line for that, then first in line at the gates for entry (EMH was from 7am-8am). We wanted to use our EMH to ride RSR and Screamin. We did both of those, and had time to stop at the photoshop to exchange our Photopass voucher all by 7:30. We then decided to head over to Disneyland for rope drop over there which was at 8am. We were by no means close to the front for rope drop, but we were able to ride Space mtn, Star Tours, Buzz, Indy, Pirates, HM and get back tommorowland by 9:45 am so my son could get ready for the 10:30 Jedi Academy. My point is even if you want to start in one specific park like we did, but your EMH for that day is the other park, you do not need to forfeit it. You can do both if your motivated

EDITED TO ADD: I suppose it would also depend on how mobile your party is as well. We were only 2 adults and an 8 year old. My 8 year old was a champ and kept up the entire trip. We took breaks in the afternoon though

 

[figment_jii]

I will be staying at the Disneyland Hotel. And am I right to say that MM really won't matter to me since I will have EMH with the onsite stay?

Yes and no...you don't need a ticket with Magic Morning because you have EMH, but MM's can impact what you can expect to get done during the extra hour. EMH is available only to on-site guests only and happens in both parks, but usually only one park per day. Magic Morning is a perk associated with certain tickets and only happens in Disneyland, but it happens on the same morning at EMH. So on Disneyland's early entry morning, there will be both EMH and MM guests in the park. Over in DCA, on their early entry morning, only on-site guests are eligible. Generally speaking, it means that Disneyland's early entry mornings are busier than DCA's early entry mornings.

 

[sherilaine]

Just to comment on how close the parks are - here is a visual.

A = Space Mountain
B = Toon Town
C = RSR Fast Pass distribution
D = Esplanade between DL and DCA

As you can see it's a long walk from Space to Mickey's house - about as long as to walk over to grab RSR fastpasses. And D says it all - the size of the two parks compared to the few steps between the two gates really makes it one big park from our perspective. Note: You obviously cannot get anywhere in DLR by following a straight line so these are just to give you an idea!

 

[Minniekins]

So, someone that's been to both parks, how does the size of DL compare to which park at WDW? And, same question for DCA, which park size wise, does it compare to? Or do both parks together compare to? Are DL and DCA about the same size as each other? I realize DL is much smaller than WDW, but trying to get a better comparison to something I know better, if possible. TIA!

 

[Disney_Alli]

DL and DCA both fit inside MK basically.

 

[sheetz]

I think DL and DCA put together are about the size of Epcot.

 

[agamble]

I will be staying at the Disneyland Hotel. And am I right to say that MM really won't matter to me since I will have EMH with the onsite stay?

If you're staying onsite then definitely take advantage of your EMH. It's not like WDW where the park with extra hours will be the busiest all day. It's only that that park starts out with the disadvantage of guests already in the park for those without EMH. But many people hop throughout the day since it's so easy. We've done non hopper tickets, which worked fine for us, but more recently we had APs, which include park hopping and we did hop.