January Itinerary - Starting Advice

[FallsChurchDad]

Hi, we have been to WDW with the kids a couple of times, but this January we have extra time off school and will tack on Disneyland at the end of a California family holiday visit (wife's family lives in San Diego). We are really excited. My wife and I have only been to Disneyland separately, for one-day trips, the last being 15 years ago. So obviously a lot has changed, especially with California Adventure! Our plan is to wait until Xmas morning to tell the boys, but it will be tough to wait. Boys are 7, 4 and 1. The 4 year old is a daredevil and loves all rides; he'll be well over 42 inches.

With all that said, we are not sure what tickets to get, and how to balance time in DL vs DCA.

We will leave San Diego on Sunday morning, January 6, and fly back east on a red-eye on Wednesday night, January 9. We can leave SD very early on Sunday morning or take it slow.

Crowd calendars seem to say Sunday and Monday will be crowd level 7; Tuesday is a 4, and Wednesday is a 3. Do those numbers seem right?

We could do 4 days, with park hoppers.

Or 4 days, no park hoppers. Then we're not sure about 1 day in DCA and 3 in DL, or 2 days in each.

Or 3 day-hopper.

Or 3 day, one park per day. Then it would have to be DL for 2 days, DCA for 1, right?

The cost of 3-day hopper actually seems to be higher than 4-day no-hopper. But having the flexibility to go to both parks on a given day, especially on the last day, seems like it would be really nice. We can "afford" 4 day park hoppers, but the ticket prices are still quite eye-popping, and it's obviously nice to save money where we can.

With 3 days, we might get up early and do Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Or we might sleep in on Sunday, drive up to Anaheim later in the day, and do Mon-Tue-Wed in the parks. There are a bunch of advantages for Sunday -- it might be the only day of our trip with Fantasmic, longer hours, and possibly a few rides still open on Sunday that will close on Monday for a few weeks in January; and it would give us a 'break day' on Monday.

And if we do hoppers, what is the best way to split the day? If we are switching to DCA at, say, 1 pm, should we expect a long line to get in?

Finally, is it best to just wait until 6-8 weeks out to make these decisions, once park hours, refurbishments, etc. are all fully released? Or is there any advantage to buying tickets now vs. in, say, November?

Thanks for all thoughts and advice!! It seems like there is a lot less online advice for DL vs. WDW.

 

[Winnowill]

Get the hoppers. It is so easy to hop back and forth between the parks. We do it multiple times a day. It's not like WDW where you have to get on a bus to get from one to another. There's no need to plan a "split" in your days.

It is uncommon for there to be long lines to get in in the afternoon.

There is probably no need to buy your tickets this far in advance. Usually, prices go up sometime in February, so you (probably) won't risk a price increase by waiting.

 

[smartlabelprint]

I’d buy your tickets now through last minute travel club. We hop randomly so I don’t have a lot of advice for you there! I will say I prefer dca in the afternoon when Disneyland feels more crowded.

 

[figment_jii]

In general, DLR does not require as much planning as WDW, which is probably why there are less touring plans/advice out there (no FP+ to contend with, no making dining reservations 180-days in advance, less logistics to get from park to park, fewer hotel options, etc.). That isn't to say that you shouldn't plan, it just means plans can be more fluid at DLR.

The holiday season official ends on Sunday, January 6. So this is the last day for the holiday entertainment (e.g., Christmas Parade, Christmas Fireworks, etc.) and the other seasonal offerings (e.g., Haunted Mansion Holiday). It's also the first day that the Signature and Deluxe APs are allowed back into the parks since mid-December. The SoCal and SoCal Select remain blocked until Monday. My guess is that the parks will be pretty busy on Sunday as guests try to visit for one last time before the season ends. For the other days (Mon, Tue, and Wed), I would guess that the mornings/early-afternoons will be pretty good (especially because a lot of school districts start back up on Monday). The evenings might be on the busier side because of SoCal and SoCal Select AP holders returning to the parks.

In terms of the tickets, I think it does depend a bit on how interested you are in seeing the holiday offerings in both parks. If you wanted to see both, then you'd need to do hoppers so you can get into both DL and DCA on Sunday. I personally like the flexibility of having hoppers and being able to visit either or both parks in a given day. It also allows us to take advantage of longer hours in one park (often DL is open an hour or more longer than DCA). We tend to focus on one park in the morning and then hop in the afternoon. It's worth noting that EMH/MM doesn't have as big an impact on DLR as they do at WDW. For DL, EMH/MM only includes Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, so if you wanted to do things in Adventureland, Frontierland, New Orleans Square, or Critter Country, being there on an EMH/MM morning won't make a huge different in terms of lines.

 

[FallsChurchDad]

Thanks for the advice so far. Definitely leaning to park hoppers now. Sunday is tempting with the possibility of holiday stuff, despite crowds, but maybe we will wait and see. Our boys are much more into rides than character meets / shows.

Any other advice/thoughts/perspectives are much appreciated!