June visit and trying to choose which parks on which days...

[jth442]

Our family is heading to Disneyland Resort for a 3 day visit - 2 adults, 2 girls (age 10 and 12), June 9-11. I'm planning on getting non-park hopper tix. Spend 2 days at DL and 1 at DCA. We are doing a road trip from TX with many other destinations planned, so we would find it hard to stay longer for the parks.

It has been difficult planning which parks to visit on which days because of EMH/MM and Grad Nights. Since we are staying off-site, we can only take advantage of 1 early morning at DL, so it seems we should avoid EMH on the other days.

My original plan was Tues - DL, Wed - DCA, Thurs - DL. But this puts us in the early admission park every day.

I would love opinions on how best to plan, trying to avoid crowds and grads. I think the Grad Night is Wednesday.

How about this plan?
Tues - DCA, Wed - DL, Thurs - DL (use our MM).
- Not ideal because I think we'd rather go to DL the first day with MM, but unless I change our visit to Wed - Fri, it doesn't seem like a good plan.

It seems most people here recommend the park hopper option, but we could actually get a 4th day cheaper than adding the park hopper. In this case, we could spend a short 4th day at the parks.

So many options...

I've read through several thread about timing your visit, but it is still confusing with all the variables involved.

Any clear strategy with a Tues - Thurs visit considering our options??

Thanks!!

 

[pmaurer74]

I am interested as well. We are planning on the same days and the same parks, although we will have 5 days and 1 beach day right now.

 

[jth442]

I should also add that we were planning on visiting a beach on Friday. So, I guess we could arrange the beach day earlier. And go back to DL on the Friday. Not sure about Friday crowds though...

 

[Blue32]

I will probably be in the minority but I would opt for more days(adding the 4th) rather than the park hopper if you are choosing between the two. Also I would use your MM on the Tues. since it's your first day in the parks and may be easier to get up early. Then probably do Wed. in DL as well and save DCA for Thurs. when you are not behind the EE folks. If you add the 4th day I would pick whichever park you wanted to spend more time in. And for us that would be DL. If you go without the PH, I would add Fri. and go to DL again even if it's a short day.

I would not sweat the Grad Night too much. They do make the parks a little busier, especially in the evenings. But we never had much trouble with watching shows and doing the smaller attractions in the evening.

 

[figment_jii]

I would strongly re-consider not getting park hopper tickets. The parks are about 110 yards apart or less an a 2 minute walk even at a slow pace. So you could easily hop between parks and that way having EMH/MM matters less. In other words, you could start Thu in DCA (without EMH) and ride things like Soarin', RSR, and/or TSMM and then hop back to DL so you can spend your last day in DL.

I wouldn't too much about the grad nights...the parks open the normal amount of time (e.g., DCA does not close early for grad nites) and grads have access to both parks during the day.

Personally, I think EMH has a bigger affect on DCA crowds than it does on DL crowds. Mostly because, for DL, only Tomorrowland and Fantasyland are open for EMH/MM, so the big attractions in Frontierland, Adventureland, NOS, and Critter Country won't already have a line when the park opens. Over in DCA, EMH tends to mean that Carsland (RSR) and TSMM will already have fairly lengthy lines by the time the park opens. You can still get a FP for RSR (or use the SRL) to help reduce wait time if you don't have access to EMH. There isn't much that can be done about TSMM if you go on an EMH morning.

If it was my trip, I would probably opt for MM in DL on the first morning. Assuming you're a rope drop to closing type person, it might be tough getting up early enough for MM on the last day (I know I get increasingly tired as the days progress) and you want to get to DL pre-MM/EMH opening time so you can maximize the MM. They do not open the ticket gates until the start of MM/EMH, so if you're at the back of the line, it can take a bit to get into the park. Then (if you wanted to avoid DCA's EMH), I would go to DL again on Wednesday and save DCA for the last day. I like alternating days better too, but it's the only way to avoid DCA's EMH.

 

[jth442]

Well, I see the value of hoppers. I'm just not sure we would use them. There seems plenty to do in each park, so I don't see us getting bored and wanting to hop. Plus, with alternating days, we know we will be at the next place the next day.

Maybe adding a rest day in the middle would allow us to do the parks in the preferred order?

Tues - DL w\MM
Wed - Beach
Thurs - DCA
Fri - DL

Do crowds increase a lot on Fridays?

 

[figment_jii]

Are you a rope drop to closing type person? I ask because another reason, I like park hoppers is that we can "hop" to DL after DCA closes. DL usually opens until midnight in June, whereas DCA closes at 10:00 pm. So that means two more hours in DL.

Fridays are more busy than Tue, Wed, and Thu, but mostly in the evenings. It's one of the last two Fridays for SoCal AP holders (before the summer blackout goes into effect), so I would anticipate some folks coming in to see the 60th anniversary offerings one last time before the APs are blocked out until August.

 

[jth442]

I doubt we will open and close the parks everyday. We are morning people and can definitely get going for rope drop. We might try afternoon breaks in order to go longer in the evenings. But my kids don't do naps. Either way, I don't see us staying until midnight and then getting up for an 8:00 the next day.

 

[Butterfly123]

There is going to be a lot of fun stuff going on because of the 60th in the evenings. You talked about adding a partial extra day. You also have a beach day lined up. I would ask how important is the beach? Might you think about adding an extra day, taking it a little slower, and skip the beach? That way you would have plenty of park time, with enough days to make sure you get to see all the evening shows. Between the new evening parade, Fantasmic, WOC, and the new fireworks show, there would be a lot of great stuff to see. Just something to consider.

Just adding, maybe you could make the beach that half day you talked about.

 

[jth442]

That does bring up a good point.
Let me throw this out there:

3-day park hopper or 4-day regular?

The non-hopper 4 day is actually cheaper than the 3-day hopper. We are going to be in the LA area either way for those days.
Would having an extra day make up for the flexibility lost because of not hopping?

 

[Carolynleanne]

I will probably be in the minority but I would opt for more days(adding the 4th) rather than the park hopper if you are choosing between the two. Also I would use your MM on the Tues. since it's your first day in the parks and may be easier to get up early. Then probably do Wed. in DL as well and save DCA for Thurs. when you are not behind the EE folks. If you add the 4th day I would pick whichever park you wanted to spend more time in. And for us that would be DL. If you go without the PH, I would add Fri. and go to DL again even if it's a short day.

I would not sweat the Grad Night too much. They do make the parks a little busier, especially in the evenings. But we never had much trouble with watching shows and doing the smaller attractions in the evening.

I agree with AP. We aren't into park hopping - but if you could add a fourth day that would really make things super easy! And I wouldn't worry about grad nights. We didn't even notice.

 

[Butterfly123]

That does bring up a good point.
Let me throw this out there:

3-day park hopper or 4-day regular?

The non-hopper 4 day is actually cheaper than the 3-day hopper. We are going to be in the LA area either way for those days.
Would having an extra day make up for the flexibility lost because of not hopping?

I am a huge fan of hopping, but if I had to pick a 3 day hopper or a 4 day one park, I would always go for more days!

 

[Blue32]

That does bring up a good point.
Let me throw this out there:

3-day park hopper or 4-day regular?

The non-hopper 4 day is actually cheaper than the 3-day hopper. We are going to be in the LA area either way for those days.
Would having an extra day make up for the flexibility lost because of not hopping?

I know I already said this but my vote is for 4 days. The hopper adds flexibility but it does not give you much more time in the parks. More time=you get to do more. Good luck deciding and have a great trip!

 

[jth442]

Well, I ended up doing the 4-day ticket, and we'll also have time for a beach day as a break.
I feel we will have a more relaxed visit with the extra day. I'm guessing we'll probably do 3 of those days at DL, but the kids will decide for the last day.
That puts our last day on a Saturday, which from what I hear in the summer may not be as crowded as other days.

Thanks for all the feedback.

 

[Butterfly123]

I think you will be so happy with that decision. Have an amazing trip!