Lots of questions: AG, Magic Mornings, and best days for DL

[phishy25]

I need your advice because I just realized my itinerary has holes in it. We will be in Anaheim May 4-8 (Monday afternoon- Friday).

Original plan:
Tues. May 5 - 9:40 Breakfast at Ariel's Grotto (DD's birthday request). Disney
Wed. May 6- Lego Land
Thurs. May 7 - Disney Magic Morning
Friday May 8 - Disney

Problem is, I just found out that Lego Land is closed on Wednesday. So we'll have to do LL Thurs. or Fri. But Magic Morning is only on Tues and Thurs. So we can go Disney Tues, Wed, Thurs, and LL on Fri. but that will mean doing the Magic Morning on Thursday and I'm worried we'll be exhausted since it's our last Disney day.

In addition, I am wondering if it is better to do Disney Thurs. or Fri? Do they have anything extra on Fridays or will it all be the same? I guess I won't really know until the calendar comes out.

So I am guessing the best thing to do is cancel our AG PS at 9:40. Do Magic Morning that Tuesday morning and do AG later that day. I don't think we'll make breakfast if we do MM so I'll have to schedule for lunch or dinner. Any suggestions about what time would be best? It's so hard to guess how tired the kids will be but I'm guessing that they'll probably have more energy at a lunch rather than dinner? (My kids are 3 and 5).

For some reason I had fantasies of us doing breakfast with the princesses that first day and then going into the parks. I have to remind myself that it's okay to be flexible and my kids won't mind!

OR, I could just not do Ariels Grotto on DD's birthday and do our breakfast plans the next morning. My DD is only turning 3 and really want to see the princesses but probably won't know if we don't do the Princess meal on her exact birthday. But then, any suggestions on how to make her birthday special? If we do MM on her birthday, where in the park should we eat breakfast or early lunch?

Sorry about the novel! I welcome any advice. Thank you!!

 

[bumbershoot]

I know that with my guy, even though we do tend to celebrate ON his b'day, that's just b/c hubby and I want to do it; he doesn't really mind things *near* his b'day.

Legoland is closed on Wednesdays? Wild!

 

[Misskitty3]

Here is what I would do:

Do MM on Tuesday. Consider looking into the Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique for your daughter's B-day. They aren't opening until the end of April so not a ton of info is out on it yet. For breakfast on MM day, Carnation Cafe is good but maybe you would all like Minnie & Friends character meal. You could also do the birthday party with Pat E. Cake usually held around 2pm. They serve juice and a cake which each person decorates themselves.

Do AG breakfast on Wednesday - the park may not open until 10am so that might be a great way to get into the park earlier and get your Disney day started.

My guess about Friday at DLR is that the hours will be longer that Thursday and the hours at Legoland remain the same on Thursday and Friday. I would do Legoland on Thursday and Disneyland on Firday.

 

[Eeee-va]

I love Misskitty3's ideas!

Friday will probably be busier than Thursday, but they may have extra shows/fireworks that might not be running the rest of the week. You'll have a better idea once the schedule comes out.

If it were me I'd want to do LegoLand on Thursday just so I could finish out at Disneyland on Friday. LegoLand closes at 5 PM and I'd hate to be sitting back in the room at 7:00 PM on a Friday night, the last night in Anaheim, with nothing to do. Of course, with a 3-year-old in your party, having that down time might be wise. And you COULD go to Downtown Disney or wherever when you got back if your family were up to it (though assuming no nap in LegoLand, that might not be feasible).

Have a fabulous time!

 

[Hound 109]

What time zone will you be coming from?

& what Hotel will you be staying at?


(the answers might help us with opinions on the best usage of MM & DLR touring strategy).

 

[avalon451]

...and also, what days are you staying at a hotel? For example, are you staying in a nearby hotel on Monday night so you can start your day Tuesday nice and early? And, are you staying Friday night and leaving on Saturday, or just staying a partial day on Friday and leaving that evening?

Midweek, you're probably not going to have fireworks, so you may want to be in DL Friday night, which would be your only opportunity to see Fireworks and/or Fantasmic.

 

[phishy25]

Sorry I did not get back to this thread earlier. I didn't realize there were replies and have since changed my settings so I get an email everytime there is a reply to my posts.

What time zone will you be coming from?

& what Hotel will you be staying at?


(the answers might help us with opinions on the best usage of MM & DLR touring strategy).

We're coming from Hawaiian time zone so we will be 3 hours behind. We're staying at the Hojo.

...and also, what days are you staying at a hotel? For example, are you staying in a nearby hotel on Monday night so you can start your day Tuesday nice and early? And, are you staying Friday night and leaving on Saturday, or just staying a partial day on Friday and leaving that evening?


Midweek, you're probably not going to have fireworks, so you may want to be in DL Friday night, which would be your only opportunity to see Fireworks and/or Fantasmic.

We will be checking in Monday, May 4 so we will be fresh and ready to go Tuesday morning. We're not checking out until Saturday May 9 (where we will continue on to Universal Studios and then a hotel right by LAX. Flying home Sunday morning).

I didn't see anything on the calendar regarding Fireworks or Fantasmic. Are there always fireworks on Friday nights? What time does it happen?

We've juggled the schedule around and have decided to do Lego Land Monday morning since they have limited hours anyway. We're driving from San Diego. We'll get to Lego Land around 10 and am not sure how long we'll stay. Then we'll continue up to Anaheim and check into the Hojo. I'm sure we'll stop at a grocery store or Winchell's that night so we'll have breakfast stuffs in our hotel Tuesday morning.

So far the plan is:
Tuesday, May 5: Magic Morning 9 am.
BBB 11:00 am and 11:10 am
Ariel's Grotto 12:40 pm

Since we are doing Lego Land on Monday instead of mid week that gives us an extra "free" day. We are considering upgrading to 4 day hoppers assuming it can be done (we have the City Pass but when I keep calling I get a different answer from whomever answers). If we don't upgrade that leaves Wednesday or Thursday open. From the calendar it looks like Thursday is a better day to go (Aladdin and HSM 3 shows). We'll also go Friday because of the longer hours (thanks for that tip MissKitty!)

So considering the new schedule, what day would be best for our Magic Morning? Tuesday or Thursday? Tuesday we will be fresh and ready for Disney, but it might be stressful trying to get to our BBB reservations on time. I'm guessing we might want to spend Tuesday focusing on our DD's special birthday and her princess stuff and save MM for Thursday when we won't have any obligations and will be okay waiting in line. Thoughts?

 

[charmama4]

phishy25, may I make a suggestion on the last post you made for Tues. schedule? Did you make the *transformation* appt for 11am or was is it 11;10am? Also, is you PS for AG at 12:40pm? The reason I ask is that we are also doing that: going to get *transformed* then go have lunch with the princess at AG. I don't know what package you are doing but the package we are doing is about 20-30 min and you figure it takes about 20 or so minutes to get through DL to DCA. Plus, waiting for your PS at AG. I just don't want you to be rushed on such a special day for your DD. Just a suggestion.

 

[phishy25]

phishy25, may I make a suggestion on the last post you made for Tues. schedule? Did you make the *transformation* appt for 11am or was is it 11;10am? Also, is you PS for AG at 12:40pm? The reason I ask is that we are also doing that: going to get *transformed* then go have lunch with the princess at AG. I don't know what package you are doing but the package we are doing is about 20-30 min and you figure it takes about 20 or so minutes to get through DL to DCA. Plus, waiting for your PS at AG. I just don't want you to be rushed on such a special day for your DD. Just a suggestion.

We have BBB at 11am for DD and 11:10 for DS. DD is getting the hair, makeup, and nails and it should take 20 minutes. DS is getting the knight package and that is 10 minutes. I figured we should be done by 11:30-11:40 and then walk over to DCA.

Yikes, do you think I don't have enough time? I had made the appointments at 11 with MM in mind. Maybe I should make the BBB appointment earlier and do MM on Thursday just so we have enough time. Now I am worried.

 

[DizNee Luver]

I'm not sure what the hours look like during the time of your trip, but MM would be good either Tuesday or Thursday. We've found our best days (crowd-wise) to be Wednesday & Thursday. Fridays the crowds pick up quite a bit.

The only thing I would have to comment on from other posters is the Pat E. Cake party held at the Plaza Inn. We did this early this month & it was a huge waste of money. We were very disappointed in this. It costs $15.99 per person. You get a cake to decorate & a plastic tumbler with lemonade that you can keep. The host wanders thru the crowd but does not stop to chat with everyone or comment on your cake decorating skills. Mickey & Minnie come towards the end & do a short congo line & then you can line up to see them........DON"T BRING AN AUTOGRAPH BOOK!! They rush you thru with the characters & you spend maybe a total of 1 minute with them..... Our complaint was you just spent the price of a kid's character meal (almost) & you get no character time in a semi-private party..... Thanx but no thanx.... we left this for our last day so we could see Mickey & get his autograph & left with out it...... our son & daughter were very disappointed.

 

[charmama4]

We have BBB at 11am for DD and 11:10 for DS. DD is getting the hair, makeup, and nails and it should take 20 minutes. DS is getting the knight package and that is 10 minutes. I figured we should be done by 11:30-11:40 and then walk over to DCA.

Yikes, do you think I don't have enough time? I had made the appointments at 11 with MM in mind. Maybe I should make the BBB appointment earlier and do MM on Thursday just so we have enough time. Now I am worried.

oh gosh sweetie, I didn't want to make you worry. Looking at your times I think you should have plenty of time for the possibility of being backedup at BBB, possible bottlenecks in the parks and getting over to AG in time. My mind is racing and I"m constantly running times in my mind. Then my DH (the jerk ) just had to put in my head that we leave our DL vouchers at home and not realize it till we get to the hotel!!!!! My worst nightmare So, please accept my aplogizes if I worried you.