May touring plan - any comments?

[mommyof2boys1girl]

Hey everyone,
Just trying to come up with our touring plan for May, and as I am a bit out of touch with crowd demographics, I was wondering if any experts could comment on the following.

Fly into LAX Friday,May 21, Check in to Camelot and bum around DTD (kiddos desperate to go to Lego store!)
Saturday - Probable park hours 8-12, 10-9(dca). Be there at opening, ride all we can, use FP runner (me) wherever possible. Probably take a mid-day siesta, so we can last till Fireworks (cancelled all but 1 night on our last visit, so we want to make sure we get to see them at least once)

Sunday - start out at DL, head over to DCA at opening - try to ride TSMM before lines get long. Probably Princess Dinner at Ariel's. If WOC is open, will DCA be swamped at opening - should we avoid it like the plague till later in the day once tickets have been sold?

Monday - off park day - heading to Legoland, probably taking bus tour so we don't have the hassle of car rental and carseats with 3 kids...

Tuesday - MM - FL. Have all the MM strategies filed away - won't bore anyone repeating them.... Divide and conquer strategy with Jedi Training and Pixie Hollow/PFF (not sure which one dd wants to do yet...) Dh takes boys, dd and I head for "girly" stuff, boys off to fight Darth (hopefully) Doing this early in the trip, so if we need to return, we have that option.

Wed - TTMM, then semi-fluid ride schedule

Thurs - earliest seating at Minnie and Friends, semi fluid ride schedule, see PHD for dd

Friday - final day. Friday before Mem Day weekend, we are assuming things will be busy. Strategy is to grab FP's throughout the day, relax, take in parades, shop, take lots of photos, and soak in every magical moment we can while battling crowds as little as possible - "go with the flow" day.

Sat - will have used all 6 PH days, so shop at DTD, swim at pool, pack for flight following day.

We are "be there at opening" kind of people, so we will definitely be in early each day. We may take midday breaks, depending on how tired the kids are - driving them too hard makes for a bad experience for all of us! Our previous routine was: Be at DL for opening, nap at hotel after lunch, return to DCA for PPP (kids fav!), stay till close (usually 6pm), back to DL till close (usually 8pm). The kids are 2 yrs older now, so naps each day will probably not happen, but there may be some days we are all ready for a break!
Is DCA still a quiet place to retreat to when crowds at DL start to build, or will WOC and TSMM have changed all that?

Any thoughts?

 

[Eeee-va]

There are actually some theories that the Saturday before Memorial Day will be significantly LESS busy than the days prior, because three tiers of APs will be blocked out. If you want the big long explanation, it's at http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2365983

It's just my opinion, but I do think that Friday will be significantly more crowded than Saturday. So, I would swap your last Friday with Saturday if possible. (Besides, I'd rather spend my last day in Disneyland than hanging out at the hotel and Downtown Disney! )

Unless you are adverse to Goofy's Kitchen, I would consider going there on your non-park-day as well, in addition to or instead of one of the other meals. That way you could still have a very Disney day without stepping foot inside the parks proper.

I'd also CONSIDER going to Legoland on Sunday instead of Monday because DL's crowds will probably be much bigger on Sunday than Monday. That said, if fireworks are such a high priority, you might prefer to stay in DL because you'll have one more chance to see them.

I've read rumors that WoC could start as early as early May or as late as Memorial Day, so I'm not sure it'll be going on when you are there or not. but it sounds like it will (with a chance that the premiere might be your last Friday!!!)

IF WoC is playing, I think there's a decent chance DCA's hours will be later than 6 PM on weekdays, and crowds may necessitate longer hours for both parks, really. No one knows for sure how it will affect crowd flow, but I'm sure people here will be able to figure out the best routes to take to avoid the WoC crowds in the morning. I don't know that I'd necessarily avoid DCA at opening, but it may get crowded much, much faster than usual. (Which would still probably make it important to get there at opening. That said, I wouldn't be SHOCKED if how it worked was: crowds fill DCA, grab WoC tickets, ride some things, and then hop over to DL mid-day. That would be an interesting flip of the usual flow which has Disneyland getting busy and people hopping to DCA mid-day.)

Anyway, TSMM hasn't really made DCA THAT much busier overall, IMO, but I think WoC MAY be the tipping point. It'll be interesting to see!