Need suggestions.....only have ONE day to go and play....

[rbuzzotta]

I will be travelling with DD and her allstar cheerleading team in April. They will be competing at the Anaheim convention center on both a sat. and a sun. We arrive at midnight Thursday and leave early Monday morning.

We have only Friday to play..............since we are DVC members and go to WDW at least once per year, should we go to California Adventure or tour Hollywood, Rodeo Drive etc.......

Any suggestions from anyone that knows CA will be apprecciated!!

We have never been to DL but do have intentions of going with the whole family over the next 3 years............

Thanks

 

[disneychrista]

Personally I would never give up a chance to go to Disneyland but in reality the choice will be up to you and what you want to do. How will the rest of the family feel if you go to Disneyland w/o them? Are there other children that will feel like they are missing out and have hurt feelings if you go to Disneyland w/o them?

Also, I guess it will depend upon whether the cheer squad will be practicing at all on Friday to get ready for the competition.

 

[michygoomy]

I did a convention two weeks ago and had a great time spending one day at DL. I've been to Hollywood-it's cheesy. Didn't do Rodeo drive, just drove past.

I'd go to DL just to do the Indy ride--what a thrill that was.

 

[diathoney]

Everything is so close together at DL you can see CA and DL in a day. Don't miss Soarin' over California, the Aladdin show is fabulous - a mini broadway show, Grizzly River Rapids is fun too. You can eat lunch at the Paradise Pier area and ride California Screaming. Head to DL (a 5-7 minute walk) check out the "lttle" castle - what a shock! Get FP for Indian Jones (I LOVE that ride!), go ride PoC and the the Jungle boats. Go back and ride Indy, then go through New Orleans Square to the train station. Take the train to Fantasy land and ride the original Small World - the kids sing in different languages and it's much longer! Don't forget Mr. Toad's Wild ride, the Matterhorn and Alice in Wonderland ride. I heard the Storyboat ride is good too. You can hop on the train at Tomorrow land and see the Grand Canyon and the Dinosaurs (really neat at night), take the train back to Adventure land area for Pooh, Splash Mountain (if it's open) and anything else you missed. I loved the DL/CA was so close together. It was neat to be able to bounce around.

I went without my kids. It was fun to do just what I wanted to do. I loved it so much I'll definitely go back with my family.

 

[rbuzzotta]

Wow diathoney.........thanks for the indebt report!!

I guess we will decide when we get closer to the date!! My DH and other 2 DD's may be upset we did DL without them but we can always bring back a surprise for them!!!

Is DL/CA smaller than MK/Epcot etc???? I am sure her team will be holding a practice early friday evening so our time will be limited to the day..............

thanks again for the info............

 

[diathoney]

Definitely smaller! Wednesday evening we got back to the hotel at bout 4:30 (I was in CA for a conference). We went in the GCH entrance to CA, did Soarin', over to DL for FP to Indy, rode the Jungle cruise, ate then hit PoC before using our FP for Indy. We watched the parade at 7PM then hit La Brea Bakery for soup. We were back at the hotel by 7:30!

You can easily walk anywhere. It's so cool to walk to Main Street for breakfast (about 7 min from the GCH). The entrances at the GCH and DTD monorail were never crowded while we were there. The crowds were VERY light during the week but picked up on Friday. We didn't go into the park on Saturday.

I brought my kids back DL pins, t-shirts and the park map. They were thrilled with the pins. I told them we'd all go one year. They understood my trip was work related.