New to the West coast Disney experience

[ddpaints]

Hello all you Disneyland veterans! I would love to get your advice for a trip we are planning for next Jan/Feb.
A little about us ..... we are DVC members, WDW veterans and very excited about Cars Land. We have 2 children DS who will be 6 1/2 br trip time (total Cars FREAK!!!!!!! and DD ,almost 4 or may be 4 by the visit.
What advice do you have for us? Park touring ideas what you can or can't bring into the park what to do once you have done the two parks (we are used to 4 so we stay pretty busy). Anyone that has done both with smaller kids and has advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Virgoinab]

You need to go read this thread

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599

As well there may be just two parks, however they pack as many things to do , including attraction numbers, as the four parks in WDW.

You will have a great time

 

[jennabennabofenna]

we just spend 2 1/2 days at DLR with our daughters who are 3 1/2 and 1 years old.

day 1 was a half day. we went straight to disneyland for about 5 hours.
day 2: we were at disneyland from 9:30am until 2pm, when we walked back to our hotel anaheim plaza for 1 1/2 hrs so our girls could take naps. by 3:45pm we were back in the park until 8pm.
day 3: we arrived at DCA at 9:30am. went back to the hotel at 2pm for a break. and then after our break we went to disneyland again instead of going to CA since we already did everything there.

over 2 1/2 days we went on close to 40 attractions, met 30 characters, let my 3 year old have the BBB experience, watched Mickeys Soundsational Parade, Ate at Ariels Grotto for character lunch, Watched World of Color, and much more.

I felt like we did a lot for our first trip. Considering off season hours gave us more limited time, and the fact that we had two small children.

Although, there was A LOT more things we didn't get to do. Even though DLR has only two parks, it takes time to be able to experience everything.


Hope this helps

 

[ddpaints]

You need to go read this thread

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599

As well there may be just two parks, however they pack as many things to do , including attraction numbers, as the four parks in WDW.

You will have a great time

Thank you so much for that link. It actually cleared everything up for me. I'll be visiting it often to fine tune our stay but it was a great read this evening and I got a lot out of it.

 

[ddpaints]

we just spend 2 1/2 days at DLR with our daughters who are 3 1/2 and 1 years old.

day 1 was a half day. we went straight to disneyland for about 5 hours.
day 2: we were at disneyland from 9:30am until 2pm, when we walked back to our hotel anaheim plaza for 1 1/2 hrs so our girls could take naps. by 3:45pm we were back in the park until 8pm.
day 3: we arrived at DCA at 9:30am. went back to the hotel at 2pm for a break. and then after our break we went to disneyland again instead of going to CA since we already did everything there.

over 2 1/2 days we went on close to 40 attractions, met 30 characters, let my 3 year old have the BBB experience, watched Mickeys Soundsational Parade, Ate at Ariels Grotto for character lunch, Watched World of Color, and much more.

I felt like we did a lot for our first trip. Considering off season hours gave us more limited time, and the fact that we had two small children.

Although, there was A LOT more things we didn't get to do. Even though DLR has only two parks, it takes time to be able to experience everything.


Hope this helps

Thanks a lot for your post while I'm sure our visit will be a bit different from yours (especially with my little roller coaster monster) It was nice to see the itinerary and get a good prospective of what it would be like with smaller kids.

 

[cyclenut]

Thanks a lot for your post while I'm sure our visit will be a bit different from yours (especially with my little roller coaster monster) It was nice to see the itinerary and get a good prospective of what it would be like with smaller kids.

Glad the link cleared it up for you. There are several threads that are a wealth of information put together by Hydroguy.

If you have specific questions or concerns as you move through your stages of planning, check back and ask away. As several have already said, it takes quite a bit of time if you want to take everything in. I would say a minimum of 4 days at this point.

One thing I do recommend is planning the nap the PP mentioned, but staying later into the night if at all possible. The crowds really thin out after Fireworks and F! are over. So, if you need to plan a little longer nap to make that a reality, I think it is worth it. Also, don't forget the mornings. With DLR it really is very light in the mornings. If you can drag your family out of bed, do it. You will be rewarded for getting there early.

I've seen families go early, leave around 11am and head to a local fast food place as much as a mile or two from the park (they had they own car). They sat and had a casual lunch and let the kids wind down. Then they headed back. If your kids aren't really going to sleep, then that is another option to recharge your batteries.