Newbie trying to go to Disneyland on June 15th

[chrissiecutie]

I looked into changing dates at the hotel, but they were booked because of the busy weekend...plus...we are flying into John Wayne, but flying out of San Diego, so changing dates around, probably wouldn't work well either. I wish we could though.

From what I understood of your schedule, you are meeting with friends in between Disney and SanDiego, right? Any possible way to switch and meet friends first?

Not sure if you are planning on checking out of your Anaheim hotel and driving somewhere off property to meet with friends. But if you're not...it would definately be worth asking your friends if they would mind switching days. Seriously...even just one day will make a world of difference. As others have said, DCA grand reopen day will be a great day to be in DL. But the day before will be horrid.

I understand you cant switch up your arrival and departure, but is there any wiggle room during the "in between"?

Also, have you thought about buying the park hopper just to get access to the MM? That too can make a HUGE difference! MM during summer hours is super early- someone help me with the time frame here....but I personally remember lining up at the gates at 6am.

My family's touring plan with an MM is to hit Fantasyland 1st then arrive at Toontown as it opens since TT opens later then the rest of the park. This way DS has ridden literally all the kiddie rides AND seen the characters by the time the park has officially opened to the rest of the guests.

If none of these things are options for you, then I suggest giving yourself a goal or 2 of what you want to accomplish each day and then as you've said...just go with the flow. Something like, get to the park when it opens, ride Dumbo & Peter Pan, eat lunch at corn dog cart on Main (you'd be surprised at the line up for this!) and then see how the day goes. You get my drift...

 

[engo]

I have purchased the Official Guide to Disneyland 2012 and paid for their online subscription. Their plans say that they only work for early entry, which of course we won't have, but I am hoping that they will still work better than no plan at all??? The plan that works best for us (although we do acknowledge that it is too ambitious for such a busy day...is the Dumbo in a Day. We'll just start at the beginning and work our way through it as much as possible. What we don't get done that day, we'll start with the next day.

Without access to MM on the 14th, you should consider avoiding Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, and do the rest of the park first, that way you will be in equal footing with the MM group. If you plan to have a fastpass runner in your group, have that person pick up fp from your favorite ride in Tomorrowland.

Be there early on the 15th. If you are driving, allow *extra* time and be prepared for a lot of traffic. This could be a great day to tour DL and cover what you missed on the 14th, as long as you manage to fight the crowd going to DCA and get to the gate.

Pixie dust for a wonderful trip

 

[yakmom]

No driving for us...we will be staying just across the street at the Park Vue Inn.

I am sure this is a really dumb question and you are all eye-rolling...lol...but here it is:

If the majority of people who have MM access to the park go in and do Fantasyland and Toontown first and are able to get most of the rides done in that hour, wouldn't they move on to the rest of the areas of the park? Therefore leaving much of Fantasyland relatively low crowd when the 8:00 crowd arrives?

Our touring plan with Unofficial Guides recommends NOT doing Fantasyland early on MM too, but everyone I see post about MM say they get all those rides done before the hour is over and can move onto the other rides.

I will go with your guys and the Unofficial Guides recommendations, but I keep wondering that question. Thanks!

 

[chrissiecutie]

No driving for us...we will be staying just across the street at the Park Vue Inn.

I am sure this is a really dumb question and you are all eye-rolling...lol...but here it is:

If the majority of people who have MM access to the park go in and do Fantasyland and Toontown first and are able to get most of the rides done in that hour, wouldn't they move on to the rest of the areas of the park? Therefore leaving much of Fantasyland relatively low crowd when the 8:00 crowd arrives?

Our touring plan with Unofficial Guides recommends NOT doing Fantasyland early on MM too, but everyone I see post about MM say they get all those rides done before the hour is over and can move onto the other rides.

I will go with your guys and the Unofficial Guides recommendations, but I keep wondering that question. Thanks!

Its not a dumb question at all!!

MM is an excellent way to get alot of rides done in a little amount of time. If you have small children and will be going to Fantasyland & ToonTown, IMO- this is the best way to do it! Especially in high season!!

This works best if you are early to line up at the MM gates and head straight to Fantasyland. Keep in mind that alot of MM folks won't be going to Fantasyland. For example, if it's all adults in their party or they have older kids, chances are they are heading for the rollercoasters. I can tell you from personal experience that Fantasyland during an MM, does not start to get super crowded until after the park has "officially" opened. And I've been there are some very busy summer weekends!! Sure...you may end up waiting 15 minutes for Peter Pan or Dumbo (the 2 most popular of the Fantasyland rides) but fast forward an hour to when the park is officially open and you're waiting 1 hour. So it really isn't bad at all.

From there, I recommend going to Toontown- keep in mind it opens 1 hour AFTER the park. Let's say the park opens at 8AM, with your MM you get in at 7AM. This means ToonTown opens at 9AM. So this gives you 2 hours to do Fantasyland & any other open rides before heading to Toontown. I suggest doing Matterhorn in between Fantasyland. I think you'll find that you dont need 2 hours to do all the Fantasyland rides, so you'll have some free time while you wait for ToonTown to open. And since Matterhorn is very close to both lands- it just makes sense.

Fantasyland will start to get busy when the park officially opens. But by that time you should be winding down and heading out towards Toontown. Thus avoiding most the crowds. I think you'll find that the majority of people with young children head straight to Fantasyland, no matter if they have an MM or not. So this means, you're leaving Fantasyland around the time everyone else is arriving there. The great thing about heading to Toontown from here is that there will very short lines to see the characters. They also come out and walk around Toontown in the morning, so you can find characters that are not normally easy to spot & the line ups for them is relatively small.

Since Toontown is pretty much the farthest land and it's actually down a large hill....it will take most people awhile to make their way here. They actually have a large gate that closes it off from the rest of the park and they are very strict about not opening the gate up until Toontown officially opens. My son LOVES being at the gate for opening!

I'm really perplexed as to why the touring guide would ever recommend NOT hitting up Fantasyland during the MM. It really just depends on who is in your group I suppose.

My thinking is always that if you arrive early, you are ahead of the game. Get to the MM gates 20-30 mins prior to actual MM time & you'll be one of the first in the park. On my son's very first visit, it was a Saturday in mid August. Yikes! However, we lined up early at the MM gates and I have pictures of DS walking towards the castle and there is literally NO ONE in front of him. It's the most amazing photo & was worth the lack of sleep to get there early. He was the first group on Dumbo and we walked right onto every single Fantasyland ride. We didn't rush him or run down Main Street...we took our time and allowed him to just soak it all in. We then went to ToonTown and he got to line up at the big red gate. He headed straight for Mickey Mouse and got to spend quite a bit of time with him since the line up was so short. It was truly magical.

Oh...and if you decide against doing Matterhorn...the time in between Fantasyland & ToonTown is a great time to have a picnic breakfast. We like to pack in muffins and fruit and sit on the benches outside the ToonTown gates. It's super quiet and a great way to start our day!

 

[LoonySeal]

They don't share the same entrance, although Matterhorn is opening on the 15th, so it may be a little busy.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

DISNEYMOMMA 81,

Admit I've never tried Crocs but am always hearing good things about them... Some ppl even RUN in them! And thanks for the link to the Nike thongs. Not only do they look comfy but they're CUTE, too!! I always heard flip-flops were a poor choice for Disney because of what walking in them does to your feet and leg muscles but maybe the caveat is the KIND of flip-flops you're wearing??? I swear I'm going to order those Nikes in chocolate/pale blue....

That's the color I went with! They'll be delivered today!

Its not a dumb question at all!!

MM is an excellent way to get alot of rides done in a little amount of time. If you have small children and will be going to Fantasyland & ToonTown, IMO- this is the best way to do it! Especially in high season!!

This works best if you are early to line up at the MM gates and head straight to Fantasyland. Keep in mind that alot of MM folks won't be going to Fantasyland. For example, if it's all adults in their party or they have older kids, chances are they are heading for the rollercoasters. I can tell you from personal experience that Fantasyland during an MM, does not start to get super crowded until after the park has "officially" opened. And I've been there are some very busy summer weekends!! Sure...you may end up waiting 15 minutes for Peter Pan or Dumbo (the 2 most popular of the Fantasyland rides) but fast forward an hour to when the park is officially open and you're waiting 1 hour. So it really isn't bad at all.

From there, I recommend going to Toontown- keep in mind it opens 1 hour AFTER the park. Let's say the park opens at 8AM, with your MM you get in at 7AM. This means ToonTown opens at 9AM. So this gives you 2 hours to do Fantasyland & any other open rides before heading to Toontown. I suggest doing Matterhorn in between Fantasyland. I think you'll find that you dont need 2 hours to do all the Fantasyland rides, so you'll have some free time while you wait for ToonTown to open. And since Matterhorn is very close to both lands- it just makes sense.

Fantasyland will start to get busy when the park officially opens. But by that time you should be winding down and heading out towards Toontown. Thus avoiding most the crowds. I think you'll find that the majority of people with young children head straight to Fantasyland, no matter if they have an MM or not. So this means, you're leaving Fantasyland around the time everyone else is arriving there. The great thing about heading to Toontown from here is that there will very short lines to see the characters. They also come out and walk around Toontown in the morning, so you can find characters that are not normally easy to spot & the line ups for them is relatively small.

Since Toontown is pretty much the farthest land and it's actually down a large hill....it will take most people awhile to make their way here. They actually have a large gate that closes it off from the rest of the park and they are very strict about not opening the gate up until Toontown officially opens. My son LOVES being at the gate for opening!

I'm really perplexed as to why the touring guide would ever recommend NOT hitting up Fantasyland during the MM. It really just depends on who is in your group I suppose.

My thinking is always that if you arrive early, you are ahead of the game. Get to the MM gates 20-30 mins prior to actual MM time & you'll be one of the first in the park. On my son's very first visit, it was a Saturday in mid August. Yikes! However, we lined up early at the MM gates and I have pictures of DS walking towards the castle and there is literally NO ONE in front of him. It's the most amazing photo & was worth the lack of sleep to get there early. He was the first group on Dumbo and we walked right onto every single Fantasyland ride. We didn't rush him or run down Main Street...we took our time and allowed him to just soak it all in. We then went to ToonTown and he got to line up at the big red gate. He headed straight for Mickey Mouse and got to spend quite a bit of time with him since the line up was so short. It was truly magical.

Oh...and if you decide against doing Matterhorn...the time in between Fantasyland & ToonTown is a great time to have a picnic breakfast. We like to pack in muffins and fruit and sit on the benches outside the ToonTown gates. It's super quiet and a great way to start our day!

OP doesn't have a MM, just a 2 day *1 park per day ticket* OP gotta say it, poor ticket choice, it's so easy to hop!

 

[chrissiecutie]

OP doesn't have a MM, just a 2 day *1 park per day ticket* OP gotta say it, poor ticket choice, it's so easy to hop!

DisneyMomma- I have to agree...a park hopper is simply the way to go.

But the OP did ask specifically about MM & I had suggested earlier up in this thread if OP would consider buying a park hopper & one that included MM. IMO, on either of these 2 days, likely to see record attendance #'s, paying a little extra to get a PH & MM would be worth it!

It's been awhile since I purchased a PH that has MM, but if I remember correctly, AAA has them. And you don't have to be a AAA member to use AAA tix. We had my father in law buy ours...worked well, we got MM & free parking. While AAA isn't usually the cheapest, the MM is SO worth spending a little extra for!

 

[yakmom]

Hindsight is 20/20 right? LOL! We planned this trip (purchased airline tickets and made hotel reservations) without knowing that Carsland was opening the exact days we were there. We only had two days that we could spend at DLR, and since the 14th was closed at CA, it didn't make sense for us to buy Park Hopper tickets. 14th it would be closed and the 15th it would be nuts! Couldn't schedule the trip any earlier...hubby is a teacher and kids were in school. They are done with school today and we are on a plane on Wednesday morning at 6:00. Didn't want to go much later in the month because I personally can't handle the heat.

It is what it is going to be...and that is packed. But, I figure with all your helpful suggestions and insight, we will make it work as well as we can. We are blessed to have Kidlets that have no expectations and therefore I am trying really hard not to project my internal unease onto them. Heck, they are excited to go to our neighborhood park, so just imagine their faces when they see all the magic at Disneyland! I am soooo excited to just absorb all their little happiness.

If I have learned nothing from this experience it is that you don't just "go" to Disneyland; you have to plan, know the lingo, and research, research, research. Oh, and I would also have planned a much larger BUDGET.

The beauty of this is that Disneyland is not our only destination this vacation...we plan to truly vacation on the beautiful beaches of San Diego!

Thanks again for all of your thoughts and insight!

 

[profa]

I feel your pain. We did the same thing but our res is for the following wk - same deal school teacher, school ( we leave the day it is out) and a wedding at the end of the month that we have to return for.
Anyway, didn't know carsland was opening, only recently found out that our first day at DL is suppose to be ONE of THE busiest - june 24. That sure put a wrench in things. Hoping that all the people will be at carsland that day while we are in DL and we do have a MM. Also we have 3 kids - 8,7, 4. Fearing for the worst; hoping for the best Hope your trip goes well. we have a little wiggle room but basically w/ CL opening - I think it's just going to be plain busy. Interested to hear how that all goes.

 

[yakmom]

Profa, ahhhh...so glad I have someone to commiserate with! LOL! I will try to get on and post while we are there. Did you purchase access to Unofficial Guide online? I did...put in my dates and times we plan to be at the park and printed off a suggested itinerary, keeping in mind line wait times, our break and meal times...added in the shows we want to see. I know we probably won't be able to follow it 100%, but to just have it for a guide and reference as we are walking through HAS to be helpful, right? I can let you know how the plans work out in reality too...

 

[HydroGuy]

I am sure this is a really dumb question and you are all eye-rolling...lol...but here it is:

If the majority of people who have MM access to the park go in and do Fantasyland and Toontown first and are able to get most of the rides done in that hour, wouldn't they move on to the rest of the areas of the park? Therefore leaving much of Fantasyland relatively low crowd when the 8:00 crowd arrives?

Our touring plan with Unofficial Guides recommends NOT doing Fantasyland early on MM too, but everyone I see post about MM say they get all those rides done before the hour is over and can move onto the other rides.

I will go with your guys and the Unofficial Guides recommendations, but I keep wondering that question. Thanks!

What happens is some folks show up late to MM and/or do not know the best ride order. So by the time MM ends there are lines for everything in FL. These lines just grow after regular guests enter.