Not sure what I should plan for our very busy arrival day! HELP!!!!

[jacobsmommy]

We will be arriving on what apparently is going to be a very busy day (June 22). We should be able to get to the parks by 12:00. We have a reservation at Goofy's for 5:00. I am not sure what I should plan, other than trying to see the parade at DL that afternoon. Should we do rides, shows, characters (PPF or PH)? It's not easy trying to plan for a day when you get there late-and one that's going to be very busy! Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[rentayenta]

I feel ya. We changed our plans to avoid this situation. At noon, you should hopefully be able to grab some FPs for maybe Space and/or Splash. I would do that for sure and use them after dinner. I think it also depends on how many days you'll be there and what your must-do list includes.

I would avoid Fantasyland and Toontown if those are in your plans.

 

[HydroGuy]

Someone asked this same question a couple days ago. Lots of good info there:

Where to start touring mid-day?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

There is a current thread about suggestions for what to do if arriving mid-day. It might have some helpful information for you.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2456732

 

[jacobsmommy]

We will be there for three other days: Wed-park opening at DL, Thurs.-early entry at DL (Fantasyland), Friday-park opening at DCA (maybe go to DL for a bit before).

We have to see the princesses while we're there (priority for 2 yo). We will want to make sure to hit all of Fantasyland (except teacups). My son's favorite rides are Haunted Mansion, Buzz and Monsters Inc.

 

[jacobsmommy]

I was looking at the other thread about arriving late. Which park would you recommend on that busy day? Will DCA be crazy b/c of WOC? I thought we could do Tiki room, train, get Indy FP (or child swap if 6yo isn't tall enough), treehouse, Winnie the Pooh, afternoon parade, maybe the riverboat.

What time will we need to leave DL to get to Goofy's Kitchen? I remember from last time that it was quite a walk, but we started out at our hotel (Fairfield Anaheim) last time.

After dinner I wasn't planning on going back into the parks. I thought we'd maybe hit World of Disney and then back to the hotel for an early night.

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I was looking at the other thread about arriving late. Which park would you recommend on that busy day? Will DCA be crazy b/c of WOC? I thought we could do Tiki room, train, get Indy FP (or child swap if 6yo isn't tall enough), treehouse, Winnie the Pooh, afternoon parade, maybe the riverboat.

What time will we need to leave DL to get to Goofy's Kitchen? I remember from last time that it was quite a walk, but we started out at our hotel (Fairfield Anaheim) last time.

After dinner I wasn't planning on going back into the parks. I thought we'd maybe hit World of Disney and then back to the hotel for an early night.

Hard to predict what the impact of WOC will be on DCA since it hasn't happened yet. Your plans for Disneyland sound good. The only comment I would make is that getting and using an Indy fastpass may not be possible in your timeframe if the park is really, really busy because your return window may not open up soon enough before your dinnertime to allow for queuing and riding. (Even using fastpass, Indy from queuing to coming back out into daylight, always seems to take at least 20-30 minutes.) If the fastpass is available, you might have to wait until after dinner to pop back into the park and use it (or save Indy for another day). You would probably have better luck grabbing a fastpass for Big Thunder, doing the other stuff you listed, using the Big Thunder fastpass and going to dinner if you know that you don't want to return to the park that evening. I always like to leave myself a little extra time when getting to a dining venue (allows for a little bit of gawking and dawdling, especially when passing through DTD), so I would probably leave the park around 4:40 or 4:45 to get to Goofy's Kitchen.

 

[jacobsmommy]

Maybe I'll plan Adventureland/Critter Country/New Orleans. We can get whatever we can done in those areas and maybe ride the train. We can do Tomorrowland on Wednesday morning, Fantasyland and Toontown on Thursday morning, and DCA on Friday morning. We can fit in whatever we don't get done in Adv./CC/NO and characters the rest of those days.

 

[momto2nenas]

Hi, JacobsMommy! I remember we were planning trips around the same time a few years ago! We have added to the family since then too!

We are in the same situation with arriving mid-day. I think we'll be following the same plan and doing NOS/Adventureland/Pooh the first day and hopefully seeing some characters (Tiana would be awesome) that first day.

We were discussing it at Disney and my girls just aren't getting that we are going in the middle of the day, lol I've always been getting them up the crack of dawn and being FIRST all our previous trips...

 

[jacobsmommy]

It would be awesome to see Princess Tiana that first day (my dd's favorite movie!) I guess I'll plan a "maybe" FP for Indy or Splash-not really into BTMRR (unless ds decides he'd like to ride it). We can focus on getting as much done in Adventureland/New Orleans/Critter Country, along with the afternoon parade. If it's just too crowded, we could always try to hop over to DCA for the afternoon Aladdin show. We will have three other days to fit in whatever we miss in those three areas of DL.