Off days or buy additional park ticket?

[gappedout]

We will be arriving on June 21 around 11am at John Wayne airport and will have 7 full days (head home early morning June 29). All that we have planned on our arrival day is dinner at Goofy's Kitchen.

We have a five day park hopper and plan to go to the parks Friday (6/22), Saturday (6/23), Tuesday (6/26), Wednesday (6/27) and Thursday (6/28).

This leaves two off days for Sunday and Monday (plus our half day arrival day). On Monday (6/25) we are planning on going to Knotts Berry Farm (my son turns 16 on our trip and this is his birthday request).

On the Sunday, we were thinking of driving to LA to do all the touristy sight seeing.

Now I am beginning to panic that with the jet lag (coming from Ohio) and crowds, we don't have enough time at the parks. Do you think we should buy an additional 2-day (I would do single park) ticket and use it on our arrival day and Sunday and scratch the sightseeing in LA? I have looked at the cost of upgrading to Deluxe pass but that would then turn around and block us out on one of our days.

I just want to make sure we can do everything we want to do, plus have time to see all of the night shows as this is a likely one time trip.

Thoughts?

 

[tzeitel]

We had the same predicament. DD and I upgraded because we will be back in October, but DH will not. He had a 5day hopper, we did 2 off property days, and still had a day and a half. I got him a 2 day 1 park ticket. We are actually on the full day of his ticket right now. Tomorrow is our departure day but our flight is after 7pm. For us it is worth it to have that half day. Only thing we would have done differently is to have used one of the no hopping days on our arrival day. We arrived at SNA at 10am, in park by 11:30. Stayed until 8, we were beat by then

 

[starry_solo]

What day would you be blocked off if you upgraded to Deluxe? Would it be worth it to upgrade to Deluxe on your last (5th) day or would you be blocked off on the 6th or 7th day? If you wouldn't be blocked off on the 6th or 7th day and it is worth it to upgrade, I would upgrade on the 5th day and then go inside.

Based upon what you stated above, it looks like you wouldn't be blocked until your 5th day, so wait until that day to upgrade (and get a block-out ticket that lets you into the park that day). You would miss out on the AP discounts for the first four days, but that's not too bad.

What kind of sightseeing do you want to do in LA?

 

[tzeitel]

You will have plenty of time with the 5 day ph even ewit crowds.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Imho 5 day PHs is plenty of park time. Enjoy LA!

 

[Whistlebee]

I was also thinking that 5 days would be plenty.

 

[DizneyMommy]

5 days at the 2 parks is a lot. I would get a little bored honestly. The two parks are so close together and they are smaller than the WDW parks.

Personally, I would scrap LA and do something else. The beach maybe, or even San Diego Zoo. LA is huge, crowded, dirty, traffic 24/7, and unless you have a specific must-see there, you could wander (drive) around all day and never really see anything. Even being local to DL we hate going to LA.

ETA - and yes, traffic even on weekends. It can be crazy for no apparent reason. But only the direction you want to go!

 

[mom2rtk]

Just to offer some balance here, we have done at least 5 days on each of our annual trips since 2013. When we "only" have 5 days, I leave feeling like I had been too rushed and wishing I had more days. In 2014/2015 we had APs and visited just inside of a year apart to use them for both trips. We did 6 or 7 days in the parks each of those trips and loved it. We felt like it allowed us to do everything we wanted, but slow down the pace a little and get off our feet with shorter days a couple times each trip.

 

[gappedout]

We had the same predicament. DD and I upgraded because we will be back in October, but DH will not. He had a 5day hopper, we did 2 off property days, and still had a day and a half. I got him a 2 day 1 park ticket. We are actually on the full day of his ticket right now. Tomorrow is our departure day but our flight is after 7pm. For us it is worth it to have that half day. Only thing we would have done differently is to have used one of the no hopping days on our arrival day. We arrived at SNA at 10am, in park by 11:30. Stayed until 8, we were beat by then

What did you do on your non-park days?

 

[gappedout]

What day would you be blocked off if you upgraded to Deluxe? Would it be worth it to upgrade to Deluxe on your last (5th) day or would you be blocked off on the 6th or 7th day? If you wouldn't be blocked off on the 6th or 7th day and it is worth it to upgrade, I would upgrade on the 5th day and then go inside.

Based upon what you stated above, it looks like you wouldn't be blocked until your 5th day, so wait until that day to upgrade (and get a block-out ticket that lets you into the park that day). You would miss out on the AP discounts for the first four days, but that's not too bad.

What kind of sightseeing do you want to do in LA?

Unless I am reading the calendar wrong - it looks like a deluxe AP is blocked out on Saturday June 23.

We have never been to the area so was considering just driving there on the Sunday and taking in all of the tourist sites.

 

[DizneyMommy]

Unless I am reading the calendar wrong - it looks like a deluxe AP is blocked out on Saturday June 23.

We have never been to the area so was considering just driving there on the Sunday and taking in all of the tourist sites.

That’s a lot harder than it sounds. You want a firm plan of attack with specific destinations for LA. It is HUGE, there is no one place to go to drive around.

 

[gappedout]

You will have plenty of time with the 5 day ph even ewit crowds.

Thanks for the perspective! I was there for one 1/2 day, one full day and about two hours of a third day by myself last year and felt like I got nothing done. I was so tired due to the jet lag and a work event for the days prior to arriving. So maybe I am just thinking we still won't have enough time since I felt so rushed last time.

 

[gappedout]

Imho 5 day PHs is plenty of park time. Enjoy LA!

Thanks for your reply! Decisions decisions!

 

[gappedout]

I was also thinking that 5 days would be plenty.

Thanks for your response!

 

[DizneyMommy]

That’s a lot harder than it sounds. You want a firm plan of attack with specific destinations for LA. It is HUGE, there is no one place to go to drive around.

And actually driving in LA is the worst part of LA. It is not for the faint of heart!

 

[gappedout]

Just to offer some balance here, we have done at least 5 days on each of our annual trips since 2013. When we "only" have 5 days, I leave feeling like I had been too rushed and wishing I had more days. In 2014/2015 we had APs and visited just inside of a year apart to use them for both trips. We did 6 or 7 days in the parks each of those trips and loved it. We felt like it allowed us to do everything we wanted, but slow down the pace a little and get off our feet with shorter days a couple times each trip.

That is kind of how I am feeling too. Maybe because when we do WDW, we have a full 10 days and still feel rushed. I was in DL last year for less than two full days by myself and feel like I got nothing accomplished. So by adding additional days, we can really take our time and go at our own pace. The nights were killer for me. I am an early bird as it is and staying up three hours past a normal bedtime was so hard!

 

[gappedout]

5 days at the 2 parks is a lot. I would get a little bored honestly. The two parks are so close together and they are smaller than the WDW parks.

Personally, I would scrap LA and do something else. The beach maybe, or even San Diego Zoo. LA is huge, crowded, dirty, traffic 24/7, and unless you have a specific must-see there, you could wander (drive) around all day and never really see anything. Even being local to DL we hate going to LA.

ETA - and yes, traffic even on weekends. It can be crazy for no apparent reason. But only the direction you want to go!

Thanks for your perspective! I was there on a solo trip for less than two full days last year and was amazed how close the parks were. We never park hop in WDW but it was so easy there.

No specific must-see's. Was just really trying to figure out how to best fill the second off day that we have. I really wanted to do one of Anaheim Bus Tours but none of them operate on Sunday. But don't want to swap Knotts Berry to the weekend as I feel Monday would be better.

 

[gappedout]

That’s a lot harder than it sounds. You want a firm plan of attack with specific destinations for LA. It is HUGE, there is no one place to go to drive around.

Yes - we definitely need a plan. Just don't know if LA will be my plan - ha! Definitely don't want to be driving around looking like a lost tourist!

 

[gappedout]

And actually driving in LA is the worst part of LA. It is not for the faint of heart!

Yeah - I will definitely be making my husband drive! I was hoping a Sunday it would be slightly less awful but seems like it doesn't really matter when you go.

 

[tzeitel]

We did the Griffith Observatory yesterday, it was awesome. Watched one of the planetarium shows and took photos of the Hollywood sign. Was scared about parking but there was plenty pretty close to the top. My bigbthing was going to the Griffith Park merry go round where Walt thought up Disneyland. Those horses go fast! Then went to the Santa Monica pier. Lunch was at the Farmer's Market. The tar pits are really close, so is the Lacma and the Petersen auto museum (love it even as a non car fan). You could also do a movie at El Capitan.