One Day at Disneyland in November Questions!

[mm6mm6]

My DW and DD11 and I have been to Disneyworld five times with our sixth trip planned for this coming July. We drive to Florida from north of Chicago.

I figured we'd never make it to Disneyland because we would have to fly and it would be too expensive.

But I lucked into a job where the company will pay to fly me to San Diego (according to Mapquest, that's just 1 1/2 hours from Disneyland! ) and put me up in a wonderful hotel there. I could easily put aside one full day for all three of us to drive a rental car to Disneyland (I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it! )....

Currently round trip airfare is $386 each but mine will be paid for, along with the cost of the hotel. I could use the May economic stimulus check coming our way to pay the $772 airfare for DW and DD11!

My questions for the experienced Disneyland Disboarders are:

How much is a one day Park Pass?

Should I buy it in advance to save a few dollars?

Can we "do Disneyland" in one day (we'd be there when it opens and until they kick us out!) in mid November?

What "must" we do when there?

One day lunch and dinner suggestions?

Thanks everyone! I'm pretty darn excited!!!!! I can't wait to tell my DW and DD11 about the plan when they get home today!

 

[DangerMouse]

A one day-single park pass is $66 for adults. You can only buy these at the gate. A one day parkhopper is $91. You can prepurchase it online, but there is no savings.

What dates are you going? As long as you avoid veteran's day weekend, I'd say you could manage DL in one day. Although if you are there on a weekday, park hours will be short (10 am to 8 pm) and there will not be fireworks and perhaps even no parade. (they switch over from the POD to the Christmas Fantasy parade in mid-Nov) I would also suggest if you only have the day, you consider purchasing ridemax for an itinerary to get you on the most rides with least amount of waiting.

If you could make it a 2-day hopper and visit on a weekend for longer park hours and full entertainment value, that would be ideal.

 

[toocherie]

How much is a one day Park Pass?

Should I buy it in advance to save a few dollars?

Can we "do Disneyland" in one day (we'd be there when it opens and until they kick us out!) in mid November?

What "must" we do when there?

One day lunch and dinner suggestions?

Thanks everyone! I'm pretty darn excited!!!!! I can't wait to tell my DW and DD11 about the plan when they get home today!

You can certainly hit the "highlights" of DL in one day but there is no way you can do the whole thing (and don't forget Calif. Adventure) in one day. Especially since the 1 1/2 hour drive from San Diego can easily turn into 2 or 2 1/2 depending on when you are traveling (Southern Cal. traffic--what can I say?)

I always recommend pre-purchase--especially when you are on a limited time frame you don't want to be wasting precious time at ticket gates. (keep in mind some of the discounters don't send you tickets--you would still have to go through a ticket gate or guest relations--another time waster). Otherwise, I believe one day passes for adults is $91.

I would say you need to do all the E Ticket rides--POTC, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, etc. Hopefully you would be going mid-week and not too near Thanksgiving. Blue Bayou is a pricey for either lunch or dinner but in my opinion if you did one meal that would be it.

Ok--so now the "downer"--for the amount you will be spending towards airfare for your wife and daughter and one-day entrance into the park . . . not to mention rental car--isn't there a possibility that you can put that money towards a longer stay at another time? I think if you looked at some of the package deals available (especially at the very close but off-site Good Neighbor hotels) you could put together a longer visit that would give you more time to explore Walt's park as well as California Adventure. Driving back and forth from San Diego is not going to give you as much time as you think. I just don't think you will even scratch the surface of exploring DL in that amount of time and you will end up disappointed. Just my opinion (but on the other hand--any time in DL is better than NO time in DL!)

 

[DangerMouse]

^^^ Um, yeah, what she said. Dang Cheryl, you must have had more coffee than me, or you are just much more eloquent in the mornings that I am.

I was concerned for the OP about that whole driving from San Diego for just one day thing, as well. It may be worth it, but there are much better ways to do DLR, that's for sure.

 

[S. S. Columbia]

To give you an idea of what entertainment is available throughout the month of November, here is the entertainment calendar from November 2007. (ETA: Based on last year's calendar, the Christmas fireworks and Christmas parade will start the Friday before Thanksgiving.) The official DLR calendar for November 2008 probably won't be available until August.

If you go to DL for one day (and you don't have Magic Morning privileges), then I would try to go to DL on a day without MM. The non-MM days are Mon, Wed, and Fri.

But the more days you can spend in DLR the better! One day is good, but three days would be ideal for November. JMHO.

HTH

 

[bumbershoot]

"I was concerned for the OP about that whole driving from San Diego for just one day thing, as well. It may be worth it, but there are much better ways to do DLR, that's for sure."

Yep. We did our first two one-day trips just like that, driving from then to San Diego. It makes for a LONG day, what with that 3 hours on the road and limited hours in the park.

We only did Disneyland itself on those two days, but we had two couples (us and my brother and SIL) and our little boy (1.5 first trip, 2.5 the second) so we were moving slow anyway.

Buying your ticket once there takes a LONG time. I don't know why, but the people at the ticket counters, both CMs and guests, seem to need to read War and Peace out loud while conducting their business. It has never taken US more than 2 minutes to buy our tickets, but we have waited over 20 minutes, while we were NEXT, for the people actively buying tickets to finish their transactions.

So cost aside, buy the tickets at disneyland.com ahead of time...I believe the vouchers you get you can just take them to the gates (check to be sure of that), bypassing the ticket lines. Because you do indeed want to bypass the ticket lines.

Each time we drove up from SD we were at least an hour later than we figured on. Which is frustrating; you have no idea how the crowds can build in that one hour...argh.

(I know I sound complainy...but it's best to know these things ahead of time, rather than be surprised!!!)

It was fun, each visit. And they whet our appetite for more, and you can see in my sig what it did to our travel this year.

One day is fine, it can be done (for us, DL only, but since your daughter is older and it's just your family unit, DCA could and probably should be visited). But more days are better.

And be sure everyone knows you're getting up EARLY so that you can be at the parking lot as soon as it opens, so you can get in as early as possible!

 

[oldenewguy]

My questions for the experienced Disneyland Disboarders are:

How much is a one day Park Pass?

1 day hoppers are 91.00 DL and DCA are so close together that it makes sense to do them both.

Should I buy it in advance to save a few dollars?

The only reason for this is to avoid the line in the morning but even then you can just send a runner while you wait in the enterence line.

Can we "do Disneyland" in one day (we'd be there when it opens and until they kick us out!) in mid November?

I went last November and it I think it was open 8-11. If you go on the weekend it will be open later. One day is enough to do everything once (at both parks if it's not too busy and you plan well).

What "must" we do when there?

Indiana jones and matterhorn because you don't have them at WDW. You should try to sqeeze everything in if you can.

One day lunch and dinner suggestions?

Make PS for blue bayou. Make sure you get the 1130am seating and ask for a waterside table. The service and food there are amazing.

QUOTE]

 

[mm6mm6]

Thanks everyone! This is exactly the kind of constructive info I need to hear!

Like I mentioned, I figured we'd never get to see Disneyland! The convention I am attending requires 2 nights and 2 days but I could probably stretch it to 3 nights and 3 days. It would be very difficult for me to stretch it beyond that to attempt more than 1 day at Disneyland.

But we would have no problem getting up and leaving at 6am or earlier. Due to the traffic concerns, we could probably swing going to Disneyland on a Sunday instead of a Monday. Would traffic be better on Sunday? Or would it be better to go on Monday due to possibly smaller crowds on a weekday?

I'm looking at Sunday November 9th or Monday the 10th....

We would most probably only go to Disneyland and not California Adventure.

Don't get me wrong, I wish we could go for a 7 night stay, but my DW is a schoolteacher and it will be hard enough for her to get just a Mon and Tues off, let alone pulling our daughter out of 6th grade for two days.

The convention only requires my attention during 9-5 hours. It would be fun to have my family with me during the off hours. They could explore San Diego themselves during the day...none of us has really been West of the Mississippi except for me going to New Orleans for the same convention last year by myself.

Any lunch or dinner suggestions at Disneyland?

 

[bumbershoot]

As long as you avoid veteran's day weekend, I'd say you could manage DL in one day.

I'm looking at Sunday November 9th or Monday the 10th....

Uh oh....




Have you checked out the menus for DLR at allears.net and dlresortinfo dot com?

 

[Jenn1116]

Maybe DW and DD can go for a 2nd day while your working and then have 1 day for San Diego? I think they should also look into the SD Zoo. I've only been once, a long time ago and it was wonderful!

 

[Rapunsel]

You might be in for some crowds.... being Veterans Day holiday. But I say go for it... You might never be back. Also I would concentrate on just going to DL. As it is Walt's park.
I would also say get up and go on the weekend vs. during the week as because of traffic. Weekends it can be easier. as M-f it can be packed..

If possible could you drive up on Sat nite and spend the nite so you are ready for the next day? Just a thought. What ever you plan have fun!

 

[S. S. Columbia]

What "must" we do when there?

Here's my list...

Indy (FP)
PotC
Haunted Mansion
SM (FP)
BLAB (FP)
Matterhorn
Alice in Wonderland
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Casey Jr. or Storybook Land Canal Boats
RRCTS (FP)
DL Railroad (Grand Canyon Diorama and Primeval World: between TL station and Main Street station)
Snow White's Grotto and Wishing Well
Enchanted Tiki Room and Dole Whip
Fireworks
Fantasmic!

HTH

 

[S. S. Columbia]

One day lunch and dinner suggestions?

I would also recommend the Blue Bayou!