One day in DL - how's my plan?

[kylemaddens]

I've been to WDW more times than I can count but this April (for the first time since I was about six) I'm going to Disneyland! After much deliberation, I've determined that due to timing and money (and my host in LA), I will only spend one day, driving there in the morning and leaving late that night. Right now, I'm hoping this will occur on Wednesday, April 4th. Given that I only have one day (and I hope to return in the near future), I'm only doing Disneyland Park, but I'd still like to see as much as humanly possible. It will just be me and my friend - we're each in our early twenties so we can handle lack of sleep and any amount of walking. After reading the Unofficial Guide cover to cover and subsequently using the TouringPlans.com software to develop a customized/computer-optimized plan, I think I actually know what I'm going to do. Now I'm just looking for a human to tell me if this plan actually makes any sense.

A few notes, first:
1. Park hours are 8 AM - 12 AM, and there is no early entry
2. I'm absolutely in love with the idea and everything I've read about Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar at Disneyland Hotel, plus I want to at least see Downtown Disney, so I'm planning on leaving the park and walking there for a drink or two, then taking the monorail back
3. I'm hoping to see RDTC, MMY, Soundsational, and Fantasmic. But I've seen MMY at Magic Kingdom at WDW and Soundsational is a daytime parade... so I can really skip them both.
4. Matterhorn will still be closed (which I'm pretty bummed about)

So here's my plan (which I tastefully named "Kyle and Michael DESTROY DISNEYLAND")

1. Be at turnstiles by 7:30 AM
2. Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
3. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride Ride
4. Peter Pan's Flight
5. Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
6. Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin
7. Storybook Land Canal Boats
8. Alice in Wonderland
9. 
Obtain FASTPASSes for Space Mountain
10. Pinocchio's Daring Journey
11. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
12. Haunted Mansion
13. Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough

14. Obtain FASTPASSes for Indiana Jones Adventure
15. 
Ride Space Mountain using FASTPASSes acquired earlier
16. Captain EO
17. Mickey's Soundsational Parade (4:00 PM)
18. Sailing Ship Columbia
 (Ride Mark Twain if significantly faster)
19. 
Ride Indiana Jones Adventure using FASTPASSes acquired earlier
20. Enchanted Tiki Room
21. Jungle Cruise

22. Leave park, walk through Downtown Disney District to Disneyland Hotel
23. Have drinks and appetizers at Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar (~5:45 PM)
24. Take Monorail back from Disneyland Hotel
25. 
Take Disneyland Railroad from Tomorrowland to Mickey's Toontown
26. See The Magic, The Memories, and You! (8:40 PM)
27. The Disneyland Story presenting Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln
28. Watch Remember Dreams Come True (9:30 PM)
29. it's a small world
30. Experience Fantasmic! (10:30 PM)
31. Pirates of the Caribbean
32. Splash Mountain
33. Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters

 

[kylemaddens]

In an effort to have more actual questions, my primary concerns are that leaving Pirates until that late puts me at risk of not seeing it (which would not do at all).

Also, if I put small world in between the fireworks and Fantasmic, I suspect I won't arrive early enough to get a decent view.

Any specific tips, attractions I should really skip (or add in), or just general advice/comments for (as well as I can really remember) a first-timer?

 

[skiingfast]

#2 should be get ST FP.
#3 ride PP
#4 Mr. Toad.
Between #5 and #6
Get Space FP

If you are sure about Trader Sams.
Leave the park between 1pm and 2pm. This will let you A. go to TS when it's quieter, B. avoid the much bigger evening lines to get back on the Monorail when people are going back to the park for dinner.

You will want to go strait from RDCT to F! if you want a decent spot to watch from. During the wait for F! to start if it's acceptable to you go one at a time on POTC while the other holds the viewing spot.

 

[DizFan13]

For the most part, I think this plan looks good. I would swap Peter Pan and Mr. Toad, though, and be prepared for a wait. PP fills up fast! Also, I can see why you are concerned about PotC. Would you consider switching with Haunted Mansion? Although the mansions are different between the parks, they are not as different as the pirates, in my opinion. And as for trying to see Small World so late, the big problem might be whether or not it is running. Someone who knows can correct me if I am wrong, but I think sometimes this is one of the rides that closes for the fireworks? Even if not, however, the amount of time that it takes to get onto the ride combined with the duration of the ride could make it difficult, if not impossible, to see F!

 

[ImTooExcitedToSleep]

Check out last the 03/01 Disneyland Edition of the DIS Unplugged Podcast. We discussed touring plans for a single day visit to DL for a WDW vet. Coincidence?

You can download it from iTunes or from this page:
DIS Unplugged

or listen directly here.

 

[brenda1966]

The plan looks very aggressive to me considering this will be a spring break week. My first thought is to skip Star Tours. *gasp*! It really is the same as WDW, so I think that can fall by the wayside. I'd either head to the Nemo Subs first or Fantasyland first, maybe stopping to get a Space FP before riding anything. And yes, always do Peter Pan first in FL. And I would move Small World up to earlier in the day. When you walk back to Roger Rabbit, that would be a good time to do Small World.

Keep in mind that Toontown opens later, so don't rush back to Roger Rabbit. Also, if you want to see Fireworks from the hub and then see Fantasmic, you cannot do anything in between -- just head to Fantasmic.

I'd probably skip the daytime parade. They all kind of look the same to me after a while and use can use that time to ride Pirate, HM, BTMRR, etc.

I hope you enjoy your adventure in DL!

 

[DLR29]

Some comments:

1. Peter Pan first!!! If you do Star Tours first, by the time you get to Peter Pan, the line will be at least 20-30 min. Peter Pan first! Then do Mr. Toad, Alice and Storybookland cause they are all close together.

2. Use more FP! It looks like you only have 2 sets of FP planned out. If you get a Star Tours FP first thing before heading over to Peter Pan, it'll have a return time of 8:40-9:40 (or slightly after)...therefore, you can get another FP at 8:40, say for Space or Indy. Continue to do this throughout the day. Also, if you didn't know, you can use FPs even after the return time window has "expired".

My guess is that in a full day of 8AM-12AM, 4-5 sets of FP is reasonable, although more could be possible. You can use it for Splash during the middle of the day so you don't have to ride it at night when it's colder. BTMRR's FP is one of the best FPs in the park because you only wait in line for about 5 minutes max. With Roger Rabbit, its FP is not connected to the overall FP system, so the rule about waiting to get your next FP do not apply for RR only. There are a lot of tricks that you can play around with, and I bet you can get on Space and/or Indy more than just once if you really maximize FP.

3. I wouldn't worry about not getting on Pirates. The line is probably the fastest moving line in the park and usually really dies down after Fantasmic. Shouldn't be more than 20 min that late at night.

 

[brenda1966]

Some comments:

1. Peter Pan first!!! If you do Star Tours first, by the time you get to Peter Pan, the line will be at least 20-30 min. Peter Pan first! Then do Mr. Toad, Alice and Storybookland cause they are all close together.
.

Great advice above from DLR29, but I would note that Storybookland doesn't always open at the same time as the rest of FL. It is often on a delayed opening.

And yes, great suggestion to use FP more. I'm not sure what the FP situtation is this year with Star Tours, but hopefully it has died down a bit from the madness of last year.

 

[Eeee-va]

I would personally skip MMY--the video of the MK clips I saw looked much more impressive than DL's version. The castle is just a neater place to project than IASW, in my opinion (though IASW is great for Christmas). If you had several days, sure, why not? But you don't, so I wouldn't make it any sort of priority.

I'll agree the suggestions to do Peter Pan first (you could skip Star Tours). Alice seems to get a line pretty quickly too (during a recent early entry, Alice got a line quicker than Mr. Toad). So I would nudge Alice up. You COULD do Pinocchio/Snow White after Fantasmic! with probably no wait.

I would absolutely move your must-dos (and Pirates should be a must-do!) up in your schedule. Pirates is a ride that usually has a fast-moving line. I would not save it for the end of the day just because it is such a long ride. If you want to do everything, it makes some sense to wait 10 or 15 minutes during a time when everything is busy, for a ride that takes about 16 minutes. I wouldn't want to wait 0 minutes for a ride that will eat up 16 minutes of touring time when the park is less busy.

Also, rides sometimes break down (Indy often goes down sometime during the day or night, and I've walked by when Space, Pirates, Splash, and the Nemo subs were broken down too). Now, usually they come back online later, but if you must see these rides, I would check them out earlier. And you have so much piled in there, if everything takes an average of 30 minutes (counting walking), I don't think you can hit them all, even if you don't eat or use the restroom. In addition to rearranging, I would take about 5 things on your list and make them "nice to do" or "do if ahead of schedule".

Just FYI, I've had times where I've had to wait 15 minutes or more for the train and the monorail can be just as bad. You definitely have the right idea to ride the monorail INTO the park, though (track is so much nicer than going out!) but sometimes it is faster to walk.

You are doing a substantial amount of criss-crossing, which eats up time. For instance, you go from Fantasyland (2 rides) to Tomorrowland (1 ride) to Toontown (1 ride) to Fantasyland (2 rides) to Tomorrowland (just grabbing a FP) to Fantasyland (1 ride) to Adventureland (1 ride) to New Orleans Square (1 ride) to Fantasyland (1 attraction). That can make sense sometimes, but if I were you I'd try to group attractions unless there is a very good reason not to. Even if you have unlimited energy, walking takes time. Pirates and Haunted Mansion are usually a good combo; they are very close to each other. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is near both of them.

With a little rearranging, I think your morning plan is possible (again, I'd play with it). But I don't think you can do a ship, Indy, the Tiki Room, and the Jungle Cruise in about an hour after Soundsational. I'm not sure everything in your evening plan will happen, either. If you want a guaranteed good view of Fantasmic! you should head over there after the fireworks...but I don't know how tall you are or how much you need to see of the show. (I like the show but aside from the barges, the parts I found the most magical--the dragon and the boat scenes--are OK viewed from almost anywhere.)

Have a great trip!