one day--wwyd

[mrd7896]

hi yall--i am planning on having one full day at Disneyland CA in July at the end of my birthday trip.
Just 2 adults travelling--late 20's, one that has never been to CA and one that last was at disneyland in about 2002.

are both parks doable for one day? (if hopping is a thing)
california adventure looks more like our cup of tea but seems to really be lacking in attractions.
is the spiderman ride supposed to be open by then?

whatcha think?

 

[coaches24]

Before Covid seeing everything in both parks in a day would be difficult to impossible unless you had a very specific list of things you wanted to do that didnt inlcude "everything". But you can do a lot in both parks with just two adults for sure.
I doubt anyone really know what to fully expect now with the covid restrictions. Likely by the time you go in July there will be some answers but until the parks reopen at the end of the month it will be all speculation now.

 

[Winnowill]

Based on the information they released today, park hopping WILL be allowed, but not until after 1:00 pm, and you have to make the reservation for the park you'll be entering first. So you cannot make a reservation and decide later which park you're starting at - you have to know when you make the reservation.

 

[VandVsmama]

From what I heard on a Fresh Baked video today, the parks will only be open 9am-7pm. So no...you won’t be able to do both in one day. Pick one. And pick Disneyland over DCA.

 

[brightlined]

From what I heard on a Fresh Baked video today, the parks will only be open 9am-7pm.

Only for the first couple of weeks. They'll be open until 9pm starting May 14th.

 

[Winnowill]

From what I heard on a Fresh Baked video today, the parks will only be open 9am-7pm. So no...you won’t be able to do both in one day. Pick one. And pick Disneyland over DCA.

Based on the park calendars, hours expand to 9:00am-9:00 pm by the end of May.

 

[disneycat321]

We're 2 adults in our 30s, so this is how we tour DLR.

I would do park hoppers, especially since only have one day and you think you'd enjoy DCA more. I wouldn't recommend only doing DCA. I think there's very little chance Avenger's Campus will be open by then, but hopefully I'm wrong. I also thought there was little chance that our governor would lift restrictions as of June 15th, so what do I know anymore?

You can do both parks in one day, but you won't be able to do everything. I would come up with a list of must do's that you don't want to miss and focus on those. Then, stay informed about how things are going once the parks open (crowd patterns, lines, etc) so you can make at least a loose game plan to make the most of your time.

 

[KelliLee702]

Personally, I'd focus on Disneyland and consider adding a tour (if they are available at that point).

 

[twodogs]

I often think DCA doesn’t get the love it deserves on the DIS! We love both parks, but DCA is a lot of fun for us now that our kids are teens. We still love DL, but there is a lot that is special at DCA. I agree with OPs that you should try to pick the high points of each park and start there. Once you are in the parks, you will figure out which one needs more time based on your preference after you get there. So I would leave some time at the end of the day to go back to whichever park or areas catch your eye!

 

[disneycat321]

I was wrong! Avengers Campus is opening June 4! Definitely get the hoppers!

 

[disneycat321]

I often think DCA doesn’t get the love it deserves on the DIS! We love both parks, but DCA is a lot of fun for us now that our kids are teens. We still love DL, but there is a lot that is special at DCA. I agree with OPs that you should try to pick the high points of each park and start there. Once you are in the parks, you will figure out which one needs more time based on your preference after you get there. So I would leave some time at the end of the day to go back to whichever park or areas catch your eye!

I agree with you. We really love DCA as well. Sure, it's very different, and it's smaller and has less packed in there than DL does. But I mean...CARS LAND?! Arguably one of the best themed lands in any Disney park. We also love Incredicoaster and Mission Breakout is one of my top 5 Disney rides anywhere. (I like it a lot more than TOT, which is also an unpopular opinion, probably!)

OP, if you think you'll like DCA a lot, you likely will! It's a great park that has been improved so much over the years.

 

[mouschievous]

I would absolutely do Hoppers, and then I would play those park hours to my advantage. If DL opens first, I'd rope drop it, and then I'd be pulling fast passes as soon as DCA opened for RSR. When it was close to time for that, I'd go to DCA and do the rides there. For us, DCA was about a half day park (pre-Avengers campus), so in the evening I'd head back over to DL and close it down there. This is, of course, assuming that MaxPass exists.

When we were there in 2018, I hadn't been since before DCA was built, and we didn't get park hoppers. Partly because we didn't want to spend the money, and partly because we had kids and we didn't want there to be fights over which park we should be in. But that meant that by 5:30 we were pretty much done with DCA. We'd done everything we wanted to do, there were no fast passes available for 3 hours, and we didn't particularly want to stand in line for 2 hours for a ride. At that point we were wishing we had hoppers so we could go to DL instead of trying to find something to do in DCA (I know that sounds so whiny, but hey, we were tired!)