Opinions wanted on my Day 1 plan

[teacherlisa1978]

Hi all,
I'm headed to Disneyland December 18th-22nd with a large (for us) and unusual group of travelers--me and DH (in our 30's), my mom, dad (who has trouble walking/standing for even moderate periods of time but will NOT use a wheel chair or cane-just takes lots of sit down breaks), my brother (40ish) and his daughter who will be celebrating her 7th birthday, along with my grandparents in their late 70s. I have things pretty well planned out for Saturday-Tuesday, but it's Friday that I'm having trouble with.

We'll fly out of SeaTac at 8:15 Friday morning and land in Long Beach around 11am. We'll take a shuttle to the Embassy Suites Anaheim South and hope to be in the park, after taking ART by 1pm. We'll get my niece her birthday button and then, the plan is to head directly to the corn dog cart (without stopping, passing go, etc!!!) and after that little feast is over, we need a plan. I'm trying to accomplish 3 goals: 1)Make my niece's first trip and first day amazing, 2)minimize walking/backtracking for my family's sake and 3)fit in attractions on this day to free up time in our schedules on the following days-they're pretty full (Grandparents, brother and nephew won't be there the whole time we will.)

So, I was thinking we'd:
Go to Small World Holiday and ride, if the wait is less than 40 minutes. (What do you think? Possible?) I thought this would be a great introduction to the park for my niece, and a nice start to the holiday season for everyone else-grandparents have never been at Christmastime.

After Small World I thought we might head to Fantasyland and see if the wait times for Snow White and Pinocchio are reasonable (again, 30 minutes or so). Seems like these 2 usually have shorter wait times than other FL attractions. And it would be nice to 'cross them off the list' so to speak.

From there I thought maybe the riverboat before heading to Pirates and the Haunted Mansion. (Pirates and Mansion are grandma/mom's 2 favorites so it would be nice to hit these the first day even though we will surely do them again during the trip.)

Then, take NOS train to Tomorrowland, get on the monorail, ride to Downtown Disney, and walk (slowly) to DLH for dinner at Goofy's Kitchen (hoping for about 6:00). I was thinking we'd get in line for the train in NOS no later than 5:00 to make this happen-what do you think on that timeline?

Opinions are appreciated-suggestions are welcome!

 

[QueenDoOver]

That sounds reasonable to me. I would add in Jungle Cruise and possibly Big Thunder (at least for the 7 year old) because those are such classic great things to do on the first day. Have a great trip from a fellow Washingtonian! Tracey

 

[DLR29]

One small warning. Since this is your niece's first trip, IAWSH is a great way to start it off. However, Snow White and Pinocchio are absolutely terrifying for some younger kids. I'm not sure how she will deal with scary stuff, but you don't want to start off the trip with her being scared and then she won't want to do anything in the dark. Just a thought, otherwise, the plan sounds great!!

 

[teacherlisa1978]

That sounds reasonable to me. I would add in Jungle Cruise and possibly Big Thunder (at least for the 7 year old) because those are such classic great things to do on the first day. Have a great trip from a fellow Washingtonian! Tracey

Good ideas-The Jungle Cruise is the first ride I ever remember going on at DL as a child-with these same grandparents that are going with us so that would be pretty sweet. We'll have to try to fit that in, too.

Here's to hoping there's no big Washington snow like last year at that time!!!

 

[teacherlisa1978]

One small warning. Since this is your niece's first trip, IAWSH is a great way to start it off. However, Snow White and Pinocchio are absolutely terrifying for some younger kids. I'm not sure how she will deal with scary stuff, but you don't want to start off the trip with her being scared and then she won't want to do anything in the dark. Just a thought, otherwise, the plan sounds great!!

You're right-I've always heard about those rides being scary to some kids-my niece is one tough cookie so I don't THINK it will be a problem but yes, I"ll definitely feel her out, I don't want to start the trip off on a bad foot. That's why I left HMH until the last thing that day, to kind of see how she does on Pirates before we go do that one-I'm also going to make sure she sees NBC before we go to help get her ready for that.

Any other opinions? Do you think we're trying to do too much in our limited amount of time that first day, given the crowds? I always think I overplan, but then usually get done with the plan before I think we will-just not sure how it will be given the crowds I'm expecting...

 

[rmom]

check at the end of main street near the entrance to frontier land for a list of rides and the wait times.

 

[teacherlisa1978]

check at the end of main street near the entrance to frontier land for a list of rides and the wait times.

Thank you! That's a good tip. I always forget about that resource. That will save me hoofing it all over the park, calling everyone else with where to meet me, and getting impatient while I wait. Thanks!

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Dec 18-22 is probably going to be extremely busy. Has your dad ever done DL before? I would be more concerned with how he'll last walking and standing all day/night long with having issues w/ his legs and no desire to use a mobility aid. Seriously: it's a long walk from the entrance area to the hub and no benches in between. And during the busy times you often won't be able to find a space on the benches that are available. You may want to really push the issue of getting a wheelchair just in case for his safety. You could always say if he doesn't want to use it that you'll use it to hold your bags or something, but if he does need it it'll be there ready and waiting. Good luck...

 

[teacherlisa1978]

Dec 18-22 is probably going to be extremely busy. Has your dad ever done DL before? I would be more concerned with how he'll last walking and standing all day/night long with having issues w/ his legs and no desire to use a mobility aid. Seriously: it's a long walk from the entrance area to the hub and no benches in between. And during the busy times you often won't be able to find a space on the benches that are available. You may want to really push the issue of getting a wheelchair just in case for his safety. You could always say if he doesn't want to use it that you'll use it to hold your bags or something, but if he does need it it'll be there ready and waiting. Good luck...

DisneySuiteFreak-You're absolute right, this is a concern. The good news is that my dad is a fairly experienced Disney park-goer: he was in DL with me last December (the beginning of the month though, so crowds weren't a big deal except during the Candlelight Processional which was awesome-John Stamos did a great job!), and then in WDW with me in January over MLK weekend. Again, crowds weren't terrible though. Pretty light actually. The other redeeming fact is that he does okay if he can just stop and stand still a bit without having to move-it's almost as good as sitting down. It's the physical act of lifting his legs that exhausts him. He's seeing a doctor for this but nothing is going to change until after the trip. So, I'll be the fastpass runner, the planner, and I'm structuring our days to minimize the backtracking and giving ourselves plenty of time to get from attraction to attraction, especially given the crowds. That's why I'm unsure we'll be able to fit in everything I have planned on this first day but hey, I know we'll have a great time anyway. We'll be there at rope drop every other day and should be able to fit it all in.

I do worry about when to fit in Pixie Hollow. My niece loves Tinkerbell. I just hate to spend prime early morning touring time waiting in lines for characters, so I'm hoping we can get enough done on our first couple of days that it won't feel like such a big deal to wait in the PH line, probably on Monday.

Thanks all for your help! Any more advice? I never never never spend times in the parks doing things from 1-5 in the afternoon that's always either nap/break time or when I'm solo, sit back, have an iced latte and people watch time. So this is going to be really different but very fun I know.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Sounds like a great plan. One suggestion: have you or DH run over to HMH and get FPs while waiting in line for corn dogs (or while others are finishing eating). That will save on wait times later.

We will be there same days (leaving the 21st though). We will be next door to you guys at the Hampton Inn (arriving around the same time)!! LOL

 

[californiamomof4grls]

I think you've got it planned out really well and you all know what to expect going into this so there shouldn't be any frustration. Our family likes to take it slow and take breaks or stay in one place for a long time. I always remind my DH this isn't a race!
My only suggestion is since this is her birthday trip in DL, someone should get her a lanyard and a set of pins before you guys go and give it to her when you arrive in the park! Perhaps at the corndog stand! LOL! There are special lanyards (teal in color) that the CMs where that only the children can trade off of. My girls were 8 and 7 last year and LOVED it. Of course being girls it was all about the Hannah Montana and HSM pins! Although my 8 year old started collecting the Tinker Bell pins by the end of the trip and that is what is on her lanyard now.
I found my lanyards (online on clearance) at the Disney store on the Disneyland website under shopping! I think I got it for like 5 dollars. Then you can go on ebay and get pins 10 for like 20 bucks. Sometimes I can find a seller for 1.50 a pin. In the park a starter set of 5 or 6 pins is somewhere between 20 -30. It would be a very special B-day gift for the trip. Just a thought! : ) We get our girls pins for B-days, Christmas and Easter. Just one from the website and they always look for them and love to drag out their lanyard to put them on. It keeps the magic alive until next time! Hope that is helpful!