Our Plan of Attack.

[luckyman_apd]

Ok, so we are East coasters and DVC BLT WDW owners taking our very first EVER trip to the West to visit DLR. We will be in San Diego and driving up probably arriving in Anaheim around or shorty before midday Wednesday June 27th, and we are flying home July 1st. We are expecting heavy crowds due to season/ Cars land opening.

It is my wife and I, and our 2.5 year old son, and 6.5 year old daughter. We are planing on Disneyland when we arrive, or whenever my son wakes from his nap depending on when we get to the HOJO. Since my daughter LOVES the Magic Kingdom in WDW, we plan on spending Wednesday at Disneyland Park, and heading back to the hotel for a break, or bed whenever the kids get tired. We are then planning DCA as soon as they open on Thursday morning. We are planning the whole day Thursday (minus naptime/breaks at the hotel) to do Carsland, and what ever else we fit in depending on how much waiting there is due to crowds. We want to make sure we do as much as we can in carsland (possible multiple times on the main attractions) on Thursday.

We know Friday and especially Saturday will be the busiest days, so we have no specific plans for those days, just to hop back and forth between parks and enjoy what we can/or what we like best. Our tickets are 4 day park hopper from Arestravel.com so I don't know if we get any magic mornings with that, but just curious if this sounds like a good plan, or if anyone has any suggestions to this.

 

[GrandBob]

Yes, you should get one MM entry with your PH from Ares. MM days for DL have always been the S and T days (Sat Sun Tues Thurs), though that may change with the new MM scheme for DCA.

Your plan sounds reasonable. I can understand your desire to do one park at a time for the first two days, to concentrate on it. Still, one of the advantages of park-hopping is that FPs in one park are disconnected from the other, so you can collect more FPs, saving time. What I would do, if I were you, is to pick ONE major ride at the opposite park that you'd really like to do, and send a runner over there to get FPs for everyone. To get FPs, everyone's ticket only needs to get activated at either one of the parks, but not necessarily at the park where you want the FP. So for example, everyone could enter DL, and one person can then take everyone's tickets over to DCA to get a FP for RSR, for example.

Have fun!
-Bob

 

[luckyman_apd]

Yes, you should get one MM entry with your PH from Ares. MM days for DL have always been the S and T days (Sat Sun Tues Thurs), though that may change with the new MM scheme for DCA.

Your plan sounds reasonable. I can understand your desire to do one park at a time for the first two days, to concentrate on it. Still, one of the advantages of park-hopping is that FPs in one park are disconnected from the other, so you can collect more FPs, saving time. What I would do, if I were you, is to pick ONE major ride at the opposite park that you'd really like to do, and send a runner over there to get FPs for everyone. To get FPs, everyone's ticket only needs to get activated at either one of the parks, but not necessarily at the park where you want the FP. So for example, everyone could enter DL, and one person can then take everyone's tickets over to DCA to get a FP for RSR, for example.

Have fun!
-Bob

Good idea....and you know that runner will be me. I'm not used to the proximity of the parks being so close (east coaster) so even though I know park hopping is easier, I didn't think about the fast passes. I'll have to keep that in mind. What are the biggest lines for in DL?

We are going back to WDW in the fall, so Space mountain I'm ok doing just once in DL (even though I hear it's very different). Is the matterhorn a long wait? My daughter will want to ride that even if my wife doesn't, and she also loves thunder mountain railroad.

 

[milan15]

What are the biggest lines for in DL?

We are going back to WDW in the fall, so Space mountain I'm ok doing just once in DL (even though I hear it's very different). Is the matterhorn a long wait? My daughter will want to ride that even if my wife doesn't, and she also loves thunder mountain railroad.

matterhorn doesn't offer fp's (at least it didn't before the refurb)
splash mountain will get way busy that time of year
space mountain, as well
Indy, of course, will get packed.

Those 3 would be the ones I'd focus on getting.

Thunder Mountain Railroad gets a little busy, but not anywhere near as busy as those 3 above that you can get fp's at

 

[DLR29]

matterhorn doesn't offer fp's (at least it didn't before the refurb)
splash mountain will get way busy that time of year
space mountain, as well
Indy, of course, will get packed.

Those 3 would be the ones I'd focus on getting.

Thunder Mountain Railroad gets a little busy, but not anywhere near as busy as those 3 above that you can get fp's at

Also Star Tours' FPs can run out pretty quickly along with those 3. However, ST is the same as at DHS, so not sure if you'll be focusing on that.

I would definitely plan on Space multiple times. DL Space > MK Space!

 

[DisneytheKid]

The lines for both MH and BTMR can be pretty long during busy days. Depending on if you go during parades or shows, the lines can be much shorter...

 

[luckyman_apd]

Thanks! I know that Star Tours is the same, and I'm the only one in the family that will ride it. Kinda funny, as my wife is not big on many of the attractions, she just loves to be there with the kids. I am a big kid myself, so naturally I want to ride all the rides over and over and.......

I'm mostly looking forward to seeing the differences between DL and WDW. Matterhorn is a definite for me as I will probably never be back......or will be a LONG time till we are back, and it is not in WDW. Space mountain is a plus for me because it is different, and Carsland will be a HUGE hit with my kids. They LOVE cars and my son's favorite characters right now are Mater and Spiderman, so it is going to be awesome.