Plan of Attack!

[bathman123]

Hi Everyone,

This summer will be the first time my DW and I will being visiting Disneyland! We will be going to the parks June 23-25 (Tuesday - Thursday). I am trying to figure out the best mornings/order to go to the parks. We have 3 Day Park Hoppers with one Magic Morning.

I am leaning towards DCA on Tuesday (Avoid EMH Crowd), DL on Wednesday (Avoid EMH Crowd) and DL on Thursday (Using Magic Morning). We will be at rope drop every day.

Any thoughts for experienced DL'ers would be appreciated!!

Thanks

 

[chickapin parterre]

do you have other disney experience?

 

[figment_jii]

Given that you have park hoppers, it's really easy to cross between the two parks. They are only 110 yards apart (so about one football field). I would decide which parks you wanted to start at, but I would not restrict myself to one park per day. Summer days will be crowded regardless of whether it's a weekend or weekday, but generally the mornings are quite manageable.

In terms of where to start in the morning, it's worth noting that EMH/MM impacts crowds right at opening, but the effects quickly dissipate. I would considers using your MM on Tuesday instead of saving it until Thursday. Summer park hours tend to be long (8:00 am to midnight is not uncommon for DL and 8:00 am to 10:00 pm is not uncommon for DCA), so you might be pretty tired by Thursday. I would guess that it would be easier to be at the parks by 7:00 am on the first day of the trip opposed to the last day.

Oon the other mornings, I would avoid the EMH/MM park. For my family, this is especially true for DCA. We get there before rope drop and head straight to TSMM. That is a very popular attraction and it does not have a FP. The line tends to build up and stay long throughout the day. After riding TSMM, we get FPs for RSR, which are lasting longer now (I would guess between 90 and 120 minutes after park opening). Other folks head straight to RSR at park opening. Over in DL, MM/EMH only includes Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. My experience is that a large percentage of the guests head straight for Peter Pan which means that line grows very quickly during MM/EMH. If you get there and the line is already over thirty minutes, I would consider skipping it until later in the day and using your MM for other attractions. Over in TL, Space and Star Tours are probably the most popular attraction during MM.

In the end, it's all a matter of which attraction you want to do the most. How old are your boys? That will also make a difference in terms of what plans people suggest.

 

[bathman123]

It will be just my Wife and I on this trip so we can move quickly and go on anything

We have been to Disney World numerous times but never Disneyland. I really want to do RSR multiple times but not sure what the best method for that would be if I only go to DCA once at Rope Drop...

 

[figment_jii]

Given you said you're a WDW vet, I highly recommend taking a look at HydroGuy's DLR Guide for the WDW Vet. It's a good starting point and it'll help put things into a context you're familiar with.
http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-dlr-guide-for-wdw-vets.1162599/

In terms of RSR, there are a few options on the mornings that you don't start in DCA. The first is to make sure of the Single Rider Line (SRL). You and your DW won't be able to ride together, but it's a way to get in multiple rides. Alternatively, you could hop over to DCA after it opens and get a FP for RSR. FP are lasting longer these days, so I would expect that you could start at DLR, do a few things and then hop to DCA and still get an RSR FP (if you get there with an hour or two of opening). You can also plan to do one last RSR ride right at closing; the line probably won't be short, but as long as you are in line at closing, you'll get to ride.

On the morning you start at DCA, you could use the wide right technique, ride RSR at opening and then get a FP afterwards for later in the day. That will get you at least two rides together and then you can use the SRL if you want more rides with less wait.

 

[bathman123]

Thanks figment_jii. Those are some great ideas!