Planning 2024 Trip - Advice?

[Imaginationsetfree]

Hello! I'm planning to visit Disneyland for a couple of days this year - dates still need to be nailed down, but thinking about looking in the spring - after the spring break/Easter rush is over. I will be there for two full days and am looking at doing a Tuesday/Wednesday.

I need advice. I used to be a Disneyland (self-proclaimed) expert. I lived in Orange County, and in the time span of 2 years, my annual pass had logged over 200 visits. I LOVE Disneyland.

But I live in New York now, and haven't been in about 7-8 years. Planning now has me feeling like a newbie! Since the last time I was there, loads of new attractions have been added, Genie+ has been added, and reservations are now required. I'm so excited to start planning again, but I'm also kind of overwhelmed.

If you can drop some of your best tips, tricks, must dos...anything that you think I should know, I would SO appreciate it!

 

[Pluto468]

I would plan in this order:

Choose your dates. ~Tues & Wed will be good days.
Book your hotel
Buy tickets. ~ If you want the option to return them if your trip falls through, go with Undercover tourist
Reserve park days.~ For this spring, reservations are already available.
Look into what dining reservations you want and figure out which day you need to book them.

I suggest getting Genie+, it will save you so much time. Plus it has photo pass which is really great.

Have a fun trip!

 

[Imaginationsetfree]

Thank you for the advice! I have my days and hotel! I'll be going to Disneyland on a Tuesday and Wednesday, April 23rd and 24th. I had enough Wyndham points for a few free nights, so I will be staying at the Wyndham Anaheim. From what I can see, it seems to be within walking distance to the parks, as well as to the Toy Story lot.

I'm SO new to Genie+ and find it a little overwhelming. If anyone has advice, tips, tricks, etc for planning that out, please share!

I also saw that the 23rd is a Disneyland After Dark Star Wars night, which I would love to go to. Has anyone done an event like that before? I'd love any information on that!

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Hi, @Imaginationsetfree , I'm jumping on this thread because I hope to be in DLR one week after you, and had annual passes 2012-2013, but haven't been to California since then. So, I also fear that I don't know what I don't know because I feel like I should know the ropes. But park reservations, Genie+, ILL, Avengers Campus, and Batuu West (we did Batuu East in Jan 2020) are all new to us! Our timing is in part for MTFBWY, so a SW Night is tempting, but it would be ~$1000 for my party of six, so probably not the best idea. Or we can choose: a SW Night (May 2) or Genie+ every day ($30x6x5=$900). Crazy.

 

[Pluto468]

Thank you for the advice! I have my days and hotel! I'll be going to Disneyland on a Tuesday and Wednesday, April 23rd and 24th. I had enough Wyndham points for a few free nights, so I will be staying at the Wyndham Anaheim. From what I can see, it seems to be within walking distance to the parks, as well as to the Toy Story lot.

I'm SO new to Genie+ and find it a little overwhelming. If anyone has advice, tips, tricks, etc for planning that out, please share!

I also saw that the 23rd is a Disneyland After Dark Star Wars night, which I would love to go to. Has anyone done an event like that before? I'd love any information on that!

We went to Star Wars Nite in 2022 and it was SO cool. I'd recommend it for sure if you're a Star Wars fan. They close the park at 9 to everyone but event ticket holders. They have character meet and greets, special food, an amazing fireworks display and more. If you want to go, make sure to buy tickets the same day they're available because they sell out fast. They haven't announced the sale date yet but I bet they will soon.

 

[ahhhshmatthew]

Rambling thoughts of Disneyland home park person....

Genie+ is a vastly different experience in DL vs. WDW. For my money, it's far more usable in DL. Especially if you are park hopping, you can really knock out a lot of rides and get that sense of fulfillment compared to some experiences at WDW. Key difference: you can't book Lightning Lanes until you are inside the park (vs. waking up and being able to snag the first one at your hotel like in WDW).

If you do use Genie+, we still have great success knocking out lots of rides at rope drop without any Genie+. We typically can really get a lot accomplished in the first 2-3 hours, so my typical advice is not to jump too quickly to Lightning Lane bookings - knock rides out and attack it that way, then stack Lightning Lanes for later on for rides you don't hit or ones you want to do again.

Pending crowds, we almost always get a LOT done in Disneyland during the last 2 hours after fireworks. The park mostly empties out, and you don't have anywhere near the waits. Two weeks ago, we did Rise of the Resistance with a 25 minute wait and Mickey and Minnie's with a 15 minute wait. Big Thunder was a walk on, etc. This was b/t 10:00 pm - 12:00 am.

My advice for Disney After Dark events is: mileage may vary. I would read reviews, see what it was like last year, and try to find "real" reviews vs. influencer reviews (not that the latter are bad, but they can be a bit more "shiny" as opposed to real). We have had very good times, and very underwhelming times, the latter having us feel like we wasted an awful lot of money.

Not sure if you were a big fan of hotel-based time in your DL years, but we love spending time at the GC and the DLH. GCH Craftsman Grill at GC is our go-to, favorite low key restaurant. Never had a bad meal here; also have just gotten walk-up cocktails here and gone and sat in the GC lobby and chilled. Trader Sam's is of course fantastic at DLH.

...just random stuff, but hope it's helpful.

 

[BriannaRuth]

If you do use Genie+, we still have great success knocking out lots of rides at rope drop without any Genie+. We typically can really get a lot accomplished in the first 2-3 hours, so my typical advice is not to jump too quickly to Lightning Lane bookings - knock rides out and attack it that way, then stack Lightning Lanes for later on for rides you don't hit or ones you want to do again.

Just to confirm, you're saying that even if you do use Genie+ and LL, it may be best to not use either during the first 2-3 hours?

 

[Pluto468]

Just to confirm, you're saying that even if you do use Genie+ and LL, it may be best to not use either during the first 2-3 hours?

Sometimes you don't need it right away. It all depends on the day/crowds.

When we rope dropped DCA last summer Guardians was a walk-on.

At Disneyland we can get Big Thunder, Indy and HM done in the morning without using the lightning lane. Since you can only use lightning lane once per day for each ride, you could use standby in the morning and save your lightning lane for if you want to go on the ride again later.

 

[ahhhshmatthew]

Just to confirm, you're saying that even if you do use Genie+ and LL, it may be best to not use either during the first 2-3 hours?

It is crowd pending, but generally speaking, check wait times before going for a LL since LLs are one-and-done.

Just to confirm, you're saying that even if you do use Genie+ and LL, it may be best to not use either during the first 2-3 hours

Apologies -- I am not saying to ignore Genie+ and LLs entirely the first 2-3 hours, more so to not purely use that as you begin your day. It does depend on crowds (if it's busier, than more LLs will be necessary to avoid longer waits) and depends on how you like to do the parks (my wife and I enjoy powering through a few rides, then grabbing drink, then knocking out more, etc. vs. a more lackadaisical approach).

We often times tend to be able to get to 3-4 (sometimes more) pretty popular rides without much wait and no LL at the start of the day, so long as we rope drop and focus on that first (all the while slowly acquiring LLs for attractions as the day progresses). If you don't want to rope drop, or don't want to scatter around the park at the beginning of the day hitting rides without waits, then it might also not be the best advice

Sorry, hope that helps clarify.