Planning a Trip for August and have several questions!

[Chernabog#1fan]

My family and I will be going to Disneyland in August for my daughter's 16th birthday. We live next to WDW and go often, so this is a treat to go out west. With that said, I am torn on several things and hoping you all can help me.

1) We can change our flight by 1 day to be able to do the D23 Expo. Has anyone ever done the expo with a 12 and 16 year old? Did they enjoy it?

2) We were planning on doing DL on her actual birthday but notice that it is early morning hour at DCA. Should we plan on doing that if we can do it on the Wednesday also? IE, is one early morning enough for DCA?

3) We have Fantasmic here and it is not one of my favorite shows. Is it different at DL?

4) If you had a 4 day park hopper, how many nights would you plan for WOC versus the shows at DL?

Thank you all so much!

 

[NiceOneSimba]

It sounds like you are staying onsite. I've never done the EMH at DCA, so I don't know if one is enough, but you could always take advantage of the EMH at DCA and then hop over to DL right at park opening on her birthday.

Yes, Fantasmic is different at DL. I did the Blue Bayou dining package, and the view was great. I'm not sure how the general FP viewing is. But I would definitely do it. It's an amazing show!

I would think you only need to do WOC once. I'd plan one night for Fantasmic, one night for Paint the Night (and maybe fireworks), and one night for fireworks. It does seem like lots of people are doing the parade and fireworks on the same night. I just like to leave a second option open for fireworks, in case they get cancelled for wind (it does happen sometimes).

 

[Drusilla99]

If fantasmic is not one of your favorite shows then I'd skip it here at dl. It is beautiful, thrilling, and, of course, stars Mickey. But it's shown right on the rivers of America and then everyone watches from the "streets" of New Orleans square. Check out the layout during the day when you get there and see, I always feel like a sardine during the show. It is so much more of an impressive show at Disney studios at wdw. I love watching it from the amphitheater and feel like I can see everything, where at dl I don't feel it's a big enough viewing area and like I'm missing things.

I would only plan on woc one night, but do it early in case you live it so much you want to do it again. You won't want to miss the new parade and fireworks over at dl.

Have fun!

 

[Disney Kidd]

I think that Fantasmic is better at Disneyland! It's a little bit different; there's a Peter Pan scene instead of a Pocahontas one, and the characters come out on the Mark Twain at the end instead of that small boat in WDW. But, if you don't like the one in HS I don't know if these changes will make a difference to you.

 

[Geemo]

If you're staying onsite USE EVERY EE you have!!
Start your day EE in the park and then hop over to the other when you're ready or just when it opens.

The EE perk is really nice to get through several rides before lines grow.

 

[RKKUNK]

You might want to watch F! at Disneyland. It is different and a lot of people seem to like it better. IMO, the old WOC was better, that being said, you only need one night for that. I would try to watch the fireworks early in your time at DLR as you never know when it might be cancelled and then you would need a different night to see them. The new fireworks and parade are awesome! Edited to say: We especially like the EE at DCA because more of the big rides are open and we feel like we get more done before park opening.

 

[figment_jii]

As others have said, it really depends on what about F! at DHS do you not really like. The DL show has some elements that are similar and some elements that are very different. I really like the DL show, but the DHS version is kind of take-it-or-leave-it for me. I do like DHS' seating system much better, but once you've seen the Columbia (pirate ship for the Peter Pan sequence), the new Dragon, and the Mark Twain (finale) at DL, it's hard to go back to the DHS version.

As a WDW vet, I recommend taking a look at HydroGuy's DLR Guide for WDW Vets. It'll help you get a sense of the similarities and difference between the two resorts.

In terms of WoC, you only really need one night to see the show. WoC strikes me as one of those either you love it or you were ambivalent about it type of shows. I like the show itself well enough, but the viewing area is not well configured, so unless you're in the front row or as tall as a professional basketball player, you miss out on a lot of the show. To me, if you can't see the water surface, you're missing out on half of the show. Check out the WoC SuperThread for a lot of good information.

If you have four-nights available, I would split F!, Disneyland Forever fireworks, and Paint the Night parade between two nights, do WoC for one night, and then save the last night for repeating whatever show you liked the best. I would strongly consider seeing Disneyland Forever on the first night because if it's cancelled (usually due to wind at higher elevations), you have other nights to try and see it.

Do you have park hopper tickets? I would highly recommend getting hoppers if you're going to be there for multiple days because the two parks are so close to each other. Think of DL as Epcot's Future World, DCA as Epcot's World Showcase, and DTD as being just outside International Gateway. The Esplanade (the area between DL and DCA's ticket gates) is only 110 yards a part, so it's very easy to hop between parks. If you do have hoppers, then I would start the day at DCA EMH and then hop over to DL for the rest of the day. Unlike WDW, the effects of EMH/MM at DLR tend to diminish pretty quickly (I think it's because most guests do have hoppers and hop back and forth), so it's not like you can really tell which park had EMH/MM by mid-day (or even within a few hours after opening).

 

[Chernabog#1fan]

Thank you all for your responses. We are staying on property and have park hoppers, so we can break things up a bit. My daughter seems to want to do the D23 Expo on her actual birthday, so we may not even make it to either of the parks that day.