Planning help for first timer

[ExcitedSam]

We are coming from Australia on Sat 22 Sept leaving Fri 28. So will have 5 full days and about half a day when we arrive, which I plan on going in to swap over Internet tickets and redeem photo+ voucher etc.. Ready for the coming week. If we're up to it just look around get acquainted with the place! Maybe take in a show or rides. I have the unofficial guide book, but it's still all so confusing.

I have two DD 4 1/2 & 9, we have 6 day hopper passes so 1 MM. We want to do BBB & AG plus one other character dining. Just not sure what I should do when. I'm thinking MM on Tues as Sunday I'm not sure if we'll be wanting to get up early!

For Sept will it be necessary so book for restaurants weeks in advance? I have no idea where we want to eat, at that time of year would a day or two be enough to get a booking?

I've looked and looked at the different rides, but I still have no idea how to plan the days. I might just follow one of the plans in the book and see how we go.

So any planning help would be great!

 

[skiingfast]

Tuesday for MM sounds wise.

For reservations I'd suggest a week out if you are particular on time, but except for on the weekend a couple days should work fine.

Crowds will be low after the weekend and you have plenty of time. Don't over plan this. How about just stick to where you want to eat, what park to start in and what first 2-4 rides of the day.

 

[larina]

Oh, you will have such a wonderful time!!!!

As skiingfast said, You've got time. Relax. Check out the options (there are several threads going now, and tons more from the past, about restaurants, character dining, and counter service) and enjoy the planning, but don't over plan and don't make yourself crazy with it.

 

[andrews_dad]

Planning my first trip from baltimore. We do diz world twice per year but cars land is bringing us cross country. I have noted a big diff on southwest air from bwi to orange co airport and lax and other so cal airports. Can anyone tell me the possible airports pros and cons?

 

[8lovesmickey]

Planning my first trip from baltimore. We do diz world twice per year but cars land is bringing us cross country. I have noted a big diff on southwest air from bwi to orange co airport and lax and other so cal airports. Can anyone tell me the possible airports pros and cons?

Orange County (SNA) is the most convenient to DLR (about 15 miles away). The Disneyland Express bus is $17 a person to get to the resort, or you can get a cab for $35 - 40. The airport is also fairly small and easy to negotiate, and the ride is 15 - 20 minutes.

LAX is enormous and a longer drive (45 mins to an hour) but not impossible if it saves you a lot of money.

Long Beach airport is about 20 miles away. It's also smaller and easy to negotiate.

I don't know if you looked into San Diego, but that's more like 2 hours away so probably not your best option.

Probably the trickiest part of LAX will be going home - security can be a nightmare, as can rental car return if that applies.

All things being equal I would use Orange County, but if you can save a lot of cash by using one of the others, it wouldn't make a huge difference overall.

Have a great time - Cars Land is spectacular!

 

[8lovesmickey]

We are coming from Australia on Sat 22 Sept leaving Fri 28. So will have 5 full days and about half a day when we arrive, which I plan on going in to swap over Internet tickets and redeem photo+ voucher etc.. Ready for the coming week. If we're up to it just look around get acquainted with the place! Maybe take in a show or rides. I have the unofficial guide book, but it's still all so confusing.

I have two DD 4 1/2 & 9, we have 6 day hopper passes so 1 MM. We want to do BBB & AG plus one other character dining. Just not sure what I should do when. I'm thinking MM on Tues as Sunday I'm not sure if we'll be wanting to get up early!

For Sept will it be necessary so book for restaurants weeks in advance? I have no idea where we want to eat, at that time of year would a day or two be enough to get a booking?

I've looked and looked at the different rides, but I still have no idea how to plan the days. I might just follow one of the plans in the book and see how we go.

So any planning help would be great!

How exciting!! My advice would be to go it on your own the first day, and if you find yourself in lots of lines then use a touring plan from the book after that. The down side of the touring plans is that they are designed to minimize wait time and they tend to have you hopping from one end of the park to another. That's great if you want to ride all the big attractions, but for your first time you may be better off to just take one land at a time and take it all in. Disneyland has a definite flow from one land to another, and if I were taking a first timer I would want him/her to experience the theming of each land before moving on to the next one.

Disneyland is much more compact than WDW and once you get the lay of the land it's very logical. I would see which land your kids are attracted to and start there, then work your way around.

We have visited in September and didn't need a touring plan - crowds were very reasonable except for weekend nights when there were lots of locals. That said, you will be able to get the most done in the first two hours, so after your first day of feeling the place out, you could always prioritize the next day. You will definitely want to hit Cars Land early in the day, too - I'm guessing it will still be very popular.

With six days, you will have more than enough time to do most everything if you want to (and many things twice). I would say take time to notice the details and take afternoon breaks if that works out for you.

The good news for you all is that you have plenty of time, so even if you get stuck in a few long lines or have to backtrack, you won't miss out on anything.

Hope that helps a little - enjoy the Happiest Place on Earth!!

 

[Aust]

Our trips will be overlapping for a few days - I finished planning our days last week, but it's easier for me being my 3rd trip - I was completely overwhelmed before our first time too!

I agree with keeping your MM for the Tuesday, the long flight and jetlag will knock you all around a bit. Use MM for Fantasyland, you'll be able to knock all the rides over in the hour.

What I find useful is planning where to start each day and then leave it a bit freer in the afternoons and evenings - e.g. decide that on your first morning you'll start in Tomorrowland - then you can start to narrow it down - what rides have Fastpass (get the Fastpasses first), then what to ride while you wait for your FP time, then where to go from there. You should be able to use the maps in the Unofficial Guide to show you a sensible route around each section. Then another morning plan to start in Carsland, another morning in Adventureland, etc.

I found the Unofficial Guide touring plans quite helpful as a basis, but they do have you criss-crossing the park a bit, which I know they have researched as the most efficient ways, but with kids it doesn't necessarily work. That's why I find it easier to concentrate on one geographic area at a time.

Leave the afternoons free for resting/swimming, our first trip was at the same time of year and we were surprised how hot it was, an afternoon swim and rest break was great.

Then evenings - the weekends decide what shows you want to see and when - fireworks, Fantasmic, WOC. Weeknights when these aren't on - play it by ear.

Dining - have you looked at the menus on allears.net? this is really useful in narrowing down where you'd like to eat. Make a few reservations, you can always change your mind. I'd recommend making the character meal reservations earlier rather than later, just to make sure you get the times you want.

Our first trip we didn't really look a lot at the dining options and ended up eating wherever we happened to be - we missed out on some good places while had some other so-so meals. So it can be good to know what is available and where, even for counter service.

If you want any more help PM me - I can even send you my plan if you want, or help you with the details of yours - hours of fun for me! (how sad).

 

[viaggiamo]

How exciting!
We will be there in October, 7-14th and are from Australia too so I am noting the great ideas here.
Some days I feel like completely planning every minute and others I think with two small children (3 and 5yo) we will just go with the flow and enjoy whatever we can fit in.
I have a list of places I would like to eat though, otherwise as long as we see carsland, fantasy land, toon town we are good.
DD wants to meet Minnie, Mickey, Tinkerbell and Mary Poppins if we can. DS is all about carsland.
Have fun
C

 

[Minuet888]

don't know if this helps but there is also an Australian part of the forum
http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=177

 

[ExcitedSam]

Thanks for the replies, we do have plenty of time and I purposely planned it that way, but it still doesn't stop me from wanting to plan it all out and not miss anything. I have wanted to go since I was very small and my Nan bought home a reel film of it's a small world and a parade!

I will be booking BBB and character meals, but my head is swimming with choices of meals and what to see and where to go! I am trying not to get caught up in over planning as I know ultimately I will disappoint myself when it doesn't come off. I think once we get there on the Saturday afternoon and look round I will get a better idea.

Are the evening shows only on the weekends? Do any run during the week? I will definitely have to plan for that!

We will be back in Anaheim on the 9th of Oct and will be attending the Halloween party! Can't wait for that.

 

[skiingfast]

Are the evening shows only on the weekends? Do any run during the week? I will definitely have to plan for that!

Fireworks and F! will only be on Saturday and Sunday. WoC has been scheduled nightly.

 

[DisneytheKid]

Planning my first trip from baltimore. We do diz world twice per year but cars land is bringing us cross country. I have noted a big diff on southwest air from bwi to orange co airport and lax and other so cal airports. Can anyone tell me the possible airports pros and cons?

As others have mentioned, SNA will give you a closer and smaller airport where as LAX is larger and further away but tickets can be considerably cheaper. An example of this is that we usually always do SNA but on our next trip we saved much more money by just doing LAX.

Good luck

 

[ExcitedSam]

Just to confirm as it's not too clear, character dining at Ariels Grotto, breakfast, lunch and dinner? Or breakfast only?

 

[8lovesmickey]

Just to confirm as it's not too clear, character dining at Ariels Grotto, breakfast, lunch and dinner? Or breakfast only?

They serve all three meals and they all have characters . I think it's mostly princesses.

 

[smiles33]

I'm a total overplanner, but I knew not to be upset when we couldn't stick to the plan since our DDs were 2 and 5 at the time. All that planning still paid off because I felt more confident about having a fun trip when I had outlined what I thought would be a good plan but also built in flexibility to make some "seat-of-my-pants" decisions.

What made me feel less overwhelmed when we first walked up to DLR and it felt like we could do a million different things was to have a loose plan with lots of options. I defined a "good day" as hitting a few specific rides (e.g., got many of the open air Fantasyland rides done on Thursday afternoon) and then having some ideas of what else we could do depending on everyone's mood.

For instance, if Disney food is a priority, I'd make a list of what you want to hit but not necessarily schedule it out. I knew I wanted to try a Dole whip and happened to get it one afternoon when I was riding solo. I felt badly my DDs didn't get to try it, but we never ventured back that way when we together as a family. I figure they didn't know what they were missing!

Have a great time! September was an awesome time for us last year.