Please help with planning...

[Gabbro808]

Wooohooo, we will be at Disneyland in one week. *Now what to do, and when to do it.

I have been so busy that I haven't had a chance to really sit down and plan this trip. *Can someone please help me out with this? *I know that there is a wealth of knowledge on this site and I kind of know what I want to do. *But I could really use some help.

We will be in Anaheim from November 21-30. *We want to spend 6 day in the park. *Our other to do's are magic mountain, Hollywood, SHOPPING, maybe San Diego, Venice beach, and if my kids wishes come true Big Bear for snow. *I know we want to go to disneyland on the Saturday we arive, Tuesday for early entry, and on Thanksgiving. *So that leaves us with 3 Disney days and 3 non Disney days to fill. *What other days should we do Disneyland? *What would be the best time to visit Magic Mountain? We have never been there before, should we do Magic mountain 2 days? *I should mention my DD8 LOVES rollercoasters. *What would be the best time to visit Hollywood without getting stuck in terrible traffic? *We don't really want to do any other theme parks we would rather go sight seeing or shopping. *Are there any good outlet malls near Anaheim? *What are some other must do's to add to the list?

TIA for any help.

 

[DLR29]

Alright, lots of questions. I'll try to answer as many as I can.

Looking at the SFMM calendar, it looks like they're only open from 10:30-6 on Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and 10:30-8 on Saturday. If roller coasters are really important to your DD (and believe me, I share the same passion), then I'd probably go on the Wednesday and/or Friday. I'm not sure how much you can get done in that short amount of time, but I'm assuming short hours means low crowds. Also not sure how tall DD is, but when I was 8 I wasn't tall enough for a lot of the bigger rides. I mean, SFMM does have some really intense, crazy rides for people who are between 48" and 54", but there are many where you have to be at least 54" to ride. Also keep in mind that it takes at least an hour-hour 1/2 to drive from Anaheim to Valencia. Not sure you want to do that twice.

Since you will be getting a 6 day park hopper, I really don't think that choosing the right day is very important. 6 days is great if you want to relax and take your time around the parks. So you already know Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday. I'd suggest Monday and your last day. Then the final day can be up to you.

Actually, (this is a little risky being on the DLR boards but...) if you really want to do all of those things in like a week and a half, I might recommend going to DLR only 4 or 5 days. You will still have plenty of time to do the things you want at DLR and at the same time you will be able to go to the beach, go shopping, etc. Just a thought.

 

[Gabbro808]

Alright, lots of questions. I'll try to answer as many as I can.

Looking at the SFMM calendar, it looks like they're only open from 10:30-6 on Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and 10:30-8 on Saturday. If roller coasters are really important to your DD (and believe me, I share the same passion), then I'd probably go on the Wednesday and/or Friday. I'm not sure how much you can get done in that short amount of time, but I'm assuming short hours means low crowds. Also not sure how tall DD is, but when I was 8 I wasn't tall enough for a lot of the bigger rides. I mean, SFMM does have some really intense, crazy rides for people who are between 48" and 54", but there are many where you have to be at least 54" to ride. Also keep in mind that it takes at least an hour-hour 1/2 to drive from Anaheim to Valencia. Not sure you want to do that twice.

Since you will be getting a 6 day park hopper, I really don't think that choosing the right day is very important. 6 days is great if you want to relax and take your time around the parks. So you already know Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday. I'd suggest Monday and your last day. Then the final day can be up to you.

Actually, (this is a little risky being on the DLR boards but...) if you really want to do all of those things in like a week and a half, I might recommend going to DLR only 4 or 5 days. You will still have plenty of time to do the things you want at DLR and at the same time you will be able to go to the beach, go shopping, etc. Just a thought.

Thanks DLR29.

I was looking at going to SFMM on Wednesday so that takes care of that. My DD is 55 inches(56 w/shoes) so she makes all the height requirement. Will there be traffic heading there on Wednesday? What time should we leave DL area to get there when they open?

Disneyland is the main purpose of this trip so 6 days is a must, everything else comes second. We were there for 5 days during the same time last year and felt like we only saw half of the park. Granted it was our first trip to DL and tired to squeeze in shopping and sight seeing so we felt very rushed. This time we will be there much longer and plan on taking it all in.

Would Sunday be a good day to visit the Hollywood area? I just don't want to get stuck in traffic for ever.

Thanks again

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Thanks DLR29.

I was looking at going to SFMM on Wednesday so that takes care of that. My DD is 55 inches(56 w/shoes) so she makes all the height requirement. Will there be traffic heading there on Wednesday? What time should we leave DL area to get there when they open?

Disneyland is the main purpose of this trip so 6 days is a must, everything else comes second. We were there for 5 days during the same time last year and felt like we only saw half of the park. Granted it was our first trip to DL and tired to squeeze in shopping and sight seeing so we felt very rushed. This time we will be there much longer and plan on taking it all in.

Would Sunday be a good day to visit the Hollywood area? I just don't want to get stuck in traffic for ever.

Thanks again

It seems like there is always traffic in the L.A. area; you either have to leave super early before rush hour(s) or later (like mid morning) to avoid rush hour traffic and the same is true for afternoon rush hour(s). (leave early before or after 7pm).
I would avoid driving anywhere on Black Friday. My DH got stuck one year in the holiday traffic for 4.5 hours trying to come back to Anaheim from L.A. It was insane.
Good luck and have fun!

 

[Gabbro808]

It seems like there is always traffic in the L.A. area; you either have to leave super early before rush hour(s) or later (like mid morning) to avoid rush hour traffic and the same is true for afternoon rush hour(s). (leave early before or after 7pm).
I would avoid driving anywhere on Black Friday. My DH got stuck one year in the holiday traffic for 4.5 hours trying to come back to Anaheim from L.A. It was insane.
Good luck and have fun!

Thanks DSF. Beleive me I don't want to drive at all but since we are coming from so far away we need to make this trip worth it.

This might sound stupid but, What time is rush hour in the morning/afternoon in L.A? What time do you think we need to leave in the morning to miss the traffic.

Over 172 views and only two people replyed??? If anyone else has some advise please, please, please don't be shy I will take all the help I can get.

TIA for the help.

 

[clb79]

FWIW- My Mom, Bro (24) and Sis (19) decided to ditch the rest of us and make a day trip of up to Six Flags during our trip in Oct. They went on a Friday so it was extended hours and still said it wasn't worth it. The drive up and back was a pain even though they had planned around rush hour traffic. The lines were really long and they didn't get to ride near as many coasters as they had expected, and the atmosphere doesn't compare at all to DL. They said they wouldn't do it again, it just wasn't worth it. They would have rather spent more time on the DCA coasters, ToT, etc...

Keep in mind you are talking about Thanksgiving Week so it can be expected that there will be higher crowds than normal coupled with the shorter park hours, especially if any of the local schools have Wednesday off as part of the Thanksgiving Holiday...

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Thanks DSF. Beleive me I don't want to drive at all but since we are coming from so far away we need to make this trip worth it.

This might sound stupid but, What time is rush hour in the morning/afternoon in L.A? What time do you think we need to leave in the morning to miss the traffic.

Over 172 views and only two people replyed??? If anyone else has some advise please, please, please don't be shy I will take all the help I can get.

TIA for the help.

It's similar to the rush hour in Hawaii. Mornings would be around 6-8 and afternoons from about 3:30-6:30 or 7pm. If it's really insane due to accidents it could be extended. They have a lot of traffic updates on the LA morning news shows so I would just put that on while getting ready in the morning.

Look into getting a Flashpass at MM. It's a thing you can buy that is similar to a Fast pass at DL to help you bypass lines if it's busy when you go.
HTH!

 

[clb79]

This might factor in to your plans. It will definitely affect the crowds, but on the flip side you could get in free (or cheaper, depending on how much a full bag of groceries would cost you)!

I got this email today from Six Flags....


Six Flags Food Drive
Wednesday, November 25
Join Six Flags in helping those in need on Wednesday, November 25 and get a FREE admission ticket to Six Flags Magic Mountain for the day when you donate a FULL grocery bag of non-perishable food items. Local food banks are running alarmingly low and with more and more families feeling the economic crunch, the demand for help has never been higher. Your donation will supply the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and serve thousands of families across the Southland.
Park hours: 10:30am - 6pm.

 

[kailuagirl]

I recommend also staying put on Black Friday. I can only imagine what the traffic is gonna be like. It would be such a bummer to be stuck in it instead of having fun!

You are gonna have a blast!! Good luck on seeing the snow, as someone also from Hawaii, I know how cool that would/will be. I've only seen it once in my life.

 

[pixiewings71]

Black Friday, go to DL if you can. I would not want to drive at all in LA on that day. We will be in the parks the 26th-30th so look for my LGMH and say hi!! We went to 6 Flags 3 years ago, but not since, it just wasn't worth it. That said if you really want to go I would suggest going on Saturday or Sunday to avoid the BF shopping. I don't really know about your other questions because when we go to Anaheim we are going to DLR. I do know that we are anticipating DLR being very busy on BF and the whole weekend, that isn't stopping us from going tho. Did you make a reservation for Tgiving dinner? We are eating at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen in DTD.

 

[Gabbro808]

We are here and we are having a blast. We went to DL on Saturday and it was crowded but not too bad. I have to say there were quite a bit really rude people in the park that day. And we went to Hollywood today, nothing special but glad that we did it.

I am going to keep this short and sweet I need to get to bed.

Thanks DSF, that's what I thought about rush hour.

Clb79, I got that same email from SFMM and we are hoping that it won't be to bad with the crowds that day. I am sure it will be crowded but its the only day that we can fit it in to our schedule.

Kauaigirl and pixiewings, I think we will stay put on black Friday, I think we might got to the block at orange though.

Oh, and we have res. For Goofys kitchen for TG. I hope it's good.

Thanks again.