Questions on Plan for 3 days in June

[Ray LeBlanc]

I’ve been poring over this message board (and have made a couple of posts) in anticipation of our DLR trip this June. I think I finally have a handle on what to expect and have put a daily plan together. I’m a WDW vet, and it’s become apparent to me that advance planning at DLR is not as important as it is at WDW. However, having an idea of what options are available is certainly helpful, and we do want to make the most out of our time.

Our family includes my wife, 4-year old son, our 5-month old daughter, and me. We will purchase MaxPass for the three eldest and utilize Rider Switch whenever necessary. We have 3-day park hoppers and are staying at DLH; we plan to make use of EMH at DCA two of our three days.

I realize that exact park times (opening, shows, characters, etc.) are not yet official, so I’ve estimated where appropriate. If the park opens an hour earlier/later, then obviously we will shift our plans accordingly.

I do have a few specific questions at the bottom, though I’d welcome any general feedback you have for us.

Wednesday 6/6
7:15 (?) – Leave hotel
8AM-9AM: EMH at DCA
- Ride Radiator Springs Racers; grab FP for RSR for mid-morning
- Work through Cars Land, and TSMM
- Make way over to Soarin’, Goofy’s Sky School, and Paradise Pier Attractions
- Monitor FP times throughout morning
- If time permits, head over to GOTG & Monsters Inc.
- Disney Visa character meet, 10:30-1:30 (by Monsters Inc.)
Lunch around 11:30, back to hotel for pool/nap
- Book FP’s throughout day as appropriate

3-4ish: Head to Disneyland!
- Generally, hit FP’s previously booked and rides with lower waits
- Meet Darth Vader (likely 2PM-6PM)… Disney Visa experience
- Dinner around 4:30-5:00
6PM: Pixar Play Parade
9:30PM: Fireworks – Together Forever (shooting for Main Street/castle)... head back after this, early day Thursday

Thursday 6/7
7:15 (?) – Leave hotel
8AM-9AM: EMH at DL
- Hit Fantasyland pretty hard…
- Possibly hit some Tomorrowland rides
- Head into Mickey’s Toontown as soon as it opens… guessing 10AM. Prioritize meeting Mickey at his house!
- Prioritize rides not hit Wednesday night
Lunch around 11:30, back to hotel for pool/nap
- Book FP’s throughout day as appropriate

3-4ish: Head to California Adventure!
- Generally, hit FP’s previously booked and rides with lower waits
- Prioritize rides not hit Wednesday morning
- Dinner around 4:30-5:00
- FIND OUT WHEN THEY ARE LIGHTING CARS LAND AND BE THERE FOR THE SH-BOOM MOMENT!!! (and have an entire box of tissues handy...)
8:45PM: Paint the Night Parade... head back after this, early day Friday

Friday 6/8
Same basic beginning as Wednesday to capitalize on the EMH at DCA. I know we will love RSR, Soarin’, and TSMM especially… but the rest of Friday will be somewhat dependent on how Wednesday and Thursday go. We will cover anything we haven’t had the chance to do yet, then frame it around our favorite attractions from the previous two days/nights.

We might hop a couple times this day... maybe time it to ride RSR at night, catch the Sh-Boom moment, and watch some of PTNP if we really like it... but then close down DL, since it is a Grad Night and DL will be open later anyway.

Throughout the days we will keep an eye on the character Meet & Greets on the app as well, especially with PhotoPass included. My son has his autograph book ready to go, too!


I welcome general feedback on our plan, but specific questions include:
- How early before posted park opening should we leave our hotel? I have it set to leave around 45 minutes prior to scheduled opening—is that good enough?
- BREAKFAST! I don’t want to spend time on an elaborate breakfast, but will surely need something before going in the parks. What are the best options for quick/easy/cheaper breakfast? I’m fine stopping for snacks mid-morning (and afternoon/evening as needed… there are so many good ones!), but again, I will need something of substance before entering the parks!
- On Wednesday morning, does it make more sense to ride less busy attractions first, and not go straight to RSR? For example, we could start at Soarin’ (and probably a couple others) before getting to Cars Land, if I grabbed a FP for RSR as soon as our tickets were scanned?
- Not sure on which FP to focus on Thursday morning. By late morning/afternoon, will be focused on picking up some for DCA later that day, but earlier I’m not sure.
- Is it really simple to switch between parks? For example, what if the FP times tell us that it makes sense to hop over to DL for BTMRR or SM… no big deal to run over there, then back to DCA?
- We don’t have any dining scheduled these days, but Tuesday night we are doing Goofy’s Kitchen, and Saturday morning we are doing the PCH Grill… I’m not a big fan of spending park time at a sit-down place, unless there’s a dining package benefit. The only one of those we would be interested in is the PTNP, but I’ve gathered that the parade route is so long, we should be able to find a decent spot on our own. If you have a suggestion on something we should definitely do for dining, I'm all ears (pun intended...), but with our 2 kids, I'd like to keep the eating schedule as flexible as possible.

Thank you DIS Boards!!!

 

[Kdbruin]

Being a DLR vet, the parks are crowded but it is laid back. We have tried planning out all the rides we were going to do in a day and found it easier to play somethings by ear.
Getting to the gate 45 minutes early should be enough time and the best time to do the popular rides are either in the morning before 11 and in the evening and at night. You can walk on to most of Fantasyland rides (except Peter Pan) after 9pm. RSR always has a long stand by wait and fast passes go quickly so use your maxpass to get a fast pass as soon as you can. Soarin also has fast pass. DL and DCA are so close that to walk from one gate to the other is about 5 minutes. That is not accouting for the lines to get in. I have hopped back and forth several times throughout the day. I would say give yourself at least a half hour cushion to get from one attraction to another if you are park hopping.
As for breakfast, there is Starbucks and La Brea Bakery in DTD where you can get grab and go items. You will pass them on your way to the parks from DLH. DLH hotel has a nice grab and go coffee house too.
DLH is beautiful at night. Especially by the pool. One of my family’s favorite things to do was to take an evening swim.
Your son may enjoy looking for the house of little man of Disneyland (it does exist). There is a golden book for kids that tells the story of the little man of Disneyland. My son is 6 and just loves it.
Another ride that tends to always have a long stand by wait is Indiana Jones.
I have not been to WDW but it is my understanding that DLR has many tides the WDW doesn’t. You may want to look into those (along with RSR).
Hope you have a fantastic trip!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Leaving at 7:15 will be fine if you’re aiming to rope drop EMH. Hit Starbucks or LaBrea Bakery in downtown Disney and drink/eat while waiting for the park to open. Browse the menus online. Cheap does not exist in DtD or the parks unless Earl of Sandwhich is still in operation when you are there. (If they are you should totally hit them up. Best!) Oh- Arriving at the gate 45 mins before EMH rope drop is totally overkill imho, great time to leave the hotel though.

RSR for FP#1 is solid. But, I encourage you to check out the rest of CarsLand during EMH because it’s a good time to do the 2 little rides with little waits.

Imho the issue I see here is potentially Thurs morning. Between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland and ToonTown and leaving by 11:30, that could be a very busy morning. You already know your priorities so stick to them, and don’t push too hard on everything else. Pick whatever FP strikes your fancy that morning, definitely don’t worry about it.

If the crew requires more legit, but fast, breakfast than just coffe/bakery like stuff, Flo’s in CarsLand and Red Rose Tavern in Fantasyland will get you done.

With small children you can walk the esplanade at a leisurely pace between the two parks in 2 minutes. (But don’t worry about it taking that long, 4 year olds don’t do “leisurely” pace during mornings at DLR ). You’ll spend a lot more time waiting at the gates to have your tickets scanned than walking between the parks.

That said hoping over for just BTMRR and then back for RSR is possible but imho not advisable. With crowds transiting through both parks and waiting if there’s a line at the gates (most common in the morning), that’s a 20 min hike one way because there’s a lot more to the walk than just crossing the esplanade. The best WDW size comparison I’ve seen is the two parks together = Epcot. RSR to BTMRR could be like International Gateway entrance to the old Ellen’s energy thing with the entire walkway packed for most of the walk. Doable? Totally. Advisable? Depends on the person.

When you arrive at something and it is broken DO NOT WAIT. It’ll come back up later so just move on to something else.

Your TS plans sound fine to me considering your crew.

 

[HydroGuy]

I am a big fan of stocking the hotel room with light breakfast fare - bagels, easy fruit to carry like apples or bananas, granola bars, or maybe cereal packaged in a bowl - just add milk. These are easy to find at grocery stores now. See image below. We load up our stuff and head to the turnstiles. And then eat on the way or while we wait in line.

Leaving DLH 45 minutes before park opening is fine. But DL and DCA are likely to open at 8AM those days - thus 7AM EMH and 6:15AM hotel departures. See https://www.disboards.com/threads/historical-dlr-park-hours-entertainment-and-refurbs.2291124/. Personal experience tells me this will be very difficult to do 3 days in a row unless someone (you?) pulls out the lion tamer whip and drives the schedule like a circus master.

Yes, park hopping is easy. You will not fully understand until you see it with your own eyes. But as the PP says, the turnstile can back up when park hopping. I try and park hop more strategically. Like park hop for awhile on yoru way back to your hotel or after a break. And I have hopped as many as four times a day. But usually one hop or two at most is most efficient.

DL and DCA do often open their turnstiles 30 minutes early similar to the WDW parks - in order to keep lines outside down. They hold you at key spots. DL is like MK now. They hold you near the castle.

If you want to do Peter Pan then grab your pixie dust (you will need more dust than at MK because PP is even more popular at L - no FPs at DL) and fly to the ride as if your life depends on it. A slight 30 second delay can make the difference between a 2 minute wait and a 25 minute wait at PP. Yes, really.

As for RSR first thing, it is hard to say. RSR FP will not be hard to get especially with MaxPass (MP). If you are doing GOTG on the same day then yes, doing RSR first is probably a good idea to keep space free for GOTG FP. If not, then it is probably overkill.

RSR is notorious for having operational problems first thing in the morning. So have a backup plan in mind if that happens and plan to use MP on RSR as soon as it opens.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

You can easily find out the approximate time for the neon lighting on Rte. 66 in CL now, just to have a time marker on your schedule. Google the time for sunset on Thursday, 6/7/18. (You can verify the time on the day of.) Then plan to be on Rte. 66 about 10-15 minutes before that to find a good viewing spot and to grab snacks/drinks at the Cozy Cones. Then, listen for the Sh-boom song, take a deep breath, and watch the magic happen!

 

[Ray LeBlanc]

We have tried planning out all the rides we were going to do in a day and found it easier to play somethings by ear.

For sure; we will 'get there' and do the same, it's just hard the first time trying to wrap my mind around it all. The nice thing is having 3 days, we don't feel pressured to pack everything in on one day.

As for breakfast, there is Starbucks and La Brea Bakery in DTD where you can get grab and go items. You will pass them on your way to the parks from DLH. DLH hotel has a nice grab and go coffee house too.
DLH is beautiful at night. Especially by the pool. One of my family’s favorite things to do was to take an evening swim.

Thank you! These are good to know.

Another ride that tends to always have a long stand by wait is Indiana Jones.

Since our son is under 46", we'll be skipping this one this time :/

Leaving at 7:15 will be fine if you’re aiming to rope drop EMH. Hit Starbucks or LaBrea Bakery in downtown Disney and drink/eat while waiting for the park to open. Browse the menus online. Cheap does not exist in DtD or the parks unless Earl of Sandwhich is still in operation when you are there. (If they are you should totally hit them up. Best!) Oh- Arriving at the gate 45 mins before EMH rope drop is totally overkill imho, great time to leave the hotel though.

RSR for FP#1 is solid. But, I encourage you to check out the rest of CarsLand during EMH because it’s a good time to do the 2 little rides with little waits.

Imho the issue I see here is potentially Thurs morning. Between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland and ToonTown and leaving by 11:30, that could be a very busy morning. You already know your priorities so stick to them, and don’t push too hard on everything else. Pick whatever FP strikes your fancy that morning, definitely don’t worry about it.

If the crew requires more legit, but fast, breakfast than just coffe/bakery like stuff, Flo’s in CarsLand and Red Rose Tavern in Fantasyland will get you done.

With small children you can walk the esplanade at a leisurely pace between the two parks in 2 minutes. (But don’t worry about it taking that long, 4 year olds don’t do “leisurely” pace during mornings at DLR ). You’ll spend a lot more time waiting at the gates to have your tickets scanned than walking between the parks.

That said hoping over for just BTMRR and then back for RSR is possible but imho not advisable. With crowds transiting through both parks and waiting if there’s a line at the gates (most common in the morning), that’s a 20 min hike one way because there’s a lot more to the walk than just crossing the esplanade. The best WDW size comparison I’ve seen is the two parks together = Epcot. RSR to BTMRR could be like International Gateway entrance to the old Ellen’s energy thing with the entire walkway packed for most of the walk. Doable? Totally. Advisable? Depends on the person.

When you arrive at something and it is broken DO NOT WAIT. It’ll come back up later so just move on to something else.

Your TS plans sound fine to me considering your crew.

Thanks for all the feedback! Leaving the hotel 45 minutes prior to scheduled open will be our plan, then. We may try a more substantial breakfast around 9ish if we are pushing hard from 7-9, so those are good spots to know!

I'm a little concerned about Thursday morning, too, but we may decide to stay a little later. It will also depend on what we get done Wednesday night. Odds are the FP we can book for Wednesday night will cover a good chunk of Tomorrowland.

Personal experience tells me this will be very difficult to do 3 days in a row unless someone (you?) pulls out the lion tamer whip and drives the schedule like a circus master.

Yeah, I'm honestly most worried about this. I know that those first couple hours are golden, and we are paying a significant premium for the two DCA days by staying on-site, so we definitely want to take advantage on Wednesday & Friday. We are coming from the Midwest (+2 hours), so Wednesday morning won't be bad. But if we are there late for fireworks, that's a quick turnaround for Thursday, and then a third straight day on Friday would be rough. I'm hoping that taking several hours to slow down and nap during the day will help us out. Although if you think about it, the baby will be sleeping in the stroller/carrier as needed, and we won't need to convince our son to get up.

Also, I looked at last year's calendar (THANK YOU for those links!), and the 'corresponding' days have DCA opening at 9 on Wed & Fri (so EMH from 8-9), and DL opening at 8 on Thursday (so EMH from 7-8). So we would shoot to leave by 7:15, 6:15 (ugh), and 7:15... Not really sure about that 6:15, we might just take it a little easier that morning and sacrifice some time at DL. However, we just rode Peter Pan's Flight at WDW in November, and that is by no means a "must-do" for us... for all the trouble it seems to be to ride it without a wait, we can skip it.

Yes, park hopping is easy. You will not fully understand until you see it with your own eyes. But as the PP says, the turnstile can back up when park hopping. I try and park hop more strategically. Like park hop for awhile on yoru way back to your hotel or after a break. And I have hopped as many as four times a day. But usually one hop or two at most is most efficient.

We'll try to keep it to one hop per day, and/or 'strategically', as you mention; that seems most reasonable. My wife and I did Universal Orlando and Islands of Adventure a couple years ago. Similar deal with the two parks, and I recall having to wait to get our tickets scanned for the other park at times (though at other times we walked straight in). Good to know that could be an issue to consider.

DL and DCA do often open their turnstiles 30 minutes early similar to the WDW parks - in order to keep lines outside down. They hold you at key spots. DL is like MK now. They hold you near the castle.

If you want to do Peter Pan then grab your pixie dust (you will need more dust than at MK because PP is even more popular at L - no FPs at DL) and fly to the ride as if your life depends on it. A slight 30 second delay can make the difference between a 2 minute wait and a 25 minute wait at PP. Yes, really.

Good to know when they let you in. Are the shops open during this time, before the attractions are? It was GREAT shopping time on Main Street at MK for the half hour before they dropped the rope... completely empty.

The more I hear about PP, the more I think 'thanks but no thanks'

You can easily find out the approximate time for the neon lighting on Rte. 66 in CL now, just to have a time marker on your schedule. Google the time for sunset on Thursday, 6/7/18. (You can verify the time on the day of.) Then plan to be on Rte. 66 about 10-15 minutes before that to find a good viewing spot and to grab snacks/drinks at the Cozy Cones. Then, listen for the Sh-boom song, take a deep breath, and watch the magic happen!

Will do! I've read to try asking a CM or two, sometimes they know the exact time, but I'll definitely have an idea by checking on my own as well.

Thanks to all!

 

[HydroGuy]

Also, I looked at last year's calendar (THANK YOU for those links!), and the 'corresponding' days have DCA opening at 9 on Wed & Fri (so EMH from 8-9), and DL opening at 8 on Thursday (so EMH from 7-8). So we would shoot to leave by 7:15, 6:15 (ugh), and 7:15... Not really sure about that 6:15, we might just take it a little easier that morning and sacrifice some time at DL. However, we just rode Peter Pan's Flight at WDW in November, and that is by no means a "must-do" for us... for all the trouble it seems to be to ride it without a wait, we can skip it.

I would check if the DCA 9AM mornings were after a grad night last year. My guess is they were so Disney set the EMH at 8AM so they could get the park cleaned up and ready. FWIW.

If no grad night the night before, then I bet the EMH will be 7AM.