?'s from a DL newbie

[shellynn24]

Okay, I've been doing WDW since I was a kid because I'm from FL, but DH has finally talked me into a quick trip to DL. We will be staying four nights in DLH. This is our rough itinerary:
Arrival night- DTD (incl Rainforrest Cafe) and sleep because we will be driving in
First morning/day- Character Brkfst any suggestions??? Then DL till close
Second day- DCA and dinner somewhere any suggestions???
Third day- We have a family gathering to attend this day. I hope it won't last all night because I want to go hit the highlights again.
Check out day - We will be leaving early to start back on the road.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated, oh yeah pictures too if you have them.

 

[Uuaww]

i don't know if this is relevant to you, but if humanly possible, fly into orange county or long beach and stay away from lax.

 

[HydroGuy]

If I were staying at DLR hotel like you are I would book thru AAA and get my DLR tix thru them. When you do this, there is a special perk called Enhanced FastPass. See more on EFP here:

http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?t=43193

I would also look at your four days and match them up against DL's Early Entry (EE) days. If you buy 3+ day parkhopper bonus tix, you get one day of EE. For awhile DL was extending EE to its DLR hotel guests as well, but I heard they might have stopped this.

EE is typically on Mon/Tue/Thurs/Sat. Bottom line is that if you have EE, that is a good day to start your day at DL with EE. If you yourself do not have EE, and it is an EE day for others, that is a good day to start at DCA. If there is no EE for anyone (Sun/Wed/Fri) that is a good day to start at DL.

If you want to use FastPass efficiently, read my thread here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=885132

There is a fine art to using FP, and if you use it efficiently you will save yourself many hours in line. We spent four days at DLR last August during peak season and never waited in line for a ride more the 20 minutes. We did this by getting to the parks early and using FastPass to the hilt.

 

[Judy from Boise]

two things. First, in my personal opinion if I only had 2 days I would not do a breakfast since you can get so much done in the am before the crowds. Secondly at DLR you can truely park hop.....and I would reccomend touring that way. Each day start at DL tillit gets crowded, hop to DCA, Break for a pool or rest, and go back to DL and close the park.

 

[hlbtimes2]

If you are going to do a character meal on such a limited schedule, I highly recomend Minnies at the Plaza on main street. I recomend even when not on a tight schedule, but even more so with time limits! I would go to the park early, at opening or if you are there for an Early entry day, use it! (EE is offered M, T, T and S). Then, have a late breakfast around 10:00 or 10:30.

If you choose one of the other character meals you will need to leave the park, which just adds to the amount of time it takes. If nothing else, make your arrangements (priority seating/ PS), and if you decide you dont want to take the time, dont go. YOu are out nothing, and some one in the stand by line will get a chance to get in.

Be sure you use fast pass to its fullest. DL does not enforce the ending return time, so feel free to get them as you can, and use them any time after the starting return time. You might also consider www.ridemax.com to get the most done in one day.

The fireworks are wonderful and shouldnt be missed. The best place to view them in from the hub, facing the castle, near the Partners statue. Since you are on a limited time schedule, you might want to watch them in front the Its a small world. You'll miss a little bit of the special effects, but its a pretty good spot and doesnt require as much wait time.

 

[CalGal]

When will you be going?

Any restaurants that you particularly love at WDW to give us an idea of your tastes?

 

[shellynn24]

two things. First, in my personal opinion if I only had 2 days I would not do a breakfast since you can get so much done in the am before the crowds. Secondly at DLR you can truely park hop.....and I would reccomend touring that way. Each day start at DL tillit gets crowded, hop to DCA, Break for a pool or rest, and go back to DL and close the park.

I would like the kids to do at least one character meal, should I do a dinner? If so which one?

 

[shellynn24]

We'll be going June 28-July 2. We have to go these days becuase our family gathering is July 1 and we can't go after it because that would put us there on the fourth of July We are DVC members and will be there on our points so there will be no AAA for us. Also, we get our tickets through the Military. What do you have to be or do to get the EE at DL, I hear some differnt things and am not sure which is correct. Thanks for the advice so far!

 

[HydroGuy]

We'll be going June 28-July 2. We have to go these days becuase our family gathering is July 1 and we can't go after it because that would put us there on the fourth of July We are DVC members and will be there on our points so there will be no AAA for us. Also, we get our tickets through the Military. What do you have to be or do to get the EE at DL, I hear some differnt things and am not sure which is correct. Thanks for the advice so far!

The tickets that have EE are called parkhopper bonus tickets. I am pretty sure the ones people get thru the military are not bonus, and do not have EE.

FWIW, to get Enhanced FastPass (EFP) you just need two nights at a DLR hotel thru AAA. And then you need to buy the tix with EFP as part of the package thru AAA. But you can get tix for as many days as you want. Some people get creative and get the two nights thru AAA and their tix, and then switch to another hotel to save $$$.

 

[shellynn24]

The tickets that have EE are called parkhopper bonus tickets. I am pretty sure the ones people get thru the military are not bonus, and do not have EE.

So where would you get these "bonus" tickets?

 

[samkj]

I think you should be able to get EE simply because you are a DLR hotel guest. I know this has been the procedure in the past. EE is on Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Sat. For character meals why not try one of the ones at the hotels on one of your non-park days, like Goofy's Kitchen at the DLH. Would you have time before your family event or the morning you check out?

 

[HydroGuy]

So where would you get these "bonus" tickets?

For example, the ones you buy on the DL website are bonus. See here:

http://disneyland.disney.go.com/disneyland/en_US/reserve/ticketListing?name=TicketListingPage

I bought ours thru Ares Travel at a discount of like $5-10 per ticket. They were bonus. Most of the ones you buy for DL are bonus. They say something on them to the effect "entitles user to one day of Early Entry".

I have never bought military tix to DL, but as I said I have heard they are not bonus.

Since July 2005 DLR has been allowing resort hotel customers to get in for EE every day it is available, not just one day. However, I heard a rumor recently that this may have stopped. The only way to for sure get EE is with the tix. The DLR hotel method was always an unpublished experiment.

 

[CalGal]

Yes, you should be able to get EE any of the days it is offered (typically M, Tu, Th, and Sat) by showing your charge slip for the DLH. This is an unadvertised perk of staying on-site. This "on-site" perk could go away, but I doubt that it will as long as EE is available. EE is only for DL. DCA does not have an EE, although gates typically open and Soarin' is usually open 1/2 hour before normal DCA park opening.

You might try to get a PS for Blue Bayou. I believe it should be reopened by the time you go to DL. If you make a PS for 11:30 (lunch) and show up a little early, you'll have your best shot at a waterside table.

You'll want to spend more time at DL than DCA. I usually start my day at DL, and hop over to DCA a little later since it does not get as crowded as DL. DLR is much much much more compact that WDW, so it is very easy to hop back and forth between DL and DCA.

 

[shellynn24]

For character meals why not try one of the ones at the hotels on one of your non-park days, like Goofy's Kitchen at the DLH. Would you have time before your family event or the morning you check out?

Now that is a good idea. I never even thought of that. I think we will have our Character Breakfast before we go to the family stuff. Thank you!

 

[shellynn24]

Yes, you should be able to get EE any of the days it is offered (typically M, Tu, Th, and Sat) by showing your charge slip for the DLH. This is an unadvertised perk of staying on-site. This "on-site" perk could go away, but I doubt that it will as long as EE is available. EE is only for DL. DCA does not have an EE, although gates typically open and Soarin' is usually open 1/2 hour before normal DCA park opening.

You might try to get a PS for Blue Bayou. I believe it should be reopened by the time you go to DL. If you make a PS for 11:30 (lunch) and show up a little early, you'll have your best shot at a waterside table.

You'll want to spend more time at DL than DCA. I usually start my day at DL, and hop over to DCA a little later since it does not get as crowded as DL. DLR is much much much more compact that WDW, so it is very easy to hop back and forth between DL and DCA.

I was actually going to make PS for Blue Bayou soon because I believe the POC and Blue Bayou will be open when we go. I can't wait to eat there, it sounds very cool.