saturday night or all day tuesday

[cruise cruise cruise]

Arriving into Long Beach at 3 PM, grab our luggage and a cab, figure we will be at DLH about 4, checked in and in our room by 5.

We will be arriving Sat May 15, and will have 6 day hoppers. We definatly plan late nights sunday and Friday to see fireworks and be in the parks at "dark time"

So would you
Go to the parks Saturday night (figure we could sqeeze in about 6 hours if we can stay up until midnight) and take a day off mid week (tuesday or wednesday)
or
Take your time unpacking, go to Goofys for dinner and watch fireworks from esplanade (not entering the parks) and go tueday (leaving us no "down" day)

 

[samkj]

Option #2. Take your time Saturday, get in the Disney spirit with dinner at Goofy's and, get to bed early, so you can make an early start on Sunday. I could never handle a mid-week non-Disney day. Being that close and not going an entire day would drive me crazy!

 

[Raindown]

IMO, if you are going to watch the fireworks, do it from in front of the castle. On the other hand, you'll want to be well rested for the MMs you will get. I think it depends on your group and if you plan to spend the your days from open till close.

 

[Eeee-va]

If you will be able to be to the parks by opening time--or at least by DCA's soft opening time--every day, I'd definitely skip Saturday. It might be different if Fantasmic or World of Color were running (and the latter is possible but doesn't look likely). But it appears you'll be going when I believe the only true nighttime entertainment will be fireworks, so you probably won't have trouble seeing those from inside Disneyland. And going in so late on Saturday you probably won't be able to get any Fastpasses, and most of the lines will be quite long until at least after fireworks, maybe later.

If World of Color IS playing (or even if Fantasmic were to open earlier than scheduled) and IF you wanted to brave the crowds to see them, then things might be different. But right now I'm going with the rumored 6/11 public premiere for WoC with some possible soft openings before that, and the Memorial Day Weekend premiere for Fantasmic, which would mean that the only nighttime-only entertainment on your radar will probably be fireworks. And early mornings in the park are almost always quieter than most of the night (unless it rains).

If you were going to sleep in most days anyway, then the Saturday plan might work, provided your flight is on time.

(If you are staying in the Disneyland Hotel throughout your trip, I think if you skip the parks on Tuesday you'd be missing a Magic Morning, just FYI.)

Have a great trip!