Seeking advice on Disneyland with kids

[jlr33]

Hello, I am new to Dis Boards. I have heard this is a great resource for getting multiple questions answered in one place. I have quite a few questions for my upcoming Disneyland trip.

My kids and I are flying into LAX next Thursday, Jan 29, at 11:30am. We are renting a car and driving to Anaheim to meet my husband who will already be there on business. Originally, I planned to stay in a hotel (Castle Inn & Suites) Thursday night and spend all day Friday park hopping with the family. We only have Friday for the parks as Saturday is reserved for visiting friends in the area and Sunday we travel home. I started thinking maybe I should take the kids to DCA on Thursday as soon as we get to Anaheim and spend Friday at Disneyland.

- Is splitting the parks into separate visits a good idea?

- If we go to DCA on Thursday afternoon will we have a good chance of riding Radiator Springs Racers at all that day?

- Any tips for a strategy/must do in either park?

- Meet and greets - My son would love to meet Lightning McQueen and my daughter would love to meet the Frozen princesses, but I'm sure any princess would be great. Are there designated spots to find these characters?

Thank you in advance for any help or information. It is much appreciated!!!

 

[Tyggress]

Hello, I am new to Dis Boards. I have heard this is a great resource for getting multiple questions answered in one place. I have quite a few questions for my upcoming Disneyland trip.

My kids and I are flying into LAX next Thursday, Jan 29, at 11:30am. We are renting a car and driving to Anaheim to meet my husband who will already be there on business. Originally, I planned to stay in a hotel (Castle Inn & Suites) Thursday night and spend all day Friday park hopping with the family. We only have Friday for the parks as Saturday is reserved for visiting friends in the area and Sunday we travel home. I started thinking maybe I should take the kids to DCA on Thursday as soon as we get to Anaheim and spend Friday at Disneyland.

- Is splitting the parks into separate visits a good idea? YES...especially if you've never been, and depending on what time you arrive in town.

- If we go to DCA on Thursday afternoon will we have a good chance of riding Radiator Springs Racers at all that day? I think so...again, depending on what time you arrive and get into DCA. This is the slow season, and you're talking about going on a Thursday, which is also slower. Grab a FP as soon as you arrive and you should be able to ride at least once before park closing.

- Any tips for a strategy/must do in either park? No...other than I wouldn't try to hit both in one day. You're better off doing DCA on Thursday and Disneyland on Friday to get the most done!
- Meet and greets - My son would love to meet Lightning McQueen and my daughter would love to meet the Frozen princesses, but I'm sure any princess would be great. Are there designated spots to find these characters? My son is a HUGE Cars/Lightning McQueen fan. Both Lightning and Mater can be found in Cars Land in front of the Cozy Cone...they rotate every 1/2 hour all day long! Also, every hour or so, DJ comes out and has a dance party in the middle of the Cars Land intersection. My son LOVES participating in this...all the kids go out and dance/jump around for about 15 minutes or so.

Also...your daughter can meet a number of princesses in Disneyland at the Fantasy Faire all day long!

Thank you in advance for any help or information. It is much appreciated!!!

See my notes above...and have a great time!

 

[jlr33]

Tyggress,

Thank you very much for your help!

We fly into LAX at 11:30am. I think we can make it to the hotel to drop our things off quickly and get to the parks by 2pm. I am not sure if that's realistic but I am hopeful! Ha ha!

Thanks again!

 

[Lauren in NC]

All of the things you mentioned are in DCA, so yes, you would definitely want to visit that park!

I think it's supposed to be pretty dead that day, so you may have a good chance of doing all the things you want to, depending on how early you get there. The California parks tend to get busier towards the late afternoon as locals get off work and hit the parks, so you'd want to hit the busiest things the soonest.

Lightning and Mater switch off meeting at the Cozy Cone in Carsland, so you should be able to meet them. I'm not sure about FP for RSR, but you should be able to ride standby. How old are your kids? If you're OK with riding separately, and they're old enough, the single rider line usually saves a lot of time.

Elsa and Anna are near the new Frozen Fun area in DCA. You can get FPs near the Animation Building (where they meet) and it's possible there may be some available when you get there. The other princesses meet in Disneyland at the Fantasy Faire area.

If I were you, when I got to the park on Thursday, I'd head straight for the Anna & Elsa FP and then try for an RSR FP.

 

[Angrose]

I agree that you should do DCA on Thursday. We went that same time of year two years ago and the parks were not crowded at all. Friday afternoon will pick up as kids get out of school and people get off work.

I just checked the Mousewait app and it looks like at 1:45pm RSR FP had a 5:45 return time. That's pretty good! And, at 7pm the wait time was around 55min. I bet when you guys get there in the afternoon the wait time could be as short as 30-45min, so you could get two rides in that day. It is soooo worth it! While in Cars Land, don't forget to ride Mater, it is super fun and will probably be walk on.

Other wait times I checked for today:
Toy Story Midway Mania only 15min, which is almost unheard of!
Meet Olaf 20min, and I've seen it at 120min on the weekends
Frozen Snow Fest, 5 min

The Frozen sisters are FP only and not connected so you could pull those after RSR. FYI, the FP machines for RSR are at the entrance to It's Tough to be a Bug show so it's not like you have to walk all the way to the ride.

Even though DCA will only be open until 8pm, I still think you will get a ton done considering how quiet the park will be. Have fun!!

 

[jlr33]

Wow! Thank you everyone for the information. This is going to be a fantastic trip!

 

[Geemo]

Both parks have rides with "SR" Single Rider lines. Depending on your kids ages, this might be a way to get a few extra rides in.

RSR is one with a SR line. You most likely will not sit next to each other but you might be in the same car. I've done this with my grandkids. They like getting through the line so fast and on the ride. Sometimes a couple of us are in the same car other times were all in different cars. They like to be in different cars so they can possibly be racing each other at the end of the ride.

If their ages allow check out single rider lines.

Geemo