Some tips/notes from a 1st time visit in 20 years

[southlake]

Hi everyone,

We just got back from our 4 day trip to DLR in which we used 3-day park hoppers. We had a fun time and our 2 yr old daughter really enjoyed herself.

Our first day was Thurs, May 24. We literally walked right on to It's a Small World at roughly 6:15 pm with nothing but a 1 minute wait (for the next boat to roll up & unload!). It looked like the majority of guests were camped out for Mickey's Soundsational Parade that started at 6:30 pm, so if you're not interested in seeing the Parade a 2nd or 3rd time, this is an excellent time to hit a couple rides! I didn't see this tip mentioned before we went so wanted to share it here.

On Friday we used our 1 and only FastPass that we picked up on Autopia (2 yr old doesn't qualify for other FP rides except Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin). We also had an approximate 5 min FP wait, most of which was walking around the line maze, while the standby line was approximately 60 minutes in length (totally did not get that but thank you to those standy people for letting us FP'ers on with a 5 min wait!) FP is a Must for the rides that offer it!

Thursday and Friday were our best days at the park, despite somewhat cold weather. But Saturday.. omg.. it was PACKED. Like literally un-walkable in there it was so crowded. We went to DCA first, didn't care for it as much with a 2 yr old (looked like fun for adults/older kids though) so we headed over to DL at about 1 pm. There were like no lines less than 60 min long, it was terrible. We didn't get on any rides because everything was too long to wait with a toddler. We left at about 3 pm after just walking around throngs of people for 2 hours and letting our daughter play in Toontown. Went back at 10 pm after the fireworks and got on the Teacups in 2 min and It's a Small World in about 10 min (compared to a 60 min wait earlier in the day).

We met Mickey and Minnie at their respective houses. Only had a 10 min wait to meet Minnie on a Thursday at 1:30 p.m. Can't imagine what it was like on a Saturday!

I know it's a holiday weekend this weekend, so I don't know if that's why this Saturday was so busy, or if every Saturday is that busy, but it kind of scared us off of ever going on a Saturday again!

Anyway just a couple tips I wanted to share after our first experience there as adults!

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Thanks for the TR. We will have a 2.5yo with us on our trip, so it's good to hear stories of people with similarly young people in their group.

 

[redbonec]

thanks for sharing

we will be going in 1 week, and your update gives me a reality check in what the crowds could possibly be, and wow, 5 minutes with a FP versus 60 minutes regular wait, I definately need to remember to get the FP's!

Hope your family had a great time!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

tell me you did Bug's land with your 2 year old in DCA... you probably could have spent hours in there with her...

 

[MICKEYFIL]

One thing that may impact the crowds the week before Memorial weekend is that it is Victoria Day weekend in Canada. We get the monday off the week before Memorial Day. I'm sure it wasn't an invasion from the north but it may have had an impact.

 

[southlake]

tell me you did Bug's land with your 2 year old in DCA... you probably could have spent hours in there with her...

We did, it was the first place we hit in DCA. The "Ladybug Boogie" (teacups basically) looked very bumpy & kind of like a cheaper version of the Teacups. DH rode it with DD, because the Teacups are DD's FAVORITE ride at Disneyland, and she hated it! Not only did it look bumpy, he said it was extremly bumpy & uncomfortable & he had to shield the back of her head with his arm to keep her from hitting her head against the back of the ladybug. He said the Teacups at DL in comparison run smooth compared to the Ladybug Boogie. We did all the rides in a bug's land and DD (and us) just were not that impressed with the quality of them and they seemed kind of boring!

The only other ride we went on with her at DCA outside of a bug's land, was the The Little Mermaid. But walking around I was starting to feel gypped and depressed that we weren't at DL and told my husband I wanted to go back to DL. I would have liked to have gone on some of the adult rides at DCA but we couldn't with a 2 yr old and I didn't want to wait in a long line by myself while DH waited with DD somewhere else, that wouldn't have made sense.

I am glad we went to DL on Thu & Fri and got most everything done then, because would not have been able to get half that done on Saturday!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

I would have liked to have gone on some of the adult rides at DCA but we couldn't with a 2 yr old and I didn't want to wait in a long line by myself while DH waited with DD somewhere else, that wouldn't have made sense.

That's too bad... sounds like you didn't know about or take advantage of child swap. You could have fast passed the cool adult/big kids rides then told the cm you are doing a child swap... 1 would go through the FP line and as soon as you exit you swap the baby, and the other uses the child swap pass the cm gives you to either go through the FP line too, or on rides that don't have a FP they usually send you thru the exit. This is how we still ride Screamin' as dd has been too short on all our visits, and the other does the carousel. Most rides have a kid-friendly ride nearby for the childswap parent to do. Like for Indy, we go do all the stairs in the Treehouse and check out the interactive stuff. Splash... Pooh (over and over sometimes, as it is still one of DD's favorites.)

Hope you get to make a trip back when your daughter is a little older!

 

[southlake]

That's too bad... sounds like you didn't know about or take advantage of child swap.

No, we didn't know about this. Where is this information shared outside of the disboards? I didn't see this information printed anywhere on the map they give you at the front gates. How would a non-disboard member find out about a child-swap pass?

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

No, we didn't know about this. Where is this information shared outside of the disboards? I didn't see this information printed anywhere on the map they give you at the front gates. How would a non-disboard member find out about a child-swap pass?

I'm not sure if it is mentioned on the map or anything?? Maybe someone else could chime in... we found out about it here years ago... and all the cms that work the beginning of the lines have a pocket of passes. I think they are supposed to change color each day, but truth be told I used one the next day and was only chided a little bit for it. They are reusable and they just take them back to hand them out again...

 

[southlake]

I'm not sure if it is mentioned on the map or anything?? Maybe someone else could chime in... we found out about it here years ago... and all the cms that work the beginning of the lines have a pocket of passes. I think they are supposed to change color each day, but truth be told I used one the next day and was only chided a little bit for it. They are reusable and they just take them back to hand them out again...

It's not mentioned on the maps.. so that's why I'm wondering how a non-disboard member finds out about this! I don't even see info pertaining to a child swap pass on Disneyland's website.. at least, nowhere obvious, and I have searched several pages now. Apparently this information is intended to be hidden and not widely known about, and guests such as us went and had no idea the option even existed. How disappointing, Disney.

 

[Cal-Pie]

It's not mentioned on the maps.. so that's why I'm wondering how a non-disboard member finds out about this! I don't even see info pertaining to a child swap pass on Disneyland's website.. at least, nowhere obvious, and I have searched several pages now. Apparently this information is intended to be hidden and not widely known about, and guests such as us went and had no idea the option even existed. How disappointing, Disney.

Disney calls it "rider swap". Last time I got a map, there I was a symbol for it on each ride that offers it. Disneyland's website also lists it on each ride that has it, and I know it's mentioned in the promotional DVDs. I didn't know it was any secret.

 

[southlake]

Ok now that I searched for "rider swap" instead of "child swap pass," information comes up on the site.

It says: Guests with young children may take turns experiencing attractions. See a Cast Member for additional information.

That's it.. So I guess you have to ask someone about it, but first you have to know you have to ask. For me, this wasn't a ton of information on what to do!

 

[DisneytheKid]

Thanks for sharing your TR. Glad to hear you had a great trip