Someone please help plan my trip.

[Sixks]

I have trying to figure out the best order to spend 4 days (park hopper) at Disneyland and DCA starting Monday, June 9 to Thursday June 12. There is Grad night on Tuesday and Wednesday. We have 1 Magic Morning but no early entry to DCA (staying offsite at a condo). There are 8 of us: Grandma, DH, me, my adult sister, 4 kids ages 5 to 13. 5 year old is 1 inch too short to ride CA Screamin'.

We'd like to see World of Color and Fantastmic. We will be staying close enough to go back to the condo for a rest in the afternoon (seems to be the recommended way to go). We don't really need character meets except the kids would love Anna and Elsa if the lines not too long. Hubby can't stand long lines and gets impatient with the wait. I did purchase Ridemax and I'm trying to figure out which scenario is best for ride order.

I'm just not sure what days to do DCA or DL and how much time to allow for each. It's been 7 years since we were last at DL. This is a one time trip for my kids.

What are you recommendations for what days to do which park? Even though we have park hoppers I'd like to minimize walking because we have Grandma with us.

Cars Land is a must for DS age 5.

Thanks to all you experts for your help!

 

[Sixks]

Anyone? Anyone?

 

[YukonMommy]

I think your best plan of attack is to figure out what everyone's must have's are first. This way you can plan a route to take so there is less walking for Gramma and running back and forth between lands and parks. I would personally do a show day 1 and day 3 (gives time for a redo if something happens you cannot watch it that day).

Have a magical time!

 

[kitayama]

How old is Grandma...
Is it your grandma or your kids' grandma?
I only ask because the rest of your family is young, so running across parks would be easy. I wouldn't mind having my mother run and do a lot of park hopping, but I would never have my grandmother do it. I suggest a free-flowing touring plan. In four days, you should be able to do mostly everything you want to do. Just make sure you know what you want to do, so you can do it.
Oh, and tell your husband to relax and have fun in the lines. There WILL be lines that you need to stand in, and it WILL be crowded regardless how much you plan. If you count out rides with lines, your trip will be limited to riding rides right at rope drop only (there will still be lines at rope drop by the way including the line for rope drop) and going on the carousel, Winnie the Pooh, and The Little Mermaid over and over again.
On the grad nights, I suggest doing California Adventure in the morning, and Disneyland at night.

 

[SplashMo]

Disneyland (DL)


Arrive 30 minutes early. If you have an Early Admission day arrive 1:15 before official park open (Early admission is on certain days and is a one shot deal for most 3 or more day tickets as well as onsite hotel guests can do this as often as they like during their stay on days that it is offered. ). There are two gates behind trees (I think they are 14 and 17) that do not form lines as folks do not see them/use them.


Top Priority Rides: Peter Pan and Dumbo (Ride first and in this order, assuming you were early to the gate).

Exception to above is Anna and Elsa if you want to see them and their line opens around park opening . Ask a CM (Disney Employees that are roaming the parks). Hard to say if you would want to use an Early admission day for this to wait in line. I would pick a day where Early Admission is at DCA to do this if you have the option.

Jedi Training Academy. To have your child picked bring a small blank paper and pen to make a sign. Signs are not allowed into the gates but are tolerated at the Jedi Training Academy. Sign can say Pick Me or Use the Force, etc…

FastPass (FP). Once everyone has entered either one of the parks with their ticket a runner can be sent to any ride in either park with all of the tickets to collect fast passes for the entire party. FP have a time stamped on them when the next FP is available (anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours).

Rides to fast pass first are Big Thunder, Splash, Space and Indy. (normally Big Thunder does not need a FP but currently it is helpful).


Disney California Adventure (DCA)

Arrive 45 minutes early. If you have an Early Admission day (onsite Hotel guests only) arrive 1:20 before official park open at the Main Gate. Do not use the Hotel entrance for Early Admission unless you are 2 hours before official park open. If you do not have early Admission the right hand gate is often best as they will sometimes will open additional gates to the right just as the park opens.

Top Priority Ride: Radiator Springs Raceway (RSR) in Cars Land. Toy Story Midway Mania(TSMM) under the SCREAMIN roller coaster (There is not FP available for TSMM).

If you do not have early admission the fastpass runner should get inline with everyone’s ticket for Radiator Springs Raceway (RSR) Fastpasses. Line starts near a Spanish/Mission style looking building. The others should get in line for RSR and stay to the right. Once the FP runner has FP they can jump in the single rider line and likely catch up with their party (but ride separately). If you party is all old enough the single rider line for RSR works great (Also Indy in DisneyLand).

Hotel Guests can jump into the FP line near the end of early admission (10-15 minutes before official park open). UPDATE: Hotel guests may be asked to jump into standby line to ride actual ride instead of being allowed to get in the FP line.

FastPass (FP). Once everyone has entered one of the parks with their ticket a runner can be sent with all of the tickets to collect fast passes for the entire party. FP have a time stamped on them when the next FP is available (anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours).

Rides to fast pass first are RSR, SOARIN, TOT, SCREAMIN, Grizzly River Run. Also Goofy's Sky School has FP.

After visiting Carsland grab a FP for World of Color (WOC).

Also disconnected FP machines in DCA are RSR, WOC and SCREAMIN.

Which means you can get an additional FP on a different ride immediately. And for SCREAMIN you can collect a lot of FP for this and ride it 5-6 times (You can generally pull an additional SCREAMIN FP every 40 minutes on average without impacting your other FP eligibility.

I highly recommend HYDROGUY'S SUPER THREAD TIPS:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1520483

Extra Magic Hour: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/gue...rly-admission/
Magic Mornings: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/gue...rly-admission/
__________________

 

[Sixks]

Thank you all for the responses. The information is super helpful. Since Grandma will be with us, it will be hard to do a lot of zigzagging all over the park. Grandma is my mom aged 71 and is slower than us at walking.