Sundays in September?

[7beasley]

Hi Everyone -- my husband and I are taking our first trip to California to go to Disney after 4 years in a row at WDW. We are excited!

Question is this -- we fly into CA Sat. afternoon landing around 3pm and leave Wed morning. Our thought was to go to Disney for a few hours on Sat and then spend all day Sunday at California Adventure and then Monday at Universal Studios and all day Tuesday at Disneyland.

Any comments to this schedule?

Will California Adventure be packed on a Sunday -- will Disney be too crowded on a Sat. afternoon to even bother. The Disney website says DL is open until midnight on Saturday Sept 11th - the day we land --- we are thinking therefore that it will be packed.

Should we change our schedule and hit Universal on Sunday and save the 2 disney parks for Monday and Tuesday on the chance that they will be less crowded? Or is mid-September (after labor day) in general a good time to go any day because the kids are back in school?

Thanks

PS: On Wednesday morning we are checking out and driving to Las Vegas until Friday. Has anyone ever made this drive - how is it????

Nicole

 

[iceskatejen]

DCA is rarely packed unless there's a special event going on, so you probably don't have to worry. Sundays and Mondays are actually the most crowded days for the DL resort parks. I'd still go to DL on Saturday--it's always open late on weekends, so while there will be a lot of people, it won't be that bad--just make sure you use fastpass. And between 7 and 9:30 or so, most will either be in their spots for the 8:00 parade or the 9:00 Fantasmic, so if you are not planning on watching those showings (i.e. you see the earlier parade or wait until Tuesday and see the second Fantasmic) you should be able to get on a lot of rides at this time--just stay out of the Frontierland/New Orleans Square area because it will be packed for Fantasmic. Stick with Fantasyland/Tommorrowland and you'll be fine.

The drive to Vegas should take about 5 hours (though I know plenty of people who do it in 4).

 

[dletz]

Before my daughter was born my sister and I would go to DL at least every Friday and every Sunday (with other days thrown in during the week). Sunday didn't used to be so bad, but they have picked up some in recent years. We still go a lot on Fridays with the ocassional Sunday thrown in, but nowhere near the amount of time we used to spend (life got to hectic). It's nice for a girls night out. My daughter loves to go visit Daddy at work, and since my sister's boyfriend also works there, when the guys are working the girls are playing. Works out great for us.

DL is open late on weekends all year round (Friday, saturday, sunday). It varies between 10 and midnight, with Satruday being open the latest. I wouldn't let the time alone keep you from visiting on a particular day. However Saturday is generally more crowded than Sunday. If you've got hoppers, go on over to DCA for a few hours then maybe hop back over to DL for Fireworks or fantasmic if either are showing (generally in the off season one or the other will be showing on weekends only, sometimes both, but that's been rare the past few years). Or stay at DCA for the Electrical parade. Electric parade will only be showing on weekends, so I would definately do a disneypark on sunday.

Weekdays will definately be less crowded, but you could do DCA on Sunday and DL during the week. Also if you've got hoppers start at DL and get some of those rides out of the way before switching to DCA.

The ride to Vegas isn't bad, just make sure you're well on your way before 3pm, or you'll hit tons of traffic. If you're not used to going 20 miles in 1 1/2 it can get quite frustrating. From DL I'd probably take the 57 North, which merges with the 60 for a bit. You then have the option of taking the 60 East to the 15 or staying on the 57 North and taking the 10 East to the 15. Given the choice it you go earlier in the day, I'd probably take the 10 (unless the Los Angeles county fair is going on as you would drive right past it and the freeway can back up with people trying to get off). It's a bit wider and I generally think that it moves a bit faster. Then just take 15 North all the way there. In Barstow they are doing a good bit of construction and I've heard of long delays and others who have had shorter delays. When we passed through there not to long ago we didn't have too much trouble.

Once you hit barstow there's not much until you hit stateline which is about 115 miles away, and then another 40 to Vegas. I have never been able to make it all the way without a bathroom break. The one time I tried I barely made it to stateline, so I religiously stop in barstow now. They have quite a few restuarants off one exit that most people stop at. They also get a good number of bus trips stopping there (everyone I've ever been on stopped in barstow).