I just had to register and say thank you to all of you DLR veterans who take the time to answer questions and post tips on this board. I've been lurking almost daily for the past few months in anticipation of our first ever visit to Disneyland with our kids (8, 5 and 3). I'm a planner by nature and wanted to get as much information as I could to maximize the enjoyment of our trip and you all helped so much.
I printed out the information about getting the most out of a summer visit, Ridemax and Fastpass - most of them by HydroGuy I think. They were invaluable in helping us.
Our first day was last Tuesday, July 7th. We were at the park for a few hours between noon and 4 pm on the first day and thanks to your tips, I knew which rides to head towards - we rode POTC, HM, Jungle Cruise, the DL train, Small World and the Matterhorn and never waited more than 15 to 20 minutes.
On Wednesday we were at the park at 8 am (and were picked to open the park, which was really fun for our kids) and basically rode everything we wanted to ride, never waiting more than 15 minutes. Since two of our kids are younger and not tall enough for some rides, we used FP for Indiana Jones and Soarin so we could switch off and again never waited more than 15 minutes in the FP line.
On Thursday we did our MM and I think I counted a total of 30 something rides that we did in both DLR and DCA from 7 am to 1 pm and then from 7 pm to 11 pm. We used the late Fastpass option to get on IJ and Splash in the early evening when the Standby line was 60 minutes for Indy and 70 minutes for Splash. We didn't watch the first Fantasmic show or get a good spot in front of the castle for the fireworks, but we were able to see them from Fantasyland (right by the carousel). We certainly didn't get the full effect, but saw Tinkerbell and Dumbo and really enjoyed it. After the fireworks were over, we cut through Frontierland to try and get seats for the 10:30 Fantasmic show and were able to get a seat on the River Belle Terrace - not the best seat, but good enough for our kids to see the show and enjoy it. It was a late night, but thanks to an afternoon nap for everyone they made it OK.
We passed so many people who were just standing around arguing about whether or not to stand in line or what to ride. We certainly didn't hit the parks commando style and let our kids decide a lot of our agenda, but with the information from this board and from Ridemax (which I found through a link here) we knew which attractions to hit at certain times of the day and which ones to avoid. Using FP was crucial for some of the bigger rides, and I was amazed at the number of people who didn't seem interested in using it. When I was getting our first set of FP for Soarin (at about 11:30 in the morning), there was a woman in the Standby line who was talking to her party and saying "I don't get the why you need FP - a 45 minute wait doesn't seem that long". Maybe not to her, but when we were trying to split up keeping the 3 year old entertained while taking the older boys on Soarin, we were able to come back a bit later (after riding Monsters Inc and exploring some of DCA) and ride Soarin twice between all of us in less than her 45 minute wait.
Oh, and the weather was beautiful - highs in the high 70's to low 80's and the crowds didn't seem too crazy, although they definitely built during the day. We expected it, however, and were able to plan accordingly.
We were so happy with how our visit went and I just wanted to say thanks for all the time you take to answer questions. I never asked a question but read quite a bit and it was incredibly helpful. Thanks to many of the members here, we had a great summer visit with our kids.
I printed out the information about getting the most out of a summer visit, Ridemax and Fastpass - most of them by HydroGuy I think. They were invaluable in helping us.
Our first day was last Tuesday, July 7th. We were at the park for a few hours between noon and 4 pm on the first day and thanks to your tips, I knew which rides to head towards - we rode POTC, HM, Jungle Cruise, the DL train, Small World and the Matterhorn and never waited more than 15 to 20 minutes.
On Wednesday we were at the park at 8 am (and were picked to open the park, which was really fun for our kids) and basically rode everything we wanted to ride, never waiting more than 15 minutes. Since two of our kids are younger and not tall enough for some rides, we used FP for Indiana Jones and Soarin so we could switch off and again never waited more than 15 minutes in the FP line.
On Thursday we did our MM and I think I counted a total of 30 something rides that we did in both DLR and DCA from 7 am to 1 pm and then from 7 pm to 11 pm. We used the late Fastpass option to get on IJ and Splash in the early evening when the Standby line was 60 minutes for Indy and 70 minutes for Splash. We didn't watch the first Fantasmic show or get a good spot in front of the castle for the fireworks, but we were able to see them from Fantasyland (right by the carousel). We certainly didn't get the full effect, but saw Tinkerbell and Dumbo and really enjoyed it. After the fireworks were over, we cut through Frontierland to try and get seats for the 10:30 Fantasmic show and were able to get a seat on the River Belle Terrace - not the best seat, but good enough for our kids to see the show and enjoy it. It was a late night, but thanks to an afternoon nap for everyone they made it OK.
We passed so many people who were just standing around arguing about whether or not to stand in line or what to ride. We certainly didn't hit the parks commando style and let our kids decide a lot of our agenda, but with the information from this board and from Ridemax (which I found through a link here) we knew which attractions to hit at certain times of the day and which ones to avoid. Using FP was crucial for some of the bigger rides, and I was amazed at the number of people who didn't seem interested in using it. When I was getting our first set of FP for Soarin (at about 11:30 in the morning), there was a woman in the Standby line who was talking to her party and saying "I don't get the why you need FP - a 45 minute wait doesn't seem that long". Maybe not to her, but when we were trying to split up keeping the 3 year old entertained while taking the older boys on Soarin, we were able to come back a bit later (after riding Monsters Inc and exploring some of DCA) and ride Soarin twice between all of us in less than her 45 minute wait.
Oh, and the weather was beautiful - highs in the high 70's to low 80's and the crowds didn't seem too crazy, although they definitely built during the day. We expected it, however, and were able to plan accordingly.
We were so happy with how our visit went and I just wanted to say thanks for all the time you take to answer questions. I never asked a question but read quite a bit and it was incredibly helpful. Thanks to many of the members here, we had a great summer visit with our kids.
