Thursday, August 3rd - 7am MM Touring Advice

[buyerbrad]

We (myself, wife, and DDs 2 & 4) will be arriving in Anaheim on August 2nd from near Toronto, Canada. We hope to take advantage of our body clocks being on East Coast time and go to Disneyland on our first full day. It is a 7am MM and we plan on getting to the parking structure by 6:30am. I'm looking for some feedback/timing estimates on our Day 1 plan. We will not be purchasing MaxPass.

Peter Pan
Alice
Dumbo
Mr. Toad
Pinocchio
Snow White - WHAT TIME DO YOU ESTIMATE WE WILL BE DONE THE FIRST 6 RIDES? 8am?
Canal Boats (not open during MM)
Casey Jr. (not open during MM) DONE BY 9AM?
- Go for 2 Splash, 1 Big Thunder FP
Pirates
Jungle Cruise
Haunted Mansion
Pooh
Meet Pooh characters
Splash FP (get rider swap)
Big Thunder FP (get rider swap) DONE by 11:30?

At this point we will eat lunch then park hop for a few hours to DCA to do Disney Jr, Turtle Talk, Monsters Inc. and Bugs Land Rides and Splash Pad. We don't want to leave for the hotel and return later at night. We hope to leave by 3pm our first day. Our plan is to return to Disneyland again the next day for a full day including fireworks. We will spend our last full day in Anaheim, August 5th, at DCA for a full day.

 

[chickapin parterre]

you will be arrving at the parking too late for a 7:00 MM, by the time you enter, snow white and pinocchio will be your only options for MM...but you will be ahead of the crowds on your planned visits to the west of the park and you will have all of those done by 11:30 and your DCA plans look great for 3:00 departure

August 5th, start in Disneyland in the morning,if you have a 3 day park hopper, can't tell if you have one, then finish the day in DCA.

where are you lodging?

 

[maleficent55]

You should be IN LINE for the turnstiles for a EMH BY 6:30, so you should plan on getting to the parking structure sooner if you can

 

[buyerbrad]

you will be arrving at the parking too late for a 7:00 MM, by the time you enter, snow white and pinocchio will be your only options for MM...but you will be ahead of the crowds on your planned visits to the west of the park and you will have all of those done by 11:30 and your DCA plans look great for 3:00 departure

August 5th, start in Disneyland in the morning,if you have a 3 day park hopper, can't tell if you have one, then finish the day in DCA.

where are you lodging?

We are staying at the Baymont Inn and Suites. If we leave at 6am, would that get us to the turnstiles by 6:30? It appears to be a 15 minute drive. Our tickets only have 1 MM, and the 5th is a Disneyland MM, so that's why we plan on doing DCA for the full day.

 

[Elima2015]

I think the ride schedule is a little aggressive by the times listed. Peter Pan could easily eat 30 minutes of your magic morning time, even if you are toward the front. If PP is very important to you, then arrive earlier and go for it and consider crossing a few of the other dark rides off the list - at least for the first morning. If this is a first visit, be aware that your young children may be scared by those. Alice is pretty tame, but my almost-4 year olds (at the time) did NOT like it. They LOVED rides, but not that one so we scratched Mr. Toad, Pinocchio, and Snow White.

Dumbo is a great first ride. Teacups is also really fun. My kids loved Gadgets Go-Coaster.

In general, I would allow a little flexibility for more breaks with young kids. And don't worry if you can't fit all of that in on your first day. We park hopped every day depending on crowds and interests.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

I agree that you have an ambitious (probably unrealistic) plan there. Disneyland is rather tough to plan "to the minute" because there are just so many variables. You'd want to be parking a lot earlier, I think, and the reality is that rides often don't open immediately, sometimes break down, etc. - you could easily end up just doing two or three rides where you have five or six in mind...

Peter Pan isn't worth doing "first" unless you're honestly at the FRONT of the line, which is why people are saying you need to be there SO early. Personally, I'd do the rest of Fantasyland and then just hit PP sometime later - sure, you might wait 10 more minutes for it by going later in the day, but you're also not sinking a huge chunk of your MM time into one ride. Again, if you can actually get there early enough to ride right away, then that's different...

If you have hoppers, you'll probably want to hop every day. Is there a reason you're thinking DCA "all" day on the 5th?

 

[buyerbrad]

I agree that you have an ambitious (probably unrealistic) plan there. Disneyland is rather tough to plan "to the minute" because there are just so many variables. You'd want to be parking a lot earlier, I think, and the reality is that rides often don't open immediately, sometimes break down, etc. - you could easily end up just doing two or three rides where you have five or six in mind...

Peter Pan isn't worth doing "first" unless you're honestly at the FRONT of the line, which is why people are saying you need to be there SO early. Personally, I'd do the rest of Fantasyland and then just hit PP sometime later - sure, you might wait 10 more minutes for it by going later in the day, but you're also not sinking a huge chunk of your MM time into one ride. Again, if you can actually get there early enough to ride right away, then that's different...

If you have hoppers, you'll probably want to hop every day. Is there a reason you're thinking DCA "all" day on the 5th?

Oops typo! Meant DCA on the 8th. We only have a 3-day hopper pass. Plan is to do half Disneyland and a few lesser DCA rides the first day and leave by 3. Finish Disneyland the next day including all of the parades/shows/fireworks. Saturday visit Hollywood Blvd, Sunday baseball game, Monday beach, and DCA on the 8th. Our flight is early on the 9th, so we will probably skip WOC and do the 5:30Pm Frozen show and call it a day.

 

[chickapin parterre]

7:00 rope drop, when you arrive in the esplanade at 6:30, the gates will have been open for 10 mintues, you will be to far back for Peter Pan, and if you have a stroller, then you will be further back, so skip Peter Pan. Do Alice, Toad, Dumbo, SW and her wooden neighbor in that order, Toad will get the overflow from peter Pan so go around the corner to alice,since it is out of sight, out of mind for folks panicking for full leverage MM then go back around the corner to Toad, by then the pressure by the traditionalist will be off dumbo and that should flow. if you leave dumbo at 7:50, then skip SW and her puppet friend, those two are easy to access anytime

7:50, find your way to the Adventureland rope drop area and proceed with the plan you have, knowing from information here that half of those attractions will not be operating at rope drop. Don't be put off by the Adventureland rope drop depth of folks, it is a narrow passage into a HUGE area that can handle the crowd you see around you, don't second guess that rope drop, don't get caught up in the running, there is no prize for being the first 50 people on any ride.

skip casey jr and canal boat, canal boat is more fun for children of your age at night, if you choose to do them when they first open,then your are competing with traditionalist who ride those two, because that if the first attraction they ride at park opening or after MM. And then your are behind schedule with all your FP for the west end. The west end will be less crowded then the east end, at rope drop, because folks will be investing time in Tomorrowland and the extensive fp system offering

 

[KatieCharlotte]

7:00 rope drop, when you arrive in the esplanade at 6:30, the gates will have been open for 10 mintues, you will be to far back for Peter Pan, and if you have a stroller, then you will be further back, so skip Peter Pan. Do Alice, Toad, Dumbo, SW and her wooden neighbor in that order, Toad will get the overflow from peter Pan so go around the corner to alice,since it is out of sight, out of mind for folks panicking for full leverage MM then go back around the corner to Toad, by then the pressure by the traditionalist will be off dumbo and that should flow. if you leave dumbo at 7:50, then skip SW and her puppet friend, those two are easy to access anytime

What time would you all recommend arriving at the esplanade (1) if you want to ride Peter Pan or (2) if you're not riding PP at that time, don't want to be in a stampede, and just want to walk on Alice and the rest?