TOP 5 Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda's?

[cpnmom]

Newbie to your boards here!

I am a mom of 4 and we are taking our first Disneyland trip on July 18th!! I'm so excited I want to throw up! lol

We have the hotel and park passes (including Magic Morning and Fastpasses) booked. I have been trying to do my research before we get there so we don't waste precious time or money! I would hate to look back on this trip and regret it because I wasn't prepared! That being said, I don't want to over analyze everything either!

With all the abbreviations, tips and tricks and Disney lingo I find my head SPINNING!

So my question is this....
The first time you came home from Disney what were your top 5
"I WISH I WOULD HAVE KNOWN/DONE/PREPARED FOR...etc" to make your trip better?


I'm so excited for what you come up with! Thanks so much!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Newbie to your boards here!

I am a mom of 4 and we are taking our first Disneyland trip on July 18th!! I'm so excited I want to throw up! lol

We have the hotel and park passes (including Magic Morning and Fastpasses) booked. I have been trying to do my research before we get there so we don't waste precious time or money! I would hate to look back on this trip and regret it because I wasn't prepared! That being said, I don't want to over analyze everything either!

With all the abbreviations, tips and tricks and Disney lingo I find my head SPINNING!

So my question is this....
The first time you came home from Disney what were your top 5
"I WISH I WOULD HAVE KNOWN/DONE/PREPARED FOR...etc" to make your trip better?


I'm so excited for what you come up with! Thanks so much!

Not in order necessarily:

1. I wish I had known, you don't have to use the fastpass at the time listed on the ticket. You can't use it prior to the hour on it, but it can be used ANY time after that for the entire day. So we collect them up early in the day & then use them late afternoon & evenings when the park is at it's busiest crowd-wise.

2. DON'T SLEEP IN......you will find the first few hours in the park to be extremely enjoyable due to smaller crowds. You are able to do so much in those first couple hours (and collect FP's).

3. Stop & take in the entertainment. Disney goes all out on their parades, fireworks, Fantasmic, World of Color & shows (Billy Hill, Dapper Dans, Flag Retreat, etc.)

4. Take in a character meal to get lots of character interaction for the kids. We didn't even know what they were the first time......we added one on the last day & it was the best decision we ever made!!!

5. Remember that Disneyland is not like going to the fair......its so much more than rides. Disney offers wonderful rides & they are a huge part, but slowing down to look at all the details from the names on the windows on Main Street to the flowers, to the themed restrooms to music & smells in each land just add to the whole experience. To fully experience DL, you have to let all 5 senses be a part of it.

Have a great trip!!

 

[*Seanaci*]

I look forward to what answers you get. We'll be heading to DLR in Dec 2012...it'll be my first time back since 1995...so I know a lot has changed.

 

[candygirlIRE]

Not in order necessarily:

1. I wish I had known, you don't have to use the fastpass at the time listed on the ticket. You can't use it prior to the hour on it, but it can be used ANY time after that for the entire day. So we collect them up early in the day & then use them late afternoon & evenings when the park is at it's busiest crowd-wise.

WOW! Is that true??! I wasn't aware of that, I thought you had to use them for the time listed on the fastpass... That's a brilliant idea to get them early and use them throughout the day!!!

I will remember this when we go!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

WOW! Is that true??! I wasn't aware of that, I thought you had to use them for the time listed on the fastpass... That's a brilliant idea to get them early and use them throughout the day!!!

I will remember this when we go!!

Very true.....It's super rare for us to actually ride at the time listed on our FP.......just make sure to use them on the same day & after your listed time. We gather them in the morning & early afternoon......usually doing stand-by lines & rides without them in the morning & then take a break, come back when it's the busiest & use our FP's.....bypassing the long stand-by lines....it's awesome to do that!!!

 

[Sydnie]

Very true.....It's super rare for us to actually ride at the time listed on our FP.......just make sure to use them on the same day & after your listed time. We gather them in the morning & early afternoon......usually doing stand-by lines & rides without them in the morning & then take a break, come back when it's the busiest & use our FP's.....bypassing the long stand-by lines....it's awesome to do that!!!

Wow- how do you manage that? I thought you could only have one FP at a time?! I must have missed a good trick

 

[RedRosie]

Wow- how do you manage that? I thought you could only have one FP at a time?! I must have missed a good trick

In small print at the bottom of the ticket, it says "Another FASTPASS ticket will be available after xxxx" It is the same time as the beginning of the return time window. So you can get a FP at 8 am, that says come back at 9 am. Then at 9 am, you don't have to use the 1st one, but you can get a 2nd one.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Wow- how do you manage that? I thought you could only have one FP at a time?! I must have missed a good trick

You get a FP first thing in the morning (say opening is 8am), the FP tells you to come back at 9:20am to 10:20am......after 9:20 you can go get another FP (or after 2 hrs, which ever one comes first). So you can just go picking them up. Usually by the time we come back we have FP's for at least 5 different rides........just depends how aggressive we are gathering them, crowd levels & watching the times that you return for FP rides which are listed on the signs above the rides. So say at 11am, you go to Indy & the FP return time is for 4pm....we'd skip that one & try to find one that return time is earlier.

Hope that makes sense!!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Oh, one more thing....you can park hop & get FP's for both parks. The two parks are separate from each other!!

 

[skiingfast]

While things have changed a lot over the years I'm really glad I've learned a few things.

Like the mentions on FP above, about Single Rider Lines and Parent Swaps.

But also where to go to get better views of shows.
WoC Superthread
Fantasmic Superthread

With tips like these you can see the shows at a better view and save time. Making for a more action packed visit.

As far as accronyms they can be boggling especially when you through in the dozens of nearby hotels. There is a good post with many of the accronyms written out.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1520784

 

[candygirlIRE]

Wow- how do you manage that? I thought you could only have one FP at a time?! I must have missed a good trick

In small print at the bottom of the ticket, it says "Another FASTPASS ticket will be available after xxxx" It is the same time as the beginning of the return time window. So you can get a FP at 8 am, that says come back at 9 am. Then at 9 am, you don't have to use the 1st one, but you can get a 2nd one.

You get a FP first thing in the morning (say opening is 8am), the FP tells you to come back at 9:20am to 10:20am......after 9:20 you can go get another FP (or after 2 hrs, which ever one comes first). So you can just go picking them up. Usually by the time we come back we have FP's for at least 5 different rides........just depends how aggressive we are gathering them, crowd levels & watching the times that you return for FP rides which are listed on the signs above the rides. So say at 11am, you go to Indy & the FP return time is for 4pm....we'd skip that one & try to find one that return time is earlier.

Hope that makes sense!!!

Oh, one more thing....you can park hop & get FP's for both parks. The two parks are separate from each other!!

I am shocked that I do not know this info!!! I love you guys!!!!
This will be a big help when we go in Oct!!!

 

[cpnmom]

Thanks so much for these suggestions!

DizNee Luver I especially loved your #5. Thank you for reminding me to slow down and enjoy it! I will make sure to do that!


Silly question about the fast passes. So each ticket holder gets 2. Say I use one at Space Mountain and one for WOC (see I'm catching on with my Disney lingo! ), my husband can use his for 2 other rides and ride with me on Space Mountain at our pass time (or later) or does he have to use his own fast pass for the ride?

KEEP THE IDEAS COMING!!!! We leave in 7 days!!!!!!

 

[rangermom]

Each person had to have their own FP. Also the WOC FP is a regular FP. You either have to get it in the morning or reserve a WOC picnic or dining option.

 

[DizNee Luver]

The WoC FP is a separate thing. It has nothing to do with the ride FP's. So you could pick up free FP for the WoC show up by Grizzly River Run in the morning & go right to a FP ride to pick up a FP to use that day.

We've always had no less than 6 people with us, so we have one person gather all of our parkhopper tickets & run to get FP's. The FP is good for anyone to use....they don't have to be used by the parkhopper holder. So where we have littles that don't ride the big rides needing FP's, we are able to use their FP's for those rides.

Hope that makes sense. The parkhopper ticket holder does not have to use the FP that comes out of the FP machine. You can gather all of them up & dispense them because they're not "assigned" to anyone in particular. If you lose them or drop one.....anyone can use them. So keep them safe!!! The parkhopper ticket goes into the FP machine & it tracks when the PH was used, so it will know when you can use it again to get another FP.

We've even given away FP's at the end of the day if we didn't get them used.

 

[skiingfast]

Silly question about the fast passes. So each ticket holder gets 2. Say I use one at Space Mountain and one for WOC (see I'm catching on with my Disney lingo! ), my husband can use his for 2 other rides and ride with me on Space Mountain at our pass time (or later) or does he have to use his own fast pass for the ride?

KEEP THE IDEAS COMING!!!! We leave in 7 days!!!!!!

I think you are reffering to the two bonus FPs you get staying onsite. They are not good for WoC.

FPs that hotel guests get on check in and regular ones can be used by anyone, so one person could use all four. You could use your tickets to get 2 ST FPs. Then you could use both or give them to a stranger it really doesn't matter.

 

[Judy from Boise]

With a family your size make sure to use photopass so you can have lots of pictures with everyone in it !

 

[andee2000]

We arrived about 11am on our last trip and ran to the parks. We only had a three day pass. I wish we would have just stayed at the hotel pool and did our character dining that night instead. I felt so rushed that first 1/2 day and didn't get things in the way I wanted to. Next year we are going for 5 days, but I'm still taking the first day to relax.