Trouble deciding whether to switch last day to DL start

[wishing4PA]

DD17 and I are making our first time DL trip in August.
We arrive midday on a Tuesday and return late on Saturday.
We have hoppers.

Our current park reservations are:
Tues: DL (1/2 day)
Wed: DCA
Thurs: DL
Fri: DCA
Sat: DCA (1/2-ish day -- have to check out in morning & leave for good in late afternoon/early evening)

I picked the 3 California Adventure starts b/c WS is high priority -- & we'll probably repeat it if we are can. I managed a "practice" ROTR BG so I think we have half a shot at BGs, esp. over several days. We've never done ROTR either, so will try for it as well, but DD's priority is WS.

In spite of that, I'm now thinking of switching our last day to DL. It's a Saturday, so I don't know if that increases chances of DL reaching any sort of capacity limits, but I'd hate to chance not being able to see the castle and ride some of the traditional rides before going flying back. And I think we may feel like we've kind of finished with DCA by then.

So does anyone think switching to DL Sat. would be a bad change? If so, why?

 

[tlcdoula]

We always (or I LOL) like to end our trip in Disneyland.... Same reasons you are thinking.. being able to see the castle, ride my favorites and just enjoy a little more time before waving to Walt on my way out.

Have a great trip!!!

 

[SeaDis]

We just had similar scenario. I would switch to DL and here is why:

1) ROTR went down a lot during our stay. There was one day when our BG (which we got at noon) was not called until 30 mins before park closing. We were deep in DCA by then and decided it was not worth the walk (and risk of another break down). WS equipment seems way less complex and less likely to breakdown. I think you have a chance of riding it reliably more times than ROTR. There were times in the evening when it looked like we could walk up to WS and ask to just ride standby (zero line). We did not ask, but I've seen two other reports of people getting a "yes" (one early morning and one late evening, after they had already used their BG).
*So what I mean is... last day at DL gives you more "odds" of evening up your ROTR rides with WS. I think WS is the more reliable ride for a noon BG attempt.

2) I don't think Saturday is anything to fear at DL (yet). My observation was that Monday morning was way busier than Saturday, which matches the flow of previous years. I think it's a combination of tourists staying that extra day and locals (former APs) avoiding the weekends. May change... remains to be seen.

*Just making sure you know the current program so above makes sense: With Hoppers, you can get BG for your "starting" park at 7 AM. As long as the BG is before noon, and you scan before noon, you can try for BG at the "other" park that day. We had no problem getting both, each day of our trip.

But we were not successful in using them all due to breakdowns and other touring/eating conflicts.

 

[frechley]

For sure end in DL. First, there just isn't a ton to do in DCA and you can't hop till 1 right now. Second, of course you want to finish out in DL. Come on now. You can still get WS in everyday if you have hoppers...

 

[wishing4PA]

Second, of course you want to finish out in DL. Come on now. You can still get WS in everyday if you have hoppers...

LOL! Yes, of course I do! The darn WS and my somewhat Spiderman obsessed DD are the only reasons I didn't do that in the first place! (The stuff we do for our kids! Sigh ... Though she'd probably take offense to being described as somewhat Spiderman obsessed.)

 

[TinkerTay]

Regardless of where you start, if you have hoppers, you can end your trip in whichever park you want to finish in. Even if you spend the first half of the day in DCA, you can still end in DL if that’s what you want to do. That’s the beauty of park hoppers, except this 1pm thing… but even so, after 1:00, you have the freedom to go where you want. We usually go back and forth several times in a day, depending on what we want to ride/eat/do…

 

[Piglet99645]

We started one of our five days at DCA last week and it was out worst day for accomplishing things.

Cars went down before it even opened. There’s almost nothing for breakfast right now. And my family thought WS was lame. We couldn’t wait for 1 pm.

 

[sjmac42]

Regardless of where you start, if you have hoppers, you can end your trip in whichever park you want to finish in. Even if you spend the first half of the day in DCA, you can still end in DL if that’s what you want to do. That’s the beauty of park hoppers, except this 1pm thing… but even so, after 1:00, you have the freedom to go where you want. We usually go back and forth several times in a day, depending on what we want to ride/eat/do…

I agree with this, you can always hop. You don’t have to stay in DCA on that last day until 1pm, just leave and explore Downtown Disney until you can hop to DL at 1pm if you want. You can always do that on the other days you start at DCA as well.

 

[kristensideaoffun]

In spite of that, I'm now thinking of switching our last day to DL. It's a Saturday, so I don't know if that increases chances of DL reaching any sort of capacity limits, but I'd hate to chance not being able to see the castle and ride some of the traditional rides before going flying back. And I think we may feel like we've kind of finished with DCA by then.

So does anyone think switching to DL Sat. would be a bad change? If so, why?

If it helps your decision, it is very unlikely DL will reach capacity. They are no longer being held to a smaller state mandated capacity. I don’t think I have ever seen them reach capacity during the summer pre-COViD, just during the holidays.

 

[HenDuck]

We always begin and end with DL. Even with Avengers Campus, I don't think DCA is a full day park, meaning you will be able to get it all done and then some with the number of days you have planned. Your DD will likely get to ride WS multiple times.

Have a great time! We will be there end of August so hoping the summer crowds ease a little by then.

 

[wishing4PA]

Thank you everybody! I think you all laid out the pros and cons very well, and if I start stressing about this again, I'll just look back here to remind myself what's what. Somehow this did help me put everything together. (I do understand it's a 1st world problem that I'm lucky to have.)

I think in the end what swayed me to just leave it all as is was the reassurance that it's unlikely DL will reach capacity that day, and also just focusing back on the hoppers. Then I laid out a little mini-schedule for that day and realized that even if we spend 5 hours in DCA in the morning -- or get bored of it and go to DTD for a while -- the airline would have to very drastically change our flight schedule to completely eliminate the approximately 5 more hours we have available to spend at DL if the schedule doesn't change.

And since we don't have Cars Land over here and don't know when we'll get back to California, just hanging out there and at AC could make for a pleasant and memorable morning. We can take lots of photos to make our East Coast friends jealous!

We'll definitely hop over for DL to be our final park, though!
(We'll probably end up hopping after our other 2 DCA mornings as well -- It does seem like it'd be hard to enjoy that park dawn to dusk with us not being big "thrill ride" people.)

Thanks again for all your input!

 

[Piglet99645]

We started one of our five days at DCA last week and it was out worst day for accomplishing things.

Cars went down before it even opened. There’s almost nothing for breakfast right now. And my family thought WS was lame. We couldn’t wait for 1 pm.

did not intend to be a downer. Even our “worst” day was great!!!