Two park days + Oogie Boogie Bash

[thom4227]

Four of us will be taking a trip in August and attending the 8/21 Bash. Before this, we have two park days on 8/19 and 8/20 and plan on purchasing Genie+ but are considering skipping the park hopper. We've never been to Disneyland, but we've been to Disneyland Paris, so we understand how close together the parks are compared to Disney World and how a park hopper can be useful.


Since we're going during a period where it looks like both Incredicoaster and Radiator Springs Racers will be closed, would you recommend doing 8/19 in Diseyland, 8/20 in DCA and then the bash 8/21, would we be better served doing Disneyland twice and then DCA during the bash given the closures, or should we just suck it up and spend the extra ~$320 on the park hoppers for two days?

One of our kids is 40 inches and the other is 46 inches.

I think their priorities in Disneyland would be Tiana's, the canoes, Tiki Room, Pirates, Dumbo, All of Toontown, most of the rest of Fantasyland (Casey and Story boats will be down), 3 of us would do the Matterhorn, and my taller daughter loves Dinosour at Disneyworld, so I think she would like Indiana Jones.

In DCA they would like Emotional Whirlwind, WEBslingers, Monsters, and 3 of us would do Guardians.

 

[twodogs]

Are you staying onsite, and if so, do you plan to do EE?

 

[thom4227]

We're staying within walking distance, but not on property, so no early entry.

Are you staying onsite, and if so, do you plan to do EE?

 

[twodogs]

So if I am reading this correctly, you may do only DL park both of your full day ticket days, and then only see DCA for the party, entering during the mix in at 3pm? Your other option is to do DL one full day, DCA one full day and the DCA with a party ticket only?

I think it depends on what parts of the party you want to do. It is somewhat difficult to do all of the party elements AND ride a bunch of rides at DCA with only a party ticket. The issue is that the mix in time is crazy, so ride lines will be awful during those hours (and people with day tickets can book LLs during the mix in time, but you won’t be able to do that with only a party ticket). So you will likely only get a few rides in during that time, with long waits for everything (which young kids may not tolerate well; heck I don’t tolerate it well!). Once the party starts, if you want to meet the characters, do the treat trails, do Villains Grove, watch the parade and any of the other special offerings, you will be pressed for time to also do a bunch of rides (particularly GOTG, which will likely still have a fairly long wait during the party, with elevators not all working right now; you can have a shorter wait if you ride it during the first parade or at the very end of the party (with the risk that it goes down and doesn’t reopen if it is close to closing time)). If you don’t want to see either parade time, you can have lower ride waits during those times, but the parade is really awesome!! Lastly, will your kids make it awake until the end of the party? If so, ride waits will be somewhat lower the later it gets (as will the wait to get through Villains Grove, which I also highly recommend).

If DCA is not a high priority, or doing all of the party offerings is not a high priority, or you can plan to stay until the bitter end of the party and also endure some longer ride lines during hte mix in, then I would do DL both of your full ticket days. But DL will be particularly crowded on 8/19, since that is also a party day. People with one park per day tickets will typically all be in DL that day since they don’t want to “waste” a full day ticket when DCA closes early for a party.

DL can definitely fill two full park days, no problem! We always do PHs because you can flex to the other park when lines are long and we get the most value out of our LL purchase (with PHs, you can book rides at both parks; without PHs, you pay the same amount per day for LLMP, but you can only book LLs at one park). If that is not in the budget, I think then you just need to decide if you can do the things in DCA and for the party, all in the party ticket time frame. Since RSR and IC are both down, lines may be long for everything in DCA no matter what! But your ride priorities are not super big ones (other than GOTG), so you might be ok. Also GOTG will be the Monsters After Dark version during the party, not the regular version (which available in the morning and mid day only during Halloween time; side note: if you do a full park day at DCA with LLMP, you can book a LL for regular GOTG for the morning and then book another LL for GOTG MAD in the afternoon/evening, getting two LL rides on GOTG in one day with LL!).

Either way, have fun!!!

 

[thom4227]

Thank you for all of this info. Very Helpful.

So if I am reading this correctly, you may do only DL park both of your full day ticket days, and then only see DCA for the party, entering during the mix in at 3pm? Your other option is to do DL one full day, DCA one full day and the DCA with a party ticket only?

I think it depends on what parts of the party you want to do. It is somewhat difficult to do all of the party elements AND ride a bunch of rides at DCA with only a party ticket. The issue is that the mix in time is crazy, so ride lines will be awful during those hours (and people with day tickets can book LLs during the mix in time, but you won’t be able to do that with only a party ticket). So you will likely only get a few rides in during that time, with long waits for everything (which young kids may not tolerate well; heck I don’t tolerate it well!). Once the party starts, if you want to meet the characters, do the treat trails, do Villains Grove, watch the parade and any of the other special offerings, you will be pressed for time to also do a bunch of rides (particularly GOTG, which will likely still have a fairly long wait during the party, with elevators not all working right now; you can have a shorter wait if you ride it during the first parade or at the very end of the party (with the risk that it goes down and doesn’t reopen if it is close to closing time)). If you don’t want to see either parade time, you can have lower ride waits during those times, but the parade is really awesome!! Lastly, will your kids make it awake until the end of the party? If so, ride waits will be somewhat lower the later it gets (as will the wait to get through Villains Grove, which I also highly recommend).

If DCA is not a high priority, or doing all of the party offerings is not a high priority, or you can plan to stay until the bitter end of the party and also endure some longer ride lines during hte mix in, then I would do DL both of your full ticket days. But DL will be particularly crowded on 8/19, since that is also a party day. People with one park per day tickets will typically all be in DL that day since they don’t want to “waste” a full day ticket when DCA closes early for a party.

DL can definitely fill two full park days, no problem! We always do PHs because you can flex to the other park when lines are long and we get the most value out of our LL purchase (with PHs, you can book rides at both parks; without PHs, you pay the same amount per day for LLMP, but you can only book LLs at one park). If that is not in the budget, I think then you just need to decide if you can do the things in DCA and for the party, all in the party ticket time frame. Since RSR and IC are both down, lines may be long for everything in DCA no matter what! But your ride priorities are not super big ones (other than GOTG), so you might be ok. Also GOTG will be the Monsters After Dark version during the party, not the regular version (which available in the morning and mid day only during Halloween time; side note: if you do a full park day at DCA with LLMP, you can book a LL for regular GOTG for the morning and then book another LL for GOTG MAD in the afternoon/evening, getting two LL rides on GOTG in one day with LL!).

Either way, have fun!!!