WDW person which parks to start?

[rymahoney]

We are headed to Disneyland for the first time. We have been to Disney World 5 times in the last 15 years. We leave next week. Wondering with a 3 day park hopper which parks should we rope drop. Right now I have day 1 Disneyland and day 2 and 3 California adventure park. We plan to use genie plus and will probably buy some of the individual lightning lanes. Not sure if that matters. Thanks for the help. Very minimal planning on my part compared to Disney world so I am a bit nervous.

 

[irlandaise]

Since this is your first visit, I strongly recommend that you stick with your plan of going to Disneyland on Day 1. It's like making a pilgrimage.

Personally, I'd start at Disneyland on Day 3, also. But maybe there are more rides at DCA that your family wants to hit right away, so two days starting at DCA may be best for you.

 

[2tinkerbell]

We like to start and end in Disneyland.

You could start your 3rd day in DCA and then hop over to Disneyland. We like to end our trip with seeing the kiss good night as we exit Disneyland.

 

[SpaceMan5]

IMO, start and end with DL. Depending on your preferences as irlandaise mentioned you can probably knock out CA in a day. I feel there is more to experience in DL. The nostalgia, atmosphere, original rides etc.
But at the end of the day always do what you feel is best for you and your family and you will have a great time. And at the end of the trip if you feel you missed out on something starting planning your next trip right away. Have fun!

 

[Chernabob]

Personally, I agree with start/end at Disneyland park. That said, you're going to be amazed at park hopping. It's soooooo easy compared to WDW, so I stress much less over park reservations. You're much more able to just go with the flow.

 

[chezcurrie]

With hoppers and hopping at 11 it really doesn’t matter as much as it used to which park to start in, esp with Genie+ so I would look at your interests.

If experiences the classic Dland rides is a priority I would switch day 3 to Dland so that you have 2 opportunities to do the non LL rides in the morning. Pirates, Jungle Cruise and all of Fantasyland don’t have LL so you can divide and conquer those over your 2 mornings or try and hit a priority ride standby so you can ride it later with a LL.

My boys love the DCA rides and like to do them more than once so we usually start there and hit Incredicoaster a couple times, then Guardians and Weslingers, hop over to DLand and then re-ride them at night with LLs.

Again, no right or wrong its all about what is important to you. The beauty of Dland is you don’t need to plan as much, and even then it never goes according to plan anyways.

Have a great trip!

 

[DisneylandFan22]

For 3 day trips we like to do DCA, DL, DL. It sounds like you haven’t over planned but are doing at least some research, so that is the perfect amount of planning for DLR!

 

[mdmost]

DL, DCA, DL is the way we always go when we only have 3 days. A nice bookend trip. It would be weird to me to end in DCA and not the park Walt created.

 

[irlandaise]

DL, DCA, DL is the way we always go when we only have 3 days. A nice bookend trip. It would be weird to me to end in DCA and not the park Walt created.

Or not to start there, especially for a first-time visitor.

 

[fly girl]

IMHO, it depends on the rides you want to hit. We always want to do GOTG, TSMM, and Incredicoaster more than once with G+, so we do 2 days DCA open. If you are more into Fantasyland rides, then do 2 opens at DL vs. DCA.

All depends on what your goal is.

 

[dkr7166]

For 3 day trips we like to do DCA, DL, DL. It sounds like you haven’t over planned but are doing at least some research, so that is the perfect amount of planning for DLR!

I've been to WDW 10 times and have my first DL trip in September. I've got the same as you -- DCA, DL, DL. My first and last days happen to be OBB nights and I am hoping the first morning at DCA will be less busy than the non-OBB day. I have a hopper too and plan to hop over to DL the first day anyway!

 

[LKing]

How old are the people in your family? The only rides that you need to pay for above Genie + are
Rise of the Resistance (DLR)
Runaway Railway (DLR)
Radiator Springs Racer (DCA)

Personally, I wouldn't pay for Runaway Railway because the line is interesting. I would do single rider for RSR, and pay for Rise.

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/ge...rawer-card-disneylandAttractionsEntertainment

 

[SpaceMan5]

DL, DCA, DL is the way we always go when we only have 3 days. A nice bookend trip. It would be weird to me to end in DCA and not the park Walt created.

Amen to that mdmost!

 

[NorCalFanatic]

.

 

[rymahoney]

9 and 13 years old. 9 year old not a huge thrill ride fan but she will do mostly everything.

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

DL DCA DL.