WDW vet, with a love of both coasts here. Laziness is allowed at DL/CA. Everything is within walking distance at DL, so you don't have to have a set plan of attack. The items you need a plan for are:
1. World of Color
2. Fantasmic
3. Radiator Springs Racers
4. Anna and Elsa (and the best plan for that right now is to skip them if at all possible)
5. A TS meal or two if you so desire (I will say that while we like and book TS meals, that unlike at WDW where I would go nuts after a day of CS, at DL I could happily live on the CS options and the places you can walk up to and get in without a reservation).
If you are remotely into character meals, my favorite TS at DL/CA is Minnie's Breakfast. It beats all the WDW character meals. We do it around 10:00 a.m. and get park time first. The least amount of characters we have seen are 7, and usually we see more. It is not your typical WDW character meal characters either, and you never know who you are going to see- we've seen Rafiki, Hook, Fairy Godmother, Max, Tweedle Dum, Gepetto, Chip and Dale, Minnie, Mad Hatter, Alice, Brer Fox, Mary Poppins Penguin, Pinnochio Eeyore, Pooh, Tigger, Sleeping Beauty, and more I can't remember.
Have a fun trip!
We were there last week, Saturday July 12 to Wednesday afternoon July 16. Here is an update on the above planning items.
1. WOC- we did the dining package last Monday. We did feel that with them cutting it to one show per night this summer, that people lined up a little earlier, even with the dining package. We usually just walk into the area 45 minutes to an hour before the show and grab a spot on the rail in the wet zone. This time we walked by and there was a pretty good line an hour and 15 minutes before the show, so we got in it. We got our front row rail spot in the wet zone easily, but I do not think we would have gotten it had we gotten there just 45 minutes before like we have in the past. I would say it seemed like things were going about 15 minutes earlier than we have seen, which I'm sure is people getting there a little early because they are worried about the crowds with only being one show. The dining area was not as crowded as we have had it previously though (we are usually there the first week in June). There actually was room to move around a little. The show was fantastic as always.
2. We splurged and did the Fantasmic dessert package, so I can't tell you about the recent planning and wait outside of that. We loved the dessert package. On a sad note, Dumbo did not fly during the fireworks on Sunday July 13. We went back to catch the fireworks from the front of the castle on Tuesday night, and again Dumbo did not fly. Bummer as there is no flying Dumbo at WDW, so that is the part I look forward to most.
3. We did this several times and only used a FP once. DD is 8, so we can all use the single rider line. We kept an eye on the wait times app on the single rider waits, and caught it multiple times when the wait was only 10 minutes. The longest we waited was 20 minutes, which was the first day as we did not arrive in time to get a fast pass and really wanted to ride it that night after dark. The fast passes seemed to be running out around 12:30 or 1:00 most days.
4. Making the run was easier than I expected. We did it Monday morning for regular hours, thinking if we didn't make it that we would try again during early hours the next day. DH got to the park a few minutes after 7 and was the first person at one of the gates. DD and I arrived just after 7:30 and were only a few people behind him. Once the opened the gates, DH booked it down to the castle (go to your left- the side closest to adventureland etc.). DD and I did a fast walk and we were not far behind him at all. They have been doing a line up behind a CM, but our morning they did not. A guest, that everyone thought was a CM, was holding up an "Anna and Elsa line starts here sign", so people were lining up behind him. A CM came out and advised that there was not going to be any organized line that day, so the crowd got irritated at the guest who they thought was a CM and he put his sign away. Everyone spread out along the rope to make the run. DH, DD and I were all at the front of the rope. They drop the rope (at least our day) from the inner side which a CM told DH so we knew right where to stand. When the rope dropped everyone raced to the meet and greet. DH could have been first in line, but he decided to let a few of the running dads in front of him as DD and I were not going to run. DD and I did a pretty fast walk, and even doing that we will would have been probably one of the first 10 groups in line. DH was about 3rd or 4th. Unfortunately, Anna started out by herself (the previous morning, it had been Anna and Elsa together we heard from another guest who had done the run). We just stood back and let people go in front of us. We hear that she usually comes out either 30 minutes or an hour after Anna if she is not there at opening. Unfortunately for us, it was an hour, but we stuck it out as DD wanted to meet both of them and we weren't doing it again. If we had not waited for Elsa, we would have been in line probably for 5 minutes. I would say that most people that were there before rope drop and even just walked to the meet and greet did not have much of a wait. It was a low crowd park day, and the line didn't really build up for about half an hour. It was an hour or even less for at least the first half hour the park was open. Not too long after that, it hit 2 hours and hovered there the rest of the day. It was a lot easier than I expected (other than having to wait for Elsa, which we knew was a possibility), so I guess we just hit it on the right day maybe.
5. Cafe Orleans was great. I know it gets mixed reviews, but we enjoyed the Wine Country Trattoria for the WOC dinner. Goofy's kitchen was the same as always and fun. For the first time, Minnies, which is usually our absolute favorite, was the disappointment. We did it Monday morning after Anna and Elsa. We saw the least amount of characters we ever have at Minnies. I think we only saw 5 which the same amount as the standard WDW meal- Minnie, Hook, Pooh, Tigger, and Fairy Godmother. Before that the lowest number we saw was 7, and usually it is even more more (our max was 12). Max was not there for the first time in the 5 summers we have gone there. They also were very slow at filling up buffet items. Things were running out and they weren't getting them replaced. We would have to sit for 10 minutes and watch and run up when something got replaced, becuase it would not last long as everyone was waiting. It seemed like they were really short staffed that day. I'm hoping we just caught it on an off day, because usually it is our absolute favorite. As far as TS reservations, we had most of ours ahead of time, but Saturday night (our arrival day), we decided we wanted TS and I got online at abouyt 4:30 p.m. and we actually had several choices still. We picked Cafe Orleans at 5:40 and were glad we did!
The only thing that was a bit irritating, is that we kept an eye out for Sleeping Beauty for 5 days and never saw her. She has a castle there, so you think she would show up regularly! She wasn't at Ariel's and we checked at Fantasy Faire every day she was never there when we checked! Same thing happened last year too. She isn't DD's favorite, so it isn't a big deal, but DD always asks about finding her since her castle is there.
Have a great trip!
So excited.. keep the good advice coming guys! thanks again! 
