WDW veteran with 1 day to see DL seeks advice

[Lori of the Lodge]

Any DL experts care to lend some advice?

Background: This will be my first trip to Disneyland however I'm a seasoned WDW Veteran. I am flying into to LAX next Wednesday evening (5/25) for a whirlwind (4 day) Southern California vacation. A trip to California would not be complete without Disneyland, unfortunately we can only spend one day in the parks. My traveling buddy has not experienced Disney since she was a young child (neither WDW or DL).

We arrive at LAX Wednesday evening and have reservations at an Anaheim hotel (a few miles from the park). My plan is to check in to our hotel around 8:00 p.m. and drive over to Downtown Disney for some food & entertainment.

Thursday morning: wake up early, check out of hotel and be on line by 9:30 a.m. for Disneyland's 10:00 opening. Move counter-clockwise through the park in attempt to see as much as possible before the crowds get too thick.

Around 1:00 or 2:00 leave DL and walk over to CA. No attempt to see everything here, just hit the "popular rides" like Soarin', California Screamin', ToT, ITTBAB, Sun Wheel, and maybe Muppets 4d.

CA closes at 6:00 and we walk back to DL to ride what we missed that morning and stay for the 9:00 evening fireworks.

Is this crazy? I really want to see both parks but if it's just too much to see in one day then I'll stick to DL and experience CA some other time. Do you think that the upcoming Memorial Day holiday will result in heavy Crowds, or is Thursday early enough to advert the holiday travelers? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Magix]

Sounds like a workable (and good) plan to me. You may not manage to ride everything, if the crowds are big (which is possible, but you might get lucky), but you should be able to accomplish enough to feel satisfied. Have fun!

 

[Judy from Boise]

I am not sure about the "counter clockwise" plan. I would walk through the park and first get a FP for Indy, then head to FL to ride Alice, Pinocchio, Casey junior or sorybook boats if interested. Hop into line for the Matterhorn. And then, do whatever you want with of course a trip to Indy at your FP time.

 

[HaleyB]

First off, get to the park 30 minutes before opening. Main Street opens early and you will be ahead of most everyone. Go straight for Indy FP, then see if you can get some for Splash Mountian. Last time we tried this was 2 years ago, the machines were not conected at that time so we were able to get both (ignor the message on the FP that tells you when you can get more, just try the FP machines if you are near them. There are lots of disconnects in DL).

If you want to ride Dumbo do so early, same with most of FL. The other option is to do so late (the kiddo's only last so long). We prefer to go from Adventureland to Frontierland to Tomorrowland (cut straight across from main entrance to Frontierland to get to Tommorowland), then Fnatasyland and Toontown if possible.

DO NOT wait till DCA closes to go back to DL. That is what tons of people do.. tons of people take a long time to get through the gates and into DL. If you run into this problem walk past the gate entrance to the Monorail entrance and use it. It should be faster if your timing is not bad (if you just miss a monorail it can seem like a long wait).

Also instead of fighting the crowds to exit after the fireworks hang out for awhile. The park empties and you can often fit in a ride you missed in little time. If you are just too worn out to think about another ride find a seat in the ice cream place and enjoy a late snack! It is SO much nicer to not be in the herd that exits right after the fireworks and ice cream is always good (or if you would rather they sell yummy cookies etc on Main Street too).

 

[CalGal]

I agree with the other posters; your general idea to start early at DL is good, but the counter-clockwise approach may not be best. You might not be able to ride Splash and Indy if you stuck to that plan, and these are great rides. If you are both over 5, you can skip Dumbo and some of the other low flow FL rides; perhaps just worry about Peter Pan and Matterhorn in FL early, Storybook canals a little later if you have time. Do pick up your FastPasses early for rides like Indy, Splash, and/or Buzz. Rides like HM, Pirates, and BTMRR can usually be done a little later since this day shouldn't be too crowded; the flow rates are good on these rides so you don't have to ride them first thing. Going over to DCA midday is a good idea. Again, try to get a fastpass for Soaring, ToT, and/or Screaming. Try to catch Aladdin as well.

There's an information board between Main Street and the entrance to Adventureland that lists the wait times for many of the more popular rides. It can be helpful in providing guidance on what to ride next, and when to hop over to DCA.

Have a great time!

 

[HaleyB]

The clockwise counter clockwise advice depends on what you think of as clockwise... if you think of the entrance as 12 o'clock than going towards Indy and Splash is counter clockwise (going to the left). If the castle is your 12 o'clock than going to Indy and Splash first is clock wise... Anyhow to be clear when we advise to head towards Indy and Splash first we don't mean go on every ride in exactly that order... it is a small park so back tracking and criss-crossing is not a problem for most. You want the Indy FP and the Splash FP early, other FP that we give a high priority to are Roger Rabbit and Buzz. I hear Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise don't have them anymore. That makes sense, they are fast loaders and you don't really need them.

 

[Lori of the Lodge]

Thanks for all the good advice. I'm feeling much more comfortable with my plan.

I don't know why I didn't think about the "herd" migrating to Disneyland after CA closes for the day. We'll try to get outta there around 5:00 p.m. to beat the crowd. And I'll look for the monorail entrance.

No kids, just us gals..(30 yrs. old.) so we'll just breeze thru fantasyland maybe riding IASW (nostalga). We will let the crowds levels guide our touring strategy.

I don't mind skipping some of the WDW duplicates, like Jungle cruise, Star Tours, (except Pirates & HM). But I do want my friend to get a well-rounded taste of "all that is Disney". I'm hopping this trip will leave her hungry for more and then a trip to Orlando will be in order.

 

[spendleb]

We had the same plan and managed to do every ride we wanted in both parks and see the fireworks and Fantasmic, as long as the crowds aren't horrendous you should be OK, we only used fastpass once on Indy. We also started with The Matterhorn and walked straight on and went from there.