When Do I Need To Firm Up Plans

[Disneyhappy]

When do I need to start firming up plans for a 3/21/14 trip to DL. We've been to WDW countless times but this will be our first trip to DL. I am an obsessive researcher whenever trying something new but I have so much on my plate at the moment with work, personal life and upcoming trips. I was able to reserve a studio at GCH through DVC today. By when do I need to figure out the touring plan and restaurant choices for ADRs. We are going to WDW in October and I am taking my mom in November. With the whole FP+ thing for these upcoming trips, I am also "planning weary". I must be getting old.

Is planning DL on the same level as WDW? Hopefully, I can wait until after I return in November. If not, what are the "musts dos" to take care of before then? It will be only be DH and me for this trip. This is likley our only trip to the west coast for a DL trip so we want to make it count. We like nice dining but not Victoria & Alberts type of fine dining. We would like our plans to capture the essence of DL. In the meantime, I need to find a large block of time to read through this whole DL forum!
TIA!

 

[2tinkerbell]

Disneyland is much more relaxed than planning for WDW.

Dining reservations are made 60 days out. You don't need them for every restaurant, but, if you want a Character meal, Blue Bayou, or a WOC reserved meal, it is best to have those.

Disneyland doesn't have FP+ yet. No need to schedule ahead of your trip. It is a good idea to read up on the strategies for RSR, Anna & Elsa M&G, etc.

HydroGuy has many informative posts. I would link a few, but, I don't know how.

I would get your big things like airfare and hotel taken care of soon. The rest can wait until you get back.

 

[lalasmama]

You've got your room, which is probably the biggest thing to have done. As a PP said, ADRs are made at 60 days or closer.

Hydroguy has a sticky thread at the top of the thread list called "DLR guide for WDW vets" or something like that. It's worth a read (first page mainly).

End point, though, is that waiting until January would be fine You'll want to get your airline tickets in January or early February. And then make dining ressies around late Jan or early Feb. Oh, and don't worry--ressies don't have to be made the day the ressies open, there will many great times left much closer to your dates!

 

[Disneyhappy]

Thank you for the insight. The fact that I didn't know most of your abbreviations is a sign of the research that is ahead of me. I am excited that there appears to be much less of an urgency to plan vs a WDW trip making me looking toward to DL even more. I will definitely check out Hydroguy's page.

 

[HydroGuy]

When do I need to start firming up plans for a 3/21/14 trip to DL. We've been to WDW countless times but this will be our first trip to DL. I am an obsessive researcher whenever trying something new but I have so much on my plate at the moment with work, personal life and upcoming trips. I was able to reserve a studio at GCH through DVC today. By when do I need to figure out the touring plan and restaurant choices for ADRs. We are going to WDW in October and I am taking my mom in November. With the whole FP+ thing for these upcoming trips, I am also "planning weary". I must be getting old.

Is planning DL on the same level as WDW? Hopefully, I can wait until after I return in November. If not, what are the "musts dos" to take care of before then? It will be only be DH and me for this trip. This is likley our only trip to the west coast for a DL trip so we want to make it count. We like nice dining but not Victoria & Alberts type of fine dining. We would like our plans to capture the essence of DL. In the meantime, I need to find a large block of time to read through this whole DL forum!
TIA!

I could not resist, but you would have needed to have done that about 7-8 months ago!

 

[lalasmama]

You've got your room, which is probably the biggest thing to have done. As a PP said, ADRs are made at 60 days or closer.

Hydroguy has a sticky thread at the top of the thread list called "DLR guide for WDW vets" or something like that. It's worth a read (first page mainly).

End point, though, is that waiting until January would be fine You'll want to get your airline tickets in January or early February. And then make dining ressies around late Jan or early Feb. Oh, and don't worry--ressies don't have to be made the day the ressies open, there will many great times left much closer to your dates!

Thank you for the insight. The fact that I didn't know most of your abbreviations is a sign of the research that is ahead of me. I am excited that there appears to be much less of an urgency to plan vs a WDW trip making me looking toward to DL even more. I will definitely check out Hydroguy's page.

PP= Previous Poster
ADRs=Advanced Dining Reservations
DLR=Disneyland Resort (Disneyland and Disney California Adventure together)
WDW=Walt Disney World

I think that's all I used in my post We use a lot of abbreviations around here; makes it much quicker to type!

 

[Geemo]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1520784

This is a link to DisBoard's common abbreviations.

Geemo

 

[kitayama]

I could not resist, but you would have needed to have done that about 7-8 months ago!

I was just about to say the same thing. But honestly, Disneyland is far easier then Disney World. I go to Disneyland to relax which is something I can not say about Disney World. You seem to be treading on Spring Break territory during that timeframe, but you will still be able to have a great time with limited planning.

 

[Disneyhappy]

With ADRs starting at 60 days and no FP+, it appears that I have some breathing room until later this year. FP+ at WDW is driving me crazy. It requires hyper planning and our last two trips were just OK because of the changed touring plan and several issues with the MBs. For us, the negatives have outweighed the pluses so taking FP+ out of the equation will take the majority of the anxiety away as well.

I have to wait to book DH flight until my company books my flight for a conference I will be attending in Palm Desert so I won't know the details until sometime in December.

I started reading Hydroguy's post last night. Great resource which is exactly what I was looKing for to get started later this year. I think that I will love the fact that DL is compacted into a smaller area. It is going to save so much time compared to traveling between the parks at WDW.

I'm started thinking this is a one time trip but we may enjoy it so much we may decide to trade WDW for DL. I look forward to getting to know you all better. Thank you!

 

[rms123]

And most reservations can be made the day before. Only a couple of restaurants are more popular than that

 

[HydroGuy]

I was just about to say the same thing. But honestly, Disneyland is far easier then Disney World. I go to Disneyland to relax which is something I can not say about Disney World. You seem to be treading on Spring Break territory during that timeframe, but you will still be able to have a great time with limited planning.

"That time frame" happened five months ago...

 

[Dduckmom]

We took our first trip to DL at the beginning of this month. Like you, I am a crazy planner for WDW. I read through the threads here about DL and everyone kept saying to relax and that you didn't have to plan as much as you do for WDW. Now that we are back , I can tell you that everyone was absolutely right. I intend to post some feedback when I have longer but we had no ADRs (our choice - we really wanted to just relax and eat whenever we wanted a break or were hungry). I have a love/hate relationship with ADRs at WDW and wanted to opt out of making dining plans in WDW. We really enjoyed the counter service restaurants much more than we normally do in WDW. We also were able to go back and forth between the 2 parks so easily. I would recommend waking up early and getting to the parks. Honestly, the 2 days that we were there, the parks didn't seem to get too crowded until about 12:30 - 1 pm (and that was a Fri and Sat). We just followed the wait times app that was on our Iphone and moved to whichever ride seemed less busy. The rides are much closer together than in WDW so it's easier to go back and forth from one area to the next. We also used our Fastpasses wisely. Between using the wait time app & the FPs, were never waited for more than 20 mins during our 2 day visit. And that was with little planning and virtually no touring plan. Only thing I really researched/planned was where to eat counter service and how to get on to Radiator Springs Races and Toy Story Midway Mania quickly. Much, much more relaxing and easier to navigate than WDW.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Obviously the original poster meant 2015, not 2014.

Other than hotel, airfare, and car rental (if needed), not much really needs to be done super far in advance.

Far less planning is needed from Disneyland compared to Disney World.

With no FP+, you won't really need any sort of itinerary. You just need a general idea of what rides fill up fast in the mornings.

And make sure you have park hoppers!

 

[allsaintsatx]

We are DLR vets planning our first WDW trip for December. Within the time frame of planning for that trip to WDW we have planned 2 trips to DLR and the preplanning for WDW isn't even over yet - our opening for FP+ starts late October (AFTER we get back from our 2nd DLR trip!) so I'm knee deep in researching FP+ after months of planning out ADRs and researching all 4 parks...

Whew!!

On the contrary, we made zero dinner reservations for DLR. I kept looking on the website and up to a day beforehand, we could still get prime time dinner reservations for Carthay Circle and Wine Country Trattoria.

So, feeling confident, we made absolutely no reservations and tried walking up but we were denied at both restaurants! Oh well.

I called DLR today and tried to make ADRs for our October trip and you are only able to book exactly 60 days beforehand - you must call back each day to book the next days reservations! None of that "plus 10 days" business!

The CMs advice was that I just wait until my last day of vacation was 60 days out and then make all my week's reservations on one day! Can you image doing that for WDW?!?

 

[khertz]

This is a timely thread, as we are also planning to visit DLR next March. Instead of starting a new thread, maybe I can get an answer here?

Is mid-March an okay time to go? Seems like the weather is pretty nice that time of year. How are crowds?

 

[Nosepass]

By when do I need to figure out the touring plan and restaurant choices for ADRs.

I do this a month in advance just to be absolutely comfortable, but that's doing it quite early.

 

[Disneyhappy]

I do this a month in advance just to be absolutely comfortable, but that's doing it quite early.

I can definitely deal with that! Looking forward to our DLR trip more and more!

 

[HydroGuy]

This is a timely thread, as we are also planning to visit DLR next March. Instead of starting a new thread, maybe I can get an answer here?

Is mid-March an okay time to go? Seems like the weather is pretty nice that time of year. How are crowds?

Depends on what you mean by OK. This may help:

"Choosing When To Visit DLR: Summary of High and Low Season and When Each Happens" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=36509602

"What to expect for DL's 60th anniversary in 2015" http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3280301

 

[Angrose]

This is a timely thread, as we are also planning to visit DLR next March. Instead of starting a new thread, maybe I can get an answer here?

Is mid-March an okay time to go? Seems like the weather is pretty nice that time of year. How are crowds?

I was there Mar 15-16 this year, it was in the low 90s and pretty crowded because it was near the beginning of spring breaks. Getting there for rope drop was key!

 

[khertz]

I was there Mar 15-16 this year, it was in the low 90s and pretty crowded because it was near the beginning of spring breaks. Getting there for rope drop was key!

Thanks for the reply! I found a bunch of blogs last night that swayed me away from mid-March due to the spring break crowds. Didn't even think of that, since around here spring break is always around Easter. We switched to the first week, and are hoping it's a good decision! Hopefully we will have cooler weather than low-90's, but I'll just be happy to be there!