Which parks on which days?

[Nicoleclaw]

If you all of you wonderful DL vets could help me out with this, that would be great. We will be in the parks from July 21-23 (Tues-Thurs). Background info that may help - we are the touring type that has a plan when we go to Disney World, are only able to go during Spring and Xmas break when it is packed, and manage to get done what we want without having to be there for 12 straight hours.
We will not be getting hoppers, but will consider upgrading if something crazy happens lol. I am thinking DCA on Tuesday and DL on Wed and Thurs. I want to try to avoid extra magic hour and magic morning. So Tuesday and Wed we should be ok. I know we will be able to enter DL early on Thurs if we want with our 3 day ticket, however I really don't see us leaving the hotel at 6:30 to be across the street to get on line before 7. We do usually get to the parks at opening, but that is asking a bit much for the hubby and kids. HOWEVER, if we NEED to do it because for some reason we didn't get our plans done on Wednesday, the option will be there! We could also consider upgrading to hoppers on Thursday if we missed something at DCA on Tuesday. We are from NJ and probably will not be back any time soon. Does this sound like the best option?

Also, what would you all suggest doing first on Wed at DL assuming we are there at opening and we should take advantage of the shorter lines. I ask because when we get to DL on Thursday at 8 vs. 7 for magic morning, we will not be the first ones there and there may be lines already. Fantasyland? This stop is in the middle of a cross country trip we are taking and I don't think I am going to win the fight to get up that early! lol

 

[tarheelalum]

In my opinion you should always try to go to the park that does not have the early magic hour that day. And get to parks at rope drop because as the day moves on DL/DCA gets much more crowded but early in the morning its not too bad. Also a lot cooler temps. Last week we went to DL at rope drop and road 8 different rides before noon. Use the fast passes wisely and you can have a lot of fun.

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/calendars/month/2015-07-01/

 

[figment_jii]

My guess is that Peter Pan is the busiest attraction in the park during MM/EMH, but unless you are in the front of the line to get into the park for MM/EMH (which mean you got there well before 7:00 am), it's probably not worth getting in line for Peter Pan (it'll take up most of the hour, if not more). It's worth noting that for DL's MM/EMH, only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open, which means the attractions in the other lands won't be impacted. Truthfully, if you're not going to do MM/EMH, I would probably aim to start the day in the parts of the park that were not open during MM/EMH and then save Fantasyland for the end of the day.

 

[cgh]

I read somewhere (no idea where) that Sunday you should do DCA, not DL as vacations tend to start on Sunday and everyone heads into the MK.

 

[figment_jii]

The only issue with starting in DCA on a Sunday is that Sunday is usually one of DCA's EMH days. So that means, the most popular attractions (e.g., TSMM, RSR, Soarin', etc.) will already have (potentially) long lines when the park opens to everyone. Within a few hours of opening, I don't think it really matters if a park had an EMH/MM or not (i.e., the crowds tend to even out because park hopping is so common), but for those first few hours, I do think the difference can be felt in DCA (primarily, DL is less of an issue because less of the park is open for EMH/MM).