My week at Disneyland Resort Plan

[Blndiebby25]

Here is what I was thinking:

Day One - Monday
- Our flight gets into LAX at 1:30pm, should get to the hotel by 2:30 (I think)
- Settle into the hotel
- Go to the ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney for supper (use the vouchers from the ESPN Zone MVP Club website)

Day Two - Tuesday (DL hours: 9am - 9pm)
- Play around in Toon Town

Day Three - Wednesday (DL hours: 9am - 9pm)
- Play around in Fantasyland

Day Four - Thursday (DL hours: 9am - 9pm)
- Play around in Tomorrowland and Adventureland

Day Five - Friday (DL hours: 9am - 12am)
- Play around in Critter Country, Frountierland, and New Orleans Square
- Fantasmic!

Day Six - Saturday (DCA hours: 10am - 9pm)
- Spend the day at Disney's California Adventure
- Block Party Bash
- Disney's Electrical Parade

Day Seven - Sunday
- Back to the real world


Each day we would get to Disneyland at least 1/2 hr before it opens, go back to the hotel around lunch time to rest, swim and have lunch then go back to the park late afternoon for some more fun (rides, parade, fireworks).

What do you think, is this doable? Comments? Opinions?

 

[B9erSteve]

Doable, Yes. Would you want to? I'm not sure. Devoting and entire day to any one section of Disneyland would be a lot of time for a little area. Unlike WDW, Disneyland is very compact. You will find yourself roaming more than you plan. I've done Disneyland and DCA in 5 days. It was great. Lots of time to relax and enjoy the park. Because of the time freedom, you can also allow yourself the freedom to go where the winds blow without the fear of missing anything. When I get tired of the crowds of Disneyland, I jump over to DCA and spread out a bit. Don't worry about time, you've got plenty of it.

 

[RalphMouth]

not that it's a big deal but I highly doubt you will get off your airplane at 2:30 p.m. and be your hotel in one hour.
I'd add another hour into this equation.

Toontown will probably take two hours max & that if there are decent size lines. If you don't have children under 10 it will taken even less time.

 

[fire616]

Looks good to me!!!

We are going June 5-12. At this point our plan is to go into the parks on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.

We arrive on Sunday around 12:30, plan to settle into our hotel and then go explore DTD and use our ESPN vouchers.

Thursday we have nothing planned at this time. I would like to go to the beach but am still trying to convince hubby that renting a car and driving really won't be as bad as he thinks.

 

[familyoffiveAZ]

I think you'll find yourself deviating from that plan because like Steve said, DL isn't anything like WDW. We've got 3 kids age 4 and under, and we've NEVER spent more than a few hours in Toon Town. I think that a better plan would be to combine Fantasyland and Toontown into one day.....and you'd still probably have time to venture off elsewhere yet before the day is through.

Adventureland, Frontierland, New Orleans Square, and Critter Country is where our family tends to spend the majority of our time. Much to do and see there that if you took it leisurely, two days sounds more reasonable.

 

[CalGal]

I agree with the other posters. There's no real reason to stick with one section in a day, and there are plenty of reasons to float around a bit. When we go, there are some rides that we hit 1 or more time just about every day. I also start every morning bright and early at DL and hop over to DCA when DL starts getting crowded.

You've got enough time that I wouldn't recommend putting off anything big until the last day, especially the wonderful Electrical Parade and Aladdin. You might find you want to see them again. Or worse, there's a possibility that something might happen to cause a cancellation and you could risk missing these altogether. (We waited until our last full day to see Aladdin on our last trip, and we only saw about 10 minutes before technical problems caused a cancellation of the performance; we never were able to see the rest!)

Using Fastpass for the Tomorrowland rides, you may be able to get through most of Fantasyland, Tunetown, and Tomorrowland if you hit Fantasyland first thing, or better yet, using Early Entry. Again, using Fastpass, you can see most of the rest of the park the second day. Use the rest of your stay to fill in the blanks of what you missed and those attractions that you want to do over (and over) again.

 

[karylrocks]

It might be a better idea to plan to start each day in a different land, visiting the popular attractions in that land before it gets crowded, and then move around to visit or revisit some of the others, watch the parade, or do some shopping. And don't forget to spend some time on Main Street!

 

[Blndiebby25]

Thanks everyone for you opinions and comments! It is greatly appreciated as I have never been to Disneyland or Disney World but have been told to have a plan of some sort so we are not just wondering around trying to figure out what to do next while the lines get long. My reasoning to limiting each day to a land or two was because my kids like to ride rides a few times in a row and to not be rushed. I still have 2 months to come up with a plan of sorts so it is still a work in progress/learning experience.

Thanks again!

 

[tinafromidaho]

five full days in the parks would actually let you just wander from place to place and do rides multiple times. Get yourself a map of disneyland ahead of time by calling disneyland and asking them to send you one. They did this for me without a problem. Keep checking out the boards and you will have a great time.

 

[Blndiebby25]

What is the number I can call to get a map?

 

[iceskatejen]

I don't think DL will send maps, but if you want to PM me your address I can pick some up. I may be over there next weekend and picking a few maps up as I enter the parks would be no problem. I agree with some others about Adventureland, New Orleans Square, and Frontierland. I spend most of my time there also.

 

[MATTERHORN]

If you want, PM me. I am staring at a few leftover maps of both parks that I have and don't need. I would be happy to send them out!

Andrea

 

[poohj80]

5 days in the parks and only one day fo DCA? The Electrical Parade may only be running on weekends so make sure the day you plan to be there is a weekend.

 

[LucyKate]

Yes, I think the big mistake you make is thinking Disneyland is much bigger than it actually is, and that the areas within the park are separate from each other. They are all very close together and within 15 minutes you can walk from one end to the other.

There is also no way, for example, you could spend an entire day in toontown - it only has 2 decent rides rides for adults.

So, I'd ditch the idea about confining the day to a section and just plan on spending days in parks.

I presume you are not going to Disneyland on day one because you have a five days pass and don't want to waste a day of your pass when you have just arrived - if so, you are stronger than me - we went straight there after a travelling for over 24 hours from Australia!

Also, as mentioned above, I'd also allow at least 90 minutes - 2 hours to get through LA airport and get to Anaheim - the drive alone will take you almost an hour.

So, I'd assume somehting like this
Day 1 - 4-4:30 arrive at hotel then DTD, etc
Day 2 - Disneyland
Day 3 - Disneyland
Day 4 - DCA
Day 5 - DL
Day6 - redo favourites at DCA and DL

 

[disneychrista]

By going with plan it means know what rides you want to ride, have an idea of where you want to eat, what shows or parades you want to see etc. With 5 park days you will have plenty of time to do everything and more.

Since you are going with a variety of ages you may want to break into two groups for half a day in each park, so that the big kids and adults can ride the rides that have restrictions that prevent the little ones from enjoying.

 

[lulubelle]

I think 4 days straight in a row is too much for DL. Put a DCA day (or half day) in there. I would also have a non-park day in the middle of your stay and visit Knott's, the beach, Hollywood, or another So Cal tourist attraction. Or just relax at your hotel and see a movie at DTD and shop. There is so much to see and do here, 4 days total for DL/DCA is perfect - and that is taking it at a leisurely pace. Have a wonderful vacation, whatever you decide.

 

[funnygarcia]

Keep in mind that Toontown typically opens an hour after park opening (not incuding gate open/rope drop half hour).
Your best bets may be to pick an area for morning (you could easily do most of Fantasyland in the first two and half hours of park opening) - an area for evening (night is best for tomorrowland !) -- and take your afternoon break at the hotel pool.

Take advantage of fast pass (must use for Splash, Indy, Autopia) and use the train to hop around the park. I know for my family ( DH, DS 9 ,DS12 and myself) that we go on Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, Tiki room and Big Thunder Mt RR in between waits for fast pass to "freshen" for Splash and Indy. We make sure to hit the more popular Fantasyland rides (Matterhorn, Peter Pan, Toad) in the A.M. as they do NOT have fast pass and lines are very long by afternoon.

Learn more about Fastpass here....
http://mb.laughingplace.com/default.asp?WCI=MsgBoard&WCE=T-59723-P-1&Refresh=0405161601

 

[nemofanatic]

So what is the block party bash? It sounds fun.

 

[iceskatejen]

The Block Party Bash is going to be a parade in DCA. Don't know anything else about it at this point.