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ochibiyo
05-21-2007, 11:44 AM
HI! This post is for my 7 yr. old niece. She wanted to know how many of our mouseplanet members can stay the whole day at Disneyland and DCA with no breaks at a hotel. We are talking from opening to closing. And what in the world do you do? Do you max out one park first or jump back and forth? Let us know!!

Niwel
05-21-2007, 11:49 AM
Happens all the time for us locals. :)
I get to DL before gate opening and am usually able to stay until closing (occasionally hopping over to DCA or Downtown Disney).
On Disneyland's 50th, 7/17/05, I was there from predawn hours to 12:10 a.m. (I exited Indiana Jones after midnight).
When I was little I easily able to do it -- now it is a bit harder because I can't fall asleep in the car as I'm usually the driver. :)

Malcon10t
05-21-2007, 11:51 AM
HI! This post is for my 7 yr. old niece. She wanted to know how many of our mouseplanet members can stay the whole day at Disneyland and DCA with no breaks at a hotel. We are talking from opening to closing. And what in the world do you do? Do you max out one park first or jump back and forth? Let us know!!
We've only done this a few times, and that was July 17, 2005 and most NYE. We stayed completely at DL. We've done other trips where the kids were with cousins and they stayed all day. They bounce back and forth, usually spending the afternoon in DCA and morning and evening at DL.

oregontraveler
05-21-2007, 12:03 PM
If I'm staying near the park, I'm at the park all day, usually hopping back and forth. Last year, I stayed with relatives in Dana Point. It's about an hour drive, both ways. So while on the first day, I'm raring to go. But as the week goes on, I end up leaving a little later in the morning to avoid trafiic then stay 'til closing. I'm also a solo traveler, so take that into account.
I usually allow one day at the start in DCA, hit Screamin, Tower, Soarin' and Aladdin before the crowds show up. I can be done by 3pm and then probably not come back except for the Electrical Parade. I do notice alot more children
staying after fireworks. Those afternoon breaks do come in handy in keeping the stamina up.

avalosn
05-21-2007, 12:05 PM
HI! This post is for my 7 yr. old niece. She wanted to know how many of our mouseplanet members can stay the whole day at Disneyland and DCA with no breaks at a hotel. We are talking from opening to closing. And what in the world do you do? Do you max out one park first or jump back and forth? Let us know!!

If I have my son with me, then I don't stay all day because he gets tired and I can bring him back anytime. But if it's my sis and I, we stay all day, usually at DL, then to DCA, then back to DL at night. Sometimes, we don't even ride the attractions, we just fiddle fart around people watching (trust me, at DL you can do that for HOURS!!!), looking at stores, merchandise, listening to music or walking around. Those are times where DL is actually the most relaxing to me. Mainly, it's about taking in the environment, we do this A LOT at Christmas time too!!!

For the official 50th (07/17/05), we also got there the night before (on 07/16/05) at about 10 pm and stayed until the end of the next day. But after being up all night, I was ready to bounce way earlier, due to lack of sleep!!!

Goosegirl
05-21-2007, 12:17 PM
We always stayed all day until closing before we adopted our youngest. My older daughter, as long as she was feeling ok, would never want to leave the park. And as long as we fit breaks in, like HISTA and other sitting kinds of shows, we did fine. Now that we have our little one, she really needs the naps at the hotel and so does my dh! :p So my older one and I go on the water slide (at the PPH) and daddy and baby sleep! But you definitely can find enough fun things to do all day at the park!

disneyperson
05-21-2007, 12:22 PM
We have always stayed all day in the park,even when the kids were little. Both of my kids loved going there (my 18 year old daughter is still my DL partner!) and I don't remember either of them ever throwing a tantrum or getting so worn out that a break was needed. It was never a matter of finding things to do, but rather it suddenly turning midnight and too much left undine. Our DL style has always been very relaxed.

Shadowcat
05-21-2007, 12:46 PM
Growing up, our family always opened and closed the park in the summer. By 9pm we had usually gone on every ride in the park and were going back to ride our favs multiple times at night. We have a traditional routine we always followed every year.

Now that I have a family of our own, we started small. First year we took our boy when he was 2.5, we only went on 3 rides and spent most of the time letting him set the pace with a hotel break in the middle of the day.

This past year (our son is now 6 and our daughter is 3) we went off-season and started off slow on the first day. On our third day, we opened and closed the park with our kids. they didn't want a break in the middle of the day.

I'm pretty sure if we go next year we'll be able to pick up my family's "traditional routine" since we did most of it this year on our last day in the parks. Then begins a whole new generation of family traditions, hehe.

^.^

Drince88
05-21-2007, 12:57 PM
We generally go open to close. This past trip we had 5 day park hoppers. Day 1 we didn't arrive until almost dinner time, Days 2, 3, and 4 we arrived near opening (including one early-entry day) and stayed until close, and we went back to the hotel only one day for a relax. Day 5 was MouseAdventure, so didn't close down the parks!

For the most part, we plan 'down time' into our attraction list. This trip, we met 'some people' at the picnic area and did a cruise through the hotels and Downtown Disney, (which DID pay off on Sunday, since we knew right where the boats were!)

For the OP, if there was a 7 year old in our group - it would likely be a different story!

wvnative
05-21-2007, 01:08 PM
We've really only been going the past couple years and my kid is a teenager so she usually doens't need a break. We take it easy and make sure to sit down and eat so we can really relax a couple times a day. We are there close to open and usually have no issues with staying until close.

We didn't do that this trip though due to our travel times.

ochibiyo
05-21-2007, 01:10 PM
HI again!~ Thanks for all the posts! My niece is thrilled, she loves to read so this is making her happy! She wants to see if her thread will outdo some of mine in the past. And I think she will. Anyway, funny thing - she is the one who could last the whole day in DL. She never complains about walking or waiting, the only thing she complains about is being hungry. Hehe! Usually, she is the one asking for one more ride, pulling me along!:~D Thanks again everyone!

Crazy4DL
05-21-2007, 01:14 PM
We have done open to close many times. We did figure out with the little grandkids that taking a break made for a more enjoyable day but I am sure when they get a little older we will be back to all day again. :D

hlbtimes2
05-21-2007, 01:31 PM
We used to do it all the time, before we had kids. And I've been there once with out my kids, since we had them, and was able to go all day. With the kids, 5 and 8, we put in long days, but we do typically rest for 2 hours each day. We swim for about 30min, nap for 1 hour, then spend 30 min getting ready to head back.

Some days we just do one park, other times we hop. Depends on show schedules, heat, crowds, etc.

BarbD
05-21-2007, 01:32 PM
We always do open to close at Disneyland. I recently took my grand kids and of course I had strollers for them to sit down when needed (Ages 3 and 5) then some of the out of the way places we found for them to destress and unwind so to speak were in DCA. The redwood forest trails has a little section with a small water flowing through it. The kids spent and hour there a couple weeks ago playing in that water. Then we discovered the water over by the Bugs life and they must have spent an hour there too. One word be sure to bring a towel and extra clothes and shoes. They are required to have on shirt and shoes to play. we ended up having to purchase a towel and shirts the first time. Next time we carried extra sandles, a towel and swim suit including an extra shirt for the boy. The redwood forest trails are wonderful for family fun together. They also loved climbing the rope ladders everywhere and I managed to do it with a back pack and following my grand son all the way holding his hand. My grand son also sleeps in the stroller and we put a fan under a towel to block out sun and let him nap with cool air on him. It was a good time for us big kids to take turns with baby swap on the big rides. The 5 year old was big enough for space mountain and Soaring over California so we did those type things while he slept and then traded off to do for those things who stayed back.

IdahoMike
05-21-2007, 02:17 PM
It really depends on the temperature for us. If it is hot out (80 or above), it is a guarantee that we will take an afternoon hotel/pool/nap break. We are ALWAYS there first thing in the a.m, as you can get so much done in the early morning before the crowds get insane. Our kids are troopers, but if they are tired/cranky/hungry, we are going to give them a break, and most times we do anyway. Maybe 1 day a trip we go open-close.

yohomama212
05-21-2007, 03:20 PM
We're local, so the all day thing isn't a big deal for us. Mostly, we go on a whim. One night a few weeks ago we even went just to have dinner and watch the fireworks. For special occasions we go for a good portion of the day but have yet to do an open to close trip. When we got our passports at the beginning of the year, we did an open to late evening and an early afternoon to close in the first week of the year. I know that we will definately be there for the Fourth of July from open to close. It's my mom's birthday and we will have a group of 15 people! (Watch out for the crazy mass with matching Old Navy t-shirts!) DD is pretty easy going and will nap on command when she's tired. It's usually her who tells us first that she's tired or hungry before we even realize she's in a bad mood! DS can be a bit more of a handful and if he doesn't get a nap, then 9PM or so is his limit. As babies they were both so good and adapted well to the day, so I have high hopes that the new baby will be just as verstile on that busy busy day!

Elizabeth

MiaTurner
05-21-2007, 06:07 PM
Oh yea, ALL the time :)

Well.... once I wasn't able to do it on a school trip, because we had to sleep on a school bus the night before...

Other than that I can easily go from 8:00 am to midnight. I never max out one park and head off to the other though... I'm sort of roller-coaster fickle. I could be all the way in critter country, and if I decide I wanna ride the Screamin, I WILL walk all the way across both parks to do so :) Probably not the most energy-efficient way to do the parks, but it works for me at least.

But I've also been going to Disneyland obbsesively since I was four. I had myself conditioned to spend all day at the park by the time I was seven ;)

VickiC
05-21-2007, 06:12 PM
We are kind of an early to bed, early to rise family. My kids (5 and 8) are a total nightmare the next day if they aren't in bed by about 8:30, 7:45 is their normal school day bedtime. We tried to watch the fireworks on a Friday night a few weeks ago, then it got canceled about 5 minutes in due to wind. We got home and they were in bed about 10:30. Saturday morning they were fighting before they were even out of bed, they woke me at 6:30 am, and they did nothing but try to kill each other the rest of the day. I've now given up on them ever seeing the fireworks.

cactusgirl
05-21-2007, 06:23 PM
I just did this with 2--7 yo girls. We hopped from park to park and I planned "down time." This included Redwood Creek Adventure Trail--many times per day, quiet meals at Whitewater Snacks in GCH--there is just something about being in a dark quiet spot--a STROLLER, character drawing in the Animation Studio--once again a quiet, sit down activity--LOTS of time in the lobby of the Muppets 3D show. Many rides on Monsters Inc.

Our strategy is to start the day at DL, stay there until 11am or when it really starts getting crowded, and then head over to CA. In the early evening we head back to DL, do our favorites--including toontown at dusk--few lines--and watch the fireworks.

I hope things work out well for you!

futurecm21
05-21-2007, 07:52 PM
Actually it really depends. There have been times when I only have one day to spend at the entire DLR, so I deffinately spend a whole day running from ride to ride and restaurant to restaurant trying to get in all the fun I possibly can.

And even if I have multiple days I usually try to go as long as I can. I mean the hotels are just so boring,(when you've got fifty plus rides calling out to you) I have to spend my time in the parks.

futurecm21:)

bloodnswash
05-21-2007, 08:09 PM
HI! This post is for my 7 yr. old niece. She wanted to know how many of our mouseplanet members can stay the whole day at Disneyland and DCA with no breaks at a hotel. We are talking from opening to closing. And what in the world do you do? Do you max out one park first or jump back and forth? Let us know!!

We do it everytime we are at the park; we usually go down for 6 nights each visit (at least twice a year). We hit all the rides, we shop, we eat, we people watch, we talk with cast members, parades, fireworks......you name it, we do it.

AlbertaMinnie
05-21-2007, 08:11 PM
Yes, we do it every chance we get! We live in Canada, and don't always get to go as often as we like. Although I almost burnt out my family on New Years Eve, 1998. DD's ages 2 and 5 and DH. We used our EE that morning, 7:00 am, and stayed until the party was over at 2:00 am. The kids took turns napping in a stroller and the day just went soooo smoothly and we had soo much fun that we didn't notice the time! Until the next day when the kids and I were ready for our 8:00 am start and my DH just rolled over in bed and said "I'll meet you there later!" ha ha!

zombie pirate
05-21-2007, 10:05 PM
We do it allmost everytime we go. I live about 1 1/2 drive drive down south to San Diego. So no hotel breaks. There are a lot of nice little spots to take little breaks at Disneyland. we found out that little snacks, apples, banannas, ect ... gets you thru between meals. Gives you that bit of energy that you need for a full fun day at the Magic Kingdom.

WITron
05-22-2007, 05:28 AM
It all depends on who I am with. If I am by myself I can go from open to close without a break at the hotel, but with my 2 young daughters, we got to the parks late and left early.

mowsluver
05-22-2007, 06:16 AM
We have always done open to close! I remember years ago when the park was open to 1 a.m. and by the time we got back to the hotel, we were able to get in a couple hours sleep before getting up and starting all over again....

That is part of the reason that I just CANNOT see paying $$$$$ for a hotel room because we spent so little time there.