Planning Disneyland w/ 2 small kids for August 10th & 11th - lots of questions!

[velouria]

My husband and I are planning to take our two children to southern California next month for a special trip to Legoland and Disneyland before school resumes.

Our son is 7; our daughter is 3.

We haven't been to Disneyland since our son was 4 and our daughter was an infant. We spent 2 days in the park and didn't get to see all we wanted to. I want to do it better this time!

Our plan is to be in Disneyland August 10th and 11th. We will be staying at a "Disney Good Neighbor" hotel, the Camelot Inn & Suites right next to the DL entrance so that we can go back to the hotel mid-day for our daughter's naptime.

(For what it's worth, we will be in Legoland on Monday, 2 days before Disneyland.)

My questions:
1) Is Ridemax worth using?
2) How does Switch Pass work? I've heard about it but don't know how it really works.
3) We're considering buying a 3-day Park Hopper even though we'll only use 2 days for Disneyland only for the Magic Morning benefit. Is Magic Morning really worth it??? We'd have to be in the park at 7 am... and I just wonder how do-able that will be with two young children in tow. If we do get the Park Hopper, though, we'll probably do a couple hours in CA Adventure when we roll into town on Wednesday afternoon (Aug 9th). Still, I'm not sure if it's worth it....?

Any other tips on how we can maximize our time in the park?

Has anyone stayed in the Camelot Inn & Suites before?

[oregontraveler]

1) for 2 days, probably worth it to maximize your time.
2) I'm assuming you srat in the rugular queue line, then once you are at the front, tell the atttendant you want to do the switch pass. So mom rides first with the 2 kids, then dad gets to go on after you've ridden.
3) MM are very popular, Dumbo & Peter Pan have the longest lines. I think its worth it if your kids are early risers. You could get almost all of FL done in that first hour or so.

If you had a few hours to spend at DCA on Sunday, Flik's Fun Fair has some cute rides for the kids. Turtle Talk with Crush at the Animation Bldg. Disney Playhouse (or is it Disney Junior now?) The Aladdin stage show is wonderful, about 40 minutes long. A good opportunity to stay out of the heat as well. Oh, and the new Little Mermaid dark ride.

[3Princesses1Prince]

Rider swap: Go to the CM at the ride entrance and show them the rider that can't ride and the parent that is staying back. They'll get a rider swap pass. Parent 1 rides with older child and exits, then the other parent rides with the older child (pass is good for 2 people) by entering the FP line. You can use both FP and Rider Swap.

[Maresc]

How exciting to be taking your little ones to Disney. We have been going every year since our daughter turned 3 (now 11) and it can seem over whelming (all the planning, packing, traveling, and spending time in the crowded parks).
As far as Ridemax goes, I would not purchase that plan. We tried it when one year when my daughter was 5 and it just didn't work too well. It was o.k. in the beginning of the day but we really found ourselves running in different directions all over the park based on expected wait times of rides and the plan/itinerary it had us follow. In the end we felt rushed, wound up exhausted, and didn't ride as many rides as we had hoped or what Ridemax said we could accomplish.
Here is a link that explains Switch Pass pretty well. http://wdwuntangled.com/fastpass.php.
3 day Park Hopper is ideal and I would definitely use it to obtain the Magic Morning benefit. IMHO Magic Morning is definitely worth it especially for children in the 3-7 age group. You will have much shorter lines for popular Fantasy Land rides that are perfect for your son and daughter. Get to the entrance before rope drop and I would head straight to Peter Pan's Flight first as the line there can get rather long even in the morning. If you are lucky, the lines won't be too long and you will be able to ride that twice without much waiting. After that, you are right there to hop on Dumbo, Tea Cups, and my daughter's favorite Mr Toads Wild Ride. If your husband isn't keen on rides like Dumbo, Tea Cups, etc. he can go get fast passes for other rides (ie Space Mountain which you would do the Switch Pass for your daughter) while you and the little ones ride or wait in line.
Not sure if they still do story time with the Princesses in the castle but that was a highlight for my daughter when she was younger. One year, we ran into Prince Charming on the side of the castle after story time and my daughter got to spend 15 uninterrupted minutes with him for pictures and a visit. They even did a little dance. He was rather charming and extremely patient and generous with his time! No one else was around and he treated my daughter like a true princess. It was really very sweet, totally unplanned, and a memory we will have forever. Character time was very important for my daughter when she was younger and she enjoyed that more than the rides.
I like your idea of visiting CA Adventure when you first get into town. We usually arrive in the afternoon (fly from Denver), check into the Grand Californian and head over to CA Adventure. We don't even attempt to go to both parks in one day or start DL on our first afternoon. CA Adventure is a great way to ease into the whole Disney experience.
Disney Land/CA can be overwhelming if you try to do all of it in 3 days. I would focus on getting to the parks early (before rope drop) the mornings you can, taking a break in the afternoon back at the hotel (nap, dip in the pool, leisurely dinner in DT Disney or the park). Go back in the evening with Fast Passes for rides you collected before leaving the park in the afternoon and the fireworks show or Fantasmic. I have found that when we tried to do everything and stayed at the parks from open to close we were exhausted and didn't really enjoy it as much.
I can't be much help on the Camelot Inn and Suites as we have only stayed at the Candy Cane Inn (our first visit-which I can't recommend) and the Grand Cali. Being close to the parks is a definite plus.
Another helpful idea is to look at the park maps on line and the list of rides in each area. Make a list of "must do" and take it from there. Know that you won't be able to experience every ride in 3 days but Disney Land will be there for future visits. I know when we go to Disney that we won't be able to ride every ride, get a picture with all of our favorite characters, and spend all day in the park. It's too overwhelming and exhausting to even try. I just remember that I am in the happiest place on earth with the people I love the most and having a wonderful experience.

[currence]

My husband and I are planning to take our two children to southern California next month for a special trip to Legoland and Disneyland before school resumes.

Our son is 7; our daughter is 3.


(For what it's worth, we will be in Legoland on Monday, 2 days before Disneyland.)

My questions:
1) Is Ridemax worth using?
2) How does Switch Pass work? I've heard about it but don't know how it really works.
3) We're considering buying a 3-day Park Hopper even though we'll only use 2 days for Disneyland only for the Magic Morning benefit. Is Magic Morning really worth it??? We'd have to be in the park at 7 am... and I just wonder how do-able that will be with two young children in tow. If we do get the Park Hopper, though, we'll probably do a couple hours in CA Adventure when we roll into town on Wednesday afternoon (Aug 9th). Still, I'm not sure if it's worth it....?

Any other tips on how we can maximize our time in the park?

1) I have never used Ridemax so I can't comment on it's effectiveness. The basic premise of most of the ride/touring plans are to collect Fastpasses early while they are still available, go on ride that historically have long waits early, while the waits are shorter (because the park is not yet quite as full) and to generally zig while the masses zag. You will be going during a crowded period but a number of APs are blocked out which gives you an advantage over other guests if you can understand and utilize Fastpasses and other time-saving concepts. Ridemax may help you with this, but again i haven't used it.

2) Babyswap (ride swap): The entire party shows up to the beginning of the line, where there is typically a cast member checking heights. You tell him that you need the babyswap and he will ask who is going on the ride and who is staying behind. The adult staying behind gets a ride-swap card, the person(s) going on the ride get in line. Note, you can use either the regular line or the fastpass line with the babyswap. The ability to combine babyswap with fastpasses is a good thing The card you are given will have instructions in English and Spanish on how to reenter the line when your party is off the ride. Often this is the Fastpass entrance. On some rides like Space Mountain, it is through the Exit. The Ride-Swap allows you and a guest to go on the ride, so your older child will get to ride with each grownup if he wants to. The advantage of this program is that any meltdowns by the little person not able to ride happen at the ride entrance where it's not as cool as seeing the ride itself. You can also spend the waiting time looking in gift shops, going on other ride, or collecting extra fastpasses. The disadvantage is that it takes longer.

FYI: At Legoland, their policy appeared to be that the entire party waited in the line and then when you got to the front of the line, those not tall enough to ride would wait to the side with a grownup until the rest of the party was off the ride, and the swap would occur right there. This was faster but we never did it because it just seemed cruel to my daughter to have her wait in line only to be told that she couldn't actually go on it. For smaller kids who are not as aware it is probably better since it's faster.

3) my kids get up early whether I am wanting to sleep in or not. If you are staying nearby depending on their normal scheduled it may not be as much of a burden as you imagine. The parks are significantly less crowded in the mornings so I would encourage that if possible. If there's a chance you can spend 2 1/2 days in the parks then I would definitely encourage the 3 day ticket.

[shna]

I don't know anything about Ridemax & have never utilized the Child Swap thing (it would be torture for DD to see us ride something she can't ride -- so we save the rides she can't ride for when we're at the parks without her).

I would, however, definitely do the three-day pass. A leisurely evening in the parks is a lovely way to start a Disney vacation. If you can get one of the nighttime shows (Fantasmic, World of Color, Fireworks) in the first night before everyone is exhausted, it's a bonus -- and it's something you won't feel like you "have to" do on the day you're starting super-duper early.

[bumblebeeonarose]

The rider switch pass is great, but the policy is conflicting. They tell you to get the pass at the ride entrance from the CM. But that isn't true for all rides, or CM. For Thunder Mountain we were always told to get our pass at the the actual ride, this is a bit frustrating as you have to remember to ask when you're pre-occupied with getting on the ride. Space Mountain was the worst. We were told to ask inside, we asked inside and were told we should have asked outside but were still given a pass. To be safe, always ask outside so they can see the non rider. It is great, especially if you have 3 riders and 1 non rider as it means that someone gets to ride twice.

Early entry is good if you can be there at least 20 minutes before the park opens waiting at the gates to get in. If you're not going to leave your hotel until 7am, walk across the street, go through security, go through the gates, walk down mainstreet and through the castle...well by then it's almost 7:30, and Peter Pan already has a 40 minute wait. (Our experience of getting to Peter Pan at 7:15 was that the ride already had a 40 minute wait). If you are able to be at the gates before opening, then it is great and you can do almost all of Fantasyland before the park opens. Someone mentioned FP earlier, FP are not available until 8:00 when the park opens.

[Angie2009]

Love Ridemax, even though we never follow the plan. Really, I use it to get an idea of wait times for rides at different times of the day and to help us do trade-offs on what we are willing to wait for, what we will only do with fastpass, and what to skip, and general plan of attack for the park. It never goes as planned, but it is good information.

[MermaidHair]

Like Angie, I too am a big fan of Ridemax. And I use it similarly to her too, get an idea of what attractions have what type of lines at each time of day. For the best "review/users guide" I have read check out http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=885134. In the end, if you are someone who loves the planning as much as the visit, get Ridemax.

While you are checking out the above link scroll to the bottom and click on "Hydroguy's Tips Compilation." That is a handy page too.

Oh, and aim to get to the gates at least 30 minutes before opening for MM. I will never forget the day we got there 10 minutes before and the line was stretched to the California letters and half way back again. And that was a "slow week" in May.

[velouria]

Thank you so much, everyone! GREAT tips!

We will now absolutely get a 3-day Park Hopper and spend that first night in town at DCA, even if it's just for a couple hours (kids need to be in bed relatively early). I am pretty sure we're not going to do RideMax because I don't think it will work that well with young kids. Plus, when I mentioned it to my husband, he was a little bent out of shape by the idea of keeping to a schedule.

Thanks again!

[CMHusband]

oh man Ridmax makes my head spin. I'm on a schedule all day, everday at work. I sure don't want to run my day at Disneyland on a tight schedule too.