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View Full Version : What is your general plan of action for a day at DL?



tink1234
05-21-2004, 07:21 AM
What we usually do for a day at the park:

Character breakfast, POTC, Fantasyland rides, HM, Astor Orbitor or other Tomorrowland ride, Monorail to Downtown Disney

Lunch at Rainforest Cafe and back to Motel for 4 little Tinkerbells to take their afternoon naps sprinkled with pixie dust

Monorail back to DL, Adventureland, then any other ride that just HAS to be RIDDEN, MOM!, parade or show then back to room via monorail

Pool time and Tinkerbells NEED to GET some SLEEP, NOW!!

I want to streamline our trip this time, so I will be trying RideMax, but I think we will try this this time:

Run into park when rope drops, ride any Dumbo/Fantasyland rides that have to be ridden first then continue on as previous plan suggests. My goal is to skip character breakfast for days spent in the park and to do Fantasmic buffet. My girls have never seen Toontown so that is a must.

Does Fantasmic run over Christmas? They really want to see Tinkerbell start fireworks. Can you see F! then this or do I need to plan these for 2 seperate nights? Also what time is the Storytelling at GCH? We definately want to hear it for Christmas Eve. (Yes, we are staying there, as I know its a guest only thing.)

Does anyone know if this new plan will work better and allow us on more rides? :confused:

jrad32
05-21-2004, 08:48 AM
I think skipping the character b-fast and hitting rides at rope drop is a very good idea. That's what we've always done. You could probably do Fantasyland stop for a snack if needed then head up to Small World an Toon Town.

Then you take your afternoon Break and return for the evening.

PurpleDove33
05-21-2004, 08:59 AM
Tinkerbell usally has the Christmas holidays off. The past few years I have been there over the holidays, during the fireworks no tinkerbell.

tink1234
05-21-2004, 09:13 AM
Tinkerbell usally has the Christmas holidays off.


Oh, no! Well, I guess they will just have to watch their flying Tinkerbell in their room this year. Can you see the fireworks from the gallery after the buffet or are you booted?

The old man
05-21-2004, 09:14 AM
Yours is an extremely different itinerary than ours, but here are the main tips:

Always be at the park when it opens.

Ride rides early that develop big lines and don't have FP.(ie, almost everything in Fantasyland--if that's the age of your kids and their favorites).

If you hit Fantasyland first knock off those rides then head to Toon Town and get a FP for that incredibly short roller coaster (do not wait in standby for it unless the wait is under 20-30 min.). Perhaps even return to it later in the day, after you return to the park, to use your FP--take the train for fun.

As this point you may want to leave the park, but first have someone run over and get a FP for HM and Pirates (they are not networked so you can have a FP for HM, Pirates, and that incredibly short roller coaster in Toon Town. You might want to grab a FP for Star Tours also depending on the demographics of your children.

When you return let the times on your FP's be your guide to where to go and the order to use.

David

cmpeter
05-21-2004, 03:30 PM
We usually go mid-week, on an afternoon when school gets out early for teacher meetings. We get there around 2:00 and head for our favorite rides (Soarin, Screaming, ToT, Pirates, HM, Peter Pan, Star Tours)...then we grab some dinner and try and head out before the park closes (around 7:45) to miss the big exit crowds. We usually start at DCA and then move over to DL or we alternate which park we go to. Going often on short trips like this works well with my young kids...enough Disney to be fun, but not enough that they get tired or bored.

MeganPierce
05-22-2004, 02:43 PM
What we usually do for a day at the park:

Character breakfast, POTC, Fantasyland rides, HM, Astor Orbitor or other Tomorrowland ride, Monorail to Downtown Disney

Lunch at Rainforest Cafe and back to Motel for 4 little Tinkerbells to take their afternoon naps sprinkled with pixie dust

Monorail back to DL, Adventureland, then any other ride that just HAS to be RIDDEN, MOM!, parade or show then back to room via monorail

Pool time and Tinkerbells NEED to GET some SLEEP, NOW!!

I want to streamline our trip this time, so I will be trying RideMax, but I think we will try this this time:

Run into park when rope drops, ride any Dumbo/Fantasyland rides that have to be ridden first then continue on as previous plan suggests. My goal is to skip character breakfast for days spent in the park and to do Fantasmic buffet. My girls have never seen Toontown so that is a must.

Does Fantasmic run over Christmas? They really want to see Tinkerbell start fireworks. Can you see F! then this or do I need to plan these for 2 seperate nights? Also what time is the Storytelling at GCH? We definately want to hear it for Christmas Eve. (Yes, we are staying there, as I know its a guest only thing.)

Does anyone know if this new plan will work better and allow us on more rides? :confused:

We just got back today. I used RideMax because we had never been to DL before. It is worth every penny. It helped guide us through the park without problem. There was more than enough time to adjust it if we wanted to do something else. The only thing lacking is the ability to schedule shows like Aladdin and Snow White.

downingfamily1
05-22-2004, 02:50 PM
When we went over Christmas break last year. We would feed the kids a small snack and then wait for rope drop on Main Street first thing in the morning. Then we went to Fantasyland, Matterhorn etc. If the Riverbelle was open at breakfast we would then head there and have Mickey Mouse or Snowman pancakes. My kids enjoyed this as much as the character breakfast that we did one morning.

DefyingGravity
05-22-2004, 04:32 PM
If you hit Fantasyland first knock off those rides then head to Toon Town and get a FP for that incredibly short roller coaster (do not wait in standby for it unless the wait is under 20-30 min.).


Are you talking about Gadget's Go Coaster? I didn't think that had FastPass... is that new?

Pat-n-Eil
05-24-2004, 07:06 AM
We usually go to Disneyland/DCA for 3 days. We take off from here about 4:00am which puts us in Anaheim around Noon to 1:00pm depending on traffic and where we stop for breakfast. This year we're heading down on a Monday morning and coming home on Thursday.

Day 1, Monday:
After checking into our hotel, we'll cruise through DCA for FastPasses (ToT and Soarin' this time) on our way to Disneyland. The kids like Autopia and that can take awhile to get through the cue and ride, so while they do that and Mom enjoys some coffee near the Buzz stage, I will take off and do a circle around the park for FastPasses (enhanced FastPasses). Indy, Pirates, HM, Splash, BTMRR. When I get back, they are usually waiting. If the park is particularly busy and it's taking longer than usual, they call me on the cell phone and I tell them where I am or where to meet me. We make the circuit of the FastPasses I got and then we're wide open. Somewhere along the way we will do Star Tours, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, shopping in NOS and Critter Country.. and probably a Churro somewhere. We'll also head to DCA before too long and try to get some FastPasses for Soarin', Tot, etc. We will probably hit California Screamin' at night and see the fireworks from the coaster.. we love that.

Day 2, Tuesday:
This year we're staying at the Paradise Pier. We thought we'd do a character breakfast at the PCH Grill (haven't done one of those for a few years) and then head to the GCH gate at DCA around 9:00 for the 10 to 15 minute early bird mini-park tour of Condor Flats that culminates in a ride on Soarin' over California before the park opens. Then we'll likely hit ToT, Screamin', Maliboomer (the kids), Soarin' again and while we're there perhaps Millionaire & the Animation building. At that point, we can decide wheter to get wet, head to Disneyland or whatever we feel. We'll likely catch Believe in Disneyland from main street on this day.

Day 3, Wednesday:
Believe it or not, we have never been on the Peter Pan ride and we've never been there for the rope drop. We are going to try and do both this time on this day. My daughter's friend says Peter Pan is her favorite ride - and she's 16 years old! Last year we did the Tiki Room for the first time and I thought it was quirky fun, but the kids thought it was a yawner. This year we'll try Peter Pan and hopefully they'll be more impressed flying than with talking birds. ;) Other than that, the day is wide open. This will be a more leisurely day. I'm sure a FastPass circuit will be involved.. and we'll do Splash and GTMRR several times as well as Pirates.. and a good time will be had by all.

I can't wait.. just about 1 month to go now.

LSPoorEeyorick
05-24-2004, 07:52 AM
Well, that depends on who I'm with and what our goals are.

For a full day in the park, it generally goes:
Get there at opening (or as close to it as possible)
Grab coffee at Blue Ribbon
Head to Fantasyland; do all rides there
Over to Frontierland, follow it along through NOS/Adventureland/Critter and hit the bigger rides, grabbing FPs as they become available
In afternoon stretch, catch shows or smaller rides or head to DCA
In evening, hit pirates and whatever else. Probably fireworks, possibly Fantasmic.

On a Friday night it generally goes:
Attempt to hit one ride alone before 7:30 if traffic wasn't bad
Sit around Coke Corner and shoot the s-- with various Padders and friends
Spend two hours trying to decide where to eat
Eat
Watch fireworks and/or Fantasmic
Load a boat (JC/P/IaSW/etc) as full as possible in attempt to get wet.
Stop by Disneyana on the way out
Make like sloths at Annual Passholder Lounge/Hearthstone
Make fun of crackers