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View Full Version : Divide and Conquer or Try and Take It All In?



Pat-n-Eil
06-06-2005, 08:01 AM
Reading another trip report led me to an epiphany. My family always tries to experience all we can each day we are there.

But it appears that some of you divide the park into lands and focus your experience there. Perhaps spending one day in tomorrowland and Toon Town, and another day in Adventureland and New Orleans Square.

So which do you do most? Divide and Conquer the park over multiple days or Take It All In each day?

(My hypothesis is that AP holders might do the latter more than infrequent visitors who might do the former).

sdfilmcritic
06-06-2005, 08:11 AM
When I was a kid and my family had our yearly trip to Disneyland we would try to get as much done in one day as possible. We've made several attempts to create a schedule of rides and shows we wanted to go to and there was some organization and thoughtfulness in our listed plans. But upon arriving at the park we never did stick to the order of the schedule but we still did try to cram as much stuff into one day as possible. But now that my sister and I are adults and my brother is a teenager we have mellowed out quite a bit. My mom and I are the only AP holders in my immediate family so the two of us have learned to take the Slow Boat To China approach when we are at the resort. My dad has had the slow boat attitude upon every visit to DL, but by the end of the day hanging out with over excited kids he was rather "flustered". Now that he knows we've mellowed out a bit he's really happy.

hlbtimes2
06-06-2005, 08:15 AM
We always end up willy nilly, all over the park. We always see and do a lot, but leave feeling like we wasted time back tracking. This year I'm going to try to keep us more organized and try to "complete" an area before moving on to something else. Then, the last day, we can run willy nilly and re-do the things we want to.

stinkerbell
06-06-2005, 08:20 AM
First of all......a little info on us. We have three kids 10, 7, and 4. We go to Disneyland once a year, occasionally more than once. When we go, we go for 5 days at a time.....twice we've spent a 6th day tooling around Downtown Disney.

We go early in the morning and almost always on our first day at Disneyland, we hit Indiana Jones first. I'll jump in line, my husband will grab fastpasses, I'll grab him a switch pass. We go again and again until there's a line, or until our fastpasses are good, then we'll go again. Usually one of us will take our youngest on the Jungle Cruise. Then we head to Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Splash, Pooh, have a snack at Pooh's Corner, go on Haunted Mansion again, grab fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain, go on Pirate's again, eat lunch at Blue Bayou, go on Thunder Mountain, then head into Fantasyland.

At Fantasyland, we'll go on the teacups and Alice, skip over to the Matterhorn. My husband will take our youngest over to get fastpasses at Autopia while we're in line, then join us (for some reason, our 4 year old can NOT stand in the Matterhorn line when it's wrapped all the way around.....it drives her NUTS) when the line meets in the middle. We'll ride Autopia, Star Tours, Astro Orbitors (is that right?), then head to Small World and then dinner at the Plaza Inn. When it's dark, we'll go to Fantasyland and ride Snow White, Pinocchio, the carousel, and depending on what the lines are like, we'll ride Dumbo, Mr. Toad, and Peter Pan.

The next day we'll start with Fantasyland, riding Peter Pan, Toad, and Dumbo first, then everything else, then head to Matterhorn, Small World and then into Toontown, the next day we start with Indy, the next with Fantasyland......etc. It's almost like a script. :D But we ride most rides 4+ times in a 5 day trip. Some rides (Matterhorn, Small World, Pirates, Mansion, Splash, Indy) we ride waaaaay more than 4 times.

bradk
06-06-2005, 08:40 AM
i had 3 days so i methodically broke the park down. i tried to avoid getting as much done in one day because i didn't want to run myself ragged. i took on half the park the first day (adventureland, nos, frontierland, critter country, most of fantasyland), took on the rest of fantasyland for EE the next day, tomorrowland, main street and toontown (and whatever else). the third day was devoted to DCA.

that was the plan at least. it all gets pretty muddled since i didn't really feel the desire to take it slow once i was all in it, and of course you have to hit IJA every day and maybe JC and all that, so it's nice to just try to get in as much as possible and end up with the added time so you can just go back and do whatever again

Wendi
06-06-2005, 09:26 AM
I do it all, every day... I park hop between DL and DCA as well, I don't do them each on separate days. I'm just all over the place!!!

PragmaticIdealist
06-06-2005, 09:53 AM
The Realms of The Magic Kingdom are best experienced separately. Walt Disney and his associates planned them to be so.

Likewise, Disneyland proper and Disney's California Adventure are best visited separately, as well.

Consider Adventureland, for example. Your experience with the Jungle Cruise should compliment your visit to the Indiana Jones Adventure, which should, in turn, enhance your appreciation of the Enchanted Tiki Room. All of these things should work together along with the items sold in the bazaar and the food served at Bengal Barbecue, and, formerly, at Aladdin's Oasis, to create your Adventureland experience.

Walt Disney, originally, wanted to only allow people to enter and exit each Realm from Central Plaza. However, portals between the Realms exist today to better facilitate the movement of Guests.

I had hoped that, with the advent of FastPass, Guests would stay in one place for a while and enjoy themselves instead of moving around as much as they do. I think FastPass would work better if the stand-by queue was eliminated altogether, and wait times were reduced, so that Guests could, perhaps, spend some real time in Adventureland, for example, waiting for Indiana Jones Adventure and other major Attractions.

One of the other benefits of this approach is that walking is minimized. Disneyland was brilliantly planned to minimize walking, but if Guests choose to backtrack, there is nothing to prevent them from doing so.

I always also recommend that Guests spend some time in each restaurant they happen across. Doing so ensures that your visit is well-paced and that you are absorbing all that you are experiencing. Doing so also allows you to better share your visit with the other members of your party. One does not necessarily need to have a meal. One can just order a drink to be able to enjoy the pleasantness of the Plaza Inn or the seclusion of Hungry Bear.

rentayenta
06-06-2005, 11:00 AM
I'm not sure which one we do but here's an example.


We never go for less than 4 full days. Last Christmas we had 6 full days and it was perfect. We spend one full day in DCA, the rest in Disneyland, and once we have done it all (a few times ;)), we go back to DCA.

Last year we used RideMax and I will use it for now on. It was awesome. We saw and did everything at a leisurely pace but it took the guess work out of "what's next?". It left room to be spontaneous too.

We try and eat at different places. As the kids get older they want to try new things. This July, they are all old enough to go and have fun at the BB so we are going to do it.

Most of all, I remember that we are there just to have a good time. We go with how the kids are feeling. We will split up if someone needs a nap or wants to swim and no one gets forced to ride anything that they are uncomfortable with.

pisces
06-06-2005, 01:09 PM
I had 7 full days, which I still can't believe. Where did the time go?

For me, the rain dictated a lot of where I went.

If it wasn't raining in the morning, I'd definitely head over to the Main Gate before they (original Park) opened and try to get in all the major attractions before the noontime crush.

When it was really pouring down rain I started with DCA and did their special tour and first Soarin of the day. After which I'd sprint on over to the Sunwheel (interesting in the rain), and do that and Maliboomer (Everyone needs to try that one with pounding hail) .....and finish out the morning with Grizzly River Rapids (Someday I'd like to see what that one's like without rain).....since I'd already be wet. I'd just go back to the hotel to change, eat and nap.

No matter what, I'd arrange to spend my evenings at the Original Park taking in the Parades, Fireworks and snow.

In any case, it didn't really feel like I'd carefully planned anything. I had seven days. And, much of it felt like I was simply meandering-wandering where the Spirit, rain, and crowds took me. It seemed like there was just a natural flow, and I'd just naturally end up at the parades in the evening, somehow.

I like the feeling of discovery and spontaneity. Or, at least a carefully planned spontaneity ;) .

DizneeGirl
06-06-2005, 01:49 PM
We normally have 5 day trips. We honestly will hit whatever rides are new within the first day. We'll also hit our favorites then too (INDY, HM, POTC, Space (when it's open)). But we hop parks frequently throughout the day. We just wander where we feel like going and do that. Normally on day 3 we will decide that we need to do the things we haven't done yet and concentrate on those, but other than that...it's a walk back a forth doing whatever we want at the moment.

kisroo
06-06-2005, 04:35 PM
In the past, when it's just been my husband and myself, we've done whatever the Disney spirit moves us to do.:D Usually, it's here and there, with lots of time spent around Splash, HM, Pirates. We also float back and forth between parks, if we so desire~depending on the day/times of each park. We've never taken a trip shorter than 4+ days though. It may be different if we ever have to feel a little more rushed to fit all our faves in.

For my upcoming trip with my mom and niece~who knows! I'll probably do what Renta mentioned...follow whatever the little one wants to do. This trip will be all about her and her whims. ;) I'm just along for the ride and the magic of seeing the park through her eyes.

The only things that are absolutes for all the DLR trips I've taken~we get there early, take a break, and always use fastpass even if it looks empty to begin with.