4 Days - What We Missed

5thGenTexan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We had 4 days to spend in the parks plus half a day in DTD. We were there at opening and stayed till probably 2:00 or so each day. and then returned at 6:00 something.

Even though everyone said it would be enough time there was still things we just didn't have time for. Maybe it was because it was our first trip and we didn't know the tricks, maybe its because we didn't run everywhere, maybe in some cases tiredness won out.

In Disneyland there was no time for Indy, plus I am not sure either kid would have gone for it anyway. Totally missed out on Snow White's Scary Adventure, Mr. Toad and Alice in Wonderland (which is something I really wanted to see), no tea cups or storybook canal. I missed Roger Rabbit because my 5 year old had to go to the bathroom and couldn't wait any longer so I pushed through the line right at the end and went straight for the exit. My wife and daughter said it was fun though. Small World didn't make it this time nor did Autopia.

Maybe worst of all we did not see Paint the Night or the firework show. Our first night we returned to the park around 6:00 and immediately saw our mistake. Later we decided it just wasn't worth it to sit on the sidewalk for hours. On the bright side Haunted Mansion was just about walk on during that time.
I am sure there are other little things here and there we missed, but there were just so many people it was hard to take in everything.

In DCA...

We never made it to Soarin or the Grizzly River ride. Goofy's Sky coaster thing was not experienced. I had no interest in Mickey's Wheel of Death or California Screamin' before we went on the trip. And we missed Tower or Terror. Also never got a ride on the Red Trolley.

I'd like to say we will get some of that next time, but I am not sure I see a next time in the cards. The big trips are just too hard to make happen.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
A shame that many of those things on your list are Anaheim-exclusives only (or shared with Tokyo) and will never be built in WDW.

But it is understandable. Disneyland Resort has more rides packed into its two parks than all four WDW parks combined, so it's easy to miss out on several things if you are only there for four days. A three day trip is perfect, but you need to prioritize what you want to see and what you want to skip in only three days.

The two Disneyland Resort parks also have more major entertainment spectaculars (parades, fireworks, water shows) in their two parks than all four WDW park combined. Once Rivers of Light finally opens at DAK later this year, the four WDW parks will be dead even with the two DLR parks when it comes to major entertainment.

And then there's the Frozen show in the 2,000 seat Hyperion Theater that can't be duplicated as such a grand facility doesn't exist in any WDW park, but we don't count the Hyperion in with the parades and water shows as it is one-of-a-kind.

There's just a lot, a lot, a lot of rides at Disneyland and DCA. And it's nearly impossible to do everything in just a few days.
 

OliveMcFly

Well-Known Member
I'm a bit concerned now for my trip. I'd hate to miss all these great rides. "Tricks" were mentioned, can anyone fill me in on that? We have a big group with 4 kids and really want to see as much as possible in 3 days.
 

Stevek

Well-Known Member
I'm a bit concerned now for my trip. I'd hate to miss all these great rides. "Tricks" were mentioned, can anyone fill me in on that? We have a big group with 4 kids and really want to see as much as possible in 3 days.
You really shouldn't have a problem riding everything you want in 3 days (unless you want to ride everything and see every show). We did 9 rides + Parade + Fireworks between both parks in one day. Hit every major e-ticket besides Screamin and Matterhorn. Just don't expect to do it all in one day...plan your day to knock out certain areas each day.
 

OliveMcFly

Well-Known Member
You really shouldn't have a problem riding everything you want in 3 days. We did 9 rides between both parks in one day. Just don't expect to do it all in one day...plan your day to knock out certain areas each day.
Great idea. Thanks a lot! :)
 

5thGenTexan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
A shame that many of those things on your list are Anaheim-exclusives only (or shared with Tokyo) and will never be built in WDW.

But it is understandable. Disneyland Resort has more rides packed into its two parks than all four WDW parks combined, so it's easy to miss out on several things if you are only there for four days. A three day trip is perfect, but you need to prioritize what you want to see and what you want to skip in only three days.

The two Disneyland Resort parks also have more major entertainment spectaculars (parades, fireworks, water shows) in their two parks than all four WDW park combined. Once Rivers of Light finally opens at DAK later this year, the four WDW parks will be dead even with the two DLR parks when it comes to major entertainment.

And then there's the Frozen show in the 2,000 seat Hyperion Theater that can't be duplicated as such a grand facility doesn't exist in any WDW park, but we don't count the Hyperion in with the parades and water shows as it is one-of-a-kind.

There's just a lot, a lot, a lot of rides at Disneyland and DCA. And it's nearly impossible to do everything in just a few days.

We did see the Frozen show but I did have issue with the standing in one spot for an hour prior to.

We have a 7 year old and 5 year old. So we stood in line one day to see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Donald and Daisy. That takes a lot of time but it was worth it for them.

Our Magic Morning day we did all 4 mountains, Nemo Subs, Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear and Winnie the Pooh all before 11:45.
 
D

Deleted member 107043

Maybe worst of all we did not see Paint the Night or the firework show.

Oh man, that's terrible. Both are great, and I've seen a lot of castle park fireworks and nighttime parades going all the way back to America on Parade at WDW back in 1975 (damn, I can't believe how old I'm getting!). Hopefully the rumors that PTN might be leaving aren't true and you can catch it on a future visit.
 

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Oh man, that's terrible. Both are great, and I've seen a lot of castle park fireworks and nighttime parades going all the way back to America on Parade at WDW back in 1975 (damn, I can't believe how old I'm getting!). Hopefully the rumors that PTN might be leaving aren't true and you can catch it on a future visit.
Duffy keeps you young.
 
D

Deleted member 107043

There's just a lot, a lot, a lot of rides at Disneyland and DCA. And it's nearly impossible to do everything in just a few days.

I agree. If you are there on vacation and don't want to spend every second of your trip running around the resort knocking out everything there is just no way to do it all. I love soaking in all the details when I'm there. The commando type visitor would hate going to DLR with me lol
 

5thGenTexan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I guess that is why there are people with kids bigger than my daughter in strollers, so they can get to everything. Neither of my kids rode in a stroller, they walked the whole time except for a few times I picked up the boy (5 years old) and carried him for a bit.


Oh man, that's terrible. Both are great, and I've seen a lot of castle park fireworks and nighttime parades going all the way back to America on Parade at WDW back in 1975 (damn, I can't believe how old I'm getting!). Hopefully the rumors that PTN might be leaving aren't true and you can catch it on a future visit.

I honestly don't see a future visit on the near horizon. In 2012 we did a Disney Cruise, in 2013 we did another Disney Cruise with one day at the Magic Kingdom. This year we did DLR. There is A LOT to see in this country that we need to start trying to do. I grew up spending a couple of weeks camping in New Mexico or Colorado in the mountains. After the week we spent at DLR I was ready to come home and rest after the vacation. :)
 

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
I guess its a lot easier to do everything at WDW than it is at DLR.

We had a trip to WDW for five days. We did each park a day with a last day to redo a park we liked. For the Magic Kingdom, we skipped things that were available at Disneyland unless they had short lines. We did the Mansion, Pirates, SM just to see the difference. They were short lines. I can't think of anything we skipped beside Dumbo, Splash, Big Thunder and Autopia. At Epcot, we did every ride and enjoyed wondering around. DHS didn't have much to offer that we previously didn't see at Disneyland or DCA. We skipped things like BATB show, Disney Jr, Fantasmic. The tram was closed. We were done there by half day. DAK was kind the same story as DHS. It had very few rides and we spent time walking the trails to see the animals. We did see the Lion King show that totally reminded us of the old DL parade. We were still done by half day. By the 5th day we redid Epcot because of how much we liked the place and the other places had nothing interesting to offer.

DLR is hard to do in a couple of days because there is so much to do compared to WDW.
 

morningstar

Well-Known Member
I'm a bit concerned now for my trip. I'd hate to miss all these great rides. "Tricks" were mentioned, can anyone fill me in on that? We have a big group with 4 kids and really want to see as much as possible in 3 days.

It helps to understand how the fastpass system works, which is different from the fastpass plus at WDW, and even different than I remember the old paper fastpasses being at WDW.

You can get another fastpass either after your fastpass window starts, or two hours after you got the first fastpass, whichever is earlier. The time when you can get another fastpass is indicated on the fastpass printout. This is very helpful if you get a fastpass for a popular ride that has a return time much later in the day.

World of Color fastpasses are even "on a different system", so you can get a World of Color fastpass first thing in the morning, and then immediately get a fastpass for another ride, say Soarin'.
 

George Lucas on a Bench

Well-Known Member
Wow, you missed a lot. 4 days? Maybe next time I should guide you through the parks. I don't care how hot and crowded it is, in 4 days you can have everything done with plenty of time to spare. For instance, if you were to go straight to Fantasyland at rope drop, you could have every single attraction in that land (and neighboring Toontown) knocked out in the span of 1-2 hours at most, even with kids in tow, bathroom and food breaks and photos with the creepy Peter Pan in between rides.
 

5thGenTexan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Wow, you missed a lot. 4 days? Maybe next time I should guide you through the parks. I don't care how hot and crowded it is, in 4 days you can have everything done with plenty of time to spare. For instance, if you were to go straight to Fantasyland at rope drop, you could have every single attraction in that land (and neighboring Toontown) knocked out in the span of 1-2 hours at most, even with kids in tow, bathroom and food breaks and photos with the creepy Peter Pan in between rides.

You should sell your services. :)

Maybe if we had been there earlier at the gate. By the time we got to Peter Pan it was already 45 minutes at 8:15 or 8:20. We also gave up around 2:00 and went back to the hotel for awhile. I know we wasted a lot of time. The kids don't know what they missed and my wife doesn't care.

I hate to be "that guy", but we went to Disneyland and its probably it for us. As much as I like Star Wars, retuning when all that opens just isn't a reality.
 

5thGenTexan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
You saw what you saw. As long as you and your kids had a good time nothing else should matter.

I got to play on the train. :D

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