Disneyland for a WDW commando family

[Schneewittchen]

Hello everyone, I normally post on the WDW boards, but I'm planning a surprise birthday trip to DL for my son this November and would like a bit of advice. We're going Veteran's Day weekend. Taking the last flight to Anaheim Thursday evening, arriving late, checking in at the Anaheim Plaza Hotel & Suites (the on property hotels were out of decently priced rooms), planning to do parks all day Friday and Saturday, flying home early Sunday morning. I'm a compulsive planner and I'm torn about a few things: Do I need a park hopper? What about dinner options?

I've been to DL once before in 2002, it was a bit of a blur. Young love, 3 week road trip, spur of the moment "Let's go to Disneyland", etc. etc. Holding hands, watching fireworks from an Econolodge balcony.... DH went there almost every year while visiting his grandparents in Long Beach when he was a boy.

Anyway, for the past 10 years or so we've been going to WDW a lot. We do things commando style. ALL THE RIDES!!! The kids are 4 and 6 right now and are good for 14 - 15 hour park days or 6 - 7 mile hikes in the woods.

At WDW, it's like this for us:
1. Get to your park each day at rope drop.
2. Get a map and tackle one ride at a time in proximity to each other. Running from Frontierland to Tomorrowland and back wastes time. So we start at Adventureland and work our way around the best rides. Save the indoor stuff for afternoon rush and rain - Tiki Room, Hall of Presidents, Stitch, Carousel of Progress.
3. Do not park hop, you're just wasting precious time.
4. Quick service for lunch and don't try to eat at noon (mob scene), try to eat earlier, like 11:30.
5. Do your table service meals at restaurants in the parks for dinner (leaving the park wastes time) and make reservations.
6. Get fastpasses for rides with long lines - Peter Pan, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, etc.
7. Download the app, it has wait times.
8. Rides, rides, rides, no character meet and greets, that's what a character meal is for.
9. Stay at the parks til the kids drop - 10 or 11 pm.

So, here's the first question. With a firm cap of 2 days, can I reasonably expect to do one day of all Disneyland and one day of all California Adventure and not need to park hop? My concern is that Disneyland has a ton of rides, so we might miss some things we want to do. California Adventure seems like less stuff, so maybe we'd finish up there and want to drift back to Disneyland Saturday night....

At WDW, MK tends to take 2 days to literally do all the rides, the other parks are easy in 1 day. And the lines are usually really bad when we visit WDW (Easter week), so I'm just wondering, second question - can I expect things to be calmer and lines to be shorter at Disneyland?

Meals - last time, we had lunch at Blue Bayou. It was enchanting. I'm planning to get a dinner reservation there for this trip. I'm thinking about breaking one of my rules and leaving a park for a meal and getting a dinner reservation for Goofy's Kitchen. It is my son's birthday after all. More questions. How is the food at Goofy's Kitchen? Is it worth it to leave the park, eat a the hotel, then go back to the parks for the night? I love character meals, but I'm not too happy about doing them in the morning during prime ride time, so Goofy seems like the only option. Is there another table service dinner option that children would love????

 

[BubbaQuest]

Hello! I haven't done Goofy's Kitchen so can't say if it's worth the walk or not. Hopefully others will have more details.

As an AP, I actually like taking a break from the parks and going to a restaurant at the hotels or downtown disney to get away from the crowds. But I'm not attempting the whole park in a day either One thing to keep in mind is sometimes it can be difficult to get back into the parks on a Friday or Saturday night (especially on a holiday weekend) with lines at bag check and the entrance gates. Usually I haven't had problems using the monorail or the Grand California entrance in the evening though. Not sure how crazy it will be on Veteran's Day.

This also applies to park hopping. It's only a 5 minute walk between parks, but can easily turn into 20 minutes if there is a line at the turnstiles. DCA can be an all day park, especially if you plan on doing the Frozen musical and World of Color. However, with young children, I'm not sure if you plan on doing some of the bigger rides like California Screaming or Tower of Terror. Keep in mind many of the rides are DCA are the same as WDW and often the less impressive version (no queue or shorter ride).

With that said, I think park hoppers are a good idea for DCA. Do a rope drop to get Radiator Springs fast passes. Check out Bugs Land or Monsters Inc or anything else you might want to ride. Grab fast passes to World of Color and then head back to Disneyland.

Hope this helps. Relax and have a magical trip

 

[Stevek]

If you've been to Chef Mickey's, I believe it's pretty much the same as Goofy's Kitchen. We did it years ago and have friends that do it regularly with their kids and love it. Not sure what your kids enjoy so hard to say what they would love. Ariel's Grotto is Princesses so your boy may not enjoy. PCH Grill is all the way at Paradise Pier Hotel so I'd avoid. The other character options are all breakfast only I believe. Beyond that, the only other place I'd suggest is Rainforest. Fun setting but the food is hit and miss...we've probably enjoyed it more than some folks seem to.

 

[Schneewittchen]

Hello! I haven't done Goofy's Kitchen so can't say if it's worth the walk or not. Hopefully others will have more details.

As an AP, I actually like taking a break from the parks and going to a restaurant at the hotels or downtown disney to get away from the crowds. But I'm not attempting the whole park in a day either One thing to keep in mind is sometimes it can be difficult to get back into the parks on a Friday or Saturday night (especially on a holiday weekend) with lines at bag check and the entrance gates. Usually I haven't had problems using the monorail or the Grand California entrance in the evening though. Not sure how crazy it will be on Veteran's Day.

This also applies to park hopping. It's only a 5 minute walk between parks, but can easily turn into 20 minutes if there is a line at the turnstiles. DCA can be an all day park, especially if you plan on doing the Frozen musical and World of Color. However, with young children, I'm not sure if you plan on doing some of the bigger rides like California Screaming or Tower of Terror. Keep in mind many of the rides are DCA are the same as WDW and often the less impressive version (no queue or shorter ride).

With that said, I think park hoppers are a good idea for DCA. Do a rope drop to get Radiator Springs fast passes. Check out Bugs Land or Monsters Inc or anything else you might want to ride. Grab fast passes to World of Color and then head back to Disneyland.

Hope this helps. Relax and have a magical trip

So would you advise getting park hopper tickets and maybe looking at doing a very late breakfast/brunch at the Plaza Inn one of the days? It looks like there's a lot of character variety there.

 

[Schneewittchen]

Meals - last time, we had lunch at Blue Bayou. It was enchanting. I'm planning to get a dinner reservation there for this trip. I'm thinking about breaking one of my rules and leaving a park for a meal and getting a dinner reservation for Goofy's Kitchen. It is my son's birthday after all. More questions. How is the food at Goofy's Kitchen? Is it worth it to leave the park, eat a the hotel, then go back to the parks for the night? I love character meals, but I'm not too happy about doing them in the morning during prime ride time, so Goofy seems like the only option. Is there another table service dinner option that children would love????[/QUOTE]

If you've been to Chef Mickey's, I believe it's pretty much the same as Goofy's Kitchen. We did it years ago and have friends that do it regularly with their kids and love it. Not sure what your kids enjoy so hard to say what they would love. Ariel's Grotto is Princesses so your boy may not enjoy. PCH Grill is all the way at Paradise Pier Hotel so I'd avoid. The other character options are all breakfast only I believe. Beyond that, the only other place I'd suggest is Rainforest. Fun setting but the food is hit and miss...we've probably enjoyed it more than some folks seem to.[/QUOTE]

We've been to Chef Mickey's, my son did enjoy it, but the food wasn't lighting the world on fire and now I'm concerned about leaving the Disneyland parks at night.

I think our favorites these days for character interaction are Crystal Palace and Akershus ata WDW. It's funny, my son knows I'm planning our Easter 2017 trip for WDW, so he's asking to go to Hoop Dee Doo Revue instead of a character meal. But I feel like I ought to slip in a character meal at DL since we don't know when we'll get a chance to go west again.

 

[Figments Friend]

I enjoyed Goofy's Kitchen with friends back in 2007.
We were all adults ( by age, at least... ) and we all enjoyed the experience with the characters and also the food.

I thought it was well worth doing and the selection of breakfast options was great and tasty.
The character interactions were very nicely done, particularly the 'face characters' like Snow White and Peter Pan.
Excellent performances and interaction skills ( I would know...I have some experience ).

I would say it is worth doing while you visit.
Now things may have well changed food-quality wise since I was there in 2007, but take it in stride.
I'm sure your kids will love the experience.

-

 

[Blueliner]

Hello everyone, I normally post on the WDW boards, but I'm planning a surprise birthday trip to DL for my son this November and would like a bit of advice. We're going Veteran's Day weekend. Taking the last flight to Anaheim Thursday evening, arriving late, checking in at the Anaheim Plaza Hotel & Suites (the on property hotels were out of decently priced rooms), planning to do parks all day Friday and Saturday, flying home early Sunday morning. I'm a compulsive planner and I'm torn about a few things: Do I need a park hopper? What about dinner options?

I've been to DL once before in 2002, it was a bit of a blur. Young love, 3 week road trip, spur of the moment "Let's go to Disneyland", etc. etc. Holding hands, watching fireworks from an Econolodge balcony.... DH went there almost every year while visiting his grandparents in Long Beach when he was a boy.

Anyway, for the past 10 years or so we've been going to WDW a lot. We do things commando style. ALL THE RIDES!!! The kids are 4 and 6 right now and are good for 14 - 15 hour park days or 6 - 7 mile hikes in the woods.

At WDW, it's like this for us:
1. Get to your park each day at rope drop.
2. Get a map and tackle one ride at a time in proximity to each other. Running from Frontierland to Tomorrowland and back wastes time. So we start at Adventureland and work our way around the best rides. Save the indoor stuff for afternoon rush and rain - Tiki Room, Hall of Presidents, Stitch, Carousel of Progress.
3. Do not park hop, you're just wasting precious time.
4. Quick service for lunch and don't try to eat at noon (mob scene), try to eat earlier, like 11:30.
5. Do your table service meals at restaurants in the parks for dinner (leaving the park wastes time) and make reservations.
6. Get fastpasses for rides with long lines - Peter Pan, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, etc.
7. Download the app, it has wait times.
8. Rides, rides, rides, no character meet and greets, that's what a character meal is for.
9. Stay at the parks til the kids drop - 10 or 11 pm.

So, here's the first question. With a firm cap of 2 days, can I reasonably expect to do one day of all Disneyland and one day of all California Adventure and not need to park hop? My concern is that Disneyland has a ton of rides, so we might miss some things we want to do. California Adventure seems like less stuff, so maybe we'd finish up there and want to drift back to Disneyland Saturday night....

At WDW, MK tends to take 2 days to literally do all the rides, the other parks are easy in 1 day. And the lines are usually really bad when we visit WDW (Easter week), so I'm just wondering, second question - can I expect things to be calmer and lines to be shorter at Disneyland?

Meals - last time, we had lunch at Blue Bayou. It was enchanting. I'm planning to get a dinner reservation there for this trip. I'm thinking about breaking one of my rules and leaving a park for a meal and getting a dinner reservation for Goofy's Kitchen. It is my son's birthday after all. More questions. How is the food at Goofy's Kitchen? Is it worth it to leave the park, eat a the hotel, then go back to the parks for the night? I love character meals, but I'm not too happy about doing them in the morning during prime ride time, so Goofy seems like the only option. Is there another table service dinner option that children would love????

We are somewhat of a WDW "commando family" as well, although we have mellowed over time. We have been to the Disneyland Resort three times in the past four years. For a spring break trip in 2013, we had 3-day park hopper tickets. For a Rose Parade trip in 2014, we had 2-day park hopper tickets. This past spring break trip, we had 2-day no-hopper tickets. We had a great time each trip.

In response to your first question, my opinion is that it is very difficult to take in every single attraction at Disneyland Park in one day. I feel like Disney California Adventure is doable in one day at a fairly easy pace. I think that if you are really trying to maximize your time, the park hopper option is well worth it, as it is really easy to hop between parks at a leisurely walking pace.

My advice -- particularly if you are a WDW veteran that has ridden virtually everything in WDW multiple times -- is to prioritize based on the attractions that are exclusive to the West Coast parks (i.e., Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, Radiator Springs Racers, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Alice in Wonderland, Storybook Land Canal Boats, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Snow White's Scary Adventures, California Screamin', Grizzly River Run, etc.), followed by attractions that are substantially different from WDW (i.e., Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, it's a small world, etc.) followed by attractions that you might really like but that are virtually identical on both coasts (i.e. Star Tours, Toy Story Midway Mania, Soarin' over the World, Winnie the Pooh, Little Mermaid). That way, if you miss something, at least you are not missing something that you have already experienced at WDW multiple times.

At Disneyland Park, we had pretty good success entering the park at opening, pulling a Space Mountain Fastpass, riding the Matterhorn, then hitting Mr. Toad, Alice and the rest of Fantasyland except Peter Pan (that line builds quickly). Then we pulled an Indiana Jones Fastpass, rode Space Mountain, headed over toward Adventureland and New Orleans Square to take in Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and Indiana Jones. You get the picture, but we basically pulled Fastpasses for Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain when our windows opened, and then filled the gaps with higher capacity rides, prioritizing the exclusive/unique attractions (kind of like the "old way" at WDW, except easier because the park is smaller).

At Disney California Adventure, we entered at opening, went straight to Radiator Springs Racers, then worked our way around the park counter-clockwise (California Screamin' Toy Story, Mickey's Fun Wheel, Silly Symphony Swings, Goofy's Sky School, Grizzly River Run). Throughout the day, we pulled Fastpasses for Soarin', Tower of Terror, California Screamin' and just kind of filled the gaps with higher capacity attractions.

We actually felt much more relaxed in California Adventure than Disneyland Park, as it generally is not as crowded and has wider walkways, etc. You definitely could drift back to Disneyland Park at the end of the day if you feel like you have gotten your fill at California Adventure. It is SO EASY to park hop on foot, and that is one of the reasons I have developed a bit of a bias toward the Disneyland Resort over WDW.

I cannot speak directly to the time of year you will be there, but the basic patterns are similar between WDW and Disneyland Resort. If you arrive at the parks early, you will be able to avoid the longer long lines and get in a lot of rides in the first 2-3 hours. After that, it can get pretty crowded. Disneyland Park feels a lot more crowded than California Adventure because of the layouts of the parks.

I have no experience with Goofy's Kitchen, but one way we maximized our time in the parks and still fit in a character meal was to go to the character breakfast at the Paradise Pier hotel the morning after our second day in the parks. Again, this is a relatively easy walk from just about anywhere near the resort, and it reduces the "we could be riding something right now" stress!

If that does not work due to your flight schedule, I would be inclined to spend time soaking in the atmosphere in the parks instead of eating with characters. There's just a different, more organic feel to the West Coast parks that is worth savoring. If you really want to fit in some sort of dining, I would recommend reserving dinner at Goofy's Kitchen on your Disney California Adventure day. That way, you can get to Disney California Adventure early, get in a bunch of rides, and then hop across to dinner, followed by a grand finale at Disneyland Park!

 

[Californian Elitist]

Since you want to attempt to do every song thing in two days, I would not recommend park-hoppers. You shouldn't spend time going back and forth.

In saying this, getting all of Disneyland done in one day is extremely hard, if not impossible. Disneyland has the most rides/attractions out of any Disney park. There's rarely any day where the wait times are low nowadays, and even when they are low it's still hard.

California Adventure... It could be possible to get everything done in one day, depending on when you arrive and wait times.

In terms of food, I would suggest eating at one of the restaurants that are on the quality side, Plaza Inn, French Market, Flo's, etc.

 

[Blueliner]

One thing to keep in mind is sometimes it can be difficult to get back into the parks on a Friday or Saturday night (especially on a holiday weekend) with lines at bag check and the entrance gates. Usually I haven't had problems using the monorail or the Grand California entrance in the evening though. Not sure how crazy it will be on Veteran's Day.

This also applies to park hopping. It's only a 5 minute walk between parks, but can easily turn into 20 minutes if there is a line at the turnstiles.

Since you want to attempt to do every song thing in two days, I would not recommend park-hoppers. You shouldn't spend time going back and forth.

These are good points. However, I have been conditioned to think of park hopping as a 1-1.5 hour process at WDW. It's all a matter of persepective, I guess. You DLR folks are spoiled rotten!

 

[flynnibus]

I guess it depends if you are 'completion-ists' or just want to do the most you can. Determine how important the shows are for you... like F!, Fireworks, Parades, and WoC.

My input would be is to make F!, Fireworks, and WoC mandatory and skip parades and sit down meals. DL is still the land of 'maximize your FP' to get the most of the day. You may want to look at TouringPlans to help steer your strategy.

I personally like Park Hoppers because besides the big rush periods.. the lost opportunity cost is so slow and I prefer chasing my most desirable target. I also don't want to get stuck with 'fireworks were canceled on the one day I was in the park', etc kind of stuff either.. or 'Indy was down all day'.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Hello everyone, I normally post on the WDW boards, but I'm planning a surprise birthday trip to DL for my son this November and would like a bit of advice. We're going Veteran's Day weekend. Taking the last flight to Anaheim Thursday evening, arriving late, checking in at the Anaheim Plaza Hotel & Suites (the on property hotels were out of decently priced rooms), planning to do parks all day Friday and Saturday, flying home early Sunday morning. I'm a compulsive planner and I'm torn about a few things: Do I need a park hopper? What about dinner options?

I've been to DL once before in 2002, it was a bit of a blur. Young love, 3 week road trip, spur of the moment "Let's go to Disneyland", etc. etc. Holding hands, watching fireworks from an Econolodge balcony.... DH went there almost every year while visiting his grandparents in Long Beach when he was a boy.

Anyway, for the past 10 years or so we've been going to WDW a lot. We do things commando style. ALL THE RIDES!!! The kids are 4 and 6 right now and are good for 14 - 15 hour park days or 6 - 7 mile hikes in the woods.

At WDW, it's like this for us:
1. Get to your park each day at rope drop.
2. Get a map and tackle one ride at a time in proximity to each other. Running from Frontierland to Tomorrowland and back wastes time. So we start at Adventureland and work our way around the best rides. Save the indoor stuff for afternoon rush and rain - Tiki Room, Hall of Presidents, Stitch, Carousel of Progress.
3. Do not park hop, you're just wasting precious time.
4. Quick service for lunch and don't try to eat at noon (mob scene), try to eat earlier, like 11:30.
5. Do your table service meals at restaurants in the parks for dinner (leaving the park wastes time) and make reservations.
6. Get fastpasses for rides with long lines - Peter Pan, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, etc.
7. Download the app, it has wait times.
8. Rides, rides, rides, no character meet and greets, that's what a character meal is for.
9. Stay at the parks til the kids drop - 10 or 11 pm.

So, here's the first question. With a firm cap of 2 days, can I reasonably expect to do one day of all Disneyland and one day of all California Adventure and not need to park hop? My concern is that Disneyland has a ton of rides, so we might miss some things we want to do. California Adventure seems like less stuff, so maybe we'd finish up there and want to drift back to Disneyland Saturday night....

At WDW, MK tends to take 2 days to literally do all the rides, the other parks are easy in 1 day. And the lines are usually really bad when we visit WDW (Easter week), so I'm just wondering, second question - can I expect things to be calmer and lines to be shorter at Disneyland?

Meals - last time, we had lunch at Blue Bayou. It was enchanting. I'm planning to get a dinner reservation there for this trip. I'm thinking about breaking one of my rules and leaving a park for a meal and getting a dinner reservation for Goofy's Kitchen. It is my son's birthday after all. More questions. How is the food at Goofy's Kitchen? Is it worth it to leave the park, eat a the hotel, then go back to the parks for the night? I love character meals, but I'm not too happy about doing them in the morning during prime ride time, so Goofy seems like the only option. Is there another table service dinner option that children would love????

Get park hoppers. On Day 2 you will want to go back to DL at some point to see stuff you missed. Stick to the unique attractions and skip all clones, which will make DCA a shorter day. Fantasmic will not be playing during your visit, but you are likely to be there for the start of the Christmas season. There will be A Christmas Fantasy Parade during the day, Believe In Holiday Magic fireworks at night, and possibly Paint the Night (we don't know its holiday season return date yet). The Christmas fireworks are beautiful and more on the emotional side than spectacular (no flying characters like Tink for example). You'll have to decide if you want to see any nighttime entertainment at either park - World of Color Winter Dreams will be playing in DCA.

I would not recommend wasting any time on a 2 day trip at table service restaurants. None of them are that good, in particular Goofy's Kitchen. The food is just serviceable and they no longer have face characters - just fab five minus Mickey, add Chip and Dale. No variety. If you must do a character meal, breakfast at Plaza Inn is a better value with more character variety. You will miss a lot of park time to go to Goofy's Kitchen.

 

[hawkfam]

In addition to it being Veteran's Day weekend, which will already make it busier with many having a 3-day weekend, it's also the Avengers Half Marathon weekend as well which will bring in additional crowds. So, as others have suggested you'll likely want park hoppers because even on a good day you'd be lucky to get everything in DL done in one day. With the larger crowds for both of those events it's probably next to impossible so being able to hop when needed to avoid crowds or be in DL more than just one day is probably a necessity.

 

[Schneewittchen]

I guess it depends if you are 'completion-ists' or just want to do the most you can. Determine how important the shows are for you... like F!, Fireworks, Parades, and WoC.

My input would be is to make F!, Fireworks, and WoC mandatory and skip parades and sit down meals. DL is still the land of 'maximize your FP' to get the most of the day. You may want to look at TouringPlans to help steer your strategy.

I personally like Park Hoppers because besides the big rush periods.. the lost opportunity cost is so slow and I prefer chasing my most desirable target. I also don't want to get stuck with 'fireworks were canceled on the one day I was in the park', etc kind of stuff either.. or 'Indy was down all day'.

I like one parade - Main Street Electrical Parade and I'll never see it again.

Otherwise, DH falls asleep during shows and the kids get restless. I'm cool with a fleeting glance at the fireworks from a ride in motion (PeopleMover at night). Sit down dinners are really about resting in the AC for a few minutes with the feet up. And getting to see a stinky teenager pretend to be a princess/donkey/chipmunk.

 

[VeroniqueB]

I went mostly on weekday (we did 5 days in the 2 parks and we did all rides, but not all meet, activities, entertainement, etc., but we went less comando then at WDW). The night were crazy full. People from the area shows up at night, teenagers meet up, etc. It's not like WDW were everyone is in the magical bubble, lots of people meet there like it's the local mall/park. I really felt the difference between days with more family/tourists and night with more locals. We still loved it, but just so you're prepare

The thing we liked the most was the Indiana Jones ride, my son did an Indiana Jones birthday after ! He rode it 4 times. We loved the little New Orleans area, super nice atmosphere and theming. We adore Cars Land. It was awesome and we spent a lot of time there just taking in all the détails.

 

[JillC LI]

We do things just like you at WDW. We visited DLR in May 2014 for 2 full days. We did one park per day, arriving at rope drop and staying til close. You may be able to find my post about everything we hit in those two days but it was a LOT. Not everything, but we didn't miss anything we wanted to catch. We didn't do any sit down meals though so I can't comment on that. You should be fine. I'll look for my post and add a link if I can find it.

Found it! http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/first-disneyland-and-dca-trip-report.884858/

 

[Schneewittchen]

We do things just like you at WDW. We visited DLR in May 2014 for 2 full days. We did one park per day, arriving at rope drop and staying til close. You may be able to find my post about everything we hit in those two days but it was a LOT. Not everything, but we didn't miss anything we wanted to catch. We didn't do any sit down meals though so I can't comment on that. You should be fine. I'll look for my post and add a link if I can find it.

Found it! http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/first-disneyland-and-dca-trip-report.884858/

Just read your trip report. Loved it! So helpful. And great pics too!

 

[Schneewittchen]

Thanks everybody for the advice. I think I'm going to adjust my expectations a bit.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

Even if you don't park hop normally in WDW, I would get the hopper anyway for DL. The two parks are so close together that it's almost like having one giant park. Plus if you finish up with California Adventure, you can go back over to Disneyland.

Are you sure you're only staying two days? Disneyland, while having generally shorter lines than MK, has a heck of a lot more attractions than MK. You'll need at least two days to see it all.

Keep in mind that Disneyland has narrow pathways. We're used to everything being big and wide in WDW. As a result, DL tends to feel more crowded than MK will with the same amount of people.

Rope drop tends to work well in DL, so go ahead and plan for that. But make sure you're starting out in the park that does NOT have EMH in the morning.

 

[Curious Constance]

I agree park hoppers are very nice to have. I like starting in morning at one park, taking midday break, and then finishing the day at the other park.

Also my kids love Goofy's Kitchen and rave about the Peanut butter and jelly pizza. Take the monrail from Tomorrowland and you get dropped off right by the Disneyland Hotel.

 

[Schneewittchen]

I think I'm settling on a plan of attack.
We're going to get the park hoppers and get there at rope drop. I read up on all of the rides. There are a couple of rides the kids are too short for - Indiana Jones and California Screamin. And there are a couple at DCA where the heights might be too much for DH and DS - Tower of Terror, Silly Symphony Swings, Mickey's Fun Wheel, Jumpin Jellyfish. Of course, they're fine with rollercoasters. I just have to be prepared for them to be quickly done with DCA.

I will be getting some character meal reservations. Nevermind about Goofy's kitchen for dinner. We'll try for very late breakfasts at the Plaza Inn (for DS) and Ariel's Grotto (so DD gets some princess action). We should be able to get in 2 - 3 hours of rides in the early morning. Take a break to eat between 10 - 11 and then just keep going with rides and the occasional Dole Whip until having a late dinner around 8.

Maybe Blue Bayou for dinner one night so DH and I can relive that romantical first trip for a minute until the kids intrude. Otherwise stick to carts and quick service.