Disneyland for first time; how many days

[adavis40]

Hey, I know this question has to have been asked before, but I can't find it around here.

I'm going to LA with a friend in a few weeks, and we want to go to Disneyland. We've been to Disney World in Orlando a lot. This is far from our first time at a Disney park, so we basically know what to do and what not to do. We don't really care about getting the entire feel of the place; we just want to ride some rides.

How many days do you think we could do a Disneyland? I've heard somewhere between one or two, but I'm not sure. Again, it's our first time to Disneyland but we've been to Disney World a dozen or so times so we've got a basic idea of what we want.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

 

[TP2000]

Since you sound so confident in your stamina and focus, I would recommend one full day, from 8AM to Midnight, if you just want to focus on the attractions that are exclusive to Disneyland.

Be warned that Disneyland has a great many more rides than Magic Kingdom does, and many of them are only found at Disneyland. I take it you will avoid DCA entirely? If you focused on just the exclusives at Disneyland, and then layered on the rides that are found in both resorts but are dramatically different at Disneyland, you would have an extremely full day and would probably not be able to catch everything.

Rides Exclusive to Disneyland

Indiana Jones Adventure
Sailing Ship Columbia
Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes
Pinnochio's Daring Journey
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Casey Jr. Circus Train
Alice In Wonderland
Sleeping Beauty Castle Tour
Storybookland Canal Boats
Matterhorn Bobsleds
Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage


Rides Dramatically Different at Disneyland

Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room
Pirates of the Caribbean
Haunted Mansion
Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island
Tarzan's Treehouse
Disneyland Railroad and Primeval World
The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh
It's A Small World
Space Mountain
Autopia
Disneyland Monorail

The rest of the attractions are identical, only have minor changes, or only have differences in the queues or pre-shows. Unless you are a huge fan of a particular ride, you could skip the following at Disneyland as they aren't much different than WDW's version:

Main Street Vehicles
Horse Drawn Streetcar
The Jungle Cruise
Splash Mountain
Mark Twain Riverboat
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Peter Pan's Flight
Snow White's Scary Adventures
Teacups
Dumbo
King Arthur's Carousel
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
Innoventions
Honey I Shrunk The Audience
Star Tours
Astro Orbiter

The parade, Fantasmic! and nightly fireworks are dramatically different at Disneyland than their WDW versions. Particularly the vastly superior version of Fantasmic! at Disneyland shouldn't be missed. It plays twice nightly seven days per week in summer at 9:00PM and 10:30PM.

 

[adavis40]

You know, the more I hear and look stuff up, the more I think two days would probably be the way to go. We know what we want to do, but I'd rather not run around like a crazy person missing stuff because of a lack of time.

Thanks! Really appreciate it.

 

[Carebee21]

I would say two days for Disneyland and 1 day for California Adventures(if you're going there). Within the next couple of weeks, the kids will be out of school and the lines will get longer. I honestly don't think that with lines you could fit most of the attractions into a one day trip. Now if you were going in the off season and knew what you wanted to do and what you wanted to avoid, I would say that you could probably get by with a day in Disneyland, but I just don't think that it will happen in the summer.

 

[Erika]

If you're leaning towards 2, then I would definitely recommend 2. I agree that it'll be more enjoyable than running around "like a crazy person missing stuff" :lol:

 

[agent86]

Based on how you described your plan and what's important to you, 1 day would be fine. As Erika said, if you are leaning toward 2 days however, then I'd go with that plan. That will be more than enough time, but it will also allow PLENTY of time to see and do it all without feeling like you've missed anything. It sounds like you're planning to skip DCA altogether, which I personally think is a wise choice. Pretty much everything at DCA is stuff that you'd likely already experienced if you've been to both WDW and any Six Flags-type park. Just about everything is a scaled down clone of what you'd find at those parks. Picture a somewhat cleaner Six Flags with Disney characters everywhere, and much milder rides, and voila, you've got Paradise Pier which is the largest part of DCA. The rest of the park is mostly "lite" versions of attractions that exist at WDW (DHS primarily). Disneyland, as well, has duplicates of what you'll find at WDW, but the DL versions are almost all much better than the WDW versions.

 

[Mukta]

Since you are going during the summer season, you will need 2 days. The most important thing will be getting to the parks early. DL is much smaller than MK, so it will be very crowded.
Since you will know the basic park layout, have someone get FPs for Space mountain and meet you in Adventureland. Do Indy, JC, POTC, HM, Splash, Pooh and BTMM. You can do those in the first 2 hours easily if you move fast. Spend the crowded afternoons enjoying New Orleans Square and other different areas. Hit the submarines right before closing if it is a weekday. First thing in the morning if it is a weekend.
On Day 2, hit Fantasyland first. Peter Pan and its neighbors first. Then Casey Jr and Storybookland. You should be able to see all of the park easily without having to wait in a line longer than 20 minutes.