Hello, I’m looking to get any tips or opinions on visiting Disneyland...in just a single evening. I know I won’t be getting the most optimal experience though. I will be in the LA area for an Expo for my job, but I will only be in town for 3 days (fly in Thursday afternoon, leave again Saturday noonish) Not sure if I will have any time at all (I haven’t seen our schedule yet, so I don’t know if and when I will have free time.) But, I have never been to Disneyland (or LA in general) so I would really like to see it while I am out there. The plan is for my wife and kids to go on a real, planned vacation to Disneyland in 3-5 years, but this time it will be just me. I have been to WDW 8 times over the the last 10-11 years so I am familiar with Disney parks to a degree. I am thinking my only chance would be Friday evening. Our Expo is at the Long Beach Convention Center and I believe we are staying near the center but I am unsure at the moment. To make the most of my time, I would hope to leave straight from the expo center and head there until close. For transportation, would my best bet be to Uber from the Expo to Disney? I think the expo is over with by 4-5 pm, but I fear that I will lose up to a couple hours in traffic, as I imagine that 5 o’clock traffic in LA is no joke. Once I get there what should I do? What are some unique rides there? I have read some articles but was just curious of anyone’s current opinion. Especially the traffic and transportation. Thanks for any info anyone can provide.
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Disneyland in 1 evening?
- Thread starter Brainhead64
- Start date
Californian Elitist
Well-Known Member
Coming from Long Beach at that time, be prepared for probably a 40+ minute commute. Long Beach is closer to Anaheim than LA is, so that’s good.
I’d hate for your first impression to be a five to six hour evening excursion, but if you really want to go, I’d suggest single-riding what you can and using FP. Are rides going to be your sole focus or are you interested in shows, too? Also, will you be park-hopping?
I’d hate for your first impression to be a five to six hour evening excursion, but if you really want to go, I’d suggest single-riding what you can and using FP. Are rides going to be your sole focus or are you interested in shows, too? Also, will you be park-hopping?
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
Please see the Guide to DLR for WDW Veterans thread.
forums.wdwmagic.com
Guide to DLR for WDW Veterans!
Since we get this ALL the time in this forum, I thought it would be nice to condense it into one place that the mods could make sticky - this stuff gets repeated ad naseum around here since the site caters to a WDW fanbase. I'll start with this: GiveMeTheMusic's INFALLIBLE List of Unique DLR...
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TP2000
Well-Known Member
Already lots of good advice from @raven24 and @Phrubruh here, but realize that you are really working against the clock and basic logistics here with this one.
Your use of the phrase "5 o'clock traffic" is telling, as there is no such thing in Southern California. (I've lived in several other states where the big city in each state had "5 o'clock traffic", so I understand the cultural reference.) But here in SoCal it's just traffic all the time, and it's at its most manageable from about 10pm to 4am. The good news is that you aren't going to be in LA, but rather Long Beach, and you'll be heading to Orange County instead of up to LA. But getting from Long Beach to Disneyland will be fastest with Uber most definitely, as that will cut out the need and time to park a car.
At 5:00 today I'll check Google maps and sigalert.com to see what the travel time is from the Long Beach Convention Center to the Harbor Blvd. dropoff zone at Disneyland and report back. With that info you can see what your up against and if a Disneyland visit is even possible for you.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Okay, another beautiful sunset here in the golden west and the results are in!
At 5:00 pm Google maps is predicting a 1 hour 10 minute travel time for the 19 miles between the Long Beach Convention Center and Disneyland's Harbor Blvd. drop off zone. Factor in about 20 minutes to get through security screening and then thru the turnstiles, and you are looking at 90 minutes from Long Beach curbside to Main Street USA.
Sigalert.com is also your friend, just to get a quick visual of how bad things are on your route. https://www.sigalert.com/?lat=33.81161&lon=-118.18886&z=2
Check the calendar as some Fridays in the off season Disneyland closes at 11pm, but I doubt they'll do that this winter and spring with the new Resistance ride open. It will probably have the standard Midnight closing time. And when you Uber back to Long Beach you do NOT want to use the same drop off location on Harbor to get picked up at as that is a nightmare to try and use for pickups (of the Uber variety, ahem).
Instead, walk through Downtown Disney to either the Disneyland Hotel or Grand Californian Hotel and get an Uber back to Long Beach from the hotel porte cochere. Much easier, and if a bell hop gives you a hassle just claim that your wife already checked out that day, you turned in your room key and your room number was "twelve something". Not that I have any experience with that sort of thing.
At 5:00 pm Google maps is predicting a 1 hour 10 minute travel time for the 19 miles between the Long Beach Convention Center and Disneyland's Harbor Blvd. drop off zone. Factor in about 20 minutes to get through security screening and then thru the turnstiles, and you are looking at 90 minutes from Long Beach curbside to Main Street USA.
Sigalert.com is also your friend, just to get a quick visual of how bad things are on your route. https://www.sigalert.com/?lat=33.81161&lon=-118.18886&z=2
Check the calendar as some Fridays in the off season Disneyland closes at 11pm, but I doubt they'll do that this winter and spring with the new Resistance ride open. It will probably have the standard Midnight closing time. And when you Uber back to Long Beach you do NOT want to use the same drop off location on Harbor to get picked up at as that is a nightmare to try and use for pickups (of the Uber variety, ahem).
Instead, walk through Downtown Disney to either the Disneyland Hotel or Grand Californian Hotel and get an Uber back to Long Beach from the hotel porte cochere. Much easier, and if a bell hop gives you a hassle just claim that your wife already checked out that day, you turned in your room key and your room number was "twelve something". Not that I have any experience with that sort of thing.
Thank you for the replies. I had never heard sigalert, I will definitely check that out. I'm trying not to get too hung up on riding a bunch rides or doing shows so that I won't be too bummed out that I didn't get to do something in particular. I do want to try to get in a few particular rides that are not available at WDW. I really just want to take it all in and see it for the first time. I think the night that I will be able to go, the park is open until midnight, so that is a bonus. The traffic, transportation, pickup/dropoff was my big concern. Thanks for the replies, gives some other things to keep in mind!
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Good plan!
Focus on things that don't exist in WDW, or are in noticeably different formats at Disneyland.
Pirates, Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, the Fantasyland dark rides, Space Mt., Thunder Mt. all come to mind. But remember that Fantasyland mostly closes for fireworks, so those are best saved until after the fireworks are over if you are staying until midnight.
truecoat
Well-Known Member
Yeah, the fantasyland rides take a while after fireworks to come back up. The line for Alice didn't move for 20+ min after fireworks as they had to put the cars back on the track. It might not be that way for the enclosed rides but Alice it seemed they stored the ride vehicles and had to take them back out of storage.