First Time This Winter

[TRIFORCE89]

We've been to Walt Disney World several times. We know how to do it properly. We see everything. Do every ride and attraction, see every show, every parade, fireworks display, make the most efficient use of our time, do the "extras" (mini-golf, water parks, Downtown), get ADRs. Well, maybe not "every" single thing. We're a family of four with no one younger than 19, so we don't exactly do the kid-oriented stuff (playgrounds, Playhouse Disney, etc.)

We're going to be visiting California this Winter (later December / early January) and of course we want to include Disneyland in that trip. But... we lack the experience and familiarity.

How long would we need to do everything? Or rather, how fast can we do it in?

From what I've read, California Adventure takes one-day and Disneyland proper could take two days. We want to experience both parks. Is it possible to do them both, in-full (reasonably) in just two days?

With Magic Kingdom at WDW alone we like to spend two days. But when we visited Disneyland Paris we got both parks done in two days. Granted, we skipped a show here or there because they weren't on the days we were there, but we saw everything else. Would it be the same in California?

Also, any tips for first timer to Disneyland is welcome.

Thanks!

(Haunted Mansion Holiday will still be on after Christmas, right?)

 

[Californian Elitist]

There's no way you'd see everything in two days, and California Adventure in two days probay wouldn't happen, now that Cars Land is present. Plus you're going during Christmas. DCA is two days. I'd say you need four days, five days being the perfect amount.

Haunted Mansion Holiday will still be up, along with small world Holiday.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

Yeah, I was fearing that about California Adventure.

So, is Disneyland closer in scope to the Magic Kingdom then? Not Disneyland Paris?

 

[Californian Elitist]

I'd probably say neither. Both parks are bigger in space than Disneyland. You'll be shocked at how close everything is at Disneyland. Also the more narrow pathways, compared to the wide ones at Magic Kingdom. There are more things to do at Disneyland than Magic Kingdom and Disneyland Paris, which is why it takes more than one day to do everything. There are lots of details, too.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Yeah, the crowd calendar on touringplans.com is almost solid 8's, 9's and 10's from the middle of December through the middle of January. It would probably be tough to feel like you did everything in two days. It kinda depends on how much you feel you can skip that you also have at WDW. There's a sliding scale of how important it is to see the attractions that have a version on both coasts: Space Mountain is a completely different ride at DL (my favorite coaster!), Jungle Cruise is probably better at WDW, everyone says Splash is better at WDW and it'll be colder while you're there, etc.

What you have on your side, though, is that you have a group of adults who can probably go open to close. Maybe it would help if you made a list of the things you thought were most important to see?

 

[TRIFORCE89]

What you have on your side, though, is that you have a group of adults who can probably go open to close. Maybe it would help if you made a list of the things you thought were most important to see?

That is our intention. Doing some preliminary research and DCA has some really wonky hours. Opens late and closes early. Hopefully that doesn't make things too much tougher

We're looking at arriving at Disney on the 31st and spending the night at Downtown Disney. Then doing the parks on the 1st and 2nd of January - as tough as that may be

 

[Cosmic Commando]

That is our intention. Doing some preliminary research and DCA has some really wonky hours. Opens late and closes early. Hopefully that doesn't make things too much tougher

We're looking at arriving at Disney on the 31st and spending the night at Downtown Disney. Then doing the parks on the 1st and 2nd of January - as tough as that may be

Well, we're kinda in uncharted territory now with DCA... people actually want to go there for the first time in its history! The hours since the opening of Cars Land have been pretty close to those of Disneyland. For my trip in November, DCA is usually opening at the same time as Disneyland and closing 0-2 hours earlier. It shouldn't have a huge impact.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

Is there anywhere nice to eat at Downtown Disney for New Year's or in a Disney hotel that isn't expensive like the later seating at Napa Rose?

 

[Californian Elitist]

I myself love Tortilla Jo's, Rainforest Cafe and The House of Blues. Great food. I've yet to try Ralph Brennan's, Napolini and Catal but I plan to! I've heard nothing but great reviews about them. I love the atmosphere at Tortilla Jo's.

 

[KeithVH]

House of Blues for a good meal at DTD w/o breaking the bank. Maybe Storytellers.

 

[wiigirl]

House of Blues for a good meal at DTD w/o breaking the bank. Maybe Storytellers.

House of Blues is really good for the money...

 

[thomas998]

You really need to set down and plan out what rides you absolutely positively want to ride and then plan out how to hit them... because as crowded as Disneyland can be that time of year you maybe seriously out of luck on doing what you want if you don't plan carefully.

We just came back from a 4 day stay about a week ago and even the weekdays where we expected lower crowds was very crowded... when you are going some local schools will be out so crowds will likely be even bigger.

The thing that can help most is if you stay at a Disney resort, then you get that extra hour before the crowds start showing up... Using that extra hour time you can easily do every ride in CA except the Radiator Springs racers before maybe 2 o'clock in the afternoon... And that was on a Saturday... The big thing for killing time in CA is the radiator Springs racers... the line when we were there was never stated to be less than 2 hours, the fastpasses were always gone for the day before 10:00am... The lines for those fast passes were exceedingly long even before the park opened for the normal day... Out experience was to simply go to the walk-up line and accept a 2 hour wait.... At about 1 hour 40 mintues the ride broke down, it was almost 45 minutes until they got it moving again and by the time we got on the ride it was a total of 3 and a half hours of waiting for a 4 minute ride.... Even my kids decided they didn't ever want to ride it again because of the line... If you really want to ride it plan on wasting a lot of time, even a fastpass line can be slow and the ride is notorious for breaking down.

If you do the extra magic hour then use it to hit things like Alice and Wonderland and Peter Pan in Fantasy Land they fill up quick when the park opens to the public... Matterhorn is refurbed and as such appears to have the opening day bugs as it was down a couple of times while we were there... The upside of it is that the cars no longer require you to sit two to a spot, now every rider has their own little seat so you don't get crushed by someone on your lap.

I think the only major ride that is expect to be down is thunder mountain, which sometime during early 2013 is supposed to go down for a refurb.... Indy is now down but should be back by the time you are there.

One last thing, when you are putting together a plan you might want to put rides you can only get at Disneyland at the top of your list, then if you do miss some you wont miss anything that different from WDW.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

Thanks for the advice thomas998.

I think I'm going to have to sit down with the family and see ride by ride what they're up for and what they're not. And what they don't mind skipping.

Are there any rides that are substantially different than their WDW counterparts? I know when I did Space Mountain in Paris it was different than the Magic Kingdom's

 

[HTF]

I've been to the DLR several times over the past few years. I personally believe you should allow yourself 4-5 days to experience it all but if your on a time crunch a minimum of two days will be required to hit all major attractions during the Christmas season. Overall imo its the superior resort so thats another reason i give it so much time during a visit as well. Since Carsland opened crowds have been intense. Not to mention the locals there love the seasonal overlays so expect long waits for the Haunted Mansion Holiday and Ghost Galaxy on top of insane waits at Carsland attractions.

Here are a few tips if your interested,

-Get there early, roughly 30 mins before opening to experience Carsland. FP's for RSR'S are gone by 9-930 AM on 8 AM openings.
-Go to the second viewing of World of Color as the first is always full. During this time visit any attraction you wish OUTSIDE of Paradise Pier. Not only do all the rides close but walkways are jammed.
-During the peak hours of the day, step out to DTD. Their version is vastly superior to ours and offers some great food options and plenty of shopping options for everyone.
-Indy may still be down for refurb in this time frame so keep an eye in the refurbishment schedule
-The seasonal overlays at Space and the HM are amazing, make sure you visit both.
-The DLR doesn't use FP at every ride like the MK does so use them wisely. Attractions like Indy and Space at DL are ones you should get FP's for as they draw huge crowds.
-The best place for fireworks is on Main Street or at Fantasmic viewing
-Have a gameplan and stick to it!

Any questions feel free to ask, love to help anyone visiting good Disney.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

BGT420, Ghost Galaxy is at Christmastime too? I thought it was a Halloween-only thing?

 

[HTF]

Excuse me it is, sorry never been during Christmas

 

[TRIFORCE89]

No problem.

How is Disneyland with enforcing FastPass return times?

 

[Californian Elitist]

Supposedly DLR is going to start enforcing FP times next month. At the moment, guests are free to return any time after the specific time on the FP.

Rides different from WDW:

Space (especially Space)
Pirates (especially Pirates)
Maybe Mansion
I guess Jungle Cruise (no temple at DL)
Apparently Peter Pan
Autopia (called Speedway at MK)
"it's a small world" (especially during Christmas)
Snow White (not even at MK anymore)
The Nemo Subs
Indy compared to Dinosaur
Fantasmic!

 

[TRIFORCE89]

Thanks for the tips so far everyone.

We've decided to up the Disneyland part to 1.5-2 days (DCA sticking with one day).

This is a California trip and we were headed to Anaheim from LA on New Year's Eve. We were going to leave the morning of the 31st, accounting for breakfast and traffic we're hoping to be at the Disney resort area around Noon. Our initial plan was to do Downtown Disney that day.

But, now we're thinking of doing the Southern California CityPass (is anyone familiar with this? Is this a good thing? Or a scam?) which would grant us an extra day's ticket than we had originally planned for. So, we're thinking of using that extra day at Disneyland on New Year's Eve. I'm guessing that'll be quite the busy day. Any idea when they might fill up at? Will we be allowed in around Noon?

 

[TP2000]

If you are visiting at the end of December, you will be there during the absolute busiest week of the year. Disneyland often closes its gates by late morning due to overcrowding, and they suspend ticket sales routinely throughout the day during that week. With DCA now being wildly more popular than it was just a year ago, the crowd situation could change and/or shift from park to park, but it will still be insanely busy and park closures are not out of the question.

If you really are thinking of visiting during that time, as again it's the ABSOLUTE BUSIEST WEEK OF THE YEAR at the world's most famous theme park smack dab in the middle of one of the largest megalopolises on the planet (20+ Million people live within 90 freeway minutes of Disneyland), then you need to very quickly make some decisions and get some reservations. Napa Rose on NYE? A sellout within hours of those reservations becoming available, as just one example.

This will not be like WDW. Disneyland USA is more like Tokyo Disneyland in its physical setup and demographic use; a sparkling and wildly popular two-park resort district located very close to one of the largest cities on the planet. Aside from getting Fastpass tickets for popular rides and the proper placement of Mickey Mouse ears on ones head, there is very little from your past WDW visits that can be applied to your upcoming Disneyland visit.

And what a crazy week to pick! Very best of luck to you, and I hope you can do as much online research as possible as quickly as possible.