Disneyland 2 Day Plan!

[Klynnebrown22]

Okay I literally booked my trip so last minute and I’ve been spending the last week or so soaking up all that is Disneyland! I’ve been to Disney World twice and this last time I was in charge of our fast passes, I’m pretty sure the longest line we waited in was 40 minutes. We had no plan it was a total wing it trip. I think I did a great job monitoring wait time and booking fast passes as soon as they ran out. With that being said, I’ve read Disneyland is a different beast. I feel like I need a little more structured game plan because it’s just me and my 5 year old! We are going next week on Thursday/Friday. I know Star Wars opening, not the greatest time but it was all our schedule allowed! I got two day, park hopper with max pass! I figured I would post my basic game plan and if anybody had recommendations on when to change something, just let me know!

We land Wednesday night at 8:30, with the time difference this works out great because we will be able to go right to sleep! We are staying within walking distance so we will try to get to Disneyland park by 7 Thursday the 30th. This is a magic morning, but I figured it would be smarter to go to this park on Thursday because I assume it will be less crowded than Friday when Star Wars opens up! (Side note if you think I should switch our park days up just not let me know).

Since it’s a magic morning I figured we would head to adventure island first. (Thank goodness I found these forums 2 days ago because after reading blogs I had planned to head for fantasyland).
-Pirates of the Caribbean, Tarzan, maxpass for big thunder mountain. Then maybe head to Tomorrowland. Get Star Wars/Buzz Lightyear fast passes here. Do Nemo and Autopia if lines aren’t extremely long yet. Then maybe go explore Toontown.

We have lunch reservations at 1:15 at RiverBelle cause I wanted the dinner package for the Fantasmic show. After
Lunch we will probably take our mid day break. Come back at 6-7ish. This is where I’m not sure what to until the show starts!

Then after the show I wasn’t sure if we should do fantasyland or wait till Friday. I figured I would have some maxpass rides stacked up for the eventing just not sure which ones yet. We wanna do everything but Indiana Jones, Matternhorn, and space mountain.

On Friday we are going to get to adventure park at 7am. Hoping it’s a little less crowded than Disneyland. First thing booking the Radiator Springs. Then I figured we would sort of wing the rest of the day. Unless anybody wants to give some ideas. I want to for sure get a fast pass for soaring. Hopefully we can get a fast pass for toy story. The rest we are okay with doing or not doing. I have on my maybe list: Disney jr dance party, mickeys phillermagic, monsters inc, maters junkyard, little mermaid, goofys sky school and a bugs land. Basically whatever has decent lines. We only plan on staying here half the day so probably leave around 1!

We then have a character diner at 6. Goofys kitchen! Then we will head back to Disneyland park and finish up since there is more I would rather do there!

Suggestions welcome on when to try to book fast passes for splash mountain and the mansion. I was going to sort of wing it by checking the app!

I’m really stuck on when to go to Toontown cause I’m not sure how long it will take/time we should spend there. Realistically my child will want to go in all the houses. He is a huge Mickey Mouse fan. I also am stuck on when to do fantasyland? Would during the Fantasmic show on Friday be a good time? Or late Thursday after the show?

Anyways I know this plan is a little bit of a hot mess, but I honestly think we will love everything we get to do and be okay if we miss out on some of the rides we wanted to do! I’m just excited to see Disney through a 5 year olds eyes cause I’m imagining it will be better than when he was almost 3!

Thanks for anybody who took the time to read this long message!

 

[StarSpeckledSky]

I’m really stuck on when to go to Toontown cause I’m not sure how long it will take/time we should spend there. Realistically my child will want to go in all the houses. He is a huge Mickey Mouse fan. I also am stuck on when to do fantasyland? Would during the Fantasmic show on Friday be a good time? Or late Thursday after the show?

If he wants to go in all of the houses and you want minimal wait go morning of your second day. Go right as Toontown opens and devote about an hour or more to the area to do everything.

I'm sure that by the time I have time to offer more tips others will have replied but I'll stop by in a bit to offer more advice.

 

[DarthGallifrey]

I thought EMH/MM at DL that only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open?

 

[Klynnebrown22]

If he wants to go in all of the houses and you want minimal wait go morning of your second day. Go right as Toontown opens and devote about an hour or more to the area to do everything.

I'm sure that by the time I have time to offer more tips others will have replied but I'll stop by in a bit to offer more advice.

Still book radiator springs this morning though right?! Do toontowns then head over to the other park?

 

[Klynnebrown22]

I thought EMH/MM at DL that only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open?

We don’t have magic morning because we only booked two days. So we will be an hour behind.

 

[DarthGallifrey]

We don’t have magic morning because we only booked two days. So we will be an hour behind.

Ah ok so you are rope dropping. I misread it as you were doing magic morning.

 

[StarSpeckledSky]

Still book radiator springs this morning though right?! Do toontowns then head over to the other park?

That's what I'd suggest.

 

[pharmama]

I would definitely stick with your plan to do DL on Thurs and DCA on Friday and would NOT advise trying to do Toontown Friday morning (side note- Toontown usually opens 1 hour after regular park opening, as an FYI). I'm not sure PP realized you were going on SWGE opening day. You may want/need to avoid DL altogether on Friday. Although you need a reservation to actually enter SWGE there will still be hordes of people there trying to obtain special merchandise (which is being sold outside of SWGE so you don't need a reservation to get it). Also expect the Esplanade (the plaza between the two parks) to be extremely busy on Friday morning. They are allowing line ups for SWGE and merchandise starting at 2am. You're not trying to get in those lines but its going to be a lot of people so allow extra time to navigate bag check and the esplanade itself.

Your plan to head for Adventureland at RD since you don't have MM is also a good one. You will be able to get a lot done over there. You didn't mention Splash or Haunted Mansion but those are also fairly easy to ride first thing in the morning. You could then keep an eye on Maxpass and pull Star Tours and/or Buzz.

For DCA, I'd watch times for RSR as soon as you're scanned in and pull it as soon as you see a time that works best for you. But the main thing I wanted to mention for DCA is you listed Bug's Land. Bug's land is permanently closed and is being revamped into a Marvel area, sorry.

 

[Klynnebrown22]

I would definitely stick with your plan to do DL on Thurs and DCA on Friday and would NOT advise trying to do Toontown Friday morning (side note- Toontown usually opens 1 hour after regular park opening, as an FYI). I'm not sure PP realized you were going on SWGE opening day. You may want/need to avoid DL altogether on Friday. Although you need a reservation to actually enter SWGE there will still be hordes of people there trying to obtain special merchandise (which is being sold outside of SWGE so you don't need a reservation to get it). Also expect the Esplanade (the plaza between the two parks) to be extremely busy on Friday morning. They are allowing line ups for SWGE and merchandise starting at 2am. You're not trying to get in those lines but its going to be a lot of people so allow extra time to navigate bag check and the esplanade itself.

Your plan to head for Adventureland at RD since you don't have MM is also a good one. You will be able to get a lot done over there. You didn't mention Splash or Haunted Mansion but those are also fairly easy to ride first thing in the morning. You could then keep an eye on Maxpass and pull Star Tours and/or Buzz.

For DCA, I'd watch times for RSR as soon as you're scanned in and pull it as soon as you see a time that works best for you. But the main thing I wanted to mention for DCA is you listed Bug's Land. Bug's land is permanently closed and is being revamped into a Marvel area, sorry.

Thanks for all this! Good tips! Had no idea Toontown opened an hour after and yeah I bet PP didn’t realize it was opening day. I really wanted to go back there that night after dinner and finish up some rides we missed. I’ll just play it by ear and see what the lines look like on the app. Any suggestions on when to do Toontown and Fantasyland?

 

[jenbright]

I agree with pharmama. Is Toontown higher on your list than say the rides in Adventureland? I think it depends on how adventurous your 5 yo is. My kids at that age loved Toontown probably more than anything in Adventureland. If that is also the case for you, then it might make more sense to do a few rides in Fantasyland and go to Toontown when it opens. However if your 5 yo loves the rides then go with pharmama's plan!

 

[Geemo]

Okay I literally booked my trip so last minute and I’ve been spending the last week or so soaking up all that is Disneyland! I’ve been to Disney World twice and this last time I was in charge of our fast passes, I’m pretty sure the longest line we waited in was 40 minutes. We had no plan it was a total wing it trip. I think I did a great job monitoring wait time and booking fast passes as soon as they ran out. With that being said, I’ve read Disneyland is a different beast. I feel like I need a little more structured game plan because it’s just me and my 5 year old! We are going next week on Thursday/Friday. I know Star Wars opening, not the greatest time but it was all our schedule allowed! I got two day, park hopper with max pass! I figured I would post my basic game plan and if anybody had recommendations on when to change something, just let me know!

We land Wednesday night at 8:30, with the time difference this works out great because we will be able to go right to sleep! We are staying within walking distance so we will try to get to Disneyland park by 7 Thursday the 30th. This is a magic morning, but I figured it would be smarter to go to this park on Thursday because I assume it will be less crowded than Friday when Star Wars opens up! (Side note if you think I should switch our park days up just not let me know).

Since it’s a magic morning I figured we would head to adventure island first. (Thank goodness I found these forums 2 days ago because after reading blogs I had planned to head for fantasyland).
-Pirates of the Caribbean, Tarzan, maxpass for big thunder mountain. Then maybe head to Tomorrowland. Get Star Wars/Buzz Lightyear fast passes here. Do Nemo and Autopia if lines aren’t extremely long yet. Then maybe go explore Toontown.

We have lunch reservations at 1:15 at RiverBelle cause I wanted the dinner package for the Fantasmic show. After
Lunch we will probably take our mid day break. Come back at 6-7ish. This is where I’m not sure what to until the show starts!

Then after the show I wasn’t sure if we should do fantasyland or wait till Friday. I figured I would have some maxpass rides stacked up for the eventing just not sure which ones yet. We wanna do everything but Indiana Jones, Matternhorn, and space mountain.

On Friday we are going to get to adventure park at 7am. Hoping it’s a little less crowded than Disneyland. First thing booking the Radiator Springs. Then I figured we would sort of wing the rest of the day. Unless anybody wants to give some ideas. I want to for sure get a fast pass for soaring. Hopefully we can get a fast pass for toy story. The rest we are okay with doing or not doing. I have on my maybe list: Disney jr dance party, mickeys phillermagic, monsters inc, maters junkyard, little mermaid, goofys sky school and a bugs land. Basically whatever has decent lines. We only plan on staying here half the day so probably leave around 1!

We then have a character diner at 6. Goofys kitchen! Then we will head back to Disneyland park and finish up since there is more I would rather do there!

Suggestions welcome on when to try to book fast passes for splash mountain and the mansion. I was going to sort of wing it by checking the app!

I’m really stuck on when to go to Toontown cause I’m not sure how long it will take/time we should spend there. Realistically my child will want to go in all the houses. He is a huge Mickey Mouse fan. I also am stuck on when to do fantasyland? Would during the Fantasmic show on Friday be a good time? Or late Thursday after the show?

Anyways I know this plan is a little bit of a hot mess, but I honestly think we will love everything we get to do and be okay if we miss out on some of the rides we wanted to do! I’m just excited to see Disney through a 5 year olds eyes cause I’m imagining it will be better than when he was almost 3!

Thanks for anybody who took the time to read this long message!

Have you thought about doing a character breakfast at the Plaza Inn?
If you could get a 7:10 CB reservation it would allow you two see several characters while others are attending Magic Morning.

If you have a CB reservation before the park opens to the general public you go to a special entrance and the scan you in. You do not need to have MM to get in to the park for your CB reservation.

Just a thought...


Geemo

 

[jormom1030]

Go to the website Disneyland Daily. She has touring plans that will help you get more done.

 

[pharmama]

Have you thought about doing a character breakfast at the Plaza Inn?
If you could get a 7:10 CB reservation it would allow you two see several characters while others are attending Magic Morning.

If you have a CB reservation before the park opens to the general public you go to a special entrance and the scan you in. You do not need to have MM to get in to the park for your CB reservation.

Just a thought...


Geemo

Great suggestion! I think this may be a better use of your time than leaving the park to go to Goofy's for dinner on Friday.

 

[Klynnebrown22]

Have you thought about doing a character breakfast at the Plaza Inn?
If you could get a 7:10 CB reservation it would allow you two see several characters while others are attending Magic Morning.

If you have a CB reservation before the park opens to the general public you go to a special entrance and the scan you in. You do not need to have MM to get in to the park for your CB reservation.

Just a thought...


Geemo

I didn’t even know this was a thing! :/ there is no reservations available that early anywhere and nothing for the plaza. I booked the character reservations because it’s my kiddos 5th Birthday and I knew he would love it!

 

[Klynnebrown22]

Great suggestion! I think this may be a better use of your time than leaving the park to go to Goofy's for dinner on Friday.

I figured this would be our dinner after our mid day break and before we head back to the parks!

 

[pharmama]

I figured this would be our dinner after our mid day break and before we head back to the parks!

Ah, I see. Where are you staying though? Is the DLH "on the way" back to the parks? If you are staying on Harbor, for example, it is quite a ways over to the DLH for Goofy's.

If you do want to consider Plaza Inn breakfast keep checking. Reservations often open up in the few days before your arrival as people's plans change etc.

 

[Klynnebrown22]

Ah, I see. Where are you staying though? Is the DLH "on the way" back to the parks? If you are staying on Harbor, for example, it is quite a ways over to the DLH for Goofy's.

If you do want to consider Plaza Inn breakfast keep checking. Reservations often open up in the few days before your arrival as people's plans change etc.

It’s not on the way, but I did purchase the transportation so we can always use that to get to the dinner. It was one of the only character dining’s I could find for early dinner. I’ll defiently keep checking, I am not opposed to changing it. The goofy kitchen is supposed to have Mickey and Minnie due to a special event so that’s why I picked that one also.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

The 31st is also a Grad Nite, which takes place in DCA (grads only party starts at 9 pm). So be prepared for more non-grad crowds to head to DL when DCA closes. Be stacking FPs during the day (no way to know how early they'll run out that day) so you'll have return times ready to go when you re-enter the park. And don't forget to get your son a birthday button! Those are available at City Hall (DL), Chamber of Commerce (DCA), most shops at the registers, WOD (DTD), and with some CMs (look for those with pockets).
If meeting Mickey and Minnie is high on the priority list, they can be found pretty easily at several places: Toon Town at their respective houses (get there early for this to avoid the longest lines), Town Square (lines usually aren't too bad here -- when you see short line, jump in!), and on BVS in DCA (again, when you see a short line, jump in! The characters will have different outfits in DCA, too.). You can find character M&G locations and times on the app.

 

[Geemo]

I didn’t even know this was a thing! :/ there is no reservations available that early anywhere and nothing for the plaza. I booked the character reservations because it’s my kiddos 5th Birthday and I knew he would love it!

YES! Keep checking for a cancellation. You might be surprised with an opening.
I'll keep an eye on the times too, if I see one I will book it and we can arrange a time for me to cancel and you to pick it up in your name.
I done this several times for others and it has always worked out.
If I am lucky, I will send you a private message.

I see you are a newbie here....

You might want to make a few more posts to get to the magic number of 10 to be able to receive a PM.

Geemo