Is 2.5 days enough for first time?

[winnieofpooh]

We have a wedding out in Malibu next summer, and were considering extending our trip and doing a few days in Disneyland. My initial thoughts were to drive down to Anaheim the Sunday after the wedding, and then do 3 full park days and fly home on Thursday. But the more I think about it, I'm wondering if we can get enough out of the trip if we do a half day on Sunday, then two full days, and fly out on Wednesday.

It'll be myself, my husband, and our almost 2 year old. My husband and I frequent WDW, and our son will have done WDW once before this trip. My husband doesn't get paid vacation days, so we could save around $400 on hotel/food by shortening the trip, plus a day's worth of salary for him. We could likely afford three full days, but it is a good chunk of change I'd love to save. Is 2.5 days feasible? Or will we be kicking ourselves for not having 3 full days?

 

[kj2mom]

Are you planning on doing just DL or DCA as well? We had 5 day tickets, doing 2 1/2 in each park and while we didn't do everything we definitely did enough to feel complete. If I had a chunk of money resting on making 2 1/2 days be enough then I would definitely make it be enough (although I would seriously consider spending the $$ on Genie Plus, we definitely worked that to our advantage).

 

[winnieofpooh]

Are you planning on doing just DL or DCA as well? We had 5 day tickets, doing 2 1/2 in each park and while we didn't do everything we definitely did enough to feel complete. If I had a chunk of money resting on making 2 1/2 days be enough then I would definitely make it be enough (although I would seriously consider spending the $$ on Genie Plus, we definitely worked that to our advantage).

Our plan was to do both! I haven't taken a look yet, so I'm not sure how much our son will be able to do at DCA. I'll have to research that today, because that would be a big swing for how many days we'll stay if he can't do much there.

 

[TarynM]

I think it really depends on what you expect out of the trip, especially with a 2 year old, but I think you can get through a lot in 2.5 days. I've taken my daughter to Disneyland multiple times since she turned 2 and we tend to take our visits at a more leisurely pace but a lot of that is because we know we'll come back.

There are a handful of things to do at DCA with a toddler, like Little Mermaid, Monster's Inc, the Disney Junior Dance Party (my daughter LOVES this, we do it at least twice per trip), and depending on how tall he is, a couple of the Carsland rides. She also enjoys running around Redwood Creek now but she is 3 so can climb around a bit more. But for things to do with her, we definitely spend most of our time at Disneyland.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

When my kids were younger we used to go for 5 nights, 6 days. If 2.5 days is all you have you’ll have a good time but probably won’t be able to do it all let alone repeat some things and have down time to swim and stuff.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

With a Kid, it depends if you are doing child swap or not

If your just going on rides/attractions with your son then you are gold but if your trying to do things with your kid and all the E tickets it could be harder.

For sure make sure on the two days your going full days, that you get there in the morning. You can do almost all of Fantasyland by 10 AM if you get inside the park before rope drop

If you can afford LL, that will make it much easier to do all the bigger rides. Pirates and Big Thunder are the only must see attractions that are at both WDW and Disneyland that you have to see. Indy and Cars Racers are two Exclusive's that I would say are must see's

 

[Karin1984]

I would treat it as a taster. You can always come back.

Even when you have 3 full days, you probably won't be able to do it all in a busy Summer season.

Your trip is a year a way, who knows what happens in the meantime.

 

[tink89]

We do two days most of the time unless there's a California offer for 3 day hoppers. We are able to do all the rides on our list. We don't even use LL or genie. We don't however watch many parades or shows like turtle talk or dance party and we do stay on site which gives us a bit of a head start. Plus we have gone many many times. We do take many breaks so if we really wanted to do the parades and all the other things we don't do we could just would be more tired.

It is all about planning. Figure out what you are definitely not interested in doing. What rides you won't get on. What rides are your must dos. If you will be eating in the park or outside plan ahead so you are not wasting time trying to figure out what to eat. If you are interested in the characters maybe you can plan for a character dining instead of waiting in lines.

2.5 is very much doable. Plan plan plan. And be prepared for your plan to not work out and have a backup.

 

[Pluto468]

I'd go with 3 days if it's possible. Once you get there I bet you'll really like it. But, if 2.5 is all you can do, you'll still have a great time.

 

[winnieofpooh]

With a Kid, it depends if you are doing child swap or not

If your just going on rides/attractions with your son then you are gold but if your trying to do things with your kid and all the E tickets it could be harder.

For sure make sure on the two days your going full days, that you get there in the morning. You can do almost all of Fantasyland by 10 AM if you get inside the park before rope drop

If you can afford LL, that will make it much easier to do all the bigger rides. Pirates and Big Thunder are the only must see attractions that are at both WDW and Disneyland that you have to see. Indy and Cars Racers are two Exclusive's that I would say are must see's

I think our main priorities are just rides/shows with our son, and maybe a handful of E-tickets or rides that are DL exclusive. Since we frequent WDW I'm not super pressed about getting on child swap rides if we can just do them in WDW later.

My guess is we'll do Genie+ just for convenience but not sold on it yet.

 

[DisneylandFan22]

2.5 days should be fine. Sunday is typically the slowest day of the week, so try to do as many hours then as you can. Monday is usually really busy.

 

[JerrodDragon89]

I think our main priorities are just rides/shows with our son, and maybe a handful of E-tickets or rides that are DL exclusive. Since we frequent WDW I'm not super pressed about getting on child swap rides if we can just do them in WDW later.

My guess is we'll do Genie+ just for convenience but not sold on it yet.

LL/Genie Plus is only needed if you plan on doing some rides in the afternoon that have it

So might not be for you.

Cars Racers has a single rider, since you'd have to do child swap anyway. I'd use that and you should be on within 20 or less mins

I'd also advise to ride most the things you want in the morning, and save most shows like the Tiki Room, Mr Lincoln and so on for the afternoon/after you come back from the park from resting at a hotel because rides get busy mid day but shows are normally pretty easy to see at any show time
Also at DCA you might want to check out the animation studio for the drawing a character class (free and they have a list of which characters they are doing and at what time, right in front of the class room)
Also the Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthrough would e another fun thing you can do with your family, hope you guys have a good time

 

[SpaceMan5]

When my kids were younger we used to go for 5 nights, 6 days. If 2.5 days is all you have you’ll have a good time but probably won’t be able to do it all let alone repeat some things and have down time to swim and stuff.

We did the same thing when the kids were younger. But the funny thing is, with them being young adults now we are still going for 5-6 nights, lol

 

[SpaceMan5]

I'd go with 3 days if it's possible. Once you get there I bet you'll really like it. But, if 2.5 is all you can do, you'll still have a great time.

True dat. We always find ourselves saying we wish we could have one more day....
Don't overthink it, go with what works best and you will have a fun time!

 

[Epcot Forever Forever]

First trip we did 2.5 days. We’ve done more ever since because it felt insufficient. Not that we didn’t get to go on the things we wanted to, but more that we just wanted more time to take it in. But nothing I think will ever seem like enough.

Just know that Disneyland is far more efficient than Walt Disney World. You’ll do more in a day.

On our small children trips we’ve rope dropped, taken a huge afternoon break (several hours), and then gone back and stayed much later than I’d normally keep a child up, but coming from the east coast that honestly helps us not to have a WIDE AWAKE child at 3AM.

Have fun.

 

[abby2525]

We're only doing 2 1/2 days and we did the same last time. I felt it was enough. Well, about 2 3/4 days.

 

[maxbuffmelvin]

Yes - it's feasible. I recommend going to rope drop and purchasing G+.

 

[BrianL]

I usually like 3 days for DLR, but 2.5 should let you get a lot done. I think it'll be good.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I would not overthink this. If 2.5 days versus 3 saves you $400 plus an entire days pay, seems like a no-brainer. A half day more or less will not make or break your visit. Have a great time!

 

[Epicnemesis]

DCA will only take a day, probably only a half day to do everything. Especially with genie+.
Disneyland you can probably knock out in a day and a half. Make a list of must do things, you’ll be able to hit those up for sure.

Since you guys do WDW you can save time by potentially skipping Star Wars. That’s identical to Florida. Consider which duplicate rides you can cut out as well.

Also take advantage of rider swap.