January 2020 planning

[JD77]

Just a matter of waiting for good flight deals but it would seem about 90% certain that we (wife and 2 kids, 5 and almost 2) will be arriving from Australia in Anaheim on Sunday January 19th, 2020. Staying offsite on Harbor, but will have 3 day park hopper.

For that week this year the regular park openings were 10am so planning for that and anything earlier is a bonus. Here is a very rough guide of how our time will look;

Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: Rope drop at DCA (DD loves Cars) grab Radiator Springs FP, spend the full day at DCA and stay for World of Colour
Wednesday: Rope drop Disneyland, head to Frontier Land and work way around park the "opposite way", stay for fireworks/night time entertainment if on mid-week
Thursday: Magic Morning at Disneyland, head straight to Fantasy Land and then cover any attractions missed the day before, head over to DCA in the afternoon to re-ride favourite rides (*Note if required we would get Max Pass for this day only)
Friday: Rest day before leaving or the airport that evening

2 things that can throw off these plans;

Rain: if so we could switch some days around as we have the 2 rest days Monday and Friday
Rise of the Resistance opening the week of or just before we are there, however this would more than likely mean the park hours would be longer so "may" work in our favour as we have no interest in going to Galaxy's Edge.

Interested to hear any thoughts on the above plan or if there is anything I may have missed.

 

[EmJ]

Just out of curiousity, how many attractions (rides, shows, and playgrounds) do you think you’ll be able to cover in a day? I’ll be traveling around the same time next year with my five year old and am only planning 7-9 total for the day, but that includes a decent nap period in the middle of the day because he is not fun when he’s too tired. We’ve never been to Disneyland and everything looks so fun, it’s hard to choose what to put on the list and what to let go!

 

[Lin82]

If you plan right you can do a lot in the parks with a 5 year old, especially if you have a stroller for them.
If you have a stroller your 5 year old can go a lot longer without a nap and can/will nap in the stroller between rides.
Our kids would take mini naps through the day and hubby and I would use the time to ride the rides we couldn't do with the kids.
If you are willing Disney has a list of sitters they reccomend who will come to your hotel and babysit. It was the best date night me and my husband ever had, and my kids loved our sitter.

 

[EmJ]

If you plan right you can do a lot in the parks with a 5 year old, especially if you have a stroller for them.
If you have a stroller your 5 year old can go a lot longer without a nap and can/will nap in the stroller between rides.
Our kids would take mini naps through the day and hubby and I would use the time to ride the rides we couldn't do with the kids.
If you are willing Disney has a list of sitters they reccomend who will come to your hotel and babysit. It was the best date night me and my husband ever had, and my kids loved our sitter.

Thanks! I’m really struggling to gauge what’s realistic, as I’ve gotten responses ranging from “in three days you can do almost all the 55 moving attractions” to “plan for one thing per hour, tops”. If we’re in the park from 9:00 (rope drop in early March) to 12:30 and 3:00 to 7:30, that’s 8 hours, plus we need to eat.

We will have a stroller but it’s an umbrella and I’m not sure he can sleep in it, but I will try to rig something up. We’re on Harbor so I was planning to just go back there to charge phones and rest. Unfortunately, DH is every stereotype of a helicopter parent you’ve ever heard of and would never hire a sitter we don’t know, though an adults only night sounds divine!

 

[Lin82]

We just had an umbrella stroller too. If you use max pass, rope drop, and single rider well you can get so much done in one day. I am a guerrilla park guest, I want to be there from open to close so it can be a little much for some people, you just have to know what your priorities are and know that you can't do everything.

 

[dieumeye]

I did a full day at the parks a few weeks ago (March 30) with my 5yo daughter. Didn't bring a stroller. At home, we go on walks a lot so she's used to walking, plus I find the excitement of Disneyland provides extra energy. For reference, here's what we did in order. MaxPass was used where noted and we never waited more than probably 10-15 minutes or so except where noted.

DCA: Monsters, Mater's Junkyard
DL: Main Street Vehicle (Horse), Snow White, Pinocchio, Thunder Mtn (FP), Casey Jr (15-20mins), Storybook Canal (15-20 mins), Matterhorn (FP), Lunch at Jolly Holiday (Mobile Order).
DCA: Goofy's Sky School (FP), GRR (FP), Treat from F&W booth.
DL: Thunder Mtn (FP), Canoes, Winnie the Pooh, Mark Twain (nap!), Golden Horseshoe Show, Splash Mtn (FP, but 30 minute wait!), Dinner at River Belle Terrace, Tea Cups, Small World (FP), Buzz (FP)

We were mostly sticking to things that didn't have much of a wait, so there are some good attractions we didn't visit, but still had plenty to fill our day. She slept on the Mark Twain, and then we sat at the Golden Horseshoe for a while relaxing. If you're wondering why we started at DCA, I was hoping to snag a reasonable RSR FP, but we arrived later than I would have liked and the FP return times were already late in the evening so we changed plans.

Our itinerary was not optimal in any way - we were mostly just wandering around and winging it - but I hope you at least get some sense of what a day could look like.

 

[EmJ]

I did a full day at the parks a few weeks ago (March 30) with my 5yo daughter. Didn't bring a stroller. At home, we go on walks a lot so she's used to walking, plus I find the excitement of Disneyland provides extra energy. For reference, here's what we did in order. MaxPass was used where noted and we never waited more than probably 10-15 minutes or so except where noted.

DCA: Monsters, Mater's Junkyard
DL: Main Street Vehicle (Horse), Snow White, Pinocchio, Thunder Mtn (FP), Casey Jr (15-20mins), Storybook Canal (15-20 mins), Matterhorn (FP), Lunch at Jolly Holiday (Mobile Order).
DCA: Goofy's Sky School (FP), GRR (FP), Treat from F&W booth.
DL: Thunder Mtn (FP), Canoes, Winnie the Pooh, Mark Twain (nap!), Golden Horseshoe Show, Splash Mtn (FP, but 30 minute wait!), Dinner at River Belle Terrace, Tea Cups, Small World (FP), Buzz (FP)

We were mostly sticking to things that didn't have much of a wait, so there are some good attractions we didn't visit, but still had plenty to fill our day. She slept on the Mark Twain, and then we sat at the Golden Horseshoe for a while relaxing. If you're wondering why we started at DCA, I was hoping to snag a reasonable RSR FP, but we arrived later than I would have liked and the FP return times were already late in the evening so we changed plans.

Our itinerary was not optimal in any way - we were mostly just wandering around and winging it - but I hope you at least get some sense of what a day could look like.

This is amazing, thank you!!! You did more before lunch than I’ve been planning all day!