Disneyland Resort and Southern California question (never been to Disneyland before)

[ThisIsJason]

Going to Aulani in May 2020, and right now my wife and I are thinking about doing the May 17th-22nd 2020 adventure.

We have both brought this up at our places of work, and people at both have told us that if we haven't been to Disneyland before the trip will spoil Disneyland for us. My boss said we should spend a few days at Disneyland before doing the trip. Thoughts about this? If it is something we need to do, we could go to Disneyland for 2 or 3 days before heading out to Aulani if needed.

Thanks for any input!

 

[Steven G]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "Spoil".

If you mean that because of the ability to go backstage (behind the scenes) and see how some rides work, and that ruins the "magic" for you, then yes.
If you mean that you get spoiled by the fastpasses that you are provided by the guides, and then have to deal with Fastpass kiosks or MaxPass, then maybe a little.
If you mean that the trip is too fast, and you don't really get to enjoy it at your own pace, then perhaps.
If you mean that having a sort of mini-VIP tour, in which you can skip some of the lines when going with the entire group, then maybe a little.

If you mean that you won't appreciate some of the things that you are shown (Walt's Apartment, the Carousel in Griffith Park, etc.) unless you are at least a little immersed in Disney and familiar with the park and sites, and thus the trip is wasted, then no, the guides do a great job in filling people in.

I would say, by all means, take a couple days to go to Disneyland by yourself before the ABD.

 

[atlmgm]

While you can't go wrong going before the ABD or staying after, I would stay after. The ABD experience will give you valuable insight to Disneyland and California Adventure - including restaurants, walking onto rides, prime seating for parades, etc. As part of the ABD, you will get 5 fast passes every day to use on your own time. And you also get a 4 day park hopper pass - the first day you get there you go into DL for dinner and a few rides and more, Then one full day in DL and one full day in CA. The last day is just breakfast (at Steakhouse 55) then you have the whole day for yourself with a park hopper ticket. At the end of day 3, we had rode all but 3 rides in both parks.

I would suggest you read some of the trip reports for this ABD - I wrote one for the same ABD in July 2018.

After the farewell breakfast, we went back to the parks to redo some of the things we found during the ABD.

The ABD is the only way to see DL/CA.

 

[Steven G]

At least when I went 2 weeks ago, we did not get 5 fastpasses every day.

Day 1, we got one fastpass
Day 2, we got 5 fastpasses, plus one additional one for Star Tours
Day 3, we got 5 fastpasses, plus 2 additional ones (one for GOTG, one for Radiator Springs)
Day 4, we got one fastpass

And they didn't carry over.

However, note that the fastpasses weren't needed when we were with the group (i.e. when we went as a group to Haunted Mansion, that didn't count as a fastpass even though we got in the fastpass line).

(Note that Day 1 above is technically Day 3 of the tour, etc.)

And while we definitely rode most rides in the park (definitely all the ones we wanted to), unless you are staying at the park until closing, you will likely not get to ride everything ...