One-Day Disneyland Itinerary for WDW Vet

[theluckyrabbit]

Steph, check with a DCA cast member about when they'll be turning on the lights in Cars Land. It's a short but very fun evening ritual...

OP, check Google for the time of sunset on the date of your visit. Be on Rte. 66 in CL about 5-10 minutes early. There is very good viewing in front of Flo's, the Cozy Cones, or in that general area. Make sure you can see up and down the street clearly. The neon lighting is a very fun, memorable moment!

 

[Tksolomom]

As someone who goes to both WDW/DLR- this my must do DLR list if I only had one day and was focusing only on things that are different from WDW:

CA -in order of importance to me:

Radiator Springs Racers- single rider line
Soarin only if the California version is running
Guardians
Monsters Inc. Ride
Incredicoaster- single rider line
Luigi's Rollikin' Roadsters
Web slingers

RSR/Soarin (California version only)/ Guardians (if I liked TOT like you) and Monsters Inc. would be the 4 absolute musts for me. The others would be ones I would want to do- but would be my second tier priority.

If I wanted a sit down break- I would head to the Animation Academy and draw a character and if I had time for a night time event or show it would be WOC or the WOC dessert party. If you get a chance-- see Carsland at night-- if you enter through the Pacific Wharf area- the view is breathtaking.

DL:

Alice in Wonderland
POTC (so much better at DLR)
Space Mountain (so much better at DLR)
The castle Walk through
Haunted Mansion (hatbox ghost- need I say more)
Small World
Indiana Jones (if open)--- I hate Dinosaur and I love Indiana Jones
Disneyland Railroad (specifically the part that runs from Fantasyland back around to Main Street)
Nemo (nostalgia for the 20,000 Leagues ride)
Toad
Snow White
Pinnochio

If you are there at rope drop-- you can probably knock out all the Fantasyland area rides pretty quickly.
Alice/POTC/SM would be my 3 absolute musts.

And yes-- I know Matterhorn isn't on my list. Every few years we say hey we haven't ridden that in a while-- we should go do it- and every time we get off and say- oh yeah that is why we don't ride it, we are good for a few years now. It is a rough coaster.

As far as food, my must have would be to get a churro at the cart by the castle. No churro at WDW remotely even compares to the DL castle cart churro.

Outside of that, in our opinion the CS at DLR is much better than the CS at WDW--- I'm sure because of the local crowd. Just look at the menus on line and see what appeals to you ---- If you are a Marvel fan, you might just want to go to a cart and try the schawarma. Cars fan? Flo's is pretty good and some tables have a great view of RSR. Beauty and the Beast fan? The Red Rose Tavern does have the Grey stuff. There are a ton of CS options.

I agree with everything here, but I would eat at Bengal Bbq if you can. It is always one of our favorites and CS. The Birria tacos at CA are really good too. If you have time for a sit down you might want to go to Blue Bayou; the food is good (not great) and expensive but the ambiance if by the water is amazing.

 

[mtemm]

I was at DLR for a one day solo trip back in November. It had been decades since I had been to DLR, but have been to wdw many times. I had a fabulous day, and like you wanted to prioritize rides I couldn’t do at wdw or were different enough. Two strikes for me were Indians Jones was closed (did it many years ago and love it!), and DCA was closing at 5 for an event. I still got a hopper pass and glad I did, even though I spent very little time at DCA.

My day went like this:

Got there early and was near the front of rope drop. I did buy genie plus and ILL for Rise (I had only ridden it once at wdw) and RSR

Peter Pan (I just love it and line was short)
Alice (so cute!)
Haunted Mansion (nightmare edition)
Pirates (a favorite and superior)
Smuggler
Rise
Pinnochio
Small World holiday

Stopped for lunch, had Mobil ordered at Jolly Holiday while waiting at rope drop. Times went fast so glad I did and it was really good!

Hopped to DCA

Webslingers (very fun!)
Supposed to do RSR but was down all afternoon
Soarin
Philharmagic (same but honestly needed a nap, lol)

I wandered and explored a bit but ended up heading back to DL. Sad racers never happened

Toad
Pooh (skip this one, wdw way better)
Took the train all the way around to Main Street for the tree lighting. Mobil ordered an ice cream cone from Gibson girl from the train. Perfect timing!
Haunted Mansion again (since it was holiday)
Small world again (since it was holiday)
Snow White
Castle walk thru


And that is when I called it a day. If I was staying locally I would have stayed longer, but had tagged along on a work trip with my husband and I had to drive back to Santa Monica. Was on east coast time so felt really late even though it was only around 8.

It was my first solo trip and I wasn’t sure how I would like it, but ended up loving it. I didn’t hit the major mountains or guardians because I’m a wimp. I will ride those with others, but solo I am ok skipping. If I hadn’t done Matterhorn a bunch of times when I was younger I would have done it because it’s so classic DL. If it had been warmer I would have done splash (love splash) but wdw is better anyway and I had been able to say goodbye to that in September

I had little to no waits all day, thanks to rope drop and genie+

Have a fabulous trip!

 

[ktlm]

I agree with everything here, but I would eat at Bengal Bbq if you can. It is always one of our favorites and CS. The Birria tacos at CA are really good too. If you have time for a sit down you might want to go to Blue Bayou; the food is good (not great) and expensive but the ambiance if by the water is amazing.

I just looked up the Birria tacos on the menu and now I want them!!! A;l the times we have been and we have never done Bengal BBQ (DD is a vegetarian who hates BBQ sauce). We really need to try that next time!!!

OP- single rider RSR before it gets dark and then again after dark if you can. The single rider line can often be pretty short-- just keep an eye on it. We have been there when standby is 2 hours and single rider winds up being 10 minutes. RSR is a really different experience between night and day. Also, it does tend to go down quite a bit, so hitting it when you get over to CA if it is open will ensure you at least get on it once.

 

[steph0808]

Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions so far! I love the tips like RSR at night and what time to head to Cars Land to see the lights switch on. And the tip about the grey stuff - I love the grey stuff but haven't had it at WDW since they switched Be Our Guest away from counter service.