Plan my days /Starting park November

[Kiwigirls]

So excited for our trip but struggling to pick best days for what we want to do. Sorry for the novel and the way too much info!!!
Traveling from New Zealand, me, my sister and 3 of her boys- aged 9, 9, and 12. The 12 year old is a Disneyland super fan since he was about 4 or 5 and this is the first trip for all of them (but not me).

Flights arriving Wed 15th Nov, around midday, so am assuming we won't get in to our hotel till around 2 or 3pm. Staying at the Cambria - so not super close. Oldest is adamant we should head into Disneyland that day as he can't be that close and not go! I also like the idea of a relaxed entry, look around see what we can ride, but no pressure first day to just take it in.

We will have 5 days total, but only 3 full days
Wed 15th - 1/2 day
Thurs 16th - full day
Fri 17th - full day
Sat 18th - full day
Sun 19th - half day (international flight at 8pm, so probably need to leave park early afternoon- 2pm ish?)

We have 5 day PH tickets, with Genie+ (1 day will probably go to waste, but wanted to have it in case I want to pop in).
And we want to do 1 day at Universal. If we could fit in a trip to the Funko Pop store that would be great, but a bonus.
No car, planning to Uber or book transport.

So first day - Disneyland for the afternoon/evening, depending how tired we are (overnight flight so hopefully we'll get a little sleep).

But then?? Universal - Thurs or Fri? Will book EE for Universal, to get into Super Mario World.
Would either day be lower crowds? Thursday is a bit cheaper, but not sure what that means for crowds.

Was thinking prob Wed - Disneyland, Thurs DCA, Fri US, Sat DL, Sun DCA.
Gives us a full day and half day in each park, Want to ensure we can rope drop each park at least once.
We can park hop if wanted.
Know it is always busy, especially holiday time, but would like to minimize crowds as much as possible- think weekends actually a little quieter now?

I also know it is Life Day on Nov 17th - boys are sort of into Star Wars, but not massively. Unsure whether it would.be fun to be there then with the unofficial events that happen, or just make it harder to navigate.

Aims are to get on as many rides as possible - nephews are in an in-between stage of really wanting to ride the big/fast/scary rides, but also being scared of them. The DCA rides sound more interesting to them. One of the 9 yr olds is also very scared of fireworks, but the others want to see, so we may have to divide and conquer there.
Trying to balance maximizing our time - as this is one and done or at least, one and many, many years till we can come back - with enjoying it and savoring the parks!

Main questions:
Suggestions on best days to do each park, incl US?

If I reserve, for example DCA for last day and then on Fri or Sat we decide we want to do the other first, how likely is it I would be able to modify the reservation?

Similarly, if I reserve now, and some new announcement about Holiday events /activities comes out, can I modify (assuming there is availability).

If I reserve one, do we have to go into that one first, or if it is after 11am, can we go into either?


Thanks for sitting through the novel, and the thoughts that keep going round and round in my head! Appreciate any advice!!

 

[irlandaise]

Any chance you could do your two Universal days at the end of your trip and move to a hotel closer to USH for those? Otherwise you're going to spend a large part of two days driving between Anaheim and Universal City--not the most fun or relaxing way to spend your vacation. To me, that would be a bigger consideration than which days are least crowded at USH.

 

[Kiwigirls]

Only doing one day at Universal, and probably want that to be a full day, so it doesn't really fit with beginning or end of trip which are only half days, and didn't want to move in the middle!

 

[LKing]

What airport you are flying in and out of? Is 2 pm PST 9 am in NZ? If so, will you have pretty much been up all night?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

Honestly, my best advice to you is to skip Universal.

 

[starlite_]

It looks like a packed schedule. Just be aware that it's gonna be 1+ hrs driving each way to Universal from Anaheim, specially in the mornings as it is gonna be a weekday. My suggestion would also be to move hotels so your last day is universal. It's enough time in the day to do Nintendo World and a few other priorities without getting extra tired from driving, early mornings, late nights and so big a time difference.

You might want to try for a night show on your first night at Disney, on less thing to do later in the week in case you need an early night. Plus they tend to get cancelled if there is wind, so better not risk it if it's a priority.

 

[Kiwigirls]

What airport you are flying in and out of? Is 2 pm PST 9 am in NZ? If so, will you have pretty much been up all night?

LAX for the airport. And yes it is 9am NZ time, will have been traveling for over 15 hours overnight. But maybe we will have been able to sleep on plane? Not well, but a bit.

 

[FeliciaB23]

I have no idea how often you travel but I was just in Italy from the east coast this past summer and jetlag flying east absolutely kicked my butt (and that's only a 6 hour difference). I can't imagine a 19 hour difference.

If you absolutely have to do Universal, I'd definitely do it at the start or end of your trip due to the location of the park in proximity to LAX and Anaheim.

 

[Kiwigirls]

My suggestion would also be to move hotels so your last day is universal. It's enough time in the day to do Nintendo World and a few other priorities without getting extra tired from driving, early mornings, late nights and so big a time difference.

Hmm, is there any difference between weekday and weekend nighttime shows at this time of year? I do plan to try and see things early, to allow for cancelations etc, but if we moved hotels Saturday night that would cut out one weekend evening, leaving only the Friday. Not sure if that makes a difference or not during holiday season? Unless we transferred after that!

 

[bbeagle]

Universal is about 30 minutes from LAX. Much closer than Disney is to LAX. If you do your last day at universal, as long As your bags are already packed, you can leave the parks at 4pm, and it will give you plenty of time to catch your flight. The park is only open until 6pm. This will make it practically a whole day there. And if you start early at Mario Land, you can see the entire park by then.

I think you should plan to sleep when you get there - you’ll be exhausted - and plan to see most everything at Disneyland/California Adventure in 3 days. Maybe you can hop in for an hour or so on the day you arrive, but your sister's kids will probably need rest.

 

[starlite_]

Hmm, is there any difference between weekday and weekend nighttime shows at this time of year? I do plan to try and see things early, to allow for cancelations etc, but if we moved hotels Saturday night that would cut out one weekend evening, leaving only the Friday. Not sure if that makes a difference or not during holiday season? Unless we transferred after that!

I think that by then fireworks are every day. Personally I would leave Disney around 10-10:30pm on Saturday. That is enough time to watch a night show and do a few last rides while hopefully getting you checked in around midnight.

 

[greg9x]

As others have said...getting Universal in will be problematic. We did VIP tour at Universal to start our trip and had hotel 2 nights. It was a 50 minute Lyft ride down to Anaheim in middle of day (between morning and evening rush hours, but still some stop and go traffic). Nintendo World will be a bit of a time suck if they want to do the games with the bands... lines were around 30 minutes for each of the games, then the Mario Kart ride was over an hour for people without VIP (still was 25 minutes with). You would need to plan for a very early start if decide to do it.

We did 4 days at DL/CA, but really only needed 2, took it pretty casual for 2-3 hours in parks on the other 2 days. But my son is a teen, so wasn't interested in the more kiddie rides, parades or fireworks. Also we go a lot done the first morning (Rise of the Resistance, Millenium Falcon, Big Thunder Mountain all in the first hour we were there. Things figured were going to take a while.) But you will need a lot more time assuming they are going to want to do everything, sure you will need the 3 full days and possibly a partial if don't get to hit something (Radiator Springs was down 1/2 day we were there, so used one of our 'extra' days to do that and couple other rides again.)

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I feel like trying to do anything on the first day is ambitious. Even the second day will be jet lag. I would do universal first (if you must do universal) then move to Anaheim and stay put. Driving to universal and back and spending the day at universal followed by Disney park days is a recipe for disaster in my book.

It would be nice if you could add in a rest day, especially on the front end since you are all likely to be exhausted after the travel (especially the kids). Can you add a day on either end of this trip (preferable one on each end)?

 

[Porsche4]

LAX for the airport. And yes it is 9am NZ time, will have been traveling for over 15 hours overnight. But maybe we will have been able to sleep on plane? Not well, but a bit.

Be prepared for major jetlag. We flew to DL last year form Australia and my daughter and I who are seasoned travellers felt really crappy on our arrival day and could only last a couple of hours in the park before having to call it quits. We didn't feel too bad on our second day but still needed to head back to the hotel for an afternoon rest. We actually stayed at the Hilton near Universal and did two full days there before we flew home. Having used Ubers everywhere on our last trip (we had four days in LA between DL and Universal) I can attest to how terrible the traffic is, way worse than anything you would encounter in NZ and therefore I wouldn't attempt Universal from DL. If you could rejig things or leave out Universal altogether I think you will have a more relaxed enjoyable time.

 

[bbeagle]

I've had many friends travel from the United States to Australia, and they needed the travel day and 1 extra day just to recover. They all stayed at least 2 weeks and could not imagine anything less.

Why such a short trip?

 

[Kiwigirls]

Would love to stay longer but with my responsibilities back home this is the max time I can be away.
Have done this travel a.number of times, with my own kid and with my niece and jet lag hasn't been an issue at all.
Tiredness from early starts and late nights at Disneyland, yes sure, but manageable.

 

[chezcurrie]

I will echo others comments that this is IMO a recipe for disaster, and burnout for kids and adults, particularly given the distance you are traveling. I wouldn’t even recommend this for someone coming from the East coast (3 hrs difference). I would never ever do universal there and back from Anaheim. They are separate trips and It needs a separate hotel for that evening. People completely underestimate the traffic here, and go against the advice of those in the know and try and shove Universal into Disneyland trip and come back here and complain about what a bad trip they had.

Is Universal a must do? It is going to suck so much time and energy out of your trip, especially given how short it is. I agree with PP that ifYou MUST do Universal I would do it on the front end. I would not want to end with universal after experiencing disney. Again, if you can cut universal oit of your trip will be far more enjoyable, especially for your nephews. Sometimes less is absolutely more.

 

[farmfresh2]

Hi Kiwigirls....fellow Kiwi here. I think you will be fine re jet lag. We have done this many times with no issues, and as you know we are very used to long flights!
The kids are usually so excited to get going they don't mind the early wake up.
I tend to agree with those who think you should put Universal at the end. Drive up on your last day, and go the airport from there. Much easier than from Anaheim.
You will need to store your luggage...which brings me to my next suggestion. Can you travel with carry on only? That way you will avoid the baggage handling delays arriving which have been common. Take a collapsible soft bag to pack with souvenirs etc for the way home. Also easier to put into storage than suitcases.
Another plus of doing Universal last is it can let you change your mind if you want more Disney time.
For your arrival day, I think your plan of entering the parks and wandering around is great. On your first real park day, you can keep the kids focussed on your ride plan because they will already have seen the parks.Maybe consider doing a character dinner at Goofy's kitchen that night, or watching WOC. Just make sure you hit bed by 10.30 (round 6.30 nztime!)
Happy to add more step by step planning if you like!