You can do Dinseyland in a day even in August if...

[abbyndrewmom]

you plan well and use the FP's.

Hi,

I wanted to post about my recent 1 day experience at Disneyland. I know there are others like my family that due to other commitments can only plan 1 day at DL. I wanted to let everyone know it can be done if you plan well and know what you want to see and do and what you can skip. Our group consisted of Dh and I, DD-9 and DS -6. This was our first family trip to DL we had been to WDW 3 times with the kids. DH and I had both been to DL as children & single young adults.

We drove from Las VEgas to Anaheim on Wed Aug 2, and stayed at the Holiday Inn in Buena Park. We arrived around 5:00 pm so we had dinner and then went to DTD to visit the Build a Bear and take care of getting souveineers.

We arrived at Disneyland on Thursday Aug 3 at 7:30 am the gates opened at 8:00 am and we were one of the first families into the park. It was an early entry morning for people with park hopper (which we did not have) so we avoided Fantasyland and Tommorowland and headed straight to Adventureland and Indiana Jones. We had about a 10 min wait for this ride. From there I ran for FP at the Thunder Mtn while DH and the kids got in line for Pirates. I met them just as they were getting into the building and we were on in not time. After Pirates we went to the Haunted Mansion. After the Haunted Mansion I went for Splash FP while Dh took the kids to Winnie the Pooh. At this point it was just after 9:00 am and we have already gone on 4 rides and were holding FP for two more. We decided to use our Thunder Mtn FP's at this time and then to go to Tommorowland.

In Tommorowland we rode Buzz and Star Tours it is now just after 10:00 am and we can get Space FP's. DH and the kids rode Buzz again while I got Space FP's. We met at the Matterhorn where we had our biggest wait of the day (about 30 minutes) After matterhorn we went to ToonTown and got Roger Rabit FP's and went on Gadgets go Coaster and visited with Mickey. Then back to Tommorowland where we did the standby line for autopopia (only because DS really wanted to go on it and we couldn't get another FP yet, we waited about 25 min.)

We had lunch on Mainstreet and then went and used our Splash FP's after Splash I grabbed more Thunder Mtn FP's and we walked through Tarazan's Treehouse before heading back to TL for Space Mtn. After Space we got some ice cream and watched the 3:00 pm parade just outside Small World. As soon as the parade passed we hoped on Small World. After Small World we went to Roger Rabbits and then back to Tommorowland for Innovations where DS got to talk to Stich (very, very cute.) It was about 5:30 pm and we decided to leave the parks for dinner, we stopped by one of the stores on main street and the kids picked out their DL souvieneers.

We had dinner at Vietnamese restaurant we had found online in downtown Anaheim. We got back to the parks about 8:00 pm. I still had FP for Buzz and Thunder Mtn. So we rode Buzz and Thunder Mtn using FP's. About 15 min before the fireworks started (I think they started at 9:00 pm) we got seats on the patio by the Plaza, they were not the best seats but I didn't want to waste time steaking out a space in the Hub so they worked for us. When the fireworks ended at 10:00 pm we exited the park.

Overall we spent 14 hours "at Disney" and had a great time. As you can see we skipped Fantasyland except matterhorn and small world. The rest of the rides had huge lines all day and we really were not interested in riding them. By using FP's and planning out what we really wanted to do and see we got to ride all the big rides at least once and were even able to go on some of our favorites more then once. We saw that afternoon parade and fireworks, as well as met Mickey Mouse. We even got outside the park for a good dinner.

I just wanted to post my experience so others who are limited in time know that you can enjoy just one day at Disneyland if that is all you can manage.

Allison

 

[calena]

Good post. We are going in October -one day, maybe two. Also flying in to Vegas from Ontario (Canada) and going down to LA area for a bit. I've already written up a schedule of what we are doing when at DL to see what we want to see. Like you, we are going to hit the rides we really want and then see what happens if we have extra time. Anticipating the crowds won't be too bad in late October but you never know!
Deb

 

[stagemomx3]

Sounds like a great day Allison. Thanks for sharing!

 

[HydroGuy]

Yep. As I related in another recent thread - www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1184672 - we did 22 rides on August 2 (which was a Wednesday BTW with no Early Entry - the OP must have gone on Aug 1 or 3 if there was EE). and also saw two parades and the fireworks show. We also spent a little over 14 hours there and were pretty tired by the end.

 

[Disneyanajc]

We arrived at Disneyland on Thursday Aug 2 at 7:30 am the gates opened at 8:00 am and we were one of the first families into the park. It was an early entry morning for people with park hopper (which we did not have) so we avoided Fantasyland and Tommorowland and headed straight to
-----Ouoted from abbyndrewmon---------

Just needed to clear up the EE part of your post. EE is on Monday-Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday and it is Early Entry for FantasyLand you get into the park one hour before the park opens to the General public, So if the Park opening hour is 8:00am EE would be at 7:00am. So you could have gone to Fantasyland on the day you were there. Aug 2 would have been Wednesday so no EE and that is why you were able to go to AdventureLand and the rest of the park, on EE they would have been closed off.
JC

 

[abbyndrewmom]

Sorry I think I got my date wrong it must have been August 3rd. You know how it is when you on vacations and not keeping track of the actual dates. We were at the parks on Thursday August 3rd and it was an EE morning as we watched many people enter through the EE gates.

Okay fixed the dates in my orignal post so as not to cause anymore confussion.

 

[abbyndrewmom]

Yep. As I related in another recent thread - www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1184672 - we did 22 rides on August 2 (which was a Wednesday BTW with no Early Entry - the OP must have gone on Aug 1 or 3 if there was EE). and also saw two parades and the fireworks show. We also spent a little over 14 hours there and were pretty tired by the end.

Hydroguy,

I studied your posts from last year before planning this trip and especially your fast pass hints. I really appreciated the insight you shared as it sure made our day go smoothly. Thanks to you and your recommendations we were able to do all the rides we wanted to do with a minimum wait times. Thank you for sharing you Disney knowledge with all of us.

Sincerely,

 

[stagemomx3]

Just needed to clear up the EE part of your post. EE is on Monday-Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday and it is Early Entry for FantasyLand you get into the park one hour before the park opens to the General public, So if the Park opening hour is 8:00am EE would be at 7:00am. So you could have gone to Fantasyland on the day you were there.
JC

You only get EE if you have a 3 day or more park hopper, a one day ticket no EE. Well unless your staying at one of the 3 Disney Properties than you get any of the EEs that are available during your stay, as long as you have a ticket to get into the park.

 

[HydroGuy]

Hydroguy,

I studied your posts from last year before planning this trip and especially your fast pass hints. I really appreciated the insight you shared as it sure made our day go smoothly. Thanks to you and your recommendations we were able to do all the rides we wanted to do with a minimum wait times. Thank you for sharing you Disney knowledge with all of us.

Thanks. And I should have explicitly stated this in my post, but I did not post here to compare or compete but to agree with the subject of the post - that you can do a lot of DLR in a day - especially if you get there early.