How many days do we need???Help!

[shellyfive]

Hi everyone----my head is still spinning----we just came back from a whirl-wind tour of WDW for my birthday----and i now need to plan a business trip/ vacation for my DH and myself over the first week in May. I would like to see/do as much as i can in DL and CA while we are there since i don't think I'll be back for quite some time. That being said, how many days do you think we'll need at dl and ca ---we have part of a sunday/ all day monday/all day wed/ all day thurs/ and part of fri to spend. My husband would like to take one day and go to six flags since he is a roller coaster fanatic---if you know which day of the week would be best for that??? are the parks comparable in size to the ones in florida?? since it's just my hubby and me i'm hoping it will be easier getting around, we are troopers when it comes to quick touring-----it seems the surrounding hotels are close enough to walk from. Am I insane to think we can do all of this??? I am still terribly sad about leaving orlando since the weather was in the high 80's and here in south Jersey today we are in the 30's--- Thanks for any help you can give!!!

 

[hlbtimes2]

There are many surrounding hotels you can walk from. Just use caution- some will say "one block" or "across the street", and that is not always what it sounds like. Most of the ones that are not walking distance are on the ART system. Its cheap and easy to use, but often full, and does take more time then being walking distance. If the candy cane inn (www.candycaneinn.net) has space, I highly recomend it (actually I recomend it so much that I"ll be there the frist weekend in May! LOL).

As far as how many days, I always go as many as I can! Without kids, 3 full days and two partials would be plenty (unless you are the type to take it slow and easy and want naps, and huge sit down meals). Even if you take a day to go to magic mt, you should be ok. Magic mt is about 1- 1 1/2 hours away. When we went we pretty much had the place to ourselves and were able to do the park in a partial day. But, that was a few years ago.

DL and DCA are not as large as WDW, and as a bonus, they are MUCH closer together then anything in WDW. The enterances are about a football field apart. You can hop back and forth in a matter of minutes.

 

[npealer]

I would say give yourself 3 days at DL/DCA and only a day at MM. Everything is walking distance around DL. We hike to the park pushing 2 strollers everytime. I figure by the time we waited for the ART system and got to the park we could have already walked there.

 

[azgal81]

Most of the good neighborhood hotels are across the street from the parks and it's very easy to walk back and forth (check out the sticky thread up top of this forum for a map of the hotels).

I think 3 days is a minimum to do DL/DCA. Normally when we go we do everything multiple times in 2 days and the third day we just do everything again and again and then you would probably need a full day at six flags. Again depending on when you go the lines might be really long. In May when you are going the parks won't be that busy because the kids would still be in the school so you might not need 3 full days at the park. I checked the hours for MM and it is open from 10-6 during the week then but 10-10 on the weekends so you would need a full day just to get everything done!

Sounds like you have 3 full days and 2 partial days to enjoy all the parks. I would do at least one of those full days at MM, 2 full days at DL/DCA, at least another partial day at DL/DCA. Remember if you were going to do 2 full days at DL/DCA and both of the partial days there you would need to buy 4 day hoppers so that might be your deciding factor between the 3/4 day hoppers.

You can do more at DL/DCA in a shorter amount of time because the park is so compact it's great everything is right next to each other so you don't have to walk a mile to get to an attraction then a mile back!

 

[HydroGuy]

Others gave good hotel advice. Here is a link to hotel locations that may help: http://www.geocities.com/ashpsyche/DisneylandLinkMap.html

Normally three days at DLR is enough, but with all of the 50th festivities, four is better.

If you get 3 day or more tix, you will get one day of Early Entry (EE - EE does not mean Expedition Everest at DLR). If you were to stay at a DLR hotel, you will get multiple EE's. EE lets you into DL one hour early. Planning around EE is advisable.

EE is on Mon/Tue/Thurs/Sat. If you have an EE day, it is best to do FantasyLand rides. If you do not have EE, and it is an EE day, it is best to avoid FantasyLand that day because lines will already be long before you even get in. That is also a good day for DCA.

So here is what I would do with your available days, assuming you have one EE day and want to use a full day to Magic Mtn.

Wednesday is the best day to go to DL itself - least crowds and no EE. So Wed is start at DL. Hop to DCA if you feel like it.

That leaves Mon or Thurs for Mag Mtn. I would do MM on Monday, because Thurs is less crowded at DLR than Mon, and both are EE days.

That leaves your EE day for Thurs. Start day at DL with EE, then stay or hop to DCA.

Your Sunday then becomes a DLR day, and might be a good day to spend some time at DCA if you can stand to skip DL on your first day. The Sunday crowds will be the biggest of all your days, and DCA has shorter lines than DL on busy days. Friday can be either DL or DCA or both, depending on what else you want to do.

Be sure to see the Remember Dreams Come True fireworks show. You need to plan time to see it from the busy hub area or far up main street. There are laser and other special effects on and around the castle that you will only see if you have a clear view of the castle. The Aladdin show at DCA is very good, as is Fantasmic at DL. If you want to see Fantasmic, and there is a night where it is shown twice, try to go to the second show, which is much less crowded.

 

[Chickysmom]

2 days at DL and 1 day at DCA