Plan of attack for height of Summer?

[PirateLover]

DH and I will be in Disneyland the second week of August. We are well accustomed to WDW; however, we are complete newbies to DL and this trip is being slapped together last minute. At WDW we typically hit up Fantasyland first to get it out of the way before crowds get too large. Is this strategy good for DL as well? Where do the crowds tend to flock at park opening?

[tinkwest]

Going to Fantasyland first thing in the morning is the best idea. You would think that late in the evening, when little children are supposedly in bed, the crowds would die down. They don't.

Are you going to Disney California Adventure also or just Disneyland? It used to be that you could use DCA as a spot to get away from the Disneyland crowds in the afternoon. With the opening of Cars Land I would venture to say that this is no longer a luxury that can be taken advantage of. Although, the popularity of Cars Land may pull people out of other parts of DCA. Little Mermaid is usually a walk on, Grizzly River Run doesn't seem to have an extremely long line (although in the summer heat it may be a refreshing attraction - bringing longer lines), and Tower of Terror rarely needs to use much of it's queue area. Soarin' Over California and Toy Story Midway Mania have some of the longest lines - get a FastPass for Soarin'

[BrerGnat]

Well, I wouldn't agree with the Fantasyland first approach. If you are not staying on property, you will be too late, as there is Morning Magic hour for resort guests every other day (the park alternates between DCA and DL).

I would start by making a list of the "must do's" at DL. How many days will you have at each park?

The crowds at opening at DL tend to flock to these attractions:
-Space Mountain
-Indiana Jones Adventure
-Matterhorn
-Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
-Peter Pan

I would recommend choosing either Space Mtn or Indiana Jones as your first stop. Grab a FP, then go to the OTHER ride to ride standby as early as possible. Matterhorn has no FP, so go there after your first ride to get that out of the way. If you are interested in Finding Nemo, do that next OR leave it for later in the day, when the line has died down, but don't ride at night, as the ride is just not as good, lighting wise.

Peter Pan will have a fairly consistent 30-45 min line ALL DAY. Just find a time to do it and plan for the wait. The ride is awesome...better than WDW's (IMO) so definitely a must do. If you go later in the afternoon, the queue is shaded.

Fantasyland in general is very do-able in the first 2 hours of park opening. After you've gotten the first couple major rides done, make the Fantasyland circuit. Don't forget to run back and do Small World at this time too!

Be aware that Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones, AND Matterhorn have Single Rider options. Use them if you don't mind being split up!!!

Don't miss the Tiki Room. It's the Original! You can get a Dole Whip while you are waiting and eat it inside the theater if you want. Good place for a break from the heat/sun.

Definitely don't miss the Train Ride. It's very different from WDW's. You can hop on anytime with little wait. Stick to the Main Street or Tomorrowland station for boarding. The other two get very crowded. Also, know that there are FOUR stations here, so you can actually use the train as transportation!

Adventureland is generally always crowded. If you get Indiana Jones out of the way early (or with single rider or a FP), there really is no need to go back to that area unless you have nothing to do and feel like riding Jungle Cruise or doing the Treehouse. It tends to bottleneck, so avoid passing through that way if you can.

In general, your best bet is to get an early start (be at the gates 1 hour before posted official opening time). However, I do caution first time visitors away from the "divide and conquer" approach, at least on day one. I'd recommend simply casually walking in, and REALLY take in the atmosphere of the whole place (Main Street especially) and take your time getting the lay of the land. Day 2 can be all about being a commando. That is, if you have multiple days.

[PirateLover]

Thank you for the advice! Pretty much everything is a must do since we are Disney nuts , but I know how clogged Fantasyland can get in WDW and we definitely want to get those rides out of the way with minimal wait time. We are open to single rider, although it is nice to ride together for first time experiences. We will be there for 4 days starting Aug 5 which is a Sunday. Since we won't be getting to the parks till 12pm at the earliest, we decided to try to do everything we could in DCA sans CarsLand the first day. We have a late lunch at Carthay Circle and plan to take advantage of the World of Color package there. The second day we plan to spend a full day soaking up Disneyland. We will definitely be there for park opening, but no we are not staying on property. The next two days we will most likely hop to hit up whatever we missed/want to do again. We want to be at DCA for park opening the 3rd day to try to knock out CarsLand.It looks like we may have lucked out with our planning for Magic Morning hours though, as we are hitting each park on their opposite days, so maybe that will help.

[BrerGnat]

Sounds like a good plan. Good to avoid the MM hours!

Honestly, Fantasyland in Disneyland just doesn't get as packed as it does at WDW. Trust me. I spent 7 years visiting Fantasyland almost exclusively with my boys, about once a week. We went year round, and on every day of the week. The best time to be there, honestly, is Sunday mornings from 9-11am. Since you will miss this elusive window of opportunity, you will have to contend with standard crowds the rest of the week. Honestly, though, none of the rides will be out of control, except for Peter Pan, Dumbo, and Storybook Land Canal Boats. Those top out at about 45-60 min waits during the very busiest times. The rest of the stuff will be 5-20 min waits most of the day.

If you arrive around noon on a Sunday, and plan to hit up DCA, it will be MASSIVELY crowded by then. I'd recommend not even going near Carsland on that day, and like you said, once you enter, head to the right side and do Soarin (single rider), Grizzly River Run, Little Mermaid, and the Paradise Pier stuff. Don't miss CA Screamin (single rider)! Toy Story Midway Mania also has Single Rider, so you can avoid a long wait there as well. Check out Bug's Land for fun, and then maybe ride the Red Car Trolley over to do Tower of Terror, Monster's Inc., Muppets, and check out the Animation building.

I think, honestly, Carsland can potentially take up almost an entire day, based upon the waits I've read about online. Even if you get there at the opening time, so will everyone else. The FP line will be pretty long, and you might get a late return time. You can Single Rider Radiator Springs Racers, but you probably don't want to for your first ride. The flying tires ride has long waits due to the loading cycle as does Mater's tractor ride. It would be wise to try and knock out as much as possible in DCA on your first day, in case you end up spending a LOT of time in CarsLand the second day.

Also, don't forget to check out Downtown Disney! Lots to see there and it's VERY different from WDW's.

[PirateLover]

This is all wonderful information, thanks again. I think we'll be skipping the Mater ride, as DH no longer can stomach spinning, so that's one attraction we won't have to worry about hitting up. I'm really excited about this trip, but a little nervous going into it blind. It feels good to be armed with a game plan.

[disneynarula]

I agree that Fantasyland was not nearly as crowded as it is at WDW.

For DCA get there when it opens and do The Little Mermaid first! We loved it and the lines were very long.

You are going to have a great time. We loved it and we are die hard WDW fans. DCA is the best disney park ever!

Another thing we loved about Disneyland is eating off property in the middle of the day. You can walk right across the street to all kinds of wonderful places and then walk back into the parks.

If you are staying off property and your hotel has a shuttle take advantage of it.

[BrerGnat]

For DCA get there when it opens and do The Little Mermaid first! We loved it and the lines were very long.

I see that you visited in June 2011. This was IMMEDIATELY after they opened the Little Mermaid ride. Long lines were the norm back then, but that's no longer the case. Perhaps with the opening of Carsland, the increased general crowd level will mean longer than usual lines everywhere. However, Little Mermaid wait times average under 20 minutes most days.

[NewDVCowner]

I do want to mentioned something regarding Indiana Jones. I ALWAYS go on this ride single rider and most of the time end up in at least in the same car. I really wouldn't recommend the fast pass with that ride because it really doesn't cut off a lot of the line.

Star Tours is another one that tends to have a lot of people rushing towards it on opening. The way I do DL if I have a couple of days is start in Fantasyland one day on entry and start in Tomorrowland on the other, then move from there to the other rides that I want to do, like Big Thunder, Pirates and Splash. The fast pass for Splash Mountain is probably the best one in terms of getting you to the front of the ride fastest.

[PirateLover]

Thanks again for the great input. This time next month we will have just watched World of Color! Can't wait

[Chescat]

If you happen to be at the park on August 11 & 12 (Sat & Sun), the D23 Destination D is at the Disneyland Hotel. A lot of those people will be flying in from out of town/US and might be at the park possibly on Friday. My friends coming in will be there on Friday (registration starts then). We get a break at lunchtime and then around dinner time. But that won't flood the park like a D23 Expo would. Should be over by around 10:00pm. So people might start coming in after the fireworks.

So far we've been chicken to go to the park after Carsland opened. Going to wait a few more weeks.