Kailua's Belle
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2007
I've posted several new threads over the last few months and have gotten great info. Thank you so much! I'd say I'm a pretty experienced Disneyland goer, but by no means a regular or expert. My style is usually get there early, get a ton done in the morning, then go with the flow in the evening. I'm headed there next week to help my brother and his family for their first trip there and don't want to mess this up and not sure my usual style will work out! My goal is to have a basic plan, but not so rigid that it takes away from the magic. I do understand that the better my plan, the more we'll get done, the less we'll wait! Gotta go back to the days when my kids were little and what really made it magical for them. So here's a rough idea of what I'm planning, but it obviously is very loose at this point and could use some input! Please offer any insight you can to improve my plan! Kids are 7 and 4, both over 42 inches, so can ride almost everything. Of course I'm not sure if they'll like some of the faster, scarier stuff, so thinking I'll ease them into it. Haha!! Grandparents also joining us, so 7 people total.
Day 1 is Sunday, 11/24. Plan is RD at DL, head to Fantasyland and ride a few good ones there. I'm thinking Alice in Wonderland and/or Tea Cups, Dumbo, Snow White (open to suggestions and order!) We'll be doing MM on Tuesday, though, so will do more of FL then, but feel like that's the best place to start with the kids. Open to suggestions on what favorites you guys have to start the trip off right!
Then plan on heading to Frontierland, maybe do Big Thunder, then Pirates and Jungle Cruise. We've got MaxPass, so I'll be on the lookout for FP times and try to collect some for maybe Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain (if it's warm enough) then maybe do Pooh. Then take the train to Main Street. Not sure if this is too ambitious to finish all this before noon, as we have a reservation for Carnation Cafe at noon. I've read about playing musical chairs with Alice around Coke Corner, is that still a thing? If so, I'm thinking the kids would love that! Anyone know about when that usually is? And where are the princesses these days (sorry, I should totally just look that up)? That used to be my daughter's favorite thing to do, but that was 10 years ago, so not sure how the meet the princess thing works these days.
After lunch, we could maybe go back to FL or see if I've got any Fastpasses lined up for maybe Buzz or Star Tours. Not sure they'll be ready for Space Mountain, but thinking of securing a FP for that later in the evening. We'll probably go back to the hotel to rest and regroup for a couple of hours, come back and would like to ride IaSW once it's lit up. I'll watch for FP times for that. So basically any input on how to structure our evening, working in 6:30 parade and the fireworks would be great. I was going to just kinda see what FP I have collected at that point and/or what has reasonable lines, but feel like I should have a better plan than that. Not sure if we should maybe do Galaxy's Edge, Toontown? No set timing on the break either, so whatever people find is the best time for about a 2-hour break.
Day 2 is Monday, 11/25. Plan is to RD at CA. Nephew LOVES cars! Priority will be to secure FP for RsR right away, as well as WoC. Not sure if we should head straight to TSMWM (is that the right acronym? haha!) or go straight to Carsland and hit Luigi and Mater ride. After we hit those, work in Little Mermaid, Monsters, Inc. I'm way less familiar with CA, so no idea what's a good route to take here. I'm personally not a fan of the Zephyrs or that Goofy rollercoaster. What else am I missing that we shouldn't miss? My dad loves Soarin', so gotta hit that. I'll watch for FP. I love GoTG. Not sure if they'll all want to ride it, so I may ditch them at some point and ride by myself. Hoping to get some victims to join me, though! Lunch suggestions? I was thinking nephew would enjoy Flo's, but food looks underwhelming there! I'm open to suggestions. I'm thinking afternoon time (either before or after an afternoon break) would be a good time to do the Redwood Creek Trail. I've never done that before, though, so don't even know what that's all about but seems like a lot of people say the kids love it. Figured this would also be a good time to do stuff in the Animation building too. What are your favorites there? My older kids always liked the Animation Academy, thinking 7 year old might like that. What's good there for the 4 year old? Okay, as you can see, this day needs some work. Not really interested in seeing Frozen. Used to love Aladdin, but I hear Frozen isn't that great and we've seen several stage versions of Frozen Jr. recently, so that's nothing we need to do. I don't think they're interested in Disney Jr. Dance Party, but if someone tells me it's a must do, I'll look into it.
Day 3 is Tuesday, 11/26. Plan is to do MM at DL. So hit FL and Tomorrowland stuff, redo stuff they liked first day and hit things we didn't do yet. Are the Nemo Subs and Autopia open for MM? I'm purposely leaving Matterhorn off because as much as I used to love that ride, yikes, last month when I rode it, it was rough! I don't think my parents or my brother will want to put their backs through that! If it turns out they're adventurous, definitely Space Mountain. After everything else opens up, head over to Adventure Land to redo the ones the kids like the best (I'll have a better idea about what they like after day 1), then either Galaxy's Edge and/or Toontown if we didn't do those the first day. We have the HB to Go Fantasmic dining package for like 5:00, so will take a break from probably around 2-4 and be back for dinner there. I really liked Docking Bay 7, so would like to try to eat lunch there. Of course kids may not like that place as much.
So, yeah, I'm basically throwing some of this together as I type, lol, and it's all over the place, so feel free to add any input, no matter how big or small! Thanks, DISers!
Day 1 is Sunday, 11/24. Plan is RD at DL, head to Fantasyland and ride a few good ones there. I'm thinking Alice in Wonderland and/or Tea Cups, Dumbo, Snow White (open to suggestions and order!) We'll be doing MM on Tuesday, though, so will do more of FL then, but feel like that's the best place to start with the kids. Open to suggestions on what favorites you guys have to start the trip off right!
Then plan on heading to Frontierland, maybe do Big Thunder, then Pirates and Jungle Cruise. We've got MaxPass, so I'll be on the lookout for FP times and try to collect some for maybe Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain (if it's warm enough) then maybe do Pooh. Then take the train to Main Street. Not sure if this is too ambitious to finish all this before noon, as we have a reservation for Carnation Cafe at noon. I've read about playing musical chairs with Alice around Coke Corner, is that still a thing? If so, I'm thinking the kids would love that! Anyone know about when that usually is? And where are the princesses these days (sorry, I should totally just look that up)? That used to be my daughter's favorite thing to do, but that was 10 years ago, so not sure how the meet the princess thing works these days.
After lunch, we could maybe go back to FL or see if I've got any Fastpasses lined up for maybe Buzz or Star Tours. Not sure they'll be ready for Space Mountain, but thinking of securing a FP for that later in the evening. We'll probably go back to the hotel to rest and regroup for a couple of hours, come back and would like to ride IaSW once it's lit up. I'll watch for FP times for that. So basically any input on how to structure our evening, working in 6:30 parade and the fireworks would be great. I was going to just kinda see what FP I have collected at that point and/or what has reasonable lines, but feel like I should have a better plan than that. Not sure if we should maybe do Galaxy's Edge, Toontown? No set timing on the break either, so whatever people find is the best time for about a 2-hour break.
Day 2 is Monday, 11/25. Plan is to RD at CA. Nephew LOVES cars! Priority will be to secure FP for RsR right away, as well as WoC. Not sure if we should head straight to TSMWM (is that the right acronym? haha!) or go straight to Carsland and hit Luigi and Mater ride. After we hit those, work in Little Mermaid, Monsters, Inc. I'm way less familiar with CA, so no idea what's a good route to take here. I'm personally not a fan of the Zephyrs or that Goofy rollercoaster. What else am I missing that we shouldn't miss? My dad loves Soarin', so gotta hit that. I'll watch for FP. I love GoTG. Not sure if they'll all want to ride it, so I may ditch them at some point and ride by myself. Hoping to get some victims to join me, though! Lunch suggestions? I was thinking nephew would enjoy Flo's, but food looks underwhelming there! I'm open to suggestions. I'm thinking afternoon time (either before or after an afternoon break) would be a good time to do the Redwood Creek Trail. I've never done that before, though, so don't even know what that's all about but seems like a lot of people say the kids love it. Figured this would also be a good time to do stuff in the Animation building too. What are your favorites there? My older kids always liked the Animation Academy, thinking 7 year old might like that. What's good there for the 4 year old? Okay, as you can see, this day needs some work. Not really interested in seeing Frozen. Used to love Aladdin, but I hear Frozen isn't that great and we've seen several stage versions of Frozen Jr. recently, so that's nothing we need to do. I don't think they're interested in Disney Jr. Dance Party, but if someone tells me it's a must do, I'll look into it.
Day 3 is Tuesday, 11/26. Plan is to do MM at DL. So hit FL and Tomorrowland stuff, redo stuff they liked first day and hit things we didn't do yet. Are the Nemo Subs and Autopia open for MM? I'm purposely leaving Matterhorn off because as much as I used to love that ride, yikes, last month when I rode it, it was rough! I don't think my parents or my brother will want to put their backs through that! If it turns out they're adventurous, definitely Space Mountain. After everything else opens up, head over to Adventure Land to redo the ones the kids like the best (I'll have a better idea about what they like after day 1), then either Galaxy's Edge and/or Toontown if we didn't do those the first day. We have the HB to Go Fantasmic dining package for like 5:00, so will take a break from probably around 2-4 and be back for dinner there. I really liked Docking Bay 7, so would like to try to eat lunch there. Of course kids may not like that place as much.
So, yeah, I'm basically throwing some of this together as I type, lol, and it's all over the place, so feel free to add any input, no matter how big or small! Thanks, DISers!