ONE day in DisneyLand?

[Twoboos]

We are seriously considering doing one day in DL when we are in SoCal around Thanksgiving. DDs will be 8 and 10. We would take advantage of being on East coast time on the Monday before Tday and probably get there for rope drop.

We haven't been to DL in about 3-4 years so any thoughts on anything new we should tackle while there. I don't think we'd do CA, unless maybe we should? (Seems beyond crazy to try to fit in both.) Should I try to get a meal time, we did Minnie & Friends bfast last time which was great to meet tons of characters. I know I can work out a one day plan from Disboards, but thought I'd see if anyone here has any ideas.

TIA!

[SnuggleBuggles]

We did it in one day last February. Some attractions were closed (Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Railroad) so, tbh, we hit all the attractions we wanted by 3pm. We got there shortly after rope drop and the day wasn't crazy crowded so it worked well to do what we wanted to do. I wished we had park hoppers b/c we'd have gone to CA after 3. Instead we rode things again and hung out at Innovations (sp?). Rode the monorail 2 times around too. The parks closed at 8 when we were there (bummer!) and we stayed till closing. We had a good day and we were ok just being at one park. However, if money grew on trees then we'd have gotten park hoppers. Since we only had one day I opted to stick with quick meals vs reservations somewhere. My kids don't care about characters at all either. Perhaps we should have done a meal to help fill the time. :) Anyway, we just spent the morning hitting all of our "must dos" and the rest of the day just relaxing. I had a mobile app that gave me wait times nd fast pass times so we could decide where to go. Handy!

[PZMommy]

We were able to see both parks in one day and we didn't even get there at rope drop.

Los Angeles schools have that whole week off, so it may be crowded.

[Piglet]

We did it 2 years ago (on a 1-day layover in Anaheim - we got to DL at 3PM and stayed until close), but to be fair we had been to DL the year prior and didn't need to see it all. I paid for a program that maximized the efficiency of wait times and gave you the most ideal FastPass configurations (http://www.ridemax.com/). it was a helpful starting point but at some point we veered from the plan and still had a blast.

[lalasmama]

At 8 and 10, I'm betting your DDs would love Radiator Springs Racers at DCA. It sounds like the last time your family went was before Cars Land opened? If so, I'd really recommend spending a little time over there first thing in the morning. Fast Passes for this ride are gone by 10am usually. It's definitely a busy time to go, but I think it would be fun to see all the Christmas decorations and see the whole new DCA that you haven't seen!

[citymama]

We went to LA last year just after Christmas and spent just a day at DL. We had a blast. I do wish we had visited Cars Land but we'll need to go back!


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[shweethart]

I'd totally do one day. The holidays at Disneyland are extra special. If characters are a huge deal then a character meal might be worth it do as not to spend time seeking out characters.

[lalasmama]

Totally forgot to mention the characters! If you have a Disney Visa (or willing to open a Chase checking account to get a Disney Visa debit card), they have a special meet-n-greet with various characters. I believe they have 2 a day at each park. Since it's limited to Disney Visa (and debit) holders, it's generally less busy/crowded than stalking characters ;) A character meal is also a good way to get several characters done at once if your kids do well with being interrupted. I have an easily distracted DD, so she'd eat a bite, see a character, have to talk about the character, eat a bite, watch the character as s/he visits other tables, and then take a bite... right as the character would walk up to our table. It took her an hour to eat a Mickey waffle and a slice of orange. Spendy meal for how much she ate, LOL. Apparently, I still harbor some ill feelings about it!

[AnnieW625]

I have only ever done DL in one day trips, except one two day stint in junior high for a band trip (1989). I have gone the day before Thanksgiving twice and it has been great. The last time I did it was in 2008. We got there at 8:15 and left at 4 pm or so. It was just me and DD1. DD1 was only 2/1/2 so we skipped the character breakfast thing, except there was no line to meet Mickey in his house in Toon Town. We had passes that year so we didn't need to do a park open to park close trip.

TBH because we only ever went to Disneyland every 2 to 3 years we would go from 9 or 10 am until the park closed (anywhere from 7 pm to midnight) growing up we never watched parades as the long ride lines like Space Mountain, Star Tours, and Splash Mountain were always shorter, and I have never once eaten at a character meal (although we would do Blue Bayou for dinner sometimes, and have a quick lunch at the Space Mountain place--although I think the food is better now in Bear Country--over by Thunder Mountain--I am forgetting the name of it now, but it will always be Bear Country to me--habit). The Corn Dog cart on Main Street across from the Carnation ice cream place is really good too and I think one of the better deals for food in the park; the other is the clam chowder in a bread bowl in New Orleans Square.

If I were going this holiday season I think I might try to catch one of the parades because my DCP's son (and the girls favorite baby sitter) is playing Flynn Ryder from Rapunzel in one of the holiday parades so they would love to see him, but honestly unless we were walking from one part of a park to another we would skip the parade.

Sometimes the Fantasyland rides get a little backed up, esp. Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan, but there is rarely a long line for the Tea Cups.

Also you probably won't have this issue because your kids are older, but the fireworks are quite loud, and if the wind is blowing right I can hear them at my house which is 15 miles west and a little north of Disneyland.

Have a great trip.

[Twoboos]

Totally forgot to mention the characters! If you have a Disney Visa (or willing to open a Chase checking account to get a Disney Visa debit card), they have a special meet-n-greet with various characters. I believe they have 2 a day at each park. Since it's limited to Disney Visa (and debit) holders, it's generally less busy/crowded than stalking characters ;) A character meal is also a good way to get several characters done at once if your kids do well with being interrupted. I have an easily distracted DD, so she'd eat a bite, see a character, have to talk about the character, eat a bite, watch the character as s/he visits other tables, and then take a bite... right as the character would walk up to our table. It took her an hour to eat a Mickey waffle and a slice of orange. Spendy meal for how much she ate, LOL. Apparently, I still harbor some ill feelings about it!

You wanna talk spendy meal??? Last time we did the character meal DD2 puked it all over the exit to Pinocchio about 7 mins before we met Rapunzel!! THAT is a bad investment, LOL!!! (Yes we cleaned her up and stayed in line - we were the FIRST people, I couldn't leave. The family behind us was laughing and in total agreement that we couldn't go after waiting so long in first position. :rotflmao:)

[lalasmama]

You wanna talk spendy meal??? Last time we did the character meal DD2 puked it all over the exit to Pinocchio about 7 mins before we met Rapunzel!! THAT is a bad investment, LOL!!! (Yes we cleaned her up and stayed in line - we were the FIRST people, I couldn't leave. The family behind us was laughing and in total agreement that we couldn't go after waiting so long in first position. :rotflmao:)

Oh man, that would be terrible! I think we would have stayed in line, too...