Disneyland / CA plan of attack for busy day

[jgenie]

We'll be going to California next month. We've allocated two days to Disney - one for each park. We're are going during a busy time so need to figure out a plan if attack for our days at the parks. We're staying on property and plan to arrive at park opening each day. How do fast passes work at Disneyland / CA? Are you only allowed a certain number of fast passes per day? Can they be booked online or are they only available at kiosks in the park? Where are the kiosks located? I'm just starting to plan now so any tips or tricks you can share would be great. DS1 loves roller coasters and DS2 and DH are pretty meh about the whole Disney thing. DS1 and I may end up staying on our own while DH and DS2 head back to the hotel when they get tired of the crowds. TIA

[geochick]

TouringPlans is a great resource. It's worth the subscription fee. You can have it generate a plan for your specific date. You tell it what you want to ride and how many times. You tell it if you have lunch reservations and what time. You tell it when you might want breaks.

The fast pass machines for some rides are located very near the entrance to those rides. Touring plan will tell you when to go get those. You cannot get them ahead at DLand. We like to use an adult runner to go get those while the rest of us stay in line. We followed a Touring Plan on July 4th week once. We got everything in by 2pm! It's amazing and very scientific.

We're going to DLand on Monday.

https://touringplans.com/disneyland-resort/fastpass

[lalasmama]

We'll be going to California next month. We've allocated two days to Disney - one for each park. We're are going during a busy time so need to figure out a plan if attack for our days at the parks. We're staying on property and plan to arrive at park opening each day.

Staying on site actually gets you in an hour early. I'd definitely try your best to make use of that extra hour each day!

How do fast passes work at Disneyland / CA? Are you only allowed a certain number of fast passes per day? Can they be booked online or are they only available at kiosks in the park? Where are the kiosks located?

The Fast Pass (FP) system at DL is, basically, the same as the "old" system at WDW, if you were familiar with that. You can get your first fast pass as soon as you are through the gates, and then you may get another FP at one of two times--either 2 hours after you last pulled a FP, *or* when the FP window opens. So, if it's 8:54am, and you pull a FP for Star Tours that says your return window is 9:45-10:45am, then you can get another FP at 9:45am (when your FP window opens). However, if it's 10:26am and you pull a pass for 2:35-3:35pm, you will be able to get your next FP at 12:26pm (2 hours later). There's some "fast passes" that don't count against the one-at-a-time rules: World of Color and Buzz Lightyear are both "disconnected," meaning they don't count against your FP count. There might be other disconnected ones, but I can't think of them at the moment. (Sorry, I'm usually much better than this, but it's a rough day at our house.) There's no limit to a total number of FPs through the day. Kiosks are generally located near the ride, and there will be signs. Going land-by-land: Star Tours is across the walkway from the ride, next to Buzz Lightyear; Buzz Lightyear is the last kiosk with the Star Tours one; Hyperspace Mountain is up the ramp, almost like you are getting on the ride (that one really confused me initially); Thunder Mtn is near the entrance, to the right; I can't remember off the top of my head where the Splash Mtn one is, but it's well marked; Indiana Jones is to the left, almost in the Jungle Cruise building. At DCA (California Adventure), Soarin' is to the left of the entrance (basically like you're going to the line on the left); Grizzly is to the left when they have it going (otherwise, it's World of Color FPs there); Goofy's Sky School is to the right, under the propeller; I can't remember where Screamin' 's is; Tower of Terror is across the walkway; Radiator Springs Racers isn't near the ride, it's at the entrance of It's Tough To Be A Bug. I think that's all of them, but I may have missed some. There's also some "mobile" FP kiosks, for shows and such, when needed. Those may vary day by day. Oh, and you cannot reserve them ahead of time.

I'm just starting to plan now so any tips or tricks you can share would be great. DS1 loves roller coasters and DS2 and DH are pretty meh about the whole Disney thing. DS1 and I may end up staying on our own while DH and DS2 head back to the hotel when they get tired of the crowds. TIA

Have a ton of fun! Don't forget to just watch and enjoy things. While the queues aren't elaborate, there's some fun things... Look for hidden Mickeys, and touch anything that says "Don't Touch" because that usually means there will be a surprise. Making use of the early morning hours will get the most rides in the least amount of time.

TouringPlans is a great resource. It's worth the subscription fee. You can have it generate a plan for your specific date. You tell it what you want to ride and how many times. You tell it if you have lunch reservations and what time. You tell it when you might want breaks.

I'm not a fan of Touring Plans, for a few reasons. In short, they took a program made for a vacation destination (ie, WDW), and tried to adapt it to a park built for locals (DL). They are really bad about estimating crowds and FP return times, which is a HUGE part of what they build their plans around. It doesn't account for things like local school vacations (Oregon, Idaho, Navada, Utah, and Arizona breaks all affect crowds, as well as California breaks), runDisney events, Anaheim Convention Center events, etc. At DL, all these things (and more!) affect crowds. Also, their math doesn't add up--they say a "9" or "10" is the top 20% of days, and then rates more than 20% of days as a 9 or 10. There doesn't seem to be a good rhyme or reason to certain ratings for certain days. And, they use historical data, which is fine when a park doesn't change, but DCA just went through a HUGE overhaul a few years ago, so they are working off 3 years of data for that park; also, they didn't account for 60th anniversary crowds. That being said, it gives you general idea of a plan that may kind of work... just don't expect to be able to follow it perfectly.

[Twoboos]

This biggest thing I got from DisBoards when we went during a busy time was to do FantasyLand first, and more specifically Peter Pan. Then Dumbo and something else I can't remember. Anything where there is a 2-person on/off lines up really fast and makes that area go slow. We got in an hour early (even opened the park - YAH!!) b/c we stayed on site, and were on East Coast time, so we were literally the first people on Peter Pan that day. Later when we saw it I couldn't believe the lines!

Have fun!!

[SnuggleBuggles]

If you get into the park and the Peter Pan line is 20+ min, I'd just skip it and hit other rides. That was how I felt after our last visit. I keep thinking how many rides we could have just walked on in the time we waited for PP. I just don't think PP is that amazing that it trumps other rides.

We loved watching the night parade from the tea cups. We could see the parade and there was no line. We just kept re-riding it.


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