Feeling overwhelmed - plan or play it by ear?

[Laur0406]

Our trip is just over a month away away - it will be my husband, 3 1/2 year old son and I. We're travelling Friday to Friday, staying at a good neighbour hotel, and have a 4-day ticket with one magic morning (not park hopper), and planning on going to the parks Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday.

I keep researching and seeing what rides have fast-pass, planning how we're going to spend our days, reading all the blogs, etc...I'm not an anxious person at all, but all the information is really stressing me out! So far we've booked our character breakfast at PCH Grill for Sunday morning at 9am (none of us are super early risers and I don't want to stress out trying to get there on time) and then booked the MSEP first show package at Aladdin's Oasis to go for Thursday night (as ways to bookend our trip).

The idea of waking up sooooo early to get to the parks before rope drop doesn't appeal and I don't even think we'd be able to get ourselves together in time to do that. In fact, I don't love the idea of sticking to a very defined schedule anyway, because 3 year olds don't like them so much LOL. Are we going to miss out on rides because we didn't rush around to get FastPasses? Are we going to end up waiting hours in lines for rides? I know crowds can be so up in the air, but the only really busy day I'd expect is the Sunday, but who knows. I like the idea of just walking around the parks and going on rides as we go, but I don't want to miss out, although i'm thinking that RSR might be the one to get a FastPass for...

Also, if we decide we want to add a 5th day to our ticket, is it done at the prorated price?

 

[Aladora]

Our trip is just over a month away away - it will be my husband, 3 1/2 year old son and I. We're travelling Friday to Friday, staying at a good neighbour hotel, and have a 4-day ticket with one magic morning (not park hopper), and planning on going to the parks Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday.

I keep researching and seeing what rides have fast-pass, planning how we're going to spend our days, reading all the blogs, etc...I'm not an anxious person at all, but all the information is really stressing me out! So far we've booked our character breakfast at PCH Grill for Sunday morning at 9am (none of us are super early risers and I don't want to stress out trying to get there on time) and then booked the MSEP first show package at Aladdin's Oasis to go for Thursday night (as ways to bookend our trip).

The idea of waking up sooooo early to get to the parks before rope drop doesn't appeal and I don't even think we'd be able to get ourselves together in time to do that. In fact, I don't love the idea of sticking to a very defined schedule anyway, because 3 year olds don't like them so much LOL. Are we going to miss out on rides because we didn't rush around to get FastPasses? Are we going to end up waiting hours in lines for rides? I know crowds can be so up in the air, but the only really busy day I'd expect is the Sunday, but who knows. I like the idea of just walking around the parks and going on rides as we go, but I don't want to miss out, although i'm thinking that RSR might be the one to get a FastPass for...

Also, if we decide we want to add a 5th day to our ticket, is it done at the prorated price?

First of all, take a deep breath! With 4 or 5 days you will have plenty of time to see and do just about everything you want to.

My recommendation would be to switch your PCH reservation to Tuesday since you are not planning on being in the parks that day so you are not missing out on park time on Sunday.

The difference in price to add the 5th day is $15/ticket and you can add the extra day as late as the 4th day of your 4 day ticket and as early as before you enter the park for the first time. Simply go to one of the ticket booths in the esplanade and add the day.

You can definitely take a relaxed attitude to touring the parks but if there are any rides you really can't miss, I would make a plan to ride one or two each day just to make sure you don't miss out. Fast Passes last for a fair part of the day, only a few are gone before the end of the day so I doubt you will have a big problem getting Fast Passes for everything you want. Your best bet is to grab a FP sooner rather than waiting until later in the day.

With your Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday plan, the only day you will be able to use the MM is on Thursday.

Make sure you check out your son's height and look at the rides and height restrictions, there may be some that he might want to go on but that he is not tall enough for.

And above all, relax and have fun!

 

[Jrsy Boy]

Opinions will certainly vary but here's mine: don't overplan and go with the flow as much as possible. You've got four days which should be plenty at this time of year to see what you want to see and do what you want to do while modifying your plan as you learn more. We never do rope drop and typically are just reaching security when the gates open and we've never seen a reason to change that. Your plan should just be knowing what you want to do but not necessarily when exactly you have to do it. I had plans for what we were going to ride first for each of our three days last week and each morning that attraction just happened to be closed so we had to go with the flow. You can also check the app for a couple of weeks beforehand to get an idea of how the wait times fluctuate so you can have a sense of what to hit early or grab a FP for first.

 

[carrierael77]

I over planned my first time in 20 years (myself, husband and 8 year old). The second we walked in all those plans and stress went out the window. We were full immersed in the experience.

You will be just fine. I suggest relax and go with the flow. As far as fast passes go, do what I did, send your husband! My kiddo and I were slower than him so we would give him our tickets and send him to go get a fast pass while we made our way to another ride where he would meet us.

You will be just fine, I promise. A stressed out mommy/wife is jo good for anybody.

 

[goooof1]

5 days AND park hopping would make it very easy to go with the flow AND be able to enjoy all the little details in the parks......!! Increased flexibility makes it easier.
Agree that if you are doing PCH character breakfast to switch it to your non park day.

 

[Laur0406]

My recommendation would be to switch your PCH reservation to Tuesday since you are not planning on being in the parks that day so you are not missing out on park time on Sunday.

That's a good idea, though I thought it might be nice to start our first ever parks visit with the character breakfast...

Make sure you check out your son's height and look at the rides and height restrictions, there may be some that he might want to go on but that he is not tall enough for.

Fortunately he's tall (42" at least at this point) so there aren't many he won't be able to go on...now, whether he'll want to go on all of them is a different story

We never do rope drop and typically are just reaching security when the gates open and we've never seen a reason to change that.

That makes me feel better...I see all these "you need to be there at rope drop" posts and that made me nervous!

You will be just fine, I promise. A stressed out mommy/wife is jo good for anybody.

Ain't that the truth!

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[SMD]

If you want to start with a character breakfast, go with Minnie's. Depending on what time the park opens, you can do an hour of FL rides and grab an FP before late breakfast in the park.

I'd probably bookend it the other way, though. It's easier to get up earlier and take advantage of morning park time earlier in a trip, so do MSEP on the first day. Plus, by day 4 you make have already found the time to see it, or you may not want to commit to DL that day at all. With a breakfast reservation on the last day, you have the option of starting a little bit later. If your flight is late enough on Friday you could even do PCH breakfast on departure day.

 

[Laur0406]

I'd probably bookend it the other way, though. It's easier to get up earlier and take advantage of morning park time earlier in a trip, so do MSEP on the first day.

that's actually a really good point - we might actually want to go back to DCA our last day depending on what my son has enjoyed most.

 

[Aladora]

That's a good idea, though I thought it might be nice to start our first ever parks visit with the character breakfast...

If you are doing Friday to Friday what about PCH breakfast on Saturday morning?

 

[Laur0406]

If you are doing Friday to Friday what about PCH breakfast on Saturday morning?

With the time change (3 hours is a lot for a 3 year old) I didn't want to have to be anywhere at a particular time on Saturday morning after our first sleep away.

 

[GatorChris]

Here's the deal with Disneyland. You can plan a lot and it'll be great. Or you can plan a little and it will still be great. That's the beauty of DL vs Disney World. Orlando, if you don't plan, the trip will be awful But in Anaheim, you can stroll right in, eat where you want, go on whatever ride you want, and feel relaxed, even in this crazy environment.

As for hitting rope drop, that should be a slam dunk for you. If you're coming from Toronto, 9am will feel like noon to you. You'll be up at 7am easily feeling like you slept forever.

 

[Aladora]

With the time change (3 hours is a lot for a 3 year old) I didn't want to have to be anywhere at a particular time on Saturday morning after our first sleep away.

You could make a later reservation on Saturday and do it as an early lunch. I'm not sure what week you are going but I did a quick search for later breakfast reservations at PCH on Saturday Feb 18 and also 25th for 3 people. There is a 10:40 available on the 18th and a 10:50 on the 25th. Also, as GatorChris pointed out, the time change is going to work in your favour at the start of your trip for getting up early! Good call on doing MSEP at the end of the trip since an 8:00pm MSEP will feel like 11:00pm for your son if he is still on EST.

 

[chickapin parterre]

* 3.5 years old is going to change his Disneyland experince every 15mins anyhow, so no need to plan......however, you and spouse should plan who is going ride E tickets while the other spouse is back at lodging in the afternoon napping, snacking and swimming with the child, after all it is a vacation. And who is going to ride E tickets at night when child is sleeping.

*rope drop is really for folks who know how to manage disneyland and have an older group of folks to naviagate the park. So no problem, being that fastpass for space and star tours is not going to be a 3.5 child experince anyhow

*do plan how to pick up fastpass in the noon hour so that spouse can return and ride e tickets in the afternoon or very late evening.

*fear. if your child shows any sense of fear, then do not push, you have enough days that the child will come to reason that all those tall scary, big headed characters are nice after all.

*there is so much for a 3.5 year to do that is off the grid, like all the main street rides, jungle, storybook, sub and toontown exploration, small world.

*...AND LAST OF ALL, just hope that he does not like autopia, that is your true Disneyland nightmare that no adult planning can avoid

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[Khokhonutt]

With the time change (3 hours is a lot for a 3 year old) I didn't want to have to be anywhere at a particular time on Saturday morning after our first sleep away.

Are you coming from the east coast? If so, bear in mind it's going to be very easy to get up for a 9:30am breakfast (especially early in your trip). That is unless you are a very late riser in the eastern time zone. 9:30am Pacific is 12:30pm Eastern (lunchtime). In our experience, travelling west you really have to work on staying up late your first few days, otherwise we tend to be up by 4 or 5am. By the end of week, you'll be on schedule, just in time to go home and adjust. In our experience coming back east is the harder transition.

 

[Laur0406]

Are you coming from the east coast? If so, bear in mind it's going to be very easy to get up for a 9:30am breakfast (especially early in your trip). That is unless you are a very late riser in the eastern time zone. 9:30am Pacific is 12:30pm Eastern (lunchtime). In our experience, travelling west you really have to work on staying up late your first few days, otherwise we tend to be up by 4 or 5am. By the end of week, you'll be on schedule, just in time to go home and adjust. In our experience coming back east is the harder transition.

Yeah, I'm worried more about my son being up at 4am feeling like 7am, and at that point I'd rather have him go back to sleep for a few hours. My husband and I can function on less sleep, but I want to get my son on his normal schedule as much as possible.

 

[lvdis]

Please be aware though, if you got a discount on your tickets when you purchased them, they may not "bridge" the price. They could only value them at what you paid for them. so essentially you will pay more to upgrade (more than just the $15 cost to add a day that the signs at the ticket windows show). I was very frustrated with this on my last trip and didn't end up adding a day because the cost difference was much higher than expected ($35 or $45 more per person).

 

[dshimel]

With 3.5 year-old, it can be assumed you goal is to not max out your thrill-ride count. Wanting to go 30 rides a day on E-Ticket rides is where people get all stressed about plans, or wanting to "do everything in a day".

Here would be my plan: Plan the first 1-2 hours, then play it by ear after that.

Every day arrive at the gates half hour before opening and get midpack for rope drop. At opening time, the crowd will head to one of a of a couple places. For Disneyland, it is Peter Pan and Space Mountain. For DCA it is Radiator Springs Racers, RSR FPs, and Toy Story Midway Mania.

For Disneyland, if you head into Fantasyland at opening, every ride except Peter Pan will be 5-10 min or less wait. Hit Dumbo, Mr Toad and Casey Jr early. Snow and Pinoc are higher capacity so short waits even later in the day. Then, if you have to wait an hour for Pan, oh well.

For DCA, the 3.5 y/o friendly rides rarely have super long lines. Do Bugsland rides early. Mermaid has SUPER high capacity and always a short wait.

Take breaks mid-day. Go back in the afternoons for parades, fireworks, etc.

Shows like Tiki Romm and Mr Lincoln are also great for a 3.5 y/o that needs a break.

Check out the shows at the plaza. Really cute 4-ish actor skits.

 

[Drcbelle]

I have a 3 yr old and a 4 year old so I understand what you are talking about! It's so much fun to take them at that age but also presents some challenges! I usually make a general plan (which park which day, which land when, what parades or entertainment or restaurants we want to go to etc) and kinda fill in the specifics while we are there depending on how everyone is doing.
I know you said you don't really want to do rope drop but I'd really recommend getting there as early as you can at least one of the days so you can do a lot of the kids rides in fantasyland with minimal waiting. The lines are the hardest part for my kids and it is really remarkable the difference in them from the first couple hours to the rest of the day. For example last trip (granted it wasn't one of the busiest times) Alice was under 10 minutes for the first hour or two and then later in the day was around 45-60 minutes. For me it's worth it to get up early and get some rides done with little to no waits and then call it a day early evening. We did as much as we could in the mornings and then had a more leisurely pace in the afternoons.
Just thought I'd share what works for us! You'll have fun whatever you do...don't stress. It's fun just to be there!!

 

[CAmommy]

Don't overplan. The weather affects crowds quite a bit. You'll make yourself crazy! Also, we never once have done rope drop. We usually arrive at the security area when the parks are opening. We have never used magic morning. With so many days, it's just not necessary IMHO!

 

[azdisneylover]

I would highly suggest keeping your child on his regular schedule. If he takes a nap in the middle of the afternoon, be back at your room so he can take his nap. Everyone will be much happier too.