Disneyland Trip – End of May

That is right about school getting out. Youre doing it right by going to the parks mid week. If schools out, that park will be high capacity. a good app for your smart phone is Mousewait. For instance, right now as I write this, Disneyland is at 91% capacity, and CA is 75%. The app gives capacity, weather, show times, ride waits and closures.

You can do CA in one day (less then that if you dont have youngens’). If youre not going to eat lunch at the Trattoria and get the World of Color pass with your meal (special seating area), get your WoC fastpass right away. That is typically the first one to go. You need it to see the show from the front.

Disneyland is a two day trip. Blue Bayou at lunch gives you the Monte Cristo (Not available at dinner), ranked best in the country. Anything is good on the menu really. Youre staying good neighbor. Make sure you get a fridge. a 1/4 mile south is a Target with groceries. Save yourself breakfast and get cereal, milk, plastic bowls and spoons if your hotel doesnt have a continental breakfast. You can also get sandwiches and save some food bill. When I do DLR I eat Blue Bayoe and one major place in CA and Target the rest of my meals. Target also sells hard boiled eggs. Best snack you can have. Pure protein.

It gets chilly at nite, 60’s easy, sometimes 50’s. (I live in Phx so that is cold). If youre looking to eat outside the park Tony Romas is a good rib place. Get the onion loaf. Its like onion ring crack.

I highly recommend the Walk in Walts Footsteps tour. Remember, Disneyland is the only park Walt walked in. The tour takes you to his favorite areas and backstage.

Post pics or it didnt happen!

It will probably be pretty crowded, just plan on that. I think you might have a reprieve on crowds the first day or two. Yes, be there early and by rope drop, no matter what!! Even on crazy crowded days, you will get the most done in the first two hours after park opening. Make a list of your must do’s and make sure you hit those first thing in the day. They are still on paper fast passes. You typically can’t get another FP until your start window of your current FP comes up. However, if your FP return window is more than a few hours out, they will print the time on the bottom of your FP that you are eligible to get another FP. I use the official Disneyland app since they have improved it greatly! I used to use Mouse Wait, but those wait times are entered in by guests on the site. So sometimes I would go hours without any updated times. Disney officially keeps wait times up to date on their app, tells you if an attraction is down and it does tell you if there are FP’s still available and the return time. The DL app also has all menus and prices listed, locations of restrooms, etc. Don’t forget to utilize single rider lines if lines are crazy long! Radiator Springs Racers Fast Passes will be gone within an hour of park opening on most days, sometimes even sooner. So we usually get in line for the FP at opening. The distribution station is in front of “It’s Tough to be a Bug” and there will be CM’s leading the way to them. Standby for RRS during the day is usually 100+ minutes. So we use single rider for this if we don’t have a FP and typically wait about 20 minutes or so. If you want to see World of Color, you will need to either book a dining package to include your viewing ticket or get a FP for it. Keep in mind that this FP does not count as a FP as far as getting other FP’s for the day. We don’t mind getting a bit wet/misted on. So when we go to the viewing, we actually go down the ramp to the water edge and have unobstructed views! I love it there! Otherwise, everyone stands to view the show and it can be very hard to see over heads and such.

We never stay on property at DL. You are a quick walk to the parks if you are staying on Harbor or Katella. Downtown Disney is now a fully secure area. So before you get to ticket booths or to Downtown Disney you will go through security, so be ready to have bags checked. Taking a mid-day break will be entirely up to you! I would say it depends on how far your hotel is and if you feel you need it. We aren’t break takers on either coast. But if you feel you need a break from the heat/crowds then go for it. We typically just go watch a show or something indoor and with AC when we feel like we just need a break. You could even take a mid-day break to go walk up to the Grand Calfornian or Disneyland Hotel to take a break in their lobby or check out their resorts. This gives you a break from the crowds and lets you check out their offerings too! The Main Street Electrical Parade will be running at DL right now. I’m bummed you won’t be able to see Paint the Night Parade because that one is awesome! But you will get to see MSEP where it started, which is pretty cool too!

There are so many great places to eat at DL and DCA! We often find we like the food offerings a bit better over in DCA and will hop over there for a meal sometimes and then hop back to DL! But since the menus are all on the app now, you can really plan ahead to know what food offerings are available. Get a Churro at DL!!! I never get them at WDW because they aren’t a huge thing. But Churros have a huge following at DL and they are so yummy! The Jolly Holiday Bakery has some great dessert treats too! Be sure to ride attractions that are on both coasts because they are often different! DL has the superior Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Pirate’s hands down! Take in the attractions that are exclusive to DL like Matterhorn and Indiana Jones! On Main Street they still have the old cinema that you can watch the old black and white Mickey cartoons on a loop! There are no seats, but it’s dark and air conditioned. But so fun to see those originals! Be sure to take the train if it’s running again! I know it’s been down for a full refurb. But there is a cool dinosaur scene when you go behind Tomorrowland on the train! While on Thunder Mountain you can see the construction of the new Star Wars land from the top of the hill!

Let me know if you have any other questions! I’ve been to DL a few dozen times over the past 30 years and my most recent trip was January!

Happy to help! The nice thing with DL is that you do have a lot more flexibility! You should easily be able to pick up a FP before your reservation and maybe even use it before lunch! But otherwise, grab a FP and hit up some rides! Most people tend to head to the right when they enter the park. If you head left first, you can hit Indie, Thunder, Pirates and Splash with little wait time! Glad you can catch MSEP again! And glad you can see Haunted in its normal form! I like Nighmare Before Christmas but still enjoy seeing it in regular fashion. Good plan on Racers!

xr2unitx wrote:

Reading about all this planning makes me want to renew my AP.

Well, no peer pressure, but DO IT!