I used a Touring Plan for our first trip to WDW last year to great success (I seriously trumpet this site to anyone who mentions they might be doing WDW). I’ve been to DL a handful of times and am aware of the differences (parks are basically across the street from each other, much more compact), though I haven’t been in about 5 years so I’m no longer familiar with the crowd levels. I’ve chosen a Wednesday in October, which is showing as a moderate crowd level across 3 different crowd calendars.
So… I’m sitting here trying to decide whether a TP is worth it for my family of 4 adults. We’ll be doing both parks in one day, very likely from open to close. I’m undecided on Maxpass at the moment. I’ve already told them we have to be at the park early or I’m dropping them like a hot plate (I’m like a drill sergeant! Only worse). I definitely have to fit: Soarin, Star Tours and Pirates of the Caribbean. I also want to see the Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain and Guardians of the Galaxy Breakout as well (I’ve never been to DL at Halloween!)
TL,DR; Have you done a TP for DL recently? Does it work as well as the WDW ones seemed to (last year)?
We were just in the park last week. I had plans for the first 2 days, with a 3rd day being fill in for what we wanted to repeat. Both days I had plans for were ruined within 20 minutes of walking in the park; some rides had much longer waits than others, Soarin was doing a soft refurbish so it only had one side open and fast passes disappeared for it within the first 2 hours, rides were CONSTANTLY breaking down, you name it. This has been the case the past few times I’ve made plans, for both low times (last week was a 2 all week) and moderately high times (6-7). Maxpass also frustrated things a bit, mostly because the scanners have still not been figured out. There were times when we waited in the FP line almost as long as the standby line because people and cast members didn’t know how to make the line move. It was a bit frustrating, to say the least.
What saved us was the Lines app. It’s pretty accurate because people are in the park reporting times, and it saved us a walk across the park because a ride was down. Once the plans were shot, it also helped us to plan our next steps as well.
Bottom line, I use the TP to get an idea of what it might be like–under perfect conditions. Then you just have to be prepared for it to go to heck once the park actually opens and people are put into the equation.
A word of advice about your chosen rides–Guardians FP run out early, so if you want to ride at night, you’ll have to pull FP by about 10 or so, depending on park open. Space Mountain can be the same.
Despite all this, still had a great time! Just wish DL would figure out the kinks soon. Still wish I was there…
If you’ve never been and don’t plan on lots of hopping back and forth between the two parks, a TP may be helpful. But if you plan on hopping (and as it’s less than a 5 min walk from gate to gate it’s pretty easy to do), TPs can become cumbersome.
TP can work in Disneyland, but the rides breaking down are a real pain in the butt. The ones that tend to break down are:
-Indiana Jones (all the time, everytime)
-Splash Mountain (I have now been evacuated TWICE from that ride)
-Toy Story Mania (without fully breaking down, it is still annoying)
Usually, GoG, Soaring and Radiator Springs are the rides that sell out really quickyly of FASTPasses, so I tend to do everything in DCA to start the day, then cross over to Disneyland. However, with Halloween going on, I am expecting Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain to sell out every weekend day. If you do get MaxPass (it really ONLY saves time if you are Park Hopping a lot), it could help grab that Space Mountain Fast Pass while still in DCA.
Even though the parks are really close, going from the Far End of DCA to Space Mountain is still a good 20minutes walk+going through the turnstills again, so I tend to not do that too much.
If you luck out and don’t get Fast Passes for Space Mountain, I would just go at the end of the day (before the park closes). The wait at that time is usually 30 minutes.
My plan usually goes as follow:
-Soaring at RD
-Grab FastPasses of GoG
-Walk onto Toy Story Mania (after that, I usually check how I am doing for time and whether or not California Screaming will work)
-Single rider for Radiator Springs
-GoG
-Ariel Ride
-Grizzly rapids
And that’s it for the big rides in DCA. I love Monster’s Inc and Goofy Flight School, so depending on the time I might do them.
-Crossover to DL. Grab FASTPasses for Space Mountain.
This is true, can’t get the night version until 3pm. I just got home on Sunday, we used Maxpass to get FP’s for the after dark right at 3. They are gone in about 15 minutes so get them quickly.
Thanks. I am going to the parks on Monday just for GoG so it’s good to know how the fastpasses go. Anyone with MaxPass has any input on how to get the passes?
Thanks for the feedback guys, I went ahead and got a TP. I had forgotten about the lines app (derp) and that definitely was very useful in WDW for gauging where to head next (if we wanted to - gasp - deviate from the plan). My in-laws may or may not listen to my plan the day of, so this will be a good back up to have. I didn’t know GoG changed after dark as well, so also good to know. I’m very excited to see DL/DCA at Halloween!
Is there a way to tell TP you want to do DL and DCA in one day, in one plan? Other than making 2 separate plans and saying “I’ll be in DL from 8am-2pm and then DCA from 2pm-11pm”? (or whatever the hours are). I feel like I’m crazy and missing it, because surely I’m not the only one insane enough to attempt both parks in one day :U
Whaaat! That’s crazy - surely I’m not the only person in the world who has to do both parks in one day? Well then, is the way I described above (specified block of time in DL, specified block of time in CA) the only way to do it, or have you clever folks figured out another secret way that I totally promise not to share with anyone ever*?
I find that TPs for DCA very often fall apart on me & are incredibly frustrating to create. And this is after many, many, many attempts at it. RSR FPs alone are so unpredictable so…I wouldn’t fret too much & use any DCA TP that toy assemble as more like a list of To Do’s. That being said, it won’t matter too much what times you put it in for on your 2 parks in 1 day mission. And you are correct in thinking that you are not the only one doing both in a day, TP just doesn’t make plans that cross parks. In the stock plans they do have a 2 part plan that is 2 parks in one day that you can use to build off of to creat your own.
What I do is always start in the park that doesn’t have early entry (unless I by some rare chance qualify for early entry) & then hop to the other after 3-4 hrs or more. Our hopping is mostly motivated by seeing shows so that’s one way to do it & when we do tend to hop more.
I thought maxpass worked great. The CMs were there to remind people to have the tickets out and ready to scan. I think if the day you are picking isnt super crowded and you definitely get the max pass you can get a lot done . If you want to do GotG after dark you will really need the maxpass. also single rider for RSR is a life saver. the other morning we got there and pulled Fp for GotG, rode screamin, rode RSR single rider, redeemed fastpass. then youd be able to pull another for soarin. you could get alot done by noon and head over to DL. having the maxpass will really give you an advantage.
I used my TPs on 4 of my 5 days, and it helped me to know what ride I wanted to do next. Yes, I already knew the FP return times would be off, and in our favor, but that didn’t upend the order in which I did rides within one area that much. In my DCA, we just went to Carsland earlier than in the plan, and Bug’s Land later. And, I did do 2 plans for each park on days we park hopped. Not that hard. Now that you have Max Pass, you can reserve your Fast Passes for rides in DCA that typically sell out by mid-afternoon. You will have to be on your phone a lot checking frequently for where the FP return window times are at for Guardians and RSR though (if DCA is your 2nd park, and DL is your first), as they hover in the AM for awhile, and then start to deplete really quickly. And, once you book those, you won’t be able to book another FP for 1.5 hours, so keep that in mind for your touring strategy, and make sure you’ve gotten your priority FP’s you want in the 1st park. We tried to time an RSR FP for after dark while we were at our hotel on a late/swim day (my son and I had previously done a quick round trip to the park to check in that AM). Around noonish, the later times started to go quickly, so I had to check back every 15 minutes to get the return time I wanted. Once booked for 6.15-7.15pm, an hour later, the return times were 9pm, and then gone in a heartbeat.