1 day (half day) at DL? Should we do this?

Disneyland
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Hello there! I’ve been absent from the forum for awhile due to just being very busy. But also we’ve had no opportunity to go to WDW or UOR since 2019. However an opportunity to go to DL fo a day just kind of dropped in my lap and I’m unsure if we should consider it.

No one in our family has ever been to DL. We live nearer to FL than CA so it just hasn’t happened; we went to WDW 3x when our kids were younger. They are all now teens.

Our oldest, DS19, wanted a vacation for his high school grad trip (grad was last summer) and we ended up deciding to go to Hawaii, from the east coast, and stop over at LA on the way b/c we have family there. That and he wants to see a concert in LA. The plan was pretty much just to see family and the concert, and not try to do anything else in LA.

But, now some of the family aren’t going to be around, and we had already added one extra day to the LA portion b/c we didn’t want to rush to the airport the day after the concert. So that opens up the possibility of going to something like DL, Universal, or SF magic mountain. Although I don’t know if I want to try any of those with not even a full day available, b/c the family wants to have a dinner that night. The family still has work / school and we’re there when they aren’t available during the day, so it would just be us.

Would you do DL in one short day? I don’t mind the price of the ticket. We qualify for military tix but I don’t know if it’s worth it for one day. I’m aware there are 2 parks and I figured we’d just wander and see what it’s like. And get the genie thing., or whatever it’s called in DL now. Yes I’m that much out of the loop. I would love to see the different castle and ride the Matterhorn. Most of the other stuff sounds like what we’ve done before. Of course, I know it’s not the same though.

Mostly I dread the idea of having to take a rideshare there and back. I’m not fond of the idea of facing the crowds when we have such a short time. I’d rather do other LA things or SFMM. Son isn’t that into the idea of going to Universal.

BTW we get in free to SFMM. We have the all parks pass b/c I purchased a Kings Dominion gold pass at the right time, and we also have fast lane for my son. It was supposed to be only for KD and then they changed the rules. We will not have that next yr b/c they will surely increase the price a lot. We will probably not have hth all parks pass next year; it was free so we got it. SF in general is sooooo confusing at the moment and I don’t trust them at all! But that’s for another post. I see how SFMM is very impressive as far as SF parks go. And my son can ride anything.

Thanks for any advice. Son is leaning towards DL.

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The thing that would limit me is the traffic. It will be hard to rope drop if you’re coming from LA depending on day of the week. I’m assuming weekday if others will be at work/school. I wouldn’t want the stress of afternoon traffic either and trying to get back to meet family for dinner. If I were in Anaheim, I would go for it. If it were me, I would visit the closest park for the lower stress. But, I could understand still doing it just because none of you has ever been. I would say, do not underestimate the time to do security, have meals, drive, etc.

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Thank you so much for pointing this out. From our starting point, DL is more than an hour, whereas Universal is 20 min and SFMM is 30. My son is now strongly leaning towards SFMM.

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I am very conflicted in my response. I have driven 10-11 hours one way (our drive to DL from home) to do 1.5 days in DLR, leaving home Friday night arriving early Saturday, spending Saturday and half the day Sunday in DLR before driving home to arrive very very very early Monday back at home.

In those cases, it was crazy for the time it took to drive compared to the time we spent in the parks, but we had annual passes and most of those times had found a good hotel rate, and justified our food spend with the then 20% AP discount we could get to eat in the parks. And that leads to me what would hold me back, would be the cost of one day ticket, even at a discount, and not getting the full day.

But if the cost doesn’t hamper you and you’re willing to drive the hour there and back to do a partial day, it can be done and even enjoyed. Especially if you can leave early enough in LA (5:45am-6am) to get to DL before traffic and be super early to Rope Drop and get a jump on crowds.

There isn’t early entry for hotel guests these days, so you wouldn’t be behind any early entry guests. And be able to get some early Lightning Lanes aka LL (what Genie is going by these days) and definitely be able to get a sampling of what DLR has to offer.

DLR crowds are slower to build in the mornings so if you’re there for those first 2-3 hours, you’ll get to enjoy and spend a chunk of that time focusing on what doesn’t have LL sprinkling in some big must do LLs & then switch to LLs and wandering to enjoy what you can (I highly recommend the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough, the Disney Gallery in the lobby of the opera house that switches between Great Moments w/ Mr. Lincoln and Walt Disney - A Magical Life for wandering moments, and the fire station).

As for rides Matterhorn is fun but jerky - much more like WDW’s Space Mtn. Indy is unique and one of my absolute faves and then I love the charm of the Fantasyland in DLR so it’s a must for me and a critical part of enjoying the park for me, but most of it doesn’t have LL so it’s an excellent starting point to churn through. Big Thunder, Pirates and Space are all fantastic in DLR and usually end up being considered better (not unanimously but majority). And the queue for Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway in DLR is miles above the Hollywood Studios same attraction in WDW. I also love love the train in DLR but that would be time permitting, becuase there are some great highlights in the other park, DCA.

DCA’s best unique rides are Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout, Incredicoaster, and Radiator Springs Racers (this last one isn’t included in the Multi-Lightning Lane but you can either buy a Single Pass or make use of Single rider). The rest of the unique rides are good but it would depend on your time and interest in their theming/ride type to try but some of my favorites are the 2 smaller Carsland attractions: Mater’s & Luigi’s. Monsters Inc is great if you have any love of the IP and then Goofy’s Sky School (a wild mouse coaster) is fun too, but not necessarily a must do. The rest of the pier rides in DCA unique to DLR are very similar to carnival rides with some of them having minor Disney theming but a lot of them do offer beautiful views of that central Lagoon so fun to do if time allows & interest is piqued.

And the good news if you end up not doing DLR for this excursion, there’s so much else to do in So. California that you’ll definitely enjoy something you wouldn’t have otherwise gone out there to do.

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Thank you, I really appreciate your response. I think my son wants to do Six Flags, but this has renewed my interest in a future entire family trip where we’d have a few days at DL and then time to see the whole family.

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