Anyone else attempt to be a Disneyland completist?

Hello. In the absence If Disneyland news, I was just wondering if anyone has ever gotten close to or even attempted to do all attractions at DLR in a single trip?

In preparation of our first family trip I made an exhaustive list of every show/ride/character interaction, just to get a feel for what was there and fear of missing out. With an 18 month old and going in February with a bunch of refurbishments, we didn’t come close, but had a good checklist and had a great time.

Three years later we went with a family of first timers and had 5 day park hoppers again. It was after thanksgiving and everything was open. As their tour guides I had the updated list and wanted to show them everything. Also our kids were between 4 and 8, with the 2 youngest being adventurous enough for all rides and coasters, and the oldest still happy to jump around at the Disney jr dance party. Rain on the last day prevented us from doing the redwood creek challenge and Tom Sawyer island, and my family skipped Roger rabbit, and Nemo subs, but otherwise we checked everything off. Despite best intentions we never made it to the silhouette studio on either trip which we thought would have been a cool souvenir.

When we eventually go back there are definitely attractions we won’t bother with, and we’ll spend more time doing repeats of our favourites, but I’m wondering how close anyone has ever gotten, and whether we were crazy for even trying?

Hope you all can return soon, and sorry to everyone who had to cancel plans this spring.

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When it was just DL, I did it more often than not. With DCA added in, I’ve never tried in less than 2 days.

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Never attempted because my family is more of a ride family and not so much into to the shows and parades. In recent years I have made them start watch some of the attractions and started going with Friends who are Disney enthusiasts. My friends are more apt to take in shows and other non-ride attractions than my family. I try to do a couple “I have never” items on my list each time. In Dec I finally rode a Main Street vehicle and watched a show in the Royal Theatre. We also hit a few restaurants on my list. April 8-10 I was hopeful to ride RotR and have Breakfast at plaza (the only character meal I have never gone to) and catch the new parade. I am hoping for it to be open for my birthday 7/15. I still need to watch Great Moments with Lincoln. That one I hope to save when I go with DH in October. I have been inspired by your post to create a list to make sure I have gotten to everything. Maybe one of my trips, I will try to do it all!

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I have never tried to do everything in one trip, but I do like to try everything at least once in my adult life, other than character interactions, parades, and street shows (which I only do if I’m intrigued by the concept or if it’s convenient). There are a few things I will want to try if it ever opens again!
Edit: WHEN it opens again! :wink:

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Just for fun I made a TP for a CL1 day, going into DCA for EMH until 10am and staying in DLR with a 10pm closure. I planned a 15 minute break every 1.5 - 2 hours, a 60 minute lunch and a 45 minute dinner.

I was able to do almost everything at DLR, including a show / parade. I couldn’t do all the boats. At DCA, I was only able to plan GotG:MB, Incredicoaster, RSR and one other ride on the way with a 30 minute break / walk time to DLR around 9:30am

It was a fun way to pass the time right now. I’ve been planning trips with different criteria to pass the time right now. I also have been looking over the Downtown Disney menus and Harbor Blvd places a lot more lately.

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As a family far from california who only goes every 3 years or so, I’m so grateful we made it this past December. Would have been devastating to have it cancelled…probably more for me than the kids. The family we went with loved it so much that we’ve pencilled another trip in for the week after thanksgiving, 2022. My meticulous tour planning and replanning worked great (worked hard to make up for the rookie mistakes i made the first time) but really looking forward to now knowing what to skip and spend more time relaxing and fun enjoying the kids’ favourites. By day 5 we had mostly given up on completing everything and ended up riding splash mountain and btmrr 3-5 times each. 20 minutes for jumping jelly fish will never slow us down again!

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In July 2018, my 13 year old daughter and I attempted the Parkeology Challenge, 54 attractions in DL and CA in one day. Though we failed, we did complete 45 attractions. It was exhausting and we were in so much pain the following day! It is a great memory and some day we’re going to try it again.

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What a great idea. I’m going to have to break out the list and see which ones I’ve never done. I just put my deposit down for a trip the week after Thanksgiving. Maybe I will finally give the Matterhorn a try. :grin:

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Holy, 45 is a lot. With my younger kids we were more about completing over 5 days, but did get some days close to 30 attractions. The other husband and I joked about going back to shut the park down and see how many we could get, but ended up being as exhausted as the kids at the end of the day.

The rides are easier to conquer with good plans, but it was meeting characters that slowed us down…spent more time waiting for Spider-Man than any attraction.

I like your after thanksgiving plan. It was easily the best week for us. No refurbishments, full park hours, plus we ended up with some crowd level 1 days in the middle of the week.

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I love the “Batterhorn” but don’t recommend if you have neck or back issues.

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And then there is my fear of heights. :joy::joy::joy::joy:
But I survived Space Mountain last June so I think I can survive the Matterhorn.
Usually I can be found enjoying some people watching across from the loading area while my DH does the mountain. I know all of the best people watching spots near the thrill rides at DLR. :blush:

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Matterhorn was the one ride that scared my youngest…the dark with loud growling was too intense. Speed is not an issue though on it. It was closed for refurbishment on our first trip and thought it would be the highlight of our second, but no one overly enjoyed it. Rode it once, while big thunder we did twice a day for the whole week!

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We have done it!!! It took us two days and one of them was a 12 hour day. No kids just us adults a group of 4 and we did it ALL (parades, street performances, characters, rides). I almost didn’t get it done and was standing on main street crying (i was a little exhausted on day 2) becuase they had filled up the main street trolley and there wasn’t room for us. My husband explained what we were doing and they made an extra trip! If I didn’t have the luxury of going a few times a year I would NOT recommend this as you don’t really get to enjoy you are just hustling all day long. It took a lot of planning on my part but was a seriously FUN experience.

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Haha, that is awesome. I definitely could not have come close in 2 days. I think I’ll use the sentiment here that I’ll do everything once as an adult, but leave it at that. That does give me hope though to get our attraction numbers up in a single day when we go again with the kids a bit older.

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