I’m over the moon excited for a quick DL trip in July with my BFF. She lives overseas, but we grew up on the east coast going to WDW together during our middle school and hight school years. She’ll be out in the western US for the first time, visiting Las Vegas, Zion, Bryce, north rim of the Grand Canyon, etc., so I volunteered to meet her in Los Angeles after and show her around. I adore her, but I’m an Oregon girl who would melt in the desert SW in July, LOL. So I volunteered for the Disneyland/SoCal leg of the journey!
I’ve been gong to Disneyland regularly for so long and haven’t had a first-timer with me in ages. I don’t want to overlook anything—or overwhelm her! Here’s what I have so far for a three-day, three night stay with two full park days. We have PH with LLMP, and I’m not opposed to buying ILLs for RSR and RotR, given I want to be sure she rides them both. I ordered her a MagicBand so she can easily tap in at the gates and for LLs, as well as enjoy the interactive 70th things around the park. I’m not sure she’ll want to bother installing the app on her phone, so I’m prepared to be in charge of LL selections, mobile ordering, etc.
OK, here it goes!
Day 1:
-Morning arrival at SNA with lunch on the water in Huntington Beach at Duke’s or Sandy’s with maybe a little beach stroll. I figure she’ll be in need of some fresh ocean air! If you have a place you love to eat over there, please share!
-Check into Castle Inn at 3pm; relax/shower/change.
-Walk over to DTD/DLR hotels.
-Dinner reservation at Craftsman Grill. I thought about Palm Breeze Bar, but I haven’t eaten there yet. I also thought about Trader Sam’s or Hearthstone Lounge, but we could just go for a drink after dinner.
-Explore DTD/hotels after dinner.
-To bed “early” for RD!
Day 2:
-RD DL! I’ll let her dictate if she wants to start in Fantasyland, or jump right into Space Mountain & start doing thrill rides. We’ll pull an Indy LL first and see where the morning takes us.
-Lunch in DCA, probably. Maybe just QS, but I did snag a LLL lunch ADR just in case.
-Soarin’ Across America will be a priority, as it’ll still be new.
-Not sure if she’ll want a hotel break or if we’ll do some chill park stuff.
-Dinner at Cafe Orleans with F! seating for 1st show.
-Watch 1st F! and stay put for FWs (please, sweet mercy, let them not be canceled! Though Wondrous is great even just with projections).
-Waddle our way out to Main Street, get a snack & park it for 2nd PtN parade OR head to iasw so we can watch Tapestry of Happiness & maybe hit a ride while we wait for PtN.
-Close out the park like rock stars.
Day 3:
-RD DCA! Depending on what we ride in the afternoon the day before, we’ll probably pull a GotG LL and RD the pier.
-Hop to DL for lunch. Figuring QS, but we have ADRs for either Carnation Cafe or Blue Bayou (would probably only do BB if PotC is open by then—attempting to manifest positivity that PotC is open either way!)
-Will again let her choose if she wants to go back to the hotel for a break, or we can do train, Twain, TS Island for chill time.
-Dinner at WCT with WoC viewing. Alternatively, I got us an 8pm LLL if she would rather have that trippy side-view of the show. But I figure she should have a proper viewing, as she’s never seen it before.
-Hop back over to DL and once again close out the park like rock stars!
Day 4:
-Don’t make me leave! Check out of hotel and drive up to Los Angeles for the rest of her trip.
That is obviously a very rudimentary outline of our days, but you get the idea. We’re a couple of 50-year-old power-walking women who ride anything and everything, so it’s all game! Please feel free to let me know what the first-timers you’ve brought recently have enjoyed, and what any of you who were recently first timers yourselves loved doing in the parks!
As I start to fill in details and priorities, I’ll update this post. Thank you!
It’s been about five years since I’ve gone with a first timer, so I want to be careful not to overlook things I might take for granted!
