The One Where I Visit the 'Other' Coast...(Now Kind of Live))

[StinsyLinson]

I impulse bought Oogie-Boogie tickets for Labor Day weekend…and now I need to plan. But…

How many days do I need? Do I focus on characters and stuff during the party or can that include rides? Where do I fly into?

I’m overwhelmed already (and I’ve read so many trip reports).

[willsob]

@StinsyLinson

How many days do I need? Do I focus on characters and stuff during the party or can that include rides? Where do I fly into?

I don’t know much about the party but have heard the popular characters can eat up the majority of the time. So the ride question will just depend on your priorities.

Number of days? The more the better obviously! But I’d say at least 3.

Fly into SNA if possible. LGB is a close second. Then ONT. LAX is last but sometimes necessary.

[Jeff_AZ]

@StinsyLinson

How many days do I need?

There is a thread for WDW veterans. I’ll find it.

You need about 3 days to comfortably do everything. You can get by with 2 and you could stretch it to 5 with partial days.

[Jeff_AZ]

Here’s the thread to start with:

Disneyland for WDW Veterans

I was comparing maps of WDW to Disneyland and wanted to share, but didn’t know the best place, so I decided to start a new thread for this kind of stuff. If anyone has any other tidbits or advice about Disneyland that would be helpful for those who have been to WDW but never DL, feel free to share. Here is a map of the Epcot area: [image] Here is a map of Disneyland: [image] Here is Disneyland superimposed over Epcot (I aligned the legends to make sure the distances are comparable): [im…

It’s a little old but it mostly holds up. Also check out the pinned Genie+ thread for DLR. I need to update names but otherwise it is unchanged.

[StinsyLinson]

3 including the party day or 3 on top of the party? Do you think Genie+ is a must if I only do 2 or even if I do 3?

@Jeff_AZ

thread to start with:

You’re a gem, I will be reading this thorougly (I’ve apparently never seen it - I have given it no hearts).

I’ve also been persuaded to visit Universal while I’m out there, which eats up a day.

[Jeff_AZ]

@StinsyLinson

3 including the party day or 3 on top of the party?

You could pull it off with 2 + party or 3 with the party in the evening of the third day. But maybe 3 plus the party on a 4th day with something else in the morning would be best.

[Jeff_AZ]

@StinsyLinson

Do you think Genie+ is a must if I only do 2 or even if I do 3?

Genie+ is just so nice I would definitely budget for it. But it’s not essential if you have at least 3 days.

[Shmebulock]

@StinsyLinson

I’ve also been persuaded to visit Universal while I’m out there,

Awesome

[Flavita]

You’re gonna love Disneyland

[StinsyLinson]

@Jeff_AZ

budget

I’ve seen this word before - but I don’t really understand it.

(AKA - welcome to my absolute worst life skill)

[Jeff_AZ]

I hear Genie+ is free on vacation. Kind of like how food doesn’t have calories. So just go for it!

[janamelia]

@StinsyLinson

this word before - but I don’t really understand it.

Me either apparently

However, Pirates is better in California.
The Indiana Jones ride is awesome
Mater ride is a hoot

The GotG/formerly known as Tower of Terror is supposed to be good but I’ll never ride either CA or FL version.

Have fun

[lolabear_la]

Welcome to the W(B)est coast! The E(B)east coast is definitely a bigger challenge in terms of pre-planning so once you’re settled in with Jeff’s amazing thread, picked your park reservations (yes they’re still a thing here ), then you’re set to go until the day of!

If you don’t think you’ll be back and don’t want to be stressed with fitting it all in, I would recommend 3 days of parks (and a 4th with the OBB) and definitely G+. You could absolutely do your party on one of the 3 park days. But you may want to use some party time to do a ride or two and less focus on the party specific meets/trails & Villains Grove Walkthrough.

For the party, we went in 2022 over Labor Day and it was the first party and I didn’t love it because it wasn’t known what meets there were and Disney doesn’t do any advance communication of that so we only knew about Bruno (and he was a must-do) but didn’t catch any other characters because we kept not being in the right place at the right time since it was the first night and didn’t know what the general schedule was for characters.

But this year there are some August parties so I would pay attention to the first couple of nights to see how the characters go down. Then plan which characters are musts and fit in the parade, treat trails (where the Villains will be performing/monologuing along the route and are fantastic but not a true character meet) & Villains Grove around that. We did the Villains Grove as the very last thing we did and we did the 2nd parade and waited in line for Bruno during the first parade (the line was still 45 min. but worth it for us).

[BellesRose2K]

For the party, most guests are local AP who do the rides all the time, so those aren’t a priority, so the lines can be pretty short. Most go for what they CAN’T do on regular days: parade, Villains Grove, and especially the characters. If you’re going to the party for short ride waits, you probably don’t need more than 2 park days, but if you want to experience the party specific activities, especially the characters, and not so much the rides, do 3 park days.

[Jeff_AZ]

@StinsyLinson

visit Universal while I’m out there, which eats up a day.

A couple of tips based on my two trips to USH in the last year:

• If you can get there before park open, the “Early Entry” pass for Nintendo World is worth it
• Harry Potter stuff is a lot less busy at USH than UOR. Plan to go there when lines elsewhere are long
• Lines come down drastically in the evening for some reason, starting around 6pm. Lines are longest from 12-6pm. You can easily hit Nintendo land in the hour or two before park close.
• There are lots of single rider lines that make the queue basically walk on. Even Mario Kart has one, though it can still be relatively long.

[ErikTheRed64]

@Jeff_AZ

Here’s the thread to start with:

I was comparing maps of WDW to Disneyland and wanted to share, but didn’t know the best place, so I decided to start a new thread for this kind of stuff. If anyone has any other tidbits or advice about Disneyland that would be helpful for those who have been to WDW but never DL, feel free to share. Here is a map of the Epcot area: [image] Here is a map of Disneyland: [image] Here is Disneyland superimposed over Epcot (I aligned the legends to make sure the distances are comparable): [im…

It’s a little old but it mostly holds up. Also check out the pinned Genie+ thread for DLR. I need to update names but otherwise it is unchanged.

Wow, really makes me appreciate the huge buffer zone we have at WDW.
Wonder if the company wasnt run by such cheapskates, if they should just buy out all of Anaheim and re-green it

[StinsyLinson]

Well…this is coming up in just 10 days. Yikes!

I’ve booked flights - flying into BUR, leaving out of SNA (we’re staying with friends in BUR for a couple of nights)

I’ve booked a room at Grand Legacy for one night and 2 nights at Pixar Place.

I have a 1 day ticket to Universal Hollywood, a 3 Day Hopper with Genie+ or whatever we call it, and an Oogie Boogie ticket.

That’s the framework of a plan…so I’m getting there!

[janamelia]

Flights
Lodging
Admission media

The rest is gravy

[Jeff_AZ]

That looks like the start of an awesome plan! You will have a great time. Don’t sweat it too much. On day 3, check the attraction list and make sure you didn’t miss anything major.

[StinsyLinson]

@Jeff_AZ

On day 3, check the attraction list and make sure you didn’t miss anything major.

So day 3 is our party day - which has me worried…because we’ll definitely have to take a mid day break and I won’t be able to use it as a mop up day as much as I’d like.