Ask It: How Long is a Good First-Time Disneyland Trip?
It’s Wednesday again, and time for another Ask It. This week, we’re headed out west to see what you think about a Disneyland vacation. One question we see frequently is about planning for Disneyland trips–specifically knowing how much time you need. So we’re asking you:
If you are making your first trip to the Disneyland resort, how many days should you plan to visit the parks?
Loading ...The poll is live here and on Twitter. We’ll have your results next week.
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My group did Disneyland and DCA in 1 day (not one day for each, one day total) on my first time. We got to go on all the major rides, saw both parades, fireworks, and a bit of Fantasmic as well. We got to ride Cars three times! Basically we did it all. Did I mention it was during a peak time, too? My point isn’t to brag, but to say that 1 day IS doable! I recommend Parkhopper, so you can do more in 1 day (Disneyland/DCA is the only park where I think Parkhopper would be useful, at Disney World the parks are too spread out and you waste time). A sit down lunch or dinner (and it doesn’t have to be a table service place, as long as it’s quiet and you can sit) will help people rest and have more energy. The Main Street Electrical Parade and the fireworks at Disneyland, which I can’t remember the name of, are the best entertainment. Plus they’re pretty much back to back, so it’s a lot easier to watch. Make sure you get fastpasses early and keep on getting them! Our strategy, for anyone reading, was this: 1. Go to Indiana jones and ride it. (Indidana jones wasn’t working that day, so we got fastpasses, which ended up being useable all day since the ride was still down during our return time). 2. Space mountain with no fastpass. Wait was very short since the parks been open less than half an hour. 3. Matterhorn twice, once with single rider because the line was getting long. 3. Met Peter Pan on a whim because we saw him running past Matterhorn! Moments like this make me love Disney. 4. Jungle cruise. 5. Pirates of the Caribbean. 6. At this point, we park hoped to DCA and rode cars twice. That was my plan for the morning, when we got many of the big rides in! So yes, 1 day is doable!!! Just be smart! And it’s Disneyland, you’ll have a great time no matter what!
Wife and I are planning a spring trip next year. We visited DL once before but only did one day in the original DL park. Wish we’d have done more then, but we get to rectify that next year. (WOHOO!)
This posting and comments is perfectly timed. We planed on three days in the parks for just the two of us on our way back from Hawaii and that seems to be the consensus opinion here. Been to WDW plenty of times.
I do have to say I wasn’t as impressed with DL as WDW, mostly due to the crowds at DL and cast member indifference to helping. The Crowds were just plain ruder in DL by far compared to WDW. And the cast members in general weren’t as helpful in the small ways like in a store trying to help you find something or help move queues/traffic along. We still had a ton of fun and we’re still looking forward to a DL cap to our 2018 vacation.
We arrived at DLR on a Sunday, did 5 days in the parks, and left on Saturday morning. Having that much time allowed us to do things leisurely and to go back to favourites. We were visiting from the east coast, so maybe that’s why staying longer made sense. But I would say that no matter how long you plan, get park hopper tickets. Everything is so close together that you’ll be glad you did.
Have no fear, I’ll be tallying write-in votes with clickable votes here while I try to figure out why the poll is acting like a revolving door. 🙂
My wife and I did 4 1/2 days a few years back and it was plenty. We were rather casual and took midday breaks so it could be done in fewer days.
We’re going with the kids (9 & 6) next summer for 4 1/2 days and I think it will be sufficient.
fyi I couldn’t vote either.
No click option for me either. My family visited Disneyland for the first time in 2016 and stayed 5 days which was just right. We did one day each at DLR & CA, had a rest day (explored the Disney hotels, DTD, swam, etc)then had another day at DLR and the last day split between the 2 parks revisiting favourite attractions. We live in the UK so it will be a long time before we get back to California, so that had a big influence. It was also during the end of Spring Break.
Also unclickable for me, but I’m voting for three (3) days.
I can’t click either but my vote is 3 days!
As always, “it depends.” If you’re adults armed with a touring plan, 2 days is all you need. If you’ve got kids, plan to do midday naps, play in the hotel pool, etc, then 3 or more days is best.
It’s important to remember when planning, though, there is lots more to do attractions-wise in the 2 Anaheim parks than there is in any 2 Orlando parks, so it’s much harder to “see it all” with a one-park-per-day approach.
We are looking at our first trip to Disneyland so I would love to know people’s thoughts on this. We are a family of 4 with a 6 & 4 yr old! Been to Disneyworld twice and know there’s a big difference.
Am I the only one who can’t click on the poll?
Chalk that up to the “it’ ain’t ever done that before” kind of error. 🙂
Should be open now!
I can’t vote either! so strange – I’ve participated in the polls before. I’d say 4+ days. We had 2.5 days at DLR and it was not enough for our first trip. We were so busy that we didn’t really get to enjoy DLR for what it is. We experienced everything we wanted to, but it was a mad dash!