Originally Posted By SleepingBeauty82 Ok, so next month we are taking my future brother and sis in law to the park for a one day visit on a Saturday. Gonna be just adults, no kids. And we're only hitting up Disneyland. They don't care so much about DCA. We are going Sept 26th so the Halloween stuff will be up. My question is, do you have any tips for making the most out of their short visit. Neither of them have been to the park in over 15 years. They are our age (both 29) but never had the time or money and they live 6 hours away. They've never even been on Indiana Jones! How do I make sure they have the most fun possible without rushing them or planning the whole day out to a t?
Originally Posted By Mickeysbestfan Do you have an extra map? If so send it to them and let them look at what rides and attractions there are. Ask them what interests them most. Use fastpasses and just let them set the pace.
Originally Posted By Dalia3001 When I took my inlaws who had a very limited time in the parks, they were really happy to have a set schedule. From what I have read, I may have a unique family, but I planned out our whole visit using RideMax. They really appreciated never having to have the "what are we going to do now?" conversation, and we got everything done that we wanted to do. I know that some people might not like to have their day planned out, but for a one day trip and with you acting as a "tour guide," I think a plan might really help you out. I love RideMax because you can personalize it, but you could probably use and modify one of the touring plans from the Unofficial Guides or make your own as it sounds like you go often enough that you might be able to guestimate wait times pretty well on your own. Of course it would help a ton if you can talk them into arriving at opening. Then prioritize your FP's, and maybe make a few tough choices about what non-FP rides really matter to you. You may well chose to skip Dumbo, or you might decide to either ride Peter Pan or Nemo at opening, skipping the other one so that you don't have to deal with a long line. Are you going on an EE day? Are you willing to wait in a line over half an hour long - we weren't and with a good plan still rode everything we wanted to, after deciding to sacrifice Nemo for Peter Pan, and skipping things like Gadget's Go Coaster, Dumbo, the Carosel, the Treehouse, HISTA, Innoventions, most of Toontown and all character meet and greets. When I do use RideMax, I even chose to add some of the rides I know we will skip like the Tree House to the schedule anyway, and I also add multiple rides on things I know we have to hit like Pirates. That way if we want to take a break, or do something a bit more spontaneous, we can work it into our schedule without throwing the whole thing off. I know you say you don't want to have a schedule, but with limited time, you don't want to get stuck discussing "what next," and then end up having to wait in really long lines for most of the day. If you have a "plan" but treat it more as a goal rather than a schedule, as well using your knowledge of their tastes and your best judgement about what you think they would enjoy most you can make a great schedule with lots of free time worked in during which you can explore the park and still get everything done that you want to do.
Originally Posted By Kathi K When our relatives were here from Iowa we played host for them and stood in long lines for rides, parades and Fantasmic. It made a huge difference for them and they sent us a $50 gift card for our efforts!
Originally Posted By friendofdd The book "The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland" could be helpful to you in this kind of planning.
Originally Posted By SleepingBeauty82 Thanks for the suggestions everyone! They are staying with us instead of a hotel so we can't use EE but they are buying the tickets ahead of time to at least avoid standing in line for them. I have a pretty good idea of what they won't want to miss and I think we'll do a blend of planning ahead with some empty time to do whatever else they see that they want to do.
Originally Posted By ImTempest One thing I try to do for first-timers is to take one of the vehicles from the entry circle down to the Castle. It goes slow enough to look at the wonderful shops, but you don't start shopping right off the bat. It's way too easy to "pop in here, just for a minute", and find you're still on Main Street 2 hours later!
Originally Posted By SleepingBeauty82 ^^That's a good point and it's going to be hard to talk my sister-in-law out of stopping in every shop to buy stuff for her kids all day. I think I can convince her to wait till we leave and go to World of Disney.
Originally Posted By WDWdreamin I just went with newbies. But, they were an older and sea-sick crowd so we skipped some things I would never dream of otherwise. I would say: #1 Get there as early as possible... SERIOUSLY cuts downs on overall wait times. #2 Use FPs constantly...you may want to run over and get the whole group some while they are leisurely walking to some point you could all see from where you left them. It won't be as warm, likely, so Splash will be easier to get FPs for than over the summer. Space and Indy should be your FP priorities, THEN Splash. Ride other stuff early. Pirates loads quickly so it's not such a rush either. Note: Are you planning on Nemo, Tiki Room, Fantasy Land, Toon Town? None of my late-20s friends (on previous trips)cared for much of those. Of course, they had to sit through IASW.
Originally Posted By SleepingBeauty82 We are probably planning on Nemo and some Fantasyland rides because my sis-in-law is big into those movies and she's got three kids and is very kid-centric. Also we may not do Splash because my fiance hates the drop and I don't think they'll want to do things we all don't want to do. I'm easy. I'll do anything there except the canoes.
