Thanks, Runner Pat.
Alpha Twit, I co-author this Unofficial Guide (and my Masters thesis was on efficient theme park scheduling). Drop me a line and I’ll be happy to help: len@touringplans.com.
Len
Wow, it is really sort of awesome that you post here. Just posting to agree with runner_pat: your book is just phenomenal, and anyone planning a trip to Disney World should read it cover to cover.
Many thanks for the kind offer. We’re still deciding what we want to do but if we do opt for Orlando then I’ll be sure to pick up a copy of the guide and to drop a message to you if I have any questions.
If anyone is interested in the science behind the touring plans in the Unofficial Guide, I recommend episodes 42 & 43 of the Betamouse podcast, which has Len as a guest. Here’s part 1. It’s pretty technical, but pretty interesting and impressive.
I’ve been to Disney World twice and Disneyland Paris twice. I assume the same advice applies to the original Disneyland as well…
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Stay nearby. I don’t know if staying on-site is as big a deal in California as it is in Florida, but you definitely want to be close enough to take a break in the middle of the day. The parks are total sensory overload, and as fun as that is, somebody’s going to have a melt-down if you don’t have the option to retreat to a quieter place. You’d be amazed how much a quick swim and a short nap will refresh everyone.
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Have a plan. You can adjust the plan as you go - hell, you may decide to throw the whole thing out the window by 10 a.m. - but know what you want to see and what it is wise to see first before the crowds get too awful. (The Unofficial Guides are brilliant for this.) Otherwise, you will waste valuable time and patience huddling over the park map and arguing about what to see or ride next.
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The plan should include being there at opening. If you want to eat at a sit-down restaurant, the plan should include reservations!
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Use Fastpass, wisely. Again, read the Unofficial Guide, and always check the return time for the Fastpass and the standby time before you stick your ticket into the machine. In my experience the posted standby times are usually a little pessimistic, so if it says 25 minutes it’s probably more like 15-20, and so on.
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Wear comfortable shoes. Drink lots of water. Use sunscreen. Make sure the little kids have their parents’ cell phone number on them in case they get separated. The usual theme park tips.
I’ll add to flodnak’s advice. Take a guidebook (I like Passporter, I’m not an UoG fan - its too long, too overwhelming-, and I actually like Birnbaum’s official guide for first time visitors). Rank the attractions. Have everyone who you can get to give an opinion give one. Do some forced ranking. i.e. If 1 is “attractions I have to see” and 5 is “attractions I don’t care about at all” have everyone give no more than three to five 1s per park. Now, when you get into the park you won’t stand in line for years to see something that it turns out no one really wanted to see, and therefore miss something that was the top of most people’s list because you ran out of time.
We’ve been to Disneyworld about ten times (Disneyland once) and there are still some things we haven’t bothered to see - and some other things we haven’t done in years.
Hello, former Disneyland worker here. Just had to add a little bit to some of the good advice given here.
If you’re truly not going to listen to reason and visit the Source of All Evil that is Disneyland, then be sure to remember a few things.
Get rooms at any of the adjacent Disney hotels. There’s usually some package deal for groups. And yes, it is true that hotel people get to go into the park an hour earlier, but as I recall, those were only on certain days, not every day of the week. Since you’re going for several days, that shouldn’t be an issue since you’ll get in early at least one day, but call them to find out
I’d avoid April altogether. Spring Break times schedule seems to get earlier and earlier. My first spring break in 2002 seems to be only the last 2 weeks of April. By the time I left, we had to put in holiday hours for the entire month. February and March seems to be the slowest times, Tuesdays are the slowest of the week, followed by Saturday. However, since you’re probably on a schedule, go early in April, that’s the slowest
In case you’re thinking about pushing it back, in May and June there are Grad Nites. That means local schools take up the park from midnight to 6am. There are 8 of these total in May and June, maybe they’ve added more, I don’t know. But don’t go on those days because the park will close early, like 9 or 10
While the rules might say otherwise, you can bring food in there. I’ve seen people bring in entire meals. Disney employees are generally pushovers so if you make a small fuss, or claim that there’s some kind of allergen that your kid is allergic to, or that they will only eat a specific food, the managers will probably let you in with a smile
If you’re staying in the hotels, go out to Downtown Disney to eat. Or across the street from Harbor to the IHOP, Denny’s, or McDonald’s if you want to save money. Like, a lot of money. If you want to eat at the Blue Bayou, the cool restaurant inside Pirates of the Carribbean ride, call and make reservations as early as possible! However, the food there is just average. All of New Oreleans Square gets their food from a central kitchen underground. You’ll not get better quality clam chowder at the Blue Bayou than the Veranda
Of the places that serve breakfast, they try to close at 10:30 on the dot. They’ll have people out in the lines taking last orders for breakfast. If you’re going to eat breakfast or lunch, avoid that transition time
It’s easy to steal from the Outdoor Vending toy carts, especially if there’s only 1 worker and they’re swarmed with people. I tell you that only so you can not do it 
There’s an Outdoor Vending cart in front of the castle in that circular area towards the left. They sell Turkey Legs and giant Chimichangas there. There’s several of these carts and they might have moved since I was there, but for my money, these are the best foods you can buy at Disney. They are comparatively cheap and delicious
The Trash Can Trio is actually fun to listen to. They pretend to be janitors but they start banging on their cans in rhythm
If you want to see little kids have a break down, go to the Tomorrowland Terrace restaurant in Tomorrowland. They have a Star Wars themed show where kids get to go up on stage and fight Darth Vader. Sometimes they freeze
Here’s an interesting article from tomorrow’s New York Times about how the Disney company uses technology to reduce wait time for passengers on the rides at Disney World. (It says that recently customers have been able to ride only nine rides in one day on average, but they’ve tweaked things so that the average is up to ten rides a day.)
As for the OP, good luck. It sounds like it could be a fun trip. I’d recommend breaking up the families, so that if, for example, one kid from your family wants to go to Animal Kingdom that day, perhaps he or she can go with an uncle or aunt’s family. And I assume that you’ll want to have at least one or more meals with the entire crowd (25 people!). If that’s the case, you should try to book something ASAP. We went a couple of years ago with only six people and had to scramble a few weeks before the trip to make sure that we could all eat together in the park restaurants.
Staying on-site is not as big a deal in California as it is in Orlando. There are plenty of hotels/motels real close that will save you money. Several within walking distance. I think a few of them might actually be closer to the park entrances than the Disney hotels. The Disney hotels will have that Disney magic though (especially the Grand Californian).
OMG the Grand Californian. Absolutely the most beautiful hotel I have ever been in. If I ever win the lottery, I’m gonna splurge and spend a whole week there…and I live less than 30 miles away.
If you can afford it, stay there. Just do it.
ETA: The only hotel I’d rather stay in is the nearby Hollywood Tower Hotel. But that one hasn’t taken guests for a very long time…
Alpha Twit, I’m going to echo what runner_pat said about using the Unofficial Guide … and now that len has offered his assistance, please take advantage of that, as well. What he doesn’t know about touring DisneyWorld and DisneyLand isn’t worth knowing. He’s helped me out on a couple of occasions, and once I thought I’d have a chance to meet him at DisneyWorld – but our travel schedules missed each other by a day or so. Which is a shame, because I’d love to buy him a giant turkey leg or a Mickey Bar.
I’ve never been to DisneyLand, but if I were going, my first order of business would be to buy The Unofficial Guide to DisneyLand and read it cover to cover. I’ve been to DisneyWorld several times in the past 10 years, and I always plan my trip based on the information in the Unofficial Guide.
If you want the Straight Dope on touring either park, it’s in those books or their Website (www.touringplans.com).
[Mod Note]Telling people how to steal isn’t excusable, not matter what smilie you use.[/Mod Note]
I checked into that - apparently, they have had some problems with the elevators. It started at the height of Hollywood’s golden age when there was a terrible storm. Considering that they don’t take overnight guests, though, I do see a lot of people going in and out of it from time to time.
It’s not a bad idea for one of you to get a Premium Annual pass. It gets large discounts on food and merchandise (better discounts at Disneyland), free parking, etc.
Maggie the Ocelot is right about the Grand Californian, except that the rooms themselves are about the same as the other Disney hotels. But OMG, their Great Hall/lobby!:eek::eek::eek:
Disneyland is nice as there are lots of non-Disney hotels from $60-$75 a nite within a short walk.
DO be careful, use Travelocity not Hotels, as there’s at least one close cheap hotel that Hotels lists that Travelocity has very rightly blacklisted. (edenrock) Read the ratings and reviews if it’s only ** or ***.
Disneyland with California Adventure can definately be “done” in 4 days. Disneyworld -what with Epcot- not so much. I just tried it. Epcot and the Magic Kingdom each need a day and a half at least. (if you are a Disnleyland regular, as I am, you can do tMK in a day)
The weekdays in the period between Spring Break and Summer Break are the best time to go to Anahiem- great weather, low crowds.
At Disneyland, the Character Breakfast at the Paradise Pier is a good deal- not cheap but a lot of food, and they don’t mind if you take a bannana to go.
Bear in mind that even on the busiest days of the year you can get on any ride within 20 minutes if you show up early enough. Plus, you avoid the midday heat.
Don’t skip Orlando just because you can’t do all of it during your vacation. Much better to leave stuff undone than to have to spend a day playing mini-golf because you’ve exhausted your other options (although I heart mini-golf).
Do skip Orlando if you’re not into hot weather. It will probably hit 90 degrees at least once during your stay even in April.
Napa Rose is a really good restaurant as well. I think the Grand Californian is a prettier hotel than its sister resort - Wilderness Lodge - in Florida.
We were offsite at Disneyland, the hotel was within walking distance and was pretty cheap. There are plenty of restaurants in the area that aren’t Disney. However, Anaheim has really become a suburb of L.A. - you are pretty much in the city with city traffic - even when you are staying onsite you don’t get the “immersion” of Disney World.
Disney World is pretty immersive. There are some hotel rooms out at the Animal Kingdom lodge where you can see offsite lights, but for the most park you are surrounded by Disney. Good in that you are really removed from the real world if you stay on site. Bad in that getting any where that isn’t Disney controlled - i.e. an offsite hotel, Perkins, Target - is going to be a bigger deal.
I like the Disneyland Downtown Disney better - but we’ve never stayed near DTD in Orlando and are generally with our kids. But my favorite parks are Epcot and Animal Kingdom - and California Adventure did very little for me (but was getting a pretty major update after we left, don’t know if that has started or where that is). The Magic Kingdoms are similar, but not the same. The Pirates at Disneyland is better.
At WDW, skip the AP - its a LOT of money and doesn’t come with much in terms of discounts. Although with a large party, its sometimes worth the AP to skip the dining plan, buy the Tables in Wonderland card and get that discount instead.
The Grand Californian’s sister resort is the Grand Floridian (which is lovely from the outside but kind of vulgar on the inside, IMHO).
Only in that each is the premier resort (and actually, the Yacht Club at WDW has been charging more for their rooms for years - you aren’t alone in thinking that the GF is kinda vulgar on the inside). Grand Californian and Wilderness Lodge both have the same floorplan (almost), very similar lobbies, and very similar decorations. Wilderness Lodge is more rustic, Grand California is more refined.
Animal Kingdom Lodge is built on the same lobby design as well.
Fair enough.
Only in that each is the premier resort (and actually, the Yacht Club at WDW has been charging more for their rooms for years - you aren’t alone in thinking that the GF is kinda vulgar on the inside). Grand Californian and Wilderness Lodge both have the same floorplan (almost), very similar lobbies, and very similar decorations. Wilderness Lodge is more rustic, Grand California is more refined.
Animal Kingdom Lodge is built on the same lobby design as well.