3 full days enough for first (possibly only) trip to Disneyland?



Possibly only trip? 5 days (minimum), depending on your touring style, interests, time of year, extra activities, size of group, ages, physical limitations, etc.
 
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You know, I’ve been to WDW more times than I can count, and there is plenty I’ve never been able to do.

We are heading to SoCal and can only allot four days to DLR; we have another 3.5 days to do other things in the area. I know there’s stuff we can’t do.

I’ve always, always counseled friends before their once-in-a-lifetime WDW trip to not beat themselves up over what they couldn’t do or see, but just to make sure they are enjoying everything they ARE doing. Educate yourself so you don’t feel like you are burning time in lines, and then reflect on the fact that you had a lot of fun with what you did.

I admit I do beat myself up (on everything!) with evaluating the return on my investment (time & money). If we accomplish less than I hoped, but we were always having a blast... good ROI.
 
3 days definitely not enough. I would go with 5 and it will be closer. If you have young ones I’d have a break day in the middle. That way you would be more rested and able to see and do more. But it will be awesome no matter what!!!!
 
You know, I’ve been to WDW more times than I can count, and there is plenty I’ve never been able to do.

We are heading to SoCal and can only allot four days to DLR; we have another 3.5 days to do other things in the area. I know there’s stuff we can’t do.

I’ve always, always counseled friends before their once-in-a-lifetime WDW trip to not beat themselves up over what they couldn’t do or see, but just to make sure they are enjoying everything they ARE doing. Educate yourself so you don’t feel like you are burning time in lines, and then reflect on the fact that you had a lot of fun with what you did.

I admit I do beat myself up (on everything!) with evaluating the return on my investment (time & money). If we accomplish less than I hoped, but we were always having a blast... good ROI.

This is similar to us. Been to WDW 3 times with the kids (now 7 and 5). Will be out west this summer and was going to have 3 full days at dlr. might be able to squeeze an extra day if think it’s necessary.
 
It was for my husband and me (well, we had 4 day tickets, but we did the equivalent of less than 3 full park days). But we're park commandos (okay, I'M the commando and my husband just follows along ;)). But depending on your touring style, it might not be.
 
It all depends. A lot of people will get all they want to do done in three days. My family goes mostly for just for the rides, are an rope drop to close kind of family, and we still find it difficult to kill an entire day at DCA. But we lived in L.A. for years with AP's, so there are tons of attractions we know we prefer to skip (lookin' at you, Abe!). On the flip side, I used to spend whole afternoons sitting around people watching when our kid was a napping toddler.

If people are primary interested in ... 1) rides, or ... 2) park history, or ... 3) shows/M&G/parades, etc., they can probably accomplish any two of them in 3 days. But if it's an "only" trip, and people want to not only do everything but savor the trip as well, plan for 5 days. By 3-5 days, you begin to understand how compact (though dense) the DLR really is, and how "meh" the surrounding Anaheim is, and be ready to see other things.

If the OP is asking, will they feel shortchanged if they only have 3 days? No, I don't think they will.
 
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I think if you're going in the spring, then yes since most of MK and DCA are boarded up. With some of the more popular rides down (California Screaming, FunWheel, Splash Mountain etc) and no fireworks or parades because of the hideously boarded up Main Street, it takes away about 30% of the "magic" and fun things to do so you definatley will spend less time there than when the park goes back to normal in the summer.

The first time I ever brought my kids it was 3 days, and its been 3 days ever since - really just out of habit, plus I always go in the spring during spring break when I have a week off so 3 days is perfect since I am the one driving the 14 hours to Anaheim. After the first few trips of us hittting the ground running and going to the parks as soon as we get to the hotel, then jumping up again early the next day which meant almost NO rest for me after a 14 hour drive, I now do our trips like this:
Day 1: Arrive at hotel. I sleep! Kids go use pool or whatever. Evening we go to Downtown disney and eat dinner, shop a little, then go back tohotel and go to bed.

Day 2: Parks
Day 3:Parks
Day 4: Beaches, Santa Monica, or Universal (rare). Whatever we want to do in SoCal -- usually it's the beach.
Day 5: Parks
Day 6: Drive home

So that schedule fits perfect in the week i have off for Spring break.

Disneyworld is another story. I get a month off in the summer and i reserve THAT for WDW because you definatley need more time for that. No way you can even begin to touch the surface in 3 days. I think the shortest time we've spent in WDW was 9 days and there was a ton we didn't get to.

So yah, if DL wasn't inder so much construction right now, as a newbie I would tell you you'd need 5 or 6 days to max out your experience since a lot of time will be spent getting your bearings and figuring things out. A veteran could do it in 3, but if your new, 3 days would work now while theres a lot of stuff down, but if you're going anytime after, you need 5 at least.
 
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3 days are great. do DL first day, DCA 2nd day. and DL the 3rd day.
 
Our first trip (and what we assumed to be our only) was 3 days. We left perfectly happy with our time frame (and completely in love with DL that we go every year). Did we get to do everything? Nope. Did we do everything we wanted to do? Yes. You should be able to fit in almost every ride (especially with Maxpass now), fireworks, parade, some characters, and maybe even a show in 3 days. Now if your wanting a relaxing, easy, sit around doing nothing for awhile then no 3 days is not enough.
 
i don’t do once in a lifetime trips.

Can’t.

The concept is too depressing.

No three days isn’t enough. One AP year I was there 18 separate days and still never did everything I wanted to do, let alone everything.

But if it's what you’ve got, it’s what you’ve got.
 
...Been to WDW 3 times with the kids (now 7 and 5). Will be out west this summer and was going to have 3 full days at dlr. might be able to squeeze an extra day if think it’s necessary.

Read through this thread then decide if 3 days will be enough: A DLR Guide for WDW Vets. Personally, with little ones 5 and 7, I would add the extra day if possible -- more relaxed = more enjoyable = more magical for everyone. DLR has a lot of little things that aren't necessarily in the schedule, like spontaneous M&Gs with characters, musical chairs with Alice and the Mad Hatter, so much live music, etc. The less stressed your days are, the more fun they will be.
 
3 Days? :surfweb:
Let' see, we have been going to the parks for years. Usually, we spend at least five days in the parks each visit :cool:. Yes, we do some things several times :rolleyes2. Have we seen everything there is to see at DL? Ah No:sad:. Do we keep going back? Ah Yes:-). Why? No one really knows :sad2:.
 

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