One day trip to DL

eyeontheball

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 29, 2015
Hi,
We’ve been to WDW several times but never DL. My husband will be out there for work and I was going to tag along(no kids). Looks like we would have one day to visit DL. I’ve searched for one day recommendations but haven’t found a lot of info.
If you just had one day there, would you recommend park hopper or just stay in one park? Also any can’t miss rides? We care more about the rides than character interaction. Any tips/advice would be helpful. (Oh and we are looking at Friday November 16, 2018). Thank you!
 
Read this post first: A DLR Guide for WDW Vets. It will give you a good overview of the similarities and differences between DLR and WDW. That way you'll have some sense of what's what going into your visit. Can you do a whole day, i.e. rope drop to close? If so, a park hopper might be a worthwhile splurge -- the parks are so close together that you could go back and forth a few times, avoid peak crowds in one park by hopping to the other, use MaxPass (digital FP) to its full advantage, see Cars Land (one the best lands in a Disney park), have more food options, etc. I would suggest that you download the free Disneyland app now (make sure that you get the latest version) so that you can start playing with it to get used to it before your visit. That way you won't waste time trying to figure it out when you get there. You can buy your tickets ahead of time on the app and go straight to the gates -- that saves lots of time, too, by avoiding the lines at the ticket booths. It will be Holiday Time when you visit -- one of the best times of the year at DLR. We don't have the holiday parties out here -- all the festivities (holiday parade, holiday fireworks, decorations, etc.) are included with your entry ticket! Must see rides: definitely the rides with the holiday overlays: HMH and IASWH! Cars Land will be decorated for the holidays, too. Try to catch the neon lighting on Route 66 at sunset -- really a fun moment!

Here are a few recent posts on one day visits (note that these visits happened while certain rides or areas of the parks were still under construction -- same may not be true when you visit):
Only One Day - Will My Plan Succeed? -- there is a lot of background and planning info in this thread.
My Revised One Day Plan -- part two of the above thread.
So Our First DL Trip Went Like This... -- and what actually happened!
8/17 Solotrip-DL and DCA in 1 day -- a one day trip report from a WDW vet.
One day Parkhopping with Maxpass- Trip Report
 
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We did a 1 day a few years ago and got a hopper, spent half the day at each park and had a great time. Like someone else said focus on the unique rides first and do open to close if you can!
 
We did a one day with a hopper a few years ago. Make sure to get a fp for the Radiator Springs Racers. We live WDW and found out we love DL as well and would like to bring our kids here. Skip the Nemo sub ride, it was hot and claustrophobic-waste of time for my husband and I. We loved how the same rides were different and really enjoyed them at DL. We had dinner at Blu Buyu, it was amazing. We didn't have a ressie and got a walk in about 730 or so. Have a great time!
 
I did a one day trip in August! (Here is a link to a mini-report if that helps https://www.disboards.com/posts/59574787)

Definitely Park Hopper + Max Pass and you will be all set. We did a lot in 1 day! We did do Rope Drop to close and we were also toting along a 6 year old. She was a trooper!
 


If you have days available while he’s in class I’d get a longer ticket for you! It will
Probably not cost much more than a 1 day. Check multi day tickets at lastminutetravelclub.com use the code FOETRAVEL (not a typo)
 

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