Disneyland Trip Planning
Topic: Last minute jitters...

#	Author	Message
1	Dalia3001 Mon 10/19/2009 9:08a	I have been getting more and more nervous about the trip my husband and I are taking to the parks this Sunday, October 25th. We picked this day because I work 6 days a week, and this is absolutely the only day we could make it to the parks. I know it is going to be super crowded, and my nervousness is coming in waves bordering on terror. My goals for this trip were to ride the Halloween rides and see the fireworks, as well as to hopefully park hop over to DCA to ride Midway Madness and California Screamin'. I am trying to use a Ridemax Saturday plan, and one thing that scares me silly is that Saturdays are now less crowded than Sundays, so doesn't that mean that you can no longer easily substitute a Saturday for a Sunday when making a plan? My plan seems to be saying that if I get a Space Mtn FP at 8:05 I should be able to get another one at 8:54, and then a third at 9:45, and then a HMH FP at 12:26. Does this seem like it might be reasonable, assuming that all rides stay functioning the whole time? Does this seem like it's in line with the FP return times that have been seen over the past Sundays? I know last Sunday was CHOC walk and SM closed in the morning because there was a problem, but the previous Sunday might be comparable, so I am just hoping that someone might be able to help me out here with their greater FP knowledge. I know my plan of getting three SM FP's in the morning is overkill, but I like to put the rides I really want to get on into the plan a couple of times to make sure that they happen at all. I also just read on another site that the Happiest Haunts Tour DOES include slightly blocked fireworks seating, and I'm heartbroken that I missed out on this. The tour is sold out for the day we will be there. I had asked about this a while back, but ended my own thread (I think, I can't find it anymore) when I posted that due to the start time of 4:45 and the length of the tour posted on the Disney.com website being 3 hours, I couldn't see how it included fireworks. But it does, and now I'm bummed, because a reserved bench would have made me so much more able to deal with crowds to see the fireworks! I am so scared that by 9:25 I will be so fed up with the crowds I have been reading about that I will just want to go back to the hotel and crash. We are planning a break at our hotel (Motel 6) from 2:00 to 3:30, then on going back to DCA to ride Midway Madness and California Screamin, then have a bite to eat and head back to DL at around 6:00 to hopefully use a FP to ride Space again at 7:00. If we finish up using our FP's around 8:00pm, (at HMH) would we be able to get to the middle of Main Street to watch the Fireworks? From the middle of Main Street would we be able to get to Fantasmic afterwards to watch the 10:30 show? I know this is a very ambitious plan. I am trying to psyche myself up for the crowds, but they do make me exhausted, and I am in a tizzy trying to figure out the best way to do all that we want to do.
2	Dalia3001 Mon 10/19/2009 9:12a	The positives: We have a good hour off at around 10am in DL according to this plan waiting for FP's to become available again, so we will be able to check out Halloween Roundup, the Halloween Tree the decorations in Frontierland and on Main Street, maybe even take a peek at the Gallery. We still get to have lunch at Carnation Cafe, so I can try the baked potato soup. I'm going to DL, how bad can things be, right? But the posts about the extreme crowds are making me pretty nervous, and I want to be sure my expectations are sort of in line with what I might find.
3	Mickeysbestfan Mon 10/19/2009 9:14a	I think you are over thinking the whole day. While your plan seems good, remember to have fun and be flexible.
4	Dalia3001 Mon 10/19/2009 9:22a	Ha ha, it's true, I do over think and plan. However, even on less busy days, I like to have a pretty solid plan, and we are usually there for more than one day and when it is less busy. Once I am there, if things go wrong in my plan (which they generally do, at some point) I am able to roll with it and still have fun, but crowds at night after a long day can really get to me, and I really want to see the fireworks, so anything I can do to minimize exhaustion before that and prepare myself to be in the right place at the right time is something I'm willing to work for a bit. : )
5	LuLu Mon 10/19/2009 5:37p	Oh honey, don't stress. You'll have a great time! I was there 10/10-11 and it was quite crowded, but great. This coming weekend may be less crowded, since the weekend I was there was Columbus Day. But, no, you won't have 3 FP for Space by 9:45. The ones you get around 9 will likely be for at least 2 hours later so don't count on getting a third FP for 2 hrs. (On the 10 & 11 I didn't get to SM til 9:40 but the FPs were for 1:15 on Sat and 3pm on Sun. AND the line to GET a FP was soooo long!) I've heard that the line for standby HMH is long but the wait times are very overstated. When the sign said 40 or 45, the CM even said only 30. And I think someone posted when it said 60 it was only 40 or less (can't remember :p). So you don't even HAVE to have a FP (tho it is nice :). The Roundup and the decor in general is just lovely, so relax and enjoy. And lines for non-Halloween rides are pretty reasonable. You can get a good fireworks spot just in front of the photo supply store (inside the ropes of course) about an hour before showtime. Have a great time!!
6	SleepingBeauty82 Mon 10/19/2009 6:18p	You are talking to the QUEEN of overthinking here! I know how you feel. Whenever I start to freak out about something, I remember a quote by Mark Twain "I spent 90% of my life worrying about things that never happened." Don't meet trouble halfway, you know? 8:00 should be an ok time to see the fireworks. You may not have the best spot on in the world but you'll find something. Same goes for Fantasmic. You will no doubt be able to do everything you want to do, trust me. Also just FYI, we tried to get FPs for Space Mountain last Thursday around 4:00 and of course they were out. The wait said 55 minutes and my friend really wanted to see it so we just waited and it ended up being only about a 40 minute wait. Ok so you already know it will be crowded, right? So attitude is everything. If you find yourself elbowing your way through a crowds just take a deep breath and refuse to get cranky. If the lines are really long, do something else and come back later. Just relish the fact that you are at the Happiest Place on Earth and life is good.
7	Dalia3001 Mon 10/19/2009 8:33p	Thanks everyone!! I'm feeling much better about it all after reading your comments. I will post a trip report on my return and let you know how we fared. : )
8	amazedncal2 Tue 10/20/2009 8:18a	Just FYI, we got to Disneyland around 1:00 this past Sunday. Got fastpasses for Space with a return time of 9:00. We checked out the "time board" on Main Street and the waits for Thunder and HM were pretty reasonable, went to both and the wait times were MUCH longer than had been posted. I guess they had just not updated them recently (note to self, don't just look, ask the CM about the updating procedure.) Went on Jungle with a 5 minute wait :) Went to DCA and practically walked on Screamin and got then fastpasses for later. Waited 40 minutes in TSM line. Got a snack and fastpasses for Soarin. Went to the hotel to check in and get ready for the evening and meet up with our DD, SIL and GRANDSON :):) Came back around 6ish, had dinner at Taste Pilots, then went on Soarin. We found that we didn't need the fastpasses for Screamin, it was a walk on :) Actually Screamin was done twice because our Grandson can't go on it yet so we took turns with him on the Carousel :) Went back to Disneyland around 8:30, got fastpasses for Buzz. Walked on Star Tours, used the FP's for Space (another spin on Star Tours for DH and GS while we checked the scaryness of Space) and then we all went on Buzz. We decided to call it quits and get candy at Marcelines but it was closed :( so we made do with Haagen Daz :) and listened to some great music in DTD. If we didn't have GS with us, we would have had more time in the park. So this is my long winded way of agreeing with everyone else :) if you choose a handful of "musts" and are willing to take a walk on of Star Tours or Jungle or book it over to DCA, you'll have a GREAT time :) We were just there for 6ish hours on a Sunday and were very happy with how it went. If fireworks had been a priority we'd have easily fit that in. I'm SURE you'll get all your musts done :)
9	SleepingBeauty82 Tue 10/20/2009 5:10p	That's the funny thing. Even though the park can be packed and the rides with holiday overlays super crowded, there are always plenty of walk-ons. Weekend before last we were there Saturday and got parked in overflow parking and were warned that the parks were packed but just like amazed's experience, we went over to DCA first and practically walked on Screamin, Soarin, and Mullholand Madness.
10	Dalia3001 Wed 10/21/2009 8:43a	Cool guys, thanks for letting me know all of that. I am much more excited than nervous after all of your kind words.

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