How to plan for DLP?

[Guest]

I've just booked today for 19-22nd November staying at the Sequoia Lodge; I've had a look at the park hours for then and the only Extra Morning Hours are all for the Disneyland Park so will obviously be going in there most mornings (I'll probably have a lie in on one or two mornings!) so I'm just wondering how you plan for it? Is it just a case of one park one day and the other the next?

Also, is Dreams still on? I can't find anything about times?

Be prepared for lots of questions - this is my first solo trip and first time to DLP in 10 years!

[Melanie R]

We tend to alternate the parks - be aware that the Studios typically opens a good half hour before official opening time - worth getting there if you want to rideCrush!

Dreams is still on each night - and the park will be all Christmassy too - if they are still doing it, I can recommend the Tree Lighting Ceremony - pack plenty of tissues though

[Hannikins]

we tended to head to disneyland park first, then head over to the studios in the afternoon... before heading back to DP for dreams. I think that's what a majority do so it may be a busier plan ;P

[MrsBC]

We've not seen Dreams, but November is often when DD and I go usually for 3 nights, but last year it was 4 nights.
We usually arrive during the evening, so only go to the Village for a first look and something to eat the first night (last trip it was Earl of Sandwich). We book any meals the same evening.
We go to Disneyland Park on day 1, either eat in the park or come out of the park to the Village for a meal late afternoon and go back in for the tree lighting and parade (which are lovely).
Day 2 we go to the Studios, and spend the evening having a meal in the Village, then browsing the shops and having a drink or coffee. We do a bit of hotel hopping around the lake, checking out the shops and decorations.
Day 3 we revisit all the things we want to do again or see shows we've missed, finish shopping and usually eat at Plaza Gardens buffet late afternoon before heading back to the airport.
Last year we were there with DS and family an we had an extra day, so we parkhopped a bit more and went to Buffalo Bill's and Ice skating too.

[Gill H]

We tend to book a 7am breakfast slot and be at the park for 8am. Watching Main Street wake up is one of my greatest pleasures!

It is almost always the same rides open during EMH: Dumbo, Peter Pan, Teacups, Carousel, maybe Pinocchio or Snow White, and over in Discoveryland, Space Mountain, Buzz and Orbitron.

By 9.30 we have done them all, saving hours of queuing later!

An alternative is to ask if they are doing 'breakfast in the park' which you can book. Some people book thus for 9.30 so as to get the most out of EMH first.

Dreams is superb, we saw it every night!

[Guest]

What I have got so far is:

Sunday 18th
Travel to London, check into Travelodge Kings Cross Royal Scott. Grab snacks for the room at SL & something for breakfast. Pick up Eurostar Tickets from St Pancras. Relax in Travelodge.

Monday 19th
Leave hotel at 6am, walk to St Pancras, find coffee, check into Eurostar, have to change at Lille Europe to Lille Flandres onto TGV. Arrive at DLP at 1ish. Going to SL to check in & drop off bags. Go to Disney Village for lunch (EoS). Hopefully go into Disneyland Park (need to see the castle!). Go back to SL go to room for a rest at 4ish, will either rest first then go for a swim (ok, go for a jacuzzi, who am I kidding?) or the other way round then probably just get a buffet in the hotel with a couple of cocktails and an early night

Tuesday 20th
Early (hopefully!) breakfast at SL, walk around to DL park, am aiming on spending most of the day in here, however I just found out that Space Mountain is closed so I wont be able to beat my 8 in a row record of '02... will go back to SL for a rest/swim/freshen up, and get back to the park for Dreams. I plan to either have an early or late dinner at Annette's.

Wednesday 21st
Breakfast at SL, into DL for EMH, then into WDS, will head straight to Toy Story area & Crush then the rest of the park; will probably be in here all day without a break as it is a new park for me.

Thursday 22nd
As above, hopefully moping up any other bits from either park, then Eurostar home is at 14:44, gets into St Pancras at 17:03 with a change at Lille Europe, will probably get a taxi to Paddington and am booked onto the 19:03 back to Plymouth which is due in at 22:26 and get a taxi back to mine





Do I need to book Annette's? or any other evening meals or will because I am flying (railing?) solo be able to be fitted in easily?

[Guest]

I am sure u cant book annettes..

[Guest]

As Rapunzel2012 says you can't book Annette's, it gets very busy around 6:15-6:30pm as the Studios empties and those not switching parks hit the Village.

I have never travelled solo, so our plans probably wouldn't work for you, everything takes us a lot longer doing babyswitch etc so we never have time to go swimming or rest on park days.

However, we always do Disneyland Parc on the first day, tend to start with Small World. If I were you I'd maybe try to stay in for the parade on that first afternoon. I never ride Dumbo after EMH, the queue is horrendous.
We always have an early breakfast, to avoid the queues at breakfast in the hotel. On the day in the Studios what worked well was to be at the entrance by 9:25am as the gates opened, they were actually letting people straight through and Crush was running when DD and I got there at 9:35am last week, we queued and rode it and were off by 9:54am, by which time the queue was over 40mins, shortly after that it was over 1hr, After Crush we went to the Toy Story area, both RC Racer and Parachute Drop have single rider queues. Then between the shows and the parades in the Studios we easily fill the day, Animagique and Cinemagique are both well worth seeing.
Dreams will be on just after park closing, I have noticed they have started closing the park 15mins earlier so the show can close on time, and Fantasyland is closing about 1.5hrs before the rest of the park to prep for Dreams.
Meal reservations really depends where you want to eat, and that depends on your budget. We always make reservations because then the queues are shorter. For instance there have always been a queue for La Grange walk ins, but if you have a reservation you can go almost straight through.

[Peter H]

We find we don't get time to have a dip in the pool but we are not really pool people. EMH is a good time to get some of the big queues out of the way. Dreams will be at closing time.

[DIBBadmin]

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