One Day in Disneyland Suggestions

So...my family has booked a 10 day trip to California this summer. First time to the pacific coast, so I'm really excited! (Been to Hawaii once before). We're doing 3 days in San Francisco, 3 in Monterrey, then 4 in SoCal in the end of June/first few days of July. We're trying to cram in as much as possible, so when I asked about Disneyland my parents were very skeptical about it. However, I think I've convinced them to go...however they only promised no more than 1 day there (we're staying in Santa Monica our time in SoCal, FYI). Here's my question:

One day in Disneyland. What do you do? We would be getting a guest assistance pass because of my sister for attractions, so we can expand what we do. But, do you confine to Disneyland Park? Or try to make the most and go Disneyland Park in the day, then hop to California Adventure for World of Color at night?

Also, dining suggestions for lunch and dinner? I'd say a QS place for lunch and sit down for dinner. Anything specific/unique to make sure to see?

I'm playing hypotheticals here, because I don't even know if this will be a definite yet. I'm really trying to push for a day in Disneyland, though, since I've never been, so any and all input would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks everyone!

World. Of. Color.

Yeah - WoC definitely! Amazing show. Try and get on Indiana Jones as well - VERY cool ride. Carsland (I believe) will be open when you go, although queues are still likely to be mega, so if you want to make the most of your time, this might not be the best idea. I was also going to say check out DL's version of Fantasmic! (lots more in it than WDW's version), but this will probably clash with WoC, so might not be an option. Oh, and I would say ride POTC, just because it's a longer experience and has a lot more details in it.

Thanks for the advice so far! Just trying to get as much feedback as possible, because at most I would be there 1 day.

Other thing is that I think I'd want to go to Disneyland Park over Cali Adventure, if given the choice of one or the other. Just torn on World of Color. Even if we were to hop, a good chunk of the day would be spent in Disneyland Park, anyway...at least that's how I see it.

You could always spend the bulk of your day at Disneyland and then hop over to California Adventure to see WoC in the evening - as the finale to your day.

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Originally Posted by missbounce

You could always spend the bulk of your day at Disneyland and then hop over to California Adventure to see WoC in the evening - as the finale to your day.

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That's what I've been thinking about as the plan. It sounds pretty logical to me. Basically once we've done everything we wanted in DLP then we just hop over to DCA for the rest of the day/night.

Make sure to get your world of color fastpass when DCA opens

When we were at DLR back in June of '10, for only one day, the only reason we would have even gone to DCA was because of Carsland and WoC. Carsland was, obviously, not open and WoC was a week shy of soft openings. We were plenty fine with Just the original.
I'll go along with the motion of making sure you get your fill of where Walt walked first, and then definitely don't miss WoC and get to Carsland if you can still fit it in.

I just got back from my first time to the west coast last month. We also did San Fran, Monterey, and DL. It wouldn't be hard to do DLR and then DCA just for WoC or Cars Land time-wise, because they are so close to each other that it doesn't take any time at all to park hop. But other than doing just a few things in DCA, I would recommend spending the rest of your time at DL. So that puts you in the predicament of wondering if you are really getting your money's worth out of a park hopper. WoC is phenomenal, but watching the fireworks and Fantasmic at DLR is also fantastic. You can spend a few whole days at DLR alone easily, so you may just want to stick to that park? Really just depends on how high up on your must-do list WoC and other things at DCA are.

At DLR, make sure you don't miss Big Thunder, Space Mountain, Pirates, Toontown, Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones, and the submarines. And the Matterhorn of course, if it is done with its refurb when you go-- I unfortunately missed out on it. I'd also recommend checking out all of the great artifacts in the Opera House on Main Street. DL park is so great, I totally loved it. Much more different than MK than I expected. I didn't do any table services inside DL park, so can't help you out there. They have a lot of quick service options with much more variety than MK in my opinion, I'd recommend checking out Allears for menus. You can check out my trip report (http://www.wdwradio.com/forums/showt...12-Trip-Report) if you're interested, maybe it'll help give you a better feel for the parks?

I would definitely see WoC. It's worth the cost of the picnic lunches for reserved viewing area.

In October, I was able to make the first show of WoC, then hop back to DLR for Wishes and Fantasmic... a bit of walking, but was worth it. I also felt the PotC at DLR was not to be missed and Indy.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

My main focus is to see DLP. I've already said I'd sacrifice DCA to get the full DLP experience...it's just I'm still really bent on seeing WoC. I think I'd still be happy seeing DLP fireworks at the end of the day, though.

More information to hopefully come in the future.

Belated update:

I am in California now, in San Francisco.

We decided that we are only going to do DLP, and are going on July 1. We have a 6:30pm dinner reservation at Cafe Orleans!

Get the pomme frites at Cafe Orleans - so yummy!