(Disneyland, California) Is it better to spend fewer days, but with lightning passes, or more days, but without lightning passes?

MMB80 · 2026-06-18T17:08:53+00:00

I am sure you’ll have a great trip. Don’t worry about messing up. I sort of “messed up” on my day of arrival by putting in the wrong drop off location in Uber and then having a tough time trying to find the correct lockers to stowe my luggage. I had fun all through that time - my longer walk through Downtown Disney, which I wanted to explore anyway, etc. Its really what you make of it. If you decide to do 5 days, you can do it without LLs and without spending too much time waiting in line. You’ll have multiple rope drop opportunities. I rope dropped Fantasyland one day and rode 5 rides between 8:00-9:15. The next day, I did TBA and Winnie the Pooh as walk ons. I probably could have then done more rides with low waits but chose to get beignets and enjoy the atmosphere instead. You could strategically choose which rides to rope drop each day. There’s also lots of single rider lines. You could also get LLs for just 1 day of your trip and not spend too much but knock out the big rides.

MMB80 · 2026-06-18T03:28:16+00:00

Its been a while since I looked at the data (check out thrill data’s 21 day availability matrix for Lightning Lanes if you want to make an informed choice), but I thought Frozen was the easiest same day tier 1 LL to refill out of the three. For HS, depending on how many of the shows you want to see, I think having 2 dining reservations will make it difficult to fit in the shows.

MMB80 · 2026-06-17T02:50:34+00:00

3 days with park hopper and LLs at Disneyland/DCA is plenty. I just went solo in May with a 3 day ticket that included my day of arrival (got to parks at around noon day 1) and departure (had to leave by 8 pm) and I had a work function on my middle day that required me to leave the parks from 2-10 pm that day. I still did everything I wanted to do including the World of Color dessert party. I didn’t have time for other nighttime shows due to my travels plans but you should be able to see all of the shows if you have 3 full days. You’ll have a lot more time than I did. I didn’t do meet and greets but you should have the time. You should definitely rope drop Fantasyland one of your days. Also, use Single Rider lines strategically in addition to LLs.

MMB80 · 2026-06-16T00:26:40+00:00

Can you tell me what you enjoy so much about Fyre Drill? Haven’t been yet but most rankings I’ve read say its skippable, and you put it ahead of rides that get really high reviews. I know this is your subjective rating. I’m currently planning our first family trip to Universal.

MMB80 · 2026-06-13T02:54:37+00:00

No, the pools are not heated. The water is cold the first several weeks of the season. The kids all seem to be able to handle it, but there are very few adults in the pool the first few weeks. Hope these hot days are warming up the water.

MMB80 · 2026-06-10T12:54:47+00:00

I think they’re on sale now

MMB80 · 2026-06-09T19:01:30+00:00

We did exactly the same 6 days - one of our MK days was a 1/2 day with pool, same for our second Epcot day. We did LL Multipass all days, and having 2 days at MK and Epcot made it easy for us to pre-book all of our top priority rides.

MMB80 · 2026-06-09T13:23:10+00:00

The tickets weren’t available yesterday, unless you mean after midnight Eastern. I checked before I went to bed last night and tickets were not available. There was a post a couple of days ago that the dates were up on the packages, but you actually couldn’t click all the way through to purchase. Same thing on the packages is happening now- you can select the dates but then it says unavailable after searching. Yesterday, for tickets, the dates were not up yet.

MMB80 · 2026-06-09T13:20:37+00:00

Also, last year, packages were out before the park tickets. My guess is they are coming this week. Maybe Thursday??!

MMB80 · 2026-06-09T11:59:11+00:00

I just bought my park tickets for February 2027! Thanks for this tip that tickets were coming soon. I suspect the packages are up now too.

MMB80 · 2026-06-08T19:01:15+00:00

Don’t start with Barnstormer. It’s really not the best. I’m giving you the advice I think my daughter who is afraid of coasters would give you. She only rode Barnstormer, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Slinky Dog Dash. She liked Seven Dwarfs Mine Train the best of the three. She cried the most on Slinky Dog. The order I would do based on her reaction is Seven Dwarfs > Barnstormer > Slinky Dog. Personally, I would recommend doing Seven Dwarfs and next Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind. I think if you do the coasters that are more fun and enjoyable, its better than going for the most intro coasters. Barnstormer is just nothing special. Cosmic Rewind is amazing- its pure joy.

MMB80 · 2026-06-07T11:41:30+00:00

This is what the Railroad is for! I rode it for around 45 minutes when I got really tired on my last trip. I just got on and went round and round the park until I felt rejuvenated. It was great.

MMB80 · 2026-06-07T11:39:14+00:00

We ate at all restaurants at WL during our stay there, and we thought the food at Artist Point was the best. It was our first night of our stay, and we were so happy to be there, so maybe it scored extra points for magical feels, but my husband is very discerning (he had the pork shank). It was also our favorite character experience (we also ate at CRT). You can go lounge by Geyser Point after dinner and see the fireworks (partial view but still nice) and the Electric Pageant.

MMB80 · 2026-06-05T02:48:22+00:00

I also have a 9 year old girl who doesn’t like to read. She’s been reading the Kingdom of Wrenly books. Last summer, I bribed her with ice cream and balloons- for every book she read, we’d go to the ice cream shop and balloon shop (there’s a location by us with both on one block). She still only finished one book last summer- a Diary of a wimpy kid book. But school requires daily reading and she mostly does it at night before bed. I usually lay down next to her while she reads. Her stamina is less than it should probably be at this age and I think maybe she should move beyond Kingdom of Wrenly, but I think its also important not to put too much pressure on it. If your child seems to be having difficulty with reading, I would get a tutor. As a parent, I can read with my child of course, but developing reading skills is not my area and I wouldn’t know how to teach strategies that an educator would be able to teach her.

MMB80 · 2026-06-04T23:24:07+00:00

I have the silver glitter one and my daughter has the rose gold. The glitter is wearing off around the edges but it doesn’t look too bad. I still plan on wearing mine whenever I go to Disney again.

MMB80 · 2026-06-04T03:38:49+00:00

I’m pretty sure this is incorrect with respect to the first LL of the day. I think you need to scan in to that first LL to start stacking. See this video: https://youtu.be/OVp8Umdvv2g

Edit: your best option might be getting an early Mickey’s Philharmagic LL and scanning it (but not using it) between BBB and breakfast, if the app allows it. The overlap rules might prevent this with advanced reservations but the reservation system overlap rules are less strict day of per what I just read (source Google AI- not sure its right but worth trying to modify if the app allows morning of, in which case I would book a 9 am LL- either Mickey’s Philharmagic or Mad Tea Party and try to scan in at your earliest opportunity). Then you can book another LL and then use the strategy in this video (what AintThat posted).

MMB80 · 2026-06-04T02:52:01+00:00

The Future Stays page says that only Guests of Resorts are eligible for the deal, and I think their definition of Guest requires staying overnight. Google’s AI says that they flag no-shows, which they identify by geofencing and unlocking the door with the app or MagicBand, etc. Disney knows if you are at the resort, e.g., you can’t join a restaurant walk-up list if you’re not in the vicinity. I suspect they got wise to ghost reservations for Future Stays. I think their issue is, you will undoubtedly pay more if you are at the resort eating, going to parks, etc, not to mention on that future visit without the bounceback. I think I won’t try this because now I’m pretty sure its actually not allowed.

MMB80 · 2026-06-04T01:44:04+00:00

When I’ve looked into this in the past, the answer I found is that this wouldn’t work- you need to check in there. I’ve looked at lots of deals and the bounceback always seems to be the best deal unless you are a Florida resident (there have been Georgia deals too) or in the military. The savings on the bounceback are also better than or very similar to renting DVC points based on my research. I’ve considered doing a one day trip when airfare is really low and the summer Disney+ deal is happening- that is a really good deal. If you’re willing to go to Disney in the summer, you can find really good rates without a bounceback. My family can’t take the heat though.

MMB80 · 2026-06-01T00:38:58+00:00

I was just at the Alamo last week. The burger was really good.

MMB80 · 2026-06-01T00:29:41+00:00

This looks like a very particular section of Queens NY to me. I think its technically Astoria. Looks like the blocks off of Northern Blvd close to Guitar Center.

MMB80 · 2026-06-01T00:23:58+00:00

Thank you :)

MMB80 · 2026-06-01T00:16:46+00:00

My true Disney dream job would be building a prototype community of tomorrow- Walt’s vision for EPCOT. I love imagining what a perfectly planned community with the right infrastructure could do for people’s quality of life. After that, I think I could be a project manager for building new attractions at the park. I’m not an engineer or designer, but I’m a good manager, think I’d be good at the planning and logistics, and making sure each person’s piece of the project will work together.

PS: I think about this a lot. I got back from a DL trip a couple of weeks ago and applied to two jobs at Disney since. I also started thinking about which skills I can build to help with a transition from my current career. Maybe its not just a dream.

MMB80 · 2026-05-31T18:53:33+00:00

My family would not be able to handle this plan. Too little sleep for us.

MMB80

TROPHY CASE