Need tips for first visit to Disneyland from Australia

[CodeMaster]

I'm taking my family to the US at Easter this year and would really appreciate any helpful advice for visiting Las Vegas and Disneyland Anaheim.

 

We're from Australia and there are limited fun parks here. We literally have kangaroos eating the grass in our front yard as I type this message, so a visit to the US will be a big eye-opener for our kids.

 

We have 6-year-old twins (boy and girl). The boy absolutely loves roller coasters. When we visit the Gold Coast, he spends a lot of time riding the roller coasters at DreamWorld, SeaWorld and MovieWorld (any park with the name "World" in it). Height is the only current restriction as he is only 118cm (approx. 46 inches) tall. When at home he spends a lot of time watching TPR videos and playing Roller Coaster Tycoon 3.

 

First, we're going to stay in Vegas for 4 days (over the Easter long weekend) at Treasure Island. I heard it was kid friendly. My wife and I have been to Vegas a couple of times for conferences many years ago, but that was B.C. (Before Children).

 

Any suggestions on what to see and do in Vegas? We had thought of taking a helicopter flight out to the Grand Canyon, but most flights appear to be around $400 per seat. In Aussie Dollars, that's almost twice the amount. Maybe it might be cheaper to take a bus tour or even hire a car (although Americans all drive in the wrong side of the road). Some of the tours seem to drop you somewhere around the canyon and let you go walkabout for 4 hours. Not my idea of fun with young kids. I might see how much it is to hire a Limo for the day and let a driver take us to Hoover Dam, the SkyWalk over the canyon, and any other points of interest (at least we could do things at our own pace).

 

I've seen YouTube videos of a roller coaster ride at NewYork NewYork and some coaster at the top of a really tall spire in Vegas. Perhaps they might be worth a visit?

 

After Vegas, we're flying to LA and staying in a hotel near Disneyland at Anaheim for 6 days.

 

On the net, I found a site for a product called Southern California CityPass. It is a bundled ticket which includes a 3-day pass to Disneyland, and one day at each of Universal Studios, San Diego Zoo & SeaWorld. It appears to be pretty good value when compared to buying each ticket individually.

 

Disneyland will be a wonder for 6-year-olds. From what I could find on the Disney web site, the kids should be tall enough to go on most of the rides.

 

Waiting in line is never much fun, but when you have young kids, it seems to take twice as long. When you finally get to the front of the line, the kids suddenly decide that they urgently need to go to the toilet.

 

I'd really appreciate any helpful suggestions on what to see and do, as well as any strategies on how to get onto rides quickly at any of the theme parks.

 

Thanks from Down Under.

[Sir Clinksalot]

Wow, it should be a fun trip for your kids.

 

As for Vegas:

 

Circus Circus is actually the most "kid friendly" hotel on the strip, although it's not the best looking. They have free circus shows daily and also a midway with carnival games, etc.

 

They also have an indoor theme park called Adventuredome.

 

http://www.adventuredome.com/

 

They have a coaster (although your son will be too short) and other rides. It's certainly worth a day to go and enjoy it.

 

Other things are the Lions at MGM, Tigers at Mirage, etc. Most hotels have free exhibits that you can view just by walking around them. And of course, there is always Hoover Dam.

 

I do think 4 days may be too much for Vegas with kids, but you should be okay.

 

As for Disneyland: The City Pass is a good deal especially if you want to go to Sea World and Unviersal. You don't need more than a day at them. And 3 days is probably just long enough for Disney.

 

As for rides, if your Son is 46" he will be able to ride everything but CA Screamin' and Maliboomer. Indy is 46" height requirement, so that may be close. Everything else he will be fine to ride.

 

Your CityPass includes 1 morning of Magic Morning Entry. The current days they are available are Sat, Sun, Tuesday or Thursday. I'd suggest Tue or Thu to use it. But make sure you do use it. It will allow you to get all of the Fantasyland rides done with little to no waiting. On the other days you are in the park, I'd try to get there at opening to ride Fantasyland rides/Nemo.

 

Just remember, Disneyland always opens at 8am or 9am and California Adventure opens at 10am daily. So if you use your Early Entry for Disneyland, you could concievably park hop to Cal Adv. at 10am for opening there. We do this alot, and it works great.

 

The rides with the longest lines are the "Fastpass" rides (Space Mtn, Big Thunder Mtn, Splash Mountain, Indy, Autopia) but if you have fast passes, the waits shouldn't be longer than 10-20 minutes even when it's very busy. I'd make sure to use Fastpass whenever you can.

 

Not to throw a bone to MiceChat, but there is a great thread over there that details how to use Fastpass to your advantage. http://micechat.com/forums/disneyland-resort/5720-joy-fastpass-details-secrets.html

 

All of the rest of the rides (Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear, etc) are really fun and should be accessible to your kids without much of a line. They really are high-capacity rides.

 

As for DCA, there is lots of construction going on, but most of the rides are open. Make sure you ride Soarin' over CA at least once, it's very fun and not scary for the kids. Your son may like Tower of Terror as well. I'd say for your 3 days that you'd need 2 days at Disneyland and 1 at California Adventure.

 

You also have the ability to "Park Hop" between Disneyland and DCA which is not hard to do. Their entrances are about 50 yards apart from each other.

 

Have fun!!!

[cfc]

Welcome to TPR. I moved your topic from the Random board to the main Theme Park board, where you'll probably get more responses.

 

Chuck

Site Moderator

[The Disneylander]

DCA right now is construction fanboy heaven, but most of the stuff is still operating, so it's no biggie unless you don't like the sight of construction walls everywhere. I would go over the MiceChat and ask your same question there; it's probable that you would get more informed answers for Disney over there.

 

As for LV, Treasure Island is slightly less kid-friendly than it was a few years ago, but is still a good choice, especially when compared to Rio, Palms, Bellagio, etc.

 

Have fun!