How much time for DL?

Can't help you with this one JMUDukz, sorry. That's one for the west coaster to answer.

I'm heading out on Friday morning and home Monday afternoon. I'm getting a 4-day hopper...half day on Friday, half day on Monday. I figure a day and a half at each should be good.

We just went in March and drove down from Northern CA - we did Monday afternoon - Thursday morning and felt that was pretty sufficient.

Since it was our first visit, our plan was to explore both parks on Monday afternoon and evening, then do DCA on Tuesday and DL on Wednesday. Full days at both parks.

On Monday we got to DL around 11:00 am, and were inside DCA by Noon. The crowds were not heavy during that time, and we ended up spending the whole afternoon at DCA and caught World of Color that evening. We even managed to get a ride on RAdiator Springs Racers with just an hour wait. We were able to hit all the key attractions on my DCA list that afternoon.

So when we hit up DCA on Tuesday, it was a very casual, laid back day where we just wandered and enjoyed without worry of ride lines ir missing anything. Which was *really* nice because it was an absolute MADHOUSE with the rush to CarsLand that morning. I would have totally given up on getting anywhere close to it if we waited until Wednesday.

We spent all day Wednesday at DL and felt that was a good amount of time. We really wanted to make sure we hit up a number of the rides that were unique to DL, and also do some comparisons to those with counterparts in WDW.

So I think my thoughts are that if you do the Friday - Tuesday, and have Saturday, Sunday and Monday for DL and DCA, that should be sifficient. Especially if you are solo, and you have been to DL before, even if just as add-ons.

My only other comment is that I would expect it to be cold!!!! So plan accordingly. When we were there in March, Monday afternoon was nice and sunny, but as soon as the sun went down we were soooo cold! And on Wednesday, it was overcast all day and we were really cold. We avoided a few of the outdoor rides because of the weather.

The other downside is that the parks actualyl closed really early (I think it was 8:00 or 9:00 pm), and there were not fireworks. So we found ourselves back in the room calling it an evening kinda early. I don't know if January is like that, but maybe VetteLover has some perspective. I think his grand tour earlier this year had him at DL in January.

It depends on how thorough you want to be, but my guess is three full days at the parks should be sufficient. Helping matters is that you've been to Disneyland, so there should be several minor attractions you won't feel too bad about skipping if necessary.

Speaking of passing things up, here's a tip for you about one to NOT miss--Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. It's comedy and music that should blow you away and slips through the radar for a lot of people. It needs to be on your Gotta' Do List.

Personally I like to have 5 nights for Disneyland Resort with at least 3 park days. Even with my relaxed touring strategy I can feel like I haven't missed much.