Disneyland California

[dandee00]

Hi :wave:
Hoping to get to Disneyland in the future. I'm curious to hear from other Canadians about their trips. Has anyone from the west coast driven?

[Parkerpooh]

We leave tomorrow for Disneyland!! :cool1: We're starting off in San Francisco because dh wants to go to alcatraz and then driving down the coast. We're stopping overnight in Pismo Beach too. I'll write a trip report when I get back on the 21st. TTFN, Jen

[tribus121]

I havent driven but I flew from Fredericton I will answer any questions that I can when We return in 2 weeks from WDW

[pxlbarrel]

We were just there. I think I've been to DL more times than WDW. I hope to correct that one of these days. LOL

One of the things I love is the parade in California Adventure. Pixar's Block Party Bash. It's high octane energy. The kids will love it.

[Pokemom]

We have driven from Alberta to Disneyland a few times. Usually go down through Vegas and then come back up along the coast (that way you get the inside lane on Pacific Coast Highway instead of the terrifying lane along the ocean cliffs - :goodvibes

[crazy4eeyore]

I have done the same as Pokemom. It's a nice drive along the coast on the way home. :goodvibes

[dandee00]

We leave tomorrow for Disneyland!! :cool1: We're starting off in San Francisco because dh wants to go to alcatraz and then driving down the coast. We're stopping overnight in Pismo Beach too. I'll write a trip report when I get back on the 21st. TTFN, Jen

Hi Jen
Looking froward to the trip report. PM me if you can and let me know where I can find it. Thanks

[dandee00]

We have driven from Alberta to Disneyland a few times. Usually go down through Vegas and then come back up along the coast (that way you get the inside lane on Pacific Coast Highway instead of the terrifying lane along the ocean cliffs - :goodvibes

How many days does it take you?

[bbangel]

How many days does it take you?

Depends on how many times you stop and where you leave from. You can do it in two days if you push it. It's more fun to stop frequently.

[dandee00]

I havent driven but I flew from Fredericton I will answer any questions that I can when We return in 2 weeks from WDW

Howdy neighbor :wave:
We're not too far from you. About 1/2 hour drive. :moped:
DH doesn't like flying, so we are planning to drive out west to see the rockies. From there we will make our way down to Disneyland. A big trip!!!! :banana:
For now I am trying to figure out how long it will approximately take to get from the West Coast to Disneyland.
Any information you can share with me on Disneyland would be great. :goodvibes

[dandee00]

Depends on how many times you stop and where you leave from. You can do it in two days if you push it. It's more fun to stop frequently.

I think we would probably leave from the south east of BC. We do a lot of stopping when we travel. We make the days driving part of the trip. Fun, fun, fun, that's what it's all about!!!! :banana:
Any information you pass along to me is useful and much appreciated.

[bbangel]

So assuming you are leaving from Vancouver - Seattle is about 3 hours away including the wait at the border. Then I would stop somewhere in Oregan (Portland is about 6 hours from Seattle). From Portland it is about 10 hours to Anaheim. Total hours from Vancouver is about 21 hours. I would look for things you want to see along the way. You will pass through Washington, Oregon and Northern California. All have many things to see!
As for Disneyland, my best advice is to purchase RideMax (ridemax.com) and use it. Makes it so easy to fit everything in. It takes about 3 days to see everything at a good pace, but you can fit both parks in two days if try.

[twinz]

WE have been to Disneyland, but we did not drive (as we are in Toronto). We found it so much smaller then WDW, but it was nice. It was weird that all the rides Que outside. Also I like POC much better, and Indiana Jones was awesome. I also like California Adventures...too bad TOT or Space Mountain weren't open when we went. DTD was a lot smaller then in WDW. I am glad I went though.

[dandee00]

Thanks to everyone for posting. This information will be put to good use. :teeth:

Question for Bbangel...what is a RideMax?
"3 days at a good pace" Hmmmm :scratchin Maybe I should add a few days since we do things at a much slower pace. ;) Dh and I are middle age :eek: and we like to do parks in the morning and lounging by the pool in the afternoon. Shopping in the evening.

[dandee00]

WE have been to Disneyland, but we did not drive (as we are in Toronto). We found it so much smaller then WDW, but it was nice. It was weird that all the rides Que outside. Also I like POC much better, and Indiana Jones was awesome. I also like California Adventures...too bad TOT or Space Mountain weren't open when we went. DTD was a lot smaller then in WDW. I am glad I went though.


I think Dh and I must be crazy to think about driving across Canada and then to Disneyland. :teeth: On a positive note it should be quite the adventure. We really enjoyed driving to WDW this past January.

I think we will need 5 to 6 weeks to do everything we want and include travel time.

What time of year did you go? How long were you there for?

[jakoky]

hi there, my family went to DL in may of this year.....we had a blast...we did WDW in dec 04(and also had a blast)...they are such different parks and we loved both and find it hard to decide which to go back to next...we live on vancouver island so DL is much closer for us, and we did fly to both...when i was growing up we always drove to DL, i thought it was 5 times but my brother just informed me it was at least 8.....we chose to fly so that we could really relax for the full extent of the trip(the thought of driving the freeways down there really stress my husband)...we spent 10 nights in anaheim at the candy cane inn(great hotel)...we did 5 day hoppers , had a couple of shopping days( a must, i have a DD-15, DS-now 13(wasnt on the trip), and DD-now 11(wasnt yet on the trip), and a couple of nothing days-pool, wander around downtown disney, just hangout...it was awesome... to compare the parks is impossible...i think my kids liked the "closeness" of DL, and not having to jump on a crammed bus everytime you wanted to go somewhere new at WDW, but i know that the waterparks there were incredible and my kids really want to do those again...i do hate to fly, so the 7 hour trip to WDW against less than 3 to DL is a no brainer, but i really would like to do both again.....
sharon :Pinkbounc

[bbangel]

Thanks to everyone for posting. This information will be put to good use. :teeth:

Question for Bbangel...what is a RideMax?
"3 days at a good pace" Hmmmm :scratchin Maybe I should add a few days since we do things at a much slower pace. ;) Dh and I are middle age :eek: and we like to do parks in the morning and lounging by the pool in the afternoon. Shopping in the evening.

RideMax is a program that you purchase and download to your computer. It lets you plug in a day and time and the rides/attractions that you want to see, and then does an itinerary that has you wait in lines a lot less. It was s worth the money. I cannot say enough good things about it.
It will also help you know how many days you need. A lot will depend on the time of year you go.

[dandee00]

[QUOTE=jakoky]chose to fly so that we could really relax for the full extent of the trip(the thought of driving the freeways down there really stress my husband...

Ah yes the freeway. It must be a nightmare to drive. I must mention this to my DH since he hates driving anything like that.

[dandee00]

Sharon, What can you tell me about the Candy Cane Hotel?

[Nagle]

We stayed at the Candy Cane Inn in July 2005. It was a nice, budget motel/inn within walking distance of the entrance to Disneyland and California Adventure. The walk was between 5 and 10 minutes. We had a nice room, the staff were very friendly & helpful, and on our next trip to California we would not hesitate to stay there again. There is a small pool, and hot tub. Also serve a nice continental breakfast. Try a search on Candy Cane Inn. They have a web site that is pretty good.

John

[amw]

Sharon, What can you tell me about the Candy Cane Hotel?

Check out Tripadvisor.com. The Candy Cane Inn and The HoJos recieve the best and most consistent reviews, and are highly recommended on the DL board site. Both are close to DLR, although the Candy Cane Inn has its own free shuttle and breakfast. The CCI has smaller rooms though, so if space is necessary (I needed a separate room for my DDs), there are lots of other options.

If you have specific Disneyland questions, feel free to post on that board:

http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=26

[jakoky]

hi, we were at the candy cane inn for 10 nights....as they are 5 of us(kids on the trip were 15, 12 and 10) we were concerned about the room size before we arrived, but found the room to be more than big enough...we spent so little time in there, but they were very nice rooms....the windows have shutters, duvets on the beds, and very, very clean....the staff was excellent, they helped with all our questions, made our transportation on our shopping day and to and from universal...the free breakfast in the morning was a bonus and did offer a nice variety of food...we used it the first 5 mornings and then went to dennys the last 5...when we did the breakfast at the motel, we were hungry a few hours later, when we went to dennys, we werent hungry for closer to 5....the pool and hottub were very clean, althought quite small...it was never an issue for us as we seemed to have the pool almost to ourselves a few times, or only a few other families in it...it was very busy a couple of times...it was a small walk to disneyland, about 6-8 minutes...the used the shuttle a few times, when it just happened to be there at the motel or when we came out of disneyland...one night we were just too tired to walk so it was great....i really recommend this motel and it is where we will stay on our next visit... :thumbsup2
sharon

[dandee00]

Thanks to everyone for the information on the Candy Cane Inn. I'll explore this option. :surfweb:
Anyone else with any other hotel suggestions? How about on site?

I've been to the DisneyLand board, but I wanted to hear what my fellow Canadians had to say. :cool1:

[amw]

Thanks to everyone for the information on the Candy Cane Inn. I'll explore this option. :surfweb:
Anyone else with any other hotel suggestions? How about on site?

I've been to the DisneyLand board, but I wanted to hear what my fellow Canadians had to say. :cool1:

Well, I haven't been yet, but after doing all my research....

I wanted a place that had a suite or kidsuite where my kids could sleep in a separate area. I decided I would rather be walking distance so that eliminated the Residence Inn (which I would recommend otherwise) or Embassy Suites Garden Grove.

In walking distance, I had limited it down to the Desert Inn & Suites right across ths street. However, around the time of my decision, there were a lot of posts on the DL board about that motel and bad customer service. In particular, there was police interest in a credit card scam there. SO, I decided to go with a reputable place and went with a King Suite at the HoJos. The HoJos have great customer service.

Now I have a slight "bleep" in my plans. My husband informed me he has a lot of Hyatt points from his business travels. I may switch to the Hyatt Regency which has kidsuites. It's not walking distance, but they have a free shuttle service. Besides, I can't complain much with a free stay :goodvibes

There are a lot of choices for you. If you want to be right across the street, you'll sacrifice a little in the "niceness" of the motels. But, if you aren't going to be in your room all that much, it won't matter. Incidentally, with the exception of the Grand, the Disney hotels are further from the entrance than these Harbor hotels. AND, their prices are enormous. Here's a map of hotels with links to all their individual sites:
http://www.geocities.com/ashpsyche/DisneylandLinkMap.html

Happy planning :surfweb:

[damo]

We were there in August 2004 and 2005. The first year, we fly to San Francisco, stayed there for a few days and drove down the coast. We went to Six Flags Magic Mountain, Universal Studios Hollywood and then down to Disneyland and Huntington Beach. We stayed at many hotels including the Hyatt Regency in Anaheim and the Hyatt Huntington Beach. We loved both. We also went to Knott's Berry Farm (not too impressed.) Our whole family really enjoyed California Adventure more than Disneyland. However, we had the AAA package which gave you unlimited fastpasses, so that was a huge advantage when in came to standing in line. These packages won't be offered in 2007.

In 2005, we flew to LAX and stayed a few days at the Loews Santa Monica before heading down to Disney and staying at the Grand Californian and then the Hyatt Huntington Beach again. Of course, we had to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain again. We drove down to San Diego and went to Sea World (great park!). Although the Grand Californian is very close, the hotel itself is not that terribly impressive and the prices are way too high. Everywhere else, we had two rooms since we have two teenagers, but at GC the prices were so high that we all crammed into one room.

We are going to go again in 2007. We love California!