Convention Center/ALA

[WittyreaderLI]

Hey all,

I"m going to be going to DL next week on the 22nd. I'm staying at the Best Western Pavillions and spending the day at the convention center. What's the best way to get to Disneyland from the Convention center. I will NOT have a car. Is it safe to walk back to my hotel at night?

Brian

 

[karrit2000]

If you're worried about safety you can get an ART transportation pass & take the ART buses to & from the park. When I went to the EXPO last year I walked back & forth from both the Disneyland Hotel & Grand Californian Hotel to the Convention Center. A few nights we ate dinner at Coco's which is right on the corner of the road that leads up to the Disney Hotels. To walk you would leave the convention center & head toward Katella. You can either turn left or right on Katella but I would turn Left. Cross Katella and go up to the the road that leads toward the Disney Hotels, Disneyland Drive and turn right. I think BW Pavilions is a short way beyond this road on Katella? This would be your best route to & from your hotel & the parks as well as the convention center. There will be signs telling you where to go to get to the parks. If you turn right on Katella you still need to cross over Katella. At Harbor Blvd you would turn left and keep walking until you get to the entry walk for the Parks on you left. This route is further away from your hotel.

 

[SeattleRedBear]

I've never felt unsafe walking around the Anaheim resort district. Both Harbor and Katella are busy streets. Late at night there's an occasional homeless person hanging out at a bus stop but they usually keep to themselves.

From convention center (and cc hotels) to the entrance plaza will be about a 20 minute walk (mostly because you have to walk around DCA to get to the entrance). In addition to the ART, conference attendees also have the conference shuttle to get between ACC and the disneyland hotels. Getting back to your hotel from the entrance plaza, I agree with karrit...walk through downtown disney or GCH, down Disneyland Drive to Katella. You're on Disney property until you hit Katella. About a 20-minute walk from the entrance plaza, about 10 minutes from the front door of GCH.

Also, if you're headed back to your hotel from DCA, it will be quicker for you to exit through the GCH entrance (across from Grizzly River Run), walk through the hotel to the front entrance and from there a 10-minute walk back to your hotel. Besides, the GCH lobby is gob-smacking (as my british colleagues would say) and it's well worth it to spend some time in the lobby. I have friends who are into the Arts & Crafts movement and they spent about an hour walking through the lobby, bar, reception, lounges, etc. The craftsmanship put into the hotel is stunning.

 

[WittyreaderLI]

I'm still a bit confused. Can you get in from Disneyland Drive? Or do I have to go to the main gate? do I walk through downtown Disney first?

 

[SeattleRedBear]

Brian -- It's a lot easier to show you then to tell you. This is a google map with walking directions from the main entrance plaza to your hotel. The route GM has put up is not the quickest way back, but the map will hopefully help with you orienting yourself (much more so than the ALA hotel map). Play with it as necessary to figure things out. If you zoom in and change to 45-degree satellite view, its not POV, but it does give a better sense of what you're looking at.

"A" is the main entrance to DCA. Straight up from there is the entrance to DL (the two entrances are about maybe 75 yards across from each other on the plaza). The sets of four white triangle you see to the right and left of the plaza are the ticket booths.

If you follow the GM routing (blue line) you see it following along "Downtown Drive." This isn't a road...this is the pedestrian walkway through downtown disney. Downtown Disney extends from the main entrance plaza to the DLH (which starts where it's marked as 'Goofy's Kitchen...downtown drive takes a sharp left there). When downtown disney hits West Ave/Disneyland Drive, it's basically a pedestrian overpass (the road goes down underneath the overpass so when you're walking through downtown disney, you have no idea you've just walked over a 4-lane road).

GCH is on the south side of downtown drive between the entrance plaza and West St/Disneyland Dr. IMO, the quickest way to get to your hotel is to cut through GCH (there is an entrance to the hotel off of downtown disney, then you can exit out the main entrance which is where the parking lot is in front of the hotel...the hotel entrance faces disneyland drive. then turn left on disneyland drive, walk down to katella and turn right on katella and walk to "B" which is your hotel.

I'm hoping it might be a little easy for you to envision if you put the map in satellite mode and zoom in so that you can see the walkways, sidewalks, etc.

So to describe it, the main entrance plaza has DL directly to the north, DCA directly to the south. From the entrance plaza, Downtown Disney heads more or less west and ends at the disneyland hotel. GCH is on the south side of downtown disney (if you think of DCA as a rectangle, then GCH takes up the upper-left corner of the rectangle).

After looking at the map, does that all make sense??

 

[karrit2000]

If you cut through GCH you will end up in the middle of the DTD area. You still have to go to the main entry gates for either park from there. If you have an active park ticket you could use the GCH entrance to DCA but it is supposed to be for hotel guests to enter so there is no ticket both to purchase a ticket there. Take a look at the map SeattleRedBear posted the link to if you haven't already.

 

[MadgeatMU]

No help or advice here, just hijacking to say that I'll be at ALA as well and am wicked pumped to check out Disneyland while I'm there!