Well cancelled our WDW vacation...

[yowcruiser]

I was planning either CVS or Walgreen’s for testing but neither can guarantee results in time for travel and most don’t offer the rapid tests that I could find. I’m planning to do our testing at the Anaheim City Hall. They’re not cheap but have options for testing at different price points. We’re planning on doing the PCR with results in 24hours. They also have a 1 hour PCR and a 1 hour ID Now NAAT test.

Yes, for some reasons, very few Walgreens are offering the rapid IDNow option in California, and none in Anaheim at this time

 

[yowcruiser]

y

Thank you! I’m having a hard time picturing it all in my head, like the walking distance part!

Well. for example, there is a "backdoor" entrance into California adventure from the Grand Californian hotel and directly connected to downtown Disney. Disneyland hotel is in front of Downtown Disney and the walking distance between the main gate of California Adventure and Disneyland park is... 2 maybe 3 minutes as they are only split by a very large walkway/entrance area. You've got pretty much everything within a 5-10 minutes walking distance. Now... there is one big difference though when it comes to fireworks at Disneyland... at this time, they appear to be running every night at Disneyland.. but this is not always the case. Last year, they were running them only a few nights a week during February/March...

 

[BlancheNeige7]

Oh that’s awesome
We were going to Disney world on the 15th, but Disneyland we are leaving on the 17th. 6 nights instead of 7 as we had wdw.
I have to sit down later and make our park reservation, figure out where to test now and how to get to the resort from Lax... all those things!
Trying not to get too excited since I know plans can change these days. Never did I think we’d be changing coasts!
What are your dates?

We will be leaving on the 14th and flying back on the 20th, one day shorter than our original WDW trip like yourself. I

While I have scheduled our tests at the CVS on Katella for the 17th, we will be cancelling and going through Anaheim City Hall. It is pricey, but for the piece of mind that it will give us we feel it is worth it.

For transportation we will be using Supershuttle. We've used them in the past in other areas and have had good experiences. It is about 100USD return from LAX to Disneyland for 3 passengers.

For hotels we are not quite sure yet... we want a maximum of 20 minute walk with free breakfast. There are so many options to choose from! We are leaning towards the Element Anaheim Resort since we can use points... but a few others look quite nice! I am surprised there is so much availability last minute! Which ones were you looking at?

We are taking the 9:30 flight back to Toronto and will stay closer to LAX the night before. Anaheim is quite far and can get lots of traffic. There are many hotels near LAX with free shuttles for under 150 USD.

 

[BlancheNeige7]

y
Well. for example, there is a "backdoor" entrance into California adventure from the Grand Californian hotel and directly connected to downtown Disney. Disneyland hotel is in front of Downtown Disney and the walking distance between the main gate of California Adventure and Disneyland park is... 2 maybe 3 minutes as they are only split by a very large walkway/entrance area. You've got pretty much everything within a 5-10 minutes walking distance. Now... there is one big difference though when it comes to fireworks at Disneyland... at this time, they appear to be running every night at Disneyland.. but this is not always the case. Last year, they were running them only a few nights a week during February/March...

Thank you for the tips! It is so hard to imagine such a compact space!

I am stoked to see the long park hours (8-11) and fireworks every night!!!

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

We will be leaving on the 14th and flying back on the 20th, one day shorter than our original WDW trip like yourself. I

While I have scheduled our tests at the CVS on Katella for the 17th, we will be cancelling and going through Anaheim City Hall. It is pricey, but for the piece of mind that it will give us we feel it is worth it.

For transportation we will be using Supershuttle. We've used them in the past in other areas and have had good experiences. It is about 100USD return from LAX to Disneyland for 3 passengers.

For hotels we are not quite sure yet... we want a maximum of 20 minute walk with free breakfast. There are so many options to choose from! We are leaning towards the Element Anaheim Resort since we can use points... but a few others look quite nice! I am surprised there is so much availability last minute! Which ones were you looking at?

We are taking the 9:30 flight back to Toronto and will stay closer to LAX the night before. Anaheim is quite far and can get lots of traffic. There are many hotels near LAX with free shuttles for under 150 USD.

We are staying at the Disneyland Hotel, so on site, but I know in Disneyland nothing is too far, even the off-site hotels. We decided very quickly and have never been to Disneyland, so just took the easy way out I guess. There is a pretty good room discount for all 3 on site hotels right now, we are paying roughly $200 total (usd) more than Disney World’s Caribbean Beach. Granted, one night less but pretty sure it’s deluxe in terms of Disney world accommodations. We had a 6 day base ticket @WDW and got a 5 day park hopper DL.
I was reading about the City hall testing, might book there for the peace of mind as well, really pricing is not that bad, for example if we went to Punta Cana or Mexico we’d have to pay $100-$200 usd each for a test as well. Do you know if you can walk to the city hall, it’s not drive thru is it?
Oh and thank you for the shuttle tip!
Do you know anything about a grocery delivery service like Garden Grocer in Orlando? We wanted to order some bottled water, cereal & milk for my 12yo.

 

[GoingSince1990]

Do you know anything about a grocery delivery service like Garden Grocer in Orlando? We wanted to order some bottled water, cereal & milk for my 12yo.

We place a big order with Pavilions to be delivered on our arrival day everytime we visit Disneyland and have always been happy with them.
https://www.pavilions.com/

 

[yowcruiser]

We will be leaving on the 14th and flying back on the 20th, one day shorter than our original WDW trip like yourself. I

While I have scheduled our tests at the CVS on Katella for the 17th, we will be cancelling and going through Anaheim City Hall. It is pricey, but for the piece of mind that it will give us we feel it is worth it.

For transportation we will be using Supershuttle. We've used them in the past in other areas and have had good experiences. It is about 100USD return from LAX to Disneyland for 3 passengers.

For hotels we are not quite sure yet... we want a maximum of 20 minute walk with free breakfast. There are so many options to choose from! We are leaning towards the Element Anaheim Resort since we can use points... but a few others look quite nice! I am surprised there is so much availability last minute! Which ones were you looking at?

We are taking the 9:30 flight back to Toronto and will stay closer to LAX the night before. Anaheim is quite far and can get lots of traffic. There are many hotels near LAX with free shuttles for under 150 USD.

If using Marriott points and looking for free breakfast, the Element might indeed be your best choice. I walked by the Westin the last time I was in Anaheim and it looked pretty good. I am more of a Hilton person and last stayed at the Homewood on Harbor Blvd which would be similar in terms of amenities, but less of an open concept than the basic room at Element - and you are probably getting close to 20 minutes. Using a shuttle is a great tip as well. This is what I did last time and was pleased with the service

 

[bardays]

We will be leaving on the 14th and flying back on the 20th, one day shorter than our original WDW trip like yourself. I

While I have scheduled our tests at the CVS on Katella for the 17th, we will be cancelling and going through Anaheim City Hall. It is pricey, but for the piece of mind that it will give us we feel it is worth it.

For transportation we will be using Supershuttle. We've used them in the past in other areas and have had good experiences. It is about 100USD return from LAX to Disneyland for 3 passengers.

For hotels we are not quite sure yet... we want a maximum of 20 minute walk with free breakfast. There are so many options to choose from! We are leaning towards the Element Anaheim Resort since we can use points... but a few others look quite nice! I am surprised there is so much availability last minute! Which ones were you looking at?

We are taking the 9:30 flight back to Toronto and will stay closer to LAX the night before. Anaheim is quite far and can get lots of traffic. There are many hotels near LAX with free shuttles for under 150 USD.

I have used points at the Residence Inn on Katella (breakfast and a shorter walk than the Element I think) but my absolute favourite if you have enough points is the Courtyard Theme Park Entrance. Short Walk and very nice rooms.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

I have used points at the Residence Inn on Katella (breakfast and a shorter walk than the Element I think) but my absolute favourite if you have enough points is the Courtyard Theme Park Entrance. Short Walk and very nice rooms.

These hotels look super nice! Especially the courtyard! Wish I looked at it because it’s about $500 less for our stay than Disneyland hotel but I was in a rush to just book something... if we end up liking DL enough to want to go back often, definitely staying at one of the good neighbour hotels!

 

[Timandalicia]

And we booked at Disneyland instead! We were able to cancel everything including flights for our Aug 15 vacation.
Thank you to our Dreams Unlimited agent for helping me!
Hoping we made the right decision here, we can also cancel everything (non stop flights from Toronto to Lax) except I think if we cancel the hotel now Disney will keep $200.
I don’t know ANYTHING about Disneyland, like nothing.
We need to make park reservations I think and figure stuff out.
Have I lost my mind?
To be honest it was my hubby still pushing to go somewhere. He probably would have gone to Florida but last couple of days just took all the joy out of planning for me.

…and it’s getting worse. We are booked for end of January. I hope things get figured out by then, but it’s really the airline, the airport, and Disney. So hopefully that makes a difference then “going to Florida”. Like it’s not like I’m not going to a nightclub in Miami. I don’t know. Hopefully my 7 year-old can be vaccinated by the time we go. Then I’d feel much better about it. We will see. Good luck with Disneyland. You’ll love it. It’s Mecca.

 

[Lorajo]

About 10 years ago we stayed briefly at the Howard Johnson in Anaheim. If had a separate room for kids with bunk beds, a water park and a short walk to DL. I see prices are higher now to stay there but still reasonable

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

We will be leaving on the 14th and flying back on the 20th, one day shorter than our original WDW trip like yourself. I

While I have scheduled our tests at the CVS on Katella for the 17th, we will be cancelling and going through Anaheim City Hall. It is pricey, but for the piece of mind that it will give us we feel it is worth it.

For transportation we will be using Supershuttle. We've used them in the past in other areas and have had good experiences. It is about 100USD return from LAX to Disneyland for 3 passengers.

For hotels we are not quite sure yet... we want a maximum of 20 minute walk with free breakfast. There are so many options to choose from! We are leaning towards the Element Anaheim Resort since we can use points... but a few others look quite nice! I am surprised there is so much availability last minute! Which ones were you looking at?

We are taking the 9:30 flight back to Toronto and will stay closer to LAX the night before. Anaheim is quite far and can get lots of traffic. There are many hotels near LAX with free shuttles for under 150 USD.

Do you mind linking to the shuttle from Lax to Disneyland? The super shuttle I checked is $100 for 3 but each way. Just wondering if I’m looking at the wrong one

 

[bcwife76]

Do you mind linking to the shuttle from Lax to Disneyland? The super shuttle I checked is $100 for 3 but each way. Just wondering if I’m looking at the wrong one

https://www.supershuttle.com/
I just did a dummy booking for our potential November trip and round trip was $137US for 4 of us.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

https://www.supershuttle.com/
I just did a dummy booking for our potential November trip and round trip was $137US for 4 of us.

Thank you, round trip for us Aug 17-23 seems to be $200… I’ll look at it again tomorrow

 

[BlancheNeige7]

Do you mind linking to the shuttle from Lax to Disneyland? The super shuttle I checked is $100 for 3 but each way. Just wondering if I’m looking at the wrong one

I'm so sorry! I misunderstood the quote. You are correct that it is 100$ per leg for 3. We just booked today.

Looked at the weather and am so looking forward to a "cool" and dry vacation in California! Wait times were also wonderful today!

With hotels, shuttles and testing booked... it is great to finally pack and start to be excited (and no longer nervous) about our trip!!!

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

I'm so sorry! I misunderstood the quote. You are correct that it is 100$ per leg for 3. We just booked today.

Looked at the weather and am so looking forward to a "cool" and dry vacation in California! Wait times were also wonderful today!

With hotels, shuttles and testing booked... it is great to finally pack and start to be excited (and no longer nervous) about our trip!!!

Haha no worries, I thought it was reasonable but hey if there was a shuttle half that... well... lol
It’s easy to misunderstand that quote, until you proceed to book it does look like it’s $100 total. We just have to book our test I think (thinking to go with the city hall) and I believe we are mostly set otherwise. Made our park reservations yesterday.
I did look at wait times last couple of days and most rides were 5-25 min, wasn’t sure if that’s accurate or not but starting to get excited too. Until a few days ago we thought we would still go to FL but started to constantly worry and now that part of it is gone. I’ll miss Epcot as it’s my fav park, but hope to go in a few months anyway and I’m so excited about all the new and the “unknown” of Disneyland!
Edit - need to book some small provisions delivery still ...
Edit again - also looking at Prime time shuttle as per car service thread on the California boards. About $76 one way.

 

[yowcruiser]

There were reports on social media over the weekend that Disneyland was closed to being a "ghost town" with fairly low crowds and boarding groups available for Rise of the Resistance . School is starting this week and next in this area so crowding levels might be quite reasonable during the week...

 

[mort1331]

Your going to love it. We changed it up a couple of years ago and went to the west coast. What a great time. So we looked at the shuttle as well,,but opted for a rental car so we could drive around since we had never been west before. Not far from hollywood and the beach to change it up for 1 day. But if not look at ubers, what we found out from the shuttle, is they go to a number of hotels before and after, so travel time could add up.
Also do research on the Maxpass. It works great for DL , I would not be for it at WDW. Also some great eats inside the parks at QS places. And they have great sushi at the Splitsville in Downtown Disney, just like WDW.
And the weather as others have said is the biggest and best difference in Aug,,,,enjoy.

 

[HappilyEverAfter80]

Your going to love it. We changed it up a couple of years ago and went to the west coast. What a great time. So we looked at the shuttle as well,,but opted for a rental car so we could drive around since we had never been west before. Not far from hollywood and the beach to change it up for 1 day. But if not look at ubers, what we found out from the shuttle, is they go to a number of hotels before and after, so travel time could add up.
Also do research on the Maxpass. It works great for DL , I would not be for it at WDW. Also some great eats inside the parks at QS places. And they have great sushi at the Splitsville in Downtown Disney, just like WDW.
And the weather as others have said is the biggest and best difference in Aug,,,,enjoy.

Thank you! I don’t think max pass is currently available... unfortunately.

 

[sergeminator]

The other option would be to go through Westjet or AirCanada if flying with either of them to have one of those "at home" test from one of their partners shipped to your hotel for testing a few days ahead.

This is the first time I hear about the "at home" test! Is that for flying back to Canada? I am travelling with Air Canada but can't find any info on that at their site or in google.