1st Disneyland visit

[mom2allison01]

My family (me, dh, dd-7, ds-5) will be visiting CA and Disneyland this August. We have been to WDW many times and I feel quite confident in trip planning. But I am feeling like a fish out of water with trying to plan our CA and Disneyland trip. I was hoping someone could give me some help on a starting point for planning and maybe some suggestions for purchasing a guidebook. Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions you can give me!

 

[PinkBudgie]

Actually some of the best tips come from this board. Read Hydrguy's tips in the stickys above. Reading through past posts can be helpful too.

I like the Unofficial Guide to DLR but it does have a few errors in it. Someone made a list of them that would be handy to keep in the back of the book but I forget who it was. The biggest ones in my mind was there is no FP for Toy Story and the Tikki Room is NOT "Under New Management".

I would start with picking a place to stay. Then you can decide if you want to eat at any sit down places and character meals so you can make PS's. Then you can learn about what attractions you would like. How many days will you be there? I suggest 3 minimum, but 4 or 5 would be allow you to take afternoon breaks and not feel like you missed at lot.

If you have any specific questions there are many people here ready to answer.

 

[avalon451]

Welcome to the left coast!

Definitely start with Hydroguy's Tips Compilation. He has several threads in there devoted to WDW vets doing DL for the first time: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1520483

I liked Unofficial Guide, too, but as PP said, there are some inaccuracies. Mostly I liked it as a reference guide for maps, phone numbers, hotel info, etc.

 

[disney4metoo]

My family (me, dh, dd-7, ds-5) will be visiting CA and Disneyland this August. We have been to WDW many times and I feel quite confident in trip planning. But I am feeling like a fish out of water with trying to plan our CA and Disneyland trip. I was hoping someone could give me some help on a starting point for planning and maybe some suggestions for purchasing a guidebook. Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions you can give me!

Are you staying on-site or off-site? Disneyland is quaint, much smaller, not as overwhelming compared to WDW. You do not need to make dinner ressies 90 days out. I make them when I arrive in Disneyland for the entire stay! I have never had a problem!

How many days are you staying? What type of restaurants do you want partake in? Counter service only, one or two ts dinners, fine dining? What type of rides do you like?

 

[mom2allison01]

We will be staying off site. My brother lives about 15 minutes from Disneyland and he graciously offered his place for us to stay. My brother has never been to Disneyland, he said he has been waiting to experience it with his niece and nephew, so I can't even rely on him to help me plan! That is why I am thankful for the disboards!

As for dinners - we are open to both counter service and sit down. A character meal would be wonderful but it would depend on the average price per person. We just made plans to go to CA, so we haven't even thought about number of days to purchase for the tickets. We will be there 1 week, but we would also like to spend some time sight seeing the area. Of course, I would go to Disney everyday if I had the choice, but my DH would like to explore the surrounding area.

Speaking of tickets, is it best to buy online before we get there or wait till we get there? If we purchase in advance, is there a discount website (like undercover tourist) or just purchase off the Disney website?

Thanks for all your suggestions!

 

[FairyDust2008]

We just had our 1st WDW trip last year, summer 2008 and are getting ready for our summer 09 trip for our 1st trip to DISNEYLAND! I know how you feel with the planning aspect. When we planned our 1st WDW, I seemed more in-check even though it was our 1st visit. With Disneyland, I felt overwhelmed at first and I"m not sure why, LOL Anyhow, just pick up one of the Disneyland books like I'm sure you have had with WDW and find a hotel of your choosing. We chose the Grand Californian. We stayed at the GF at WDW and LOVED it!!! I am in the process of finishing my dining reservations. I booked daughter for BBB. She did it last year at WDW and did the BIG package. This time, we are doing the one without the pictures. I think it is the middle package. I've scheduled Goofy's Kitchen as I hear it is alot like Chef Mickey's and we loved that at WDW. I also booked the Chip N Dale breakfast. It is located right at our hotel, the GC. I booked a Princess Lunch at Ariel's Grotto for me and daughter. I'm trying to decide on a couple more. I don't see as many dinner choices so we will probably just wing it in the park for the dinners. Hubby is kinda picky so playing it safe with the breakfast works better for our family so that is why I scheduled breakfast versus lunch/dinner with the exception of the Princess Lunch for me and daughter. Anyhow, if you have any questions, even though I'm a DISNEYLAND NEWBIE, I would be happy to try and help you out. Goodluck planning! We are sooooooooooooooo excited for our 1st trip to Disneyland! We drove to WDW. It was probably a 14hr. trip. Would never drive again to WDW Obviously, we are flying to Disneyland and can't wait!!!!!!!!!!! Again, goodluck planning and have FUN because you are going to DISNEY

 

[abouley]

DL is definitely easier to plan and really does not require a lot of planning! Staying off-site at DL is not that big of a deal compared with staying on-site. If you have the money, I'd say stay on-site but if you are budget conscious and you want to put that money to good use for spending money, it doesn't detract much from staying at one of the off-site hotels within walking distance like HoJo's!

On-site they are having the 5 days for the price of 3 promotiont that would be a great savings! I would suggest minimum of 3 days but 4 or 5 days would be great so you can hang out at the pool in the afternoon and have lots of time to really enjoy the parks! If you have longer, San Diego is close and I would suggest checking out either Sea World, the Zoo, or Legoland! Maybe even a beach day!

For dining, you don't have to make reservations nearly as far out and ours are really just priority seating. I would suggest maybe Aerial's Grotto for the princesses and Goofy's Kitchen is a lot like the character dining at the contemporary (that I am drawing a blank on the name). You might also consider Blue Bayou for ambiance as you are eating in the POC ride! Otherwise, we just eat CS or monorail out to downtown disney and do either ESPN zone, Rainforest, House of Blues, etc. I have never made reservations for these but sometimes will have to wait an hour or so but we use that time to hit the lego store etc! There are a lot more CS places to eat everywhere at DL than at WDW (IMHO) and some good ones too! Pizza Port by Space Mountain is one of my favorites as is the walk up mexican food place in downtown disney! If you stay off-site there are lots of restaurant options along the route as well such as Mimi's, McDonald's, Quiznos, etc.

You'll probably want to do a bit of research as far as which rides to hit early, which rides have FP's etc but there isn't quite as much planning that needs to go into this. I think Ridemax works well for planning DL once you figure out what you want to ride each day! Also, keep in mind that you will want to park hop pretty much every day at DL and it's super easy to do by just walking across the plaza! I also love how close DT disney is to the parks! Once we know more about the number of days you are spending, if you'll be riding thrill rides, or child swaping, etc, we'd be happy to offer some suggestions on strategies!

Ooops...you must have posted while I was replying!! See you are staying off-site at your brothers. Just remember to budget for parking! Undercover tourist or off the DL website are good places to buy tickets and yes you should buy ahead of time as they are cheaper even directly from Disney! I would consider doing 1 character meal and then saving money by eating breakfast at home or driving through somewhere and bringing your own drinks, snacks, maybe even sandwiches (at least for the kids)!

Alison

 

[PinkBudgie]

Definately buy tickets ahead of time. You do not want to waste your time first thing in the morning standing in line at the ticket booth when you could be waiting at the turn styles. AAA gives you free parking with their tickets.

 

[specialks]

Absolutely buy your tickets ahead of time. ARES travel has the cheapest price for park hopper tickets but it isn't that much cheaper than disneyland.com. We bought a package thru AAA and got free parking and a few other perks so I would call and ask them what you get if you buy thru them.

 

[cybrkitn]

Speaking of tickets, is it best to buy online before we get there or wait till we get there? If we purchase in advance, is there a discount website (like undercover tourist) or just purchase off the Disney website?

Thanks for all your suggestions!

If you work for a company that has discount perks, definately check it out. It could be direct discounts from your company or they could go through a third party web site.

 

[daisygirl902]

i just came back from my first ever trip to DL (we are WDW vets) - and I would definitely suggest Mimi's Cafe for Breakfast - delicious and reasonably priced...as well do NOT miss the Beignets (ben-yays) at Ralph Brennan's Express (DTD)...they are amazing and we ended up eating them as a snack every day

 

[beckmrk04]

I am going too, and like you, I am used to the WDW way of planning, and DL is sooooo different.

I bought my park hoppers at www.disneyland.com- it is cheaper to buy them in advance, and if you print them yourself (E-ticket option) there is no fee. It was $358 for two adults (our DD is 2, so doesn't need a ticket), and the tickets are 3 day parkhoppers but you get 2 extra days- so 5 day parkhoppers for the same price as 3 days!

We arrive May 25th and I just booked our PS for dinner at Goofy's Kitchen and lunch at Ariel's Grotto with NO problems- in fact, the CM was like, "Do you want 6, 6:10, 6:20, etc..." I pretty much got to name my times.

And, we have the Fodor's Guide to DIsneyland and Southern California with Kids. It's ok- not as in-depth as the unofficial guides, but gives a nice quick overview of rides and restaurants, as well as good things to consider when taking kids of all ages.

If you have a Borders Rewards membership, check out the site for coupons and discounts!! I didn't even know that was an option- I found a coupon code for 10% off HoJo (didn't use it though, because I found a better code and got 15% off our rooms). But they have discounts for all sorts of things- including other area attractions like Legoland and Knott's Berry Farm.