1st Timer Help Needed

[baseballgal]

This is our first trip to Disneyland. We live in GA so have made multiple trips to WDW but this is a first for all of us to Disneyland. We are planning to go at the end of May/beginning of June. (Our household has a deal that you get to pick the family vacation the year you turn double digits and my son chose this trip for his 10th birthday.) But I am just getting started with the planning and am a bit overwhelmed having never been there. I know there are a lot of differences.
1st - how to book the trip. I was looking at get away today but are there any cons to not booking directly thru Disney or a Disney agent?? Will I still be able to add the maxpass?
2nd - We are planning to do 3 days with park hopper and hopefully, the max pass? Will we be able to do everything? DO we need a 4th day?
3rd - This may not be the right place - but what else are the must dos in Anaheim? My son is a big baseball fan, so we are going to do an Angels game. And a day at Universal. I was also looking at a whale viewing excursion
4th - What restaurants (quick service and table) do we not want to miss? My children like characters but it is not a deal breaker for them to miss out. They prefer riding rides and watching shows but I want to get the full experience and thought maybe one character meal.

I have a son who will be 10 for the trip and a daughter who will be 8 plus me and hubby. Thanks in advance for any help!!

 

[BrianL]

I'll repost this as these things may be of interest to you:

You might be interested in this conversation I was having on the WDW borad a couple of days ago about ride differences at WDW/DLR:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/disneyland-wdw-ride-differences.3646266/#post-58445633

Also, I can always recommend the great Hydroguy's guide to DLR for WDW vets. It is super helpful!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/a-dlr-guide-for-wdw-vets.1162599/

Hydroguys' thread is a must for WDW vets! For booking, if you are not looking to stay at a Disney hotel (they are more expensive than many of the options at WDW), then try to stay on Harbor Blvd. close to the entrance. There are lots of good value choices. I'm afraid I don't know anything about MaxPass. I think 3 days is a good amount of time and you should be able to see most everything. A 4th is not necessary, but then again and extra day at Disney is never a bad thing.

For dining, I really like Cafe Orleans. If you are looking for something on the nicer side, Blue Bayou is very cool, and though I haven't eaten there, I hear good things. The POTC ride goes right by the seating area! I also love the Pacific Wharf Cafe in DCA, where they bake the sourdough bread. It smells so good in there!

For me, my first time at DL was like visiting the "Bizarro World" version of MK. Things are similar and sometimes you forget and make a wrong turn. "There are restrooms right over...wait...who moved Big Thunder Mountain to the other side of the river?" That kind of stuff happened a lot. There is a lot of stuff that is unique to DL though and you will have a great time discovering it. Everyone will no doubt recommend seeing the big ones like Indiana Jones, Radiator Springs Ravers, and GotG: Mission Breakout (RIP Tower of Terror), but one thing I'll say that I really loved was Mickey and the Magical Map, a show in a theater near where Fantasyland meets Toon Town. I had skipped it on two prior trips, but I saw it last time and would never miss it again.

Anyway, have fun! I'm sure it'll be a great time.

 

[tigerlilly]

How exciting you are going to Disneyland!!! As a WDW vet I am sure you know it will be very different but just as wonderful!!

1st: booking your own trip or through get away today is probably fine as it just isn't as involved as a stay in WDW. Out of curiosity are you planning an on site stay or an off site stay? Do you have Costco there in Georgia that you belong to? Or that you could book a trip thru? They have really good package deals. You add max pass once you have the tickets and when you arrive so that will be no problem. There is also the city pass you could look at and this gives you DL tickets as well as Universal.
My advice: stay onsite lol... we always do and it is totally worth it! Yes it is costly but again it is worth it. End of May, beginning of June is also Grad night season...so do you know what days of the week you are planning on going? Grad nights do impact the amount of people in the park.

2nd: 3 days is certainly enough especially if you intersperse it with other excursions to Angels game/Universal...etc. But 4 days is always better and I don't think the cost difference is that prohibitive.

3rd: Angels games are a blast and we do them along with our DL trips. They are easy to get to and the cost is actually very reasonable (not complete nosebleed seats)....there is also the Dodgers so you could hit two ballparks in one trip if you are lucky. Universal is fun too... just know that it is a bit of a trip up the freeway and traffic in LA can be crazy. There are beaches within the vicinity that are lovely but I am not sure how much whale watching there will be in June as that is not traditionally whale season.

4th: For characters we really like the Plaza Inn in Disneyland (but our children are much older and it has been a few years since we have done it). We now like the GCH character meal but it is very low key and there are minimal characters. There are a lot of restaurant changes coming down the pike here in the next few months. Hopefully by the time you go there will be a new restaurant where the Little Mermaid and Cove bar currently are. If your son likes baseball, ESPN is always fun and in my opinion it is different from the ESPN in WDW. I find the food/menu to be better. I don't know when it is slated to close for demolition though (hopefully not till mid or late summer). Blue Bayou is always a good choice too (pricey but if you get a water table it is very special). As for table service Hungry Bear is great (and a little quieter then say the Tomorrowland Terrace). We always do breakfast at the Holly Jolly Bakery after Magic Morning!

Ok that's all I have for now!! You will have a great time

 

[baseballgal]

Thank you both for the quick responses. I don't work on Mondays so it will be a good day to look up this information!! And tigerlilly, I cannot believe I didn't think about a Dodgers game. (between the World Series and the fact that we are National League (Braves) fans!!) ESPN is a great idea too.
We were planning to go May 29-June 7th. But I just looked at the Dodgers schedule and saw our Braves play the Dodgers on the 8th,(what are the chances??) so I will be moving that back a few days. (so leaving June 9th, not sure about arrival...) I saw grad night stuff but still thought that might be better than waiting till later in the summer. Crowd calendars made it seem that early June/late May would be better than later in the summer??? I plan to do DL on Tuesday, Wed and Thurs so we will avoid weekends. ANd I was looking at the Castle Inn - it said it was right across the street from DL. I know it wouldn't compare to the DL resorts but I don't think we will spend much time there and it will help our budget a lot!
Thanks again!

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

I think you will see lower crowds in June after some of the APs are blocked. The lowest level passes are blocked after June 7. If you go that week before I think you're going to get a lot of crowds from AP holders wanting to get their last days in before they are blocked all summer. If you could I would start your trip after June 7 (at least the Disney portion).

 

[tigerlilly]

Ok I looked up grad night days for the time around your trip:

Tuesday May 29, Wednesday May 30, Friday June 1, Saturday June 2, Tuesday June 5, Wednesday June 6, Friday June 8 and Saturday June 9....

If you are set on your dates you can figure out the best strategy for hitting the parks. If you could possibly set your trip back to after June 7 (like SOCALmousemommy suggested) I think it might be a little better. Do Dodgers June 8 and maybe Universal or beach on Saturday June 9...or even Disneyland on this day because you would have just the Grad night kids but no AP other then Signature AP holders.

The thing about Disneyland that I have found the last couple years (we go frequently and my DD goes every couple weeks as she goes to college in LA).... when you think it should be crazy busy it is not...when you would think it is slow it is busy lol.

Saturdays in July are the best time to go! The last two years we have gone in July have been lovely. I have gone in May and June and April also, and the April visit was a nightmare...crazy busy! They usually offer (Or have the last couple years) a So. Cal visit ticket. Basically any day where every AP is valid is going to have the capacity to be busy.