2 First-Timers heading to the Land of Disney May 31st-June 5th

[nikkislaght]

Thanks for the info, had no idea that you can take lunches into the park to eat. We will have a car so a trip to Target or Vons might just be in order to save a little cash and only have one meal on the parks each day. Thanks again!

most wlelcome... we in fact bring food from home... pack it in our bags... and fly down.. and just buy fresh produce.. milk and bread . cheese and meats. a cooked chicken and salad stuffs and we are good to go... they will not allow you to bring glass bottles into the parks .. so if you want water etc. either buy the bulk plastic or we take our refillable . half fill.. lay on side and freeze over night and then fill in morning and hit the parks... some people bring the small packs of crystal lites or the likes. and use those ..

 

[IAmElsan]

most wlelcome... we in fact bring food from home... pack it in our bags... and fly down.. and just buy fresh produce.. milk and bread . cheese and meats. a cooked chicken and salad stuffs and we are good to go... they will not allow you to bring glass bottles into the parks .. so if you want water etc. either buy the bulk plastic or we take our refillable . half fill.. lay on side and freeze over night and then fill in morning and hit the parks... some people bring the small packs of crystal lites or the likes. and use those ..

All great information to know as I would like to save a little $$ where possible on little things like food and drinks. In reading other threads I noticed many people take the Mio drink add-ons or like you said the Crystal Lite packs because of the water there, is the water that bad that a drink mix is needed to make it tolerable to drink?

 

[IAmElsan]

Another quick question, didn't want to open another thread for it but what are opinions on the Annabella Hotel? It's much closer to Paradise Pier which we will be moving to after the first night at an off site hotel and was wondering those of you that have stayed if you would recommend the place or would you recommend another to stay at instead?

Thanks in advance!

 

[HydroGuy]

Another quick question, didn't want to open another thread for it but what are opinions on the Annabella Hotel? It's much closer to Paradise Pier which we will be moving to after the first night at an off site hotel and was wondering those of you that have stayed if you would recommend the place or would you recommend another to stay at instead?

Thanks in advance!

Here is a fairly recent blog post on this from our Tom Bell:

http://blog.wdwinfo.com/2014/06/27/disneyland-good-neighbor-hotel-anabella-hotel/

 

[nikkislaght]

All great information to know as I would like to save a little $$ where possible on little things like food and drinks. In reading other threads I noticed many people take the Mio drink add-ons or like you said the Crystal Lite packs because of the water there, is the water that bad that a drink mix is needed to make it tolerable to drink?

the water is fine to me,, we just like to have a flavor every so often..

 

[IAmElsan]

Here is a fairly recent blog post on this from our Tom Bell:

http://blog.wdwinfo.com/2014/06/27/disneyland-good-neighbor-hotel-anabella-hotel/

Thank you for the information. I'm still torn as to where to stay for the off-site night we have I keep alternating between a few hotels and still can't make up my mind LOL

the water is fine to me,, we just like to have a flavor every so often..

Ahhh ok, thanks!

 

[nikkislaght]

Another quick question, didn't want to open another thread for it but what are opinions on the Annabella Hotel? It's much closer to Paradise Pier which we will be moving to after the first night at an off site hotel and was wondering those of you that have stayed if you would recommend the place or would you recommend another to stay at instead?

Thanks in advance!

WE did a split stay last year... we stay on Katella at a time share hotel.. last year we stayed at their sister hotel.. on Orangewood.. but had to come in two days earlier than our booking.. we stayed in a crappy hotel across the road... it was bad.. very bad.. but we didnt care... it was a place to lay our heads after a long day of travel and playing in the ocean.. we didnt consider our Disney trip started until we got to our reg hotel and into Disneyland... so just for the sake of not going crazy trying to find a great hotel before moving to a Disney hotel.. I would go for conveniences rather than how good it is... specially if its only one night.... thats just my two cents.... if you were staying there the whole trip.. then go for something good..!!

 

[IAmElsan]

WE did a split stay last year... we stay on Katella at a time share hotel.. last year we stayed at their sister hotel.. on Orangewood.. but had to come in two days earlier than our booking.. we stayed in a crappy hotel across the road... it was bad.. very bad.. but we didnt care... it was a place to lay our heads after a long day of travel and playing in the ocean.. we didnt consider our Disney trip started until we got to our reg hotel and into Disneyland... so just for the sake of not going crazy trying to find a great hotel before moving to a Disney hotel.. I would go for conveniences rather than how good it is... specially if its only one night.... thats just my two cents.... if you were staying there the whole trip.. then go for something good..!!

Totally makes sense. Which is why I'm trying to find something reasonable and close to transfer over the next day to PPH but don't want to stay in a dump either, not really used to that as my last 6 vacations have to been to Vegas all with extremely nice hotels on the strip so I think I've become spoiled in that aspect too. So many factors play into me taking forever to choose a hotel where I'm not familiar with the area and whatnot like I am with Vegas.

 

[HydroGuy]

Totally makes sense. Which is why I'm trying to find something reasonable and close to transfer over the next day to PPH but don't want to stay in a dump either, not really used to that as my last 6 vacations have to been to Vegas all with extremely nice hotels on the strip so I think I've become spoiled in that aspect too. So many factors play into me taking forever to choose a hotel where I'm not familiar with the area and whatnot like I am with Vegas.

I have not reviewed the older posts you made but I will say in general that for many people (including me) we do not spend much time at our hotel. We use it more for sleeping. So the choice is not as big a deal as say Vegas where you may spend more time in your room and around the hotel (dining, casinos, shows, etc.). We have stayed at the Disney hotels and offsite and offsite works fine. Really.

The more popular (around here) hotels on Harbor are not "dumps". HoJo's, Candy Cane Inn, BWPPI, Tropicana, and others, are fine places. No frills but clean and decent. I suspect the new hotel going up on Harbor this summer (Courtyard Marriott) may become popular really quickly because of its location and decent reputation.

I think you are thinking way too hard about this.

 

[IAmElsan]

I have not reviewed the older posts you made but I will say in general that for many people (including me) we do not spend much time at our hotel. We use it more for sleeping. So the choice is not as big a deal as say Vegas where you may spend more time in your room and around the hotel (dining, casinos, shows, etc.). We have stayed at the Disney hotels and offsite and offsite works fine. Really.

The more popular (around here) hotels on Harbor are not "dumps". HoJo's, Candy Cane Inn, BWPPI, Tropicana, and others, are fine places. No frills but clean and decent. I suspect the new hotel going up on Harbor this summer (Courtyard Marriott) may become popular really quickly because of its location and decent reputation.

I think you are thinking way too hard about this.

Your last statement is probably the most true lol
I'm forever an over planner when it comes to things, and I think as good a trait as it is, it's just as bad too trying to overplay everything and then just panic about it cause I just can't choose lol

I keep going back and forth between the Annabella and Tropicana and a couple others as I'm just trying to find the closest one to transition over to PPH the next morning without too much of a hassle. Each have the positives and negatives in regards to parking fees, type of room etc. see there I go again just overthinking it haha

 

[IAmElsan]

I didn't want to open another thread to ask another question, so thought that I would come back to my current thread and ask here:

Does any know (or can direct me to a thread already made about it) what exactly are on the prix fixe menus at the participating restaurants for the WOC dining packages as I would like to make a reservation so I have reserved seating for the WOC show so I don't miss the show at a good view and I want to know which place to reserve based on what is available to eat on their prix fixe meals?

Thanks!

 

[JadeDarkstar]

Let me make sure you know. There is no seating at woc. You also can get a good view with out paying 40 a person. We did get a good view last nov. It was one of the best views we have ever had and got it with a normal fp.

The thing about the WOC meals is you may not need to line up so early. My family and I are going back and forth not sure its worth it for us.
we use this place for all our dinning pricing and planing.
http://allears.net/dlr/din/menu/menus.htm
go down the page to find the woc meals.

 

[IAmElsan]

Let me make sure you know. There is no seating at woc. You also can get a good view with out paying 40 a person. We did get a good view last nov. It was one of the best views we have ever had and got it with a normal fp.

The thing about the WOC meals is you may not need to line up so early. My family and I are going back and forth not sure its worth it for us.
we use this place for all our dinning pricing and planing.
http://allears.net/dlr/din/menu/menus.htm
go down the page to find the woc meals.

Thanks for the menu list, super helpful!!

 

[IAmElsan]

So I finally bit the bullet, buckled down, settled on a place and booked the extra night at Tropicana Inn and Suites.

Only bit left of this trip to purchase will be our PhotoPlus Pass for all our photos!

T-minus 83! (can't come soon enough!)

YAY!

 

[Watchtower]

I would definitely recommend Best Western Stovall's for the easy transfer to the Paradise Pier Hotel. My partner and I did this for the first day of our trip last May. We flew into Anaheim around dinnertime, planning to just do dinner in Downtown Disney and start our park days the next morning. Our reservations for our actual park days was at the Paradise Pier Hotel, but I didn't want to spend $250 on the night of our "travel day" so I booked Stovall's for that first night. It was about $120 (first week in May), but I got 25% off through either Orbits or Cheaptickets.com. The hotel (Stovalls) is pretty "dated", and the rooms are pretty dark, but it was fine for just one night. The next morning, checkout was easy, and Paradise Pier is just a 5 minute walk up the street. We checked in early enough to qualify for early entry, so we started our "park days" with a bang!

 

[IAmElsan]

Next question,
Any one have any tips of the quickest routes to the parks from PPH? As I know we will be taking advantage of the Early Morning/Magic Morning hours at both parks since we are staying on site.

 

[IAmElsan]

Bump my thread in regards to my last question, as I didn't want to open another thread just to ask a question relating to my trip so thought I'd keep it in my own thread.

Thank you!

 

[HydroGuy]

Next question,
Any one have any tips of the quickest routes to the parks from PPH? As I know we will be taking advantage of the Early Morning/Magic Morning hours at both parks since we are staying on site.

To DCA most recommend going thru the GCH hotel. For DL the GCH may save a bit of walking. If you are using the Monorail for DL then just go straight there in DTD. We never use the Monorail to save time, FYI. We use it for saving our feet. Never first thing in the morning unless we already made a choice to sleep in and go to DL late (which is rare LOL!). We often use Monorail to come back from DL to GCH or DLH.

 

[IAmElsan]

To DCA most recommend going thru the GCH hotel. For DL the GCH may save a bit of walking. If you are using the Monorail for DL then just go straight there in DTD. We never use the Monorail to save time, FYI. We use it for saving our feet. Never first thing in the morning unless we already made a choice to sleep in and go to DL late (which is rare LOL!). We often use Monorail to come back from DL to GCH or DLH.

Thank you for the info!

 

[RHMH]

Dis- Friend

You have received a lot of great advice from the OP!!! so I will not add to it... BUT!!! if you have the time to read our 2014 DL Trip report, it may help a wee bit. The link is in the Signature below...

Happy planning and have a super magical trip!!!!!!

Keels and our group visited Disneyland just about the same time last year.... Hello Keels