7-10 day Disney tickets/ bus to beach?

[waltdisneymama]

Hello,
We are planning a 12- or 14-day trip to Disneyland, probably in August 2010. I'd like to have tickets for at least 7, but maybe up to 10, days at Disneyland, so that we could have some full but also some just partial days there. Does anyone know if these are available, like at Disney World? I may use airmiles for the tickets (the most Airmiles offers is 5 days); could I upgrade these tickets to 7 or so days in the parks (for a cheap price), or would I need to pay for the price of new tickets to get more days? I hope that isn't confusing!

Also, we'd like to spend time at the beach and don't want to rent a car. My daughter (17) said she'd like to spend at least 2, and maybe 3, days there, and we may do that. I was thinking Huntington Beach sounded best (closer and good for surfing?) and remember reading that we could take a public bus there. Can anyone tell me where we'd catch the bus, etc.? We'll be staying at hopefully the Disneyland Hotel, if I can swing it (especially if they offer a reduced rate then - does anyone know how likely this may be??); otherwise, we'll probably stay at the Best Western Park Place Inn. I was thinking that we could maybe stay by the beach for a few days, but it sounds like a bit of a hassle to change hotels for the 5 (possibly 6) of us.
Thank you very much!!

 

[sonnyjane]

Currently, 6-day park hoppers are the longest ones being sold by DL. Other countries offer longer, but not sure how you get a hold of them. You probably want to look into getting annual passes if your dates wouldn't be blocked out during August. Deluxe passes might be the way to go, since they are only blocked out the first 3 Saturdays of August, and are $289 per person. Also, since August is peak season, I'm not sure how likely it is that DLH would offer discounts, but if you get AP's, you would get a discount on lodging.

Sorry, I can't help you with the buses!

 

[jory29]

Hello,
We are planning a 12- or 14-day trip to Disneyland, probably in August 2010. I'd like to have tickets for at least 7, but maybe up to 10, days at Disneyland, so that we could have some full but also some just partial days there. Does anyone know if these are available, like at Disney World? I may use airmiles for the tickets (the most Airmiles offers is 5 days); could I upgrade these tickets to 7 or so days in the parks (for a cheap price), or would I need to pay for the price of new tickets to get more days? I hope that isn't confusing!

Also, we'd like to spend time at the beach and don't want to rent a car. My daughter (17) said she'd like to spend at least 2, and maybe 3, days there, and we may do that. I was thinking Huntington Beach sounded best (closer and good for surfing?) and remember reading that we could take a public bus there. Can anyone tell me where we'd catch the bus, etc.? We'll be staying at hopefully the Disneyland Hotel, if I can swing it (especially if they offer a reduced rate then - does anyone know how likely this may be??); otherwise, we'll probably stay at the Best Western Park Place Inn. I was thinking that we could maybe stay by the beach for a few days, but it sounds like a bit of a hassle to change hotels for the 5 (possibly 6) of us.
Thank you very much!!

Hi, if you're thinking of ordering through air miles you may be allowed to upgrade for around $5 more to a 6 day pass, (though upgrade rate will depend on value of your air miles park hopper stated on back, as well as the actual cost of park hoppers in the park at the gate as this is the price they use to have you top up, but you won't know until you receive your park hopper in hand, as to how much it states it is worth! Our adult pass from air miles stated it was worth $204, and the child's was valued at $174. I checked with both air miles and Disney on this for our Oct. 2009 trip.

Now, if you plan on spending a lot of time there, it may be worth your while to upgrade to an annual pass - and if you get a chance to go next year before your pass is up, then that would be a bonus. The price of an annual pass isn't that bad to do an upgrade, they take the actual amount of the ticket price listed on your air miles ticket and you have to pay the diff. between that and the current annual pass price. You do get 10% off of food and drinks at many places in parks, so can be worth more than you think. Plus, using the fastpass machine is a dream with the plastic card. If you plan on doing the annual pass upgrade for a child it might be better for them to have an adult ticket purchased with air miles since the air miles cost isn't that much higher, but the Disney annual pass is more money to upgrade if you only have a child's pass for your children since annual passes are all at the same rate whether you're a child or adult) but you can *not* upgrade to a 7 day pass. Just be sure to use up your early (magic morning) entry that comes with the air miles card PRIOR to updating your pass to an annual pass or else you won't be able to use it. Watch too, for the dates that annual passholders are not allowed entries; you can view this on the Disneyland website, and plan to do your beach days on those days, etc.

Flightcentre.ca currently offers Canadians only, a 7 day pass. The problem there is that thus far, you can only purchase tickets up until Jan. 2, 2010. Keep looking there for updates. They even used to sell 8 day park hoppers but no longer have those available so not sure what the new year will bring for prices and availability of tickets.

Good luck, and hope this helps!!

 

[waltdisneymama]

Thank you very much for this information! I will think about an annual pass; unfortunately, though, we wouldn't be able to return within a year. Or maybe we don't need to spend as many days at DIsneyland as I am thinking. I will also check Flightcentre.ca! I remember that Airmiles also had a special this past summer where they offered a 7-day pass for the price of 5 - do you or does anyone happen to know when this started to be offered?

 

[aandjmama]

We took the bus from Disneyland to Balboa Pier several years ago...it took FOREVER to get there. I don't recall the bus/route number but it was easy to figure out, it just took so long with MANY stops. I think we also had to transfer busses on the way back. Last year we rented a car for a work-related conference and also drove to the beach and it was a much more enjoyable trip. It was nice to be able to stop and eat, shop etc without worrying about the bus. Just our personal experience....

 

[waltdisneymama]

aandjmama:
I am just nervous to drive in California!! And it would be me driving, because my husband won't be with us. Where did you pick up your car? Was it an easy drive to the beach? Sorry, is Balboa Pier at Hungtington Beach? I just think of those lanes and lanes of traffic when going to Universal. Is the drive to the beach a lot easier? Oh, and then I'd need to bring car seats for my two littlest ones, I guess (4 and 7)?
Thanks!!

 

[aandjmama]

aandjmama:
I am just nervous to drive in California!! And it would be me driving, because my husband won't be with us. Where did you pick up your car? Was it an easy drive to the beach? Sorry, is Balboa Pier at Hungtington Beach? I just think of those lanes and lanes of traffic when going to Universal. Is the drive to the beach a lot easier? Oh, and then I'd need to bring car seats for my two littlest ones, I guess (4 and 7)?
Thanks!!

Well, we had the car from co-workers who rented the car from the airport (I personally would NOT attempt to drive myself from the airport to DL--I would be too scared!) I've read that you can rent a car from DTD and from places very close to DL, I haven't done that, but we're going in about a week and a half and if the weather is decent, we're going to do the rental car thing. When we drove to the beach, I did not take the highway, I just drove the city streets and was pretty much a straight shot. We felt safe (I was with 4 other female co-workers in a mini-van) The car seats do pose a problem...I know they are a hassle and so is the bus...so I guess it's a personal preference of how you want to be hassled! bus or car seats. On the bus, you'll get to see lots of different types of people, neighborhoods, and communities. In the car, you can see and do what you want. I think it took over 1 hour one way on the bus. Now that I think of it, we had to transfer on the way there too (switch from one bus to another). If it were me, I'd do the car but that's just me.

 

[waltdisneymama]

Thank you, aandjmama! I'll have to give more thought to driving. Do you remember, was the first bus you took from Disneyland on Harbor Boulevard, near the hotels there?