A couple questions from a first timer

[arbolita]

Hello all! I'm an East Coast native, so I have spent nearly all of my time on the DIS over on the WDW boards, but over the past couple weeks I've been reading through some of the threads and trip reports out this way. I think I have convinced my husband that next year for my birthday (early November) would be a great time for us to make our first trip to Disneyland! Neither of us have ever been to California, so this is a pretty big undertaking for us. A couple questions...

- How are crowd levels/temperatures during the first week of November? How quickly do they take down the Halloween decorations?

- Is 3 full days enough to see both parks?

- I saw that currently, there is a 30% off room discount for travel between October and Christmas. Historically speaking, is that a discount regularly given? Since you don't really have to worry about transportation between resorts/parks as much as WDW, is it worth it to stay on property or do you experience the magic just as much by staying at one of the nearby hotels?

- As I said, we're probably going to add on some non-Disney days to our trip, to do some of the typical touristy LA/Hollywood things. Would you recommend planning those towards the beginning or end of our trip?


Thanks for taking the time to read/answer my questions, I'm sure plenty more will come up between now and then, haha.

 

[GrandBob]

to the mellow side of the DIS.

First stop - all WDW vets really, really need to read A DLR Guide for WDW Vets. You'll be amazed at the amount of detailed planning information Hydroguy has packed into there.

- How are crowd levels/temperatures during the first week of November? How quickly do they take down the Halloween decorations?

Detailed Weather Data for DLR Expect cool in the mornings and evenings - sweaters, jackets, or hoodies. Warm during mid-day, perhaps t-shirt weather. Dress in layers. Crowds should be light to moderate for the first week of Nov. The DLR maintenance crew will be busy all week taking down Halloween decorations and putting up Christmas decorations, so you'll see a strange mixture of both.

- Is 3 full days enough to see both parks?

I can't tell you how many threads we get asking and discussing this issue. But the consensus seems to be that 3 days is a minimum, but doable if you're a commando or are willing to skip a few things. 4 is better. 5 is downright leisurely. Some folks do a week or more, but I get bored sometime during the 5th day.

- I saw that currently, there is a 30% off room discount for travel between October and Christmas. Historically speaking, is that a discount regularly given? Since you don't really have to worry about transportation between resorts/parks as much as WDW, is it worth it to stay on property or do you experience the magic just as much by staying at one of the nearby hotels?

Can't answer the discount question. Anybody? As far as on-site vs off-site, that's also a constant source of discussion. There are those that absolutely swear by on-site. There are those, such as myself, who can't justify that expense when there are so many off-site hotels/motels that are just as close, or closer. It's a personal issue. But you're right, the fact that they're so close reduces the incentive to staying on-site.

- As I said, we're probably going to add on some non-Disney days to our trip, to do some of the typical touristy LA/Hollywood things. Would you recommend planning those towards the beginning or end of our trip?

Most folks recommend finishing up your vacation on a high note, i.e. Disney. Throwing in the side trips in the middle, as a diversion from Disney, works well too.

-Bob

 

[arbolita]

Thanks for the quick responses!

I suppose one of the main positives for staying off-site would be that we could easily afford to stay for a 4th day, particularly when it seems that through Costco Travel, you can book a deal for a Good Neighbor hotel where you stay 3 days, get the 4th free.

I had been thinking of going to explore other parts of SoCal at the start of our trip (so that I could avoid the weekend crowd at Disney), so good to hear that seems like it would be the general consensus of how to proceed anyway. And thank you very much for that link, I'll be sure to print out sections of it to pour over during the planning.

 

[kirstie101]

All I can add is that my sis and her husband usually go the week after 11/5 for their anniversary. According to them, they are able to get good prices on hotel rooms, crowds are extremely low and most times they see some of the halloween decorations and some of the Christmas decorations.

 

[skiingfast]

I would not avoid the weekends all together. In the offseason which early November is in. Fireworks and Fantasmic are weekend only shows. Also during the week hours are short and it's nice to see the parks at night. You might want to be there for a Friday or Sunday too.

 

[arbolita]

All I can add is that my sis and her husband usually go the week after 11/5 for their anniversary. According to them, they are able to get good prices on hotel rooms, crowds are extremely low and most times they see some of the halloween decorations and some of the Christmas decorations.

Perfect! The 5th is my birthday, and it's a Monday next year, so that's exactly the week I was looking to go. Thanks for the info!

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Perfect! The 5th is my birthday, and it's a Monday next year, so that's exactly the week I was looking to go. Thanks for the info!

As long as you avoid Vets Day you will be fine.

 

[Hound 109]

Lots of good info in all the posts above.

Thanks for the quick responses!

I suppose one of the main positives for staying off-site would be that we could easily afford to stay for a 4th day, particularly when it seems that through Costco Travel, you can book a deal for a Good Neighbor hotel where you stay 3 days, get the 4th free.

I had been thinking of going to explore other parts of SoCal at the start of our trip (so that I could avoid the weekend crowd at Disney), so good to hear that seems like it would be the general consensus of how to proceed anyway. And thank you very much for that link, I'll be sure to print out sections of it to pour over during the planning.

If you're thinking of staying off site then replace the term "good neighbor" with "nice hotel on Harbor Blvd. that is less than a 9 min. walk to the turnstile". (most of which are good neighbors) There are LOTS of good neighbor hotels, but only 8-10 are truly walking distance. Might want to locate a map with all the hotels listed so you can get your bearings while you are taking notes.

For your first time at DLR.... to do it right, i'd say 3 nights/ 4 days minimum (4 nights / 5 days would be better).

(& if it is adults (no children) & if you like to enjoy a mid day rest, then i would possibly recommend the Candy Cane Inn (unless you decide to swing onsite which is preferable ).

After reading the many tip threads (many with essential information for the WDW veteran), come back & post again. You'll get lots of opinions on hotels, activities etc. Have a great time planning a visit to Walt's Park.

 

[GenGen22]

I have been to DLR many times and never stayed onsite. I would check out getawaytoday.com. I have used them many times and they seem to be cheaper than costco too. I have stayed at hotels that include transportation and free hot breakfast buffet as well. Two I have stayed at that I recommend in order of preferred are: Embassy Suites Hotel Anaheim South and Radisson Suites Hotel Buena Park. Buena Park is 1-2 exits on the freeway from Ball Rd on Interstate 5 which is where DLR is. The transportation is on a shuttle and there is not much of a wait is any and not really crowded like they say about WDW transportation. The weather in southern California is nice. I would say 70's. but in the evening gets a little chilly. You will need a coat and maybe some gloves and a hat, nut probably nothing compared to what your used to. Probably much warmer. If you go to Universal Studios look into Grinchmas. It's where the Grinch and all the whoo's from whooseville are there and they look so realistic it's unreal. Really cool actually. Enjoy your vacation

 

[Saavy?]

How long to stay?
I think you need at least 4 days to see everything (5 is excellent). Time starts to smoosh when you throw in the rides, the parades, the shows, noshing on the wonderful cuisine, the recovery time from riding Tower of Terror, and the general looky-looing around.

If your feet can take it, you can cover most of it in 3 days. You will have to go at a "mach II with your hair on fire" speed though. Your feet will hate you , your brain will be stressed to mush, and you will need a vacation to recover .

Where to stay?
In my humble opinion...
ONSITE!
This totally depends on your "fanatic factor".
IF you want to check reality at the door from the moment you arrive, then stay onsite. You will be immersed in the Disney magic 24/7. Hotel, Downtown Disney, Parks. The outside world no longer exists. It is beyond wonderful.

Where? Disneyland Hotel.
Why? Because it is closest to the Monorail. Period.
The rooms are clean, nice, problem free, and CLOSE.
Paradise Pier is too far of a (expletive) walk. By the time you get to the gates or the Monorail station, your feet are pissed off & you have not even started your day (and you simply cannot bribe the guy with the golf cart to take you anywhere).
The Grand Californian is fabulous, but it is still not the closest to the Monorail (but you do have California Adventure in your backyard).

Discounts
I have found that every year, the discounts get a bit skimpier . We used to anxiously wait for the discount to come out because it was such a great deal. Those days are gone... now we have to save like possessed psychotics to afford our trips even with the discounts. What happened to the free night!

As you can tell, the theme here is not "Save the Tata's", but "Save the FEET".
Our gang is a bunch of yahoos from the medical profession and we walk our butts off every day. We are willing to walk as many miles as it takes once we are IN the park, but we are a sorry bunch when it comes to GETTING to the park. Therefore our strategy lies in "fork out the dough for the shortest point from A to B".
We also consider our trips necessary to regain our sanity. We want to be immersed in the magic to the point where we ooze pixie dust .

Here is to hoping your trip is magical!

 

[Eeee-va]

I wouldn't bet on many hotel or even admission discounts next year once Cars Land is open (probably summer 2012). I wouldn't be surprised if they continue to send out PIN codes, which you might be lucky enough to get emailed or mailed to you personally (those discounts seem to range between 30-40% off). But when planning for late next year, I would not plan on a discount, though it COULD happen.

Unlike at WDW, on-site at Disneyland seems to generally be at least twice as expensive as staying somewhere nice enough off-site (in some cases 3-4 times more!), yet some of the off-site hotels are as close or even closer to the parks as many of the rooms on-site. I prefer off-site but honestly, that's because I really don't have the money for on-site unless I drastically shortened my trip. If my choice were 3 days/2 nights on-site, or 5 days/4 nights off-site, I would absolutely take off-site. I would rather spend more time at the parks than have a shorter trip but a nicer/more Disney-fied room and a few perks. (Currently the biggest perk is probably early entry into Disneyland on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday…but almost all 3 day or more tickets have one early entry day as well. So if you were going to the parks Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, staying on-site would not get you any extra days "early" than you could've had staying off-site.)

Since you'll be going in off-season, the hours will be shorter on weekdays--maybe 10 AM - 8 PM. That's not bad (it means Disney doesn't expect big crowds, and you may be able to go from park open til close without a mid-afternoon break!). But given the shorter hours, if you really love Disney, then if you can get 4 nights, I would try to get a 5-day hopper. The price difference between 4 and 5 days, at least when booked separately, is not very large, and IMO well worth it if you even spend a few hours at the park on arrival or departure day. The parks are always less crowded in the early morning (unless Cars Land changes that!), and if you wanted to see nighttime shows then depending on when you arrive, your arrival day may be your best opportunity.

 

[skiingfast]

I wouldn't bet on many hotel or even admission discounts next year once Cars Land is open (probably summer 2012). I wouldn't be surprised if they continue to send out PIN codes, which you might be lucky enough to get emailed or mailed to you personally (those discounts seem to range between 30-40% off). But when planning for late next year, I would not plan on a discount, though it COULD happen.

I think it's fine to plan on discounts. DLR needs people to extend their visits beyond 1 or 2 days. Although this doesn't fit the bill for everyone. I mean 25% off the DLH sounds great, but the price may be %25 more than last year, because they've been able to raise thier hotel rates. Also deals on 4 day hoppers when people can't misss more than a day of work and take a 3 day weekend. It may not seem like it on the DIS where many of us go for 5 or 7 days, but we aren't typical visitors.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

- How are crowd levels/temperatures during the first week of November?

Fairly light. However, day of the week matters much more at DLR than it does at WDW. It is not uncommon for Saturdays to be very busy even in off seasons at DLR. Sundays also to a lesser extent. These things actually work against you at DLR because some of the fireworks and bigger shows sometimes run only on such busy days during slack periods.

- Is 3 full days enough to see both parks?

if you move with a purpose. 4 would be better so as to give a more relaxed pace.

- I saw that currently, there is a 30% off room discount for travel between October and Christmas. Historically speaking, is that a discount regularly given?

Like at WDW, discounts depend upon where they are relative to target booking rates at certain times. In any case, DLR has far fewer deals than does WDW.

Since you don't really have to worry about transportation between resorts/parks as much as WDW, is it worth it to stay on property or do you experience the magic just as much by staying at one of the nearby hotels?

It depends. I would guess that those that usually stay in deluxe WDW resorts would probably say stay on site. We usually stay WDW value or moderate. As to my opinion, a 20 minute bus ride (sometimes standing) after 30-40 minutes of waiting for it is to me no more magical than a 5 minute walk across Harbor Blvd. And to be honest, I'd rather have the 5 minute walk across Harbor Blvd. At the end of the day, I just want to plop. None of the hotels themselves across Harbor are anything magical, however. Some are better than others, but they're all fairly basic places to sleep. None of them are so much better than the rest that I'd pay significantly more to go there.

As for the on site hotels, they are better than those across the street. But they are priced accordingly. So the question most people ask is are they worth THAT much more? Only you can answer that question. Paradise Pier is the lowest priced of the three. but there is some distance to walk and the view isn't all that magical on that walk. Pricing is above that of a WDW moderate, but somewhat below a Deluxe. The next one up is the Disneyland hotel. Here, you're in the magic from the hotel to the gate. It's getting a refurb and once done, it will be nice. It's also close to the monorail. Pricing is probably equal with one of the less expensive WDW deluxe resorts. Finally, there is the Grand Californian. It's the most expensive and it too is such that you're in the magic from hotel to gate. It even has its own gate into California Adventure. It's priced about where one of the more expensive WDW deluxe resorts would be.

For convenience, I would suggest either the Disney owned hotels or a hotel on Harbor near the gates. A note. In hotel advertising, right next to Disney doesn't mean next to the gate. Right next to Disney might not even mean walking distance to the gate. The Hotels on Katella and Ball may be right next to Disney property, but they aren't right next to the gates and they're almost out of convenient walking range entirely. It's nice to be able to walk back to the hotel and take a break and it's even nicer at the end of the day. 5 minute walk. Kerplop. Ahhhhhh ZZZZZZZ.

- As I said, we're probably going to add on some non-Disney days to our trip, to do some of the typical touristy LA/Hollywood things. Would you recommend planning those towards the beginning or end of our trip?

If you're not doing anything that requires reservations such as a dinner show or such, I would remain flexible on these until the Disneyland calendar gets filled in with what shows on what days, etc. Things usually work out for us to where we can rent a car at the airport while we do all those kinds of things and turn it in near Disney when we're done, we don't need a car while at Disney.

 

[Disney1992]

Not to make your decision even harder, but since you want to see a little of LA, you might want to look into the Adventures By Disney Backstage Magic Tour. I'm a WDW Vet as well and will be taking taking my first trip to California via ABD in two weeks. You get a little taste of Hollywood mixed with DL. The ABD forum has quite a few detailed reports to read. Reading them made we want to go to DL even more.

 

[arbolita]

Not to make your decision even harder, but since you want to see a little of LA, you might want to look into the Adventures By Disney Backstage Magic Tour. I'm a WDW Vet as well and will be taking taking my first trip to California via ABD in two weeks. You get a little taste of Hollywood mixed with DL. The ABD forum has quite a few detailed reports to read. Reading them made we want to go to DL even more.

I did look into that tour, because it sounds absolutely amazing, but it's just way out of our budget for the time being. One day...

 

[nunzia]

Not to make your decision even harder, but since you want to see a little of LA, you might want to look into the Adventures By Disney Backstage Magic Tour. I'm a WDW Vet as well and will be taking taking my first trip to California via ABD in two weeks. You get a little taste of Hollywood mixed with DL. The ABD forum has quite a few detailed reports to read. Reading them made we want to go to DL even more.

I took this trip a few years ago and it was A M A Z IN G..yes, worth caps and extra spaces. Just wonderful and worth every penny, you are treated like royalty and access is just, again, amazing. In Hollywood you stay at the Renaissance, right AT the Kodak theater, across from El Capitan and Soda Shoppe and right there at Grauman's..at DLR you stay at the Grand. Just a super trip.
You can easily come in early and stay late to do more in depth So Cal things or add a day at DLR. Something to really consider

PS..if you are coming after Carsland opens I would guess that there MIGHT be extras to entice people to stay onsite like there was with the opeing of Little Mermaid and Star Tours..those extra fast passes to on site guests really helped out, and maybe they will do something similar with the new DCA...plus, I'd think being able to enter DCA before the general population would be a good thing.

 

[arbolita]

Just wanted to post a quick update =)

I think we've decided to push our trip date back a week, and take your advice and go for 4 or 5 days, so we will be in the parks November 12-16. I'm assuming that will be the first week of the holiday decorations, which we've never even seen in WDW. I also realized November 6, 2012 is the next Presidential election, and I'm guessing that California schools will be out and possibly making the parks fairly crowded.

Thanks for all of the advice so far, and for the link with all the info for WDW vets. I'm already getting extremely excited for this trip!!

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

I also realized November 6, 2012 is the next Presidential election, and I'm guessing that California schools will be out and possibly making the parks fairly crowded.

We still have to go to school on presidential election days.

 

[arbolita]

We still have to go to school on presidential election days.

Oh really? Huh, good to know! They close in Maryland, because a lot of the schools are used as voting sites.