Any Canadians been to Disneyland?

[Corbisblue]

How did you like it?
I absolutely loved it! Just knowing the history and that it was the first Disney park makes it that much more special!

How long did you go for?
I only went for 2 days, it was a spur the moment type thing. I booked a flight 2 nights before to LAX.

Where did you stay?
I stayed with a friend in Irvine, so it was a bit of a pain to get to Disneyland by public transit. I recommend not doing that, it was frustrating.

Did you fly into LAX?
Yes I did. There is a bus that goes directly to Disneyland Hotel. That would be the easiest way to get to Disneyland if you are staying in the area. If you aren't staying at Disneyland Hotel there are plenty of off-site hotels around you could stay at. They are walking distance from the parks.

Did you do anything else other than DL during your trip?
I was only in California for a total of 4 days so I didn't get to do much else. We did spent one day traveling around Hollywood and touristy things like that.

 

[piraterunner]

I have had Disney overload the past 12 months. We did WDW in January I did the Goofy Marathon we spent four days in the freezing cold! March I had a girls trip (15 ladies) to California. Flew into LAX out of Buffalo $238 1 stop but hey traveling without a toddler was a breeze and a treat so I didn't mind. We rented a car and spent 4 days in Palm Springs and on our last day got up early and to Disneyland before catching our 10:45pm flight outta LAX. GREAT DAY. so great that I persuaded two of the ladies to return with their families in September and run the half marathon. After running the marathons in January Disney kept emailing me to do the Coast to Coast Challenge for a "special medal". I am a sucker for shiny things, oh and I felt hella guilty for going to Disney without my 3-year-old. So I booked a 9 day trip for my family. We flew from Toronto to LAX rented a car a spent 3 days at Disney. We stayed across the street at the Camelot Inn, wanted something within walking distance to the race. The hotel was nice enough, provided a quick breakfast in the morning. Loved the fact that you could walk to both parks. i honestly think we were closer to the gates than the Disney hotels on site. Loved the feel off the place we had a great time. We purchased the Citypass which gives 3 day hopperpass with magic hours, 1 day universal (which we didn't use), 1 day San diego Zoo, and Sea World. We did 4 days in Palm Springs, husband played to rounds of golf we did the gondalas to the state park. We spent the last 2 days in San Diego my husband played a round of golf at Torrey Pines. San Diego Zoo and Sea World were Awesome!!!!! we stayed at the Hyatt one night by Sea World that hotel had awesome waterslides and a great pool. The 2nd night at the Hyatt downtown, awesome to walk around downtown great city there was a baseball game on that night. I absolutely love California and would go back in a heartbeat. That said I am giving Florida one more chance. We are going to Disneyworld for Marchbreak

 

[two*little*birds]

Awesome stories from everyone so far, I love hearing all your DL adventures.

We're now officially planning a 10 night trip to CA in October. We'll spend 3 nights in San Diego, and then the rest of the trip in Anaheim. I'm really excited about this trip.

 

[Miandrea]

I went last June. I flew from Toronto to Santa Ana (Orange County/John Wayne Airport). Nice and easy.

I was a little disappointed at Disneyland. The CM were not as friendly as DisneyWorld. We noticed little differences (not as clean, the stores were not as tidy). I guess I had built up Disneyland in my head.

I am glad I went but not sure if I would go back. We didn't stay near Disney (20 minutes away at the Hyatt Huntington Beach - beautiful resort!!!!).

Have lots of fun!

 

[Club33forme]

You can't go wrong with Disneyland. It's the park Walt built, full of history. Many good things at WDW as well. I enjoy both but Disneyland will remain my favourite. So nice to be able to just walk to your hotel on or off Disney property. Many things in the area to see and do as well. I hope you go.

 

[Lluianae]

The last time DH and I were at Disneyland was in 2007 We drove down with my DDad and DB. We did both parks (DL and DCA) 4 days. We did Universal Studios 1 day, Sea World 1 day and the beach 1 day. Its very handy having your own car. We all had a great time. Even though its been a few years going to Disneyland is worth it, whether you just do the parks or other site seeing. Its all about the magic!

 

[Douglas Bray]

Quote:
Originally Posted by two*little*birds
How did you like it?
How long did you go for?
Where did you stay?
Did you fly into LAX? (seems to be the only option for direct flights)
Did you do anything else other than DL during your trip?

After 4 straight years at WDW and looking into it a bit more, DL looks great - lots of different attractions too! I'm still on the fence in terms of whether to book, only thing holding me back is the fact that other things like Universal, Legoland, San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld are all 45-60 minutes away from DL. I guess that's the beauty of WDW, everything is very central.

Would love to hear from anyone who has been.

Thanks!

My first trip to Disneyland was when I was in my early 20's and I have been a dozen times (but not for the last six years as we have been to Disney World every year for the last six years).
Disneyland is a lot of fun but you are right in noting that you have may options in the LA and San Diego area for other attractions.
We have flown most of the times that we have gone and have always rented a car & twice I drove direct from Vancouver to Disneyland (about 22 hours without stoping).
The shortest trip was for 5 days and the longest was for 14 days.
We have stayed at a number of places close to Disneyland but my favorite was the Staybridge Suites, you can walk to the park in under twenty minutes and you have a nice Pool and a Hot Tub and a Kitchen in your suite.
We have always had a flight into LAX but if you can find a flight into John Wayne Airport it is much closer to Disneyland.
We always spend a least five days in Disnyland and California Adventure and then do side trips to Universal Studios, Seaworld, Legoland and to the local Beachs and for shopping.

 

[BraMax]

We have been to Disneyland 7 times. We usually stay a week but have been as long as 2 weeks. We have stayed at different hotel just about everytime with the exception of staying at the Residence Inn twice. It is a great hotel for staying at for a longer period of time. They have a great hot breakfast buffet and close to the new Anaheim Garden Walk for restaurants. You are walking distance to DL but they also have the ART for the end of the night tired feet.

We have done more than just Disneyland while there. We've been to Universal twice, Lego Land, Sea World, San Diego Zoo, Aquarium of the Pacific, The USS Midway.

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. We fly into LAX but we have also flown out of San Diego.

You will have a great time.

 

[squirrel]

My most recent trip to DL/DCA was in 2007. I flew direct from Vancouver with my niece who was 4 yrs old. We took a Disneyland resort shuttle to Best Western Park Place Inn (across the street from the main entrance). We stayed for 4 nights and had a 5 day park pass. With the flight times we spent about 4 days in the parks.

We went after Labour Day weekend and it was crowded and quite warm. I was not expecting it to be that crowded as WDW isn't that bad at that time of year. We needed that much time as my niece liked doing things a few times. She also fell asleep quite a bit so we (I) watched Aladdin twice.

I prefer WDW, but DL is good and definately worth going to.

 

[pinner33]

we have been there several times my six year old daughter has been three times but we are leaving on tuesday for here fouth trip.we usually spend 10-14 days and do other things like seaworld universal la zoo san diago zoo some beaches sanamonica piere etc.We bought into dvc last year after staying at the grand californian because we liked it so much this will be our first trip in a br villa

 

[lulukate]

You will love Disneyland whether you are able to stay for just a few days or spend longer and explore more of what California has to offer. I do love WDW and the huge variety of things it has - including Animal Kingdom and the water parks but Disneyland I think will always be my favourite - I love the feel of it and that it really was the park of Walt's dreams, the one he planned and I can picture him in my mind everytime we enter onto Main Street - you somehow feel closer to him and his vision at Disneyland.

 

[jennine]

We did DLR in Oct09. Although we did it a little differently. We actually flew into Palm Springs and used this as our main base for the duration of our 2 1/2 week stay. We drove the 1 1/2 hours to Anaheim and stayed at a BW that was a 5 minute walk to the maingates. We stayed here for 3 days although we could have used a LOT more to see and do everything!

We also made day trips to Universal and Seaworld and were going to do Legoland too, but ran out of steam!!

Palm Springs has some pretty amazing shopping too.

We are looking forward to our next trip to DLR once Carsland is complete! We will likely do the same thing and stay in Palm Springs with a few days across the street from Disneyland! If you are used to WDW, you will love how DL and DCA are a few steps apart from each other!

 

[canadianjovigirl]

We took our girls 6 years years ago. We stayed for 17 days in Anaheim at the Residence Inn and had a rental car. We flew into LAX (cost was better for that time) and we did 5 days at Disneyland, Universal, Knotts Berry Farm, Ripleys, Wax Museum, Beach, Sea World, Legoland, shopping, Zoo. We loved having the full kitchen to cook some meals and liked not having to switch hotels. We took things at a leisurely pace and had flexibility so had a great time. We also took my 10 year old on tour of hollywood in a limo as she turned 10 down there and that was what she wanted to do other than shop at Macy's

When i went 17 years ago, i drove from Vancouver there and stayed a week in Anaheim and then drove to San Diego for 5 days and then home. We did stop along the drive and visited San Fransico etc.

 

[mystic_path]

How did you like it?
How long did you go for?
Where did you stay?
Did you fly into LAX? (seems to be the only option for direct flights)
Did you do anything else other than DL during your trip?

After 4 straight years at WDW and looking into it a bit more, DL looks great - lots of different attractions too! I'm still on the fence in terms of whether to book, only thing holding me back is the fact that other things like Universal, Legoland, San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld are all 45-60 minutes away from DL. I guess that's the beauty of WDW, everything is very central.

Would love to hear from anyone who has been.

Thanks!

YEPPERS! I go every year. Except for this one. We decided to take our trip to WDW.

* I usually go for 8 nights 9 days. I stay at one of the hotels along the strip on the right hand side of the map between the Howard Johnson and the Ramada Main Gate on Harbor Blvd. Any of these are literally no more then a 5-8 minute walk to the MAIN GATE of Disneyland. No shuttles required. We really enjoy the Howard Johnson, The Carousel, or the Tropicana.

http://anaheim-attractions.10-best.info/disney_map.pdf


* We have flowen into John Wayne (Orange County) from Vancouver Canada, but all the flights seem to have stop overs in either Seattle or Sanfransisco. HOWEVER if you fly to LAX the flights are direct. Many times we have flown into Orange county having a stop over, and family flew in on the same day into LAX an hour or so apart from us and they beat us to the Disney hotel. That is even with the 45 minute drive from LAX where John Wayne airport is only 20 minutes from Disneyland. This is all because they didnt have to wait for an addional flight.

I do want to suggest that if you are close to a USA/Canada boarder, if you can test some of the airports in the USA, the package deals for flight/hotel are cheaper, and even flights going into John Wayne are direct.


* As for other excursions... Yes we have done Universal Studios, Knottsberry Farm, Sandiego Zoo, Sea World. We book our tours through Southern California Grayline

http://www.coachamerica.com/graylineanaheim/tours_ana.cfm

This includes round trip transportation from your hotel to the parks, and back to your hotel at the end of the night. No renting a car is needed. It's wonderful.