April 21-24 Trip and I need serious help!

[JulieMB]

I've been planning our trip in December to WDW, but we just decided to book a quick trip to DL for my son's 12th birthday! (We just booked our flights today!)

I haven't been to DLR in 30 years and it's been 6 years since our last trip to WDW.

I have an 8 year old total princess and my son (that will be 12) is a total boy that loves Star Wars and football.

We fly into LAX around 8:15 Thursday morning and fly out Sunday around 11 am. We are getting the 3-day military pass, so we plan to hit the door running once we get to the park.

My husband and son are thrill seekers, so I imagine they will want to hit the rides. My daughter is more into princesses and characters, so I imagine we will stick together. I do want to have her hair done at BBB, so maybe do that Friday morning?

Help please?? We are still trying to figure out where to stay-so different than WDW!

 

[SplashMo]

I would stay at one of the three closest hotels from the entrance.

I would recommend park hoppers if possible.

Arrive 45 minutes early on the days you can.

Your boy will want to build a light saber.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

This thread has lots of helpful info: A DLR Guide for WDW Vets

Dining reservations can be made 60 days in advance, so if you would like to do some character meals (princesses for your DD?), book now. Also, you might want to look into doing a dining package for the PTN parade or for WOC.

 

[farmfresh]

Sounds like fun! To add to the advice above, you probably won't be in parks till late morning Thursday, so make the most of fast pass, and hit those rides in both parks.(you can hold a set of fps for each park at the same time) You can save some of the slower to load and walk on rides for when you can be at the park early in the morning. The afternoons are also good times for shows that your daughter might like. Also consider the PTN meal deal which gets a you a preferred viewing spot (the BB meal is expensive but the Aladdin's Oasis meal is not, especially if you plan to eat in the parks anyway).

I would try to make a BBB booking later in the day so your daughter can do the Fantasyland rides in the am when the queues are better.

If you want to spend the $$ on it there are also a number of character meals. Opinions here differ over which is best, but you have options in and out of the park and also for dinner. It's sometimes easier to meet characters here than in the parks themselves.

 

[smartlabelprint]

For close walk I prefer best western park place inn. There's a Costco discount. I wish someone had posted the hotel Map so you can see what's right across on harbor.

We stayed at carousel inn last time & we're trying their suites in November because our babies need a separate room. They have a decent pool area.

 

[hanna-nana]

Any chance you can stay on site for early entry Friday and Saturday? Totally worth it!

 

[avalon451]

I've always liked this map, to get a good idea of nearness and walking distance:

http://accommodationsneardisney.com/Disneyland/default.asp

 

[pa. dad]

We stayed at Alpine right across the street from Disneyland. Nothing fancy but it was fine and very convenient location. There's a number of "Good neighbor" hotels very close.
Do you just want to see the attractions that are not in FL? Or do you also want to see how some of the attractions are a little different in Ca than in FL? We tried to do both of those. Because of the number of attractions, you should plan to spend maybe twice the time at DL park than you do at DCA park.
One other thing- I don;t believe the Nemo Sub Voyage has fastpass so head there real early. I liked that one a lot.

 

[SplashMo]

I've always liked this map, to get a good idea of nearness and walking distance:

http://accommodationsneardisney.com/Disneyland/default.asp

On the map you will see a big red square indicating the entrance to the park. You will see a Best Western Park Place Inn. If you stay there or even two to either side you will be very close...

 

[SplashMo]

Once everyone has entered a park for the day with a ticket. Those tickets could be handed to FP runners. That means the boys could have double FP while the girls are waiting for princess lines etc...

 

[SplashMo]

Have you decided on Park Hoppers and your mix for DisneyLand vs Disney California Adventure?

 

[JulieMB]

We ended up booking suites at Anabella. It looks to be a little bit further out, but the rooms look nice.

Have you decided on Park Hoppers and your mix for DisneyLand vs Disney California Adventure?

YES!

We stayed at Alpine right across the street from Disneyland. Nothing fancy but it was fine and very convenient location. There's a number of "Good neighbor" hotels very close.
Do you just want to see the attractions that are not in FL? Or do you also want to see how some of the attractions are a little different in Ca than in FL? We tried to do both of those. Because of the number of attractions, you should plan to spend maybe twice the time at DL park than you do at DCA park.
One other thing- I don;t believe the Nemo Sub Voyage has fastpass so head there real early. I liked that one a lot.

I think both! They just want to get as much bang for the buck as possible meaning as many of the rides as can be done.

We are getting 3-day military park tickets with park hopper, so I am not sure if they come with the extra bonus morning? Does anybody know?

Some questions:

I think it will probably be noon by the time we actually can walk through the gates of DL on Thursday. So we will have 2 1/2 days in the parks.

What exactly is a FP runner? I understand the idea behind it, but I read somewhere that we need to designate it as somebody? What does designating a person do for them or us?

We were planning to do Ariel's Grotto Friday morning and Goofy's kitchen Saturday morning for group breakfasts with our family. Should we skip these so everybody can get to what they want? Maybe do early dinners instead?

I subscribed to RideMax for planning help, but their guides are going to be up till later this week. Any other recommendations for planning sites?

Also, does anybody know if yellow cab does, in-fact, have a flat rate from LAX to DLR? We want to get to the parks ASAP, so I think that might be our best bet instead of waiting around for a shuttle or shared van, etc.

 

[twodogs]

I'll try to answer some questions. We used Military Tickets, but I am unsure if you get early entry with them. We stayed at GCH so we had early entry due to that.

FP Runner: you need the actual tickets to get paper fast passes, so one person can hold all tickets and pull all FPs at once. If you are doing characters, you and your daughter won't be able to use FP for those, so your husband and son could hold all four tickets, get 4 FP for what they want to ride, and ride everything twice using all 4 FPs. However, if you and your daughter are separated from them and want to pull your own FPs for something more tame like Goofy's Sky School, you won't be able to since you won't have your tickets. You can all be looking around an area of the park and the runner can go pull FPs (you have to go to the actual ride to pull the FP and then return later in the window to use them, but one person can pull all 4 so you all don't have to drag over to every ride).

I would not do any character meals in the morning, as you tie up precious less-crowded park time with a meal that you can do later in the afternoon/evening when lines for rides are long.