Best way to spend 3 days

[So_Confused]

Hi,
I need some advise from all you Disneyland experts! We will be going on our first Disneyland trip in August. We will be two families of 4, each with two kids ages 11 and 12. We are staying in a two bedroom villa at the grand California. This will be a first for all of us. We want to get it all done in three days although that's not realistic. Should we get a three day hopper and go back and forth between parks and hotel or do one full day at the hotel and one full day at each park, while squeezing in downtown Disney. Trying to make the best use of our time while enjoying the perks of the hotel....
Thanks for all you input and advice..
Michelle

 

[gerilyne]

If you can swing it I would go for the hopper option. My DH and I do the hoppers in Aug when we go and just like the flexibility to hop over to then other park based on ride times or fastpass return times. For example we could do most the rides we like in say in CA and hop over to DL or vice versa.

We stayed at the GCH last year; depending on the exact time you go in August you could have long park hours. We could hit whichever park at rope drop, go until mid-day, go through DTD on the way back to the hotel looking at different shops, making a list of souvenirs we might want to get, maybe eat lunch before going to the hotel for an afternoon swim and/or nap. Then we'd be able to go back to whichever park we were in the mood for, or be able to eat wherever (last year the only Starbucks was in CA so we would go there and get coffee and then head back to DL, not as big of an issue now though). We just really enjoyed the freedom the hoppers allowed for.

I know others may disagree but it is my preference at least!

Regardless of which way you decide you will have a blast!!!!!!!

 

[superlarz]

Absolutely get a 3 day ticket. The question is whether to get a hopper or not. That is a personal decision. With a 3 day 1 park ticket, you will have 2 days at Disneyland which will allow you to do everything you would want to do and 1 day at California Adventure. I would consider going this route... and if you change your mind you can always upgrade to a park hopper at any time during the trip. Hopping does add a lot of flexibility, but it also adds a lot of extra walking. So to make the choice that makes sense, everything depends on your group.

 

[goofyfan13]

We used and enjoyed the park hoppers as well.

The two parks are so close to each other, it was easy to hop to DCA when DL was busy and back to DL when DCA closed at 9 pm

On our last day my daughter and I made a list of the rides we had to hit one more time and went through both parks, riding all the highlights.

Out of 5 days at the parks, we used the hop option everyday.

 

[whjensen]

The difference in price per ticket is ~$40, so it's not a cheap decision. If possible, I'd go with the Hoppers for one reason -Crowd avoidance. We've been there 4 times - and not since Cars Land opened, so your mileage may vary - but we liked to move from DL to CA when it got busy and then back later in the evening. I have heard this is not as great a benefit but still applies.

 

[Sorsha]

3 day tickets with Hoppers. YMMV but I won't do Disney without them. In my opinion, 3 days isn't enough to do it ALL. But you should be able to see MOST of it with wise time management and crowd-smarts.

Also a full day in the hotel is absolutely NOT necessary. These are not "resort" hotel like the WDW hotels. A little swimming time in the afternoon will be nice, especially in August, but more than that isn't necessary.

One thing you have to understand about Disneyland is how close everything is to everything else. DL and DCA are a 5 minute stroll across a plaza from eachother. Downtown Disney isn't much farther. If you are near the monorail and want to go to Downtown Disney for a meal or a break, hop on the monorail. Its a quick ride and there is a stop right there. The Disneyland hotel isn't far either - easy to pop to the hotel and back.

If you are used to the spaciousness and the travel times needed at WDW (you didn't say you were but I'll say it anyway ) they just don't exist in DL. Everything is smaller, more compact, and much more walkable.

 

[So_Confused]

Thanks for all your tips! I definitely am not "used to"the idea of everything being so close. In DW everything is a monorail or drive away. I may need to freshen up on my Disneyland skills so we can really enjoy our short stay. I think we are leaning toward the hopper, It's quite a bit more expensive but I'm not sure if I'll be returning to Disneyland anytime soon, so it might be worth it...
Thanks again!!!