I apologize in advance for the length of this post. I haven't been online much the last few days (my father-in-law passed on this weekend), so I missed this post yesterday, and there's so much I want to comment on!
First off.. And the big one...
Doing Disneyland solo? Most of the threads I've looked at were from people who were in driving distance of Disneyland. I'm actually in Florida.. And a female that would be alone....I've never flown alone... Is this idea crazy?
I LOVE my solo DLR trips. Some of my favorite trips of all time! I'm actually going by myself in Feb 2015--just 64 more days! The DLR area is safe and comfortable in my opinion. I've been there as a single 30-something woman, and with my at-the-time-8yo DD. Flying alone doesn't phase me--I pack a good book (Kindle, nook) or two, make sure to have my favorite games on my phone, and a full battery for any electronic device. I plan layovers to happen at meal times when possible, and I try to just do carry-ons so that I don't have to worry about baggage claim or lost luggage. It seems "safe" to me--I mean, no one knows if my husband is coming to pick me up, or if I'm an undercover officer, or... or... You get my point. It's only "unsafe" if you are "unsafe" about traveling. I keep myself aware of my surroundings, act like I know what's going on, and things go fairly smoothly.
Second, what's the slowest time in April or May to go?
I've gone in early May before, and enjoyed it. It was just warm enough to like the water rides, and Grad Nights hadn't started yet. I went over a long weekend, and crowds weren't bad.
Third, best economy hotel to stay at considering I will have no personal transportation of my own
DLR only has 3 hotels of their own "on site." This is a big difference between DL and WDW. DLR is built in the middle of the city (more accurately, the city grew in around DLR), and you can stay off-site and be *closer* (yes, CLOSER) to the front gates than if you stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. Amazing, right? We usually stay at the Desert Inn and Suites (across the street from the pedestrian entrance). The sooner you book, the less their rates are (sometimes as low as $69/night!), but be aware they have a 48 hour cancellation policy. As I stated early, my FIL just passed away, and I had to cancel my trip for this weekend. Because I did it at 24 hours before check-in, I've already been charged my first night. We won't discuss how frustrated I am with their manager right now! A little understanding, please! It's not like they are a chain hotel that can't deviate from corporate policy. Other than that, their beds are hard, and I'm bringing an air mattress to sleep on over the mattress. I've stayed at the Super 8 on Katella (about a 15 minute walk, maybe less if you don't get pulled into the 7-11 to buy cheaper soda!). Comfortable beds, newly renovated over the past 2-3 years, and $75/night or so!
Fourth, When do deals usually come out for April/May?
This is another DL vs WDW difference. There's not usually promotions for DLR like there is for WDW. There isn't a "stay here, eat free" deal... The room deals are usually in the 20% range. ... Sometimes you can find a Buy-3-days-get-a-4th-free ticket deals (check orbitz.com and way.com for this deal, I can't remember if either have it in place right now).
This depends on who you ask
Around here? No, no one will say you are crazy/stupid/whatever, because there's lots of us "soloists!"
To make this happen I will have to cancel myJanuary trip to WDW but I've been there 5 times in the past 13 months so I think I can get over it. Disneyland will require some further saving so I would have to push that trip further back if I chose to go there instead.
Why additional savings for DLR? I know when I have looked, coming from the west coast to WDW, the prices are fairly similar (even considering airfare) when all is said and done. Another DLR difference is that it's often significantly cheaper to *not* do vacation packages. It's usually cheaper to do each thing separately (flight, hotel, tickets, meals, etc).
I've been wanting to visit Disneyland for a while it just scares me a little to be that far from home alone. At WDW I'm a phone call and 3 1/2 hours away from family should I need them.
While I understand where you are coming from (and believe me, it took a HIGE leap of faith for my first DLR trip as an adult--a single mom, never flown before, with a special needs child!), I think there's something empowering for a woman to know she can travel and explore without needing a man (or even another woman) there to keep her safe. The exhilaration you will have after your trip may spur even more solo vacations!
Being a solo trip you can take advantage of the single rider lines.
Easy airports are Orange County (SNA) or Long Beach (LGB).
Geemo
Single rider lines are the bestest part of a solo trip, I believe
Well, maybe that and not hearing hubby and kids snoring, farting, arguing, wrestling...
I prefer SNA to fly into. It's small, and the signage for ground transportation is easy to follow. I'm trying LGB for the first time in Feb.
Thank you everyone for your input you've given me the courage to do this! I wish I had people who loved disney to go with me but I've been doing WDW solo for a year now because I refuse to not enjoy something of love just because no one else wants to go with me. This shouldn't be any different! Thank you all!
Yay! You will have a FANTASTIC TIME!
As for hotels, I stayed at the Howard Johnson, and though I'm used to walking everywhere (I work in downtown San Francisco and don't own a car), I found that walk to be pretty far, especially after a long day/night and once when I wasn't feeling great. There are hotels that would be just as nice that are closer and around the same price, so next time I'll choose something closer to the main gates.
I've always felt like HoJo seemed "so far" away... No idea why. I'm always surprised by how close people think it is.
One piece of advice I've been giving people is to adjust your expectations on what you can do. I was there four full days and didn't have anyone to slow me down, and still didn't see a lot. And that's okay. I did the highlights, found a bunch of new favorites (Peter Pan! Goofy's Kitchen!) and had the time of my life.
Go. For serious.
I think this is all what you make of it. After 3 days, I felt like I had seen everything I wanted, and rode every ride as many times as I desired. I'll admit I'm rope-drop-close-the-place-out-no-breaks, though, which definitely affects how much you see/do.
I was looking at the last week of April (April 26-May 1) which is Sunday - Friday.
Personally, I think this is a GREAT time to go. You'll have the night time entertainment on Sunday and Friday. Otherwise, the hours may be a little shorter, but not bad, in my opinion.
I was looking at travelocity's flight & hotel packages and they seem reasonable. I don't think I could afford to stay at a Disney hotel at $200+ a night. I need to research the shuttle services, I'm assuming you can't use Disney's airport shuttle if you're not staying at their hotels?
DLR doesn't have a shuttle like WDW. Speaking of the differences (again
), Hydroguy has a sticky thread (see the top of the thread lists), and that may help explain a lot of the DLR/WDW differences! It's called something like "DLR for WDW vets." There are shuttles (that you pay for, somewhere in the $35-40 range, each way), or taxi services (about $45 from SNA or LGB each way).
My other option is to keep my WDW vacation in January and go to Disneyland in September (the week with the crowd levels at a 1)
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Crowd predictions at DLR are notoriously wrong. Part of that is because of Cars Land--California Adventure added Cars Land just 2 years ago (Aug 2012, I think it was), so there isn't much historical data to go off to give an idea of crowds. Also, DLR is a "locals' park," meaning that locals will just pop in for a few hours randomly. Maybe schools are out for the day for a furlough day, or another school district has time off, or it's just Friday night and kids want to be there.... All these things make it more difficult to assess and predict crowd levels ahead of time at DLR.
