Disneyland Lowdown from the experts

[godders]

Hey lovely DISers!

My brother announced today that he is getting married in San Fran at the end of Feb next year and so naturally I thought I would tag a couple of DL days onto the trip (I'm from the UK). I've only been to DL once about 10-15 years ago so I have no idea what is going on there these days. It looks as though I will have 2 full days and two 1/2 days to explore the parks but I already checked and the onsite hotels seem to be fully booked.

So does anyone have any hotel recommendations for a solo traveler preferably within walking distance as I won't have transport.
What are the must-see and dos for a DL newbie?
Any recommended guidebooks to help me plan?

Thanks guys!

 

[Girimama33]

I suggest looking at HydroGuy's thread for WDW vets: http://www.disboards.com/threads/a-dlr-guide-for-wdw-vets.1162599/

As far as hotels go, I like Candy Cane Inn. Park Vue Inn, Fairfield Inn and HoJo. Here is a good map to show you where the walking distance hotels are located...http://www.accommodationsneardisney.com/Disneyland/default.asp

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Seems a little early for all the onsite hotels to be booked, did you try calling?

 

[figment_jii]

If you local library has any Disneyland guidebooks, I would highly recommend borrowing a few rather than buying any. Printed guide books are fun, but they go out of date so quickly these days (most books are practically out-of-date the day they are printed. I would also recommend borrowing several books first so you can get a sense of which one(s) might work best for you. For example, a lot of folks here like the Unofficial Guides, but for me, I find they are too opinionated and I often don't agree with their opinions on attractions. So I've stopped buying those books because it wasn't worth it. Others mention Birnbaum's Official Guides, which pretty to look out, but kind of light on real tips and hints. So, I generally recommend borrowing a few books, formulate your questions and then come back here to the boards and ask away!

In terms of the on-site hotels, I agree...it seems to early for all three of them to be fully booked. I just checked for the last weekend in February and DLH had rooms available. I would try searching again for your specific dates and desired hotel. It's also possible that they have not yet released all of the rooms to the reservation system.

 

[VandVsmama]

The DIS Boards are a far better encyclopedia of DL planning knowledge than any printed guidebook. Seriously. THIS is the place where I learned all of my "how to maximize your time at DL" info!

There are several "sticky" threads that are very helpful. That's an excellent place to start.

 

[Davin_Felth]

Seems a little early for all the onsite hotels to be booked, did you try calling?

I think it depends on what site you go to. Last weekend I booked Paradise Pier for early April. According to Orbitz, there was nothing available. The DisneyLand Hotel website said there was. So, I called and confirmed that there were rooms available.

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/hotels/

 

[luulu1999]

Park Vue Inn is awesome and closer than the onsite hotels