Disneyland Newbie - Need Help Planning

[disney0210]

Hi everyone!

I am a Disneyland newbie needing help in planning a trip in January with DH and DD8. We are arriving via LAX on a Saturday, maybe doing DL for 3 days, Universal 1 day and then maybe driving up to San Francisco to spend the next 4 days there?

Is this too much to do for 1 week?

Also, is LAX the nearest airport to Disneyland or would that be SNA?

Any tips would be appreciated, thanks so much in advance!

 

[HydroGuy]

Three days is considered to be the minimum to have a solid DLR visit and four is better.

As for LAX and SNA, see "Airport Proximity to DLR and Ground Transportation Information" by 3TinksAndAnEeyore www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2318297

 

[mrswh]

SNA is MUCH closer to Disney than LAX. Additionally, it is a much smaller, easier to navigate airport, and aside from being much more pleasant, flying into/out of SNA will save you loads of time and hassle.

I would suggest at LEAST three full days for Disney - it is so much more fun when you don't have to stress about packing everything in. I like to go for 4 days or more, but my kids are a bit younger so we need to go at a little slower pace.

It will take you a good 8 hours to drive from Anaheim to San Francisco. If you add in all your travel days (flying in and out, and driving to SF), it doesn't seem that you will have a whole lot of time anywhere - or have you already factored those in?

Whatever you end up doing, have fun!

 

[TinkLynne]

John Wayne airport is closest to Disneyland. Last year was our 1st visit to Disneyland (the year before it was our 1st visit to WDW). We flew into LAX last year and it took about 45 mins to get from LAX to Disneyland and because we were tired from flying and anxious to get to our resort, the drive seemed longer. We had a person riding with us and they had suggested John Wayne being much closer so we didn't do LAX this time around. John Wayne is about a 15 min drive to Disneyland. We spent a week and will do the same this year. We did one day and rented a convertible and drove the coast to San Diego which was AWESOME but that was just one day away from the parks which was great for us and the drive to San Diego was much closer than what you would be doing going to San Francisco. I prefer just staying at Disneyland and really getting all you can get out of the experience with both parks and our resort, which is the Grand Californian. We enjoy park time, pool time, scheduling character meals...etc and just really enjoying our time and not being rushed. We also enjoy Downtown Disney as well. I think if you try and do too much in a week, it will be more exhaustion and not much of a relaxing vacation. Whatever you decide, I hope you have an awesome trip We LOVE LOVE LOVE DISNEYLAND sooooooooooo much! We prefer it to WDW in Orlando. It is just a MAGICAL place!

Best of luck in your planning