Disneyland Rookie Questions...

[Metsoskil]

Hello All,

As east coasters, we are WDW vets, but have never been to DL. DW and I are planning a 10th aniversary trip to Maui next summer, and are planning to fly from NY to Maui. On the return trip we are going to fly from HI to LAX (probably) to spend a few days visiting DL for the first time. Then we will fly back to NY. I am not ashamed to say, I have very limited knowledge of DL.

Here are my questions -

Will 2 days be enough to experience most of what DL has to offer? We certainly want to visit both parks, and see most of what they have to offer.

I have read that staying on-site at DL is not as important as at WDW, and that many other hotels are within walking distance. We are DVC members. I would rather not waste points trying to get a studio at GCV, or waste money staying on-site if it isn't necessary. Should we look at staying on-site? What are the benefits? If not, what other hotels should we look at?

Thanks for your help. I'm sure more questions will arise in the future.

 

[Sherry E]

Hello All,

As east coasters, we are WDW vets, but have never been to DL. DW and I are planning a 10th aniversary trip to Maui next summer, and are planning to fly from NY to Maui. On the return trip we are going to fly from HI to LAX (probably) to spend a few days visiting DL for the first time. Then we will fly back to NY. I am not ashamed to say, I have very limited knowledge of DL.

Here are my questions -

Will 2 days be enough to experience most of what DL has to offer? We certainly want to visit both parks, and see most of what they have to offer.

I have read that staying on-site at DL is not as important as at WDW, and that many other hotels are within walking distance. We are DVC members. I would rather not waste points trying to get a studio at GCV, or waste money staying on-site if it isn't necessary. Should we look at staying on-site? What are the benefits? If not, what other hotels should we look at?

Thanks for your help. I'm sure more questions will arise in the future.

Hello! Okay, well, first of all, how WONDERFUL it is that you are going to get to experience Disneyland and the entire Disneyland Resort for the first time!

As for the 2 day time limit - I always believe that you can make a modified schedule to fit any time limit in DLR (even one day) with the understanding that you will miss a lot of things that are there, but the more time you can devote to DLR, the better. So with that said, you will be able to do quite a few things in 2 days, but if you could spare 3 or 4 days, it would be SOOOO much better because you could take everything at a relaxed pace and not miss anything. Are you only interested in rides, or does your family want to see shows, parades and fireworks too? Do you want to eat at places in DLR or outside of it? If you only have 2 days to spare, I would suggest making a list of the things that are really important to do for your group and using that as a guideline. Remember, you have two parks to contend with, as well as Downtown Disney and the 3 hotels, which you may or may not wish to eat at or just stroll around in (you should at least see them if you don't stay in one of them)!

As for staying onsite vs. off-site, I suppose at WDW you are kind of forced into staying onsite because of the layout of the resort. At DLR, no, I suppose it is not necessary to stay onsite because there are several Good Neighbor hotels just across the street or very close to the parks' entrances, and they can be substantially cheaper than the DLR hotels. However, if you have DVC points you can spare and if this may be your only trip to DLR for a long time, I would say try to stay onsite to take advantage of the perks such as Magic Mornings and having your purchases sent back to the hotel, using the Grand Californian Hotel entrance into DCA, etc. - anything to add park time to your trip or make things more convenient because you only have a couple of days.

But again, if you can add even one extra day to your trip, if not two, it would be so much better and less rushed, I think. Two days at DLR is manageable, but you probably will miss some things - especially in summer, when it is very crowded.

 

[Metsoskil]

Hello! Okay, well, first of all, how WONDERFUL it is that you are going to get to experience Disneyland and the entire Disneyland Resort for the first time!

As for the 2 day time limit - I always believe that you can make a modified schedule to fit any time limit in DLR (even one day) with the understanding that you will miss a lot of things that are there, but the more time you can devote to DLR, the better. So with that said, you will be able to do quite a few things in 2 days, but if you could spare 3 or 4 days, it would be SOOOO much better because you could take everything at a relaxed pace and not miss anything. Are you only interested in rides, or does your family want to see shows, parades and fireworks too? Do you want to eat at places in DLR or outside of it? If you only have 2 days to spare, I would suggest making a list of the things that are really important to do for your group and using that as a guideline. Remember, you have two parks to contend with, as well as Downtown Disney and the 3 hotels, which you may or may not wish to eat at or just stroll around in (you should at least see them if you don't stay in one of them)!

As for staying onsite vs. off-site, I suppose at WDW you are kind of forced into staying onsite because of the layout of the resort. At DLR, no, I suppose it is not necessary to stay onsite because there are several Good Neighbor hotels just across the street or very close to the parks' entrances, and they can be substantially cheaper than the DLR hotels. However, if you have DVC points you can spare and if this may be your only trip to DLR for a long time, I would say try to stay onsite to take advantage of the perks such as Magic Mornings and having your purchases sent back to the hotel, using the Grand Californian Hotel entrance into DCA, etc. - anything to add park time to your trip or make things more convenient because you only have a couple of days.

But again, if you can add even one extra day to your trip, if not two, it would be so much better and less rushed, I think. Two days at DLR is manageable, but you probably will miss some things - especially in summer, when it is very crowded.

Thanks for the great reply. We probably can squeeze another day into our trip. We'll be staying in Hawaii for 7 nights, and California for 2 or 3. It will be only DW and I, and I think we are most interested in seeing that which is different than at WDW. We're trying to limit the entire trip to about 10 days since we're leaving the kids behind.

Are Magical Mornings the same as AM EMH? If so, that would be a pretty decent incentive for staying on-site. We usually get to the parks at rope drop, so extra time in the morning would be a plus. I don't really care about sending stuff I bought back to the room. We don't usually spend much on souveniers.

I'm sure we'll check out the nighttime stuff, especially the fireworks. I could care less about the parades, but I know my wife likes them. We're both up for most rides, but, like I said before, we don't need to ride an attraction if it is almost identical to what we have been on in FL. I'm aware that many attractions are not the same, though, even if they are called the same thing.

As for eating on-site, is there anywhere that we should seriously consider? We enjoy trying new WDW restaurants each year when we go down, but hadn't really thought about DL dining. Any thoughts on the matter are appreciated.

 

[Leofoenget]

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

Many good Hotels on Harbor, HoJo's being the most popular on this board, although I like Desert Inn and Suites for their very large C-1 & C-2 Family suites + free breakfast.

Also take a look at the Sticky by Hydroguys tips for DL tips for WDW Vets Very helpful

 

[Sherry E]

Thanks for the great reply. We probably can squeeze another day into our trip. We'll be staying in Hawaii for 7 nights, and California for 2 or 3. It will be only DW and I, and I think we are most interested in seeing that which is different than at WDW. We're trying to limit the entire trip to about 10 days since we're leaving the kids behind.

Are Magical Mornings the same as AM EMH? If so, that would be a pretty decent incentive for staying on-site. We usually get to the parks at rope drop, so extra time in the morning would be a plus. I don't really care about sending stuff I bought back to the room. We don't usually spend much on souveniers.

I'm sure we'll check out the nighttime stuff, especially the fireworks. I could care less about the parades, but I know my wife likes them. We're both up for most rides, but, like I said before, we don't need to ride an attraction if it is almost identical to what we have been on in FL. I'm aware that many attractions are not the same, though, even if they are called the same thing.

As for eating on-site, is there anywhere that we should seriously consider? We enjoy trying new WDW restaurants each year when we go down, but hadn't really thought about DL dining. Any thoughts on the matter are appreciated.

I will start with the dining questions and backtrack. In Disneyland, there are a couple of table service restaurants - the very popular Carnation Cafe and Cafe Orleans. Carnation Cafe is a charming little restaurant situated right on Main Street, and since all the seating is outdoors, it provides some great people watching. It is reasonably priced and you can eat there for any meal of the day - including dessert only. Carnation Cafe serves full-sized Mickey waffles at breakfast time, a yummy "Meat Loaf Stack" and loaded baked potato soup for lunch and dinner, and delicious apple pie a la mode with whipped cream and strawberries and the Matterhorn sundae for dessert, among other things. I have never eaten at Cafe Orleans. The other table service restaurant in Disneyland is the more expensive Blue Bayou, which is located inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The atmosphere is dark and moody and I think it is an experience for you and your wife NOT to miss if you do not mind paying for it. Truly unique.

As for counter service restaurants in Disneyland, Bengal BBQ is good (yummy skewers), River Belle Terrace is good (home of the famous Mickey Mouse pancakes), Plaza Inn is good, and there are so many more.

In DCA, you have Wine Country Trattoria - another table place I think you would like. DCA serves alcohol, unlike Disneyland, so you can get all kind of wines, beer and frothy, fruity drinks at DCA. Taste Pilots Grill is a good counter service place that plays classic rock tunes having to do with flying and space travel (i.e., "Rocket Man," "Space Oddity" and "Fly Like an Eagle," among others). TPG has good BBQ chicken sandwiches and delicious "criss cut fries". Ariel's Grotto is an all day Princess character meal.

At the Disneyland Hotel, you have Steakhouse 55 and Goofy's Kitchen. The Grand Californian Hotel has Storytellers Cafe and the critically acclaimed (and costly) Napa Rose, which is a fine dining restaurant that is popular with everyone. The Paradise Pier Hotel has the PCH Grill.

In Downtown Disney, I like ESPN Zone, Naples Ristorante and Rainforest Cafe, but since none of those are Disney restaurants, I always suggest them last!! They also have House of Blues, LaBrea Bakery, Catal and Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen (which is very popular), as well as Tortilla Jo's.

You are right - many attractions are the same and many are different between WDW and DLR. Even Toy Story at DLR is said to be slightly different than the version at WDW.

The Magic Morning/Early Entry offered at the 3 DLR hotels is offered on certain days - usually the 'S' days and the 'T' days of the week. So if you stayed for 2 nights, you would get it at least once. If you stayed on Saturday and Sunday night and checked in early on Saturday morning, you could get MM on both Saturday and Sunday mornings. If you stayed on Friday night and Saturday night, you could get MM on Saturday and Sunday mornings. MM is probably similar to how they do it in WDW, though I am not sure. You get to enter Disneyland one hour before the park opens, and that can come in handy for Fantasyland rides and things in Tomorrowland that build lines quickly. Also, DCA usually lets people in the gates 30 minutes before the park opens, and many people use that time to ride Soarin' before they hit anything else.

 

[HydroGuy]

Hello! Okay, well, first of all, how WONDERFUL it is that you are going to get to experience Disneyland and the entire Disneyland Resort for the first time!

Ooooh, I like the way you put that! To the OP, we have had a recent mini-debate about the relative importance or unimportance of lingo around here. FWIW, here is a link:

Disneyland Resort Lingo for Newbies - www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2214012

As for the 2 day time limit - I always believe that you can make a modified schedule to fit any time limit in DLR (even one day) with the understanding that you will miss a lot of things that are there, but the more time you can devote to DLR, the better. So with that said, you will be able to do quite a few things in 2 days, but if you could spare 3 or 4 days, it would be SOOOO much better because you could take everything at a relaxed pace and not miss anything. Are you only interested in rides, or does your family want to see shows, parades and fireworks too? Do you want to eat at places in DLR or outside of it? If you only have 2 days to spare, I would suggest making a list of the things that are really important to do for your group and using that as a guideline. Remember, you have two parks to contend with, as well as Downtown Disney and the 3 hotels, which you may or may not wish to eat at or just stroll around in (you should at least see them if you don't stay in one of them)!

As for staying onsite vs. off-site, I suppose at WDW you are kind of forced into staying onsite because of the layout of the resort. At DLR, no, I suppose it is not necessary to stay onsite because there are several Good Neighbor hotels just across the street or very close to the parks' entrances, and they can be substantially cheaper than the DLR hotels. However, if you have DVC points you can spare and if this may be your only trip to DLR for a long time, I would say try to stay onsite to take advantage of the perks such as Magic Mornings and having your purchases sent back to the hotel, using the Grand Californian Hotel entrance into DCA, etc. - anything to add park time to your trip or make things more convenient because you only have a couple of days.

But again, if you can add even one extra day to your trip, if not two, it would be so much better and less rushed, I think. Two days at DLR is manageable, but you probably will miss some things - especially in summer, when it is very crowded.

Yep, most (all?) of us agree with Sherry on this one. Three days is considered the minimum to get a solid experience at DLR. Can you have fun with two days? Sure. Could you have fun with four days at WDW? Well, yes, but you would feel like you missed a lot. So three is our recommended minimum and four is better for a first timer, but you will have fun with two days if you realize you will not get to everything.

 

[HydroGuy]

Also take a look at the Sticky by Hydroguys tips for DL tips for WDW Vets Very helpful

FWIW here is a link:

"A DLR Guide for WDW Vets" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599

 

[Metsoskil]

FWIW here is a link:

"A DLR Guide for WDW Vets" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599

HydroGuy,

Thanks for the link. DW and I read your entire sticky last night. Awesome stuff!

 

[brenda1966]

Hydroguys links are the best!

It is worth noting that staying onsite is not the only way to get your early entry/magic morning. Many of the park hopper passes have 1 early morning entry on them. Not sure if the 2 days ones do, so that is worth looking into as well.