First Disneyland Trip help please!

[Canto]

Hi everyone, my family (myself, spouse and 7yo) have decided a short holiday trip, 12/24-13/27 to Disneyland. We will be staying at the Disneyland Hotel.

It did look like most things will be open on Christmas Day…if your correct?
We plan on flying into the John Wayne Airport…is this the best airport to flying into when going to Disneyland? I see there is no Magical Express transportation at any of the airports…any suggestions on getting to and from the airport and hotel? Lyft/Urber?

I also see there is no magic bracelets for DL, correct? Everything will be done through the app?

Any tips you all want to give to make it a fun, happy, successful trip?

TIA!

 

[Foustketeer]

Everything should be open. The only things I could see not opening for the day would be non-Disney stores in Downtown Disney, but those will still probably be open.

John Wayne is the closest airport, so yes, I would hazard a guess to say that it is better than LAX. You can check the DLR Info/Links thread that is stickied at the top of the Disneyland forum for better information, though.

Correct, no MagicBands and most everything is done through the app, ala MyDisneyExperience for mobile ordering and whatnot.

For tips, just know you are going during a busy time and to adjust for that. No idea if Genie will be out by then, but it would not surprise me if it were, so that will also be something to take into consideration.

 

[mdmost]

We were there Christmas 2018. Everything was open in the parks on Christmas Day. Not sure about Downtown Disney.

For tips, look up Disneyland Daily. She has great tips on navigating the parks as a first time visitor.

 

[lalasmama]

Hi everyone, my family (myself, spouse and 7yo) have decided a short holiday trip, 12/24-13/27 to Disneyland. We will be staying at the Disneyland Hotel.

It did look like most things will be open on Christmas Day…if your correct?
We plan on flying into the John Wayne Airport…is this the best airport to flying into when going to Disneyland? I see there is no Magical Express transportation at any of the airports…any suggestions on getting to and from the airport and hotel? Lyft/Urber?

I also see there is no magic bracelets for DL, correct? Everything will be done through the app?

Any tips you all want to give to make it a fun, happy, successful trip?

TIA!

Sounds like you've been to WDW Remember that DL is not a mini-WDW. Lots of differences (like no Magic Bands, no Magical Express, no MDE app).

Download the Disneyland app. Add your debit/credit card ahead of time to make it easy!

Lyft/Uber from SNA (John Wayne Airport) will likely have surge pricing, so check prices before ordering. It may be cheaper taking a taxi unless you have a discount.

 

[RunnerMom71]

Take the Taxi from SNA - easier, faster & usually less $$ than Lyft/Uber. Super easy & fast to get to the hotels. Ask if there is a flat rate *before* you get into the cab. Taxi stand is right there and always a line up of cars waiting: usually with someone manning the taxi stand (and I'm a pretty committed Lyft user but I am sick of waiting 20-30 min for a lyft to show up at airports)

Best advice for that time of year: make sure you have ADR every day: it will be nearly impossible to find any sit down restaurant those days if you don't have a reservation.

Enjoy! The parks are beautiful that time of year!

 

[mdmost]

That's a great point on ADRs. I would highly recommend Blue Bayou and Carthay Circle for dinner. Blue Bayou has such great ambiance with the start of the the Pirates ride running through it. Carthay Circle is where we did our Christmas night dinner. They just reopened Carnation Cafe which is always enjoyable.

 

[tlovesdis]

If you can fly into Long Beach I highly recommend that! It is about the same distance as SNA and so small and convenient!

 

[gelatoni fan]

If you can fly into Long Beach I highly recommend that! It is about the same distance as SNA and so small and convenient!

Not only is Long Beach easier to navigate but it also gets less surge pricing on Uber/Lyft than SNA. But there's fewer flights there so if there's any flight delays or other issues which seem to be more common than pre-pandemic, you may have a harder time finding alternative options.

 

[Canto]

Love all the tips and recommendations. Thank you, keep them coming

 

[RunnerMom71]

Follow disneylanddailycasey & diningindisney on Instagram. They have great info & lots of recommendations

mouse dining dot com is fantastic for finding those hard to get ADR's with free or paid alerts