First time-Disneyland and CA (need planning help)! : )

[taben]

So, hubby and I are thinking about going to DL. We have been to DW 4 times and wanted to go back in time and get the original feel of DL. I need help planning this trip please.

First..

Been reading the best time to go is after the kids go back to school 2nd or 3rd week of September. The crowds are MUCH lighter...This true??

Second...

See that the hours the park stays open are just till 8 p.m.! DANG!

Third...

We don't have kids but want to experience everything in the park...so, how many days would we need to plan on?? I am thinking 2-3 would be more than enough??? We want to go to Universal one day while we are out there too.

Lastly...

The hotel...hear that there are NO original hotels left. DL hotel is not original but was built much later after DL was built. They tore down the original. I am checking on prices and reviews but not getting a good feeling about spending so much $$ for these places when you can go to a neighboring hotel for much less and get a cont. b-fast. We are on a budget and want to have a great vacation and we know going out there will be expensive anyway but what advice or tips can you send our way from your experiences? We don't know if we will ever get back out to CA (we live in MO) and so we want to make sure when and if we go out there, we go at a good time and get a good deal on a hotel. Food I know will be expensive but what theme park can you go to it isn't?! LOL Anyway, that's all I can think of at the moment. I know there will be offers in the future to watch out for but wondering if just a couple days is enough then we can start getting a better idea of how to stratigically plan our vacation.

Thank you everyone for any and all your help and advice. This is a different type of Disney trip because we are used to the magical express and the free dining pkg. DW offers. So, this trip calls for more research to get the most for your $$

Tammy

 

[DahliaRW]

September is less crowded (prior to the start of halloween time). But, at that time the Haunted Mansion will be closed to install the Christmas overlay, and IMO, that's one of the must do things. And Space Mountain may be closed as well.

To really appreciate DL/DCA, I would say 3 days bare minimum. 5 is better. You also might want to consider waiting a year so that the construction projects in DCA are done and you can experience carsland.

 

[HydroGuy]

First..

Been reading the best time to go is after the kids go back to school 2nd or 3rd week of September. The crowds are MUCH lighter...This true??

Lighter crowds? Yes. Best time to go? IMO, no. But in others' opinion, yes. Sept is off-season. See

"What You Should Know About Off-Season at DLR" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=18462889

Second...

See that the hours the park stays open are just till 8 p.m.! DANG!

See previous link...

Third...

We don't have kids but want to experience everything in the park...so, how many days would we need to plan on?? I am thinking 2-3 would be more than enough??? We want to go to Universal one day while we are out there too.

Everything? Minimum three days and that would be pushing it. Four is better. Even then you will not see everything but will feel like you had a solid visit.

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

 

[Sherry E]

Hi, Tammy!

Well, if you go to DLR in the second week of September, the crowds will probably be pretty manageable and, as DahliaRW pointed out above, Haunted Mansion will definitely be closed for the installation of Haunted Mansion Holiday and more than likely Space Mountain will also be closed to receive its Ghost Galaxy overlay. This is all based on assuming that Halloween Time (as an official season at Disneyland) will begin in the third week of September.

However...This is kind of a weird year for dates on the calendar. September has an extra Friday in it this year. Halloween Time generally begins on either the next-to-last Friday in Setember or the last Friday in September. Last year it began on September 17th, which was the next to last Friday.

This year, we actually don't know yet if Halloween Time will begin on 9/23 or 9/30. My guess is that it would be 9/23. However, it may even begin as early as September 16, which is ahead of their normal schedule.

In any case, the reason I'm explaining this (when you didn't specifically ask about Halloween Time) is because it will affect crowds. Whenever a season begins, the crowds pick up on that weekend. So if the season begins on 9/16 or 9/23 and your trip happens to coincide with either of those dates, it will likely be more crowded in the days surrounding the opening. Halloween Time has gotten much, much more popular over the last couple of years as well. Still, September is usually less crowded than October.


I'm sure you will get lots of other great replies here from our wonder DIS'ers about the other things you asked, but in case it turns out that your Disneyland visit is going to be during Halloween Time, stay tuned to the Halloween at DLR Superthread - Part 2, where we will be discussing breaking news (I'll keep Post #1 updated with info) as it comes in. Also, there are some wonderful photos and information in that thread.

Oh, and I don't know what your interests are (for example, if you and your DH are interested in photography and getting shots of all the details around the parks, or if you do a lot of shopping or are you interested in skipping all the Fantasyland rides, etc.), but any way you slice it, I think you need at least 3 days to see mostly everything at DLR, if not more.

Have fun planning!

 

[IBLarsen]

We have been twice the first week of October and LOVED it! All the halloween decorations were up. Our last trip was in the summer and we loved that as well, but Halloween was our favorite time. So to me, if you are considering Sept, then I would push it to see the Fall/Halloween decorations

As for that first week of October that I mentioned. Our first trip was Oct of 2008 and everything was walk on almost all day long through mid week, it picked up on Friday afternoon. The next year was October of 2009 and the same week was very busy. So as far as crowds, I've seen it go both ways clearly for the exact same week!

We spend 4 days in the parks and still feel like we don't see everything, but then we have 2 young children and if it were just adults I think we could accomplish a lot in 3 days, but that would be my minimum number of days if you really want to do as much as you can.

As for Hotels- there are a lot of hotels right across the street. We have always stayed at the Fairfield Inn and liked it just fine, easy walk, comfortable beds. We don't spend much time there, so we haven't justified staying onsite yet.

Not sure if this will help you or not, but if you are in the beginning stages of planning, it may be useful. Our trip last summer I ended up booking through Expedia, they had great prices for air/hotel combo, and we were able to refine our search to contain hotel name and the Fairfield was a great price this way. When we added up air and hotel separate. So this may help, it also gives you other choices for the combo prices that are close to DL to choose from. (These options come up when choosing to fly into SNA airport specifically).

Good luck and have fun planning!