First time in DL...need advice

[maryrm]

Hi all,

Have been to WDW and loved it. My family & I are planning a trip to San Diego and DL for the week of 8/19 - 8/28. I have a 4yo & a 9yo. We were in San Diego last year and loved it but this is our first time at DL. A couple of questions:

1) Which hotel would you recommend in the park/resort?

2) Would you recommend the hopper? We got the hopper at WDW a couple of years ago and didn't benefit from it since we could only manage one park a day. Since DL is smaller than WDW and my kids were older, just wondering if a hopper is worth the extra money.

3) We plan on getting to DL on Wednesday (driving from SanDiego) and leaving Saturday. Is this enough time?

Any and all advice would be appreciated. Thank you so much!

Mary

 

[ktlm]

Fellow WDW vet here. Here are my opinions:

1) We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel last summer and absolutely loved it. They are doing renovations and I don't know what is scheduled for this fall. A DL regular would know better than me on that. If you are familiar with the Wilderness Lodge at WDW, the Grand Californian is pretty much a scaled down version of WL. Beautiful, but since we have stayed at WL several times, we wanted something different. Unlike WDW, there are also several off-property hotels which are within walking distance. The Howard Johnsons seems to get great reviews from the people on the boards.

2. You definitely want the hopper. Unlike WDW, here the parks are right next to each other. The gates face each other You can walk from one to the other in basically 2 minutes. There is just a plaza between them. You can go back and forth all day.

3. There's never "enough" time at Disney in my opinion. You can definitely do DL in a lot less time than WDW. Last year we got there on a Saturday afternoon and left Tuesday around 1:00 p.m. It was DH and I and our then 4 year old DD. We spent partial days on Saturday and Tuesday in the parks. We were able to do pretty much everything we wanted to do. I did feel like I wished we had one more night so that we we could have spent the full day Tuesday in the park, but I always feel like I want "just one more day" when I have to leave Disney!

 

[mama2dutchies]

1. some of the good neighbors are just as close as resort hotels but I can't help with any reccomendations

2. Much easier to park hop here so unless you are really going 1 day.. it's better get the hopper tixs.. the gates are 100 yards apart.

3. I think so.. that more then one day each for each park

 

[DizNee Luver]

The 3 resort hotels are all very nice, but also very spendy.....so unless you plan on spending a lot of time at the hotels.....one of the good neighbor hotels across from the park would be just as good.

Motels that seem to get the most nods on the DIS are: HoJo's, Park Vue, BW Park Place, Desert Inn & Suites, Candy Cane Inn plus a handfull more. I would advise going onto TripAdvisor (or one of the review sites) to see how they rate, what they offer & I always read the "bad" reviews & look at dates to get an idea of issues.

Everyone has their favorites because it works best for their family.

Our favorite resort hotel is Paradise Pier Hotel. We loved how bright & cheery it was. We loved the "beach" theme, the pool area looked awesome, the staff is extremely friendly.

Our favorite off property is HoJo's. We loved the big rooms & comfy beds & the kids LOVE the water play area "castaway cove". Free parking & WiFi.

It just depends on your needs & wants. Some offer free parking, free WiFi, free breakfast, free evening mini meals, proximity to the park, comfort of beds, size of rooms, pool, hot tub, etc.

 

[maryrm]

Thank you all for the helpful information. To the disney vet, I really appreciate clarification re: the hopper...I thought I wouldn't get it based on my WDW experience but now will (as per your feedback). Thank you all again!

 

[maryrm]

Oh I am sorry...I forgot one more question.....anyone ever been to DL in August? we will be there 8/24-27th.....how are the crowds?

 

[kristenhh]

It will be crowded then. The very best advice I can give is to do all the big things early. Get to the gate WELL before opening time. See/experience the most important things first thing each day. Make a list for each day of the 5 most things you want to see and do them. Then the rest of the day you can take advantage of a short line when you see one. Use fastpasses and enjoy the shows. Also, Disneyland Touring plans (Unofficial guide to disneyland) work well and they have specific plans for very crowded summer days. Have fun.

 

[maryrm]

thanks kristennhh. i am surprised to hear it will be crowded. i thought southern california schools are back in session and many other schools nationally have started back. i guess i was wrong! oh well..i will use the strategies you recommended....thanks. i heard the week between christmas & new year is the worst at WDW...I hope its not as crowded as that time!

 

[kristenhh]

You may be right about the crowds...I was just thinking of summer crowds. Hopefully things won't be as crowded then. That said, the advice still works for any time of the year. The majority of people just won't make it to the parks early, and that is the golden time.

 

[maryrm]

yes, i will heed your advice re: mornings. we did that last year at seaworld and had a blast. we were the first ones in the park! we are planning to get to DL on wednesday (driving from san diego) and leave on saturday. do you think this is enough time? i am now wondering if we should give ourselves more more day??????

 

[AndyLL]

Hi all,

1) Which hotel would you recommend in the park/resort?

Mary

Disneyland Hotel or Grand Californian if you can afford it.

Unfortionately Disney does not have their own value or even moderate hotels

Hi all,
2) Would you recommend the hopper? We got the hopper at WDW a couple of years ago and didn't benefit from it since we could only manage one park a day. Since DL is smaller than WDW and my kids were older, just wondering if a hopper is worth the extra money.

Mary

Get the hopper. At disney it is a 5 minute walk. There is rarely a day we don't end up going to both parks.

3) We plan on getting to DL on Wednesday (driving from SanDiego) and leaving Saturday. Is this enough time?

Seems a little short to me... only 2 full days.

Oh I am sorry...I forgot one more question.....anyone ever been to DL in August? we will be there 8/24-27th.....how are the crowds?

Augest 20th is the last Sat. AP blackout ( except for labor day weekend ) which tells me that Disney considers that the last big summer weekend.

 

[HydroGuy]

Hi all,

Have been to WDW and loved it. My family & I are planning a trip to San Diego and DL for the week of 8/19 - 8/28. I have a 4yo & a 9yo. We were in San Diego last year and loved it but this is our first time at DL. A couple of questions:

1) Which hotel would you recommend in the park/resort?

2) Would you recommend the hopper? We got the hopper at WDW a couple of years ago and didn't benefit from it since we could only manage one park a day. Since DL is smaller than WDW and my kids were older, just wondering if a hopper is worth the extra money.

3) We plan on getting to DL on Wednesday (driving from SanDiego) and leaving Saturday. Is this enough time?

Any and all advice would be appreciated. Thank you so much!

Mary

Many of these questions and the others you ask in this thread or answered here:

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

More importantly it answers the questions you do not yet know you should be asking.

 

[kristenhh]

Is it enough time? I am assuming you are going for 2 1/2 days? If it is crowded and your first time, you will probably not get to see everything. However, you can still have a great trip for 2.5 days. Personally I would recommend 3 days...you still may not get to everything, but you will see most things.