First time visit!! Have some questions!!

[mickeyismybff]

Hey everybody! I am going to have my first visit to disneyland soon and I have some questions. My first one is if you stay at a disneyland hotel, are there any extra magic hours like they have in WDW? My second one is, since this will be my first visit, is it possible to get a special pin when I arrive at disneyland like when it is your birthday? Thanks so much!

 

[SilverCeladon]

You get in all early mornings when you stay at the on site hotels. You can get a special "first timer" pin at the ....I can't think of the name of the store on main street!

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

the extra hours are not the same as WDW. Certain days during the week they will open the park an hour early. It is not every day and as far as I know they do not have the extra hours in the evening like WDW does.

Most of the tickets sold for DL include one extra morning hour but as a guest at one of the DLR hotels you can get into each day they have this.

And yes they have First Time Visitor pins, just go to city hall and ask for one.

 

[HydroGuy]

Hey everybody! I am going to have my first visit to disneyland soon and I have some questions. My first one is if you stay at a disneyland hotel, are there any extra magic hours like they have in WDW? My second one is, since this will be my first visit, is it possible to get a special pin when I arrive at disneyland like when it is your birthday? Thanks so much!

They are called Magic Mornings and do not work the same as EMH. This link explains it all:

"Magic Morning (Early Entry) Super Thread" by DLR29 www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1675403

Yes, you can get a birthday pin. Just ask. I think all the stores have them, guest services, City Hall, etc.

 

[Amy&Dan]

If you do stay onsite, I am pretty sure they will give you a first timer pin at check in. They gave my dd a birthday pin a couple of times like the ones you get at City Hall. You'd just need to ask. If not, City Hall right as you enter Disneyland, or Guest Services right as you walk into DCA both have them.

I love all three onsite DLR hotels. But do have to say, that staying onsite at Disneyland is nothing near as critical as it is in WDW. They are all deluxe level hotels, but don't have the theming as a WDW deluxe. GCH is very well themed, and its the only DLR hotel that was built by Disney. But it has no grounds to speak of and the rooms are pretty small for a deluxe (probably about the size of a WL or AKL room). I do try to stay onsite when I can, but never hesitate to stay offsite to save money and I have had very good luck at the Hojo, Tropicana and Best Western Park Place Inn. All of which are as close or closer (Tropicana and BWPPI both are closer) than the onsite Disney hotels.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Disneyland generally closes at midnight during busier times of the year (mid-June through August and the last 2 weeks of December at least (and on weekends) so it doesn't really need extra evening hours like WDW.

 

[DLR29]

the extra hours are not the same as WDW. Certain days during the week they will open the park an hour early. It is not every day and as far as I know they do not have the extra hours in the evening like WDW does.

These are good differences between EMH and MM (magic morning). A couple noted others are:

1) You can get one MM even if you stay offsite. At WDW, EMH is ONLY for those who stay onsite. At DLR it's a little different. Onsite visitors are eligible for MM on every day that it is offered during their stay. MM is offered on "the days that start with S and T", so let's say you visit from Tuesday through Thursday. Onsite visitors could use MM twice, while offsite visitors (assuming you buy a 3 day ticket) could only use MM once. Say you visit from Wednesday through Friday. Both onsite and offsite visitors could use MM once during that stay.

2) MM is only at DL, not DCA

3) MM does not make DL more crowded on that day. I know at WDW a lot of people try to avoid certain parks on their EMH days because it's packed there. Not true at DLR. It's always best to start at DL (regardless of if you have MM or not) and hop over to DCA later