First time visit to US in Nov 2011 and we're going to Disneyland - help!

[becpee]

Hi all,

We're planning our first o/seas vacation ever, and hubby picked Disneyland in Anaheim as our first stop on our trip. Have arranged to stay at one of the hotels across from the main Disney entrance on South Harbor Blvd, but am wanting to know best ideas/thoughts/opinions for tickets.

We're booking it all ourselves, as our travel agents wanted to gouge us for prices, and we'll only be there for 3 days. Tossing up the cost difference between a 3 day park hopper and a 14 day park hopper (apparently only avail to Aussie residents purchasing here in Aus???) can anyone confirm the existence of this 14 day park hopper and prices/availability and whether it's worth the $$.

Also, can anyone give guidance on best places to buy tickets -- online via the Disney website, or via places like expedia, or ??

Any help would be hugely appreciated. We're also planning on taking the Disney Express bus operated by Grayline coaches from LAX to our resort... any thoughts/feedback about this would be welcome. We're going to be getting off a 13 hr flight at 7am and heading straight to the park, so any assistance for a smooth journey would be awesome.

Also... any Southwest airlines experiences especially for larger ladies would be welcome - I'm not huge but I do hear they can be a bit prejudiced against larger framed customers.

Thanks again all

Alicia

Hi Alicia, we bought the 14 day ticket back in 09, we were in Anaheim for 7 days and used it every day, couldn't get enough Disney!
We bought them on Expedia and printed them at Paradise Pier where we stayed.

We also used Disneyland Express, pre purchased tickets on the Gray Line website and had no problems whatsoever, driver was great, very knowledgable and quite a character.

Make sure if you're checking into your hotel at 7am they're ready for you, will you need an early checkin for a rest before you hit the parks?

 

[alicia1506]

so it's official... everything is booked, the hotels are probably sick of me already (i'm the crazy lady sending them a second email after the reservation was accepted, just to make sure they hadn't lost it ) we've booked the Disney Resort Express etc and we cannot wait for our trip.

here's what it will look like:
nov 6 - bne-lax - arrive lax & check into hotel around 7.30am. arrive disneyland approx 8am. full day at DLR with WOC picnic for 8pm showing
nov 7 - 2nd full day at DLR
nov 8 - 3rd full day at DLR - fly LAX-JFK o/night
nov 9 - arrive JFK approx 5am. check into hotel. full day in NY
nov 10 - full day in NY
nov 11 - full day in NY
nov 12 - check out of hotel approx 2am. 6am flight JFK - MCO - check into onsite hotel at universal studios orlando. full day at US/IOA/WWOHP
nov 13 - full day at universal/IOA/WWOHP
nov 14 - full day at WWOHP
nov 15 - full day of shopping in orlando
nov 16 - half day at universal/IOA, check out approx 12 for 3pm flight MCO-LAS, check into hotel approx 7pm
nov 17 - full day in vegas
nov 18 - full day in vegas, cirque du soleil show & dinner
nov 19 - full day in vegas, different cirque du soleil show & dinner
nov 20 - full spa day in vegas
nov 21 - check out of hotel approx 11am, fly LAS to LAX approx 5pm, LAX to BNE flight departs 10.30pm.
nov 22 - IDL
nov 23 - arrive BNE approx 7am.

we're travelling commando style... no rest days until vegas

and yeah, we're hitting up WWOHP in universal studios orlando for the celebration of the films with the actors etc.

we're already planning a return trip in feb of 2013 for staying onsite at DLH at DLR and seeing the revamped cards land and DCA, and returning to Universal at Orlando for more WWOHP and the new (fingers crossed) transformers ride