First Trip Suggestions

[DisneyFan1997]

I am Disney World veteran taking my first trip to Disneyland for 3 nights/4 days this June. I already purchased park tickets, with park hoppers, and made my park reservations.

I am looking for some general advice on Disneyland- what are the must-do experiences at each park?

Also, in particular, what is the recommended way to get from LAX to Anaheim? I am staying at a good neighbor hotel across the street. I'm debating between Uber and booking a shuttle. If you've used a shuttle service- which one? Disney recommends Karmel, but I know there are others out there.

Finally- I really want to go to Trader Sam's while I'm there. I know it can be a harder reservation to get. Do they do walkups or have a digital waitlist you can get on?

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

[NorCalFanatic]

Trader Sam’s reservations go extremely quickly. Best bet is start trying 60 days out at 6am PST. Walk ups earlier in the day are easier to snag.

You’re going to get a ton of answers to this. Food wise Blue Bayou for the experience. Food is good but not spectacular. Lamplight lounge has some of the best food in the two parks. We like brunch more than dinner but both are good. Reservation la for both of those can be tricky start trying 60 days out. For quick meals the Golden Horseshoe (make sure to catch a show), Bengal BBQ, Flos, Pyms test kitchen.

The Princess Breakfast (if so inclined) has fantastic food, it’s pricey though.

If I had to pick fireworks or world of color I’d go with world of color. Phantasmic should be back by then as well.

For rides I’d look at whats different than WDW. Cars land and assorted rides including Radiator Springs, Guardians, Finding Nemo submarine, haunted mansion will likely still be closed. Pirates is a bit different (I’ve been told).

 

[irlandaise]

DF1997 that is so exciting! One aspect of the differences is, of course, the rides. BrianL recently reposted his excellent analysis of WDW vs DL in that regard:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/ride-differences-between-dl-and-wdw.3942831/#post-65398814

@BrianL , would you be interested in starting a thread called "Disneyland for WDW Veterans" and starting it off with that posting? Then people could add other topics such as Magic Bands (e.g. not usable for hotel rooms at DL), crowd levels (because of the different mix of locals vs. tourists at the two resorts), etc. Maybe we could even get the thread pinned at the top of the Disneyland forum, since this question comes up so often.

 

[BrianL]

DF1997 that is so exciting! One aspect of the differences is, of course, the rides. BrianL recently reposted his excellent analysis of WDW vs DL in that regard:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/ride-differences-between-dl-and-wdw.3942831/#post-65398814

@BrianL , would you be interested in starting a thread called "Disneyland for WDW Veterans" and starting it off with that posting? Then people could add other topics such as Magic Bands (e.g. not usable for hotel rooms at DL), crowd levels (because of the different mix of locals vs. tourists at the two resorts), etc. Maybe we could even get the thread pinned at the top of the Disneyland forum, since this question comes up so often.

Maybe. That was the old HydroGuy thread name - I hope I'm up to it! I would probably want to refine my list a bit. Let me look it over make some changes and I'll try to post something.