First Trip to Disneyland--Tips and Advice Needed!

[shefish3]

I am planning our first trip to Disneyland in January 2017. We have been to WDW multiple times and have coached friends through their vacation planning, but planning for Disneyland is just so different at every turn! Any tips or advice (or DL/WDW comparisons) as dive into this new adventure? We are DVC members and will be staying at GC for 4 nights.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

I hope I linked this right...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599

 

[shefish3]

Looks great... I've got some reading to do!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

That superthread is really helpful. Also, don't expect DLR to be the same as WDW. Enjoy and cherish the differences. Savor knowing you are walking in Walt's park, the one he planned, built, the only one he ever saw. In general, planning for DLR is much more relaxed than planning for WDW. Read the superthread, then come back here with questions. When in January will you be visiting? Holiday Time will go through the first week of January, but then off peak season starts. So it you want fireworks and other nighttime entertainment, try to plan for a weekend night (Fri., Sat., Sun.). WOC should be showing every night as usual.

 

[shefish3]

I am SOOO excited to experience the differences and the history that DLR offers. If I'm honest, the laid-back feeling of planning for Disneyland is making me feel like I'm missing something! I'll adjust eventually We will be visiting California 1/27-2/2 and will be at DLR 1/29-2/2 (doing some LA sightseeing the first two days). The superthread was great but I do still have some questions:

1. Paid Airport Shuttle vs. Rental Car? Do any rental car agencies have bad reps at LAX?
2. This trip is child-free (aaahhhhh!) and we love doing tours. Any tour recommendations? Any tours to avoid?
3. Are parkhoppers widely recommended since the parks are so close? Planning on 3 park days... would we regret not having parkhoppers?
4. Any general tips for January and off peak season? I know that some things will be down because of low crowds and the park hours are shorter. Do parades and fireworks still happen on certain days/nights? Do people even swim in January?
5. Since MBs don't exist at DLR, do you have a KTTW-type card or is it just as simple as a paper ticket to get in the front gates?

 

[theluckyrabbit]

1. Will you need a rental car for the time you are at DLR? If not, then I would use Uber, especially since you won't have a large group or need car seats.
2. We love the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour. Look up the description on the DLR website to see if it sounds interesting to you. I've never experienced any tours that I wouldn't recommend.
3. Definitely get parkhoppers! Since it will be just grown-ups, hopping will be easy. FPs are not connected between the parks, so you could hold more FPs at the same time. If one park gets too busy, hop on over to the other park.
4. Keep in mind that off peak doesn't necessarily mean low crowds. Things at the end of January should be quite manageable, but stay flexible. Parades still happen, but the schedules can be limited, e.g. only one showing of a parade instead of two. Fireworks usually happen on weekend (Fri., Sat., Sun.) nights only. Fireworks can get cancelled due to winds at higher elevations, so aim to see them early in your trip so that you have a second chance if cancellation occurs. People do swim in January. Pools at the hotels are heated. Even if the weather is a bit chilly, you could still use the hot tub.

 

[Skyegirl1999]

I am SOOO excited to experience the differences and the history that DLR offers. If I'm honest, the laid-back feeling of planning for Disneyland is making me feel like I'm missing something! I'll adjust eventually We will be visiting California 1/27-2/2 and will be at DLR 1/29-2/2 (doing some LA sightseeing the first two days). The superthread was great but I do still have some questions:

1. Paid Airport Shuttle vs. Rental Car? Do any rental car agencies have bad reps at LAX?
2. This trip is child-free (aaahhhhh!) and we love doing tours. Any tour recommendations? Any tours to avoid?
3. Are parkhoppers widely recommended since the parks are so close? Planning on 3 park days... would we regret not having parkhoppers?
4. Any general tips for January and off peak season? I know that some things will be down because of low crowds and the park hours are shorter. Do parades and fireworks still happen on certain days/nights? Do people even swim in January?
5. Since MBs don't exist at DLR, do you have a KTTW-type card or is it just as simple as a paper ticket to get in the front gates?

I'm a local AP, so I don't know all of these, but the ones I do know:
2. We enjoyed "Walk in Walt's Footsteps."
3. A thousand times yes to parkhoppers. We often go back and forth 2-3 times and we're there with a three-year-old for an average of maybe five hours.
4. A lot of entertainment is just on the weekends during the off-season, so unfortunately you may miss parades and almost certainly will miss fireworks. There's a lot of speculation about fireworks after this summer anyway... Swimming in January would be rare, but possible if there a heat wave. There was one this past February and pools were getting a lot of unexpected use!

We just did DW for the first time last month, and there's definitely a difference in pre-planning! Have fun!

 

[SplashMo]

Get Park hoppers. No need for a car. Arrive 30-45 min early each day. Do not use the GCH entrance in the morning. FP between the parks is not connected. Get a FP for WOC.

 

[Arielismyfave]

I agree with WDW vs DL planning - it's so much more relaxed. I felt I was going to miss a deadline or something! Lol

1. It took us over an hour in line to get to the rental car desk then another 30-45 minutes after that. It definitely will slow things down. You mention sightseeing in CA prior to DL, are you renting a car for that portion or do you mean you are flying into LAX on 1/29? Once you are at DL you really don't need a car if you are staying near the park and don't plan on going anywhere else. As PP mentioned Uber would work too to get to and from LAX.
3. We did not buy hoppers and didn't feel like we were missing out. However we did have to plan at that park a little more to make sure we rode/saw/met everything since we only had 1 day in that park. (DCA was our 1 day park) I would look at the rides at each park and see if you would ride the majority of them, if so they hoppers might be a good idea. Traveling with LO we knew there were some rides not in the cards so we factored that in as well. (Most rides that we would skip ended up being at DCA which is why that was our 1 day park.)
5. They are paper tickets for entry and FP - so put them in a safe place that they won't be ruined or lost. If you get pictures taken by a Photopass photographer, at your first picture stop they will give you a plastic card to have each subsequent photographer scan to link pictures to your account.

 

[Isatricia]

I grew up going to Disneyland, then only made it there twice in the past 25 years - only once since DCA opened. We had kids but loved going during the week during off season - gotta love homeschooling vacations. That trip in 2012 was so relaxed. We went to WDW last year for he first time, but never really got into all the "planning". We only scheduled 1 meal and made all the decisions by the seat of our pants. We were able to ride everything we wanted and loved not having set plans. We enjoyed ourselves but will probably never go back to WDW. DLR is so much better! I can't think of anything I will miss from WDW - except the magic bands made everything so easy.

1. We get a rental car when we go to California. It is a long way from LAX to DLR. I am paying less for a mini-van for a week than I would have using a shuttle each way. Then we will have a vehicle if we need to run to a store, off-site restaurant or whatever else. We aren't doing our entire trip at DLR, so having transportation is a must. Depending on where you stay, there may be fees for parking.

2. We've not taken any tours.

3. I would definitely get park hoppers. It is so much easier to parkhop at DLR. We successfully used the parkhoppers at WDW too (our final day we did all 4 parks).

4. Weather should be nice in January.

5. When we were there on 2012, our passes were on a card. Since the pp said paper, I'm not really sure.

Relax and enjoy!

 

[shefish3]

I think I'm going to LOVE Disneyland! While I appreciate the efficiency of WDW's system, I miss the days of theme park spontaneity.

1. It took us over an hour in line to get to the rental car desk then another 30-45 minutes after that. It definitely will slow things down. You mention sightseeing in CA prior to DL, are you renting a car for that portion or do you mean you are flying into LAX on 1/29? Once you are at DL you really don't need a car if you are staying near the park and don't plan on going anywhere else. As PP mentioned Uber would work too to get to and from LAX.

We are renting a car for the first 2 days...just trying to figure out if we need to keep it all week or if we should turn it in and then find another way to get to and from DLR. Is there car rental on DLR property?

Get Park hoppers. No need for a car. Arrive 30-45 min early each day. Do not use the GCH entrance in the morning. FP between the parks is not connected. Get a FP for WOC.

I'm curious, why should the GCH gate be avoided in the morning? Is the early arrival time because of lines?

4. A lot of entertainment is just on the weekends during the off-season, so unfortunately you may miss parades and almost certainly will miss fireworks. There's a lot of speculation about fireworks after this summer anyway... Swimming in January would be rare, but possible if there a heat wave. There was one this past February and pools were getting a lot of unexpected use!

We will be checking in on Sunday afternoon so that may be our only chance with fireworks. We weren't planning on being in the parks that day--is there a good spot from GCH or elsewhere to see the fireworks? I've read rumors about fireworks after this summer...my heart will be sad if they're true. Will WOC still be happening? This girl LOVES fireworks!

 

[SplashMo]

The GCH gate is slow in the morning...

 

[Arielismyfave]

Since you will already have a car I would see what the cost is to keep it for the week. There may be places to return it near DL but I'm not sure how many are closely. We did the reverse order sightseeing - DL first then other parts of CA - and once we got to DL the car didn't move until we left. It was nice to have the option though. Another thing to keep in mind is if the hotel you are staying at charges a fee for cars. We stayed at the HOJO and they did not have a fee, but another hotel we looked at (Anabella, I think?) did charge a fee.

We bought our vouchers from Ares travel and then turned them into tickets at the Disney ticket booth. Our tickets were paper. I have read in other posts that if you book a vacation package that those may come with plastic cards as tickets.

 

[SplashMo]

I would stay close enough that you can easily walk to the parks. Perhaps directly across the street... Then you would not even want a car...

 

[Nevada Jen]

Since you are staying at the gch, you will definately want park hoppers. We almost always exited through the dca gate directly into gch. Plus you will have extra magic hours there. For two people, the expense is small compared to the benefit. If for no reason other than you can get a night time ride in on rsr everyday and hit grizzly peak and go right to your room to change. Do the math on the rental car and figure in parking fees. My guess is it comes out about the same either way.

 

[Cats2]

The GCH gate is slow in the morning...

To expand on this for the OP, I believe there's only 2 turnstiles at the GCH entrance to DCA and so it's a bit of a bottleneck. On prior trips, for a 7 AM EMH, the line would start forming by 6:15 AM. I think they were also having everyone go through the scanner at the security table. There are more security tables at the Esplanade and way more turnstiles at the front entrance to DCA, so it's easier to be one of the people at the front of the line. The whole point of being at the front is to avoid getting caught in the middle portion of the crowds heading towards RSR at EMH opening. If you don't care about riding RSR standby at EMH open, then you probably don't need to be there 30-45 min before EMH. My family will either make a beeline for RSR (& get on the ride within 10 min of EMH opening) or go to TSMM and do 2-3 rounds as walk on.

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

2. This trip is child-free (aaahhhhh!) and we love doing tours. Any tour recommendations? Any tours to avoid?

Have you looked in to the DVC Member Soarin' Tour? I'm not sure if it will still be going on then. I haven't done it, but it's free so why not check it out? I hear it books up extremely quickly, you basically have to call immediately when they start taking reservations (there are like 20 spots once a week or something like that).

https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/discounts-perks-offers/member-events/soarin-around-world/

 

[shefish3]

Thanks for all of these tips! We are renting our car from Alamo bc they have an office in Downtown Disney. We're planning on returning it there once we arrive at GCH and uber to John Wayne airport when we leave. Since we only have 3 days there, I'm trying to decide whether a tour is a good use of our time while there? Also, a new question: While Napa Rose seems to be the go-to restaurant for romantic and "foodie" meals, are there other more laid back options with great "foodie" meals? We're on vacation...I just want to relax and be causal