First Trip to Los Angeles

[lds26]

Hello everyone, i will introduce myself, I am Linda and myself and our 14 yr old son will be visiting Los Angeles in February for a week. We are from Canada and mysellf and my husband visited DisneyLand when we were both children and have not returned since. We booked the trip on a whim and we have decided to pop a quick 3 day cruise in there. We will have 2 days to spend at the parks and wonder what you would recommend. We have one entire day and 3/4 of another. We are staying in Long Beach prior to the cruise and have not booked a hotel afterwards. I would love to know a few things:

1. what should we do out of Long Beach for the day - which park would you recommend that we could cover in an entire day?

2. what hotel would you recommend for one night post cruise?

3. what park should we do after we get off the cruise that offers transportation from cruiseport to hotel and then to airport the next morning?

I truly appreciate all your input!

Thank you very much!

 

[lds26]

So does no one have any replies? I guess Ill have to look elsewhere. Kinda thought that a message board would be able to help but I guess not.

 

[DDhunter]

Not sure I can be of too much help, since I'm not entirely sure I understand your schedule.

Our first trip we did DL in 1 day, we did not bother going into DCA. We managed to hit all the "big" rides, as well as fireworks and a little shopping. The key is to get into the park early and take full advantage of fast passes.

I would highly recommend you call DLR vacation planning (you can access it on Disneyland website). I don't know what kind of transport is available to/from the cruiseport or airport, but I have found them to be extremely helpful and if you could stay on site that one night it would make it so much easier to just enjoy the park.

 

[Katink]

Since you're also cruising, you might try cruisecritic.com for information. If you click on the North American Homeports/West Coast Departures boards, you can then search the forums for Disneyland. I'm as big a fan of Cruise Critic as I am of the Disboards and always check them out when researching a trip, including pre- and post-cruise information. You can also search the Disboards forums for hotel and transportation information.

Here's the link:http://boards.cruisecritic.com/index.php

Hope that helps.

DH and I took 2 cruises to Canada last year, one to your east coast, the other to your west coast. You have a beautiful country and I can't wait to go back!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

How fun for your family! We visited DLR early last month after a weekend cruise ~ our cruise began and ended in San Diego (I wish it would've been Long Beach) ~ we usually fly to the Long Beach airport for our DLR trips ~ we've used a driver for the most part for most of our recent trips - he picks us up at the airport and drops us off at our hotel - for a hotel to stay at, you have lots of choices ~ I really like (along with many others) the HoJo, we've spent at least one night at each of the 3 DLR hotels ~ the DLH is my fave but still too much $$ for me. We also stayed at the Crowne Plaza twice last year (got it through priceline.com ~ good deal, check out www.betterbidding.com or www.biddingfortravel for priceline tips) ~ we also spent a couple nights at the Anaheim Plaza last year it's a nice, inexpensive place.

 

[aristocat65]

I'll do my best to help. We have also stayed in Long Beach pre-cruise. The Queen Mary is an interesting attraction to see if you are at all interested in ships. There is also the Long Beach Aquarium, and your son might enjoy Gameworks which has interactive video games, dining etc. The Long Beach Website might also help you: http://www.visitlongbeach.com/attractions/.

Once you get off of the ship, your best bet is to take a taxi from the pier to Disneyland or your Disneyland hotel.

For only one night, try Candy Cane Inn. It is a 10 minute walk to the gates and they have their own shuttle bus if you don't want to walk. It is actually in the same block as Disneyland! I don't know what your budget is but you could also stay at one of the Disney hotels, but only Grand Californian would actually be any closer than the Candy Cane Inn. Candy Cane Inn is not on any of the travel booking sites. You have to book direct with them. This is their website: http://www.candycaneinn.net/

As far as which park to visit, Why not do both?! It is very easy to park hop as they are across the plaza from each other. We often go back and forth a few times in a day.

Good Luck, and I hope this helps