Flying to California from Toronto?

[SandraC]

Hi, I am playing with the idea of a Disneyland trip. Anyone got tips? Airline? Arriving Airport? Hotels? Car?

 

[tori]

I flew out of T.O. in October to the Los Angeles airport. It was a direct flight with Air Canada. The flight cost about $500 Canadian. It would have been cheaper out of Buffalo but I was concerned about the wait time crossing the border so soon after Sept. 11. As it was the wait time was at least 1 1/2 hrs clearing U.S. customs in T.O. before boarding. We've since flown out of Buffalo a number of times with incredible ease at the border and at the airport itself.

Their are shuttles every 15 mins. to 30 mins from the airport to the hotels along the strip including Disney hotels. They were very reasonable and easy. No need to rent a car if Disney is your goal.

We stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel. The hotel was nothing to write home about, very nice, but very pricey with very little theming. We walked through the Disneyland Hotel and the Grand Californian. The Grand Californian was gorgeous (Like Wilderness Lodge) but out of my price range. I enjoyed my week at Paradise Pier. Staying at a Disney Hotel meant that we got two one day passes for the price of one. We did Disneyland one day. Everything seemed so small compared to the Magic Kingdom. Inside the buildings the rides were spacious, but the walkways and especially the castle were so small. California Adventure we also really enjoyed. It is far more spacious. The best rides of the trip were sSoaring over California and Indiania Jones.


If I was to go back again on my own nickel, I wouldn't stay in a Disney hotel.. The other hotels are very close for walking and you didn't get that same feeling of being in a special Disney place. We could only visit the parks for the two days because of work committments but there certainly are some good park pass deals to be had.

Good luck with your plans. Just as an aside - We got treated as special when they heard you were from Ontario. They don't get many of us down there.

Tori