Going to DLR from UK

[sam93]

Hey all,

So I had planned to visit DLR a couple of years back, however circumstances meant I never got the chance to visit.

Just yesterday I got back from Disneyland Paris and really enjoyed it, I'm going again for my girlfriend's 21st Birthday in September.

Now, for my 21st I want to go to DLR. I plan to book all the packages separately as travel agents don't really do packages from the UK

Couple of questions:

- How busy will it be in early December? (is it even worth going at that time of year?)

- Nearby hotels or onsite? (are there really any benefits of staying onsite?)

- How many days to get the parks done properly? (and perhaps get on my favourite attractions a couple of times)

- Any other tips you can provide will be very much appreciated too!

Cheers!

 

[Cheshirecatty]

Early December is a great time to go---Holiday Time has begun, and the Parks look so beautiful---PLUS crowds are lower!

We personally prefer staying on site, and enjoy the perks of Extra Magic Hour, purchase delivery back to the Hotel, amazing service, beautiful Hotels---decorated for Christmas, etc.

Fro those who prefer staying off site, there are some nice choices as well.

For a first trip to Disneyland/DCA, I'd personally want to do at least five days(or more).

If you have more specific questions, don't hesitate to ask!

 

[sam93]

Early December is a great time to go---Holiday Time has begun, and the Parks look so beautiful---PLUS crowds are lower!

We personally prefer staying on site, and enjoy the perks of Extra Magic Hour, purchase delivery back to the Hotel, amazing service, beautiful Hotels---decorated for Christmas, etc.

Fro those who prefer staying off site, there are some nice choices as well.

For a first trip to Disneyland/DCA, I'd personally want to do at least five days(or more).

If you have more specific questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Thanks for the tips, I've stayed in Disney hotels in WDW and Paris so I know how beautiful they can be - a reason I'm leaning towards staying at one in California.

Time to look around for prices

 

[HydroGuy]

- How busy will it be in early December? (is it even worth going at that time of year?)

Yes it is worth going. usually not that busy compared to rest of the holiday time. Risk of bad weather is higher.

- Nearby hotels or onsite? (are there really any benefits of staying onsite?)

Yes there are benefits to staying onsite. IMO it is not worth it unless you have a lot of discretionary cash. I do both.

See "HydroGuy's Hotel Rule" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199862

- How many days to get the parks done properly? (and perhaps get on my favourite attractions a couple of times)

Four days minimum.

- Any other tips you can provide will be very much appreciated too!

Get there early. If park hours are longer take mid-day breaks. See all the shows! Make sure you know all the FP tricks.

 

[Eccle]

Good to see another Brit going! It's very much Florida and Paris that get promoted here isn't it? We visited for one day in 2008, and are returning in June. Both times we've stayed at the Sheraton Park,,the onsite ones seemed a lot of additional money for not a huge benefit from our point of view. We booked the hotel via Virgin Holidays and think it was about £100 a night including free parking, which was cheaper than direct via the Sheraton

 

[sam93]

Yes it is worth going. usually not that busy compared to rest of the holiday time. Risk of bad weather is higher.

Yes there are benefits to staying onsite. IMO it is not worth it unless you have a lot of discretionary cash. I do both.

See "HydroGuy's Hotel Rule" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199862

Four days minimum.

Get there early. If park hours are longer take mid-day breaks. See all the shows! Make sure you know all the FP tricks.

Thanks for the tips, if FP tricks are similar to the ones in Paris then I should have it nailed down. Will do research just incase!

Good to see another Brit going! It's very much Florida and Paris that get promoted here isn't it? We visited for one day in 2008, and are returning in June. Both times we've stayed at the Sheraton Park,,the onsite ones seemed a lot of additional money for not a huge benefit from our point of view. We booked the hotel via Virgin Holidays and think it was about £100 a night including free parking, which was cheaper than direct via the Sheraton

Yeah it's only Paris and Florida here, makes it a lot harder to book packages. Virgin Holidays are the only company I've seen that sells Disney Park tickets as part of a holiday in Anaheim.

I'll take a look at the Sheraton, actually saw that one on Virgin Holidays when I was pricing it up earlier! Thanks for the help

 

[GrtWtNorth]

- Nearby hotels or onsite? (are there really any benefits of staying onsite?)

Staying on site will keep you in the Disney bubble, for about $100 dollars more per night.

Extra Magic Hours will be a minor benefit in early December as there will be very low crowd levels between park opening and 4 pm each weekday.

In my opinion, distance is NOT a deciding factor. There are so many hotels within an easy 10-15 minute walk, the Disney resort hotels do not have that much of an advantage.

My family can't justify the additional cost, and instead visit the Disney resorts for meals and just to soak in the ambiance. But at the end of the day, we walk 10 minutes back to our off-site hotel.

When I know I need a quality hotel, I book a Good Neighbor hotel, which meets Disney's standards for vacation packages.

There are even cheaper accomodations around Disneyland. I was on a tight budget and stayed in a 2-star motel on my last visit. It wasn't pretty and perfect, but it was a very good price and very close to the parks.

My price comparisons during August 2013: Disney hotels +$280 / night, Good Neighbor hotels +$180 / night, 2-star hotels within 15 minute walk $75-100 / night.

I hope I don't always have to book on a budget. Some day, I want to stay in a 1- or 2-bedroom villa in the Grand Californian, just to say I did it!

Good luck making your selection!

 

[GrtWtNorth]

- How many days to get the parks done properly? (and perhaps get on my favourite attractions a couple of times)

My thought is a minimum of 3 days (one day for each park plus a day to repeat favorites).

But this would be too rushed for me. I have no trouble basking in Disney parks for 5 days. It depends on your style. (In California, I spend 5 days at the parks. In Florida, I spend 6-10 days in the parks.)

I think you could buy 3-day tickets and upgrade them mid-vacation as long as you haven't used all the days.

 

[GrtWtNorth]

Now, for my 21st I want to go to DLR. I plan to book all the packages separately as travel agents don't really do packages from the UK

Have you considered using a US travel agent that specializes in Disney? MEI and Mouse Fan Travel have booked some of my Disneyland packages and I'm not a US resident. (Dreams Unlimited Travel may also do this, and they also work with international clients.) I find it very convenient to delegate dining reservations, especially when Disney "improvements" render the already slow website totally useless.

Caveat: You will likely have to book your own flights.

My only challenge using US based travel agencies is when materials are shipped via courier. I'm not sure what its like in the UK, but the Canadian government taxed my park admission tickets plus the courier charged significant customs broker fees. It was a real PITA. Next time I will get all my documents shipped directly to my resort instead.

 

[anthony2k7]

Hey!

I'm another brit doing DLR for the first time in a couple of months! We've done DLRP hmmm 5 times I think and WDW twice.

Here's my thoughts on your questions from what I've researched:

- How busy will it be in early December? (is it even worth going at that time of year?)

No idea, although I get the impression that DLR is generally busier than DLRP, but not as busy as WDW in general.

- Nearby hotels or onsite? (are there really any benefits of staying onsite?)

Same as DLRP/WDW, there are the usual Disney benefits. Hotels in walking distance, sending shopping to hotel, Disney theming at hotels. However, like at DLRP/WDW, its seems to be difficult to justify the significant extra cost for those benefits.

- How many days to get the parks done properly? (and perhaps get on my favourite attractions a couple of times)

Parks seem a similar size to DLRP, but better attractions. Our thinking is that as some attractions are the same as either DLRP or WDW we can maybe skip some of them.

- Any other tips you can provide will be very much appreciated too!

Not really, but here's what we have planned so far:

• Trip will be 11 days covering as much of LA as we can in that time
• Booking everything separately
• Flights directly with BA, we only like BA or Virgin and recently BA have been cheaper. BA use a A380 on this route, which I wanted to fly in I liked that the upper deck economy window seats are only two seats wide so we wont have to sit next to anyone else or climb over anyone we dont know!
• Wanted hotels to be in walking distance so we can enjoy a drink occasionally, so decided on split stay. Few days near DLR and then few more days near Sunset in LA
• Chose Hotel Indigo for the nights near Disney - its modern as we like, fairly recently refurbished, significantly lower cost than Disney hotels and still within walking distance.
• We figured although we will not get the "Magic" of staying at a Disney hotel, we can still visit the hotels restaurants and bars. We'll definitely eat at Napa Rose, and drop in at Trader Sams bar
• For the other nights, we're going for the Sofitel near the Beverly centre. Not quite on sunset as planned, but looks great for the cost and a few restaurants and other things in walking distance.
• Car hire - currently looking at Avis but not booked yet. They have a discount package including 15% off at Macys. It seems all the car hire companies out of LAX have bad reviews, so going with Avis as they seem to be the best deal. All companies require shuttle rides, and apparently long waits in the queue.
• Haven't bought park tickets yet, but will probably go to "attraction tickets direct" for these. I've used them before for Seaworld/Universal and various NYC attraction tickets. Prices seem competitive and never had any problems.
• The 5 day Disney hopper ticket includes one magic morning
• Watch out for the exchange rate - its going in the right direction at the moment, but that may not last!

 

[Eccle]

Thanks for the tips, if FP tricks are similar to the ones in Paris then I should have it nailed down. Will do research just incase!



Yeah it's only Paris and Florida here, makes it a lot harder to book packages. Virgin Holidays are the only company I've seen that sells Disney Park tickets as part of a holiday in Anaheim.

I'll take a look at the Sheraton, actually saw that one on Virgin Holidays when I was pricing it up earlier! Thanks for the help

No problem. I've bought park tickets separately, through Orbitz going via ebates (like an American quidco, they pay cash back via paypal and were doing 20% cash back on the attraction tickets on orbitz a couple of months ago. I've got Southern California citypasses (3 day disney hopper, 1 day universal and one day seaworld) which we'll upgrade to 5 day there

The Halifax clarity credit card doesn't charge any foreign exchange fees and has good rates, so is handy for any purchases in dollars

 

[GrtWtNorth]

If you are planning to visit non-Disney parks, you might find the Southern California City Pass to be economical. It includes one day admission to Sea World and Universal Studios as well a 3-day Disneyland park-hopper.
http://www.citypass.com/southern-california

They sell these passes at each of the parks as well, there's no real savings by buying it in advance.

Caveat: if you intend to upgrade your Disneyland portion of the ticket go to Disneyland after all the other park admissions are used. Disneyland has to take the City Pass and replace it with a new ticket, and you don't want to waste your Universal Studios or Sea World admission.

 

[HydroGuy]

Thanks for the tips, if FP tricks are similar to the ones in Paris then I should have it nailed down. Will do research just incase!

They are and they aren't.

This should help:

"The Fastpass Encyclopedia: Everything you need to know about FPs at DLR" by mysteriouspnai http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3094011

 

[zanzibar138]

Hey all,

So I had planned to visit DLR a couple of years back, however circumstances meant I never got the chance to visit.

Just yesterday I got back from Disneyland Paris and really enjoyed it, I'm going again for my girlfriend's 21st Birthday in September.

Now, for my 21st I want to go to DLR. I plan to book all the packages separately as travel agents don't really do packages from the UK

I would just book separately. It's very easy to do over the internet, even dining. You shouldn't have any need to call anyone.

- How busy will it be in early December? (is it even worth going at that time of year?)

I'd LOVE to go early December. You'll get to see the Christmas decorations, and it's supposed to be less crowded as well. I personally prefer it to be on the cooler side rather than hot for touring Disney parks.

- Nearby hotels or onsite? (are there really any benefits of staying onsite?)

At a quiet time of year, there is really no need to stay onsite unless you really need the complete Disney experience (for about $200 extra per night). There's plenty of decent quality and reasonably priced accommodation within a 5-10 minute walk.

On our last trip, my Nan booked a week at Peacock Suites for us using her timeshare, which was lovely of her However, it was really a long hike back after a full day in the parks, and too far away to really be worth going back for an afternoon break or anything. It was about a half an hour walk door to door.

If you're planning to be spending most of your time in the parks and will only be using your hotel to sleep and shower, I would definitely go for closest location to the parks over resort-like features. At that time of year the pool will probably not be a priority.

- How many days to get the parks done properly? (and perhaps get on my favourite attractions a couple of times)

How many days did you do at DLP? I would probably allow one or two days more. We did 5 days at DLP and will have about 8 days at DLR, but I like to tour at a slow pace and spend a lot of time just soaking in the atmosphere. Last time we did 6 days (when they still had those passes) and it was a good amount, but that was before the DCA expansion.

- Any other tips you can provide will be very much appreciated too!

Cheers!

Depending on your flight times and how well you deal with jetlag, it might be worth spending your first afternoon checking out Downtown Disney and just getting used to the new timezone and different weather instead of heading straight to the parks. On our last trip I needed a quick nap before I was capable of doing anything (we had a 14 hour direct flight that landed at about 9am). Don't nap if you arrive in the afternoon, and try to stay up until normal bed time that first night to reset your body clock.

 

[darph nader]

(to a famous Beatles song)
"Flew into LAX,BOAC,didn't get to sleep last night.
All the way a paper-back was on my knee,
Man I had a dreadful flight.

 

[sam93]

Can't thank you all enough for the helpful information.

I think it's going to be best to stay at one of the hotels near the resort, I've got my eye on the Sheraton Park as I've stayed at a Sheraton hotel before and it was lovely.

Going to book a 5 day park hopper ticket so we don't feel rushed when trying to get all of the attractions done, that way if we decide not to spend one of the days in Disney it isn't the end of the world!

Hadn't been to Disney since 2007 and now I will have gone to Paris twice and California once this year, absolutely can't wait!

How many days did you do at DLP? I would probably allow one or two days more. We did 5 days at DLP and will have about 8 days at DLR, but I like to tour at a slow pace and spend a lot of time just soaking in the atmosphere. Last time we did 6 days (when they still had those passes) and it was a good amount, but that was before the DCA expansion.

We managed to get DLP done in 3 days, one full day with the Eurostar days on either side. It wasn't very busy though and we experienced heavy rain which put off a lot of people visiting I'd imagine. Only had 5 minute wait times for Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster!

 

[sam93]

Updated: We booked through Virgin Holidays for the flight/hotel/transfers and bought our tickets for the parks through Attraction Tickets Direct (thanks @anthony2k7 for the recommendation).

Will be staying at the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort, see you December Disneyland!

 

[zanzibar138]

Congrats on the booking! How many days did you decide on?

 

[sam93]

Congrats on the booking! How many days did you decide on?

Thanks

We decided on 5 days, bought a 5 day park hopper. That way we don't have to rush to get things done (we hope)!

Looking to book the walking in Walt's footsteps your nearer the time too!

 

[zanzibar138]

I think 5 days is a good amount of time. I'm thinking of doing that tour too