Help for first timer in Southern CA/Disneyland

[beachcorey]

It's been years since amazing people on the Disboards helped me plan our first Disney World trip. We haven't had a chance to go back to DisneyWorld but now have an opportunity to visit Disneyland and I'm feeling lost once again. My husband will be attending a Monday-Thursday conference that runs from 8-5. We are thinking of extending the trip to be arriving Saturday morning and leaving the next Saturday night. The company he works for will pay for us to stay at Disneyland Hotel and his plane ticket/food. A rental car isn't included but I found one for $120 with Costco. We loved our trip to DisneyWorld but also love exploring new areas (especially beach towns). Any advice from people who are like us and would like a good mix of getting a feel for the area but also want to experience Disneyland would be appreciated! We will be celebrating our 20th anniversary while there but also want to keep budget in mind. We also need to work around his conference schedule. The trip would be the last weekend of September into the first weekend of October. Thank you!

 

[Geemo]

The first weekend of October is going to be busy with Gay Days.
If you look at this link you can see what's going on in the area during the time you'll be there.
http://www.disboards.com/threads/2015-calendar-of-events-school-breaks-mhp-and-dlr.3358090/

If you're going to the parks the first weekend you arrive it might be a little better. Staying on-site will give you early entry while he attends the conference.

 

[Sherry E]

A lot of people love Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach! I'm a big fan of Catalina Island for a day trip (in fact, we recorded a segment about it for the DIS Unplugged podcast back in March), but you have to take a boat there so that might be out of the budget for your trip if the budget is an issue? (The boat fare is about $75 per person, round trip, on the Catalina Express.)

Also, you'll be at Disneyland during Halloween Time, and for the first week of Mickey's Halloween Party. I don't know if the party will interest you, or if you are Halloween fans, but that is something else to consider!

 

[beachcorey]

Catalina Island looks amazing! Maybe we will do a day trip there on the first Sunday and then do Disneyland a couple of weekday evenings while we are there. We can get tickets that allow entry after 4:00 for $60. If we are okay with not being able to ride/see everything is it worth doing 4:00- close on a weeknight? Do you know when dates for the Halloween Party come out? We would probably avoid those evenings just to keep price down and avoid larger crowds.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Halloween Party info is in the 1st post of this thread.
http://www.disboards.com/threads/halloweentime-at-dlr-superthread-4-2015-info-is-finally-in.3270919/

I'd also recommend a day trip to San Diego if you've never been before. La Jolla cove is beautiful!

 

[Sherry E]

Catalina Island looks amazing! Maybe we will do a day trip there on the first Sunday and then do Disneyland a couple of weekday evenings while we are there. We can get tickets that allow entry after 4:00 for $60. If we are okay with not being able to ride/see everything is it worth doing 4:00- close on a weeknight? Do you know when dates for the Halloween Party come out? We would probably avoid those evenings just to keep price down and avoid larger crowds.

Halloween Party dates can be found here in this Parks Blog - http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...he-disneyland-resort-september-11-november-1/

I love Catalina, but the key is to get the most out of the day trip -- and that requires taking Catalina Express, with a wider array of departures and returns. Taking another service like the Newport Flyer out of Newport Beach is not good for a day trip, as your time will really be limited by the boat departures and returns.

If you were going into the park at 4 p.m. on a night when it closed at midnight, I'd say that it would probably be worth it. If it's a night when the park closes earlier than midnight, I'm not sure. I mean, you'd still get in some rides if you planned the time wisely, but I think that 8 hours would be better than, say, 5 hours or something (if Disneyland closed at 9 p.m.). On party nights, Disneyland will either close at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. to non-party guests. If you buy a party ticket, you can enter the park at 3 p.m. or 4 p.m., depending on the party night, and you'd be able to stay until 11 p.m. or 12 a.m., respectively. Of course, then you'd be at the party but you'd still have access to a lot of rides.

 

[Geemo]

Party tickets and Twilight tickets are pretty close in price. Keep in mind if your plan to do party tickets, you'll need to buy them ahead of your trip. Reading through the Halloween super thread you'll see about when certain dates have SOLD OUT in the past.