Anaheim has a new city ordinance that is doing away with VRBO and AirBNB type of rentals, so don't waste your time looking for a VRBO option. VRBO and AirBNB owners, from what I understand, are allowed to submit a request to the city of Anaheim asking for a 'hardship' extention to the VRBO/AirBNB ban. BUT there is no guarantee that their hardship extension requests will be approved. You could run the risk of plunking down a lot of $$ for a rental that could, all of a sudden at the last minute, be unavailable. The city of Anaheim is serious about doing away with VRBO/AirBNB rentals...to the tune of shutting off all city services to those properties (i.e., turning off your electricity, gas, water).
I 2nd the suggestion to read the thread linked above re: a WDW vet's guide to DL. It has a LOT of very helpful tips and suggestions in it.
Re: 5 days in the parks - is it enough?
Lots of people will tell you that 3 days is plenty. I disagree. You can have a wonderful time there in 3 days. But 5 days is great. We went for 5 days at the beginning of the summer (end of May/early June). It was, by far, the best DL trip we've had so far. And even after 5 days, we still didn't do everything.
For our family, we consider "walking distance" to mean anything from the Howard Johnson's on down to the Grand Legacy at the Park on Harbor Blvd. There are a couple of hotels along that strip that have 2-BR suite options. If anybody in your family gets Theme Park Fatigue, there is nothing as wonderful as being able to walk no more than 10 min to your room to take a break from the parks...and then go back later in the day when you're refreshed.
Even when we've stayed at the Howard Johnson's, we still regularly walk 11 miles a day. We've done trips where the walk is 15 min (so it's about a mile) and by the end of the day, that extra distance is really brutal.
FYI - the Tropicana has something like a 20% discount if you book a stay for 5 or more nights. Details are on their website. They're right next door to the Best Western Park Place Inn, so it's right next to the crosswalk on Harbor Blvd.
Park Hopper tickets:
Yes, you should get PH tickets if they're in your budget. The distance between the 2 park entrances is so close, it's just a minute or 2 to walk from 1 set of turnstiles to the other set of turnstiles at the other park. Seriously. And on a busy summer day, the ability to hop over to the other park is really convenient.
Fast Pass at DL:
There's sticky threads about this I'm sure, but here's a Reader's Digest summary about how it works at DL:
- The Disneyland Daily website has a great tutorial that explains the whole thing. Go to https://disneylanddaily.com/a-fastpass-guide-for-disneyland-and-california-adventure/.
- FP @ DL are like old FP at WDW.
- There are 2 ways to get FP at DL: insert your physical ticket into a FP kiosk near the attraction or pay $10/day extra per ticket for Max Pass. More on Max Pass in a moment...
- You insert your physical ticket into a FP kiosk. The machine spits out a FP reminder ticket that says what your return window is. During that 1-hr window, you go into the FP line at the attraction. Eventually, you get to a machine where you will have to insert your physical ticket (or scan the barcode of your ticket from your phone). The FP is electronic, so that FP reminder ticket is not actually your FP....your park ticket is. Once you're done with the ride, go get a FP for that same attraction or another one. FP for Fantasmic! or World of Color are "disconnected" from the rest of the FP rides (meaning you can hold a Fantasmic! FP and a FP for another ride at the same time).
- FPs for DL and DCA are now "connected." So if you get a FP for Haunted Mansion and then go over to DCA to get a FP for Toy Story, you won't be able to get the FP for Toy Story yet because you can only have 1 FP at a time.
- You CANNOT "reserve" or "book" your FP for a specific time slot later in the day or for a future date. It's all "first come, first served." No reservations ahead of time like at WDW.
- Similar to WDW, ride wait times are all available on the Disneyland app. I've found it to be pretty accurate.
- Using the "traditional" FP method costs you nothing. The "traditional" FP method = send a FP runner with everyone's tickets, insert tickets, get FP return times, etc.
Max Pass:
- $10/ticket per person.
- comes with PhotoPass+ (which includes ride photos, too)
- You can buy it ahead of time or when you arrive.
- You can buy it for the whole duration of your park tickets or just 1 day at a time if you want.
- Allows you to get FPs without having to be there in person at the FP kiosk.
- You DO have to have activated your park ticket for the day before Max Pass on the DL app will let you use it to get a FP.
- If you've purchased Max Pass for that day, then you must use Max Pass to get FP....at least that's what I've read.
- You can book FPs for different rides for different people in your group. So let's say, Mom and Kid #1 want to go on Space Mtn, but Dad and Kid #2 want to go on Star Tours. Max Pass will allow you to get a FP for Mom & Kid #1 for 1 ride and get FP for the other 2 people for a different ride.
- If you change your mind, I think you can cancel the FP and immediately are able to get another FP for something else.
- You can't get another FP until after you have scanned your ticket/barcode from your cell phone out of the DL app at the FP return kiosk in the FP return line for Ride #1. Once you've done that, while you're waiting to get on Ride #1, you can immediately get a FP for Ride #2.
- There is a loophole such that once you have activated your park ticket that day and once you've activated Max Pass with that ticket, you CAN get a FP using Max Pass even though you might not physically be on Disney property. Posters on this forum have reported being back at their hotel room taking a break mid afternoon and being able to use Max Pass to get a FP return time later in the day for an attraction.
