Help with provisional California itinerary!

[loladelorean]

I'm finally at the booking stage for this trip! We have decided on 6 nights in Vegas, 4 nights in Anaheim and 5 nights in San Francisco. There are of course many other things I'd like to see in California but I'll be returning hopefully when I'm over 25 and able to do a road trip.
Hotels are decided as planet hollywood in Vegas, and the radisson fishermans wharf in San fran. It's the Anaheim hotel choice I need help with! The Disney hotels are coming in way dearer than others and the common advice seems to be that there is no great need to stay in a Disney property in CA. This is different from Paris where, as I've mentioned before, staying onsite is important to most of us diehards!
So, I'd love to hear any more advice you might have on Disney vs good neighbour and which of the good neighbours might be best for 3 20-somethings.

 

[HydroGuy]

I'm finally at the booking stage for this trip! We have decided on 6 nights in Vegas, 4 nights in Anaheim and 5 nights in San Francisco. There are of course many other things I'd like to see in California but I'll be returning hopefully when I'm over 25 and able to do a road trip.
Hotels are decided as planet hollywood in Vegas, and the radisson fishermans wharf in San fran. It's the Anaheim hotel choice I need help with! The Disney hotels are coming in way dearer than others and the common advice seems to be that there is no great need to stay in a Disney property in CA. This is different from Paris where, as I've mentioned before, staying onsite is important to most of us diehards!
So, I'd love to hear any more advice you might have on Disney vs good neighbour and which of the good neighbours might be best for 3 20-somethings.

Advice which many of us give is to stay within walking distance. At DLR there are non-Disney hotels within a 5 minute walk to the park gates. Sort of like the DLRP walking distance hotels - except they are not Disney owned.

Be careful with hotel claims of their proximity to DLR. The hotels may be "across the street" or "one block away". However, the distance to the actual places were you can enter the parks can be much, much further.

If you want the absolute closest non-Disney "good neighbor" hotel, that would be Best Western Park Place Inn or BWPPI for short - a fine choice. I have stayed there several times. If you are willing to walk an extra 5 minutes then two choices are popular on this forum: Howard Johnson's (Hojos) and Candy Cane Inn (CCI).

See these links for more info:

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

* DLR Info/Links - Maps, Hotels, DISer Reviews, Hydroguy's tips, NEWBIE INFO here!

Have a magical visit!

 

[MyYearWithTheMouse]

Aw, too bad you're spending so much time in Vegas. Be sure to get over to the Hoover Dam!

 

[A Small World]

Hi Lisa - I missed your thread when it was first posted. I lurk over here a lot (as well on on the DLP board where I post more) as we are planning our 2nd trip to DL for December.
We went last October and loved it - you are right it is very like DLP in a lot of ways. The ease of park hopping and also downtown disney. However it is also very different in other ways - a lot of local visit the park sometimes just to do a specific thing so it often gets busier as the day goes on so head into the parks early. If you want any specific comparisons let me know. PM me if you want
We stay at Hojos which is about 15 mins walk so about same as walking from Cheyenne hotel in DLP. There are a few closer hotels which you pass walking from the park to Hojos but they have outside corridoors motel type whereas Hojos has inside ones.

 

[loladelorean]

Advice which many of us give is to stay within walking distance. At DLR there are non-Disney hotels within a 5 minute walk to the park gates. Sort of like the DLRP walking distance hotels - except they are not Disney owned.

Be careful with hotel claims of their proximity to DLR. The hotels may be "across the street" or "one block away". However, the distance to the actual places were you can enter the parks can be much, much further.

If you want the absolute closest non-Disney "good neighbor" hotel, that would be Best Western Park Place Inn or BWPPI for short - a fine choice. I have stayed there several times. If you are willing to walk an extra 5 minutes then two choices are popular on this forum: Howard Johnson's (Hojos) and Candy Cane Inn (CCI).

See these links for more info:

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

* DLR Info/Links - Maps, Hotels, DISer Reviews, Hydroguy's tips, NEWBIE INFO here!

Have a magical visit!

Fantastically helpful as ever, thanks HydroGuy I'll check out those tip threads right now

Aw, too bad you're spending so much time in Vegas. Be sure to get over to the Hoover Dam!

Haha, I'm going with 2 Disney-friendly but not Disney-diehard pals! So I'm actually thrilled to have talked them into 3 days in the parks as opposed to the one they thought would be "enough". One of the girls is obsessed with Vegas, she goes 2 or 3 times a year (I guess it is to her what Disney is to me), if she had her way we wouldn't even be going anywhere else. Compromises have been made on all sides! Think we are going to book one of the helicopter excursions from Vegas.

Hi Lisa - I missed your thread when it was first posted. I lurk over here a lot (as well on on the DLP board where I post more) as we are planning our 2nd trip to DL for December.
We went last October and loved it - you are right it is very like DLP in a lot of ways. The ease of park hopping and also downtown disney. However it is also very different in other ways - a lot of local visit the park sometimes just to do a specific thing so it often gets busier as the day goes on so head into the parks early. If you want any specific comparisons let me know. PM me if you want
We stay at Hojos which is about 15 mins walk so about same as walking from Cheyenne hotel in DLP. There are a few closer hotels which you pass walking from the park to Hojos but they have outside corridoors motel type whereas Hojos has inside ones.

Well hello, fancy seeing you here! I'll be in touch for specifics when I get to actual park itinerary planning nearer the time, thanks for the offer. Will be great to get help from someone who has a DLP frame of reference
Hojos is being mentioned a lot - I realise we are going to stay in the Disney area therefore everywhere is going to be family friendly, but I get the impression from Hojos website that its really geared at kids? If onsite doesn't offer significant advantages, which it doesnt appear to, I wouldnt actually mind paying a bit more and walking a bit further for a more adult environment. Can you think of any like that or am I just being silly?!

 

[A Small World]

Well hello, fancy seeing you here! I'll be in touch for specifics when I get to actual park itinerary planning nearer the time, thanks for the offer. Will be great to get help from someone who has a DLP frame of reference
Hojos is being mentioned a lot - I realise we are going to stay in the Disney area therefore everywhere is going to be family friendly, but I get the impression from Hojos website that its really geared at kids? If onsite doesn't offer significant advantages, which it doesnt appear to, I wouldnt actually mind paying a bit more and walking a bit further for a more adult environment. Can you think of any like that or am I just being silly?!

To be honest all we did was sleep in the hotel - the parks are open much later than DLP (I think it was open til 11pm/ midnight most nights) so we just stayed as long as we could and then crawled back into bed. We tended to go into one of the disney hotels to eat most nights then back into the park. We went last yr with DD but this time are going alone- just DBF and myself. We are also doing Vegas as well Weve booked the flights but not the hotels but will probably just stay in hojos again