Help with trip plans for DL

[bebelle]

Boy I thought I was a Disney expert but I am LOST when it comes to DL. I am trying to plan a surprise trip for my family. They have never been to DL and the last time I was there was in the late 70's. I was very young and do not remember much.

For a family of four (including 2 teenagers) I need to know--which airport, transfers, best hotel and room accommodation, how many park days to see all, not to miss restaurants and is a meal plan worth it? We are flying in from PA. Should we plan a few extra days to see anything outside the parks?

I feel totally clueless. I really need help. Thank you so much for answering my questions.

 

[MPHARJ]

Boy I thought I was a Disney expert but I am LOST when it comes to DL. I am trying to plan a surprise trip for my family. They have never been to DL and the last time I was there was in the late 70's. I was very young and do not remember much.

For a family of four (including 2 teenagers) I need to know--which airport, transfers, best hotel and room accommodation, how many park days to see all, not to miss restaurants and is a meal plan worth it? We are flying in from PA. Should we plan a few extra days to see anything outside the parks?

I feel totally clueless. I really need help. Thank you so much for answering my questions.

I can't help too much but I can tell you that this will be our 2nd trip to DLR next week. We also travel from PA. I am on the ball for WDW but DLR isstill new to us. Here is what I have done and am planning. You will however get many views.
Last year we flew out of Harrisburg into LAX, we had no problem there and LAX was the cheapest however we ran into problems out of Harrisburg when our flight was cancelled. This year we are flying out of Dulles a non-stop flight on Virgin America, into SF because we start our trip there, then we fly into LAX 3 days later and start our DL adventure. VA is much cheaper and again we are using LAX because VA only fly to certain airports. However it is still the cheapest for us from the east.

We stayed at Paradise Pier concierge level last year and have it booked this year. Large clean rooms, short walk to the parks my kids enjoyed it. We book packages each year that is just what I prefer to do and I did the dining plan last year and have it booked for this year. A lot of people will say it isn't worth it I however prefer to have everything paid for ahead of time. you get vouchers to use it is nothing like dining at WDW. You do not get change back from the vouchers either.

Last year we went for 9 days but we also went to LA, Legoland and a few other things. This year we start at SF for 3 days then off to DL for 6 days. I just don't like to go commando at the parks I get there earlier do what we want and when it gets busy go off to swim or relax.

We enjoyed Blue Bayou and of course for my kids Goofy's Kitchen, Lilo & Stitch breakfast is very good also. We ate at Storytellers which was ok, there are not quite as many dining options as WDW, so you might want to get advice from others for that since my kids are pickey, we didn't get to try too many of the nicer places.

Good luck with your planning.

 

[Husker Mickey]

Have you looked into a discount travel agency like getawaytoday.com or costco? We use getawaytoday everytime we go. We book our hotel, DL tickets, transfers and any side trip through them. You can book over the internet or you may book over the phone, (we prefer to talk to someone and ask any questions that come up). We have flown into LAX (large airport) and also Orange County (aka John Wayne, aka Santa Ana). It is a great, small airport with just the right amount of shops and a lot less congestion. Unfortunately, it is usually more expensive than LAX. There are transfers available from both airports. There is also the Burbank airport, but I don't anything about it.

We stay offsite. There are many hotels within walking distance to DL unlike WDW. You can see from my siggie that we have a few favorite hotels. There are many others that DISers rave about, i.e. Hojos. The meal plan is not as a big a deal at DL as it is at WDW. Don't forget to read the threads at the top of the opening screen. It's DL for WDW vets, (or something like that). That should help.

Have a great time. We just booked our October trip! This board is a great source of info!

 

[avalon451]

Hi, Bebelle,

Lots of great info and helpful people on this board! Keep browsing, you can find lots of answers. A couple of really helpful threads: Hydroguy's Tips compilation, a sticky thread at the top of the forum page:http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1520483 There are lots of ideas there about when to go, where to stay, how to "do" the parks. Also a comparison of differences between WDL and DLR.

When are you planning on going?

There are 4 airports, SNA (12 miles) LGB (Long Beach, 14 miles) ONT (Ontario, 30 miles) and LAX, (which is what, 35-40 miles? Something like that). LAX is often cheap but huge, dirty, and more expensive to travel from. SNA is expensive to fly into. LGB is often as cheap as LAX and is preferred by many people on these boards, since transfer prices are about the same as for SNA. ONT is ok, price wise, too, but again, farther out.

Staying offsite is a good choice here. Many of the hotels across the street on Harbor are as close or closer than the Disney hotels. Great for taking a midday break to get away from the crowds and heat.

Lots of great ideas about those offsite hotels. Candy Cane Inn (which has their own shuttle to the parks) is a favorite, as is HoJo's, which has a fabulous Entertainment book rate of $59 (standard) and $74 (deluxe park-view) rooms for particular dates. http://www.hojoanaheim.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=14

Park Vue, Tropicana, Best Western Park Place Inn, and Desert Inn are straight across the crosswalk to the Disneyland entrance plaza. Here's a map of the hotels with links: http://www.geocities.com/ashpsyche/DisneylandLinkMap.html

If you stay in one of the 3 DL hotels, you get to use all the Magic Mornings (one hour early entry to DL) which are on Sunday, Tues. Thurs and Sat. If you stay offsite and purchase a 3 day or more parkhopper, you get 1 MM-- unless you order tickets through GetAwayToday travel online, which has an exclusive contract right to grant 2 MMs for you. There is a discount code you can use ("podcast") which will waive the $10. processing fee, so it's the same cost for tickets as ordered through the DL company.

3 full days is good for seeing the parks. I like 4 1/2 or 5 better, myself-- more leisurely. Then you could take an extra day or two and go to the beach, go to Universal Studios if you want, etc.

There's lots of info off the top of my head for ya! Sorry to overwhelm! Please post with any questions you may have, there's so many friendly helpful people here!

 

[Sleepless Knight]

How exciting to be planning your first trip to Walt's park. In terms of the parks, I recommend at least 3 day park hopper pass, giving you 2 full days for Disneyland. You can do the great attractions in DCA in half a day, leaving you another half day for revisiting highlights. If you're determined to do all of DCA period, you can do it in a day.

I drive down from NorCal and stay offsite since it is significantly cheaper. There are many offsite hotels closer to Disneyland than some of the deluxe resorts in WDW are to the WDW parks.

My other tip is to familiarize yourself with the layout of Disneyland itself as it is different than the layout for the MK. And be sure to ask any questions you may have. I'm a seasoned veteran of Disneyland and an annual passholder and still find great tips here.

 

[bumbershoot]

There are some here who appreciate the meal plan, but other than being a way to pre-pay most of the money you'll spend on meals, I don't think it's worth it. Depending on your length of stay you get a couple character meals, and that's nice to have vouchers for rather than pay at the time. But you can buy vouchers for most character meals a la carte at getawaytoday.com.

Other than that it's vouchers for set dollar amounts. If you buy something that is LESS than the amount of your voucher, you do NOT get change back. If you buy over the cost of the voucher, you pay out of pocket.

It's nothing like the WDW meal plan.

But there ARE people who appreciate it, and you might be one of them!


Do you want us to dictate your vacation? OK!

Use Costco or getawaytoday.com for a package. Stay at HoJo, buy a ticket that will allow you to get in every day you'll be there, just in case you want to pop in for a few hours. Consider upgrading to an AP while you're there, just in case you fall madly in love with the place and want to be back inside of 365 days of the start of your DLR days (you can upgrade to the last day you're IN the parks, and you pay the difference between the AP you choose and the amount encoded on your tickets, and it's backdated to the first day you used your tickets).

I've never managed to make it to anywhere else, once I'm in Anaheim. But we usually start or end (or both) our trip in San Diego and we really enjoy Seaworld.

Check out menus on allears.net and dlresortinfo .com, being aware that the prices and menus might be slightly different depending on price hikes and age of online menu.


Know that you can probably save money by NOT doing a package, but I found having a package for our first BIG trip to DLR was a good thing. I feel silly for the money we "wasted", but then we upgraded to APs and have been there, um, 3 times as a family (and one solo trip for me) since September, so we've more than made up for what we've "wasted" on the package in discounts, not having to buy more tickets, and using the Entertainment Book special fabulous rate at HoJo (not available all dates).

 

[nun69]

so exciting!

We went last year for 9 days, but only did a 5 day park hopper because we went to Seaworld and Universal Studios....we really enjoyed dinner at Goofy's Kitchen and from what I have read around here, if you would like to do a character breakfast, schedule your time between 1000-1030 am so that way you can get in some rides early, then have a brunch style breakfast, and be good for the afternoon....

I booked everything seperately last year and this year I went with AAA and they were AWESOME!!!! I changed my mind like 100 times and my agent was soooo accomodating....she even went and booked my PS reservations and now all I have to do is wait for my documents...plus you only have to put down like $200 and then pay the rest 30 days before your departure, so for me, that was good because then I could budget the trip into my monhtly budget...

we stayed at the Sheraton Anaheim and it was wonderful, but it is quite a hike {but they do offer a shuttle} and this year we are staying at the Caroseul Inn, so I'll have to see how that goes, but I have read good reviews so I am excited to try it out~Good luck in whatever you decide!

 

[Bugsmom73]

We just got back, ordered everything seperately. We stayed at the Hojo, and walked it was a great price for us for 3 nights at the entertainment rate. Our kids were 4 and 7 at the trip time. We paid out of pocket for food. We at at Blue Bayou(recommend), WIne country Tratorria, and Minnie's Character Breakfast. We enjoyed all three and on our last day, on a much thought about decision we upgraded to an AP. We will be going back one more time before late may of 2009.