Hi All! First Disneyland Trip...

[zanzibar138]

mmm... as much as I would like to do both fireworks and fantasmic I know it really wont be realistic for the kids to be watching at 10.30. They will just be way to exhausted. I think I wont stress too much about doing everything, fit in what we can whilst still remaining sane lol and then we can plan to come back when the kids are older.

That's a great attitude to go in with If you realise that you're not going to get everything done in 3 (or even 4) days, and are happy to take a break if the kids need it etc, you will have a great time I think it starts getting stressful when you know that you only have a limited amount of time there, and you still want to try to do everything, so you start rushing around basically just running from one attraction to the next. DLR is so much more than that. I could quite happily spend an entire day there even if every attraction was down for maintenance

I love hearing how others have done their trips! I am worried that this trip will be 2 fast passed for the kids being that they are still so young and then will become too stressful and not fun. We cant increase our time so maybe we could think about dropping somethings so we have more 'down time'. It was originally far less 'full' an itinerary but just keeps growing! That is why we will most probably do 4 days at DL. With an extra day we can take it a little slower, DH doesnt want any longer then that though (he actually doesnt even know about the extra day yet lol, might just tell him when we are there )

You know your family best and what you think they'll be able to cope with. For us (talking about me, DH, and my parents who we sometimes travel with - all active adults), we can cope with about a week of busy road trip with lots of activities (with 1-2 nights here and there) at a time, but then we need a bit of down time. And that can either be spending 2-3 nights somewhere to just relax and have nothing planned, or spending a bit longer somewhere and spreading the activities out a bit more. You said you like hearing how other people do it, so I'll give you an idea of my last trip.

5 nights DLR (down time on arrival, then busy half marathon weekend)
2 nights Palm Springs
1 night Twentynine Palms
2 nights Kernville
2 nights Santa Margarita
1 night Long Beach
8 nights DLR (down time)
1 night Phoenix
3 nights San Antonio

We got pretty sick of packing and unpacking, and were pretty pleased to be able to settle in at DLR and just relax for a few days.

That's how we like to holiday though. It's completely different for every family.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Hello. Not much to add to everyone else's comments. Our first trip as a family to DL was when DD was 6 - surprised by how freaked out she was by quite (to us) simple rides! We had 2-3 days I think - only DL back then not also DCL.

In the GC Bright Angel is a great place to stay (we stayed there too) and right on the canyon rim - you may find yourself heading over to the canteen style food places at Malawai and the other lodge though as Bright Angel might run a bit dearer on your pocket for you all for breakies/dinners etc (we brought some supplies with us for breakfast and bought coffee and had breakfast looking at the view on the parapet along the rim). That being said we had dinner at Yavapai or Malawi, forget which, one night and it was pretty awful. Bright Angel dining room our 2nd night was much better (but we got in a bit late the first night).

PIO is the San Fran expert as Zanzibar said but I can say we found the transport there very easy to use-their trams (cable cars) are great fun. We also found them to have the most friendliest, patiently helpful, public bus drivers ever if you did need to catch a bus (we caught one from Fisherman's Wharf to the Golden Gate Bridge), and the light rail was also easy to use (such as along the Embarcadero). The buses, cable cars and light rail are all run by MUNI and all you need to get around within the city (whereas a separate organisation runs the separate train line, BART, such as to and from the airport to the city and the suburbs). We found it was cheapest at the time we went to just pay cash for our DD on public transport as kids fares were so cheap while we got adult passes for us but we were only there 24 hrs. The tourist centre sold us our MUNI passes and gave us a handful of change to pay the on board cost for DD - but you know how things change so not sure if that still operates the same. Tripadvisor has some useful info on their forum sites if you haven't ever checked them out and there is a San Francisco thread on the Disboards too if you search for it.

We found Las Vegas hot and midday temps at Grand Canyon hot (we are from Brissie and we were there July) but no worse than the peak of our summer but we only got high 30's I think not the 40's. We just did early and later sightseeing and rested midday.

Happy planning. You will find over time lots of helpful info available from everyone here!

 

[travelwith4kids]

Thanks again Zanzibar and thanks for your thoughts Aussie Wendy!

I actually think our girls, particularly the younger 2 will be abit overwhelmed by the rides. It might sound silly but the rides are actually the biggest pull for us we will ofcourse go on as many as the kids want but DH isnt really into big thrill rides and I think alot of them will be too intense/scary for our girls? It kind of takes the pressure off to 'do all the rides' though so in a way good!

We are very excited for GCNP so thanks for the heads up about food. I will def try to be organised to take food in so we can atleast organise our own breaky and snacks... do you remember if there is a small store to buy grocery things like fresh fruit?

We will be getting the san fran city pass and I'm pretty sure that includes a MUNI pass for us? So hopefully that will take care of most of our transport? I will def look into that closer to going!

I am really enjoying the planning! Its become quite obsessive I have already learnt alot from this forum and I love talking to aussies as somehow it seems more relevant? I think when we have finished this trip I will have planning withdrawals!

 

[zanzibar138]

Thanks again Zanzibar and thanks for your thoughts Aussie Wendy!

I actually think our girls, particularly the younger 2 will be abit overwhelmed by the rides. It might sound silly but the rides are actually the biggest pull for us we will ofcourse go on as many as the kids want but DH isnt really into big thrill rides and I think alot of them will be too intense/scary for our girls? It kind of takes the pressure off to 'do all the rides' though so in a way good!

We are very excited for GCNP so thanks for the heads up about food. I will def try to be organised to take food in so we can atleast organise our own breaky and snacks... do you remember if there is a small store to buy grocery things like fresh fruit?

We will be getting the san fran city pass and I'm pretty sure that includes a MUNI pass for us? So hopefully that will take care of most of our transport? I will def look into that closer to going!

I am really enjoying the planning! Its become quite obsessive I have already learnt alot from this forum and I love talking to aussies as somehow it seems more relevant? I think when we have finished this trip I will have planning withdrawals!

Doesn't sound silly at all! Having said that, you might be surprised at how many rides your younger kids can do. DLR isn't really about thrill rides. My mum is the biggest ride wimp ever - when we've been to QLD she's always the bag holder - and even she could manage quite a few rides!

There is a general store at the GC. I can't remember what (if any) food items they had available for purchase there. It's on the other side of the village to Bright Angel Lodge too, but there's a free bus that'll take you there. It's in the same place as the canteen style eatery as well, so maybe you can get some fruit there If you have anything specific you want to eat, I would pick it up from a supermarket on the way.

I know what you mean about the Aussie boards - it's a great group of people here

 

[travelwith4kids]

We live quite close to the QLD parks and our kids LOVE them but wont go on any of the 'scary' rides.

Hopefully that store sells some food (will check) but I can just be organised and bring stuff in. We dont have any dietry requirements but our kids mostly snack on fruit/veg, yoghurt etc at home and seeing as we will mostly be eating out (and I know they will probably be eating alot of burgers/fried foods) I'd love to still be able to give them healthy snacks... I cant wait to eat over there (and DH is very excited about the food too) but I imagine by the end of a month I will be quite sick of restaurants!!

 

[losfp]

Sounds like you'll have a great trip!

We did something sort of similar in 2012 - but in reverse. Our trip was:

6n Vegas
2n Zion Nat Pk
1n Bryce Canyon
2n Page
2n Grand Canyon
1n Monument Valley
2n Canyon de Chelley
3n Sedona
3n Tucson
3n San Diego
7n Anaheim

I'm glad we did Disneyland last, as it gave us something to look forward to, and we were completely settled in the timezone by the time we went. But YMMV.

We were in the Disney parks on 6 days, and though we did plenty of rides, it wasn't our main focus. IMO no one does immersive theme quite like Disney so we did a lot of people watching, exploring etc. Also our daughter was 4.5 so we needed to take it slow at times.

Next year we will be tackling WDW, DLR and Universal Orlando with a 7.5yo and a 1.5yo - should be fun!

 

[travelwith4kids]

Hi there losfp,

Thanks we are hoping it will be a great trip! Your sounds like it was amazing as well us your uncoming one! We are so excited to travel with our kids! They have never been overseas. DH and I have done quite a lot of travel before kids but stopped entirely when we were expecting DD1 and moved back to Australia. Its time to start seeing the big wide world again!

Our itinerary (at the moment) as as follows

Fly into LAX, hire car, drive to Anaheim
6 nights Anaheim- 4 day park hopper and one day Universal Studios
4 nights San Diego- Zoo, Sea World, Sights (La Jolla, Point Loma, Balboa Park)
1 night Palm Springs (stopping onroute to see Julian and Anza Borrego SDP)- Aerial Tram.
1 night Kingman (stopping on route to see Joshua Tree NP and Oatman)- Route 66 museum.
2 nights Grand Canyon (stopping on route to see 'Bearizona' Williams)
2 nights Vegas (Hoover Dam on way)
1 night Bishop, via Death Valley
3 nights Yosemite NP stopping at Mammoth Lakes, Tuolumne Meadows. DH wants to fish??
1 night Columbia- visit state historic park (maybe a visit to Calaveras Big Trees Park?)
4 nights San Fran (stopping in Fairfield for Jelly Belly Factory, a kids must!)- alcatraz, californian academy of science, China Town, Coit Tower, Golden Gate bridge, harbour cruise etc
1 night Monterey via Henry Cowell Redwoods state park. Monterey Aquarium.
1 night Pismo Beach stopping at elephant seal rookery, monarch butterfly grove ?
2-3 nights LA- La Brea Tar pits, The grove (kids want america girl store), Hollywood sites...
and then home!

When I actually write it all out it feels a bit overwhelming

 

[losfp]

Very nice. The only change I might be tempted to make (as mentioned by others) is to move Disneyland to the end - would be a straightish swap for the LA activities at the end. IMO tackling Disneyland is not for the fainthearted and if you're jetlagged, tired and not capable of doing the long days or the early starts, then you will probably be miserable. Heading straight there off the plane is tough. But of course, it's your trip! Make the most of what you have. Universal is north of LA and Anaheim is south. Would it not make more sense to tackle that during the LA stay, not the Anaheim stay? Unless there is some sort of restriction with the SoCal pass.

We did Bearizona as well - it was a lot of fun.

2 nights Vegas is not a lot of time to explore - that place is HUGE. But make a quick stop, gawk at the shiny neon and move on (we did 6 nights with a 4 year old and surprisingly there is NO SHORTAGE of things to do as a family)

It's a lot of driving - good luck!!

 

[aussie shaz]

We also did Bearizona in 2011 and it was pretty new. It was great though.
I also feel you need more than a day in Las Vegas. There was sooo much to do. We were disappointed we didn't have more than the 4 nights we did.
Ad yes, I think Universal is better from your LA stay, rather than Anaheim.

 

[LivingforDisney]

Yes totally agree if u can do Universal when in Hollywood, did u say u were going to stay at the Orchid Suites?
If so u can just get the train it is one station away, 2 mins walk to station from the hotel, very easy to do.
Just follow the crowds when u get off the train to the shuttles.
Your girls will love the AG store at the Grove, u can just get the bus there from Hollywood Boulevarde.
Just want to mention if you are planning on doing a tour of Hoover Dam , u have to be there early, it gets very, very crowded.

 

[LivingforDisney]

Just another thought, if u do Hollywood first, so your whole trip is reverse order, u wouldn't need the car in Hollywood, as u can use the public transport.
Just hire the car from there?

 

[zanzibar138]

I bet your kids are braver than my mum She won't go on anything that 'whizzes', goes around in circles (like Dumbo), drops or goes backwards. Pirates was about her limit for drops, and Toy Story Mania is about her limit for 'whizzing'. However, perhaps unlike your kids, she is not afraid of the dark or ghostly/villainous characters

I agree that it would make sense to do Universal from LA instead of Anaheim, especially if you're only one stop away on the train! However, I'm thinking that you're not doing that because the SoCal tickets expire after 14 days? The other option would be to do the few days in LA when you first arrive, giving you time to adjust to the time zone etc, then head down to Anaheim. Then you could do all your theme parks within the 14 days and still be convenient for Universal.

It's kind of hard to add any more nights to any one destination of your road trip, without adding to the length of your trip as a whole. Dropping any of those halfway places would make for a long drive. I think with 2 nights in Vegas, you'll just get a small taste of what it's all about. We only had one night there when we went, and didn't get past that completely overwhelmed and stressed feeling. I highly recommend leaving the GC early so that you don't arrive in Vegas in peak hour like we did Or perhaps Vegas is one of those places where it's always peak hour After a couple of hours wandering around in the morning, we were just starting to settle in a bit, but then it was time to go!

You've got a couple of 3-4 night stints in there though, which will help to break up the trip and give you a chance to relax a bit. And with an itinerary like that, you'll certainly see a lot

 

[travelwith4kids]

Thanks for all your thoughts, I thought we had it pretty great but all your points are valid! We only have Universal from Anaheim due to the SoCal passes expiring after 14 days, it is about $500 cheaper for us to buy the pass so we thought it made more financial sense to just drive back for the day. We could possibly put our LA days to the start of the trip... will have a think.

About Vegas, DH wasnt that keen to stay long and to be honest I didnt think there was that much for the kids to do. We were planning to have a look at the strip on arriving, check out the lights that night. Fit what sights we could in the next day ( I was hoping to visit the outlets) and spend another night before leaving early the next day. And yes, everytime we want an extra night somewhere this trip just gets bigger and bigger. We really are at our maximum at a month! I will just have to go on the 'next time' list if we love it.
We have bookings (that are all cancellable) at San Diego, GCNP, Yosemite and San Fran. SD and SF would be easy to change dates for but the NP might not have availability if we were to want to change due to high demand.

Glad to hear Bearizona is good! Our kids are crazy about animals so they are sure to love it!

 

[losfp]

Yeah I know - it's so tough to get enough nights to see places properly.

Originally we were going to do northern Cali as well - San Francisco, Yosemite, Death Valley etc.. But we decided to do less places, but in greater detail. Consider doing that, if you have bookings that can be cancelled or moved, but like I said, it's your holiday and you have to be happy with your choice I hope it's a great trip.

 

[travelwith4kids]

So DH and I just had a play around with our plan and we think we really like the idea of LA first, having time to adjust before jumping into DL! If we just move a few days from the end to the start it wont effect our bookings and we can take LA at whatever pace we feel up to at the time.

So it would look like...

Thursday- LAX, collect car, shop for provisions (we need car seats) hotel, dinner, take it easy.
Friday- Universal
Saturday- Sights
Sunday- Sights and head to Anaheim in the afternoon.
4 full days in Anaheim for Disneyland.
Continue as planned until the end when we would travel from Pismo Beach to LA, spend the day before flying out in the night...

 

[zanzibar138]

So DH and I just had a play around with our plan and we think we really like the idea of LA first, having time to adjust before jumping into DL! If we just move a few days from the end to the start it wont effect our bookings and we can take LA at whatever pace we feel up to at the time.

So it would look like...

Thursday- LAX, collect car, shop for provisions (we need car seats) hotel, dinner, take it easy.
Friday- Universal
Saturday- Sights
Sunday- Sights and head to Anaheim in the afternoon.
4 full days in Anaheim for Disneyland.
Continue as planned until the end when we would travel from Pismo Beach to LA, spend the day before flying out in the night...

The only problem I see with that plan is that you won't get to see the fireworks at Disneyland (unless you're planning to go in that Sunday night too, but with 4 day passes it doesn't seem like you would). You could still watch the fireworks from the hotel that Sunday night, but no chance to see F! at all. If that doesn't bother you though, then I think it sounds like a great plan! You'll definitely have lighter crowds on the weekdays and I think you'll all be fresher having had a few days to settle in after the long flight and get into the new time zone

 

[LivingforDisney]

Ok after u arrive in L.A and do all those things, pick up car, shop, dinner u guys are going to be exhausted, I wouldn't then want to have to get up early to get to Universal the next day, so I would do the sights, the first full day.
Have a look at Hollywood Blvde, go to the Grove and the Tar Pits and then do Universal the Sat. As u want to be at Universal when it opens.
There is a nice mall right there on Hollywood Blvde, the shops don't open until 10am though, as they stay open late.
Our first full day, we had a small sleep in, got the bus to The Grove, had breakfast next door at The Farmers Markets and then hit the AG store and had a look around the other shops.
I think we only spent about an hour at the tar pits.
I would head off to Anaheim in the morning, check in, drop bags and then hit the park, if u want to see the fireworks ect.
Not sure what other sights u want to see in L.A?
We had lots of plans, but they never work out to plan lol, everything so big and crowded over there.
I mean one of their blocks is like 5 of ours.
Just a tip, if u want a photo with one of the "weirdos" on Hollywood blvde, u have to tip them!

 

[LivingforDisney]

Just read through your report again, it seems like a awful lot of driving u guys are going to be doing, not much "free time". And what about shopping?
When we were in Vegas, we thought we would drive down to the Outlets for a couple of hours, yes well by the time we got there , walked around and got back to the hotel, I think we were gone for like 6 hours!!
Have you thought of flying home from SF? instead of driving back to L.A.
Or maybe save that part of Calif for your next trip.

 

[helsbells22]

Hi there,

I've just come back from a 4 week trip-Sep/Oct - with DH and my boys (10 and 7). This was our first trip to the US. We live in Sydney and the kids missed about 2 weeks of school for this awesome trip. We had a rental car which we picked up at LAX - make sure you have GPS or mobile phone coverage before you drive off - google maps is great for telling you which lane to stay in.

We had stayed in Santa Monica (4 nights) and saw Universal studios, California science centre for the Endeavour shuttle and lots of walking through Santa Monica's sights.

Las vegas (3 nights) - the place is massive and there is lots to see that is child friendly, we drove via Hoover dam as a rest stop. We then drove to the Grand Canyon (Thunderbird lodge for 1 night) - I wish we had stayed 2 nights but oh well! Our next stop was Sedona (2 nights) and this is the most beautiful place to visit! We highly recommend seeing the red rocks - the kids thought they were amazing. We went to Slide rock national park and lots to see all around. We easily could have spent 5 nights there - look it up!

Our next stop was San Diego for 4 nights(driving via Seligman/Kingman and Oatman - the burros all want to be fed carrots) to see USS midway, Seaworld and Old town. We stayed a night at the Legoland hotel (everything was awesome) but this is a really loud hotel (funnily enough it's full of kids) and worth the money spent. I deliberately left Disneyland for last as that way the kids wouldn't have been disappointed - the 10 year old wasn't that impressed but the 7 year old loved it.

Then it was Anaheim for 8 nights (my husband was horrified at 8 nights) for Disneyland. We had a 10 day pass and we hadn't seen everything in the 7 days that we had gone to the parks but we felt that it was enough to see all the shows and have the pictures taken with the characters etc. We got tickets for the Halloween party and it was so much fun getting all dressed up - we'd never do that here at home.

We had gone in Sep/Oct when massive heat waves were going on through California - the average temp whilst we were there was about 35 degrees and the heat got really draining that we really looked forward to the afternoon break from the park - just be aware of what time the park closes though as Sep/Oct is the off season.

I had booked my fares in Feb for Sep/Oct when Flight centre had the expo - got Qantas fares for about $1265 each (kids were a little cheaper) - but I didn't go to the expo! I use an app called kayak and kept checking the fares - when expo fares came out I went to my local flight centre and they had given me the same price I saw on the app. But because it was expo time they had a $250 credit per adult fare that could be used towards car hire/hotels/tickets - I got a free 10 day child pass for my youngest son for free!

I booked hotels myself online - if you have NRMA/RACV etc membership - they're affiliated with AAA who have cheaper hotel pricing. I never once got asked to show our NRMA card for the cheaper AAA pricing - we did take the card with us though and so many hotels have AAA pricing in the US.

I would love to have seen San Francisco but it was too out of the way - it would have meant that we'd have to see Yosemite too! Next time!!

Enjoy planning your trip and make sure you stop to shop at the outlets.

 

[losfp]

Just read through your report again, it seems like a awful lot of driving u guys are going to be doing, not much "free time".

This.

Here's a tip. Plug your destinations into google map directions and see what the driving times are for each leg.

For our trip I tried to plan it so that we didn't do more than 3-4 hours driving in a day (just 1 or 2 exceptions) and never more than 2 days in a row.

Land LA, 4h drive to Las Vegas (6n)
3h drive to Zion NP (2n)
2h drive to Bryce Canyon (1n)
3h drive to Page AZ / Antelope Canyon (2n)
3h drive to Grand Canyon (2n)
3h drive to Monument Valley (1n)
2h drive to Canyon de Chelley (2n)
4h drive to Sedona (3n)
4h drive to Tucson (3n)
6h drive to San Diego (3n)
2h drive to Anaheim (7n)

About 36 hours driving all up, only 2 1-night stays.

This is roughly what your trip looks like (note: probably a bit inaccurate as it depends on road availability into YNP and extra time driving the PCH). If this sounds workable then you're all good! Don't forget you have to factor in rest stops, toilet stops, getting kids packed and into cars and out of cars and unpacked. I didn't like the 1-night stays because you really only get a half day of sightseeing at best, then you have to get on the road again the next day.

1hr -6 nights Anaheim- 4 day park hopper and one day Universal Studios
1.5hr -4 nights San Diego- Zoo, Sea World, Sights (La Jolla, Point Loma, Balboa Park)
2hr -1 night Palm Springs (stopping onroute to see Julian and Anza Borrego SDP)- Aerial Tram.
3.5hr -1 night Kingman (stopping on route to see Joshua Tree NP and Oatman)- Route 66 museum.
2.5hr -2 nights Grand Canyon (stopping on route to see 'Bearizona' Williams)
4hr -2 nights Vegas (Hoover Dam on way)
4.5hr -1 night Bishop, via Death Valley
3hr -3 nights Yosemite NP stopping at Mammoth Lakes, Tuolumne Meadows. DH wants to fish??
1.5hr -1 night Columbia- visit state historic park (maybe a visit to Calaveras Big Trees Park?)
2.5hr -4 nights San Fran (stopping in Fairfield for Jelly Belly Factory, a kids must!)- alcatraz, californian academy of science, China Town, Coit Tower, Golden Gate bridge, harbour cruise etc
2hr -1 night Monterey via Henry Cowell Redwoods state park. Monterey Aquarium.
2.5hr -1 night Pismo Beach stopping at elephant seal rookery, monarch butterfly grove ?
3hr -2-3 nights LA- La Brea Tar pits, The grove (kids want america girl store), Hollywood sites...
and then home!