How far ahead to book a room?

[ncbyrne]

We are driving cross country (NJ - WA, then down the Pacific Coast to LA). We plan on 3 or 4 days in Anaheim, and 2 days in DL (Oct 1-2) How far in advance will I need to book our off site hotel room. We are not interested in a package and will purchase tickets separately when we get there.

 

[Queenbillabong]

I would do it as soon as you are firm on your dates. Some of those hotels fill up pretty fast and the Halloween decorations would be up by then (the first party this past year was October 3), which means it will get pretty busy.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

FYI ~ that'll be Gay Days weekend along with UEA (lots of UT families head to DLR during this time) I assume you'll be dealing with major crowds, perhaps you could start your trip in Anaheim and finish it in WA. You could also visit DLR your first few days in Anaheim and do whatever else you'll do in Southern CA during the weekend (I'd do that anyways, we tend to avoid weekends at DLR)

BTW ~ We visited the Seattle area this past Oct., it was lovely.

 

[blackjackdelta]

I would do it as soon as you are firm on your dates. Some of those hotels fill up pretty fast and the Halloween decorations would be up by then (the first party this past year was October 3), which means it will get pretty busy.

You do get a discount on the tickets if you buy them on line instead of at the gate. As above, the sooner the better.

Jack

 

[ncbyrne]

FYI ~ that'll be Gay Days weekend along with UEA (lots of UT families head to DLR during this time) .

I had heard about Gay Days being that weekend, so we are planning on being in the parks Thursday and Friday, avoiding Sat and Sun. OR....do you think the Gay Days crowds would start on Friday? I suppose we could back it up to Wed and Thursday if we had to.
Also...what is UEA?
We cannot change our cross country trip route. DH is retiring and we are taking a month to drive east to west on a northern route, in Sept. We will be ending our trip in mid November and will need to be in the southern part of the country to avoid wintry weather on the road.

 

[DisneyMomma81]

UEA is a conferece for UT educators ~ most districts in UT participate, it's typically a Thur-Fri in Oct. this year it's the 1st & 2nd. I imagine a lot of Utahns headed to DLR for UEA would take off a day or 2 before UEA. I'm sure the Mon-Wed of that week will be better than Thurs-Sun. UEA has been called Utah Escapes to Anaheim ~ it's really UT Education Association.

 

[DahliaRW]

Book a refundable hotel room ASAP. Then keep an eye out and if you find a better deal somewhere else, book there and cancel the first reservations.

 

[ThisLittleLightShine]

We are driving cross country (NJ - WA, then down the Pacific Coast to LA). We plan on 3 or 4 days in Anaheim, and 2 days in DL (Oct 1-2) How far in advance will I need to book our off site hotel room. We are not interested in a package and will purchase tickets separately when we get there.

Buy your tickets online before going. You will pay much more at the gate.

 

[DWFan4Life]

The sooner the better. If I already check all I need, I will booked for it.

 

[ncbyrne]

Buy your tickets online before going. You will pay much more at the gate.

Are there area vendors who sell tickets cheaper? What about at the hotels?

 

[PinkBudgie]

I know some hotels do, but couldn't say which ones or if "all" of them do. Tickets you buy in the area may be cheaper if they are for S. Cal. residents but you can't use those, so be careful you don't buy those. Disney stores also sell tickets but they can run out.

I would buy them online. You really do not want to wait in a line to buy tickets when everyone else is in line to go in the park. Those ticket lines can get long. We used the online tickets for our boys over the holiday. We bought them on the Disenyland site the night before, printed them out and took them directly to the gate. Very easy.