How many days for newbies?

[CyndiLooWho]

Hello! We've been to WDW many, many times, but thinking about switching our January trip to DL and California for 2023.

We are a mid-fifties couple and would be staying at a timeshare in Anaheim. We typically go for a week and spend one day at USO and 4 days at WDW or vice versa. Our touring style is laid back, we don't really rope drop anymore, preferring to show up around 9:30 and be out of the parks around dinnertime.

We've only been to CA once, other than flying through LAX on the way to other places, so we'd like to see more than just DL. How many days do we need to schedule to enjoy the parks in a leisurely way?

 

[smartlabelprint]

I’d stick to your touring style. 4 days would be good at DL/DCA.

 

[DLgal]

In a leisurely way? 5 days.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

4- or 5-day park hoppers are great for newbies who want to chill, and then add as many non-park days as makes sense for the other things that are must-do for you. It can be quite a lot of driving around if you are heading to beaches or exploring Hollywood.

 

[Kit Jackson]

4-5 days based on your touring style and the fact that it's your first visit sounds about right.

Any thoughts on the non-Disney portion of your trip? Are there things you might like to see or things you are interested in? While this is a Disneyland board, people here are willing to help out with itineraries and make sure you have a great vacation as opposed to being stuck in traffic the entire non-Disney part of your trip.

 

[Pluto468]

I'd do 5 days so you can really take your time and enjoy it all, especially if you have more you want to do in the area. Your 5th day could even be a travel day. Depending on your flight schedule, you could pop into the park either before you leave CA or perhaps for dinner the day you arrive.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Any thoughts on the non-Disney portion of your trip? Are there things you might like to see or things you are interested in? While this is a Disneyland board, people here are willing to help out with itineraries and make sure you have a great vacation as opposed to being stuck in traffic the entire non-Disney part of your trip.

I haven't gotten that far yet. Dh loves red wine, so I'm thinking a winery tour if there are some close-ish to Anaheim. I would love to see Universal Hollywood as well, but dh is actually not a fan of theme parks. He humors me by coming with me and eating yummy food, but he would like to do some non-park things, so I'm thinking Universal is out. Dh loves international travel, great food, red wine, scotch, the Biltmore, Williamsburg, history, airplanes, hiking, and me.

We would be flying in from KY and renting a car, so we can take some day trips,.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

I'd do 5 days so you can really take your time and enjoy it all, especially if you have more you want to do in the area. Your 5th day could even be a travel day. Depending on your flight schedule, you could pop into the park either before you leave CA or perhaps for dinner the day you arrive.

We do typically go to one of the parks or City Walk on our arrival day, and it would be really easy for us to do that at DL, as we will be coming from the Eastern Time Zone.

 

[chezcurrie]

Agree on the 4-5 days.

Since your DH is a foodie definitely check out the Anaheim Packing House/District. Some really stellar eats and all around great vibes.

For wine, Temecula is a little over an hour away and they have wine tours.

Lots of hiking options. You could even do the Hollywood Sign hike, which is fun for tourists and locals alike. There are private tours (I’ve done one through AirBnB) if you aren’t keen on going solo.

Also on the food note pre-covid there was a really fun foodie tour in Venice Beach through Secret Food Tours. I’ve done their foodie tours internationally (again, pre-covid) and found them to be a great way to explore. It appears they are only doing private tours at the moment but by Jan 2023 that would likely change. That could be something you did during the day and then do the Hollywood sign hike that evening at sunset so as to not backtrack too much.

 

[gelatoni fan]

If you have other things you'd like to do in Southern California, I actually recommend 3-4 days at Disney instead of 4-5, especially if your travel partner would like to do more than theme parks. This is assuming a standard one week timeshare. If you were planning to book other hotels in LA or something in addition to the timeshare than I guess you could take the Disney parks at a more leisurely pace.

 

[Kit Jackson]

Lots of hiking options. You could even do the Hollywood Sign hike, which is fun for tourists and locals alike.

I did that at Griffith Park and it was a great way to spend a few hours. Griffith has tons of different options for all levels of hikers.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Thank you all for the responses and good ideas!