I'm going to Disneyland! First timer

[collins316]

I am going to Disneyland next year. I won air fare and 1 night hotel stay at work. I plan on paying the additional $ to extend the stay. I have been to WDW in FL every year for the past 10 or so years, but never Disneyland, and I need your help. Any recomendations on where to stay (want to stay at a Disney Hotel), when to go (for the least crowds)or how many days to stay would be GREATLY appreciated! Also since I never get a chance to go to CA, would you go other places on the same trip? Maybe see a game show, the zoo? I know close to nothing, so any opinions would be helpful.
Thanks!

 

[LuvTigger]

Congratulations! How exciting!

You asked a pretty loaded question, so I'll try to break my answer up into parts.

Where to stay:
Be forewarned that discounts at DL hotels are a lot harder to come by than WDW. That being said, there are 3 DL hotels: Paradise Pier, the Disneyland Hotel, and the Grand Californian. Someone recently did a post describing the 3, you might want to do a search. PP is the least expensive, but also the "plainest" and least Disney, though it reportedly has the largest rooms. DLH has several towers and a great pool and garden area. GC is the newest resort and reminds a lot of people (including me) of the Wilderness Lodge at WDW. My personal favorite is GC, but it is also the most expensive.

There are lots of good hotels/motels that are walking distance too.


When to go:
A CA resident might answer this better. I know that Thanksgiving weekend, as well as the Christmas/New Year time period is the most crowded. I usually go in September or October and find it comfortable and uncrowded. Early November should be good too, and you could see some decorations. I think Spring would be good too, except for the long-weekends, especially Easter. Summer is generally pretty crowded.


How many days:
For the Disneyland Resort area alone, I'd allow about 3, maybe 4 days. California Adventure can be done in a day. Disneyland can be done in a day too, but 2 days would give you a more leisurely pace. I recently stayed 4 days and thought it was just right to explore the parks, and have extra time to explore Downtown Disney and the other Disney hotels.


Other things to do:
If it were my first time, and I had the time and money to stay longer, I would do other things to. There's a post (I think it's on the top of the page) that has ideas, but here are some of my favorites-
- Knott's Berry Farm (about 15 min. away)
- Universal Studios (45 min. - 1 hr. away)
- Magic Mountain (about 1 1/2 hr. away)

You could also go down to San Diego to see Sea World and the San Diego Zoo, but if you want to do that, I would recommend staying in San Diego instead of driving back and forth (about 1 1/2 hrs. each way).

Hollywood has some studio tours, NBC, etc. You could probably find a website with available shows.


Happy planning!

 

[teri]

Look at Mary Jo's thread at the top of the page on Other Things to Do In Southern California. That should give you lots of wonderful ideas!

My personal favorite hotel is the original Disneyland Hotel. It wouldn't hurt to go through Dreams Unlimited (the travel agency that sponsors these boards) and see what kind of good rates they can get for you at the onsite hotel for the extra days.

There are tons of offsite hotels right across the street. The onsite hotels do have the ambience, though! You will be able to walk everywhere - Downtown Disney is directly between the hotels and the park entrances. Everything is right there - it isn't like WDW, where you spend 40 minutes just getting from your resort to a park. Much closer, and more urban.

 

[Amusement Park Junkie]

I'd have to agrre with an earlier post on the best time to go. late September thru early November will give you the best combo of crowds and weather. The crowds will still be OK up until about a week before Christmas, but it gets colder. (Or at least cold for those of us from So cal.) The decorations in December are worth seeing if you don't mind highs in the 60's. The only problem with spring is the rain. We seem to get the bulk of our rain between Jan and May. If you do come in the summer, it will be crowded, but not as crowded as the two Easter weeks or Christmas. It can get quite hot, especially late in the summer, but you do not get the humidity that you get in Florida.

 

[collins316]

Thanks for all of your help.
I think we decided on mid-October, and the Paradise Pier hotel.
Still working on how many nights,, maybe 4.
There are so many guidebooks available for WDW,, the only book I found on DL is the Birnbaum book. Very good for information, but it is good to hear a "non-official" opinion.
I am also excited about the Walk in Walts Footsteps tour.

 

[WDWfanatic288]

Walk in Walts Footsteps is awesome!

I took as a first timer at DL and I learned SOOO Much


4 days is plenty...we were there 3 and got almost everything done! we wanted to spend another dya at DCA...Blast is a really good show and California Screamin' is a really good coaster...we wanted to do those a few more times and Soarin' Over California....its hard to describe but its awesome!!

we have never stayed at a disney hotel(I dont think we plan on it either...i would want to though) b/c we can get fairfield inn for free so there is no reaosn to pay extra money..but i bet it will be cool to stay at one.

yeah i know! planning a DL tirp is hard while WDW there is SOOO many books


a few good places are www.laughingplace.com and also www.mouseplanet.com is a good one too.

 

[guy_over_here]

I highly recommend the Candy Cane Inn

 

[elehua]

I agree that the "Unofficial Guide to Disneyland" (by Bob Sehlinger) is the best. It has a "pull out" schedule of where and when to go to avoid lines at the parks! (for 1 or 2 day AM/PM tours) It also answers many of your questions regarding the park. The "official" guide is out to sell their product which is disney and doesn't tell you "how to" save time and money, it also "rates" the attractions, restaurants, etc if you are limited to time.

As far as where to go and what to do, we don't like to drive in LA, so we use the USA Coach/Pacific Coast Hwy Tour company. This is also the same company that Disney Travel uses. We USED to buy Disney packages, but now find that it's cheaper to do our own research online and buy each piece separatly.

We'll be going 12/24 to 1/1/02 - usually a very busy time of the year, even with the 9-11 incident I would have thought the "locals" would be out. However we got the Anaheim Hilton and Towers for $45 a night through Priceline, it's a 3* hotel check website for more info:


http://pub4.ezboard.com/fpricelineandexpediabiddingfrm160

We also used frequent flyer miles for air (coming from Hawaii) and friends are driving from 4 of the 8 nights, then we'll use the free hotel shuttle for the Disney parks, and anything else we will go with Pacific Coast.

The Airport has the AirportBus shuttle and the Pacific Coast has an Airport bus that we have found better then the Airport Shuttle Van service. So we don't have to "stress" over the traffic and can take a nap when we return from long hours of playing in Southern Cal.

Recommend: Sea World, Universal Studios (takes care of your movie/tv curiousity).

Optional for us: Knotts Berry Farm - only if you have extra time, but DCA should take care of any "amusement rides".

Check out:
www.pacificcoastgrayline.com/sightseeing.cfm
for California tours.
We go to Sea World and Universal on every trip.
We have gone to combo trips like Hollywood/Universal and Tiajuana/Sea World at least once, so you can see MORE in one day. Also did Magic Mountain, if you really love roller coasters!, Catalina Island, great during the summer, and Ontario Mills - shopping tour of the largest outlet mall in California, great deals I have to bring extra luggage to go home!

If you are driving and need to rent, again I suggest Priceline and use the above pub4.ezboard for suggestions before doing any bidding, this site has saved me money on trips to D.C., San Diego, Las Vegas, and now Disney - I only wish I used it earlier. We've gone to Disneyland almost every year for the past 12 years, sometimes twice a year and it doesn't compare to DisneyWorld (91, 96) but it'll do since we live in Hawaii, a little Mickey is better then none!

Have a great trip!