We too are east coasters who just returned from our 2nd trip to DL. First time flew into LAX, rented a car, stayed 7 nights at DH, & squeezed in a trip to
Legoland, a day at Newport Beach, & an Angel's game (to see the Red Sox). I think we purchased a 4-day park hopper, but added a 5th in order to sneak in for a fireworks. When we left, we felt we didn't spend enough time in DL, but more than covered DCA.
On our 2nd, we flew into John Wayne Airport (saved about $50 per ticket), bought vouchers to ride on the Disneyland Express (not free, but reasonable), stayed 6 nights at GF, and purchased a 6-day hopper. While DL truly is a neighborhood park, we decided to immerse ourselves the best we could and not rent a car. The first two days of our trip the park was empty, so were able to hit the "must do" rides (all of the coasters, ToT, Indy & HM - Pirates sadly was closed) , some several times. Then, when the crowds rolled in over the weekend and the beginning of Turkey-day week, we used fastpasses and hit less popular attractions. When day 6 rolled around, even though we had our fill with the crowds, we were able to simply slow down and take it all in because we had managed to do everything that we wanted. Yet, the moment we checked out, we were thinking ahead to when our next return would be.
As others have said, WDW is awesome but DL is special. It's Walt's park. And, even though I have been to WDW many times, I would pick DL over any single park in Orlando because, even though it is much smaller, everywhere you look there is something magical! Every Disney fan must make a pilgrimage at least once. And then, like us, once you do, you'll long to return.
I've been to walt disney world many times and I absolutely love it. But i've always been curious about what the original disneyland was like. I guess my question would be is it just as great as WDW?? Is it worth checking out? I've never been anywhere on the west coast my my boyfriend said we should go to disneyland someday to see what its like.
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