We don't know where to stay
Aside from the 3 Disney hotels there are many motesl across the street that are a 5-10 minute walk to the front gate. Disney's Grand Californian is the only Disney hotel that was built by them so is themed and on par with th ones at WDW. The
Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier were both tower hotels built and operated by other companies until Disney bought them. The Disneyland hotel has large rooms that are in the middle of being remodeled now.
Here is a map of the Anaheim motels/hotels. The closest off sit are the Park Place Inn, Park View, Desert Inn and Suits, Tropicana, Caoursel and Camelot Inn. Two favorites are a hair farthe. The Howard Johnson and the Candy Cane Inn. These are less than the Disney hotels and as close or closer than two of the three Disney hotels.
http://www.ineedavacation.com/disneyland/AnaheimHotelMap.html
We don't know how many days we need
My opimion is you need at least 3 full days. Two at Disneyland and One at DCA. 4 days would be great if you want to relax and take it a bit slower.
If you can do a week you will have time to see other Southern California sights which there are plenty of.
We don't know about transportation. There are shuttles from all the airports. SNA is the closest. If you stay at one of the hotels close to Disneyland you can walk as Disneyland resort is in a suburb and not a garden/forest setting like at WDW.
We don't know about dining
There are not nearly the choices for dining in the parks as at WDW.There are only a few full service places between the two parks and most of them do not compare with the ones at WDW. The Blue Bayou overlook the Pirates of the Caribbean. I like the place but many give it thumbs down. It is expensive. At DCA Ariel's Grotto is a character meal (expensive as usual). I haven't eaten here sine the menu has changes. The counter service restaurants are fine enough. We have done well at Red Rocket's Pizza port at Disneyland and The Pacific Warf at DCA. The hotels have some great places to eat. Napa Rose is awesome at The Grand Californian but is the high end type of place. We love Storyteller cafe there as well. Goofy's kitchen is the big fun place at the Dsineyland hotel.
We don't even know what airport to fly into!
SNA is most convenient but I have hear other's get great Deals at Long Beach and LAX and even Ontario or Burbank both of which are farther away.
