New to DISboards! First trip to Disneyland in July! Help me!

[Micoofy Duck]

Help me if you can regarding Disneyland. Throw any tip and/or advice my way that will help me have the best darn 1st time trip to Disneyland!

Just so that you know,

I'm staying at Grand Californian Hotel

Arriving early the first day, about 8 am plane lands

2 full days of Disneyland & DCA

Leave late on the last and fourth day, plane takes off around 6pm

I've booked a dinner reservation for Blue Bayou and I'm thinking about either Balcony or Premium seating for Fantasmic, have to wait for the 30 days to book at 8am in the morning.

What am I missing? What did I forget? Help me out in anyway you can! ;o)

Thank you.

 

[darph nader]

(in low gruff voice) WELCOME. You did'nt state which date or airport,soo i'll try my best(laughs). Figure 'about' 1-2 hrs from a/p to D/L. (rough guess,we always drive). First day do D/L,second day split the two parks. darn this is kinda tough not knowing how many days your park hopper is for. But stick around ,there is ALOT of advice coming your way i'm sure.Oh one last thing,do me a BIG favor,HAVE FUN!!

 

[Hermosa11]

OMG!!! welcome and you will have soooooooooo much fun!!! You been to WDW? Sounds like your trip is gonna be top notch!
Best place in town to stay at............Blue Bayou.......Fantasmic, wow!
find Hydroguy's (he is a poster here) tips on making best use of your fastpasses!
Hope you will have a blast!!!

 

[50thisyeartoo!]

Two days for both parks? You will have to really boogy! Especially if it is crowded. DL itself usually takes us two days; DCA one day. You are in for a big treat. As far as I'm concerned Disneyland is at it's finest right now. There are so many things to see and do! Make sure you stop in at the Lincoln Theater on Main Street and see the 50th anniversary movie with Steve Martin. It is really a great look back at how Disneyland started 50 years ago. And make sure you see Aladdin in DCA. It is really wonderful. Kids enjoy it, too! Try to cover every square inch of the place! You wouldn't want to go home knowing you missed something. Have a ball!

 

[GailT]

Help me if you can regarding Disneyland. Throw any tip and/or advice my way that will help me have the best darn 1st time trip to Disneyland!

Just so that you know,

I'm staying at Grand Californian Hotel

Arriving early the first day, about 8 am plane lands

2 full days of Disneyland & DCA

Leave late on the last and fourth day, plane takes off around 6pm

I've booked a dinner reservation for Blue Bayou and I'm thinking about either Balcony or Premium seating for Fantasmic, have to wait for the 30 days to book at 8am in the morning.

What am I missing? What did I forget? Help me out in anyway you can! ;o)

Thank you.

I'm doing the same time frame as you but going for Christmas, I know that this time is crowded and I might not see it alll but do I care, no, I have been to WDW every year for the past 15 yrs it is just excititng trying something new. have a great time, give me some tips when you get back home. Oh and BTW I would love to visit Texas and I am sure I will some day. Have A GREAT TRIP

 

[Micoofy Duck]

Actually I'm flying in from LAX. Is that bad?

 

[Luv'sTink]

Breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen.

 

[JayS]

Actually I'm flying in from LAX. Is that bad?

Well, it's not bad if you don't mind taking a good hour plus to get out of there and need 2-3 hours on the way back home. I use LAX only when the closer regional airport doesn't offer good flights/faires. For trips to Disneyland, SNA is a good regional option. If you can change your flights, AND good priced options are available, then consider it. If not, then you already have the best 2nd choice IMHO.

 

[SpectroBelle]

we are WDW veterans, just returned from our first trip to DL. You will love it! As far as LAX goes, we had no problem upon arrival. However, you need to allow extra time than you are used to when you leave to come home. The lines for security check are really long. We made the mistake of thinking we had a lot of extra time, so we drove to Santa Monica to see the beach. Traffic was horrible, and we almost missed the plane. So it's good if you think you have too much time, just go ahead to the airport.

Unlike WDW, everything is easily walkable. We really enjoyed this aspect. It's easy to go to DTD for dinner if you like or shopping.

We also had 2 full days. I would say we were able to do all of the "must sees", but couldn't fit everything in. The Matterhorn, Space Mountain, and Alice in Wonderland were all broken down on our DL day, so we had to back-track on our DCA day to catch them. If you have to do this it's not really a big deal, as DCA didn't really fill the whole day. The DL version of Space Mountain will totally knock your socks off! It's intense!

If you are watching the Main Street Electrical Parade at DCA, a good place to be was on the metal benches right below La Trattoria restaurant/wine bar area. We only got there about 40 minutes before the parade and the CM's said for some reason not many ppl sit there.

Take a jacket, and either put it in a locker or plan on the possibility of going back to your room to get it. It was warm and sunny during the day, but at night, especially while waiting for fantasmic, it gets pretty cool and I ended up having to buy a sweatshirt ($50!)

That's all I can think of now, but if you have any questions please PM me!