New to Disneyland - Advice Please

[tinkerbell_mom]

We are Walt Disney World veterans and usually go for about 7 days - we are considering going to Disnayland and I'm looking for some advice.

What is the best airport to fly into?

What's the best way to get from airport to Disneyland?

How many days do you need to fully experience both parks?

Onsite vs offsite hotel?

Any other advice to help me plan would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[dizzymomx4]

Hello and welcome to the West Coast for Disney!!

The best airport to fly into would be either Ontario or Orange just to avoid the hassle of LAX. You can then either take the hotel shuttle, many in the area will come and get you or book through your hotel a shuttle if they do not offer it as complimentary.

While we have been to DisneyWorld twice, it is nothing like Disneyland. To us, Disneyland is so much smaller and more like home! You can do both parks with a 2 day park hopper, but we prefer to take our time and ride the rides many times so we plan 3-4 day hoppers if not using an annual. The parks are both within the same area, once you enter the security area on is on the south and the other on the north. DTD is located just off the trams before you enter into the security check point. All 3 hotels are within the DTD district so very easy to walk to any of the resort hotels.

To stay on site is always great, we do enjoy it but there are so many hotels that are close to Disneyland, alot within walking distance. IT depends on what you are looking for in a hotel. We have stayed in many since we go 6-8 times a year. If you would like PM me and I can give you a detail list. There are some that offer continental breakfast, some made to order and some with buffets that are included. Just depends on what you are looking for.

If you have any other questions just ask! Hope this helps a little with the planning....

 

[HydroGuy]

What is the best airport to fly into?

Closest is John Wayne - SNA

Other possibilities are LAX, Ontario (ONT) and Burbank. Depending on how far you visit around SoCal some folks fly into San Diego.

What's the best way to get from airport to Disneyland?

Can't help you there. This forum really needs a Transportation thread. I can't write it because we always drive to DLR and do not fly. So no personal experience. Others will need to chime in on this one.

How many days do you need to fully experience both parks?

Three days is considered the minimum to have a solid DLR experience. Four days is better. If you want to "see everything" as in every show, every ride and lots of restaurants then you may need more. It depends on how aggressive you are in your visits. Rope drop every day? Close by hotel with afternoon breaks? What month you go?

As a rough comparison, I would say a three day visit to DLR would be comparable to a seven visit to WDW. Enough to have a lot of fun and do a lot but not experience everything.

Four days at DLR is equal to about 10 days at WDW, and five DLR days is equal to 12-14 at WDW.

Onsite vs offsite hotel?

Not nearly as important a choice as at WDW. IMO the most important thing is to be close to the parks. DLR has a number of hotel choices where your hotel room door is closer to the park gates than some of the bus dropoffs are at WDW to the park gates there. Some hotels are really close.

Some WDW vets accustomed to rides on buses and boats and long transportation times do not grasp the advantages at DLR of a close by walking distance hotel at DLR and choose something further away. Often a big mistake IMO.

For more hotel info see this thread

"HydroGuy's Hotel Rule" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199862

Any other advice to help me plan would be appreciated!

This lengthy thread gets lots of mileage around here. After you read it you will be in a better position to ask even better questions around here. I agree with everything it says 100%.

"A DLR Guide for WDW Vets" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599

 

[rune_74]

Whats wrong with flying into LGB?

 

[Leofoenget]

We like to fly into Orange County and rent a cheap car. Many times you can get a great deal on Hotwire. I vote for staying offsite at one of the many hotels across the street although I am seeing some pretty cheapo rates for the onsite ones.

 

[Brady's Mom]

The 2 easiest airports to fly into are Long Beach (LGB) and John Wayne (SNA). Both are VERY close to DLR. If you have access to JetBlue, they fly into Long Beach and I checked for my dates and car rental prices are better at Long Beach than John Wayne. John Wayne is a newer airport (or more updated) than Long Beach but both are very small.

If you fly into Burbank you have to drive south about 45 minutes (without any traffic) on a terrible freeway that has a ton of construction and sometimes goes down to 2 lanes each way. Not what you would necessarily expect in Southern California. I do like Burbank airport, it was clean and small and easy to get around in, but I hate the drive to Anaheim from there.

Sorry, don't have any experience with LAX.

We have stayed within driving distance to DLR and had to drive and park in the Mickey & Friends lot and pay $12/day to park there, walk across the huge parking structure and wrangle a stroller either on the escalator (without a child in it) or wait in a huge line for the one elevator that only ever seems to work and then wait in the loooooonnnng tram line to get on the tram. We did that three times before we figured out how convenient staying across the street from DLR is.

We love to stay across the street and walk to the parks. The walk is only 5-10 minutes. It is super easy to do and you save soooo much time. We will actually never go back to driving and parking if we can possibly help it.

Don't have any experience with on-site hotels. We have a hotel we like because of the beds and the service and the great rate we can get there. (Howard Johnson, in case you wondered ) It is 7-10 minutes walking from the entrance to DLR.

 

[HydroGuy]

Whats wrong with flying into LGB?

I knew I was forgetting one. Thanks. Yes LGB Long Beach is another option nearby.

 

[Grim_Grinning_Girl]

I'm not an airport expert but I was always under the impression that SNA - John Wayne Airport was the closest. Only once have I flown to there and taken a Disneyland shuttle to the resort, it was at night with little traffic, the ride was about 15 minutes.

If you fly into SNA and decide to stay onsite, there's an official Disneyland resort shuttle that will take you to the resort, unfortunately it's not free at least not when I rode it a year ago - about $14 ? per person.

If you can afford too I would stay onsite or somewhere across the street from Disneyland. On-site is more convenient because you're on-site and don't have to worry about leaving the Disney bubble. A con is that you'd be trapped in the Disney bubble and stuck with all the Disney food prices.

As for the days, I would say at least 3 days. Spend one full day at each park, then the 3rd day could be used for revisiting things that you really enjoyed or missed. 4 days wouldn't be bad either.


A few other notes, it's been our experience that Disneyland and DCA are totally OK with guests bringing in outside snacks, fruit, and beverages - as long as they are not in a glass container or alcoholic.


I have several Disneyland park maps from July, I can mail one out if you don't have one and want to get a head start on planning. Feel free to PM me.

 

[gatorfreud]

We fly to SNA and take a cab.

We have stayed onsite once and offsite once at DLR (and one trip split). I think I prefer onsite, if you can afford it that is. We are going to HoJo this weekend for a quick trip, so I will reassess when we get back. Our first trip we were offsite (HoJo) and I found it kind of depressing compared to WDW. But now I know a little more what to expect so we'll see how this trip goes.

I think for our weekend jaunts we will do offsite - for 3+ days we will try for onsite (if it's not too expensive).

We did Thanksgiving last year - arrived Thursday around 12 and left Monday around 2. I thought it might be hard to fill the time, but I could have stayed another day. I would say 3 full days at least, plus maybe some on arrival and departure.

Kim

 

[ballarinamom]

LAX is a mad house and much further away with a chance of bad traffic. But they do have the most options for airlines. When doing a Disney trip, we have used both SNA and LGB. Both were similar travel times. I think SNA is 2 miles closer. But KGB is a very small airport. You actually enter and exit the plane on the tarmac. No problem unless you have someone who can;t do the long staircase. Also, only one food option (if you don;t count the small snack bar that has never been open for us) is the nice restaurant BEFORE security. We do love how you get off a plane, wlk maybe 200 feet and your luggage is right there waiting!.
SNA is a mid size airport so their security line could actually have a line (unlike LGB). We love either one!
You can get a cab from any airport. They should all have a flat rate from the airport to the Disney Hotels. There are lists of cab services that you can cll for a quote. However, the cabs are metered on the way back so the price could be different based on traffic or construction.
Many on this board have used Super Shuttle from SNA but I sdon;t know if they run from LGB. Disney Express and rentals are also an option. I think there are copons for Super shuttle and I have seen rates are about $12 pp each way.
Many use car services too, We have used Sontha Kim before and a nice SUV and driver were waiting for us at the airport and hotel coming back. They have a very comparable rate to cabs. They may be $5-10 more but they will be waiting at the hotel when you are ready to leave.

Ditto on the Hotels. Off site (Harbor) hotels can be closer to the park than the Disney hotels.


Have a great trip!!!!!

 

[wannabimagineer]

We've flown into SNA and it only took us 20 minutes to get to DLH. It was convenient to stay onsite, but I believe some of the Good Neighbor hotels are even closer to the entrance.

 

[Buttercup26]

AIRPORT: I agree with flying into SNA or LGB. I usually use Super Shuttle to get from/to airport. They have a discount code in entertainment book if you have one and there's a discount for booking online. LAX is much further away and the times we've flown into LAX we've had a lot more trouble/longer wait for a shuttle - including the Disney Express (Graylines) which I find is considerably more $$ and seems to run less often than Super Shuttle. If you want a shuttle, not cab, I would go with Super Shuttle. You may find a hotel with a free shuttle, but there seems to be very few of those these days.

HOTELS: The HoJo is a great hotel and an eay walk (have done it with grandparents and stroller). I think it's the best Good Neighbor hotel.

If you want a Disney property, we recently stayed at Paradise Pier and just loved it. The walk is also very easy from PPH especially when you walk thru the Grand Californian. Staying in a Disney hotel gets you the Magic Morning early entry on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. You can also use the entrance into DCA from the Grand - it is only for Disney hotel guests. This is very helpful if you want to do Toy Story Midway Mania first thing in the morning (no fast pass in for Toy Story in DCA).

DAYS: DL & DCA are much smaller than WDW, but I would still suggest 3 - 4 days. My dd and I just went in May and we were barely able to do everything we wanted in 4 very full days and we have been many times. There is a lot of detail and things to see & do in Disneyland. Make sure you do the Animation Studios and the Aladin show in DCA.

Definitely read Hydroguys tips - very valuable info.

Have a great trip!!

 

[hillview]

What is the best airport to fly into?

We flew into Long Beach and it was super easy.

What's the best way to get from airport to Disneyland?

We took a cab during non-rush hour and it was a flat rate of $45 I believe. Cab was clean and there was no wait. It is a very small airport but fine. It took maybe 25 mins?

How many days do you need to fully experience both parks?

We went to the parks for 3 days -- we could have stayed longer but did all the rides we wanted to do (just could have done them again etc). We got to the parks SUPER early (eg rope drop/opening). We didn't do a lot of waiting anywhere.

Onsite vs offsite hotel?

We stayed at HoJos and it was perfect for us -- kids really liked the water play area.

HTH!
/hillary