Newbie questions please...

[sorcerermick]

Sorry..never been to Disneyland before but I am considering it with the promotional fair Jet Blue is offering from New York to LAX. I have some basic questions if you wouldn't mind helping!

1) Having never been to Disneyland, can I see everything in both parks in 3 days? Is it able to be done?

2) Are the late July crowds as crowded as Disney World is?

3) Do I need to rent a car? All of the hotels look like they are walking distance to the parks?

4) If I go to San Diego Zoo, do I need 1 day or 2 to see it all. I understand it is quite large (?), and all 3 of my children are animal lovers.

5) Is there any real difference between Universal Hollywood and Seaworld San Diego versus their Florida counterparts? I noticed an attraction or two that are different, but is it enough of a difference to make it worth a trip?

I know a couple of these questions are better for the Southern California Theme Park Board but I'm trying to keep everything in 1 easy place!

What it boils down to...I would be limited to a 5 day trip (without travel days) and I wanted to know if that was enough time to see Disneyland and San Diego Zoo...or is it better to wait until I can get a longer trip and see the other parks including Legoland also?

TIA!

 

[TiggerCate]

I can answer the below

1) Having never been to Disneyland, can I see everything in both parks in 3 days? Is it able to be done?

2) Are the late July crowds as crowded as Disney World is?

3) Do I need to rent a car? All of the hotels look like they are walking distance to the parks?

4) If I go to San Diego Zoo, do I need 1 day or 2 to see it all. I understand it is quite large (?), and all 3 of my children are animal lovers.

1) Yes, we might do that this time. 2 days for the original, 1 for CA. We have done 4 and 5 days in the past, but those were really broken up days where we left the park for big stretches of time and a couple of days were only there for a few hours.

2) I don't know what DW crowds are like, but my co-worker tells me DL is more crowded when busy than DW is due to the size. Summer is busy.

3) No, you don't need to rent a car. If hotels are not within walking distance (some aren't), you can get to them by trams or shuttles. Also, there is really good public transportation (like the Airport Bus) from the airports to DL hotels. I have been there with a car when I have driven from home, but I have not rented when I flew.

4) I spent less than a full day at San Diego Zoo and was fine with it. That's really a personal call, but San Diego is a neat city and has other stuff to see, too.

 

[sorcerermick]

Thats already a huge help....Thank you!

 

[got2travel]

Your other questions have been answered and I agree with the opinons.

For the others:
Haven't done San Diego Zoo, but did the Wild Animal Park. One day was sufficient. We did Legoland in one day too.

In my opinion the zoo and Legoland are special enough to include in your trip. Universal and Seaworld are similar enough to the FL parks that you could skip them. They would be nice to see so you could see the differences, but with limited time, you could pass on them.

 

[pixiewings71]

1) Having never been to Disneyland, can I see everything in both parks in 3 days? Is it able to be done?

Well, not everything but the big things can be done in 3 days. We are AP holders and we like to visit for 3-5 days per trip. However that's unrealistic for us so we tend to go for long weekends, 3 days or so.

2) Are the late July crowds as crowded as Disney World is?

I don't know, I've never been to WDW. But DL can and does get crowded in July.

3) Do I need to rent a car? All of the hotels look like they are walking distance to the parks?

No, you can walk from many of the Harbor hotels and the DLR hotels as well.

4) If I go to San Diego Zoo, do I need 1 day or 2 to see it all. I understand it is quite large (?), and all 3 of my children are animal lovers.

The zoo, it's been years but we did it one day, the next we did the Wild Animal Park, we did see everything we wanted to see at both parks.

5) Is there any real difference between Universal Hollywood and Seaworld San Diego versus their Florida counterparts? I noticed an attraction or two that are different, but is it enough of a difference to make it worth a trip?

On this one I have no clue, I've never done Seaworld or US in CA or in FL. We tend to stick with DL right now.

 

[HydroGuy]

Sorry..never been to Disneyland before but I am considering it with the promotional fair Jet Blue is offering from New York to LAX. I have some basic questions if you wouldn't mind helping!

1) Having never been to Disneyland, can I see everything in both parks in 3 days? Is it able to be done?

Three days is considered the minimum to visit DLR. But you will probably not "see everything". You can most everything. Four days would probably allow you to see everything depending on how focused you are..

2) Are the late July crowds as crowded as Disney World is?

I have not done WDW in late July but have done DLR. From everything I hear the crowd levels will be similar - as in pretty crowded.

Fortunately, it is easier to work around the crowds at DLR if you make a good hotel choice. See "Getting The Most Out of a Summer Visit To DLR" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1345319

3) Do I need to rent a car? All of the hotels look like they are walking distance to the parks?

No! A car is not needed and will detract from your visit IMO. Stay at a close hotel and walk.

See the links in this thread: "HydroGuy's Hotel Rule" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199862

4) If I go to San Diego Zoo, do I need 1 day or 2 to see it all. I understand it is quite large (?), and all 3 of my children are animal lovers.

I lived in SD for five years but have not been to the zoo for about 12 years. But my experience would say that 1 day is enough.

5) Is there any real difference between Universal Hollywood and Seaworld San Diego versus their Florida counterparts? I noticed an attraction or two that are different, but is it enough of a difference to make it worth a trip?

Sorry, been to CA ones numerous times but not the FL ones.

What it boils down to...I would be limited to a 5 day trip (without travel days) and I wanted to know if that was enough time to see Disneyland and San Diego Zoo...or is it better to wait until I can get a longer trip and see the other parks including Legoland also?

I think with five days that would be enough to see DLR pretty thoroughly (in three days) and have 1+ days in SD. It can be done. But I would not try to drive to SDZoo and back to Anaheim all in the same day. I would stay at leats one night in SD.

 

[sorcerermick]

Thank you all for the info! I appreciate it