Planning First Trip to DL, Need help

[tx2tn]

My DW and I are planning our first trip to DL for my 50th Birthday and we had a couple quick questions.

We have been to WDW twice and are returning there in October, so we have a bit of a handle on how long it takes to get thru the parks. Can you guys tell us how many days should be alloted for DL and for CA?

Does Disney offer the Magical Express service to visitors at DL?

Are DL and CA within walking distance of each other?

Are the "Disney" hotels within walking distance of the parks?

I know this may be blasphemous but.....What are some of the other "cool things to do" in the area?

What's the best time of year to visit? We won't have kids and would like to be there with the lowest crowd levels.

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for your help!

 

[kiwitravel]

Can you guys tell us how many days should be alloted for DL and for CA?

Does Disney offer the Magical Express service to visitors at DL?

Are DL and CA within walking distance of each other?

Are the "Disney" hotels within walking distance of the parks?

I know this may be blasphemous but.....What are some of the other "cool things to do" in the area?

What's the best time of year to visit? We won't have kids and would like to be there with the lowest crowd levels.

I would suggest 3 days is absolute minimum, 2 days DL, 1 day CA you can get round everything in that time and ride eveerything once. For a more relaxed stay I would go for 5 days and park hop a lot more, yes the two parks are within walking distance, the entrances are only a 100 yards apart!

I don't know what the Magical Express Service... Can't help you there.

Yes the Disney Hotels are within walking distance (about 10 min walk)

The only other "cool" thing we did was go to Soak City, I wouldn't bother with Knotts it is very run down. The trip before we went to Universal Studios, not so impressed with that, and did the drive around Hollywood, didn't feel the need to do them again last year.

We have twice gone at the end of June and early July and found the crowds quite managable, the weather is good and everything is open. The problem with going away from the peak time is that some of the rides will be closed for maintenance. By using FPs and going in early our average wait time was only 5 to 10 minutes

 

[bumbershoot]

Future happy birthday!

This map is pretty helpful for visualizing where all the hotels are.

The Disney hotels are in walking distance, but some off sites are even closer...OK well there's an entrance to DCA from the Grand Californian, but if you want to go to Disneyland before DCA opens, I'm not quite sure that helps all that much.

Before I found a 4th night free promo at Paradise Pier (the lowest, usually, of the Disneyland Resort hotels), I was booked at the Carousel, which is almost the closest hotel in terms of walking distance as you can get.

The two parks are absolutely in walking distance, there's just an esplanade between them. We've only done one-day trips so far, and we've just focused on DL (we have a toddler so it was easiest to stay put in one park), but it's very very close.


We've gone in late September and early-ish October, during the week, and the crowds have been fine. However I see that you have WDW scheduled for Oct, so that might not work. September then, I personally would suggest (though I'm NOT an expert, I've only read what the experts say, LOL). After school is back in session, but before the Halloween celebrations start and Columbus Day weekend travelers get there... We're going from the 14th to the 21st and I don't really expect enormous crowds...now that I've said that I'm in trouble...uh oh.


How much time...you know, we've had very terrific "one day blasts" the last two years at Disneyland, and they have worked out very well. This time we're going 5 days (unless I throw on an extra day at the end, again) and we'll likely spent 3 solid days at DL, with the other two days allowing for lots of DCA-time. I've seen many do 2 days to 1. I've also recently read of a 10 day trip to DLR! Wow. But I don't know what ratio they worked with, for DL to DCA.


Hope my thoughts help a little bit. Have fun planning!

 

[bumbershoot]

oh! Transportation! There's nothing there like ME.

Greyline has a Disneyland Express, but you pay for it and get your own luggage.

Speaking of things with similar names but with vast differences, DL's dining plan is nothing like WDW's dining plan. Best way I've heard it described is as a good way to pre-pay for food, but there are no big savings, and you can easily lose value from the vouchers b/c they don't give change, or you spend more cash by buying more than the amount of the voucher, so you don't lose some of the voucher amount.

Don't know if you were interested in that, but I thought I'd mention it just in case!

 

[HydroGuy]

Can you guys tell us how many days should be alloted for DL and for CA?

Three days minimum.

Does Disney offer the Magical Express service to visitors at DL?

It does not have a DME like WDW. DLR is served by four airports in LA, Orange County, Long Beach and Ontario. And visitors tend to be more local day trippers anyways, so DLR has not developed as much infrastructure as WDW.

Are DL and CA within walking distance of each other?

Are the "Disney" hotels within walking distance of the parks?

Yes and yes. DL and DCA are about a one minute walk apart. There are other non-Disney hotels that are closer walks than the DLH and PPH. See "HydroGuy's Hotel Rule" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199862

I know this may be blasphemous but.....What are some of the other "cool things to do" in the area?

See the final section of "A DLR Guide for WDW Vets" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599

What's the best time of year to visit? We won't have kids and would like to be there with the lowest crowd levels.

Be careful with this one as off-season and DLR does not work quite the same as WDW. See "What You Should Know About Off-Season at DLR" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=18462889

Lowest crowds will likely be in January-February and Sept, but off-season has been more crowded the last few years.

 

[ChikkiPie]

Hopefully I am posting this in the correct area. Our family did DLR last October and found it a huge frustration that there was nowhere to pop in for a grocery item or two. It's all restaurants, all the time. Eating in the park is expensive to do every day. We just wanted to keep a few items in our hotel fridge; bread, milk, lunch meat, etc. We stayed very close to the park (Stovall's Best Western - which was great for free brekky but not the nicest hotel in the world) ... and would love suggestions as to a good place to stay that might possibly be near a convenience store.

We are hoping to plan DLR again for either Fall '08 or Spring '09 and I want to do things 'better' this time around and be a little more prepared.

In reply to the 'how many days to do Disney' we did four days and our sons, 7and 10 at the time, could have done one more simply because it was quite busy at the end of October and there was so much to take in for their first time. Kids always want to 'do it again' too with their favorite rides (California Screamin' - yeah!) so I would think that traveling as adults 'on your own' would lend to being able to see it all in 2-3 days or so. Next time when they're a bit older I believe we'll take in Knotts for a day and probably Universal. Sea World was amazing and we'd love to do that again but NOT on a shuttle bus. Although the shuttle picked us up right at our hotel we went and sat at a bus stop in another location and then had to transfer buses and by the time we got to Sea World, despite being picked up at 7:30 a.m., it was a little after 11:00 and taking away time for lunch and the bus having to leave at 3:30, it was far too short a day to take everything in. We will rent a car next time!

If I am posting this in the wrong spot please correct me because although I'm not new to Dis I'm certainly a very newbie poster!

Thanks kindly
ChikkiPie