Planning for Disneyland on points (and seeing the Grand Canyon and Yosemite, too)

[Deb & Bill]

We also hit the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest when we went out west. Plus Carlsbad Caverns.

 

[gracelrm]

I apparently forgot to answer your original question of how long to stay at DL. We were going to DL & San Diego in 2006- so we purchased the So. Cal Pass or something like that. It included 3 days at DL, SD Zoo, Sea World & Universal (I believe). 3 days at DL was fine for us, but I think we would have enjoyed the resort a little more if we'd had 4 days there. We didn't spend as much time at the pool or looking around since we felt pressed to do it all in 3 days. We liked Sea World and the Zoo but didn't have time to go to Universal. We gave our unused passes to some of the recreation staff at the Hotel Del, where we stayed in SD, and they were thrilled with the tip! By the way, if there's a chance you can add a couple of days at the Hotel Del Coronado - it was worth the points we shelled out. I guess it's still available on the Concierge Collection

 

[gracelrm]

One of the challenges of planning any National Park trip is choosing what to see and what to leave out. If you start looking at your map, you'll drive yourself nuts.


DH & I found all of this out on our past two trips. The longer we are in a National Park, the more likely we are to return to it. We are in our mid to late 40s and we were daydreaming of the days when we can get the senior pass to the NPS and stay a while. DH also visits the NPS website and looks for future jobs. We can retire in 7 - 10 years and will still be looking for work at that age. We also dream of working at Disney too! It just depends which vacation we have just returned from as to what our next career will be!!!!

My idea of a perfect vacation used to be stress-free at the beach. DH is showing me that there's so much more to see & do and I'm becoming a convert. Now, if only the kids would appreciate what is outside of the van window half as much as we do!!!!!!!

 

[Jynohn]

My family and I just got back from a similar trip to Yosemite and Disneyland. We flew into San Jose, because we wanted to visit the Winchester Mystery House, then we drove to Yosemite, where we spent two nights. We stayed at the Tenaya Lodge, which I can't recommend highly enough. It was pricey (about $300/night during peak season) but it was spotlessly clean, had a wonderful, friendly staff, and beautiful grounds. It's only about 5 min. from the park entrance, but it did take us about 45 min. to get to the valley floor if that's an issue for you.

After spending a day and a half at Yosemite, we drove to Disneyland, where we spent five nights at the Grand Californian on points. We had four days at Disneyland/California Adventure which was just enough time to see everything we wanted with the summer crowds.

On a side note, the Grand California was beautiful, but we did have a major complaint with our stay. Our room was close to Downtown Disney, and the live music that went on every night outside our window was extremely loud and kept us up every night. We don't usually go to bed very early, but there were some nights when we were exhausted and went back to the room to try to get a good night's sleep. The music went on until after 11PM every night. If you're a light sleeper or not a night owl, this might be an issue for some.

 

[JimMIA]

It's only about 5 min. from the park entrance, but it did take us about 45 min. to get to the valley floor if that's an issue for you.

Traffic is becoming more and more of a problem at the big parks, because visitation is just nuts during the summer school vacation and there's usually only one two-lane road going where you want to go. And, unlike WDW, probably 99% of all park visitors arrive at the park by private vehicle. We usually figure about 1 car for every 2.5 visitors...so that's a LOT of private vehicles.

Yosemite is actually better than most with the one-way traffic pattern through the valley, but it can still be gridlock. That's a big reason why staying inside the park at Yosemite is so popular, even though there are nice lodging options just outside the park.

The time to visit Yosemite is May. The waterfalls are full of snowmelt and the kids are still in school! Hiking Mist Trail in May is just amazing! And when you want to go somewhere, you just get in your car and drive wherever you want to go.

Many larger parks are looking at ways to dramatically restrict vehicular traffic -- possibly requiring everyone to use buses. Grand Canyon has closed some roads to private vehicles, allowing only free buses, and they've been continuously expanding their bus service.

Many of the big parks would probably do well to study the bus service at some of the larger ski resorts like Breckenridge. Big ski resorts are in the business of moving large numbers of people with minimal confusion. So the government should be able to do it too...right?

 

[nzdisneymom]

I checked availability at Yosemite for the time we're thinking about and it looks like there is nothing available for the two nights, but if we go a week earlier (first of June), then we can choose from a few different places.

I'm glad to hear that 4 days is likely enough at DL.... so we'll base our DL time on four full-days there plus a night before and after. I so appreciate the thoughts and information.

 

[kerri0616]

Hi!

I don't have too much advice to offer...just wanted to let you know that my older son will also turn 13 on June 16, 2009! Wow!!

I'll bet he'd like to spend his big day at DL also.

We were able to visit DL in March 2007, and I believe we spent 4 days in the parks. It was a weird adjustment for us to only have to walk to the parks and never worry about buses!! Absolutely no travel time to worry about while you are on site!!! No need to get up ungodly early and drag tired children to sit at a bus stop in order to catch an early bus to MK!!

Have a wonderful trip!

Kerri

 

[JimMIA]

I checked availability at Yosemite for the time we're thinking about and it looks like there is nothing available for the two nights, but if we go a week earlier (first of June), then we can choose from a few different places.

I'm glad to hear that 4 days is likely enough at DL.... so we'll base our DL time on four full-days there plus a night before and after. I so appreciate the thoughts and information.

I would call back and reserve the June dates. You might be able to make that work simply by reversing the order of your travel.

If the original dates are preferable, I'd also check and see if there is ANY availability for those dates. If there is something like a tent-cabin, I'd reserve that too. If you do that, you're protected for both dates.

The tent cabins are not bad, especially in June. There's just something about being in a tent (even a big one with real beds and a wood floor) in a place like Yosemite. The only real downside (which we're used to and don't mind for a couple of nights) is the community bathrooms/shower situation.

Then periodically I'd call back and check to see if Yosemite Lodge has opened up. Frequently, it will as you get within a couple of months from arrival. If you get what you really wanted, you just cancel the tent cabin and the early June ressies with no penalty.

We've stayed in everything from luxury accommodations to backpacking tents in national parks, and to be honest I sorta like the more rustic places most of the time. You really feel like you are IN the park when you stay rustic.

DW has another point of view -- the Ahwahnee is more her style! I once protected myself with the Ahwahnee and then canceled and booked the Yosemite Lodge. She got over it. It took a couple of years...but she got over it.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Hi!

I don't have too much advice to offer...just wanted to let you know that my older son will also turn 13 on June 16, 2009! Wow!!

I'll bet he'd like to spend his big day at DL also.

We were able to visit DL in March 2007, and I believe we spent 4 days in the parks. It was a weird adjustment for us to only have to walk to the parks and never worry about buses!! Absolutely no travel time to worry about while you are on site!!! No need to get up ungodly early and drag tired children to sit at a bus stop in order to catch an early bus to MK!!

Have a wonderful trip!

Kerri

Kerri - how cool is that that we have "twins" We stayed at the DL Hotel in 1999 and it was great to go out the back door and get on a tram to the front of the park I hadn't thought about not having to allow an hour-plus each day for "transportation" as compared with WDW!

 

[nzdisneymom]

I would call back and reserve the June dates. You might be able to make that work simply by reversing the order of your travel.

If the original dates are preferable, I'd also check and see if there is ANY availability for those dates. If there is something like a tent-cabin, I'd reserve that too. If you do that, you're protected for both dates.

You know, I read where you said that earlier about getting anything for the dates we want and then checking to get what we want as availability happens -- that's a great idea and I'm going to go ahead see what I can get for the time-period we want to be at Yosemite. We were there in 1995 (pre-kids) and had a "down the hall" bathroom (with a sink in our room). We heard raccoons just outside our room that happened to have an exterior door as well as the one off the hall - I spent most of the night awake, convinced there were bears that were trying to break into our room in search of my toothpaste

 

[JimMIA]

We heard raccoons just outside our room that happened to have an exterior door as well as the one off the hall - I spent most of the night awake, convinced there were bears that were trying to break into our room in search of my toothpaste

Well, wildlife is one of the really cool things about any national park visit!

Bears can be problematic at Yosemite, especially in the campgrounds and parking lots adjacent to campgrounds. Except for those two places, and usually only at night, you are not likely to see a bear.

On the Yosemite home page, scroll down a little and look in the "Current Conditions" section and then click on "trails, campgrounds, etc." When you get to that page, you'll see "Bear facts" which will give you all sorts of statistics. Last week, they had 12 incidents with property damage and another 19 in which bears got food from garbage cans, etc. Before you go, be sure to read the info about food security and what to do if you encounter a bear.

The bears at Yosemite are black bears. They are not as dangerous as Grizzlies, but they are certainly capable of hurting you. They are much more of a problem for people who leave food in their tents or cars. Bear have poor eyesight but very keen senses of smell, and if they smell food (or where food has been) they go after it. They will absolutely disassemble a car looking for a potato chip!

You will see a lot of deer, especially around inhabited areas at night. It's fine to take pictures, but give the deer plenty of space. They are very accustomed to people and will let you get much closer than you should get.

Keep in mind that deer injure many more park visitors each year than any other animal. Injuries usually occur when someone gets too close, and then another visitor approaches the deer from a different direction. The deer bolts and the first visitor gets run over. They also kick and bite. Deer are not as sweet as they look.

If you use common sense and maintain a reasonable distance, you won't have any problem with wildlife.

 

[nzdisneymom]

The nice thing about renting a car and going to Yosemite at the beginning of our trip is that there will have been no opportunity for us to have had food in the car, and we won't have accumulated snacks to carry with us yet. So that's another good reason for us to do Yosemite at the beginning, because when we go to DL, I know we'll have snacks, etc. with us.

I remember reading several years ago about the need to remove baby/child safety seats from vehicles at Yosemite because of the bears seeking out all those Cheerios

 

[nzdisneymom]

Well, we finally decided to just do Disneyland for summer 2009's vacation. Our older DS will be celebrating his 13th birthday while we're there. We booked the DL Hotel on points for 8 nights.

While we're in the Disneyland area, we plan to make a day-trip to San Diego (to see the Hotel del Coronado - inspiration for the Grand Floridian - I've been before but DH and the boys have not), a day-trip to Catalina Island (leaving from the Queen Mary which was the start-point for the Amazing Race Season 7 which we recently watched on DVD -- DH and I have been to Catalina Island before), and spend one day doing the "Hollywood" tour thing.

Now to watch for cheap airfare.

We still have Yosemite and the Grand Canyon on our radar, but it won't be summer 2009 or summer 2010... maybe summer 2011.

Thanks for all the planning pointers you all shared. I'll be hangin' out over on the DL boards to learn more about doing DL, but any tips you all want to share here, I'll definitely appreciate!

 

[Eddie]

If I could make a suggestion to cut down a little driving. Though in the Southwest going from GC and about anywhere does make for a lot of driving.

Make 1 trip in the future if you can do it over a couple of weeks to GC and then head up to Utah and do both Zion which has some truely amazing hikes, Angels landing and hiking the Narrows is awesome as it is a river hike & Bryce Canyon. Also if time is not a problem a side trip on the way from GC to the slot canyons in Antelope Valley is realy cool. Take a ton of pictures in the slots. Then you can go over the Glen Canyon Dam on your way to Utah and get a view of Lake Powell.

Do a seperate trip to Yosemitte and again if you have some time you could also explore Kings Canyon and Sequia national parks as well. Or head west to San Francisco from Yosemitte. We just did that, spent 5 days in each and could have easily spent the whole time in Yosemitte just hiking and exploring or in San Francisco.

Have a great trip!!!