Planning for Trip

[mat5]

I have never been to DisneyLand, and I want to start planning a trip.
Will 3 days or 4 days be enough to see both parks?
I want to stay at a Disneyland hotel, which is the best,
as far as travel back and forth to the parks.
Is everything in walking distance (parks, dtd).
Is there buses that take you to the parks?
Is there a dinning plan like at WDW?

sorry for all the questions at once.
But I do not know a thing about DisneyLand

Thank you

 

[l’amore bella]

Disneyland Resort is very compact, so everything is within walking distance. All three of the resort hotels are very nice and each one has its own theme. For a first time visit I think the Disneyland Hotel would be nice. The theming throughout the rooms are lobby is very "Disney." There are also many less expensive off site hotels within walking distance as well. I think three to four days would be a nice amount of time to really see both parks. Have a great time on your trip!

 

[HydroGuy]

I have never been to DisneyLand, and I want to start planning a trip.

FYI when you abbreviate down to "DL" many folks tend to first think you mean the Disneyland theme park. When you use the full Disneyland term in context we can quickly see you mean the entire resort which is officially called Disneyland Resort or DLR for short.

See "Disneyland Resort Lingo for Newbies" - www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2214012

All of your question and lots more are addressed in this lengthy thread which get lots of mileage around here. It was written by someone I always agree with.

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

Will 3 days or 4 days be enough to see both parks?

Three is considered the minimum and four is better. Will you see everything in four days? Maybe but probably not. But you will see most everything and have a solid, satisfying.

I want to stay at a Disneyland hotel, which is the best,
as far as travel back and forth to the parks.
Is everything in walking distance (parks, dtd).

Everything is walking distance from the three DLR hotels and maybe 12-15 "good neighbor" hotels. There are many good neighbor hotels closer to the DLR gates than the DLH, FYI.

Staying at a walking distance hotel is one of DLR's greatest advantages over WDW, IMO. To be even more clear, there are a number of hotels at DLR where your hotel room door is closer to the DLR entrance gates than some of the bus or boat stops are to WDW park gates. Imagine that!

The absolute closest hotel to the gates is Disney's GCH. The closest non-Disney is the Best Western Park Place Inn.

See these links:

"How Far Is It?" (shows actual distances in feet from hotels to DLR entrance plaza) www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=mm060329as

"Walking Distance Accommodations" (shows hotels within walking distance) http://www.mouseplanet.com/dtp/maps/...g_distance_map

"Bret's Disneyland Lodging Map" (shows hotel locations around DLR) www.geocities.com/ashpsyche/DisneylandLinkMap

Is there buses that take you to the parks?

There are city buses but no Disney buses. They do have trams from the parking lots. In general if you stay at a Disney hotel or non-Disney but walking distance hotel, all you need are your feet for your entire trip. No buses. No boats. No monorails. No trams.

Is there a dinning plan like at WDW?

Yes, but it works differently than WDW DDP and I have never heard anyone say it is worthwhile.

 

[DLR29]

I have never been to DisneyLand, and I want to start planning a trip.
Will 3 days or 4 days be enough to see both parks?
I want to stay at a Disneyland hotel, which is the best,
as far as travel back and forth to the parks.
Is everything in walking distance (parks, dtd).
Is there buses that take you to the parks?
Is there a dinning plan like at WDW?

sorry for all the questions at once.
But I do not know a thing about DisneyLand

Thank you

Alright! We got another WDW vet on our hands. Let's see if I can handle these questions:

3 or 4 days will probably be enough, depending on how you tour the parks (personally, I'm an "8 to late" kind of person, but not everybody is) and when you visit. You won't be able to see everything in 3 days during high season taking midday breaks. But you'll have more of a chance of seeing more stuff if you visit for 4 days during a semi-crowded season (not necessarily offseason because of short hours) without taking a break.

As for hotels, I do not think that DLH is the "best" for traveling back and forth from the parks, but others may disagree. Unlike WDW, there are a handful of offsite hotels that are actually closer (walking distance wise) to the parks than DLH. And while the DLH has the monorail very close, it's really only helpful on your way back from the parks (or into DL after a midday break) because beating the crowds with the monorail is a hit or miss in the morning. However, the monorail doesn't help for getting to DCA.

Everything is within walking distance. From the entrance gates of the DL, it takes a grand total of 2 minutes to walk to the entrance of DCA and 1 minute to walk to DTD. Walking through DTD takes about 8 minutes and at the end of DTD is the DLH.

Transportation is all on foot. No buses like at WDW.

The dining plan at DLR is inferior (IMO and many others here) to WDW's because:
a) It doesn't save you as much money
b) You get a set amount of dollar amount vouchers and when you use those vouchers you don't get change. So for example if you want to pay for something that costs $4.95 with a $5 voucher, you will lose 5 cents. That's not a big deal, but if you have run out of $5 vouchers, you need to either pay in cash (which defeats the purpose of a dining plan) or pay with a $10 voucher and lose $5.05 (which can add up significantly)
c) You can't use the vouchers at Downtown Disney restaurants

So if you really want to prepay for dining, the recommendation on these boards is to put a bunch of money on Disney gift cards because those are accepted almost anywhere throughout the resort.

Hope that helps!

EDIT: Of course, leave it to Hydroguy to beat me to the punch!