Please Help a Newbie w/a Few DL Travel Questions :)

[DisneyCrocsRUS]

Hi all -

I've been reading a lot of posts the last few days & finally joined as a member today. After being up the last couple nights until the wee hours of the morning trying to plan our Disneyland trip, I figured I might as well commit to being a full-fledged DIS member.

DH & I have 2 little girls that will be 7 & 2 this summer when we travel to DL. We orig were thinking we'd just book a hotel, show up, buy tix & enjoy the park, right? Well, we realized that we haven't been to DL in years & years & years (longer than we realized, LOL!) and sooooo much has changed!! So I started looking online & low & behold found DIS & discovered lots & lots of helpful tips & info about the resort & traveling there than I ever thought I needed to know.

Anyway, I've kinda narrowed our travel plans down (I think ) but was hoping you guys could give me some of your expert advice that might sway me on a few things before we book for sure. Many, many thanks in advance.

(1) Anyone go to DL on the 4th of July? Is it mad crazy crowded? Or is pretty much the same the week before the holiday too? (It works out better for our travel plans to go the week of 4th of July & we'd be staying 3-days, 1 of which is exactly the holiday, but I'm not sure if it's be so crowded that it wouldn't even be fun, ya know?) We could possibly go the week before, but for some reason, it works out to be quite a bit more expensive, plus DLH is booked solid one of the nights that we wanted, so we have to shift our dates. We can make it work, but we have to upgrade some choices, hence the extra few hundred $.

(2) If we stay at the DLH (or CA Grand), do we take the monorail from the hotel right into DL? (We should have our tix ahead of time). This means we get to skip the main entrance & crowds, right? Is the monorail free no matter how many times we ride it back & forth?

And is it really that close & easy to just hop on the monorail from anywhere inside DL & come back to the DLH or CA Grand for a pitstop & then go back to the park? Or is it a big ordeal to leave & return? 'Cause that's one big factor I'm thinking of in staying at a resort hotel is the pit-stop benefit since we have 2 kiddos 'cause if we end up just making 2 full days of it & staying at the park w/out leaving all day, we might as well just stay at an off-park neighboring hotel & save hundreds of $$, ya know??


(3) I'm definately planning on reserving a Goofy's Character breakfast meal, I've heard great things about it. Since we'll be there probably 3 nights, if you had a choice would you plan a Goofy's Character meal more than once? Maybe 1 breakfast & another dinner? Or would you do a different Character meal? I saw the Princesses one, but I can't remember now where that was located or how the reviews were? (Excuse my Mommy brain, after late night DL research my brain is a bit foggy, LOL!)

(4) Stroller rental question: Can you only rent at the main entrance? I am not planning on bringing a stroller (we are flying to CA), plus we hardly ever use one anyway when we are at home, even we we go out all day to amusement parks & locals fairs & such up here. I'd really prefer not to rent one if we can avoid it. But if the time comes that we need it, I'm wondering how much of a hassle it is to wander back to the main entrance to get one? Or do they have rental locations staggered through the park?

Thank you in advance for your advice,

 

[mikayla73]

I can't answer all your questions, but I will chime in with what I know.

1. 4th of July is a holiday and it is during the busy summer months. So although I haven't actually been there durning that holiday, my guess would be that it will be crowded. I am not sure going the week before would make a huge difference in crowd level, and if it would save a bunch of money, I personally would go during the cheaper week and just plan ahead for dealing with the crowds. Make sure to read Hydoguys info on beating the crowds at DL. He has lots of great info that should really help.

2. The monorail is free for anyone with a ticket to the park. You'll still have to wait in line to get on the monorail in DTD and from what I have been reading on here, there will be crowds there too. Although if you are staying at the DLH, it's closer than going to the front gate. The only monorail stop I know about inside DL is in Tomorrowland. So depending on where you are in the park when you want to take your break, it may not be convient to get to Tomorrowland and get on the monorail. The hotels that are across the street from the actual entrance to DL are just as close as the DLH. If you are going to have to walk from Critter Country to Tomorrowland, then get on the monorail go to DTD, then to DLH, it may just be easier to walk to one of the hotels across from the entrance. (Does that make sense? I feel like I am babbling) Although I would never pass up an opportunity to stay at the DLH vs. staying across the street.

Sorry I can't help with #3 or 4.

If you haven't already, you should definately read all of the posts for Hydroguy's "rules" for visiting DL, there's lots of great info in them. Good luck and have a great time!

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I can help a little with 3 and 4.

3) I don't think I would do the same character meal more than once per trip. They can get kind of lengthy and you would probably get most of the pics/autographs that you wanted in one.

4) I'm pretty sure the only stroller rental is near the entrance of the park and just a little added info in case you needed to know, they only have single strollers, no doubles. Although you're used to not using one, they're good to have, even my older kids often take breaks in one after so much walking and they're good to store stuff in like water bottles, sunscreen, etc.

HTH.

 

[Dchef]

Well I can't speek for DL YET, but I will be writing a trip report when I get back in April for those that only have a few days so look for that. Mostly I just wanted to say WELCOME TO THE DIS. You will love it here--Every dis'er is like family and always willing to help-So ask away!
I see you have the perfect shoe attire already for your trip:

Darlene

 

[DisneyCrocsRUS]

Thanks for all the advice & tips so far

So.....I've been playing w/our trip reservations & I need some reassurance for my sanity! If we go w/the DLH or CA Grand it bumps the cost of our trip by almost $900-$1000. So I'm playing w/the idea of venturing offsite & looking at some good neighbor hotels w/in walking distance. But will I miss being onsite? Is it sooooooooooo much better? I think the girls will have enough "stimulation" w/all the Disney stuff at the park, that I think we can do w/out all that at the actual hotel. As long as it's one of the closest hotels & has a quick, safe walk (considering it may be midnight when we walk back).

I'm thinking $900-1000 goes a LONG way at Disney if we can save that in our pockets for character meals, souvenirs, upgraded car rental for our ventures around So. Cal....you get the picture

 

[DisneyCrocsRUS]

So.....I've been playing w/our trip reservations & I need some reassurance for my sanity! If we go w/the DLH or CA Grand it bumps the cost of our trip by almost $900-$1000. So I'm playing w/the idea of venturing offsite & looking at some good neighbor hotels w/in walking distance. But will I miss being onsite?

Okay, scratch that Playing around some more, I found some more options for staying ONSITE at either CA Grand or DLH & it's actually more like $400 diff (I forgot to add in the 2-day hopper tix when I was plugging in the numbers for an offsite hotel). Soooo, considering the ambience, time saved, convenience & extra perks of the onsite resort hotel (not to mention this is our first trip to DL in like 15 yrs & we probably won't return again for a few years, I feel better about staying onsite.

SOOOOOOOO....now I need help picking WHICH hotel.

CA GRAND or DLH? With 2 kiddos 7 yrs & 2 yrs.

I've heard CA Grand is well....GRAND! But rooms are small. With the packages I'm looking at, we'd either be in the CA Grand standard room (assuming no view - or one of the parking lot). W/the DLH package it says it includes a resort/view room (not sure what the view is actually of though, LOL!).

 

[godalejunior]

You can rent strollers in Tomorrowland also. It is the gift shop right as you get off Space Mountain. We took the monorail in and just walked over there and rented rather than truck up to the front gate. Worked out great.

 

[jsfofec]

I'm new on this board also, but have been to Disneyland 7 times (including the last 3 years in a row). We'll be making our 4ht consecutive trip in April, during our daughter's spring break.

Each time we've stayed at the Disneyland hotel. It is very expensive, but we felt with our daughter (who's been going every year since she was 3), it was easy to get back and forth to the park.

As far as the monorail is concerned, yes there is only 1 stop and it's in tomorrowland. There is a line for it usually, but if your are a guest at the disneyland hotel, there is a separate line that lets you cut right up to the turnstyle. You just have to show them your room key.

If you plan on doing more than 1 character meal, try different ones. Besides Goofy's kitchen (which is at the Disneyland hotel), you could have a Minnie, Mickey and friends meal also. That way you may see different characters.

As far as the Princess lunch/dinner, that is located at Ariel's Grotto in California Adventure Park. We also go there each year...my daughter loves it. The schedule all the dinners at around the same time slot, so the princesses all come out work their way around the room. So by the time you finish your dinner or lunch, all the princesses would have passed by your table. Another thing I like about it is, it's a sit-down dinner, which is nice, you don't have to go up to a buffet to get your food.

As mentioned earlier, you could get a stroller at the gift shop in tomrrowland or the main entrance. So if you take the monorail in, you just walk right over to the gift shop and get your stroller. Those strollers really come in handy, especially if you have a little one, who won't tire out as fast, because they can sit and rest while you push them through the park. Another nice thing is, you can put all your stuff in the stroller so you don't have to carry anything.

Another true point mentioned is if you are staying at the Disneyland hotel and want to take the monorail back, it's not too convenient if you are in some place like Critter Country. What we do sometimes is leave out the front entrance and walk through Disney District. It's a nice walk back to the hotel. The pool at the hotel is great. They have lifejackets for all the kids, so they can float around...it really makes it fun for them.

If you do stay at the Disneyland Hotel, it will really add to the cost of your trip, but for me, it sort of keeps you in the disney experience 24 hours a day. For some, that's a bit too much, but for us, we love it.

I hope you enjoy your trip!

 

[Danauk]

I haven't stayed at either hotel yet (we are staying at the Grand Californian on our 1st trip to DL) but have done tonnes of research and reading on these boards to know a few things. The GCH is a more adult themed hotel (meaning maybe not so much traditional Disney for the kids) but is right on the enterence to the parks, having its own enterance to the CA park (although DLH and PP hotel guests can use this too.) The DL hotel seems to me to be more themed towards children, but is further to walk (about the same distance as the nearest off site hotels.) Of the two the GCH would be the more expensive due to the location (we love the idea that we can look straight into the park as these views make us feel we have not actually left the park at all.)
We personally chose the GCH as we love the theaming (personal choice there, the DL does look nice too) and love the location.
This probably hasn't been any help at all (sorry!) I was just adding my thoughts.

 

[momto2nenas]

I would highly recommend doing the Princess Dining at Ariel's Grotto. Especially since you have 2 DDs. We did it last year and my then 3 yr. old was in HEAVEN! She got to meet, dance, hug, and get autographs from each princess and they smiled and "coo-ed" at my then 7 month old DD. It really is the best way to see ALL the princesses, especially since now you have to do the Princess Fantasy Faire thing at DL and I've read it takes hours and you only get to meet 2 princesses. (?)

 

[godalejunior]

Our first trip in Jan./early Feb. was at DLH, for about $450 more than HOJO's was. I loved this hotel. The pool was awesome, having Goofy's close was great to get the day off to a start as well. We used the monorail everyday and was really glad we had that option.

 

[Dchef]

We decided to save our money this time since we can only visit for a few days--We definitely found staying on site to to be a HUGE comfort and benefit at WDW..But I wasn't so sure the price (last minute ) was worth it for us--we got a great deal about a mile away.
Good luck

 

[HydroGuy]

Sounds like you have decided to go onsite. Note that GCH does not have monorail service. Only DLH and PPH do. But GCH is so close you do not need it.

If you start thinking off-site, then the links in this thread may help you - "HydroGuy's Hotel Rule" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199862

July 4th will be busy. Since so may visitors at DLR are local day trippers from SoCal, holiday visits are just way more crowded. However, with July 4th falling on a Wednesday this year (and thus farther from the weekend), that may limit the crowds a little.

It sounds like you have the right ideas for your trip and know a bit of what to expect. Here is some more info that may help: "Getting The Most Out of a Summer Visit To DLR" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1345319