Possible first Disneyland trip and on a budget

[Jen and Ashwin]

DH and I have never been to Disneyland, so I know absolutely nothing about it. I need your help!

Alright, so I have a flight credit from a conference that got cancelled that could cover one airfare. I found flights to California for just $267 per person either the end of September or the beginning of November. This made me think that maybe DH and I could take a 5-night/4 day trip to Disneyland on the cheap. I have enough SPG points to cover 5 nights at the Sheraton Park Hotel. I have also already churned enough gift cards to cover 4 day park tickets. The remaining costs would be transportation to and from the airport, food and souvenirs.

We would get 4 day park tickets, but aren't sure about the park hopper. We always get the park hopper at WDW, but that's because we love eating at Epcot. What are the advantages of the park hopper at DL? We were thinking we would just go to each park for two days each.

What time is better to go, end of September or beginning of November? Are there any advantages to one time over the other?

What is the best way to get from LAX to the Sheraton Park Hotel? Our flight would get in later on a Thursday, around 10:30pm.

What are the best places to eat? We will be eating breakfast in the room and have some snacks to take with us to the parks. We are hoping to keep the food budget pretty reasonable with mostly counter service meals, but with a nicer dinner maybe 1 or 2 nights. What are the best places, both in the parks and even offsite or at Downtown Disney.

We are going to sleep on this tonight and make our decision to pull the trigger tomorrow, so this information is much appreciated in helping us decide. Any other advice or perspectives? Thanks!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

First of all, try posting this in the Disneyland (California) forum. You will get a lot of helpful advice there.
Next, read this thread for great info: A DLR Guide for WDW Vets
Park hoppers work well at DLR because the 2 parks are so close together (think the length of a football field). FPs (paper) are not linked between the parks, so you can hold FPs from both at the same time. Only one of you needs to be the FP runner, so after you both enter a park and have your ticket scanned, you can go back and forth getting new FPs as the time allows. When one park gets too crowded, head over to the other park.
End of September: very warm weather (probably), start of MHP (historically the first party is the last Friday in Sept.), HalloweenTime decorations, HMH and SMGG overlays.
Beginning of November: nicer weather (usually), no more Halloween decorations, HM and SM may be down to remove the overlays (depending on when you visit ), Holiday Parade usually tapes the first weekend in November, HolidayTime decorations start going up (especially on Main Street for the parade taping)
There are shuttles that go from LAX to various hotels in the DLR area. Email or call the Sheraton Park to find out what they recommend. Ask if they offer any discount with any particular shuttles.
What kind of food appeals to you? There are many nicer places to eat at DLR, e.g Blue Bayou (inside POTC!), CCR, NR, S55. In DtD there is Catal, Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen, Naples, Tortilla Jo's, etc. The menus for all these places are online (allears.net), so you can look over the menus to see what catches your fancy. Also, there are places near DLR (walking distance) that may offer coupons or discounts, e.g. Mimi's Cafe, Cheesecake Factory, Roy's Hawaiian, etc. Many of these places offer generous portions, so sharing meals is a great way to stay within the budget. For CS, share the fried chicken entree at the Plaza Inn.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

First of all, try posting this in the Disneyland (California) forum. You will get a lot of helpful advice there.
Next, read this thread for great info: A DLR Guide for WDW Vets
Park hoppers work well at DLR because the 2 parks are so close together (think the length of a football field). FPs (paper) are not linked between the parks, so you can hold FPs from both at the same time. Only one of you needs to be the FP runner, so after you both enter a park and have your ticket scanned, you can go back and forth getting new FPs as the time allows. When one park gets too crowded, head over to the other park.
End of September: very warm weather (probably), start of MHP (historically the first party is the last Friday in Sept.), HalloweenTime decorations, HMH and SMGG overlays.
Beginning of November: nicer weather (usually), no more Halloween decorations, HM and SM may be down to remove the overlays (depending on when you visit ), Holiday Parade usually tapes the first weekend in November, HolidayTime decorations start going up (especially on Main Street for the parade taping)
There are shuttles that go from LAX to various hotels in the DLR area. Email or call the Sheraton Park to find out what they recommend. Ask if they offer any discount with any particular shuttles.
What kind of food appeals to you? There are many nicer places to eat at DLR, e.g Blue Bayou (inside POTC!), CCR, NR, S55. In DtD there is Catal, Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen, Naples, Tortilla Jo's, etc. The menus for all these places are online (allears.net), so you can look over the menus to see what catches your fancy. Also, there are places near DLR (walking distance) that may offer coupons or discounts, e.g. Mimi's Cafe, Cheesecake Factory, Roy's Hawaiian, etc. Many of these places offer generous portions, so sharing meals is a great way to stay within the budget. For CS, share the fried chicken entree at the Plaza Inn.

Thanks for all of the great information. I was unsure where to post this, so I will try moving it to the other forum.

 

[Disney Lvr of Old]

Hi! I can touch on couple things: the hoppers- they are a must in my opinion; the park gates are about 200 feet from each other so hopping is easy peasy. End of September would put you smack into the middle of Halloween which is just lovely. I don't know what kind of changes there will be since a lot of it took place at the ranch. Check out the Halloween super thread by Sherry E. Beginning of November will have a couple rides down for the holiday overlays. Blue Bayou inside of Pirates is amazing; ask for waterside.

Also- there's no alcohol (except at CLub33) in DL so if you like to have a cocktail with dinner you will probably want to have your fancy meals at DCA.

Definitely go- sounds like you have it well in hand.

Good luck and have fun planning!

 

[mcjaco]

I'd agree. The Hoppers are a must at DL and CA. It's so easy to just walk from either. And if DL is crowded, CA usually isn't (except Carsland).

Not sure you need four days. You'll find DL is much smaller, and you can get A LOT done in shorter time, if crowds are manageable.

DTD is also a pretty cool too.

 

[Mysteryincorp]

I also agree, I would get the park hoppers.
As for end of September vs Novemebr I would pick November. For two reasons, September and early October =gross hot. Super hot and super crowded. Unfortunately you will miss out on the Halloween decorations and offerings. Also, I believe operating hours will be shorter but with four days you shouldn't notice too much.
Airport transporting is really how much do you want to spend for comvenience. Shuttle vs. car service vs. uber (is uber even allowed to pick up at airport?)
As for food, I would look at menus and see what appeals to you, most counter services are similar in price. As for niche restaurants, my pick would be Blue Bayou. The atmosphere is worth the cost of the meal.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Yes to the hoppers! For budget managing go online to the website and look at the menus. You have some sort of idea of the food you like so you can get a pretty good estimate of in-park food costs for you. And I would stick with 4 day tickets. This sounds like a once in a long time trip so you will want to make the most of it! If you have to choose between 4 day tickets or 3 day hopper tickets I'd go for the 4 day tickets. Hopefully your budget will let you do 4 day hoppers!

I don't know good dining deals off site but others here do. Onsite we like Earl of Sandwich in downtown Disney for a healthy & (relativly) cheap meal. Our favorite TS meals are Blue Bayou & Cafe Orleans. FYI the Monte Cristo is cheaper at Cafe Orleans than BB as sides are different but the sandwich is the same. And Monte Cristos are definitely splittable between 2 adults.

Last time I came in from LAX was summer before last. We used a shared super shuttle & it was $20 per person including tip. I think Uber/Lyft can now pick up at LAX? That might be something to look into. I loved Uber on my WDW trip. If you're new to the platform they used to give you $20 towards your first use. I think Lyft was the same. You should be able to estimate the fare using their websites.

And kudos to you on already churning gift cards!

 

[Disneyluvr2]

Another vote here for hoppers! They really are a must at Disneyland. You can actually pull fastpasses from both parks and easily walk back and forth during the day.

There are many places that serve meals large enough to share. Plaza Inn chicken dinner for one. You get 3 pieces of chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans and a biscuit. Just add a 2nd biscuit and you're set. If you're not a big eater, the kids meals are a great deal too. I order them all the time. The Plaza Inn chicken dinner is my favorite kids meal. You can substitute the chicken leg for a breast or thigh, for a small price, and exchange the apple slices for a biscuit. All the kids meals come with a drink too, so for about $7.00, it's a pretty good deal. The Earl of Sandwich in DTD is also a great place for an inexpensive meal.

I would also pick November over Sept, because of the weather. Sept can be very hot and miserable. At least it has been for the last 3 years. The 1st part of November you'll probably still see some of the Halloween decorations, and also some of the Christmas decor that will be going up.

I purchase Disney gift cards when I do my regular shopping, then just stash them away for my next trip. Sure makes it easier on the budget that way!

 

[VandVsmama]

My thoughts & recommendations:

• the Sheraton Park Hotel is probably just outside the range of comfortable walking distance to DL, so get ART passes if your hotel doesn't have its own shuttle bus. Multi-day ART passes are less expensive if you buy them ahead of time through their website. Go to http://rideart.org/ for more info.
• Definitely get park hopper tickets if you can afford it.
• Don't wait until you arrive in Anaheim to purchase your tickets. Buy them ahead of time. If you get park hopper tickets ahead of time, then you get 1 Magic Morning entry into DL on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. If you buy your park hopper tickets at the main gate, you can't get the Magic Morning entry.
• Go on the DIS Unplugged podcast site and search back through some of their older episodes. Tony Spittel has done some really great reviews over the last few months on how to eat cheap in DL, DCA, and DTD.
• end of Sept - it will be hot. Halloween decorations will be up. But on Halloween party nights, DL will close to regular park guests at 6pm. Hardly any attractions will be down for refurb (with the exception of the railroad and all of the Tom Sawyer's Island stuff)
• early Nov - much better weather. NOT pool weather, though, in my opinion. Likely not as many families there from out of state...you'll run into a fair amount of locals in the late afternoon/evenings. Space Mountain might be down for refurb.
• Food - Plaza Inn chicken dinner is a lot of food & easy to share by 2 people. You can also exit DL entirely and eat well on a budget at Pizza Press on Harbor Blvd. It's right next to the Tropicana motel, which is right next door to Best Western Park Place Inn. Look at http://allears.net/dlr/dining/menus.htm for DL menus & prices. that's what I did when we went to DL last October on a budget.
• Sit-down restaurant food @ DL/DCA - You said maybe 1 or 2 meals at a regular table service place. What sort of food do you & DH like? Just remember that dining reservations at DL are done 60 days ahead of time, not 6 months ahead of time.
• Tortilla Joe's - I thought the food here was just ok & kind of overpriced for the quality of what we got. But lots of people love it. We had the 'make-it-for-you-at-your-table guacamole' and that was really overpriced.
• Napa Rose - this is in the Grand Californian Hotel. Dinner for 2 will probably run you upwards of $150-$200.
• Roy's Hawaiian - the serving sizes here are really not large enough to share. Pretty expensive, but the quality is really incredible.
• Marri's Pizza - their website is located at http://www.marrispizza.com/. I learned about this restaurant here on these boards. BEST VALUE IN ANAHEIM! Good Italian food, big portions, so you & DH could easily share 1 meal. 4 of us (me, DH, 2 kids) ate dinner here for $40 AND we took leftovers back to our hotel, too. Marri's will deliver. There's an ART stop at a hotel next door to this place. The walk from DL main gate to Marri's is 10-12 min if you cut through the GCH.

How I save on food costs at DL:

1. Bring snacks w/you into the parks in your bag. Same rules as at WDW...no glass containers. And if you bring something like a sandwich, it has to be prepared ahead of time. You can't bring a loaf of bread, a container of mustard, lunch meat, etc. and assemble it there inside the park.
2. Plan on 1 snack treat inside the park per day. Kind of decide ahead of time what you want it to be so you can budget for that. For example, a Dole Whip, a churro, an ice cream sundae, a fancy cupcake or candy apple, etc.
3. Look at the menus online at Allears.net ahead of time and figure out what CS restaurants service items that are: (a) within your budget; and (b) are foods that you'd want to eat. It will save you time AND $$ by kind of figuring out beforehand what your best options are.
4. For table service restaurants - again...look at the menus on Allears.net. If you're going to have a TS meal only 1 or 2 times while you're there, you want it to be at a place where you'll actually enjoy your meal. our family really loves the Blue Bayou for the atmosphere and the food, but a lot of people don't care for the food there very much. At BB, the menu for lunch & dinner is almost exactly the same and some of the prices on certain dishes are a little less at lunch. So maybe do your TS meal at lunch time and do CS for dinner.
5. Don't buy bottled water in the parks! This will be a huge waste of $$. Bring 1 water bottle per person and at any CS restaurant, ask for as many 'complimentary/free waters' as you want. Then fill water bottle with that. If you are picky about how your water tastes, bring a Brita water bottle. Or bring some of those packets that you can use in a water bottle to make it taste like lemonade or fruit punch or Gatorade flavors...whatever floats your boat.

 

[smartlabelprint]

We go every year min 4 days

 

[californiamomof4grls]

I can touch on saving on food. You can take an uber/cab to Target it has a grocery store in it too. Google Maps says it's about 7 mins away. We have a sling back pack that we use when we take trips by ourselves and a stroller when we have all of our kids. We bring cheap ice packs and cheap lunch boxes that have insulation. We buy salami, string cheese, apples, trail mix, granola bars. We buy breakfast to eat in the hotel room too. We walk out on to harbor and eat across the street at this place called the Pizza Press! It's fun and yummy! We save tons of money this way. Bring a Contigo water bottle and you can fill up your water bottles at some of the restaurants. Basically any restaurants that you fill up your drinks yourself. You can also do a Safeway/Vons grocery delivery. Many of the hotels are really good about putting it in the fridge in you room too.

 

[SplashMo]

Hoppers are nice. It gives you the most hours in the parks. You might ask the sep-nov question in a different thread to get more responses. Also if you go during peak time TWThF might be a good choice. However off peak you may want to hit more of the weekend to see WOC, Fireworks and F! (if it is running). Also Disneyland posts their calendars very late in the game.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

We stay at the Sheraton Park often and find it very walkable. We've never taken the ART shuttle from there. In the morning, the walk (about 15-20 minutes, depending on how fast you walk and the lights at the intersections) is a good warm up. At night, the walk helps us calm down. There are several stores along the way on Harbor (24/7 CVS at Katella, 7-11, ABC Mart), so we can buy drinks and snacks for the next day. The Sheraton has small refrigerators in each room, so you'll be able to store drinks and food to save money.

 

[Disney_Alli]

We stay at the Sheraton Park often and find it very walkable. We've never taken the ART shuttle from there. In the morning, the walk (about 15-20 minutes, depending on how fast you walk and the lights at the intersections) is a good warm up. At night, the walk helps us calm down. There are several stores along the way on Harbor (24/7 CVS at Katella, 7-11, ABC Mart), so we can buy drinks and snacks for the next day. The Sheraton has small refrigerators in each room, so you'll be able to store drinks and food to save money.

I completely agree with all of this! There's also a grab and go store that the closest exit to DL. We often walk through and grab a muffin and a drink to eat on the walk to the park.

 

[mommajo143]

We are tentatively hoping to go next May. In a budget crisis @ work so as long as I survive layoffs I'm hoping we still get to go. Def doing hoppers following along for info on dining & other tips I'm reading here. Personally I'm trying to locate info on any possible discounts that may be offered - as best I can tell the trip will cost a good bit more than what our trips to WDW have historically cost & I'm not finding a lot if info on historical / typical discounts anywhere...

 

[mommajo143]

Also if you go during peak time TWThF might be a good choice. However off peak you may want to hit more of the weekend to see WOC, Fireworks and F! (if it is running). Also Disneyland posts their calendars very late in the game.

I've noticed this - not able to find calendars so planning to use this years as a best guess on the operating & show schedule for next May.

 

[tzeitel]

For first visits I don't usually push Hoppers too much, but the parks are insanely close. There is enough to do in each park that hopping is not a must do, but it is nice to have the option of trying to catch the parade or fireworks one more time after DCA closes. Maybe play it by ear and just add it if you need them. If all you want to do is rush through rides then yes, DL is easier to do than MK. But if you want to actually explore the park, take pictures, sit down for lunch, watch the parade, fireworks, shows etc. then it will take more than one day.

For special meals I would say Carthay Circle in DCA and Blue Bayou in DL. They are pricey but so different from anything you might find at WDW.
For not so expensive meals, check out Cozy Cones and Cove Bar at DCA. Over at DL I would do Plaza Inn and Cafe Orleans (similarish menu to BB but not as expensive nor as "special" since it does not overlook the POTC ride).
In DtD you should try Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen. They have the restaurant and a counter service. We did the restaurant for lunch and the CS for breakfast - loved them both.
Maybe instead of a nicer dinner you can go to Trader Sam's Tiki Bar. They have some food and fun drinks.

Can't help you with the dates, we usually go in Oct so we can do all the Halloween stuff. But this past Oct they scaled down on all the Halloween stuff. The HM will keep the NBC overlay for Christmas and that is the one big thing that you will not see in WDW.

For off-property you can find coupons and discounted gift cards for a lot of places nearby. You can also sign up for restaurant e-clubs or newsletters to get a freebie when you sign up - Mimi's sends out tons of coupons and they are great for breakfast. http://visitanaheim.org/deals/coupons

Compared to our usual WDW trips DLR comes out cheaper for us. We don't stay as long as we do at WDW, flights and hotels are a bit cheaper, and off-property food (I get gift cards from reward sites plus coupons) make it a better deal for us to go to DLR.