Single Traveler - first time to Disneyland

[Chiomaca]

I've stayed off property further and walked without any concern, but I'm a city dweller and this neighborhood doesn't phase me. There are always pan handlers around, so if you don't feel comfortable with that, then I'd be careful. If your hotel is on one of the shuttle routes, then that would save you time and wear and tear on your feet. They're pretty inexpensive and convenient.

 

[Stacy's a freak]

I have stayed off property also but just across the street from the promenade. But we did walk quite a bit to get to a Bubba Gump restaurant. Now, looking at the map, that is just 1.5 blocks from our hotel but it felt like a much longer walk. So the blocks are pretty big (think Vegas blocks - not NYC blocks, if that helps you to visualize). There are clear sidewalks around the DL property but there are certainly areas that are less traveled. As a solo, I would try to stick to the main road (like Harbor) and probably would not walk farther south than Katella Ave. I would also walk with or near other theme park tourists in groups.

 

[Gillbob316]

I’m actually ALSO planning a solo trip to Disneyland in a few months, and find some of the input from this thread helpful. I however, am planning to stay multiple days. (The whole trip will be 4 ½ days total. Long weekend. 3 ½ at Disney, 1 at Universal. Planning to fly to LAX on a Wed evening, and fly back the following Monday evening.)

I’m honestly not so worried about panhandlers/mean streets, as I live in Chicago, and I honestly can’t imagine the area within walking distance of Disneyland as being any worse than my home city experience, haha. Maybe I’m not giving it enough credit… but if I can handle walking around Chicago after dark I… can't imagine the area surrounding Disney, full of tourists would phase me much.

THAT said, I’ve still been wrestling with whether or not to book a good neighbor hotel directly through Disney along w/ my tickets, or just buy my tickets, and take my chances booking a hotel on my own. Wouldn’t mind hearing people’s thoughts on the matter.

I’m definitely not staying on Disney property, I can’t justify triple the price on a solo trip where I’m responsible for paying every last dime myself. If I were splitting the stay with roomies maybe, but not alone. That said, it’s my first trip ever to Disneyland. Been to Disney World 100 times, never been to land. Parents only ever took us to World as a kids. Now that I’m old, finally decided to just take myself to land, haha. As it’s my first visit, I’d like it to be a good experience… so I’m ideally looking for an affordable hotel for a party of 1, that’s as clean and as unshady as possible. (and ideally within walking distance).

I think I’ll be renting a car. By all accounts I probably won’t need one for the Disney leg of the trip, but I’d like to have it all the same, both to get to and from LAX, and to get to and from Universal. I hate having to rely on public transportation, and like to make my own schedule. (Plus it gives me an easy spot to store my bags on the final day of my trip, after I’ve checked out of the hotel, but before my evening flight home)

Lowest price I can find in a good neighbor hotel package is $965 for Holiday Inn Anaheim Resort (and that’s with a 4-Day park hopper ticket included, so figure about $630 for the hotel stay, give or take). I’m sure I could beat that price booking independently, but not so sure I’d know what I was doing, haha. I’d hate to book myself and end up someplace terrible.

Thoughts? Opinions? Recommendations?

 

[Stacy's a freak]

We went in July of 2014 and we stayed 4 nights in a good neighbor hotel. We stayed at the Anaheim Desert Inn & Suites which had on-site parking. We paid a daily fee to park the car and they had a valet since their parking lot is so small - just to get all the cars in there. We booked tickets separately since we stayed 4 nights but just did 2 days at DL. I would decide first where you want to stay and get the best price you can on the room. Then look into tickets and compare the cost of the separate booking vs. the package deal. I have heard that there is not much savings in the DL packages (but have no personal experience). As for staying on-site, I don't blame you for choosing to stay offsite and saving that money! There is a huge price difference and if you are a park commando and spend little time at your hotel, spending the extra seems a waste to me. Have fun!
Edited to add that the hotel was directly across the street from the promenade and was perfectly fine. Clean, nice employees there. The pool was inside and not great (we didn't care and didn't use) and the breakfast was 7-11 style pre-packaged Danish, etc. so we didn't partake. The best thing about this hotel was the location and the relatively low price per night.

 

[Disney_Alli]

I’m actually ALSO planning a solo trip to Disneyland in a few months, and find some of the input from this thread helpful. I however, am planning to stay multiple days. (The whole trip will be 4 ½ days total. Long weekend. 3 ½ at Disney, 1 at Universal. Planning to fly to LAX on a Wed evening, and fly back the following Monday evening.)

I’m honestly not so worried about panhandlers/mean streets, as I live in Chicago, and I honestly can’t imagine the area within walking distance of Disneyland as being any worse than my home city experience, haha. Maybe I’m not giving it enough credit… but if I can handle walking around Chicago after dark I… can't imagine the area surrounding Disney, full of tourists would phase me much.

THAT said, I’ve still been wrestling with whether or not to book a good neighbor hotel directly through Disney along w/ my tickets, or just buy my tickets, and take my chances booking a hotel on my own. Wouldn’t mind hearing people’s thoughts on the matter.

I’m definitely not staying on Disney property, I can’t justify triple the price on a solo trip where I’m responsible for paying every last dime myself. If I were splitting the stay with roomies maybe, but not alone. That said, it’s my first trip ever to Disneyland. Been to Disney World 100 times, never been to land. Parents only ever took us to World as a kids. Now that I’m old, finally decided to just take myself to land, haha. As it’s my first visit, I’d like it to be a good experience… so I’m ideally looking for an affordable hotel for a party of 1, that’s as clean and as unshady as possible. (and ideally within walking distance).

I think I’ll be renting a car. By all accounts I probably won’t need one for the Disney leg of the trip, but I’d like to have it all the same, both to get to and from LAX, and to get to and from Universal. I hate having to rely on public transportation, and like to make my own schedule. (Plus it gives me an easy spot to store my bags on the final day of my trip, after I’ve checked out of the hotel, but before my evening flight home)

Lowest price I can find in a good neighbor hotel package is $965 for Holiday Inn Anaheim Resort (and that’s with a 4-Day park hopper ticket included, so figure about $630 for the hotel stay, give or take). I’m sure I could beat that price booking independently, but not so sure I’d know what I was doing, haha. I’d hate to book myself and end up someplace terrible.

Thoughts? Opinions? Recommendations?

Definitely book your room separately. You'll get a better hotel rate and you can use various discount sites to get discounts on tickets too. Booking through disney gets you virtually nothing except a higher rate.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Definitely compare but usually it's more expensive to book through Disney and there are virtually no benefits to doing so.

 

[EmmyL258]

I’m actually ALSO planning a solo trip to Disneyland in a few months, and find some of the input from this thread helpful. I however, am planning to stay multiple days. (The whole trip will be 4 ½ days total. Long weekend. 3 ½ at Disney, 1 at Universal. Planning to fly to LAX on a Wed evening, and fly back the following Monday evening.)

I’m honestly not so worried about panhandlers/mean streets, as I live in Chicago, and I honestly can’t imagine the area within walking distance of Disneyland as being any worse than my home city experience, haha. Maybe I’m not giving it enough credit… but if I can handle walking around Chicago after dark I… can't imagine the area surrounding Disney, full of tourists would phase me much.

THAT said, I’ve still been wrestling with whether or not to book a good neighbor hotel directly through Disney along w/ my tickets, or just buy my tickets, and take my chances booking a hotel on my own. Wouldn’t mind hearing people’s thoughts on the matter.

I’m definitely not staying on Disney property, I can’t justify triple the price on a solo trip where I’m responsible for paying every last dime myself. If I were splitting the stay with roomies maybe, but not alone. That said, it’s my first trip ever to Disneyland. Been to Disney World 100 times, never been to land. Parents only ever took us to World as a kids. Now that I’m old, finally decided to just take myself to land, haha. As it’s my first visit, I’d like it to be a good experience… so I’m ideally looking for an affordable hotel for a party of 1, that’s as clean and as unshady as possible. (and ideally within walking distance).

I think I’ll be renting a car. By all accounts I probably won’t need one for the Disney leg of the trip, but I’d like to have it all the same, both to get to and from LAX, and to get to and from Universal. I hate having to rely on public transportation, and like to make my own schedule. (Plus it gives me an easy spot to store my bags on the final day of my trip, after I’ve checked out of the hotel, but before my evening flight home)

Lowest price I can find in a good neighbor hotel package is $965 for Holiday Inn Anaheim Resort (and that’s with a 4-Day park hopper ticket included, so figure about $630 for the hotel stay, give or take). I’m sure I could beat that price booking independently, but not so sure I’d know what I was doing, haha. I’d hate to book myself and end up someplace terrible.

Thoughts? Opinions? Recommendations?

Yay for solo travel! I'm very excited to have a whole week to myself and also to go to DL for the first time!

I just booked a super cheap hotel (which makes me mildly nervous) for $79 a night. America's best value inn and suites. I'm willing to take the risk of a not-so-great hotel for the price. At the very least I won't have to listen to anyone else complain!

With my savings, I'm looking to book a car for 3 days, so maybe a I can take a quick trip to the beach before flying out on the last day.

Good luck!

 

[RE1333]

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but keep in mind that you can pull fast passes from both parks at the same time. On my recent trip, I found it to be really easy to run back and fourth between the two parks to double up on my fast passes. You can monitor return times on the Disneyland app to help plan out your strategy. This could be very useful since you're short on time.