Some Disneyland ?'s

[disneyfav4ever]

These boards have been an invaluable resource for my WDW planning - and now I need help with DL planning.

1) Is Feb a good time of year to go to DL?

2) Which DL resort does everyone prefer, and why?

3) What are the best restaurants? The ones that I'm interested in the most, (going by the menus on All Ears,) are Blue Bayou, Ariel's Grotto, (not for the menu - but it's a princess meal, ) Wine Country Trattoria, the Vineyard Room, Napa Rose, Jazz Kitchen, and Tortilla Jo's. Any opinions on these restaurants inparticular?

4) How many days are needed for a "good" visit. I generally do WDW for ten days, but have read in several places that three or four is good for DL, so I'd either go for six or seven days, (including my arrival and departure days.)

 

[HydroGuy]

1) Is Feb a good time of year to go to DL?

It depends on what your priorities are. Feb is off-season, except for Presidents Day. In Feb-May 2007 there are credible rumors that the POTC ride will be down again, so you may miss that. See www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1222667.

Off-season has goods and bads. See "HydroGuy's High Season/Off Season Tradeoff Rule" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199852

4) How many days are needed for a "good" visit. I generally do WDW for ten days, but have read in several places that three or four is good for DL, so I'd either go for six or seven days, (including my arrival and departure days.)

If you like doing 10 days at WDW, I would say four days at DLR would be about right. You could get away with three. You may want to do five. Depends on who is in your group and the age of any children.

 

[disneyfav4ever]

It depends on what your priorities are. Feb is off-season, except for Presidents Day. In Feb-May 2007 there are credible rumors that the POTC ride will be down again, so you may miss that. See www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1222667.

This would probably be Feb of 2009, (or a late 2008 trip,) but my 25th birthday is in Feb 09, and I thought this would be a good way to celebrate.

One or two attractions being in rehab wouldn't affect my enjoyment.

Off-season has goods and bads. See "HydroGuy's High Season/Off Season Tradeoff Rule" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1199852

Thanks for the link, I'll take a look.

If you like doing 10 days at WDW, I would say four days at DLR would be about right. You could get away with three. You may want to do five. Depends on who is in your group and the age of any children.

I'll either be solo, or with my BF. I mentioned a trip to DL to him the other day, and he seemed indifferent to it. But he never thinks about trips more then a year away, let alone 2+ years.

I also want enough time to try TS meals, shop at DTD, and see the resorts, so I was thinking, (and this shows how obsessive I am about Disney trips,) of this for a loose intinerary.

Arrival Day - Early flight, with 3 hour time difference, so if I got a 7:00 AM non-stop flight, (maybe a little later then that,) I'd be in CA around 9:00 AM there time. Then rest at hotel, (I want to stay on DL property,) then have dinner at a resort or DTD.

(Buy a 5-day hopper pass.)

Day 1 - CA Adventure all day. I know this doesn't have the best rep, but I like Epcot and MGM a lot, and ToT and Soarin are here. TS dinner or lunch in the park.

Day 2 - My Birthday (If I stick with the dates I'm thinking about right now.) - DL all day, with a TS dinner or lunch.

Day 3 - CA Adventure in the morning, DTD at night. (With a TS lunch and/or dinner.)

Day 4 - DL in the morning, resort touring in the afternoon. TS dinner at one of the resorts.)

Day 5 - CA Adventure in the morning, DL in the afternoon and evening, with a TS lunch and/or dinner.

(See list of TS possibilities in post #1.)

Departure day - either a late flight, (to get home early in PHL time,) or an early flight, to get in late afternoon / early evening PHL time. (5-hour flight and 3-hour time difference.) So even with a 10:00 AM non-stop flight, it would be 8:00 PM by the time I got home.

 

[hlbtimes2]

Feb. is good time if you are looking for small crowds. The downside of Feb is the limited schedule- park hours are shorter, more limited entertainment schedules and more refurbs.

The GC is the prefered hotel. It is in a great location, is the only one of the three built by disney, and is till "new". But, it comes with a big price tag! PP and DLH are both nice as well. And, keep in mind that DL is really different then WDW. The offsite hotels are much cheaper and can be just as close if not closer then the onsite hotels. Are they as nice? No. But they still have a lot to offer.

As for restaurants- looks like you have a pretty good list. Personally, I wouldnt plan on more then one sit down meal a day. It just takes too much time. But, we dont go there to eat, we go for the rides and entertainment, so we usually only have maybe one or two sit down meals in an entire trip. Of the ones listed, Ariels is probably the only one that doesnt get great reviews. If you are going for the princesses not the food, you should be fine.

We usually try to do at least 3 full days in the parks, more if we can afford it.

 

[Zoemakes5]

These boards have been an invaluable resource for my WDW planning - and now I need help with DL planning.

1) Is Feb a good time of year to go to DL? Hmm, depends upon what you want/need. Too cool for swimming, typically. Shorter hours, typically, at the parks, but less crowded. Would need a weekend to see most "nightime" activities, like fireworks, etc.
2) Which DL resort does everyone prefer, and why? I prefer the Grand Californian. Luxury, elegence and back entrance to DCA.

3) What are the best restaurants? The ones that I'm interested in the most, (going by the menus on All Ears,) are Blue Bayou, Ariel's Grotto, (not for the menu - but it's a princess meal, ) Wine Country Trattoria, the Vineyard Room, Napa Rose, Jazz Kitchen, and Tortilla Jo's. Any opinions on these restaurants inparticular? I've been to the Blue Bayou and Ariels. I liked both. I have had good experience at the Blue Bayou, but have heard lots of mixed reviews recently. When going to Ariel's, opposite of the comments I've had before, I'd recommend getting seating inside, not on the deck. My experience was that they come out from the kitchen area inside (think far end of the dining room from where you walk in--we were the first table, and it was great!) and they go around the dining room and then go inside. They tend to get swarmed by the kids as they leave the dining room because they've seen them moving around. They also have less time left by the time they get outside. Both DD and I enjoyed the food. I haven't been to any of the other ones.

4) How many days are needed for a "good" visit. I generally do WDW for ten days, but have read in several places that three or four is good for DL, so I'd either go for six or seven days, (including my arrival and departure days.) You'll probably get lots of different responses to this, but I think 4 days would be perfect, can be lazy, go when you want, see everything, enjoy some nice meals, and still have time to see things that are around DL

Beware of president's day weekend, though, that one tends to be busy!

 

[hlbtimes2]

I think you schedule is too heavy on DCA time, and not enough time in DL. DL has tons of litttle things you wont want to miss. Little shows, etc. We typically spend 2 full days at DL to every one day at DCA.