Some planning advice please

[BigDisneyOE]

We are booked on the Wonder cruising out of LA in Sept 2012. We also want to do three days at Disneyland. Then we are looking at another week doing San Deigo area. I'm struggling a bit with the order of things. Obviously the cruise is booked in but do I do Disneyland first or just fly in and sleep the night before embarkation and do Disneyland afterwards. It comes down to fatigue (we've never flown that far with the boys) and packing for the cruise having to be light verses extra days annual leave for adults.

You guys know how taxing the flights are from this part of the world. We'll probably be going WGN/SYD/LAX as we have enough Qantas points for a few seats. Okay it adds another half day to our journey but it's free seats, which is a big cost implication.

I'm lathering around undecided as to what to do. I really want three full days at Disneyland. Last time I was there was 1988. For the rest of the party, it's all new. I like the idea of staying at the Candy Cane Inn as it's so close and they do brekkie. It also fits our budget better than some of the bigger places and it's very walkable, has a free shuttle & reasonably quiet. Flip side is the rooms are smaller I guess but trying to get a two bed apartment style place finds me running up against a brick wall.

So two questions:
What order would you do Disneyland, before or after?
Anyone have any personal recommendations for favourite Disneyland 2 bedroom apartments/suites within walking distance of the site

I know I've got ages to go yet, but I'm trying to get some of this sorted in my mind so I can work out things like car hire, annual leave requests and money per day.

Thanks

 

[AussieDisneyNut]

Well I'll weigh in with my 2 cents I definitely advise staying one night before the cruise to overcome jetlag and then doing Disneyland after the cruise. I would also consider more than 3 days at Disneyland as there is a lot to do there. We stayed 6 nights last March/April and could have easily stayed another day or two. We survived just fine with our family of 5 in a standard room at the GCH, but we were not having to accommodate naps etc which you may have to with younger children. Good luck with your planning, it is half the fun of going!

 

[Mum from oz]

Well we did a Disney Cruise in May and then went to Disneyland then flew home. I also think it would be good to fly into LA then have a night to recover before the cruise. Then head to Disneyland for a few days. We did 3 days but probably could have done with another day or 2. I would allow another day for shopping if you can!! Go over there packed lightly for the cruise then shop up before you fly home. You can always buy extra suitcases!

We stayed link here in Anaheim. It was gorgeous and definitely a very short walk to Disney. It was about 10mins walking at a 4 year olds pace from the front door to the tram stop.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Only you know how your kids are and whether they are likely to be feral, grumpy, tired at the other end after a long flight. If they are, then you might be better off stopping in LA for a night before continuing on the journey across the continent. If they are not, then to maximise time, keep going.
Having said that, when travelling with my DS, we always stop off in California for at least one night and then continue on with the journey. It is purely a personal thing as we find that we acclimatise to the US better that way. Everyone/family will be different.


The Candy Cane Inn is a very nice place to stay. We stayed there in 2007 and enjoyed our time there. It is definitely more of a motel than anything else - but given how much time we were in the room, it was more than suitable for us.
The last couple of trips, we've been staying at the Residence Inn Maingate, which offers suites. It is a little bit further to walk but they offer a hot buffet breakfast, with make your own waffles.

Enjoy the lathering!

 

[BigDisneyOE]

Oh thank you guys so much. I'm starting to be a bit like a cat chasing it's tail on scheduling cruise vs rest of holiday. It's been a very long time since I went to the States (only ever to LA too) and now is such a good time for everyone Downunder to head over, I want to make sure we get it right.

Sounds like everyone on the thread has the same feeling; overnight and then cruise. The Pacific Coast cruises leave from San Pedro, so maybe we should base ourselves down there for the night or just stay at LAX area. I'll have to see when the Qantas flights arrive during the day, I know it tends to be a night flight over with Air NZ (which is a more costly but more time effective option).

Princess In Oz - I've no idea how the boys will do on such long flights. Previously we've only done the four hours to Brisbane. First time not so good, second time fine (apart from child who doesn't like to watch TV or DVDs much and requires a full explaination of how aircraft toilets function...). Hopefully if it's a night flight I can run the ragged during the day and then hot food on the plane will make them sleepy. I hope. I'm glad you enjoyed your stay at Candy Cane Inn - I thought it looked motel cute too, they get such good feedback as well.

I do like the idea of your rental Mum from Oz, I'm going to investigate further and cost it out. We'd get a rental for the rest of the trip, so we could stump up the parking costs and just drive back and forth. I like the idea of all the extra space after being in a cruise cabin with the kids for 7 nights.

I've managed to talk DH up to three days at Disneyland as I got the DVD from Australia and he got keen. Previously he'd only wanted two days. Our boys aren't amusement park ride-centric at the moment but will want to stay on things like trains, boats and monorails all day long, of which Disney has plenty. I may be able to squeeze a further day out of DH, the third day was swung with Carsland opening up and the menfolk being Cars mad.

We've got another week or so in So.Cal after Disney and want two days at Legoland. My boys are block crazy, all day every day for months on end. They've seen all the Legoland site stuff and are so keen it's not funny. There are a few other things I'd like to do in San Diego area too with them obviously. And I do want a day shopping, okay a week but I'm unlikely to get that.

I've decided to take roll up softie bags that I can shove inside each other. I have several Kathmandu ones we travel with and that way I can always buy more stuff. I really want to buy kids clothes, sports stuff for the parents (running shoes for DH as he goes through so many pairs, SPD's for me, cycle shorts etc etc etc) and I want to hit the crafting stores too. Oh and some adult clothes I suppose too. Hmm - maybe I need to investigate shipping back to ourselves? Fortunately DH loves shopping more than me, so there's no problem with me scheduling 'mall days'. Any good shopping tips, particularly for sports goods/clothes and crafting stores (patchwork, yarn, fibre) and I'm all ears!

There are so many things I'd love to do there and I'd love a full month but realistically DH could probably get about three weeks and more is pushing it. I'm going to keep chipping at him for a big bite of annual leave as it's really expensive to go back but not so expensive to add a few more days. Heck I've got him on a cruise ship next year, six months ago he was 'no way, that's for old crusties'.

 

[BigDisneyOE]

The last couple of trips, we've been staying at the Residence Inn Maingate, which offers suites. It is a little bit further to walk but they offer a hot buffet breakfast, with make your own waffles.

Mmm - waffles. I'm going to check this place out too. I've not had solid food for nine days now and I'd love some waffles. Aren't waffles just such a treat?

 

[shushh]

Ok, I'm going to chip in with the completely the opposite suggestions!

We also tend to "keep going" as we find that we acclimatise better that way, but as mentioned already it does depend on your children! We do tend to do more relaxing things on the first day but we stay out of our hotel room and then come back and crash as soon as we've finished dinner. By the next morning, we tend to be right.

I am always a big fan to do cruises LAST. It is by far the most relaxing part of the holiday and is a great way to finish it. We have been on a Disney that ended in LA. Its not very far from LAX. You wouldn't necessarily have to base yourself near the port.

 

[NZMUM]

Chipping in here. We do the cruise 1st, park after. Why? Because we hate leaving the ship and having more Disney to look forward to helps make it seem not so bad.

Also after a long flight you might find trying to do Disneyland really hard/tiring and not as enjoyable as you would like. At least on the cruise you can relax & don't have to go go go straight away.

 

[Travel Mum]

When we last went to L.A. we did a cruise and Disney. We flew into L.A., spent two nights at a hotel down in Long Beach (Seal Beach actually), did our Mexico cruise, then did Disney last. I definitely recommend you have at least one night in L.A. between your arrival and your cruise because, not only will you be jet-lagged, you need to do that grace period just in case something happens and your flight is delayed by a day.

In terms of what order to do things in, I will sit on the fence for that! Last time we did the cruise first and this time we are doing the cruise last. This time it makes total sense because we will have a very busy two weeks touring all the parks in Orlando so I certainly wanted to finish the holiday with the relaxing cruise.