Suggestions for our first night please?

[carinv]

Hi All,

We are coming up from San Diego on the 15th Nov and we are staying at HoJo's until the 20th.

I assume we won't get to Anaheim until at least lunch time (in reality probably 2 pm), and am trying to decide whether to go straight into the parks or mooch around outside and maybe do a character meal for dinner instead.

I am not sure I want to spend $35.99 per head on Goofy's kitchen.

Does anyone have any other suggestion for us?

Thanks

 

[Kayla's Mom]

We are going to be at Hojo's too, Nov. 14-17th! We have 3 day hoppers and will be in the parks on the 14th, 16th and 17th. On our "off day" we are planning on visiting Downtown Disney and hopefully swimming at the hotel if the weather permits.

 

[HydroGuy]

Hi All,

We are coming up from San Diego on the 15th Nov and we are staying at HoJo's until the 20th.

I assume we won't get to Anaheim until at least lunch time (in reality probably 2 pm), and am trying to decide whether to go straight into the parks or mooch around outside and maybe do a character meal for dinner instead.

I am not sure I want to spend $35.99 per head on Goofy's kitchen.

Does anyone have any other suggestion for us?

Thanks

If you go into the parks, that will count as a day on your tickets. Will your tickets allow you that extra day? How old are your kids?

If my tickets allowed me an extra day, I would definitely go into the parks.

 

[carinv]

Thanks HydroGuy,
The extra day on our park hoppers would be $10 per head, so I guess that is a steal compared to Goofy's kitchen!!

I think we will do the afternoon/evening in the park.

Kaylasmom,
How cool is it going to be!!!
This is our first time and we are so excited(Me more than DH and the kids though!!)
See you there,

 

[LucyKate]

If you can arrive at Disneyland then stay outside you are a much stronger person than me!

We arrived at the Hojo after a 14 hour flight from Australia at 2PM on an 8PM closing day (and after being awake for 22 hours) and dumped our bags, showered and went straight in. There was no way we could wait!

But even in that 5 hours we did over a dozen rides and saw the parade and fireworks.

 

[carinv]

Hi LucyKate,
I like your style!!
Thats the true blue Aussie spirit (don't mention the cricket!)

I have read your travel diary, but off hand I can't remember how many days you guys did in DL.
Did you think the no. of days you did was about right for your family?

We are getting to the fine tuning stage of our trip planning and we need to make some decisions!!

 

[LucyKate]

Actually Carin I'd love to mention the cricket - I was born in England and remain a committed Pom! (Now THAT will totally confuse the Americans!)

We spent 5 night at the HoJo in Anaheim, but only 4 days in the park (we took a day off to drive to LA) and I think 4 days was just about right.

I think you need at least 2 full days to see DL and 1 to see DCA and the 4th gave us a chance to redo favourites at both. However, if you have a tight holiday schedule, and crammed more in than us, 3 would be fine.

We were there at a time of very low crowds and were thus able to arrive late, walk on just about any ride, and never rush around. We didn't have, or need a plan and could wander at will.If going at a busy time, I'd be a lot more structured than us, and get there early and stay later.

Our days went roughly like this:
Wed: arrived 3PM - did Dumbo, Snow White, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Mad Hatter, Alice, Matterhorn, Canal boats, Parade, dinner, Astro orbiter, Haunted Mansion, Toad, Star Tours, Fireworks.Park closed at 8

Thu: arrived 10 am After sleep in and big breakfast at Mimi's - got Mickey, Minnie, Goofy photos and autographs, did Splash, Pooh, Haunted Mansion, Tarzan, Jungle cruise, Pirates, Small World, Snow White Show, Honey 3D, Autopia, Big Thunder, Indy, Parade, ate a Turkey leg for dinner, redid a few rides, saw fireworks.Park Closed at 8

Fri: Did 8:30 Princess Breakfast then Gadget Coaster, Cartoon spin, Chip and dale tree house, Bounce House then went to DCA. Did Bug's life rides and 3D, Soarin, Grizzly (twice) Jellyfish, Zephyr, Sun Wheel, Screamin (twice). Park closed at midnight but kids were tired so we left early and saw the Fireworks from our room.

Sat: LA day

Sun: DCA first for Soarin, Grizzly, Muppets 3D and Tower of Terror. Then DL to redo Peter Pan, Splash, Pooh, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Small World, Toad, Big Thunder, Indy, Autopia and a few others.

 

[Clotho]

I had the same reaction as a poster above: I cannot stay away that first day! I will be arriving about the same time on my first day at the park, end of this month, and I fully intend to dash over and start my trip with Mickey.

We originally had 4 day park hoppers, but we looked at when we were flying in and flying out, and realized we had time on our first and last day to spend in the parks, and it only cost us $10 each to upgrade to a 5 day park hopper. So we did! That is a lot of time to spend at Disneyland, even for us, but we intend to bring our cameras with us and have a lot of photography time together--just walking around, snapping photos and enjoying the scenery and people-watching. That is part of the fun of going--to soak it all in. We can be more leisurely this way about all of our time at the parks, and not miss anything. A few sit-down meals, multiple trips on our favorite rides, strolling the shops, grabbing an early seat for the fireworks.

I hope it works out like the fantasy in my head looks! LOL

 

[carinv]

AAAAHhhhhhhh.... LucyKate,
A pom! e-gad!!!!!

All that Pommy cheering is becoming deafening.

(For those who don't know, the Poms have just beaten Australia in the cricket and retained the coverted "Ashes" trophy, for the first time in 18 years ).

As they say in the classic's ....."It's just not cricket!" (said with an uppercrust English accent )

Anyways,
Your DL days sound terrific. You just seemed to fit so much in. Hopefully we will too!


Clotho,
I think we will do the same. For $10 more we will have the option of having part of the 5th day in the parks.

thanks everyone