thoughts on 8/27-9/3 itinerary

[mhingher]

My family and I will be staying in Anaheim 8/27-9/3. My girls are 6 & 9 and we're renting a car. Here is what I have planned, any thoughts or suggestions?

8/27: Arrive LAX @ 12pm
Check in - Camelot Inn
Goofy's Kitchen (character buffet) @ 4:55
Keeping this day low key since we're coming from NJ and will be on the plane for 5 hours and dealing with a 3 hour time difference.

8/28: Santa Monica - beach, bike rentals, Pier

8/29: Disneyland/DCA
Lunch @ Ariel's Grotto

8/30: Disneyland/DCA
Lunch @ 12pm, Wine Country Trattoria
Dinner @ 6pm, Carnation Cafe (?)
Not sure if 2 sit down meals is a good idea?

8/31:
breakfast @ Mimi's
Knottsberry Farm
dinner @ Farrel's

9/1: Disneyland/DCA
Breakfast @ 8:20am, PCH Grill (character buffet)
Dinner @ 5:30pm, River Belle Terrace

9/2: Disneyland 5k@ 5:30am (just me)
City Safari Hollywood Hop On/Hop Off bus tour @ 11am

9/3:
Aquarium of the Pacific until 12:30/1pm - planning to be there for 9am opening
Flight home 4:15pm out of LAX

 

[Nonsuch]

...8/30: Disneyland/DCA
Lunch @ 12pm, Wine Country Trattoria
Dinner @ 6pm, Carnation Cafe (?)
Not sure if 2 sit down meals is a good idea?

Lunch and dinner table service meals will likely be too much food. I usually book 1 table service meal per day (lunch or dinner), leaving us open for various counter service options.

...9/3: Aquarium of the Pacific until 12:30/1pm - planning to be there for 9am opening...

Check real-time-traffic (Waze or similar) for the best route.

 

[agamble]

I don't know what Farrel's is, but is there a reason you're not staying for dinner at Knott's Berry Farm? Isn't the food one of the big draws of that park? I've never been there but I know I've read something about chicken and boysenberries, etc.

 

[Angrose]

Some thoughts:

Do your tickets come with a Magic Morning? If so, I would take advantage of that one of the days at DL. You can use it on Tue, Thu or Sat, and since you will be coming from the east coast, you will be up early anyway. Try using it early in your trip since it's harder to get up early towards the end.

I would move the beach day to the middle of your trip to get some rest, unless you are not interested in breaking up the park days. 4 days in a row of park days would be a lot for me and my DS8! Also, are you set on going to Santa Monica? It will be busy on a Sunday and it seems out of the way since you just came from LAX the day before, you would be turning around and driving back that way to go to Santa Monica the next day. Have you considered a beach in Orange County? Huntington Beach is nice and Laguna Beach is BEAUTIFUL! Neither will have the amusements like Santa Monica, but Laguna has lovely tide pools and I'm sure you could still rent bikes at Huntington.

If it were me, I'd do something like this:

8/28 Knott's or DL/DCA
8/29 DL/DCA
8/30 DL Magic Morning
8/31 Beach
9/1 DL/DCA or Knott's

Whatever you choose to do, I'm sure you'll have a great time, and good luck with your race!

 

[smartlabelprint]

Agree about doing a beach day on Sunday 8/28. Monday's are equally busy as Sunday IME.

Two sit down in one day during a time with shorter hours is too much.

Knotts chicken dinners are what everyone talks about. But you can do that for lunch. Better yet go to Knotts before dlr. I wasn't impressed. At all.

 

[Indiana Scott]

Deleted - didn't read things right.

 

[NJlauren]

Just saying hi! As we will be there at the same time from NJ and I'm also running the 5k!

 

[bevcgg]

Don't forget to build in time to go to the race expo for your bib.
Lines can be long at times- but they have some fun photo ops the kids might enjoy!

 

[BriannaRuth]

I agree w/moving the break in the middle and using MM if you have it.

My only other comment is that with 6 and 9 year old girls, chances are you will be spending more time in DL than DCA, so plan table service meals accordingly. I would definitely do Ariel's but the day after you might want to plan your lunch at DL instead of DCA, especially if you happen to have a MM that day. I would also plan to take breaks back at the hotel mid-day when it's hot for a swim and/or nap with kids that age. (We still do this and my girls are 12 and 16 now.)

And you probably already know this, but *get there early.* You can ride more things the first two hours than you can all afternoon mid-day, especially if you're spending much time in Fantasyland (which you will with a six year old girl).

 

[mhingher]

Thanks everyone! I'm really excited for this trip. I appreciate all of your input! I actually cancelled the Carnation Cafe dinner before I even read the responses. I realized it would be too much. I like the idea of having the buffet in the am, and then a meal at night though. I can't really move too much around, we're meeting friends who live locally in Santa Monica. Their kids will be in school already and can't meet up during the week. I didn't want to go in the parks the day of the 5k. I know we'll be doing a lot of walking, and we do plan on taking breaks. Even though we'll be there when it's hot, it seems that crowds won't be so bad because they are only open from 10am-8/9pm this week. I bought our tickets through Plum Benefits (my husband's job) so I have a voucher to pick them up. I don't think we have access to the Magic hours because we're not staying on site.

 

[Angrose]

Thanks everyone! I'm really excited for this trip. I appreciate all of your input! I actually cancelled the Carnation Cafe dinner before I even read the responses. I realized it would be too much. I like the idea of having the buffet in the am, and then a meal at night though. I can't really move too much around, we're meeting friends who live locally in Santa Monica. Their kids will be in school already and can't meet up during the week. I didn't want to go in the parks the day of the 5k. I know we'll be doing a lot of walking, and we do plan on taking breaks. Even though we'll be there when it's hot, it seems that crowds won't be so bad because they are only open from 10am-8/9pm this week. I bought our tickets through Plum Benefits (my husband's job) so I have a voucher to pick them up. I don't think we have access to the Magic hours because we're not staying on site.

Most 3+ day hoppers, when purchased in advance, will come with one Magic Morning that can be used only at DL on Tues, Thurs, or Sat. Just take a look at the vouchers when you get them and it should say if you receive the benefit with your tickets. Even tickets that I've purchased through Orbitz had the MM on them. Also, if you get a voucher where you have to go to the ticket booths to change for actual tickets, then I would do it the night before to save you time in the morning when you go into the parks.