Trip Question

[Rambler5678]

We live on the east coast and was thinking of flying and staying seven nights. What advantages do you get by staying onsite vs offsite? I see the dining plan there is different than WDW, has anyone used it? If so how did you like it and what ways did you use it to maximize its value? Has anyone went during Oct. and attended any Halloween activitys? Has anyone booked any other tours of southern california attractions? We was wondering would we need a rental car?

Thanks

 

[spaceace510]

We live on the east coast and was thinking of flying and staying seven nights. What advantages do you get by staying onsite vs offsite? I see the dining plan there is different than WDW, has anyone used it? If so how did you like it and what ways did you use it to maximize its value? Has anyone went during Oct. and attended any Halloween activitys? Has anyone booked any other tours of southern california attractions? We was wondering would we need a rental car?

Thanks

As for the hotel part i would suggest staying at the Grand Californian. You are literally in the heart of property. Everything is within easy walking distance. The service is excellent, the food is good, and the theming super. Check out my trip report in the DL trip report thread for some pics! And if you plan on just doing Disney you don't need a car. You can use shuttles to and from the airport and to most other attractions.

 

[DLR29]

Well you should start here (DLR tips for WDW vets by Hydroguy, yes we link to each other's threads quite often): http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599

That should answer a lot of questions.

As for the onsite/offsite debate. At WDW staying onsite means more hours in the park (EMH), option to purchase dining plan, use of extensive transportation, closer to the parks, amazingly themed pools, and a high quality atmosphere in general. At DLR, none of those are perks for onsite guests except the pools and atmosphere. The onsite hotels are farther away from the park gates than some offsite hotels. There are literally dozens of walking distance hotels that you can find incredible rates for.

There are not that many more advantages to staying onsite. Some minor benefits I can think of are: package pick-up/delivery to your room, able to have more than one Magic Morning, and character meals in the hotels. However if you are a WDW and are used to staying at onsite hotels, be sure to know that all 3 onsite hotels are in the same category as a "Deluxe" resort at WDW, therefore prices will be high.

The dining plan at DLR is inferior (IMO and many others here) to WDW's because:
a) It doesn't save you money, just convenience.
b) You don't get a set amount of food. You get a set amount of dollar amount vouchers and when you use those vouchers you don't get change. So for example if you want to pay for something that costs $4.95 with a $5 voucher, you will lose 5 cents. That's not a big deal, but if you have run out of $5 vouchers, you need to either pay in cash (which defeats the purpose of a dining plan) or pay with a $10 voucher and lose $5.05 (which can add up significantly)
c) You can't use the vouchers at Downtown Disney restaurants

If you plan on visiting other So. Cal attractions then go ahead and get a rental car. If DLR is the only thing on your list, the only transpotation needed to tour the resort is your feet. No cars, boats, monorails or buses needed.

 

[ironpig70]

been to disneyland several times so i'm not an expert like some here. i have not heard of any meal program. when we go(family of 5) we stay offsite which means a hotel across the street an easy walk for the kids to the park and sometimes a long walk home but it's alot cheaper. we are not big into breakfast so the free continental breakfast works and we always take some to go. now with kids they are starving but just need a snack so we take those in with us. lunch can be in the park or a quick walk out. kinda nice to get out mid day when the place is packed. and dinner is usally in the park but again it's really not that far to go out of the park. remember that the food in or out is roughly the same price. anyhow last time we went(spring break time) we where in our rooms about 7 hours a day so a no frills/no service hotel works cause we are only sleeping there.


and for reference i have been to wdw and there onsite is near mandatory.

 

[bumbershoot]

You can't *really* maximize the dining plan.

You can choose Goofy's dinner as the character meal you get on the voucher, instead of, say, breakfast at some other character meal, which gives you a couple extra bucks.

The only other way to maximize it is to plan what you're going to eat and what denomination voucher you will use, so that you will neither lose money by spending UNDER the voucher (no change given back!) nor lose money by having to pay OOP *over* the voucher.

There ARE people who like the dining plan.

But really, it's more of a pre-payment plan than anything else, and I pre-pay for meals and souvies by buying and earning Disney gift cards, which I then pay with for almost everything (not all the ODVs can take cards).


If you can stay on DVC points, go for the GCH.

If you don't want to spend scads of money, stay offsite. I personally don't see the value in spending hundreds of dollars for a bedroom. Even for our honeymoon we were sure to get a bargain rate at the Westin Grand in BC before our as-bargain-as-possible Alaska cruise. Spending as much on a room as one could for a bed itself doesn't make us happy. So we like the HoJo, especially b/c now they have Westin-style beds.

Halloweentime is fun, even if you don't do the extra party over at DCA. It's all decorated and it's really cute.

We don't book tours of So Ca, mainly b/c my brother and SIL live in San Diego and will show us around anyway. Gray Line bus line has tours, where you pay for ticket plus the trip, or some other parks (seaworld, I think) you just pay full price for a ticket and get transportation for free. Definitely worth looking into!

 

[Rambler5678]

Hi,

Thanks for the great info. I see on Disneyland website where you can buy the gift cards. That sounds like a great idea to use for food/gifts etc. I also took your advice and looked at graylines site. They have some great tours. Do you think a five year old girl would like knots berry farm better or legoland? I also saw a hotel called candy cane that had great reviews on expedia and travelocity, has anyone stayed there? I like the free shuttle they offer. Is universal studios like the one in orlando?

Thanks

 

[mikayla73]

Here's a link to some pics of the DL area hotels.

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1745747

We have not stayed at the CCI, we prefer to stay where we don't need a shuttle, like the Tropicana, Park Vue, and Best Western Anaheim Inn. It's just easier for us to walk across the street, than to be bound by shuttle service. Although the CCI is in walking distance, but it is probably a 5-10 min walk.

I have only been to US in Hollywood, and not in Orlando, but USH was a good day trip. We had fun, but I wouldn't spend more than a day there. I think we even got back to our hotel in time to spend the evening at DL when we went (we had AP's so a partial day wasn't a big deal). The shows and tours were interesting, and the rides fun. It has been a couple of years since we went.

I can't help with KBF vs. LL as I have never been to LL.

As someone mentioned above, if you are using points, the GC is a great use of them, IMO. We have used our points to stay at the DLH and GC. It was nice to get the "bill" for $0.00 under the door at the end of our stay
Have a great trip!