Trying to do too much? DL and Beyond trip

[disneydarling07]

Hello there! We are getting ready to start planning our family trip to Disneyland and parts of California. We are using DVC points to stay at a Disney hotel.
We would like to use the points and stay at a DL hotel for the whole week and still be able to travel to LA and Burbank.

Is this possible? I know the back and forth would be time consuming, but not having to change hotels would be beneficial to us.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Hello there! We are getting ready to start planning our family trip to Disneyland and parts of California. We are using DVC points to stay at a Disney hotel.
We would like to use the points and stay at a DL hotel for the whole week and still be able to travel to LA and Burbank.

Is this possible? I know the back and forth would be time consuming, but not having to change hotels would be beneficial to us.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

I have been visiting Disneyland and the wider LA area for the last 15 years. In my opinion its a false economy to just base in Anaheim. You really do need 2 locations.

Stay in Anaheim for Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm and Huntington Beach areas.

Stay in Hollywood / Burbank for the studio tours, Universal Studio, Hollywood Walk of Fame, museums, Beverley Hills, Santa Monica / Venice.

Disneyland is approx 90 minute drive to Universal Studios and approx 60 minutes to Hollywood. The traffic is exhausting , especially when you are go go go trying to fit in all you want to do. The sheer size and how spread out the entire greater LA area is really over whelms first time visitors.

 

[LKing]

You might glance at some of the conversations happening in the California & The West forum.

 

[LKing]

You posted on the Disneyland Community Board which is less about trip planning. Try posting your question in the main Disneyland forum here. To start a new thread, look under the page numbers but above the yellow sticky that says, "Heads up when referring to other sites."

 

[mariezp]

It's been quite a few years since we've done anything outside of Disneyland but in our earlier years we did get out and explore the areas you mentioned and then some. There are definitely quite a few things to see outside of Anaheim so I can't fault you for wanting to look around. I will say, in our case, we eventually decided we'd seen all we needed to see and decided we would simply rather spend all out vacation time between DL and CA.

First thought is to just go ahead and make the day trips you want to do. You are already aware of the hassle of driving so if you are
up to the challenge just do it. Get up extra early in the day to get where you are going and be prepared to get back late.

Next suggestion I have, and is one we have done, would be that you start your trip in California outside of the Disneyland area. Get a hotel for a couple days closer to all you want to do and then move hotels for your big stay at Disney.

Third option, and possibly the best... Start with a hotel stay for 1 night outside of Disney and do whichever activity/activities that will take the longest part of a day. Move to Disney. Spend a few days in the park. Take a single day off to make the crazy drive and see whatever else you want to do. Spend a few more days in the park.

Whatever you decide, I would suggest you make your plans for outside of Disneyland to fall on the weekend when the park is so crowded. That will leave you the lesser crowded days to enjoy inside the park. Good luck deciding what works for you and your family!