a few questions please..

[cyndibelle]

Hi there..we are disney world veterans and well i am feeling like it might be time to spread our wings and try a new park..soo..here are a few things i would like to know...how many days do you need to really see everything there is to see...what airport do you fly into?? what is the cheapest on site hotel??? ummmm ok i think that is it for now..thanks so much for any help.

 

[Uuaww]

fly into sna which is orange county, there are only 3 disneyland hotels (paradise pier, disneyland hotel, grand californian) thats also the order from cheapest to most expensive. PP isn't much cheaper then DLH, so if you really like DLH, go for it, GC is expensive though. I would say about 5 days should be enough, 3 for MK and 2 for CA.

 

[hlbtimes2]

Airport: Either SNA (John Wayne/ Orange county) which is 12 miles away. Or Long Beach which is 14 miles away. We usually do SNA, but our next trip we are using long beach. I got a great deal on direct flights from Seattle. You can use LAX, but its big, busy and a bit of a distance away.

Cheapest onsite is Paradise Pier. It is also the furthest away and the smallest of the 3. We stayed there in Oct. Its nice enough, and the staff is great. But, we probably wouldnt spend the money to stay there again. There are plenty of off site places that are at least 1/2 of the price, and are walking distance. Candy cane inn and Hojo's (howard johnson) both get great reviews.

As for time- depends on your party. We usually do at least 3 days. Two in DL and one in DCA (really we split them up, but that is about what it works out to). Is you have kids, of course it willl take you longer. If you want to see Fantasmic! or the fireworks you will spend at least a couple hours holding a spot. Dont miss the Aladin show in DCA- it is great!

 

[Pir8girl]

cyndibelle:

Are there children in your group? If so I would want at least two days at DL and 1 or 2 at CA. If it's just for adults, you can do it quicker. DL is much smaller than WDW.
We love to stay on site, and we stay at either DLH or GC because PP is too far in my opinion and like the op said, if you're going to walk you might as well stay at the Candy Cane Inn and save some $. PP used to have its own entrance into CA but it's been closed for a couple of years. However, one advantage to staying at pp is that you can use the GC entrance into CA and have access to all the hotel pools.
On site works for our family because I often travel with my kids alone and ds is only 6. Last year he fell asleep in the hub during the fireworks! If I had to get him to walk all the way to PP he wouldn't have made it .
Also, staying on site seems more special for me. I think this is because as a kid we never stayed at the hotel because we only lived 15 miles away.

 

[cyndibelle]

thank you all for the info..we do have two kids..not sure though if we will take them with us or not....do you get any special perks for staying on site as to opposed to off ?? and your saying everything is in walking distance ?? is there any reason to use the monorail ??

 

[hlbtimes2]

cyndibelle:

However, one advantage to staying at pp is that you can use the GC entrance into CA and have access to all the hotel pools.

When we were there in Oct, they were no longer offering that. We asked because we wanted to go to the DLH neverland pool. The day we checked out we got a notice that the PP was having work done and we could use the DL pool if we wanted to. But, we didnt have time, we had to get to the airport.

 

[tiggersis]

thank you all for the info..we do have two kids..not sure though if we will take them with us or not....do you get any special perks for staying on site as to opposed to off ?? and your saying everything is in walking distance ?? is there any reason to use the monorail ??

They recently had a early mourning entry if you stayed at the resorts but I think that stopped. Other than that, there aren't special perks for staying on site. If you want to use the monorail, then you pick it up at DTD (really close to the DLH and PP) and then get off in Tomorrowland. And yes, everything is in walking distance, but I thought PP was a long walk from the parks. Hope this helps.

 

[cyndibelle]

wow it is sooo suprising to me that everything is within walking distance...it must be a lot and i mean alot smaller than disneyworld....is there anything else to do in the area besides disney ???

 

[disneedee]

there are several airports in la area, ontario is another, we are drivers from oregon so have not experienced airports in california, but i would just shop for the best deal unless crowds really bother you, but hey you wouldn't be going to disney if they did.

hotels, if going for an economy trip i'd pick one of the hotels accross from disneyland, there are several. and some of them are even closer than disneyland hotel. and definitely closer than paridise pier. there is no drive up and drop off from any disney hotel. you have to walk aways with all 3, the grand seems like about 2 blocks, disneyland hotel 4 blocks, pp about 5 blocks. that is a guess.
do not believe the tour books that say only a block from disneyland. in disneyland area a block is at least a half mile. that is a joke with many disneyland people. is it a disney block or a real block?

special perks for staying onsite? you are isolated from real life, you don't have to see traffic, cars, fast food places. you get to enjoy the magic of disney service (and pay for it), nothing really but we love staying on site when we can splurg

if going during a busy time the enhanced fastpass system can be a benefit but you have to stay on site AND purchase your package from AAA


the monorail does not really pickup anywhere for going into the park. the station is about halfway between disneyhotel and grand california, in down town disney.( and i heard parts of it will be down as they are working on it.)
it will get there if you want to wait for it, but you could have walked in less time probably. it is more of a ride than a form of transportation at disneyland.

you can never see everything at disneyland, at least that is how i feel as we only get there every year or two. but in 3 days you can get the feel of both parks and be satisfied that you have done most things and still have something left on your list for next time you come.

 

[Pir8girl]

We ride the monorail

- a lot when we stay at DL hotel:

- when it's very hot outside and we want a hit of a/c - We're Oregonians and the heat bothers my kids

- if we're really tired. Plus my kids think it's pretty cool.

And the walking back to the hotel wouldn't be so bad if you hadn't walked all day in the parks.

 

[disneedee]

disneyland is a much more condensed version then wdw but there aren't too many more attractions in wdw. i felt like things were in the wrong places in wdw, because they spread the rides from 2 parks (dl) into 4 parks (wdw). only been to wdw once.

there are a lot of things to do within a couple of hours of dl and some are closer. seaworld. legoland. knotts berry farm. universal studios. hollywood. beaches. zoos. and more,

 

[cyndibelle]

thank you so much for the info...i am one of those people who i get comfortable somewhere and i just keep going back..but i love disney so much that i want to experience other aspects of it also...

 

[jlovesee]

First of all FLYING INTO FORT WAYNE DO NOT FLY INTO LAX!

I have been to both WDW and Disneyland several times, and I love them both. As my 1st experience was with Disneyland I am a little partial to the original though. There is a HUGE difference between WDW and Disneyland. First Disneyland is so compressed, Main Street USA is much smaller at Disneyland then at Disney World, Pirates feels so crammed into New Orleans Square, and well everything feels a little crammed which it is. I also personally think the Haunted Mansion and Pirates are also quite a bit better at Disneyland then at the world. (Pirates has two drops which are both a little larger then WDW and tells the story better)

Also as people have already said its all walkable, but unlike Disney World, while there IS on property its not like on property at the World, the real world is viewable from pretty much everywhere. Or there is no "you are now on disney property" feeling unless you are either in the hotel, or in a park. Make no mistake the Disney Magic is there its just different.

How Disneyland Resort is laid out is that there is the parking garage (or parking structure as they say on the trams) on one end, that leads into Downtown Disney, which leads to the esplande, a large plaza area between Disneyland and California Adventure. If you have been to Universal Resort in Florida its pretty similar in layout, and walking distances. (parking garage, City Walk, Universal Studios on one side, and IOA on the other).

At Disneyland on property is not like on property at the world, but the last time I was there we did stay at Grand Californian, we are trying to go in January and will probably be staying at the Paradise Pier. I checked mousesavers and it looks like a good discounted room there is about $109, I am hoping to get something around that rate. I still like staying at Disney because I feel like I know what Im getting, you still get package delivery, and well its Disney!

Be careful is you do decide to get an annual pass, while AP's still get you good discounts at the hotels, there are two types, one that includes several black out dates, make sure you know which one you are getting.

Also last time we where there we stayed 3 days, I think that's what we will be doing again, it seems like a good amount of time to see everything at a relaxed pace. I am also hoping to get to see the Main Street Electric Light Parade again, I hope that's still at California Adventure. Its old and a little cheesy but I love it

Jennifer

 

[Chicago526]

My mother and I went in 2003, and stayed three full days. That was just enough to see everything. We weren't rushed, but we didn't take our time, either. I think if you have young kids (10 and under) you may want 4 full days, as you'll be spending much more time in Fantasyland (mama, I want to ride Dumbo AGAIN!) and it will just take you longer to get around the parks with the little ones in tow.

DH and I are going in April, and we'll have 3 and 1/2 days. It will allow us to relax a bit more, after all this is a vacation!