Disneyland newbie with Logistics/travel questions

[orangecuse]

Hello all!

1. Whats the best way to get from LAX to Disneyland?

2. Has anyone rented a stroller from an outside company for their trip?

3. For a family with 2 younger kids (4 and 6 at time of trip) used to WDW, would you recommend 3 or 4 day tickets, and park hopper or no hopper? Is DTD worth seeing?

4. Staybridge suites vs holiday inn vs holiday inn express?

Any other tips welcome!

 

[whjensen]

I can answer #3 with my opinion. Park Hopper is a much better deal at DL than WDW. When one park builds volume, you walk across to the other. This is especially true with switching between parks starting at 11 now.

 

[orangecuse]

I can answer #3 with my opinion. Park Hopper is a much better deal at DL than WDW. When one park builds volume, you walk across to the other. This is especially true with switching between parks starting at 11 now.

Thank you! It looks like 3 day hoppers may be a better value than 4 day 1 park?

 

[Kerr84]

Lax to Disneyland: you can Uber (but you would have to bring your own car seat/booster seat) or hire a private transfer.

We have a toddler with us so we don’t get park hoppers because it is hard enough to make it around 1 park in a day. So, I would say 4 day 1 park, but I might be in the minority. We went in June and are going again in March, and we only buy 3 day 1 park per day with genie plus. I would highly recommend genie+ if you can afford it.

 

[ComeToSocialize]

Thank you! It looks like 3 day hoppers may be a better value than 4 day 1 park?

Opinions will vary but I would opt for 3 days with Park Hopper and G+ vs 4 day 1 park. Park hopping is way easier at DL than WDW. It’s basically 1 big park.

As for your question on Downtown Disney: DTD is nice, but it’s not as nice as Disney Springs and is a lot smaller. However, DTD is right next to the parks, so it’s not like you have to go out of your way to see it, unlike Disney Springs. You’re not taking a bus there and killing 40 min each way. You can quite easily have lunch or dinner at DTD and head back to the parks. I wouldn’t plan on doing like a half day at DTD compared to what you can kind of do at Disney Springs though.

For LAX, I would just Uber but there are a lot of other options as well. None great like the old WDW magical express.

 

[Kit Jackson]

3. For a family with 2 younger kids (4 and 6 at time of trip) used to WDW, would you recommend 3 or 4 day tickets, and park hopper or no hopper? Is DTD worth seeing?

DTD is worth going to if there a specific store you want to go to or a particular place you want to eat, but I would not call it a destination in its own right.

I would reccomend ParkHoppers because it is so easy to go from one park to the other, especially if there are massive crowds at one park but not the other, or there is rain and more rides are closed at one park but not the other.

Four days with park hopper would allow you more time to see and do almost everything you want, especially if you want to go back to the rooms for afternoons naps/rest.

 

[LSK]

I have used Executive Car Service LAX a couple of times and have been very pleased. It is about $130 one way, depending on the type of car you select. They are prompt and professional and the cars have been clean and comfortable. I'm sure you can Uber for less, but there was a piece of mind for my family in having travel handled ahead of time.

I would also recommend park hoppers. The parks are so close together that you can easily bounce between them throughout the day. Four days with park hoppers would be ideal for my family to do what we wanted while still being able to take it all in and have moments to relax.

Downtown Disney is much smaller than Disney Springs, but it is cute and so close to both parks that you should take time to stroll through it.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Our kids were 2,6&7 on our trip 4/2022. We tried 5 day 1 park for the first time. We’ve always gotten hoppers in the past. Pre-covid we went annually. Next trip we will get 4 day 1 park. The 5th day our 7yo was crying he didn’t want to go.

There’s no way we would have seen any benefit in hoppers. We also don’t do a full day! We come for a few hours, take a hotel break and go back for a few more hours. They’re usually asleep by 8.

We were really happy with city strollers.

There’s no need to go to DTD. We chose to go a couple of times to visit restaurants. We popped into the Lego store. But it wasn’t necessary and didn’t add much to our trip. I had to go deal with a ticket issue so we were already there before a park day, but we definitely wouldn’t add a day just for this. If you want to do something special we *loved* brunch at storytellers. I’ll check reviews again before we book this spring, but we’re planning to return.

 

[smartlabelprint]

Sorry I didn’t read all the comments. Staybridge suites looks close, but it’s in the wrong side of the park.

You’re better off at residence inn, home2suites, Springhill suites. I know they aren’t IHG, but points aren’t worth ubering to the park with car seats every day.

 

[ktlm]

Hello all!

1. Whats the best way to get from LAX to Disneyland?

2. Has anyone rented a stroller from an outside company for their trip?

3. For a family with 2 younger kids (4 and 6 at time of trip) used to WDW, would you recommend 3 or 4 day tickets, and park hopper or no hopper? Is DTD worth seeing?

4. Staybridge suites vs holiday inn vs holiday inn express?

Any other tips welcome!

1. Have you already booked LAX? You might want to at least look into flying into SNA, especially with little kids. It is a much easier airport. It is only 15 minutes or so from DLR. It is small and easy to navigate. Leaving through SNA the check in and security lines are typically short. If SNA is a little higher-- price Uber and whatever transportation services you are planning to use from each place. Sometimes the cost to fly into SNA is made up by it being cheaper to get to the hotel.

3. I would recommend park hopper--- unlike WDW, hopping is a 5 minute process at DLR/DL. The two parks are separated by a plaza. As far as whether DTD is worth seeing-- it starts right next to the plaza separating the 2 parks. It is basically a straight line between the parks and the Disneyland Hotel. You can step out of the park and walk through it anytime. To us, with younger kids, park hoppers are even more of a benefit. For example, say you are at CA on your last day in the morning, and your 4 year old wants nothing more than to ride Small World one more time. Once hopping starts at 11:00 a.m. you can get from the back of CA to the back of DL where Small World is in 10 minutes and have a happy kid. I will say that with the hopping restriction- the line is long right when hopping starts because a lot of people are trying to hop at the same time. You might want to give it 15 minutes-- although it might not be as bad now that they have moved the time up to 11:00 a.m. Also, say your kid's top priority is Toy Story Mania and it goes down and is closed the rest of your CA day--- with a hopper there is no stress, as if you are at DL the next day, you can just hop over to CA and pick it up then.

We like the flexibility of CA/DLR. Everything is within walking distance. You can be anywhere on property (DL/CA/DTD/DLH) within about 15 minutes. It doesn't involve the extreme planning of WDW.

 

[OlliePop27]

Hello all!

1. Whats the best way to get from LAX to Disneyland?

2. Has anyone rented a stroller from an outside company for their trip?

3. For a family with 2 younger kids (4 and 6 at time of trip) used to WDW, would you recommend 3 or 4 day tickets, and park hopper or no hopper? Is DTD worth seeing?

4. Staybridge suites vs holiday inn vs holiday inn express?

Any other tips welcome!

1. If LAX is the only option, I highly recommend getting a shuttle with car seats/boosters to remove stress from the arrival and departure. If you can fly into SNA, LGB or ONT, look into those options. I've used Anaheim Town Car multiple times and had a great experience. If LAX is your only nonstop option, I always advise nonstop over connecting flights.
2. I have used One Stop Mobility, City Stroller, and Scooter Bug. Good experience with all, just check prices and decide if you want delivery to your hotel or pickup. See if delivery is available at your hotel to hold at luggage check or if you need to be present. If you stay at the Holiday Inn Express, the One Stop Mobility is located in the Camelot Inn and will be easily walkable for you to pickup/drop off.
3. I would recommend 4 day park hoppers for a first visit. If you can't do 4 day hoppers, then do 3 day hoppers. I honestly cannot imagine doing DLR without hoppers - as others have noted it's like one giant park. I have a 3 year old and he would want to do Big Thunder (DL) then Toy Story Mania (DCA). It's easy and quick to hop across, and you can book Genie+ for both parks. Genie+ is a much better system at DLR than WDW because of the volume of attractions available. You can typically always find almost immediate return times for certain attractions like Autopia, Buzz Lightyear and others, and you'll almost certainly get Multiple Experience Passes for ride breakdowns throughout the day, which allows you to ride almost any attraction on the list they offer.
4. Based on the locations of the hotels you've noted, the Holiday Inn Express looks like the best option proximity wise to the park entrance. You will enter DLR on Harbor across from the IHOP/Best Western Park Place Inn. You will want to be as close as possible to the entrance for easy walking in and out. Disneyland typically has very long operating hours, often 8:00 - Midnight during busy seasons and weekends, so go early, take an afternoon break/nap, then walk back in the evening. If you can swing something closer, I highly recommend doing so. Look at the Tropicana, Best Western Park Place, Best Western Anaheim, or others on Harbor to the north of Katella. Many people like Candy Cane Inn, which just recently reopened - you will need to go to their actual website as the hotel doesn't show up on travel sites. Harbor is also great because there's a ton of decently priced food options easily accessible - things like McDonald's, Panera, Tony Roma's, Denny's, IHOP, and more. The Garden Walk is also a short walk away with even more restaurants. I also recommend getting a grocery delivery to your hotel for some basic items for breakfast and snacks - things like bottled water, PB&J, apple sauce, crackers, etc.

 

[bcla]

The best way from LAX to Disneyland is probably by car, but if that's not an option there are other ways. If you're frugal and adventurous, you could take the bus. The Metro C Line and then 460 would take you right to Disneyland. I've used the 460 to get to Anaheim, then got around with location transportation. It's over 2 hours though, so you would need to plan accordingly.

The other thing would be using Anaheim Regional (aka Resort) Transportation once you're in Anaheim. Their coverage area includes Disneyland, hotels, and points of interest in Anaheim, Garden Grove, and Buena Park. They have a combination of scheduled routes and an on-demand service. The on-demand service is sort of like requesting rideshare, although they are only allowed to go to specific stops and may attempt to link up as many passengers as possible. However, there were times when it was just the kid and myself, or even just me as the only passenger(s) in a bus that seated 30-40. I asked for a ride from Anaheim to Buena Park and I felt kind of bad about it, but the driver said they do it all the time and don't worry about wasting their time. It's pretty reasonably priced too. I've bought daily passes for $6 per rider and the last time I was there I got a three-day pass for $15.

 

[ballarinamom]

If you rent a stroller from the park, you cannot take it back to your hotel. So keep that in mind for coming and going. We took an umbrella stroller when she was little and left it with our uber driver who was expecting

 

[IanDLBZF from MCMagic]

For 1. You could take the FlyAway bus to Union Station and then Amtrak to Anaheim. That's just my opinion IMHO.

 

[wendlle]

As someone with kids similar ages we always use Lansky from LAX, they are fantastic and have very safe, reliable carseats and the drivers are great.

We always do 4-5 days and no park hopping. I also don't spring for Genie+, with young kids you really don't need it if you aren't going to be doing a lot of "big" rides.

I can't speak for the stroller as we always bring our City Tour.
DTD isn't like Disney Springs, it's literally right between the two parks so it's great for Dinner etc and World of Disney store is also great, but it's not a "destination" like Disney Springs is.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

Our kids were 2,6&7 on our trip 4/2022. We tried 5 day 1 park for the first time. We’ve always gotten hoppers in the past. Pre-covid we went annually. Next trip we will get 4 day 1 park. The 5th day our 7yo was crying he didn’t want to go.

There’s no way we would have seen any benefit in hoppers. We also don’t do a full day! We come for a few hours, take a hotel break and go back for a few more hours. They’re usually asleep by 8.

We were really happy with city strollers.

There’s no need to go to DTD. We chose to go a couple of times to visit restaurants. We popped into the Lego store. But it wasn’t necessary and didn’t add much to our trip. I had to go deal with a ticket issue so we were already there before a park day, but we definitely wouldn’t add a day just for this. If you want to do something special we *loved* brunch at storytellers. I’ll check reviews again before we book this spring, but we’re planning to return.

This is really helpful - we are visiting for the first time in a couple months with a 6 year old.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

As someone with kids similar ages we always use Lansky from LAX, they are fantastic and have very safe, reliable carseats and the drivers are great.

We always do 4-5 days and no park hopping. I also don't spring for Genie+, with young kids you really don't need it if you aren't going to be doing a lot of "big" rides.

I can't speak for the stroller as we always bring our City Tour.
DTD isn't like Disney Springs, it's literally right between the two parks so it's great for Dinner etc and World of Disney store is also great, but it's not a "destination" like Disney Springs is.

Super helpful for me too, thanks!

Are there unique things in DTD that can't be found in the parks? We are not doing any big shopping as I only booked one or two checked bags for the flight back.

 

[Dismama2boys]

I would second the rec for Lansky car service, particularly with small children. They have car seats and are very reliable.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

I would second the rec for Lansky car service, particularly with small children. They have car seats and are very reliable.

Do you tip car services? If so, how much?

 

[bcla]

For 1. You could take the FlyAway bus to Union Station and then Amtrak to Anaheim. That's just my opinion IMHO.

Schedules and service frequency aren’t necessarily that great with Amtrak. But for that trip, Metrolink also covers the same route from Union Station to Anaheim.