Disneyland - 1st timer

[egishere]

Thinking about booking at trip to DL for fall break in October.  We have only been to WDW so I don't know much about DL- I would rather go to WDW but the flights to Orlando are $$$ that week and at bad times so DL would work better.

It's now open to non CA residents correct?  Is two days enough to see everything- one day at each park or would three days be better?  What hotels do you recommend?

[kittycatlove]

I'm not sure if it's open yet to non-residents.

But I absolutely LOVE Disneyland. I would probably do three days, but that's just me. The more the better. The parks are right next to each other and it's super easy to park hop (not sure if it's allowed yet either).

We've stayed at the Candy Cane Inn (about a ten minute walk, and they have a shuttle) and have also stayed right across the street at the Park Vue Inn. I loved that motel for the closeness to the entrances.

The one difference is there isn't any pre-planning to do for DL. You show up and go. Again not sure if they are back using their MaxPass system (you have to pay per person per day, it's DL version of FP) But we loved it way more than the FP system. Essentially you don't book any MP rides until you enter the park on that day (everyone is on the same playing field).

[gretchenindisguise]

It opened to non-CA residents June 15th.

We have stayed at several hotels up there.

Grand Californian can’t be beat for location and accessibility, but it’s generally too expensive for us.

We like the Howard Johnson but its a decent walk. They have a good pool area for the under 7/8ish crowd.

We most recently stayed at Best Western Park Place Inn. Location can’t be beat - room was pretty large. Quicker walk to entrances than Disneyland hotel or Paradise Pier.

[gretchenindisguise]

2 days is enough but 3 is nice to feel even less rushed.

[bronxgirl]

Jul 14, 2021 11:48:56 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

It opened to non-CA residents June 15th.

We have stayed at several hotels up there.

Grand Californian can’t be beat for location and accessibility, but it’s generally too expensive for us.

We like the Howard Johnson but its a decent walk. They have a good pool area for the under 7/8ish crowd.

We most recently stayed at Best Western Park Place Inn. Location can’t be beat - room was pretty large. Quicker walk to entrances than Disneyland hotel or Paradise Pier.

This is where we stayed when we went to DL and it was great. I feel like the walk from the park entrance to our room was the same distance from the walk for a WDW park entrance to our bus. This was my first time at DL/CA and i loved them both so much. 

[callmekd]

We felt like we could have done 4 days. We did 1 day at DL and 2 at CA. We could have used another day at DL.

[jewel]

I love Disneyland so much. We had APs before the pandemic 😩

I love the Grand Californian, but it’s really pricey. We’ve been happy with any of the hotels on Harbor, within a block or 2 of the gates crossing. I personally like the Grand Legacy (mostly because they give out good snack bags on your way to the park) but we’ve stayed at most of them on that block. The HJ has a cool water park, but I don’t think it’s worth the extra bit of a walk. For the most part, I just got whatever had the best deal at the time.

I’d do 3 days, if you can. 1 full day at each park and then a mix of your favorite rides (if you have a hopper).

[egishere]

Thanks all! We will do three days then for sure. I'm looking forward to a more relaxed experience vs WDW which is fun but the planning stresses me out!

I'm going to research these hotels today. We usually try to stay in Marriott family properties so I was looking at the Springhill suites or the new JW Marriott...anyone think those would be too far?

[taratru]

Jul 15, 2021 11:49:52 GMT -5 egishere said:

Thanks all! We will do three days then for sure. I'm looking forward to a more relaxed experience vs WDW which is fun but the planning stresses me out!

I'm going to research these hotels today. We usually try to stay in Marriott family properties so I was looking at the Springhill suites or the new JW Marriott...anyone think those would be too far?

That new JW is less than a 10 minute walk if you go out through the gardens. I'd stay there in a heartbeat.

[goldengirlz]

Jul 15, 2021 11:49:52 GMT -5 egishere said:

Thanks all! We will do three days then for sure. I'm looking forward to a more relaxed experience vs WDW which is fun but the planning stresses me out!

I'm going to research these hotels today. We usually try to stay in Marriott family properties so I was looking at the Springhill suites or the new JW Marriott...anyone think those would be too far?

The Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park Entrance is known for its huge pool area. We stayed there last time and it was great, very convenient.

Two days is definitely enough — one for each park. A third day is a nice to have but the parks aren’t THAT big.

[Scout'sHonor]

We stayed at Springhill Suites in 2017 and really liked it. Super easy to get to the parks and I liked the free breakfast.

[egishere]

Thanks everyone! I booked the Springhill suites- I liked their family suite set up with the bunk beds.

We don't need a car correct? Flying into SNA. We will probably visit my kids old nanny in Corona del Mar the day we arrive but I'm thinking we can uber or she might even come pick us up/we will uber back-something like that. Other than that I figure we won't be venturing out from the Disney area/hotel.

[tcu2003]

Jul 16, 2021 9:53:15 GMT -5 Scout'sHonor said:

We stayed at Springhill Suites in 2017 and really liked it. Super easy to get to the parks and I liked the free breakfast.

Ditto this. And there is a cvs you walk by to get to the park that is right by the hotel, so it was handy when I needed to buy more sunscreen.

[ksun]

Definitely 3 days and park hoppers. We always do a minimum of 3 days, and now with Rise of the Resistance and Web Slingers and the challenge of getting passes, I wouldn't do less. As long as your kids don't need car seats or boosters you won't need a car. We always Lyft from SNA to the hotel and either walk or Lyft from the hotel.

[ellipses84]

It’s open to non-residents now. I recommend 3 days minimum. I used to say 2, one for each park but now Disneyland has the Star Wars land and California Adventure just opened the Marvel area so both take more time. We usually go from opening until after fireworks without a break. I personally don’t care for park hoppers because I think you waste time going back and forth but with both of those additions it’s hard to say which park will take more time and it’s hard to get into the Marvel area and the newest Star Wars ride right now. A lot of people go 4-5 days and take breaks but I think 5 is definitely overkill and I’d rather spend a day at the beach.

You have to purchase tickets and reserve your days. We are going at the end of the summer and I’m waffling about DL >CA>DL for our three days because my kids will definitely want to go on the new webslingers ride in the Marvel area. Disneyland reservations fill up faster and I think right now with a park hopper you have to wait until 1pm to switch parks. I was going to consider upgrading our third day to a park hopper or changing our DL reservation to CA for the third day. Remind me and I can update you after our visit. There’s also fb groups that are really helpful to follow right before your trip to find out the latest changes.

[ellipses84]

Coming back for hotel recs. My preference is to stay on S. Harbor Blvd as close to the IHOP as possible because that is where the crosswalk is to walk past the shuttle dropoff towards security which is right between the entry booths to both parks. For hotels, we aren’t picky because we are hardly there. Most of them are old motels cheaply renovated and the only one I didn’t care for was Tropicana, although the location is great. Del Sol was slightly better and had bunk beds + 2 double beds in one room. The Marriotts are are probably the nicest. Tons of people love HoJo but it’s a little further than I like and when I stayed there a few years ago the splash pad was separate from the swimming pool. We drive so our priority is leaving the car at the hotel on our last day after checkout, so we’ve stayed at The Anaheim Hotel the most. The beds weren’t the most comfortable 2 years ago but I think they may have replaced them and you can see fireworks from some rooms. I’ve stayed past the Anaheim Garden Walk mall but that was a LONG walk. I wouldn’t stay that far again, although it was nice to walk through. We also passed the Clementine (on Clementine) and that seems like a nice option, although a bit further than The Anaheim.

I’ve stayed at The Disneyland Hotel and The Paradise Pier Hotel with family who visited which are fantastic and I love the pools / water slides, but I just can’t justify spending that much myself. PP location isn’t as easy as the other two. It seems DW has some more affordable options for Disney brand hotels than DL My relatives got a military discount so it wasn’t so expensive.

[ellipses84]

Jul 16, 2021 11:22:09 GMT -5 egishere said:

Thanks everyone! I booked the Springhill suites- I liked their family suite set up with the bunk beds.

We don't need a car correct? Flying into SNA. We will probably visit my kids old nanny in Corona del Mar the day we arrive but I'm thinking we can uber or she might even come pick us up/we will uber back-something like that. Other than that I figure we won't be venturing out from the Disney area/hotel.

That’s a good option (if it’s the one on the corner of Katella and Harbor). You can still walk up Harbor to get in (hopefully there’s a crosswalk there to cross Katella). You can get a cab/ Lyft /uber easily from the airport. There are small shops and restaurants on Harbor, in downtown Disney or at the Anaheim GardenWalk mall that are in walking distance. It’s also a short drive to the nearest target if you need other things. They have a good selection of Disney souvenirs.

Not sure how old you kids are but I recommend a stroller even if they are 7 or 8 because it really helps on that walk back. We just use it to store our non-valuable stuff and park it / move it once for each land. For a while the lockers weren’t available, but I’m pretty sure they are now. For ride shares you have to bring your own car seats unless you book a specific shuttle service that provides them.

[egishere]

Jul 19, 2021 16:44:10 GMT -5 ksun said:

Definitely 3 days and park hoppers. We always do a minimum of 3 days, and now with Rise of the Resistance and Web Slingers and the challenge of getting passes, I wouldn't do less. As long as your kids don't need car seats or boosters you won't need a car. We always Lyft from SNA to the hotel and either walk or Lyft from the hotel.

Thanks I'm definitely debating the park hoppers.  We barely used them when we had at WDW but I realize it's harder to hop there than DL.  My kids will be 10 when we go so no more car seats!!!

[egishere]

Jul 19, 2021 18:47:32 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

You have to purchase tickets and reserve your days. We are going at the end of the summer and I’m waffling about DL >CA>DL for our three days because my kids will definitely want to go on the new webslingers ride in the Marvel area. Disneyland reservations fill up faster and I think right now with a park hopper you have to wait until 1pm to switch parks. I was going to consider upgrading our third day to a park hopper or changing our DL reservation to CA for the third day. Remind me and I can update you after our visit. There’s also fb groups that are really helpful to follow right before your trip to find out the latest changes.

I was wondering if I can change to park hoppers on our third day?  Do you know?  If not I was thinking DL, CA and DL again for our park days.

[ksun]

Jul 20, 2021 10:16:57 GMT -5 egishere said:

Jul 19, 2021 16:44:10 GMT -5 ksun said:

Definitely 3 days and park hoppers. We always do a minimum of 3 days, and now with Rise of the Resistance and Web Slingers and the challenge of getting passes, I wouldn't do less. As long as your kids don't need car seats or boosters you won't need a car. We always Lyft from SNA to the hotel and either walk or Lyft from the hotel.

Thanks I'm definitely debating the park hoppers.  We barely used them when we had at WDW but I realize it's harder to hop there than DL.  My kids will be 10 when we go so no more car seats!!!

Yeah, we decided against park hoppers for WDW this year. But at Disneyland it's SO easy to hop. 

[ellipses84]

Jul 20, 2021 10:23:36 GMT -5 egishere said:

Jul 19, 2021 18:47:32 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

You have to purchase tickets and reserve your days. We are going at the end of the summer and I’m waffling about DL >CA>DL for our three days because my kids will definitely want to go on the new webslingers ride in the Marvel area. Disneyland reservations fill up faster and I think right now with a park hopper you have to wait until 1pm to switch parks. I was going to consider upgrading our third day to a park hopper or changing our DL reservation to CA for the third day. Remind me and I can update you after our visit. There’s also fb groups that are really helpful to follow right before your trip to find out the latest changes.

I was wondering if I can change to park hoppers on our third day?  Do you know?  If not I was thinking DL, CA and DL again for our park days.

You used to be able to but I can’t find anything definitive on the actual DL website. Seems like for the California deal you cannot and for multi-day tickets I saw on some Disney groups people said you cannot. You can upgrade all the days to park hopper but it sounds like they will charge you the upgrade for all days even if it’s the last day. It still may be worth asking on your last day (at town hall? I heard ticket booths were closed for a while). You’d need to make sure there is availability at both parks reservation wise so it would be a risk. Or you could pay the whole park hopper fee for some of you (like if a kid was heartbroken they missed one ride near the end of your trip).

It might be cheaper to do 4 single days and spend a partial day on your first or last day to try to get a few rides in at the park you only have a full day at. I think the best way to get to do everything you want is to start early and go to your top rides first. Rise of the Resistance and Webslinger rides have some sort of reservation system on the app where you need to login at like 7am and if you miss it you can try again at noon. The standby line to even get into the marvel area has been hours long if you don’t have a ride reservation but it will probably be less crazy by the time you go. Who knows, they may even bring back fast passes by then (which I highly recommended pre-Covid because it came with photopass too). Things are complicated due to Covid changes, but normally DL is way simpler to plan / navigate than DW. Just make sure you have the Disneyland App on all of your phones ahead of time and bring battery power banks.

[gretchenindisguise]

We went in June (the weekend after CA opened back up), so it may be different as capacity is increased - but we were able to walk into Marvel land both days. There was a line in the morning, but after lunch it was walk-in-able. It's also tiny. We were slightly underwhelmed.

We were also able to get boarding groups for Rise 2 days and webslingers 1 day (got very lucky with timing and got on Rise just before 12).

We always do park hoppers. We are just a park hopping family - we get them at WDW as well - I think our last day there we hit 3 parks for specific rides 🤣

[Deleted]

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is that for October, Oogie Boogie Bash is back. We loved it two years ago. That could replace a day at California Adventure.

[egishere]

@princessbubbleyum, I didn't even think to look at that but it looks like it's all sold out the week we will be there!

[Deleted]

Jul 26, 2021 13:34:17 GMT -5 egishere said:

@princessbubbleyum , I didn't even think to look at that but it looks like it's all sold out the week we will be there!

Oh dang. But if you decide to stay on property, they will each have a small amount the morning of each event.