1st Disneyland trip and need some HELP!

[Sweet Pea]

Hi, Everyone,

My family and I decided to go on a last-minute trip to DL for July 23-26. But, I'm needing some serious help. I know I'll be buying a book tomorrow, but I'm hoping you all can give me some pointers.

We definitely want to stay on property and are looking at the Disneyland Hotel. However, is it a far walk to DL and DCA? Or, is there some type of transportation available. (We're used to WDW and their transportation system.) We're not renting a car, and I'm a bit concerned about our 5 year old. I wasn't planning on taking a stroller with us since we hoped to get the free strollers in the park using our Disney Visa card. My hubby's fine with $300/night at the Disneyland Hotel but not with $405/night at the Grand Californian, even though that location is obviously much better.

We've done a majority of the character meals at WDW, so what should we try at DL?

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot!!!

 

[LadyDarling]

It's not too far of a walk. You can also take the monorail if you're going into Disneyland.

As far as character meals, I hear Goofy's Kitchen is great!

Make sure you bring PLENTY of water with you and come with a game plan! It will probably be pretty busy that time of the year! If you plan on staying for Fantasmic (and going to the earlier show because of your little one), get a spot EARLY around the Rivers of America. You may want to bring a blanket or something comfortable to sit on while you wait. I've seen some families pick a spot to "camp out" for the show, and then send one member of the family off to get dinner and bring it back so you have something to do while you're waiting.

 

[Nicole220]

Hi, Everyone,

My family and I decided to go on a last-minute trip to DL for July 23-26. But, I'm needing some serious help. I know I'll be buying a book tomorrow, but I'm hoping you all can give me some pointers.

We definitely want to stay on property and are looking at the Disneyland Hotel. However, is it a far walk to DL and DCA? Or, is there some type of transportation available. (We're used to WDW and their transportation system.) We're not renting a car, and I'm a bit concerned about our 5 year old. I wasn't planning on taking a stroller with us since we hoped to get the free strollers in the park using our Disney Visa card. My hubby's fine with $300/night at the Disneyland Hotel but not with $405/night at the Grand Californian, even though that location is obviously much better.

We've done a majority of the character meals at WDW, so what should we try at DL?

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot!!!

To get to the parks from the DLH, you have to walk all the way through DTD. It's a bit of a walk, definitely no more than 10 minutes to get there. Or you could take the monorail, which will drop you off in Tomorrowland.

Goofy's Kitchen is an awesome character meal at the DLH. I absolutely love it! You get a lot of interaction with the characters.

Other meals include: Ariel's Grotto in DCA (princesses), breakfast at the Plaza Inn (DL), Storytellers Cafe in the Grand Californian (only Chip and Dale come out), and Lilo and Stitch breakfast at the Paradise Pier hotel. Of these, I'd suggest Plaza Inn.

Since you're going in the summer, definitely get there right when the park opens. It'll get hot throughout the day, so drink water and bring sunscreen!

I'd suggest arriving an hour early for fireworks and Fantasmic. There are two showings of F! 9 and 10:30 pm. The later showing is less crowded. And if you see the 9 showing, you can stay by the Rivers of America and watch the fireworks from there.

EDIT: and just to add...the DLH isn't anything like the hotels at WDW. Just a warning so you aren't disappointed. The only hotel that can compare to WDW's is the GC.

 

[KingStefan]

IIRC, the walk from the DL hotel to the park entrance is shorter than the walk from many rooms at WDW to the bus stop! So don't worry about that. (I'll look on a map and confirm later)

Have you looked into the Paradise Pier? It's much newer than the DL hotel, and a bit cheaper, and it's more in the middle of things. It's overlooking DCA, whereas the DL hotel is sort of behind the Paradise Pier and the Grand Cal from the parks. I haven't seen the pool area though, as it's on the roof, and I know the pool area for the DL hotel is awesome, but the pictures of the PP pool make it look a bit small. It's just that the DL hotel on the whole is a bit old (although the rooms are renovated) and the PP is brandy new.

DL hotel has a lot of nice theming built into the room renovations, though. You can always go visit the Grand Cal anytime you want, too. The Grand Cal is really awesome.

 

[TP2000]

Hi, Everyone,

My family and I decided to go on a last-minute trip to DL for July 23-26. But, I'm needing some serious help....

Not to pick on you Sweet Pea, but what is it with this board and Easterners who constantly show up and ask for information with the basic topic "Hi, I'm from the Midwest/East Coast and after going to WDW 42 times since 1978 I am going to Disneyland for the first time ever in my life. Does anyone have any advice?"

I feel like there should just be a sticky on here with the same standard advice for Easterners on how to spend three days at Disneyland. There's already five different threads about this from five different people, and that's just on the first page of the boards. Over the last month there's been dozens of these same types of threads. It never ends from those Easterners! :ROFLOL:

So, here's my advice I gave in the thread from Tuesday, which is the same type advice I give in all of these threads every month. I should copyright it.....


My tips? Just try to focus on all the things that are unique to Disneyland. Disneyland has about a dozen more attractions than Magic Kingdom does, some of them major E Tickets. Add in the attractions at DCA, and you have a list of attractions that is about the same as Magic Kingdom, Epcot and DHS combined.

Now, many of those attractions are the same ones in WDW; stuff like Soarin', Star Tours, Big Thunder, etc. The building and the queue may be different, but many of the attractions are similar. So stick to the rides you won't see in WDW, like...

StorybookLand Canal Boats (The Classic Walt Attraction)
Casey Jr. Circus Train
Matterhorn Boblseds
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
Alice In Wonderland
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Pinnochio's Daring Journey
Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin
Sailing Ship Columbia
Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes
Indiana Jones Adventure
Tarzan's Treehouse
Monsters Inc. Mike & Sulley To The Rescue
Hyperion Theatre Aladdin Show
Grizzly River Run
California Screamin'
Sun Wheel (great views from the mountains to Catalina to LA)
Heimlich's Chew Chew Train (or at least stroll through Flik's Fun Fair for 10 minutes)
Golden Dreams (see it soon before it gets replaced by Little Mermaid)
Disneyland Opera House First 50 Magical Years

While you are doing those types of Disneyland/DCA exclusives, don't forget to do the attractions that are generally thought of as being a cut above or pleasantly different than the Magic Kingdom version, such as...

Pirates of the Caribbean (You'll learn where the missing 8 minutes went in WDW's version)
Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room (The 1963 original)
Space Mountain (Gerald Ford is no longer in office in Anaheim)
Peter Pan's Flight (dramatically better showmanship and upkeep)

About the only two attractions you could skip because they are technically or artistically inferior in Anaheim are...

Splash Mountain (frenzied, hectic and bizarre compared to the WDW version)
Winnie The Pooh (unless you are a big Pooh fan, of course)

The other thing to remember is that Disneyland has a different vibe than WDW at night. The dry climate allows lots of outdoor dining, plenty of dancing to live bands under the stars, and non stop entertainment once the sun goes down.

Try to see the fireworks from the end of Main Street, and then the 10:30 PM Fantasmic from near the French Market restaurant. Avoid the 9:00 PM Fantasmic as it is the most crowded. Like Pirates of the Caribbean, you'll wonder why they cut out so much stuff from Fantasmic! when it went to WDW.

If you can, also catch the Electrical Parade in DCA one night for old times sake. And the two afternoon parades in each park, Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams and Pixar Play Parade are generally better than any day parade seen in WDW in years. (Except for Block Party Bash, which came from Anaheim of course).

The Disneyland Hotel can be fun to stroll around, especially the lobby with all of the old pictures of Walt entertaining celebrity guests at Disneyland in the 1950's and 60's

 

[KingStefan]

IIRC, the walk from the DL hotel to the park entrance is shorter than the walk from many rooms at WDW to the bus stop! So don't worry about that. (I'll look on a map and confirm later)
...

Yes, the walk from the NE corner of the DL hotel to the entrance to the parks is just over 2000 ft. To put that in WDW prespective, it is about the same as the walk from the bus stop at MK to the carousel in Fantasyland. It is shorter than the walk from the Comtemporary to the MK front gate (which is about 2500 ft). It is about the same as walking from the Epcot front entrance turnstiles to the Canada pavillion. It is just a bit longer than the walk from the Beach club / Yacht club lobby or the Boardwalk Inn lobby to the World Showcase entrance to Epcot.

The monorail station is just a few hundred feet from the DL hotel NE corner.

 

[Sweet Pea]

Thanks everyone! Oh, and BTW, I'm from Texas, not the East Coast. Ya'll have a great weekend!!! :wave:

 

[Rufus T Firefly]

Thanks everyone! Oh, and BTW, I'm from Texas, not the East Coast. :wave:

That's OK we won't hold that against you. :lol:

Have a great time at Disneyland. :wave:

 

[primetime52]

About the only two attractions you could skip because they are technically or artistically inferior in Anaheim are...

Splash Mountain (frenzied, hectic and bizarre compared to the WDW version)
Winnie The Pooh (unless you are a big Pooh fan, of course)

I disagree on Splash Mountain. I'm a Floridian who rode DL's Splash last year for the first time, and I found it to be unique and refreshing compared to WDW's. The lighting and paint jobs seemed much fresher in DL's version, and the AA's looked to be in superior condition. It also has a slightly different feel to it, since you are seated single file in your log, rather than 2 riders side-by-side.

Perhaps the story might flow a little better in WDW's version, since towards the end of DL's, it seems like the final few scenes were sort of all clumped together. I guess that's what you meant when you say that DL's version is frenzied and hectic.

 

[Nicole220]

^ I like DL's Splash better, too.

 

[TP2000]

I disagree on Splash Mountain. I'm a Floridian who rode DL's Splash last year for the first time, and I found it to be unique and refreshing compared to WDW's. The lighting and paint jobs seemed much fresher in DL's version, and the AA's looked to be in superior condition.

I wasn't going to get into the condition of the animatronics and overall facility, since as a Californian you really can't criticize WDW too much on these boards without coming off like a jerk. But since you mentioned it as a Floridian, I'll just say that I agree with you about Splash, and it's a concept that is quite noticeable on all of the compare/contrast animatronic attractions when you do a WDW Vs. Disneyland thing.

But the one thing WDW does have going for it I feel is a slower pace through the first two thirds of the ride, and a different set of dialogue and art direction that sets up the plotline of the ride much better. As very few of us are familiar with the Song of the South story since it has been banned from American shelves by the Political Correctness Police, there really isn't much point of reference to draw upon for the casual visitor riding the "log ride" at Disneyland or WDW.

I think the WDW version does a better job of setting up the basic plot, and the entire reason why Brer Rabbit is running from Brer Fox and Brer Bear, in addition to the significance of the briar patch and the biggest drop. If you polled riders at the exit for both attractions I bet only 1 out of 10 at Disneyland could tell you what was going on, whereas that figure probably rises to 5 out of 10 at WDW.

Regardless, you do get equally wet and have equally as much fun going down the big drop at either Disneyland or WDW. The Tokyo version has a show that is more similar to WDW, but the drop is really quite wimpy compared to the two American versions.

 

[BSikor]

What about Tower of Terror? I visited DCA for the first time a couple of years ago and after riding the WDW version, the DCA one caught me by surprise. It was great. Also don't forget to hit the Mansion, its worth it to see the original or if they have it up, the Nightmare Before Christmas version. Have a great time!

 

[primetime52]

What about Tower of Terror? I visited DCA for the first time a couple of years ago and after riding the WDW version, the DCA one caught me by surprise. It was great. Also don't forget to hit the Mansion, its worth it to see the original or if they have it up, the Nightmare Before Christmas version. Have a great time!

When it comes to Tower Of Terror, I prefer everthing about WDW's version except for the fact that DL's version has a cooler boiler room (it's 2 floors plus the effects lighting is much better) and I love the fact that if you've never ridden DL's version before, you have absolutely NO idea when the drop is gonna happen. In WDW's version you'd have to be an idiot not to realize when the plunge is going to take place.

 

[prberk]

If you have time, make sure you take in some of the real Hollywood, while you are there, especially the newly renovated Hollywood & Vine section of town. It is, of course, the home to the original Grauman's Chinese Theatre, with the forecourt of the stars. There is a mall adjacent to it, with a parking deck. The mall includes the new Kodak Theatre (where the Academy Awards take place).

Across Hollywood Ave. from the Chinese Theatre is the El Capitan Theatre, which Disney owns and uses for premieres, as well as Disney's Studio Store and Soda Fountain, and the studio for Jimmy Kimmel Live. Info on the El Capitan is here: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/el_capitan/

Almost all tours of the stars' homes depart from the Chinese Theatre forecourt, and a short one (like afternoon) is worth it and fun, I think!

And, of course, the original Universal Studios Tour (Hollywood) is a classic!

And you will pass the real "Hollywood Tower Hotel" on the freeway between Hollywood and Disneyland! (Near the Sunset Strip exit, a local can probably show you. It was the inspiration for the ride!)

Anyhow, those are my thoughts. Please post here when you return and let us know what you did, and how you liked DL. I stayed at the DL Hotel and it was great.

Paul

 

[KingStefan]

If and when we ever go, I would want to take in short trips to Catalina and Venice Beach as well.

But this might not be to your taste depending on the length of your trip and how much time you want to spend at Disneyland, so follow your heart!