1st Disneyland Trip Plan...

[melflip8]

Hey All!

I am heading out to Disneyland in exactly a month (squeeee) for the first time, and had a tentative plan in place. Wanted the DLR experts to view it over for any pointers:

Hotel: Anaheim Marriott

- Can you walk from this hotel to the resort? Any idea, how far it is walking wise?

Day 1: Thursday, August 29th

Land in LAX (I know) at 10:10am, thinking we'll be at the hotel by 1pm at the latest. Plan is to head to DL and get lunch at Carnation Cafe, and then do some Fantasyland rides and hit up Fantasmic. I would think a weeknight would be the better night to see it? Thoughts?

Day 2: Friday, August 30th

DCA Day! Goals are Radiator Springs Racers, Aladdin Show and World of Color

- I think we'll do Carthay Circle for lunch or dinner, and use it for the WoC FP. Any recommendations on if Carthay is better for lunch or dinner?

Day 3: Saturday, August 31st

The Return to DL!

Goals: As much as we can! Indiana Jones, Matterhorn, Space Mountain... Will Haunted Mansion be closed yet for the overlay?

Food: Plaza Inn, Blue Bayou...any other recommendations?

Day 4: Sunday, September 1st - Half Marathon Day!

Need a recommendation for a good recovery breakfast/brunch spot? Storytellers?

Day 5: Monday, September 2nd

Last Day!

Planning on covering whatever we missed from the other days...

Food: Napa Rose, Chef's Counter.


Any other overall tips, food recommendations, or plans you can think of are most helpful!

 

[Californian Elitist]

It looks like you've got 1-park tickets. Is that correct?

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Walking from the Anaheim Marriott can be done, but it is a little over a mile's walk. If you don't feel like walking a mile each way, look into whether the hotel offers a shuttle. Worst case scenario, you can walk across the street to the Toy Story parking lot and ride their shuttles as well.

The park hours aren't up yet for your visit, but it doesn't look likely that Fantasmic will be playing on Thursday. If the fireworks are playing that night, see them, do Fantasmic on Saturday (and see the second show). The Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Mad Tea Party will all be closed during your stay.

I'm not a fan of Carthay Circle, so I would recommend doing anything but. Others disagree with me, just my two cents.

Paradise Garden Grill and Flo's V8 Cafe are the best counter service in DCA; French Market and Plaza Inn take top honors at DL. Blue Bayou is okay food in an amazing atmosphere; Cafe Orleans is a better value with better food, but it isn't inside Pirates of the Caribbean.

Plaza Inn and PCH Grill offer the most relaxed of the character breakfast options. Personally, if characters aren't an issue, I'd go to the delightful Sunday jazz brunch at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen in DTD.

 

[melflip8]

It looks like you've got 1-park tickets. Is that correct?

We have Hoppers, but I am stuck in WDW 1 park per day mode it seems, lol.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

We have Hoppers, but I am stuck in WDW 1 park per day mode it seems, lol.

Hopping at DLR is stupidly easy. As @TP2000 often points out, walking from Mickey's Toontown at the back of DL to Paradise Pier at the back of DCA is like walking from Spaceship Earth to the American Adventure. Traversing the two parks when you feel like it is very easy, and you can have a Fastpass from each park.

 

[007mickey]

- I think we'll do Carthay Circle for lunch or dinner, and use it for the WoC FP. Any recommendations on if Carthay is better for lunch or dinner?

Don't know if it matters but when we made our first trip this summer, we did the lunch at Carthay for WoC FP's and were a little disappointed about the "pre-set menu" that was offered to receive the WoC FP's. It wasn't terrible but I wanted to choose from the full menu. I can't say if this has changed or dinner is different from lunch but I thought I would share this. I hope you have a great time!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I like the Carthay Circle theater, but I've only had lunch there. We went in June when they switched over to having a WOC prixe fixe menu, it was still good food though. We really wanted to try the biscuits and the firecracker duck wings and they were not on the WOC menu so we splurged and ordered them extra. The cheddar jalapano biscuits worth totally worth the extra cost but the duck wings were so super spicy it was tough to get our tasters back.

 

[TP2000]

Hopping at DLR is stupidly easy. As @TP2000 often points out, walking from Mickey's Toontown at the back of DL to Paradise Pier at the back of DCA is like walking from Spaceship Earth to the American Adventure. Traversing the two parks when you feel like it is very easy, and you can have a Fastpass from each park.

@Cosmic Commando is the one who uses this great satellite images that sums it all up.

The entire Disneyland Resort, including Disneyland, DCA, Downtown Disney, the three Disney hotels, parking and all internal transportation and arrival facilities are on a piece of land almost identical in size to Epcot and the adjacent Boardwalk and Yacht Club hotels.

And within those two very walkable and immediately adjacent Disneyland Resort theme parks there are as many rides, major attractions and night spectaculars as the four WDW theme parks combined. DLR's two parks have two parades, WDW's four parks have three parades. Bring good walking shoes, and you'll be up for a crammed-packed Disney entertainment experience unlike any other.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Hopping at DLR is stupidly easy. As @TP2000 often points out, walking from Mickey's Toontown at the back of DL to Paradise Pier at the back of DCA is like walking from Spaceship Earth to the American Adventure. Traversing the two parks when you feel like it is very easy, and you can have a Fastpass from each park.

But then, hopping at DLR is easier than at WDW and less necessary as well. It's a paradox. In 2013, are you ever going to think, "Oh man, I'm stuck in Disneyland/ I'm stuck in DCA! There's nothing to do!" ? Not likely. Sure, if you're in DCA on your last day and are without park hoppers, you might wish you could hop over to ride Indy or Pirates one last time, but you'll always want one more ride. I'm really not sure which is better: hopping or having a few extra churros. Wait, I don't care; I have a Premium Annual Pass.

Seriously though, I would only miss hopping on the last day, I think. I don't think you can go wrong either way. If you're trying to save money, it's something you can cut without sacrificing much.

 

[melflip8]

Thanks all! The Park Hoppers are already purchased so not a major deal, I am sure there will be a fair bit of winging it the whole time.

 

[melflip8]

Paradise Garden Grill and Flo's V8 Cafe are the best counter service in DCA; French Market and Plaza Inn take top honors at DL. Blue Bayou is okay food in an amazing atmosphere; Cafe Orleans is a better value with better food, but it isn't inside Pirates of the Caribbean.

Plaza Inn and PCH Grill offer the most relaxed of the character breakfast options. Personally, if characters aren't an issue, I'd go to the delightful Sunday jazz brunch at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen in DTD.

Flo's and Plaza Inn are definitely on my list! I am on the fence about Blue Bayou, I may just have to do it for the atmosphere and ambiance. Hadn't heard of Paradise Garden Grill, so I will add that to my list for DCA, same with French Market for DL!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

It is nice to have the park hopper especially if you are a late night person because DL seems to be open later than CA but I agree if you are trying to save some money they aren't necessary as you can find enough to do for the day in each park.

 

[TP2000]

Seriously though, I would only miss hopping on the last day, I think. I don't think you can go wrong either way. If you're trying to save money, it's something you can cut without sacrificing much.

That's exactly how they handle multi-day tickets at Tokyo Disneyland, and it works wonderfully for me. I buy a 3 day Tokyo Disney Resort ticket and stay on property. The first day you choose which park you want to go to, but your ticket is only good for that one park that day. The second day you go to the other park that you didn't go to yesterday, and the same rules apply. Finally, on the third day, your ticket becomes a true park hopper and you are allowed to visit either park at any time that day.

Now that DCA has been fixed, and with Monstropolis on the way, the Disneyland Resort could easily get away with such a ticket concept for 2 or 3 day tickets or longer.

 

[jrlbc06]

I just bought plane tickets this morning for September. So excited!!

I highly recommend Flo's V8, it was so good! Blue Bayou was delicious and an awesome environment, but very pricey.

For character meals, Goofy's Kitchen breakfast and Storyteller's Cafe dinner were both excellent! PCH Grille was also good!

Per touring plans, here are the upcoming refurbishments that will be ongoing on your dates!


Attraction or Dining Venue Start Date Finish Date
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad 1/7/13 10/30/13


Haunted Mansion 8/26/13 9/12/13
Matterhorn Bobsleds 8/26/13 8/29/13

 

[tare]

Our second trip in September. So excited. I would definitely eat at the plaza. Such good fried chicken!!!

 

[Laura]

Hotel: Anaheim Marriott

- Can you walk from this hotel to the resort? Any idea, how far it is walking wise?

The Marriott over by the convention center? I would never want to walk that far. Yuck. Just take the ART shuttle. It picks you up by the front of your hotel every few minutes and only costs a couple bucks. The Marriott is across the street from the Toy Story parking lot, but even walking from the hotel to the Toy Story buses is a giant haul. The hotel is situated pretty far back from the road, and the Toy Story buses are no where near the entrance to the parking lot. When we stayed at the Hilton (in the same complex at the Marriott), we either drove to the Toy Story lot and took the shuttle from there, or we took ART.