Disneyland and So-Cal Pre Trip Report

[Tinkerfan4ever]

The past few months have been spent gathering information, reading books, and loving this forum as my family and I plan our first trip out West to see the original Disneyland. Some of you may remember I asked for advice on here several months ago, and recieved so much help. I want to thank everyone for the advice but especially @raven24 and @TP2000 as I went back the their advice many times as this trip began to take shape.
We are now only 26 days (!!!!!!!!!!!) away from our trip and I would like to share our plans and then update everyone on our experience once we get back.

Going on this trip will be myself, DH, DD6 and DD12. We are DVC members and are quite familar with Disney World. This will be our first trip to California and we will be staying at Paradise Pier. We decided to spend 4 days at Disneyland/CA, one beach day, one day Sea World, and one day at San Diego Zoo.

So here it is...........

8/22 - we will arive at John Wayne Airport at around noon CA time. We will grab our rental car and drive up to Paradise Pier. We plan on making a stop at a WalMart/Target/Grocery store to grab some snacks and breakfast food for the room. We may hold off on this though to see what the fridge situation is in the room...with all the swapouts going on, we don't want to have cold food and no where to go with it. Once we get settled we will get our tickets, swap our photopass voucher for the photopass card and hang out at Downtown Disney until we are tired. We will try to stay up and watch World of Color from the hotel. (just depends on the kids and how they are dealing with the time change).

8/23 - Spend the day at DL/DCA. It is an early entry day at DCA and we hope to have adjusted to the time change quick enough to take advantage of this! We will spend the entire day between the 2 parks and plan on seeing Fantasmic this night.

8/24 - Beach Day. I have family in San Diego, so we are going to drive down there and go to beaches with them there. They really like (forgive me....this will probably be spelled wrong) La Jolla Beach. We will stay with family this night as we have plans in San Diego the next day too.

8/25 - San Diego Zoo - We will be going with the family to the zoo. Both of my kids are uber excited about the zoo day (which is strange since they could care less about zoos around here). End of day drive back to Paradise Pier

8/26 - DL/DCA with early entry at DCA. We will definately be taking advantage of the early entry this day.We will watch WOC this night for sure!

8/27 - DL/DCA with early entry at DL. Again we will take advantage of the early entry. Hopefully WOC again!

8/28 - Sea World Day - we will again meet up with family and spend the day at SW. My DD6 is so excited to see the whales.

8/29 - DL/DCA with early entry at DL. - Probably try to catch WOC one last time (see... I listened..watch it more than once!)

8/3- check out of Paradise Pier - spend some time at Downtown Disney before heading back to the airport.

One of the hardest things for me being so familiar with Disney World was dining. 180 days making reservations. We made NO reservations for DL! Since we have 4 of us and 4 days in DCA/DL each of us will pick a day to decide where to eat. (DD6 has already picked Flo's and snacks at Cozy Cone... I have picked the Plaza... DH and DD12 will probably just pick when we are there) I have a list of all the places that were recommended and we will use that if we just can't decide.

I think that is about it! We are so excited. I will post pictures and thoughts when we get back!

 

[Californian Elitist]

@Tinkerfan4ever I can't believe your trip is coming in less than a month. That sure was fast! Your trip sounds like it's going to be so much fun. La Jolla is very beautiful, your family picked a great beach. Sea World and the San Diego Zoo will be a great San Diego combo. I've stayed at the Paradise Pier and I loved it, I'm sure you will, too!

I believe you are the second WDW vet I've heard to not make dining resections (behind @Cosmic Commando ). How does it feel? Hahaha, I know it's strange. The good thing is you and your youngest daughter have picked great places to eat and they're quick service. You're on the right track. I'm curious as to what your hubby and eldest daughter will choose. Something good, I hope.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Sounds like you have a good trip planned. Being a WDW vet, it is strange not planning a lot of dining for Disneyland but it is actually really nice too. There are some good QS options in Disneyland, the Plaza being one of the best!

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

I'd recommend seeing Fantasmic one night instead of WOC; Fantasmic is a far better show here than it is at WDW.

 

[Tinkerfan4ever]

We do plan on seeing Fantasmic on our first day at DCA/DL 8/23. Of the 4 days we are spending at Disney, that is the only day Fantasmic is showing according to the park calendars. Otherwise we would try to watch it twice and WOC twice. I wish it was showing more often... but that is why we have it as a must do on our first full day.

 

[TP2000]

How very nice of you to come back and give us a status report! Your trip sounds wonderful, especially for the age range of the kids involved. They'll love it!

A few random thoughts;

There's a large Target store about a mile and a half from the Paradise Pier Hotel. It's down on Harbor Blvd. in Garden Grove, near all the big hotels that were built there recently. It's not a new or affluent neighborhood, as Garden Grove and central Anaheim is made up of older 1960's tract homes and a solid working class vibe, but it's clean and safe and convenient. It's also easy to drive there from the hotel. The desk clerk at the Paradise Pier Hotel can give easy directions, and likely has an area map to offer, if you just ask "How do I get to the Target down on Harbor Blvd.?".

Opposite of Garden Grove on the socio-economic ladder is La Jolla. La Jolla is a wonderful beach town, and epitomizes the SoCal family beach scene. (The rowdier party beaches of San Diego are further south, at Pacific Beach) I used to hang out in La Jolla a lot in the 1970's and 80's when some hoity-toity relatives of mine lived there and belonged to the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club. I still occasionally stop by for dinner.

California Culture Lesson #472: La Jolla is pronounced Luh Hoy-yah. You can have the kids practice that on the plane.

I'm so glad to hear you are relaxed on the dining reservations. Unless you wanted a fancy dinner at the Blue Bayou, Carthay Circle or Napa Rose, you don't need 'em in Anaheim. Several wonderful walk-up restaurants serving food on china and with silverware (a concept exclusive to Anaheim for some weird reason) are Flo's V8 Café and the Paradise Garden Grill restaurants in DCA, or the Plaza Inn or French Market in Disneyland. You can stop there for hearty lunches or dinners, sit on the patio and listen to the bands (French Market or Paradise Garden) or watch the amazing scenery go by (Flo's or Plaza Inn), and have a good family dinner while still maximizing touring time and not having to hassle with reservations six months in advance.



That's a dining concept that is elegant in its simplicity and presentation, and for the life of me I have no idea why they don't do the same thing at any of the WDW parks. At WDW it's either a fast food burger on a plastic plate or a drawn out 3 course table-service you had to reserve 180 days in advance. Disneyland has wonderfully casual options that slot in between the fast food burgers and the fancy table-service restaurants.

 

[teacherlady19]

>>That's a dining concept that is elegant in its simplicity and presentation, and for the life of me I have no idea why they don't do the same thing at any of the WDW parks. At WDW it's either a fast food burger on a plastic plate or a drawn out 3 course table-service you had to reserve 180 days in advance. Disneyland has wonderfully casual options that slot in between the fast food burgers and the fancy table-service restaurants.>>

We noticed this last year at WDW. The burger places got old very quickly, as did the reservations to eat. One day we were out in Orlando anyway (went up to Universal for the day), so we stopped and brought back Olive Garden to our room at PopC.

La Jolla has several beaches, but perhaps you are speaking of La Jolla Shores. My daughter loves that beach.

Our Zoo here in San Diego is world-renowned. It is also HUGE. If you are familiar with DAK in Orlando, there may be parts of the SD Zoo that will seem very familiar to you. That's because one of the prime DAK designers was a former exec from SD Zoo. We felt right at home at DAK last year; perhaps you will have the same experience. Just no safari rides (those are at the SD Safari Park, a 25 mile drive from the Zoo) or Expedition Everests to ride. Don't miss the children's zoo -- your DD6 will love it! (Don't carry any papers into the area. The goats will eat them!)

You probably picked a good time to come out. Many schools in the LA/SD area start the week of the 19th and the 26th of August.


Donna