First Disneyland trip this decade!

SplashJacket

SplashJacket

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hey all! I’m flying from Atlanta to LAX next month with three friends. We’ve booked the hotel and airfare, so only thing left is purchasing park passes.

We land in LA at 8:00 pm on Wednesday, the 15th of March, and our flight leaves at 10:00 pm Tuesday, the 21st of March.

At the moment, we’re planning one day at Universal, one day at Knott’s, and 4 days at Disney (2 days at Disneyland, and 1.5 days at DCA).

Half the party has never been to Disneyland, and the other half hasn’t been in years.

We’re staying at the Four Points Sheraton, just north of Disneyland and a half mile walk.

Main recommendations we’re looking for are where to buy tickets, days to go to which park, restaurants (on and off property) to go to, and anything we might be forgetting.

Thanks!
 
Vegas Disney Fan

Vegas Disney Fan

Well-Known Member
First priority should now be tickets and park reservations at DL, the only other thing I’d do is make Universal either the first or last park day (including staying at a nearby hotel) since it’s closer to LAX, if you do it in the middle of your trip and have to drive from a hotel near Disney you’ll spend 3-4 hours sitting in traffic that day (roundtrip). Knotts is a short drive from your Disney hotel so no need to change hotels for that.
 
waltography

waltography

Well-Known Member
Consider checking out Undercover Tourist or Get Away Today for your Disney tickets since you can typically save like $10-20 per ticket given you're going 4 days to DLR. I forget which one has the better price for 4-day tickets but typically they're better than buying directly from Disney's site.
 
P

Parteecia

Well-Known Member
Maybe check Goldstar for Knott's.

www.goldstar.com

Knott's Berry Farm

Knott’s Berry Farm is southern California’s original theme park, bursting with attractions and entertainment. Guests of all ages love the park’s first class roller coasters and thrill rides, elaborate stage shows, interactive entertainment, and family friendly fun with Snoopy and the Peanuts™...
www.goldstar.com www.goldstar.com
 
chadwpalm

chadwpalm

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Vegas Disney Fan said:
First priority should now be tickets and park reservations at DL
Click to expand...
It's funny, cause I was just looking at the reservations for single/multi day tickets since I'm planning to go in April and there isn't a single sold out day between tomorrow and June 15th.

Not that the OP should wait, because things can change, but it's amazing how easy it is to get a reservation right now (at least for non-magic key holders).
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
I don't think it has ever been hard for full day payers to make a reservation even on short notice. However if you are a magic key holder that is a different story unless you check next day. I swear the system looks at the number of times you've entered the park and adjusts your available reservations. The more you go the less reservation opportunities there are.
 
SplashJacket

SplashJacket

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What are y’all’s thoughts on converting that Knott’s day to a 5th Disneyland day? Where instead of doing 2 full at Disneyland and 1.5 days at DCA, we could add a Disneyland day, or do 2.5 and 2 full at DCA?

Or should we keep Knott’s?
 
P

Parteecia

Well-Known Member
SplashZander said:
What are y’all’s thoughts on converting that Knott’s day to a 5th Disneyland day? Where instead of doing 2 full at Disneyland and 1.5 days at DCA, we could add a Disneyland day, or do 2.5 and 2 full at DCA?

Or should we keep Knott’s?
Click to expand...
Do you like roller coasters? Fried chicken?
 
PiratesMansion

PiratesMansion

Well-Known Member
SplashZander said:
What are y’all’s thoughts on converting that Knott’s day to a 5th Disneyland day? Where instead of doing 2 full at Disneyland and 1.5 days at DCA, we could add a Disneyland day, or do 2.5 and 2 full at DCA?

Or should we keep Knott’s?
Click to expand...
I love Knott's and am at the point where I can't imagine going to Disneyland and NOT ALSO popping over to Buena Park for the day. There's a fair amount of history and atmosphere, the place is relatively laid back, you have the historic and excellent Calico Mine Ride (inspired Walt) and Calico Log Ride (inspired Tony Baxter; you can tell that they pretty blatantly stole the overall flow of this for Splash Mountain), the Chicken Dinner Restaurant (don't feel obligated to order the fried chicken, but order SOMETHING that gives you the full chicken dinner experience, topped off with Boysenberry Pie a la mode for dessert), the mission displays all lined up in a row by Silver Bullet, the Stagecoach is a fun, old school diversion (slow line though), fun train robbers and diverse rolling stock on their railroad, the Independence Hall replica across the street (ask them to play the little show for you, it's very reminiscent of something old school Disney would have done, albeit lower tech). The coasters are generally speaking fine, but Ghostrider is genuinely one of my favorite coasters ever, it's outstanding. The service has felt far more genuine than Disney as of late. AND you'll be there during the Boysenberry Festival, where they'll be rolling out all sorts of concoctions with the Boysenberry, which was popularized at Knott's!

One recommendation though: if you do Knott's, I highly, HIGHLY recommend splurging for FastLane. Their operations are pretty slow, and FL is tremendously helpful for the Log Ride (which is a must do) and for Ghostrider (it invariably feels like at any given time half of the people in the park are camping out in the queue, which moves SLOWLY), not to mention the other coasters. If FL isn't in the budget, get there before park opening and go IMMEDIATELY to Ghostrider, and don't wait too long to do the log ride either.

At this point, Knott's to me is a far more satisfying 'second gate' than DCA is. I'm not sure when you were last were at DLR, but in my view DCA has fallen precipitously since 2016, and quite a few of the highlights have been watered down since then. You won't need two full days at DCA. I usually go to DLR for five full days, but honestly 3.5 days is enough time to hit everything and get some rerides in, particularly if you have hoppers. If you're unsure about timing, I would sooner splurge for hoppers (if you weren't already planning on them) than add another day outright.

Don't cut Knott's.
 
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CaptinEO

CaptinEO

Well-Known Member
SplashZander said:
Big coaster fan, but we're also trying to do every ride from Mr. toad to storybook and rise in Disneyland, and hopefully highlights multiple times.
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Go to Knotts even for a half day just for the Log Ride, Mine Ride, and a meal at Mrs Knotts restaurant.

You will have plenty of time to do what you want at Disneyland many times over.

We go to Knotts just for the marketplace and Chicken Restaraunt and don't even enter the parks (they will validate parking too so it's free). Lots of great food/baking items and they have a bakery too.

You're in the area anyways and should give it a chance.
 
SplashJacket

SplashJacket

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Since we will be there during the festival, is there anything in particular we should do? Or is it something we could just figure out on the fly?

Knott’s will be the shortest component of our trip, but I’m the least familiar so highest chance of blundering it, so requires the most planning
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
SplashZander said:
Since we will be there during the festival, is there anything in particular we should do? Or is it something we could just figure out on the fly?

Knott’s will be the shortest component of our trip, but I’m the least familiar so highest chance of blundering it, so requires the most planning
Click to expand...
Definitely see the live shows including Krazy Kurt & the Hillbillies. They were a staple at Disneyland until they left for Knotts. There are always a lot of live bands to watch and shows. Knotts is like Disneyland used to be before the dark times of Iger/Cheapeck.
 
CaptinEO

CaptinEO

Well-Known Member
SplashZander said:
Since we will be there during the festival, is there anything in particular we should do? Or is it something we could just figure out on the fly?

Knott’s will be the shortest component of our trip, but I’m the least familiar so highest chance of blundering it, so requires the most planning
Click to expand...
Just look for fun food items exclusive to the event. I went to boysenberry fest when the rides were shut down for covid and had a great time trying everything. Portions were generous too.
 

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