All great questions. I'm not the expert on flights and pricing, but I do know that Aer Lingus only offers service to New York, Boston and Chicago. To get to LAX, your best bet will be flying British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American or United out of London. Air New Zealand also offers economical prices on their daily non-stop flight from London Heathrow to LAX.
Living in Ireland i can get direct flights from Dublin to NY and Orlando amongst others so no problem there :wave:
Of course, John Wayne Airport is much closer to Disneyland and vastly superior to LAX when it comes to cleanliness, comfort, courtesy and ease of travel. But, to get a flight into John Wayne you'd need to change planes in New York, Dallas, Denver, Chicago, etc. as John Wayne is just the local airport for Orange County and only offers domestic service from most major American airlines. Just remember that if you do have to land in LAX, it's a horribly embarassing airport and environment to welcome foreigners to America in, and the locals here in SoCal mostly hate the place and acknowledge it's no way to welcome guests from abroad, or even just Aunt Gladys from Reno.
John Wayne is the place to head for so :lol:
Timing is key, as there can be certain weeks when Disneyland is packed to the rafters. Avoid any major holiday week or major holiday weekend; Christmas, Thanksgiving, July 4th, Easter, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, etc. Interestingly, Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend at the beginning and end of summer are unusually light weekends. The entire month of May is fantastic, and offers noticeably light crowds; although if there's some major attraction or event opening for the summer it often doesn't open until early June. The last two weeks of September are also fantastic with light crowds, very warm weather, and the Halloween decorations and attraction overlays in full swing but before the big crowds attracted by the Halloween parties that start the first of October.
May or September sound Great :wave: How is the heat in May??
As for hotels, it's a commonly debated issue for people visiting Disneyland for the first time. There are three Disney hotels, and two of them are basicaly Deluxe Hotels (Disneyland Hotel and Grand Californian), while the third is sort of a Minor Deluxe (Paradise Pier Hotel) that is obviously above a WDW Moderate, yet also a notch below the other two Disney hotels immediately next door. None of them are cheap.
I often receive pin numbers for DL Hotels offering up to 45% off! Would this make a difference??
There are, however, 17,000 other hotel rooms in the broader Anaheim Resort District to choose from. They come in all shapes and prices, and some can be extremely economical. The Howard Johnson's on Harbor Blvd. is a fan favorite, and is about a 10 minute walk from the Disneyland entry turnstiles.
http://www.hojoanaheim.com/
Thanks for the site just going to check it out now??
What I strongly encourage you to do is to go on Google Earth and inspect the Disneyland Resort property via satellite. Doing that should give you a better understanding of just what Disneyland Resort is, and what it is not. Disneyland Park has more rides packed into it's one small park property than Magic Kingdom and Disney Hollywood Studios combined. And DCA and Disneyland combined next summer (when Cars Land opens) will have more rides and major entertainment spectaculars packed into them than three WDW parks combined.
Always thought DL sounded so much bigger it seems to have so much to do :lol:
When does The DCA Refurb Finish??
Especially in summer, at Halloween and Christmas, or most any weekend, the entire Disneyland Resort is brimming with activities, major entertainment and general excitement. The overall upkeep at Disneyland is noticeably better than WDW; the rides are better maintained, the technology used is fresher and crisper, and while many of the buildings and spaces are smaller and more intimate, it has a fresh charm that is quite distinctive. It's a different vibe from WDW, that's for sure. The real die-hard fans on this board over on the WDW sections really get sore about it though, so it's a delicate issue to discuss, so you best not mention it over on other parts of this website.
Check out the entire property via the miracle of Google Earth, understand the scale and scope better, and then play around with travel packages on Expedia to get pricing ballpark figures. Also realize you'll be in the heart of Southern California, and you'll want to dedicate a few days to leaving Anaheim and seeing just a small bite of all that SoCal has to offer... Hollywood, Los Angeles museums and civic institutions, Grifith Observatory, Palm Springs, San Diego Zoo, Sea World, Universal Studios, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Warner Brothers Studios, shopping, dining, cultural events, etc., etc.
