How many days and dining questions?

Mainahman

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Now i am considering after our next trip to the World for my couples trip with my wife next year, of working on a trip to Disneyland. The Step Daughter brought it up and i think she might really like it, plus well its where it all kinda started. How many days does one recommend? I know what i need for time in Florida, but how much time for the 2 parks? Also i know a lot about Florida's dining plan, what is available to us at Disneyland? We bought all food out of pocket last trip to the world and rather not do that again!
 
Californian Elitist

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
For first timers, I'd recommend a maximum of five days. That should be enough to see everything, if not mostly everything. It also depends on when you're going. If you're going during a time where there aren't many crowds, I'd say three to four days are good.

The DLR "dining plan" is pointless and a rip off. Don't bother. Pay out of pocket or put some cash on Disney gift cards and do it that way.
 
Tinkerfan4ever

Tinkerfan4ever

Well-Known Member
We are frequent WDW visitors and we went to Disneyland for the first time this past Aug. We went with the City Pass. That gave us 3 days (park hopper) at Disneyland, 1 at Sea World, 1 at Universal and we upgraded to also have a day at the San Diego Zoo. We thought this was perfect for our family (DD6 and DD12). We originally were going to 4 days Disney and skip Universal, but we decided 3 days was enough and didn't want to miss out on all of the other things California has to offer. We really enjoyed all of the things we did in California, you can't go wrong with a trip there.

My trip report if you are interested can be found here...
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...re-in-so-cal-trip-report.872191/#post-5688989
 
Mainahman

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Looks like the dining plan at Disneyland isn't worth it after all. That's good to know as we wouldn't do WDW again without it.
 
teacherlady19

teacherlady19

Active Member
Save your money and just go out-of-pocket for your DL/DCA meals, as others have suggested. You can make ADR's at several places, 60 days in advance: Carthay Circle, Napa Rose, Steakhouse 55 and Blue Bayou are among the more popular ones. Blue Bayou is our favorite, mostly because it's right on the waters of the Pirates of the Caribbean. Most of the walk-ups don't have hugely long lines unless you go right at the "normal" times, such as between 11:30 and 1:00 pm for lunch.


Donna
 
westie

westie

Well-Known Member
Good tip- fly into orange county/john wayne airport. Your 20 mins from disney compared to an hour from LAX. I higgly recommend steakhouse 55 and blue bayou for its ambiance. As like WDW a day for each park is fine. Also DCA hotel is the best!
 
T

thomas998

Well-Known Member
Mainahman said:
Now i am considering after our next trip to the World for my couples trip with my wife next year, of working on a trip to Disneyland. The Step Daughter brought it up and i think she might really like it, plus well its where it all kinda started. How many days does one recommend? I know what i need for time in Florida, but how much time for the 2 parks? Also i know a lot about Florida's dining plan, what is available to us at Disneyland? We bought all food out of pocket last trip to the world and rather not do that again!
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Not sure of your daughters age, because that will factor in the amount of time you spend in the park vs in a hotel letting her rest.

With an 7 and 10 year old, we find 4 days is plenty, when we leave they aren't begging to stay any longer because we have already done everything once and the things they really liked two or three times.... We do however always go in the fall when the crowds aren't insane. So another part to factor in is when you decide to go.

As for the dining plans, I would just buy your own food. Because the parks are also pretty much connected to Downtown Disney you can also eat outside of Disneyland much easier than if you were at WDW. And the food off site is better than the Disneyland food... One of our normal meals is to eat at rainforest cafe which is just off the monorail station in Downtown Disney so you simply ride the monorail out of Disneyland eat decent food and then go back for the rest of the day.

I know you mention not wanting to do the out of pocket food, and I would agree if it were WDW but at Disneyland do yourself a favor and don't get the plan... you have more options outside the plan than just bending over and paying hyper prices for Disney versions of food.
 
Mainahman

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
thomas998 said:
Not sure of your daughters age, because that will factor in the amount of time you spend in the park vs in a hotel letting her rest.

With an 7 and 10 year old, we find 4 days is plenty, when we leave they aren't begging to stay any longer because we have already done everything once and the things they really liked two or three times.... We do however always go in the fall when the crowds aren't insane. So another part to factor in is when you decide to go.

As for the dining plans, I would just buy your own food. Because the parks are also pretty much connected to Downtown Disney you can also eat outside of Disneyland much easier than if you were at WDW. And the food off site is better than the Disneyland food... One of our normal meals is to eat at rainforest cafe which is just off the monorail station in Downtown Disney so you simply ride the monorail out of Disneyland eat decent food and then go back for the rest of the day.

I know you mention not wanting to do the out of pocket food, and I would agree if it were WDW but at Disneyland do yourself a favor and don't get the plan... you have more options outside the plan than just bending over and paying hyper prices for Disney versions of food.
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Shes 14 now, and by the time we go would be about 16 or so. it will take a couple years to plan and save for a long trip. The more that i have researched I now agree at DL out of pocket food seems better. Now how about staying in the "bubble" we wouldn't want to stay off campus ever at WDW, but where everything is so close at DL, is the perk of extra magic hour really worth the extra cost?
 
habuma

habuma

Well-Known Member
Having just completed a DLR trip, I can say that 4-5 days is probably about right. We were there for 4 full days (where "full" means open-to-close, but the parks closed at 8pm) and one partial day. And in those 4.5 days, we did nearly everything in both parks...some things multiple times (RSR 4 times, Little Mermaid 2 times, Haunted Mansion 2 times, PotC 3 times). We also took time to catch shows like Aladdin, a performance of the Dapper Dans, Instant Concert: Just Add Water, Five & Dime, a couple of parades, World of Color, and Fantasmic!.
 
Mainahman

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
raven24 said:
No. Stay offsite and save that extra money for something else.
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I like your thinking! Everything that is on thier site says within a mile, walking a mile to the parks each way is nothing for us. Ill also look at other places that may even reduce the cost even more.
habuma said:
Having just completed a DLR trip, I can say that 4-5 days is probably about right. We were there for 4 full days (where "full" means open-to-close, but the parks closed at 8pm) and one partial day. And in those 4.5 days, we did nearly everything in both parks...some things multiple times (RSR 4 times, Little Mermaid 2 times, Haunted Mansion 2 times, PotC 3 times). We also took time to catch shows like Aladdin, a performance of the Dapper Dans, Instant Concert: Just Add Water, Five & Dime, a couple of parades, World of Color, and Fantasmic!.
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i was thinking of this time frame not to have to go so heavy and be able to stroll through the parks and take it all in slowly.
 
T

thomas998

Well-Known Member
Mainahman said:
Shes 14 now, and by the time we go would be about 16 or so. it will take a couple years to plan and save for a long trip. The more that i have researched I now agree at DL out of pocket food seems better. Now how about staying in the "bubble" we wouldn't want to stay off campus ever at WDW, but where everything is so close at DL, is the perk of extra magic hour really worth the extra cost?
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It is very hard to justify the price of their hotels. We have stayed there, but only because it was a short trip and I didn't want the hassles of trying to get young kids walking a mile or riding a bus to get there.

And now that they charge you to park you are actually better off price wise to stay off-site if you have a car... $22 for valet parking, add in the tip and your parking is the same as if you used the downtown disney lot which is going to be more convienent than using the Disneyland Hotel parking... Downtown Disney is $30 a day... If you use the regular theme park parking it will cost you $16 a day... In the Hotel you get hit with $15 a day... Frankly it boggles the mind that they charge such high rates in the hotel and then have the audacity to charge for parking as well.

But hey, at least you get free wifi, I recall a time when wifi was about $20 a day at WDW hotels and it wasn't even that fast...

As for the extra hour, I don't see it as that big a deal... Put it into perspective, the typical DL hotel will be $400 a night or more... the offsite will be less than $200 for a very very nice place... So that extra 200 for each day could allow you to do something much more memorable than staying in a hotel room where the headboard plays when you wish upon a star.
 
Mainahman

Mainahman

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
thomas998 said:
It is very hard to justify the price of their hotels. We have stayed there, but only because it was a short trip and I didn't want the hassles of trying to get young kids walking a mile or riding a bus to get there.

And now that they charge you to park you are actually better off price wise to stay off-site if you have a car... $22 for valet parking, add in the tip and your parking is the same as if you used the downtown disney lot which is going to be more convienent than using the Disneyland Hotel parking... Downtown Disney is $30 a day... If you use the regular theme park parking it will cost you $16 a day... In the Hotel you get hit with $15 a day... Frankly it boggles the mind that they charge such high rates in the hotel and then have the audacity to charge for parking as well.

But hey, at least you get free wifi, I recall a time when wifi was about $20 a day at WDW hotels and it wasn't even that fast...

As for the extra hour, I don't see it as that big a deal... Put it into perspective, the typical DL hotel will be $400 a night or more... the offsite will be less than $200 for a very very nice place... So that extra 200 for each day could allow you to do something much more memorable than staying in a hotel room where the headboard plays when you wish upon a star.
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Were accustomed to staying in the Values at WDW so we dont require anything fancy, just somewhere safe to lay our heads down for a few hours. I rather cut costs there, to be able to do more in the parks.
 
Cosmic Commando

Cosmic Commando

Well-Known Member
Mainahman said:
Were accustomed to staying in the Values at WDW so we dont require anything fancy, just somewhere safe to lay our heads down for a few hours. I rather cut costs there, to be able to do more in the parks.
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Personally, I would either stay some place right across Harbor Blvd (use Wikimapia, the crosswalk is right where IHOP is), or some place far enough away that I would drive into the Mickey & Friends parking structure. It is a surprisingly "in-bubble" experience parking in the garage and taking the tram to the parks/DtD.
 

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