Possible Trip in May-June 2009

[FantasticDuck]

Now that Botcon (Transformers convention) has been announced as being in Pasadena in late May, there's a possibility of us getting to go to Disneyland!

So I have a few questions:

1) I see from Google maps that Pasadena is about 45 minutes from Anaheim. What is the best airport to fly into? We live near Cincinnati, Ohio.

2) How many days is ideal to stay at Disneyland? We've been to DisneyWorld a bunch of times and I know Disneyland is much smaller.

3) Is it better to stay at the park or outside the park?

[light1dragon]

1) The best airport to fly into might be LAX.

2) Well it depends from on the situation, some people just rather perfer to stay longer than others, but if I was in you situation i would stay for around 3 to 4 days.

3) I would prefer to stay inside the park that way you can experience everything from the hotels of disney, to the actual park, but don't take advice for the hotel situation too close, I'm a local and never had to stay in the hotels before.

[disneylandfanatic]

1)+2) I agree with light1dragon on these 2. Flying into LAX gives you lots of choices on how to get to the Resort. You can take the Disney Express or opt for one of the many shuttles like Super Shuttle and some smaller companies. The Resort is only 2 parks and you can easily do both in one day and see everything if you go early.

3) For where to stay, you could go with the full effect and stay at one of the Resort hotels. However, I always want to get away from "the Mouse" for a little while so I would stay outside at one of the Good Neighbour hotels that you can see on the internet. The best outside hotel would be the Hyatt Orange County. It's not anywhere near the Resort but has free shuttle service twice every hour and lots of restaurants nearby and a Target. Always great to get a ride back to the hotel instead of walking.

[FantasticDuck]

Thanks for the quick replies! As Botcon was just announced we're not sure of the plans entirely yet. We don't know if we'd go to Disney before or after the convention. Neither my boyfriend or I have been to California, so if we do get to go we want to make the most of the trip as possible. I'm a huge Disney fan, especially Donald Duck, so this seems like a great oppertunity!

Does Disneyland offer the services of packages delivered to the rooms that WDW does? And if so, is this offered for the good neighbor hotels as well?

[light1dragon]

California is a great place, I know this might not be the right place to post this, but if you stay in California longer, you should visit other great theme parks here as well such as:
Universal Studioes (also orginal)
Knott's Berry Farm (1st theme park in California? or US) I forgot which is it. I'm not sure its even true or not, but its what they say.
Sea World
Six Flags

These are just some of the major theme parks but there are also a lot more.
I'm not sure about the hotel thing, again, I am a local so I wouldn't know about the hotel situation, but good luck if you plan to visit!

[disneylandfanatic]

To answer your question, I believe Disney does deliver your packages to the Resort hotels but I believe it might take a few hours to a day. Don't quote me on that, I'm not sure. I do know that they don't deliver to good neigbour hotels but you can keep packages at some stores to be picked up later. My family and I did this once at the Star Trader ( Store at the exit of Star Tours) and we kept the things we bought their for an entire day. We picked it up at Star Trader right before we went to see the fireworks that night. I don't think most stores do this but again, I'm not sure as I buy stuff at the end of the day so I rarely use this. It's always best to ask the cast members as they are always very helpful and will answer all your questions.

[ssturgeo]

DL does deliver packages to resort hotels....they arrive at the bell desk the next morning usually around 7:30 a.m. They do not deliver to Good Neighbor Hotels.

If at all possible I think everyone should stay on property once. I love being surrounded by the magic 24/7!! I have only stayed at the DL Hotel (several times) and love it.

I think a minimum of three days....but then I am one who stays 8 or 9 and is still teary eyed when it is time to leave!!

[FantasticDuck]

Thanks for the info everyone!

It looks like if we go we will be having a friend pick us up at the airport and all 3 of us will be arriving May 24th to check-in, do the parks on the 25th and 26th and check out on the 27th to head to the convention.

The quote I got was for park-hopper passes and staying at the Anaheim Fairfield Inn. So, onto more questions!

1) Has anyone stayed at this hotel?

2) Are the park hoppers worth it? I know at WDW they are, but again, I've never been to Disneyland. I figured it might be more to the boys advantage than mine as I can duck hunt and they can go off and goof around together.

3) How expensive is food in the parks. We live in Ohio, so I'm not sure of the cost difference between midwest and west coast.

And onto my last question:

4) What do I absolutely HAVE to do while at Disneyland???

[penguinsoda]

1) Has anyone stayed at this hotel?

I've never stayed there myself, but it gets pretty good reviews on tripadvisor.

Fairfield Inn Anaheim Disneyland (Anaheim, Orange County) - Hotel Reviews - TripAdvisor

2) Are the park hoppers worth it? I know at WDW they are, but again, I've never been to Disneyland. I figured it might be more to the boys advantage than mine as I can duck hunt and they can go off and goof around together.

If you've never been to Disneyland before then yes. DCA doesn't have as much as Disneyland, but if you haven't been or if it will be a while before you might make it back then yes... do both parks. While you are here DCA will be going through a lot of construction, but some of the best stuff (Screamin, Soarin' and GRR, Bug's Life) will still be open.

3) How expensive is food in the parks. We live in Ohio, so I'm not sure of the cost difference between midwest and west coast.

By my standards expensive. Even just a burger and fries will set you back $10+ per person. Depending on where you eat, you can easily spend $20 per person on a meal. Of course, I actually sometimes just get a kids meal (most places will let you). Theres a web site that shows the prices of all the places in the resort... I'll have to see if I can hunt it up...

*edit to add*

Here's the menu's and prices. Its been updated in the last few months so it should be pretty current.

http://allears.net/dlr/din/menu/menus.htm

And onto my last question:

4) What do I absolutely HAVE to do while at Disneyland???

Everything!

Seriously, if you are going to have a couple of days there, you should be able to get in all of the major attractions... Pirates, Haunted, Nemo, etc...the most important thing, is do the things YOU want to do most!!

[sir clinksalot]

Airport:

LAX is probably the best option. It's roughly in between Pasadena and Disneyland.

But ... it may also depend on when you will be in Pasadena, and when you will be at Disneyland. Burbank airport is closer to Pasadena and really isn't really that far from Disneyland either. And if you wanted to take a side trip to Universal or Disney studios, Burbank is closer. You may want to check flights there too.

Days:

As for days, I'd say 3 is enough. 4 if you have the time. As for park-hoppers, if you are going more than 1 day, the park hopper option is actually probably cheaper anyway.

Hotel:

As you will be travelling from Pasadena and Disneyland, I'd assume you will have a rental car, correct?

I'm not a big fan of staying onsite at Disneyland. I've only done it once (about 16 years ago) and it didn't really do it for me. I've found much better hotels off-site using Priceline. And if you have a car, you really can save ALOT of money.

I find the Disneyland hotels overpriced for what you get, considering we generally pay $50 per night for the Hyatt, Hilton or Doubletree using Priceline.

There is a thread in the So-Cal travel planning regarding using priceline. I would certainly check into it.

If you don't have a car, there are TONS of off-site hotels within walking distance to the parks. It's not like WDW where the parks are surrounded by Disney hotels. In fact, many of the off-site hotels on Harbor are closer than the Disneyland/Paradise Pier hotel. And even with those hotels, you will save roughly $150 per night.

Food:

I find that the food at Disneyland is MUCH more expensive than at WDW, and the quality is less. You don't have the dining experiences at DL that you have at WDW. The only real sit-down, get waited on restaurants at Disneyland are Blue Bayou, Cafe' Orleans and the Trattoria (inside DCA). Everything else is walk-up burgers and fries or buffeteria style. There are lots of nice places to eat at Downtown Disney and the Garden walk is just across the street.