Help getting started

[Pete1]

Hi fellow dibbers. So DLP done, WDW done (several times) Next WDL.
Can you give me some advice were to start planning for trip to WDL California.

I have noticed people don't book 2 weeks here. So how do you split your stay? Its a long way to go just for 3 or 4 days.

Family is Mum&Dad plus DD16
and DS13. So would have to be school holidays.

Thanks

[cornishfrogboy]

We were in California last Easter.
Whilst I am by no means a fan of Disney, we spent one day in each park. That was about right for us. The scale is simply not the same. The custom was more.. ‘local’ and it simply did not have that ‘Magic Vibe’. In addition, 9 major rides were down in one park and 8 in the other.
I am not being negative. It is simply my honestly held opinion.
There are many, many other things to do in Southern California and if you cut out San Francisco, the driving distances to cover the LA and San Diego areas are not huge.
For what it is worth, San Diego remains the best US City that I have ever visited.

You are more than welcome to read my trip report (all on the 1 thread, ‘California N to South at Easter’ and pick the bones out of that. There are numerous other good trip reports to consider.

Hope it helps.

[400ixl]

Find the atmosphere to be much better in California than WDW as the original.

It's a similar size and layout to DLP as the OP has been there. You can do everything in a couple of days, three at a leisurely pace.

There is so much more to do in South California, let alone the rest of it and Nevada.

I wouldn't go for just a few days in Disney, make a proper holiday of it and do more of SoCal.

[pinkandfluffy]

If you and your family are in to big rides you may want to visit Six Flags Magic Mountain and Knott’s Berry Farm. We went to both this year and absolutely loved them. We didn’t do Disney as kids are older now and we have been to WDW several times. There is so much to do in California would really recommend a road trip to get the most out of it. It was the best holiday we have ever had and every few days was like a new holiday keeping us all on our toes and excited for what the next stop had in store.

[samhartwell]

So we prefer the climate more in Cali and it feels a nicer place to go when we compare the 2 having done both wdw and disneyland a few times each. Max time we have done in disneyland is 5 days and then we love exploring Cali and have a different road trip each time which the kids love. We were not keen on san diego at all so everyone is different! If you want a holiday with some variety and a bit of an adventure and less planning each day compared to wdw then its a great option.we love exploring the national parks and seeing a little bit of real USA with a bit of disney magic thrown in!

[samhartwell]

in terms of planning we worked out a basic route with flights as you may want to fly into one cali airport (or nevada) and back from another. first trip we did was into sfo and out of lax but have done other variants including salt lake city to go to yellowstone as domestic flights you can get great deals.
so get some flight estimates and work out a rough plan nd google distance for driving to help planning a route and then look for hotels depending on what type of hotel/motel- we like a mix of moderate/luxury and basic !
happy planning!

[Pete1]

Thank you all. It sounds like a road trip is in need. We plan to go in 2021 so have plenty of time to research more.

[swiper]

We went Easter and had an amazing time. 4 days was enough for us.
Max pass I feel is a must. Went to Goofys kitchen for tea with our daughter for her 16th birthday, all I can say is the character interaction with her that night was the best we have ever had!

[tonymc]

As others have said, you only need three days to cover the two parks. The entrances to each park are literally a minute’s walk from each other, so really easy to “mix & match” the parks.

Also worth noting that there are many hotels and restaurants within an easy walk of the parks, so no need to stay on site.

Not sure if you are planning on doing Universal, Hollywood etc. If you are, it’s probably best to book a hotel around that area, as it can take a few hours to drive from Anaheim to Hollywood/Universal on a bad day!

I too would recommend visiting San Diego. Loads to do - Seaworld is there, the Safari Park and Zoo, beaches, shopping etc. You can easily fill a full week there, and it’s only a couple of hours from LAX. When we went to San Diego, our DD was 13 and she really enjoyed the area.

If you don’t want to visit Universal/Hollywood, then I would suggest 5 nights around Anaheim (fit in a day at one of the beaches), fly to Vegas for 3 nights, then fly to San Diego for the remainder of the holiday.

Have a look at some of the trip reports to get an idea of what others have done in the area.

[jdouds]

Hi for us there is so much to see west coast that we don't even do Disney, sacrilege !
PCH, Santa Barbara, Monterey,San Fran ,yosemite, vegas , Palm Springs , San Diego and not go mention Grand Canyon .
So in reality work out what you want to see on first trip and perhaps plan a circular rout to cut down on drives.