Disneyland California/ advice please

[sunnysandra]

We have decided to go from our Florida comfort zone and try California for the first time . I have lots of questions sorry 😐
Which month would you choose ?
Where to stay to be close to Disney ?
Who do you book with ?
I'm super excited and we are only in the planning stage

[landandword17]

I would t book with anyone I would do DIY on the west coast.

Are you just interested in Disney or do you have other sites/cities you want to see? Most people visit Disneyland as part of a longer trip to California. Either a roadtrip or a multi city trip.

Regarding when to go, if you’re trying to avoid crowds I’ve found the day of the week is more important than the month in California. Most visitors are locals so weekends are much busier than weekdays.

[red cuillen]

Hi!
Try some trip reports first! How many of you are going? California is not a "disney only holiday as there is so much more to see and do from San Diego in the south to San Francisco in the north. Most people are happy with 2-3 days ay Disney, though we did 3 full days and 2 part days, (pm first day, early am last day) on a 5 day ticket as part of a good neighbour hotel package through disneyland.com, plenty of hotels within walking distance of the park.
We did diy, though I imagine packages are available flight/car or flight/hotel through all the usual places, BA/virgin/TC, travel agents etc.
Weather can be hot - (but it's a dry heat) much of the year, but they do get depressions and weather off the pacific during the winter months.
Split stays are recommended, Disney is south of LA, and too far to use as a base for Universal, Beverley Hills etc unless you really really like being stuck in traffic!

[jengibbo]

Hi,
We went this Easter holidays as are bound by school holidays. We booked a BA fly drive Heathrow to LAX and the cost was £2200 for two adults and two children. We stayed in the Best Western Stovall inn for 5 nights. It was clean and the pools were great. Breakfast was included not that great but the coffee was good. It was a 15 minute walk to Disneyland which we did each day.
I booked the hotel on Booking.com and paid on check out.
We bought three day park hopper pass from Expedia and we also had a day at Knotts Berry Farm which was fabulous too. We then had a night in Palm Springs, 3 nights in the GC and 4 in SAN Diego. Trip was amazing

[mrsdjh]

Originally Posted by jengibbo

Hi,
We went this Easter holidays as are bound by school holidays. We booked a BA fly drive Heathrow to LAX and the cost was £2200 for two adults and two children. We stayed in the Best Western Stovall inn for 5 nights. It was clean and the pools were great. Breakfast was included not that great but the coffee was good. It was a 15 minute walk to Disneyland which we did each day.
I booked the hotel on Booking.com and paid on check out.
We bought three day park hopper pass from Expedia and we also had a day at Knotts Berry Farm which was fabulous too. We then had a night in Palm Springs, 3 nights in the GC and 4 in SAN Diego. Trip was amazing

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Hope OP doesn't mind me asking but what was the weather like on your trip and how busy was Disneyland?

[jengibbo]

Originally Posted by mrsdjh

Hope OP doesn't mind me asking but what was the weather like on your trip and how busy was Disneyland?

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The weather in Anaheim was amazing. Mid to high 20s every day with no humidity. It was chilly after the sun set so a hoodie was needed. With regard to crowds we went Sun, mon and Tuesday and got there for rope drop and managed to ride everything we wanted using the old style fast passes. We didn’t buy max passes as I felt we didn’t need them.
By 3pm the parks were busy but not unmanageable. No ride ever had longer than 50 minute wait time except Radiator Springs which we used fast passes for We rode Incredi coaster 5 times in one day. If you are savvy with FP you can do everything.
Knotts berry farm was empty we rode all the big coasters 2-3 times and were back in the pool by 3.30pm after getting there for opening time.

[mrsdjh]

Thanks jengibbo - very helpful. I’m still researching but Easter would be my preferred time so good to know about the crowds and weather.

[sunnysandra]

Thank you for all the replies xx

[red cuillen]

Loads of reasons to prefer DCL over WDW, it's the original park! You can do Walk in Walts Footsteps, which we found very poignant. It is claimed that there are just as many attractions here than in all 4 WDW parks. Radiator Springs Racers is our favourite, and best done as a single rider, you'll aviod the long queues and often get to race another from your party.
Weather normally good as it is a dry heat. As has been said it can get abit nippy after dark - we went over Easter too, but started our 5 days from Easter Monday, schools/spring break had finished, and found the general behaviour of guests more relaxed and chilled than WDW.

[sky13]

I went in November last year (week after Thanksgiving). It was busy though, apparently partly because Thanksgiving was early last year. Christmas season was in full swing though, and that was amazing - the parks and hotels were beautifully decorated, Christmas music everywhere, and Christmas fireworks and parade. The weather was really very good - light jacket in the morning, then down to tshirt/dress/etc in the afternoons, then back to jacket in the evenings.

In terms of accommodation - the main choices for DL California are:
- On-site (only 3 hotels - GCH, DLH, PPH). These are pretty much the most expensive hotels in the area, sometimes a little bit cheaper if there are some promotional deals ongoing from Disney. They give access to all EMH (DCA EMH is only for on-site, and DL EMH/MM which is shared with some off-site guests).
- Off-site, within walking distance. There are tonnes of hotels and motels within walking distance of the parks, of varying standards and quality. Some are right across the road from the DL entrance (and are even closer than the on-site hotels to the park entrances). Some are a little further away but still walkable.
- Off-site, not really within walking distance, but within walking distance of a Disney parking lot (particularly the Toy Story one). So you could walk to the parking lot, and then take the Disney shuttle to/from the parks.
- Off-site, not within walking distance - you'd need to Uber or drive to get to the parks.

In terms of who to book with - I am a DIY person. So flights directly with airline, hotels either through Expedia or directly with hotel, and DL tickets through one of the resellers (as cheapest available).

DL California is pretty great - it's a different experience from WDW, but every bit as good. Though it's a lot smaller so you don't need quite as many days there as you do in WDW!