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Wow! DL is a lot different that WDW and it seems very pricey. But less be told its Cali it's DL its summer. It is what it is.
Ok, now we are prob staying off property. I am up in the air about park hoppers. If u guys have an opinion. Table Service you have to dine. Must Do's at each park. We will be there in July.
Thanks and I will have further questions if u guys do not mind. Such as which good neighbor hotel do u suggest for four adults and an infant?
:mickey:
Real quick off the top of my head:
Carousel Inn is literally just across the street. Decent, close, free continental breakfast. Least amount of walking for off-site hotel.
Not so sure about parkhopper as when I was in calif, I had the annual pass. Not sure that I would pay for it for a visit with my family now.
Blue Bayou is my must eat at restaurant. Food is good and the atmosphere is great.
Make sure you do the things that are not available at Magic Kingdom:
Mr Toads wild ride
Matterhorn
Indiana Jones
Roger Rabbit toontown spin
Sleepy Beauty story walk through in the castle (still there?)
Nemo subs
After that, the rides that are different:
These 2 are the most different from MK
Pirates of the caribbean
Jungle cruise
I would get the park hoppers. The two parks are a short walk accross the esplanade. No busses to take going from one park to the other.
Some of the non WDW must do's would be Alice in Wonderland, Casey Jr. Train, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Mr. Toad all in Fantsyland. The Matterhorn, Indiana Jones (similar to Dinosaur), Explorer canoes (you and others row a canoe around the ROA). That is at Disneyland. At DCA there will be the new Cars Land and Buena Vista Street. California Screamin,,. a wooden rollercoaster. One of our must do's is the Aladdin show at the Hyperion Theater. It is amazing, even if the carpet isn't flying anymore.
We don't usually do table service, but one of our favorites is Storytellers Cafe in the GCH. If you are looking for something more adult/fine dining there is Napa Rose (GCH)or Steakhouse 55(DL Hotel). For a unique experience there is the Blue Bayou at DL which is inside the POC attraction. I always see a lot of people dining there. There are also a lot of DTD dining options. I have only been to the Rainforest Cafe there and that was years ago.
For counter service we love The Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe, The Plaza in for their fried chicken at DL. At DCA we like the Pacific Wharf Cafe (breadbowl soups/salads etc.) and Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta. At the GCH, Whitewater Snacks.. they have great nachos (chicken or steak).
There are a lot of hotels on Harbor Blvd. that are within walking distance. I have stayed at the Park Vue Inn which is directly accross the street at the stoplight/cross walk to DL. It is nothing fancy and they do offer suites with continental breakfast. There are others just a few steps further that look nicer. The Carousel looks very nice (when I passed it riding the Monorail:blush:).
I am sure I left something out and someone else can fill in. Have fun planning.
How many days will you be there?
Get the hoppers. For $30 more per ticket, it's definitely worth it. This is especially true this summer, as the "new" DCA will likely be UBER crowded, and you might need to escape after a couple hours there and it's easy to hop over to DL or vice versa.
I am going to be very honest with you: July is going to be a madhouse. Expect HUGE crowds...larger than you've ever seen at a Disney park. When new stuff opens at Disneyland, everyone and their moms in So. Cal comes out to see it. Literally. Even when they just opened up the Little Mermaid ride (which now is a walk on most of the time), the parks got massively crowded and the lines for that ONE ride were in the 2-3 hour range. People down there are fanatical (I know, I used to be one). :blush: Just expect the worst, crowd wise. It will be bad. You can still have a great time, but know what you're heading into.
We moved away from there last summer and I'm so sad that I'm missing all this new stuff, but to be honest, I'm kinda glad too. I wouldn't go near DLR this summer if someone paid me to. We are heading there around Thanksgiving due to a wedding in the area, and I'm hoping (but not expecting) the crowds have died down to manageable levels by then.
As for hotels, any of the ones on Harbor Blvd between Katella and Manchester Avenue are good options. For the closest, choose a hotel between Disney Way and Manchester. The Best Western Park Place Inn, Fairfield Inn, Carousel Inn, or Howard Johnson are the most popular options with families.
If you will have a car and/or don't mind using shuttles: There is a Hilton and a Sheraton not too far away (a bit too far to walk, though), a nice Marriott Courtyard, and a Doubletree Suites a bit further down Harbor. These offer shuttle service as well.
What about candy cane inn?
Candy Cane Inn is, IMO, just a wee bit too much of a walk, especially with an infant. But, I'm just lazy that way. ;)
It gets good reviews overall, and seems to be a good option. Trip Advisor reviews rank it the #3 hotel in Anaheim so that's saying something. However, I'd be concerned with noise, as this hotel backs up (literally) to Cars Land's Radiator Springs racers ride. I can imagine it would be much like sleeping in a room right outside of Test Track. ;) It does have a decent looking little pool and hot tub, which is hard to find in the motels around there.
Honestly, go with whichever offers the best value in your opinion. None of the options over there are heads and shoulders better than the others. Everything along Harbor outside the DL gates is fairly comparable.
I would really recommend going onto google maps and putting your little dude onto the screen for street view along Harbor to find a close hotel. There are several litterally right across from the enterance. I've stayed at the Tropicana and the Del Sol. Both are decent. The Tropicana had a breakfast - though it was pretty poor. At least you can get a hot cup of coffee and a piece of fruit. I don't remember about the Del Sol. The nice thing about the Tropicana (again, I have forgotten the details of the Del Sol) is that they don't charge extra for parking.
Disneyland offers a dining plan. DO NOT (and I cannot stress this enough) do NOT purchase it. It's basically vouchers that you buy ahead of time. You don't get any sort of discount on the food and if you don't use them all you don't get credit back. Really bad deal.
The Blue Bayou is a neat table service atmosphere. The food is okay, nothing special. If you're trying to save money I wouldn't recommend it.
I would recommend the park hopper. The two parks are across a courtyard from each other so it's really easy to go between one and the other.
To save a bunch of money:
Priceline.com Select Disneyland Anaheim-South. 3 1/2 stars or better. Bid 70 bucks a night. You'll get one of those nice hotels with shuttle service (Hilton, Doubletree, etc.) and save a bunch of money.