1st Visit to Disneyland with Toddler

Hello everyone! I am planning a visit to Disneyland with my 2 year old son at the end of September to celebrate my 35th bday! This will be a first time visit for the both of us. DH does not like to fly so it will just be a mother-son trip. I'm a little nervous to travel to the west coast alone with my 2 year old but he is well-behaved and I know we'll have a magical time! I guess I'm more nervous about managing him and the luggage and stroller...

We will be flying in and out of LAX and using the Disneyland Express. Reviews?

We will have 3.5 days at the parks and may be there for the start of the Halloween Party. My initial thought is to stay at the Disneyland Hotel but I am not opposed to staying offsite and saving a little money. What is the closest/nicest offsite hotel that is also serviced by the Disneyland Express?

What is the monorail loop at Disneyland? Does it go to any of the resorts or how far is the walk from Disneyland Hotel to the parks?

Any recommendations for restaurants or general advice?! Thanks in advance!

Firstly, I would strongly encourage you to purchase a park hopper ticket. The two parks are right across a courtyard from each other and it's very easy to go between them multiple times during the day.

The Monorail goes between Tomorrowland and the Disneyland Hotel (or rather, close to it, it's still in Downtown Disney). The walk is fairly short between the park entrances and the Disneyland and Paradise Pier Hotel. The Grand Californian Hotel is closer to the entrance.

I like to stay in hotels on Harbor. The Howard Johnson (which I haven't stayed at myself, but has good reviews) has a great water play area and is in easy walking distance. There is also a Mimi's close to it for a breakfast (or just picking up muffins). I have stayed at the Tropicana (okay, nothing special) which is basically right across from the parks, and the Cortona (which is further down the road, but right across from the Toy Story parking lot, so it's an easy walk to the parkly lot and then you can take the Disney buses. I recently stayed at the Alamo Inn on Katella and do NOT recommend it. I don't know about the Disneyland Express. I would look up a list of hotels that the bus stops at and then look them up on Google Maps to see how close they are. Keep in mind that the park entrance is down close to the Tropicana and the Del Sol (?) on Harbor (or through Downtown Disney). A lot of hotels advertise that they're within X distance of the parks - that's true, but that's the back of the park and you can't enter there, so keep that in mind when choosing a hotel.

I've not been with a child, but I always think that the Bugs Land area of California Adventure is a great place for the kids. They have a good water play area, too, which you might appriciate in September. I'm 40 and will go in there and stand under the dripping water when it's super hot. :)

As for restaurants, you can certainly go offsite to grab a less expensive lunch, there's a Denny's right across the street. That being said, though, the food at Disneyland is actually pretty good. I enjoy the Jolly Holiday on Main Street for basic sandwiches and soups (grilled cheese with tomato soup), etc. The only place that I've had a bad experience with food (and this was several years ago so things may have changed) is the Chinese restaurant in the Pacific Wharf area in DCA. Otherwise, I've been pleasantly surprised by most food options in the park.

I can't really relate to taking a toddler, as my husband and I had a Vegas/Disneyland adults only trip last summer. Our toddler stayed home with my in laws. But we stayed at the Best Western Plus Park Place Inn, seriously within walking distance. We crossed Harbor Blvd and then in a 5 minute walk were at the bag check area. I don't know about the Disneyland Express as we took a Super Shuttle.
I second the previous reply that said get park hoppers. They parks are so close together, if Disneyland gets crowded, you can just hop right over to California Adventure.
We ate at the parks, but I will say they food in the parks were good, like better than Disney World. We loved the bread bowls of soup, and FlosV8 Café in Cars Land. California Adventure has so many good places to eat in the Pacific Wharf area. I wish we had more time in Disneyland, we were only there for 1.5 days.
I'm not sure how often you do Disney World, but just remember that Disneyland is so much smaller! Like I was overwhelmed with the size difference.
Have Fun!

I am definitely purchasing park hoppers! I purposely chose Disneyland because I have never been and I know the 2 parks are smaller and will be easier for us to do - I really see it as some of my favorite WDW rides put in 2 parks as opposed to 4 parks! I also know my 2 year old will be able to ride more rides at Disneyland that he would in WDW.