Planning to Visit “The Happiest Place on Earth”

by Kristin Ford
AllEars® Staff Writer

Feature Article

This article appeared in the July 14, 2015 Issue #825 of ALL EARS® (ISSN: 1533-0753)

We're going to Disneyland (for the first time) this summer! Those words are just as magical to my family as any other, even though we are Florida residents and spend a lot of time at Walt Disney World.

Sure, there are some duplicate attractions, but there is a lot we haven't experienced, which means we can't wait to hit the turnstiles! We want to make the most of this special visit to the West Coast, so we are preparing to be theme-park commandos — visitors who have a touring plan to make the most of their limited time on vacation at a Disney theme park.

As a veteran of the Orlando parks, I was prepared to research which Disney hotels have the best pools for the kids and jump on the dining reservations at 180 days out from our visit. But, guess what? It's a whole different vacation plan out in California; my years of planning here in Orlando don't overlap much with how things are done in Anaheim. It's been a learning experience for me. With the D23 Expo in Anaheim on the horizon, I thought other Walt Disney World veterans might be planning a first-time visit to Disneyland, too, so I'd like to share what knowledge I've gained.

ACCOMMODATIONS

I started planning our vacation by booking where we are going to stay. Of course most of us are going to research hotels online, but the number of nearby hotels and motels can be overwhelming to wade through, so I suggest first asking and friends and family members who have traveled recently to Disneyland about their experiences. Chances are, they have done the same research you will do, but building on a trusted friend's knowledge helps narrow your focus.

Disneyland has three Disney-owned hotels: Disneyland Hotel, Grand Californian and Paradise Pier. All three offer the amenities and theming that are in line with "deluxe" hotels at Walt Disney World. That means they are wonderful – and wonderfully expensive for families on a budget or visitors who don't plan to be at the hotel enough to justify the prices.

And that is what makes the Good Neighbor hotels popular with visitors to Disneyland. Good Neighbor hotels are properties in the area that are independently owned and operated, and they have received that designation based on amenities, service, decor, guest satsifaction, price and location. All-inclusive travel packages can be booked at these hotels through the Walt Disney Travel Company or through your own travel agent. There are more than 40 different properties, with a variety of accommodations available: budget motels, kid suites, and moderate and deluxe accommodations. See our list and descriptions on the AllEars.Net Disneyland Accommodations resource page.

Surprisingly, some of the Good Neighbor hotels are closer in walking distance to Disneyland and California Adventure than the official Disneyland hotels. That's important information if you're not planning to rent a car. If you are, know that many of the Good Neighbor hotels do charge a parking fee (and so do the Disney hotels). Also, many of these properties are part of the Anaheim Resort Transportation system, which provides shuttle service to the parks (at an additional cost).

We chose the Howard Johnson Anaheim Hotel & Water Playground for the first half of our trip. Although I don't know anyone who has stayed there, the online reviews seem to be consistently excellent, and the hotel is a five-time winner of TripAdvisor's Top 25 Hotels for Families in the United States. It's also only about half a mile from the theme parks – a 10-minute walk — and it appears to have a great pool and splash pad area for our children. In addition, Mimi's Restaurant is adjacent to the hotel, offering a reasonably priced option for meals outside the parks. Those giant muffins will make the perfect breakfast in our room when we are rushing to make rope drop!

During the second half of our trip, I will be covering D23, the ultimate Disney fan convention at the Anaheim Convention Center, so we are staying across from the facility at the Hilton Anaheim. It is a conference hotel, but it does have a food court, an outdoor pool with a waterslide and a kids' activity center. It is farther away from the theme parks, but walking there is not out of the question.

DINING

As a veteran of booking Be Our Guest and Cinderella's Royal Table reservations, I know the ins and outs of securing sought-after dining reservations at Walt Disney World. Imagine my surprise when I found out that Disneyland reservations can only be made 60 days in advance, not 180 days prior to your arrival as is the policy at Walt Disney World.

At exactly 60 days out, I was online 10 minutes before the reservation center opened, ready to battle my way into a reservation at Blue Bayou, which I've been told is the most difficult restaurant to book at Disneyland. (Blue Bayou is located inside the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction and serves Cajun- and Creole-inspired cuisine.) Not only did I want a reservation at Blue Bayou, but I wanted one for a large group and I wanted the Fantasmic! dinner package. No small feat, right? My fingers were itchy as I watched the clock count down and I refreshed the website several times. At the appointed time, I raced through the booking process, and… secured the reservation for the time we wanted with no problem. What?!

Some travel experts say that booking dining reservations at Disneyland is not as difficult as it is here in Orlando because the majority of visitors out there are locals who may or may not eat in the parks. They certainly are less likely to book expensive table-service meals. The opposite is true in Florida, which explains the difference in reservation procedures.

In addition to the Fantasmic! Dinner package at Blue Bayou, we decided that seeing the wildly popular World of Color would best be done with a dinner package, too, so that we were guaranteed the reserved viewing. (We expect it to be even more crowded than usual because of the special 60th anniversary edition that is playing this summer.) Like the Fantasmic! package, we had several restaurants to choose from for the World of Color package. We chose the fancy Carthay Circle, largely because we are planning to have just one table-service meal per day and this restaurant is among the top tier on Disneyland property.

Know that for both the Fantasmic! and World of Color dining packages, you will not be seeing the shows from the restaurant. You are given preferred FastPasses to reserved viewing areas, so allow enough time to eat and travel to the show location well ahead of time. (FastPasses to both shows are distributed in the parks each day to guests without dining packages, but the best viewing is reserved for those who pay for the privilege.)

In addition to dinner show packages, we also wanted to book at least a couple character meals. There was no doubt we would be eating at Ariel's Grotto at Disney California Adventure because The Little Mermaid is my 10-year-old daughter's favorite Disney princess. Plus, word-of-mouth and written reviews give this restaurant good ratings for the food and the view, if you dine outdoors, or theming, if you dine inside.

Don't discount character meals in the Disney hotels, either. Unlike hotels at Walt Disney World, which can require time-consuming round-trip travel from the theme parks, the Disneyland hotels are within walking distance of the parks. We booked late breakfasts at Goofy's Kitchen in the Disneyland Hotel and the Storytellers Café at the Grand Californian to get our fix of Mickey waffles. And while we're there, we'll explore the hotels, as well.

We plan to eat our other meals — lunches or dinners — at counter-service restaurants in the parks that we don't have at the Orlando parks. Flo's V8 Cafe and the Cozy Cone Motel top that list. And let's not forget the Downtown Disney entertainment district, which has its own unique restaurant selection.

THEME PARK TICKETS AND ATTRACTIONS

Unlike tickets for Walt Disney World, there are many options for discounts on Disneyland tickets that are purchased in advance. Depending on your length of stay, affiliations and research, you can uncover a variety of savings.

Because my family and I have annual and seasonal passes for Walt Disney World, we looked into upgrading to Premier Passports, which basically are annual passes for Walt Disney World and Disneyland combined. We also looked into purchasing Disneyland Annual Passports, but it was still cheaper for us to each purchase new five-day park hoppers than either of the other passes combined with our Orlando passes. And we actually found a travel agent who offered the fifth day free on the park hoppers.

Know that park-hoppers that are for three, four or five days come with one Magic Morning admission to Disneyland Park. This means you can enter one hour earlier than everyone else on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday. The only way to gain early entry to Disney's California Adventure — and Cars Land! – on the other four days is by staying at one of the three Disney hotels. (Guests who stay at the Disney hotels also have early access to Disneyland on the same days as those with the park-hopper tickets.)

In addition to this perk, park-hopper tickets are the way to go at Disneyland because of the proximity of the two parks. You can move from one to the other just by crossing the esplanade – and you don't even have to go through the bag check each time. Some travel writers encourage visitors to think of the two parks not as separate entities, but as one big theme park and plan accordingly because of the ease of travel between the two.

That mindset could come in handy when planning FastPasses for your day, too. Disneyland still uses paper FastPasses, which means there are no MagicBands and advance booking of ride times like we are used to here at Walt Disney World. Instead, you will have to visit the machines in front of attractions after the return window for each FastPass has started or two hours have passed since it was issued (whichever comes first). However, the FastPass machines in Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure parks are not linked, so it is possible to have FastPasses in each park at the same time. Also, World of Color FastPasses are disconnected from the system, meaning you can have an unused World of Color FastPass at the same time you have one for another attraction at California Adventure. The same is true of Fantasmic! Fastpasses at Disneyland Park. So, potentially, you could have four FastPasses at one time, if two are for the nighttime shows.

Whether you approach a Disneyland vacation as a theme-park commando or as a visitor who doesn't feel the need to see and do everything, you'll still benefit from knowing the differences between Disney's West Coast and East Coast theme parks. That way, you can best plan how to spend your time and money to craft the trip of a lifetime.

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RELATED LINKS
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— Disneyland Resort on AllEars.Net

— Disneyland Resort Accommodations

— Disneyland's Fantasmic!

— World of Color

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Kristin writes about Disney news from a parent's perspective, and her blog, "A Mom and the Magic," appears three times a week in AllEars.Net's Blog Central. You also can follow her adventures through the parks with her husband and two school-age children on Twitter and Instagram @Kristin_B_Ford.

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Editor's Note: This story/information was accurate when it was published. Please be sure to confirm all current rates, information and other details before planning your trip.