Disneyland First Time Trip With Me and DH - Possibly - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Disneyland First Time Trip With Me and DH - Possibly
I was gushing to DH about how great Disney Land looks for Halloween. He looked at me and said book it. This trip would be just me and him, with no kids. He said if I can do it quickly, we can go in October. Fri - Sun or Mon, if we can get out there for Columbus Day. We have never been to Disneyland so I have no experience with it. I plan to get the passporter for this trip, but since time is short I would like to start planning asap. I know it's not a cheap trip, but I am trying to go as cheap as possible and it's even harder with such short notice! We would have to book flights to and from. Do they have magical express, like DW? I heard the dining plan may not be worth it because it's vouchers, so we prob wont do that. I will post again to get your opinions on hotels and other stuff like that.
Any info would be great. If I can't make it work for next month, we may plan a trip for next year anyway...but it would be nice to take this last minute trip with DH alone.
Thanks for the help!
P.S. He also said that we would book the DCL for this year, but that fell through, so I don't assume this trip plan is set in stone until I get money set down for it.
Here's hoping you can make it all work for you. I would agree that the Dining Plan is not worth it in DLR. There are plenty of Good Neighbor Hotels around the DLR area that fit every budget. Happy Planning!
I agree with Debbie on the dining plan and the Good Neighbor Hotels. Since there are so many of them, you'll probably have a bit of an easier time finding a room on shorter notice. If you peek through the DL Staying in Style forum you'll find threads on a bunch of the Good Neighbor Hotels there!
As for the rest . . . If you had a bit more time to plan, I would recommend getting the DL & SoCal PassPorter (which you'd have to supplement with the updates and info from the boards, as the book is from a few years ago and a few things have changed since then!) but since you are thinking of booking a last minute trip, I think you should probably do just fine with planning from info you can find around the boards and on Disneyland's website.
Disneyland does not have a free bus/shuttle service like Magical Express but they do have the Disneyland Resort Express bus which is run by GrayLine and is $32 per person round trip to and from LAX or $27 round trip to and from SNA. There are also several other shuttle services that can get you to and from the airports for the same fare or less. We have a thread here in the DL forums with transportation options to/from the Disneyland Resort: http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ed-9-12-a.html
I'm A Disney Land pro Ive been 13 or 14 times!!! Don't get the Ding plan its not worth it. We stayed at Best western stovalls a couple time and its ok for a good neighbor hotel its our budget go to. I personally would recommend Paradise Pier for a cheaper Disney hotel though.
That sounds like fun! I hope it works out for you and DH to go to Disneyland on short notice.
Consider if your travel dates are flexible. Consider traveling on "off" days, such as Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. The holiday weekend might be more expensive and have less availability than the weekend before or after. Flights and airfares generally increase withing 2 weeks and again at 7 days prior to travel, as a rule of thumb.
There are lots of great, moderately-priced hotels close by to Disneyland - Candy Cane Inn, Fairfield, Anabella, Howard Johnson, Residence Inn, Embassy Suites.
The Dining Plan is just vouchers, great for teenagers who want food and independence, but Disneyland is just so sweet and friendly, it is easy to find somewhere to eat without the plan. I often use the traditional eating times for breakfast, lunch and dinner to beat crowds. Eat lunch in the sit-down restaurants instead of dinner, same menus, smaller portions, smaller prices. (My husband and I are a foodies, but frugal).
Have fun!
__________________
Julia Elzie
Family Travel Specialist
Affiliated with MEI-Travel and Mouse Fan Travel
E-mail: juliae@mei-travel..com
For our very first trip to Disneyland, I found an incredible deal on JetBlue. It was a flight/hotel combo and it saved us several hundred dollars than if we'd booked the whole think separately and it was a last minute deal, too! However, JetBlue flies into Long Beach, not SNA. It is still fairly close to DLR, closer than LAX anyway. We've had really good service and fares with Prime Time Shuttle from Long Beach as well. I would advise you, if you can find a vacancy, to pay a little bit more and stay at one of the Good Neighbor hotels that are within walking distance rather than one where you would have to use the ART (Anaheim Resort Transit). The shuttles aren't bad...but, it is so nice just to able to walk out the park, across the street/down the block, and be back in your room in the time it takes to wait on a shuttle. Whatever you do, just go go go!
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If you peek through the DL Staying in Style forum you'll find threads on a bunch of the Good Neighbor Hotels there! 
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