Anyone from Ontario Been/Going To Disneyland?

[Frozen2014]

This is such an interesting post for me Frozen2014! We plan to go to Disney World next August (same time you are considering). At some point we started kicking around the idea of DisneyLand again because we've never been and would love to go. I am so familiar with WDW and not at all familiar with DisneyLand and didn't even know where to start planning, so I always end up planning WDW again.
There is so much useful information in this post alone that it is sparking my interest again...
Ultimately it will be cost that determines if we could do a Disneyland trip. Maybe I will make a spreadsheet and see how they compare.

Sounds like you are in the same boat. I agree...great info from others on here.
Disneyland is much farther from Ontario (and a time change), but the deciding factor for us is the weather. Both will be very hot, but from what I hear, Anaheim doesn't get the humidity and rain in August along with the heat. We've only been to WDW once but absolutely loved it. Am hoping DL won't seem small and we'll have 'done' everything after a day or so...but at the same time, will be neat to try something similar (i.e. still Disney) but different....and to be at Walt's park. I haven't priced out the cost difference, but there seems to be reasonable hotels/motels right outside the park that will do (just not the Disney bubble and theming). But I imagine the plane ride will cost more....plus if we go all the way to CA, then we won't just do Disney but tour CA a bit too. Let us know what you decide.

 

[TigerlilyAJ]

Reading this thread just makes me wish we could go back to DLR. I'm in knots over our upcoming first trip to WDW, because it's so much more stress and planning to the minute--and we're staying 10 days and still can't see everything because everything is so far apart and we'll lose so much time traveling from place to place.
Please believe the DLR forum sticky threads (and the PPs here) about the differences between DLR and WDW. You absolutely want Park Hoppers. The parks are not separated at all, nothing like WDW. We bounced back and forth multiple times a day for different entertainment and popping into favorite rides. And you can get any ADR you want. Also remember that it has more rides than WDW (or did in 2013).
We went in Oct-Nov 2012 and Aug 2013. I highly prefer fall and Halloween, but was pleasantly surprised at how nice August was. I hate summer, hate heat, am disappointed to see that we'll need shorts in Dec in Florida. August in SoCal was fine. The humidity makes a huge difference. And of course, it never rained! Both trips were long stays, split up with side trips elsewhere, Carlsbad and Legoland for one trip, NoCal Bay Area for the other. If we went now that WWoHP is open, we'd be going to Universal for sure.

Tropicana, family suite: It was fine. It is totally motel, both in feel and in technical definition. But we upgraded to the nice suite with a fireworks view (so up in the very front), and the jets in the tub worked. Everything it lacked in finer appointments or breakfast offerings was made up for in only being a five-minute walk to the security check point. Walk out the door and cross the street, you're there.
Residence Inn Maingate: Love this place, disappointed to see the steep price climb here (and everywhere else in the DLR area, it seems like) but still would use again. We stayed in a one bedroom, and ate at the hot breakfast buffet every morning. Nice beds, nice sheets, quiet, close enough (15-20 minute walk while pushing a double stroller) for easy afternoon breaks.
We ended both stays with short stints in DLR hotels, which are not any closer or more convenient. The special entrance at GCH is understaffed for the huge demand in the morning, so we got in faster by going to the regular entrance. (It's totally fine at any other time of day.)
Paradise Pier: We had a great time there staying concierge level with a park-view room. But the club is small and always packed when the food is out. We did our character breakfasts the mornings we were there since we had lost the lovely Residence Inn buffet. The park view is amazing, day and night. I might be a bit spoiled, though, because we had a minor room problem that got us upgraded from a regular park-view room to a family suite. ;-)
Disneyland Hotel: It was definitely fancier and grander than PPH, and of course we loved the magical headboards. We had a partial view of the fireworks that underwhelmed. We only took the monorail into the park once because it really was not quicker, just a bit of fun. I preferred PPH for its more laidback feel, but I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority. Oh, except for the POOL. We did a half-day at the pool with a cabana, and it was glorious!

 

[Frozen2014]

Tigerlily, thanks for the great info. When we go, we'll definitely get park hoppers. That seems to be common advice and makes sense with the parks so close.
Don't stress about WDW. It's amazing. Personally we didn't bother with park hoppers. We went to the park and just stayed there the day. If you are going for 10 days, then you can just split up the days. I do recommend staying on-site. We stayed at Art of Animation. Amazing theming and reasonable cost.
Thanks for the hotel info. We'll be staying off site, but hopefully across the street.
Enjoy your WDW trip.

P.S. so glad to hear August heat in Anaheim is manageable. It's one of my concerns, but our trips are limited now with our kids getting older.

 

[epcotfan]

I'm planning on Disneyland for September of 2017. I've been to DL a couple of times and based on that I won't book anything until about 3 months out. The Disney Resorts tend to have specials posted in July so that is when I'll book. (I really want to go to the Grand Californian) I'll book a flight out of Pearson once I find a room discount I am comfortable with. Thankfully there are multiple flights out to Los Angeles from Toronto so lots to choose from. For offsite hotels I would keep an eye out for deals on the hotel you prefer and then book asap.

If I book a room only reservation I'll buy my tickets once I arrive. I get nervous about having to cancel at the last minute and don't want the expense of tickets if I can't use them in the near future. Worst case scenario is I lose one night's accommodation. Another reason I like room only reservations.

 

[Frozen2014]

I'm planning on Disneyland for September of 2017. I've been to DL a couple of times and based on that I won't book anything until about 3 months out. The Disney Resorts tend to have specials posted in July so that is when I'll book. (I really want to go to the Grand Californian) I'll book a flight out of Pearson once I find a room discount I am comfortable with. Thankfully there are multiple flights out to Los Angeles from Toronto so lots to choose from. For offsite hotels I would keep an eye out for deals on the hotel you prefer and then book asap.

If I book a room only reservation I'll buy my tickets once I arrive. I get nervous about having to cancel at the last minute and don't want the expense of tickets if I can't use them in the near future. Worst case scenario is I lose one night's accommodation. Another reason I like room only reservations.

Great you'll be staying at a Disney hotel. Guess they wait until closer to the date to fill up the unsold rooms.
We'll e staying offsite. We don't have a week finalized, but I did notice this summer that the populare ones were gone. But if we book one that is refundable, we can always book when we see it for a good price and then change if needed (or if price goes down).
Good point about park tickets if not buying in a package. I know some have mentioned Last Minute Travel for a better prcie, which obviously doesn't sell until closer to the date (not sure if it works for Canadians though).

 

[Aladora]

Great you'll be staying at a Disney hotel. Guess they wait until closer to the date to fill up the unsold rooms.
We'll e staying offsite. We don't have a week finalized, but I did notice this summer that the populare ones were gone. But if we book one that is refundable, we can always book when we see it for a good price and then change if needed (or if price goes down).
Good point about park tickets if not buying in a package. I know some have mentioned Last Minute Travel for a better prcie, which obviously doesn't sell until closer to the date (not sure if it works for Canadians though).

I booked get our last set of tickets through Last Minute Travel, it definitely works!

 

[JenluvsDisney]

We just got back from our first trip to Disneyland a couple of weeks ago. We'd done WDW many times in August and decided it was time for a change! After being in California in August, I will NEVER do WDW in August again. The weather was hot but not nearly as bad as Florida this time of year. And, in fact, Southern Ontario was under a heat wave while we were in California, and so the weather was much more pleasant in CA than it was at home! Also, there was not one drop of rain the entire trip. Compare that to Florida which has daily downpours in August! And, even though it heats up during the day, the temps in California go back down at night so that you sometimes even need hoodies or light jackets at night or in the early morning.

We flew Southwest out of Buffalo, which did mean no direct flight. JetBlue is advertising nonstop flights to California but I believe that's red-eye only. But the flight time didn't really end up bothering us. As others have suggested, we flew into SNA and it couldn't have been easier. I had booked the Magical Express and we ended up being the only family on the bus! It was a short 20 minute drive from SNA to the Paradise Pier hotel. We had 5-day park hoppers and, with that amount of time, felt that we were able to do and see everything we wanted to. We were easily able to walk everywhere so definitely did not need a car.

One thing we were surprised by was how early the Disney parks open in August! They opened at 8am everyday and, since we were on property guests, we could get into one of the parks an hour early (7am!) almost every day. They change which park has early entry each day so definitely check a schedule. Because of the time change, our bodies were 3 hours ahead of California time, we had no problems getting up super early (and I have 2 teenagers!) and making it to rope drops at 7am to knock out some of the big attractions.

At the end of our Disney trip, we picked up a rental car (there are SO many rental agencies within walking distance of the Disneyland area. We rented from Enterprise and it was less than a 10-minute walk for my husband to get their from the Paradise Pier hotel). We drove to Burbank and stayed in that area for another 5 days. We did the Warner Brothers tour which was VERY fun. A highlight for me and my daughter was getting to see the Gilmore Girls house! Also loved all the "Friends" stuff and getting to hold a real Oscar! We saw the LA symphony play Tchaikovsky with Fireworks at the Hollywood Bowl, which was a definite highlight of our trip. Like others have posted, we also weren't too crazy about downtown Hollywood. We saw the Grauman's theatre and the walk of fame and then quickly made our way out of the area. But we loved the drive up to the Griffith Observatory. Very scenic and great view of the Hollywood sign. It's also very close to the carousel where Walt first dreamed up Disneyland so we took a quick drive to see that too. We spent a day at Universal Studios Hollywood, which we also thoroughly enjoyed. If you buy your passes in advance online you can get early entry to the park (7am again, although this changes from day to day), which helps you get on the Harry Potter stuff before the rest of the crowds get in. It's a small park and very easy to do in one day (at least for us). We drove to the Santa Monica Pier for one of our days and really enjoyed the amusement park on the pier as well as having a chance to swim in the Pacific. My husband has a dear old friend who works in Disney animation so he was able to sign us in at the Disney Burbank studios and give us a tour of that area. We ate lunch at the commissary there and saw Bob Iger stroll by! I know this studio isn't as accessible as many of the other studios but if you ever have the opportunity to go (through a friend or a D23 event, for instance), I highly recommend it!

At the end of our trip we flew Southwest out of Burbank. There are dozens of hotels within minutes of this airport, which I think may have even been smaller than SNA. But it was super easy to get around and there was absolutely zero wait to get through security. If you're willing to forego direct flights, I can't recommend the Burbank airport enough.

Have fun with your planning but definitely don't sweat it! WDW has me trained to feel that if I'm not actively booking stuff months ahead, I'm going to miss out on something wonderful and that's simply not the case at Disneyland. Reservations for meals don't even open until 60 days prior and you get your fastpasses once you're in the park. I didn't even buy our park tickets until the week before we left. I would recommend booking your hotel on the early side, though. When I was researching options I noticed that the offsite hotels could start filling up quickly, especially the closest ones. I think they're extra popular because of how much more affordable they are!

Good luck and enjoy your trip!