Bete
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 14, 1999
This is especially written for WDW fans. I'm a diehard WDW fan but I enjoyed the change of pace here and the close proximity of everything in the parks, etc. Without heavy crowds, both parks can be managed in three days easily or 4 days at a more leisurely pace. I would add a day during the celebration time. The tram waits (for those who drive in) can be miserable during peak times. Hopefully, with the up and coming events they will run more trams; I hope. We will be heading back in May 2005. I haven't decided if we will attend the opening day events or not for the 50th celebration. I will be in the area; so, it will depend on what unfolds with news of opening events. It's rumored that there will be a 50 hour party to start it off. Noone is confirming this; nor, will anyone go into details about it.
First, you have to realize it's not the same as WDW with regards to the resorts; don't try to compare it. On property resorts are quite expensive for what you get in return, in my opinion, and there are only three to choose from and rating them are like this: grade A goes to the Grand Californian, Disneyland Resort gets a grade B, and Paradise Pier ends with a C grade. Again, this is my opinion. We have premium APs and even with the discount I won't stay on property. There are many that will plug the GC. If money is no object, my all means stay on property. I think they are bringing back early entry, at least to DL; so, that may be an advantage to staying on-site. I would confirm that perk if that's a deciding factor for you. Sorry, I have better ways to use the dollars saved. I do like their character meals in the resorts but you still can do the eats without the high price tags of the on-site Disney resorts. P.S. is available at certain resort and park restaurants. Currently, most of them accept 60 day in advance P.S. Because there are less restaurants all the way around including DD, I would strongly suggest P.S. for your meals. I would go as far as checking your ressies, too because there has been some reported issues with times and places being screwed up by the CMs. We did not have any issues this way. I do think the seating process at the resort restaurants can be quite slow at peak times; so, my answer would be to go during non-peak times. On the plus side for the Disney resorts, the Grand Californian has a wonderful location and you can easily walk to the parks and DD; this is the only plus feature that I can see for staying here and paying top dollar. Also, it's the only 4-star rated resort in the area from what I understand. If I were staying on site I would pay for this resort over the others. Also, worth considering are nearby areas for 4-star resorts. You don't have to stay in Anahiem. I still like the Florida, Disney Deluxe resorts better.
Keep in mind, most off-site resorts in the Disneyland area are older. Most are rated 2 to 3 star resorts. If you can find a three star for under $75/night for a standard room for your dates I would grab it, now. I've noticed that room prices are going up already compared to our May 2004 stay for next year for May and onward. The local area knows new tourists will be coming for the 50th. We stayed at the Desert Palms (not to be confused with another resort of similar name). This resort has 4 room categories and priced accordingly and a free continental breakfast. There was a refrigerator (rather large with a working freezer) and a microwave. There's an older and newer section to this resort because over the last year plus they've been renovating the place. During construction it was too noisy to stay here but we lucked out for our May 2004 stay. We stayed in the older section for $65/night. I don't think you will get that rate for 50th celebration. What I'm not sure of with this resort is whether or not they will continue renovating or not with the older section, now. If they do, this may not be a good place to stay for next year. I loved the place for the price. It's not the closest but it's not the farthest place from the parks, either. For those that don't ride and park, it's manageable to walk to the parks from this place. Many resorts are farther and people were walking to get to the parks. I think because the parks are smaller and you do less walking in them compared to WDW parks, you can handle the walks back and forth. I would not, however, want to do this multiple times over the course of a day; so, plan accordingly.
I liked Fantasmic more at Disneyland but you have no seating; so, you must stand for the show except for those in the very front and center who sit down on the ground. There is a Fantasmic dessert buffet you can try that offers reserved seating but those ressies are hard to come by and again pretty expensive. It's a Small, Small World is so much better at Disneyland. I feel the same about their Haunted Mansion ride. You can see the heart and soul of Walt in these rides. Even the queue area is wonderful for the World ride. I saw a lot of characters around the park, especially princesses. The Snow White show was pretty good, too. I loved the railroad here and it's an excellent way to get to different sections of the park. The Horseshoe Revue was a blast. Also, be prepared for a much smaller castle; I like WDW better for the castle. The Disneyland castle will be all decked out for the ocassion; so, it still will be wonderful to see. We purposely went on the rides that are different from Florida.
The Aladdin show is a must see in California Adventure. It's the best park show I've ever seen for Disney parks. For rides we liked Soarin' California and Grizzly Bear the best at this park. I do feel this is the worse park Disney has built to date in the U.S. It has an atmosphere of cheapness. Again, this is my opinion. I wouldn't skip the park but it does lack the special Disney touches.
The parades were okay but I understand they will be better for the celebration. We preferred eating at DD or the resorts, rather than the parks. I enjoyed the fireworks. I will say I think it was much more of a polite environment for these events and it had much better crowd control for these activities then what I've experienced at WDW. I think all bets are off though for the 50th celebration time.
Also, keep in mind, there are a lot of nearby areas to visit like Buena Vista, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Hollywood, and even San Diego. We've been to Buena Vista and Knotts Berry Farm is ok. We liked Long Beach and went to the Aquarium there and the Queen Mary on our October trip. We visited the Getty Museum and really enjoyed it in Los Angeles. Universal Hollywood is an easy park to walk, too. Again, I would concentrate on the rides you don't have in Orlando. Wild Animal Park was different for us and that's in San Diego. I don't recommend Sea World there if you go to to the one in Orlando because they sound exactly the same. I like Sea World but I would do parks, etc. that you don't see in Orlando. We will see San Diego Zoo in our next trip. We took a couple of cruises each trip out of LA and we loved them. Long Beach and San Diego has cruises available, too. If you want to save bucks I would suggest a non-Disney cruise; it's an incredible price difference. I know you don't get the Disney magic but when you can take two or even three cruises for what Disney wants for their one cruise that's magic enough for me.
My greatest concern right now is whether Disneyland will be ready for the crowds that will be coming for the celebration. I don't know how they can prepare their CMs, etc. for such an event. It's one of the reasons we did a pre-trip to the celebration time. We will be concentrating on those activities revolving around the celebration mostly when we return in May 2005 and our favorites from the trips before this next one.
I'm ready for any questions.
First, you have to realize it's not the same as WDW with regards to the resorts; don't try to compare it. On property resorts are quite expensive for what you get in return, in my opinion, and there are only three to choose from and rating them are like this: grade A goes to the Grand Californian, Disneyland Resort gets a grade B, and Paradise Pier ends with a C grade. Again, this is my opinion. We have premium APs and even with the discount I won't stay on property. There are many that will plug the GC. If money is no object, my all means stay on property. I think they are bringing back early entry, at least to DL; so, that may be an advantage to staying on-site. I would confirm that perk if that's a deciding factor for you. Sorry, I have better ways to use the dollars saved. I do like their character meals in the resorts but you still can do the eats without the high price tags of the on-site Disney resorts. P.S. is available at certain resort and park restaurants. Currently, most of them accept 60 day in advance P.S. Because there are less restaurants all the way around including DD, I would strongly suggest P.S. for your meals. I would go as far as checking your ressies, too because there has been some reported issues with times and places being screwed up by the CMs. We did not have any issues this way. I do think the seating process at the resort restaurants can be quite slow at peak times; so, my answer would be to go during non-peak times. On the plus side for the Disney resorts, the Grand Californian has a wonderful location and you can easily walk to the parks and DD; this is the only plus feature that I can see for staying here and paying top dollar. Also, it's the only 4-star rated resort in the area from what I understand. If I were staying on site I would pay for this resort over the others. Also, worth considering are nearby areas for 4-star resorts. You don't have to stay in Anahiem. I still like the Florida, Disney Deluxe resorts better.
Keep in mind, most off-site resorts in the Disneyland area are older. Most are rated 2 to 3 star resorts. If you can find a three star for under $75/night for a standard room for your dates I would grab it, now. I've noticed that room prices are going up already compared to our May 2004 stay for next year for May and onward. The local area knows new tourists will be coming for the 50th. We stayed at the Desert Palms (not to be confused with another resort of similar name). This resort has 4 room categories and priced accordingly and a free continental breakfast. There was a refrigerator (rather large with a working freezer) and a microwave. There's an older and newer section to this resort because over the last year plus they've been renovating the place. During construction it was too noisy to stay here but we lucked out for our May 2004 stay. We stayed in the older section for $65/night. I don't think you will get that rate for 50th celebration. What I'm not sure of with this resort is whether or not they will continue renovating or not with the older section, now. If they do, this may not be a good place to stay for next year. I loved the place for the price. It's not the closest but it's not the farthest place from the parks, either. For those that don't ride and park, it's manageable to walk to the parks from this place. Many resorts are farther and people were walking to get to the parks. I think because the parks are smaller and you do less walking in them compared to WDW parks, you can handle the walks back and forth. I would not, however, want to do this multiple times over the course of a day; so, plan accordingly.
I liked Fantasmic more at Disneyland but you have no seating; so, you must stand for the show except for those in the very front and center who sit down on the ground. There is a Fantasmic dessert buffet you can try that offers reserved seating but those ressies are hard to come by and again pretty expensive. It's a Small, Small World is so much better at Disneyland. I feel the same about their Haunted Mansion ride. You can see the heart and soul of Walt in these rides. Even the queue area is wonderful for the World ride. I saw a lot of characters around the park, especially princesses. The Snow White show was pretty good, too. I loved the railroad here and it's an excellent way to get to different sections of the park. The Horseshoe Revue was a blast. Also, be prepared for a much smaller castle; I like WDW better for the castle. The Disneyland castle will be all decked out for the ocassion; so, it still will be wonderful to see. We purposely went on the rides that are different from Florida.
The Aladdin show is a must see in California Adventure. It's the best park show I've ever seen for Disney parks. For rides we liked Soarin' California and Grizzly Bear the best at this park. I do feel this is the worse park Disney has built to date in the U.S. It has an atmosphere of cheapness. Again, this is my opinion. I wouldn't skip the park but it does lack the special Disney touches.
The parades were okay but I understand they will be better for the celebration. We preferred eating at DD or the resorts, rather than the parks. I enjoyed the fireworks. I will say I think it was much more of a polite environment for these events and it had much better crowd control for these activities then what I've experienced at WDW. I think all bets are off though for the 50th celebration time.
Also, keep in mind, there are a lot of nearby areas to visit like Buena Vista, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Hollywood, and even San Diego. We've been to Buena Vista and Knotts Berry Farm is ok. We liked Long Beach and went to the Aquarium there and the Queen Mary on our October trip. We visited the Getty Museum and really enjoyed it in Los Angeles. Universal Hollywood is an easy park to walk, too. Again, I would concentrate on the rides you don't have in Orlando. Wild Animal Park was different for us and that's in San Diego. I don't recommend Sea World there if you go to to the one in Orlando because they sound exactly the same. I like Sea World but I would do parks, etc. that you don't see in Orlando. We will see San Diego Zoo in our next trip. We took a couple of cruises each trip out of LA and we loved them. Long Beach and San Diego has cruises available, too. If you want to save bucks I would suggest a non-Disney cruise; it's an incredible price difference. I know you don't get the Disney magic but when you can take two or even three cruises for what Disney wants for their one cruise that's magic enough for me.
My greatest concern right now is whether Disneyland will be ready for the crowds that will be coming for the celebration. I don't know how they can prepare their CMs, etc. for such an event. It's one of the reasons we did a pre-trip to the celebration time. We will be concentrating on those activities revolving around the celebration mostly when we return in May 2005 and our favorites from the trips before this next one.
I'm ready for any questions.
