10 Tips for Disneyland

[spunkybaby]

This thread is for Melissa (bubbaray). I promised her that I would post my Disneyland tips after our trip!

1. We bought our DL tickets and character meal vouchers from Ares Travel. Canadians might have better luck with Flight Centre.

2. If you buy tickets online and get a printable voucher that needs to be exchanged at Disneyland for actual tickets, go to the ticket booths the night before to get your tickets. The lines at the ticket booths were *really* long, and we almost missed our Princess lunch reservations at Ariel's Grotto.

3. Character meal vouchers are totally worth it. We paid $18 for a child's meal (princess lunch/dinner) and $33 for an adult's meal. These vouchers include tax and gratuities. The price of the meals fluctuates depending on high/low season. We ate at Ariel's Grotto on 3/24, and I think the listed price for the meals was $44.60 for adult and $24.77 for children. So we saved a bundle. Plus, DD2 got a free toddler meal since she is under 3. ETA: Sitting inside is *way* better than sitting on the patio.

4. If you get a Disney Visa card for the free stroller rentals, click on the ad in the Disneyland.com site so that you get a $40 credit on your first purchase. And don't forget to bring the card.

5. If you forget to bring the Disney Visa and are kicking yourself because you only brought a Volo, and both kids get tired, send your DH to Target to buy a second Volo.

6. On second thought, forget the Disney Visa and just bring two strollers to Disneyland from the beginning. I debated 1 double vs. 2 single strollers, and 2 singles were the best choice for us--hands-down because of the greater flexibility since DD2 tired out much sooner than DD1.

7. If DD2 is mostly PT'd but gives little warning when she.must.pee, then suck it in and put her back in pull-ups. Much easier, and then there's no anxiety when you've been waiting for fireworks for an hour, are surrounded by people, and DD2 announces she needs to potty.

8. When watching fireworks, some of the "gateways" from the hub to the various lands are roped off a little after 8 pm, which gives you a prime viewing area without having to wait for 2+ hours. We got the best spot at a roped-off gateway between Tomorrowland and the Hub. Could see just about everything, although you probably need to be closer to see the projections on Sleeping Beauty's castle.

9. It's cheaper to buy kid meals for everyone from the counter service restaurants. Toontown has kids' meals with turkey hot dogs that are not bad at all.

10. If your DDs insist on standing in line to see the princesses at the Princess Fantasy Fair (even after you took them to Ariel's Grotto specifically so you wouldn't have to line up for the princesses), send DH to wait in the 1.5-hr line. Then take the girls on board the DL railroad from the nearby Toontown station. By the time you get back, DH will have moved up quite a bit, and you can rejoin him in line.

11. Here's a bonus tip: we *loved* our stay at the Howard Johnson Anaheim. The pirate's cove water play area was fun for the kids, the walk to DL was fairly short, and the rooms were clean and comfy (updated bedding in Bldg. 1's premium view rooms--I think they're working on updating the beds in the other rooms too). The $79 entertainment card rate was the best! However, the rooms were a little noisy from the freeway, and the DL view was partially blocked by trees. I think the new kids' suite rooms will be great (but noisy because they face the highway).

Melissa--any questions?

[bubbaray]

THANKS!!!!!

Yes, definitely taking 2 strollers. Will be picking up all tickets with vouchers on Saturday (no park passes for that day, so possibly have to get our passes the next day). Thanks for the tip on the kids meal at Toontown. Will be back at our hotel for the fireworks, but we upgraded to the Premium view at the Hojo, so supposedly we can see them from our window.

Do you happen to remember what time Pirates Cove at the HoJo opens?? Sunday DL opens at 8am, but on Monday & Tuesday it opens at 10am. We have a breakfast with Minnie on Tuesday, so get early entry (breakfast at 9am) with that, but on Monday I have to kill some time. My kids are up at 6am, that could be a long 4 hours, LOL.

[bubbaray]

Did you get your park passes with vouchers? If you got a 3 day pass, did you have to pick it up on day 1 or could you pick it up the day before and start the "clock" the next day?

[spunkybaby]

Will be back at our hotel for the fireworks, but we upgraded to the Premium view at the Hojo, so supposedly we can see them from our window.

Do you happen to remember what time Pirates Cove at the HoJo opens?? Sunday DL opens at 8am, but on Monday & Tuesday it opens at 10am. We have a breakfast with Minnie on Tuesday, so get early entry (breakfast at 9am) with that, but on Monday I have to kill some time. My kids are up at 6am, that could be a long 4 hours, LOL.

Firework viewing, even from the "premium view" rooms at the Hojo, is iffy because there are giant trees in front of Bldg. 1, so it depends on where your room is located. We had two rooms on the 6th floor (1613 and 1615). I think the view was slightly better from 1615. We watched the fireworks from the room the first night but then watched them in the park the subsequent nights. Much better in the park if you can manage it, especially since there is special audio (Julie Andrews does an intro and then there's basically a review of all the DL E-ticket attractions) and special laser/projection effects on Sleeping Beauty's castle and the Matterhorn.

Pirate's Cove was undergoing maintenance work while we were there, so it opened at either 10 am or 12 pm (can't remember exactly) and stayed open until midnight. Maybe the maintenance work will be done by the time you get there? You could call them to check or post a question for Lorealle on the Hojo Anaheim boards: http://tinyurl.com/clyqyk

[spunkybaby]

Did you get your park passes with vouchers? If you got a 3 day pass, did you have to pick it up on day 1 or could you pick it up the day before and start the "clock" the next day?

Yes to both questions. We picked up both our parkhopper passes and our character meal vouchers at the DL ticket window. If I had been smarter, I would have picked up both the night before since the parkhopper passes don't "activate" until you actually enter the gates to DL or DCA.

I've heard that the ticket windows at DL stay open until one-half hour before closing. The windows on the Downtown Disney side stay open the latest.

[spunkybaby]

Oh, and if you buy your tickets from Disneyland.com, I think you get e-tickets rather than ticket vouchers. That means you can use your e-tickets directly at the gates instead of having to wait at the ticket windows.

[spunkybaby]

Oh, and I know there's been debate on whether or not you need strollers at DL. We definitely needed strollers. It was much faster to get the kids to and from attractions, and we definitely needed them at the end of the day for the walk back to the Hojo. The first day we only had one stroller, and carrying DD2 back to the Hojo was *tiring*. So in the end it was okay that we forgot the Disney Visa since even with the Visa, we would have had to turn in our stroller rentals at the end of the day (and wait in line to pick them up at the beginning of each day) and then we wouldn't have had a stroller for the all-important walk back to the Hojo.

[todzwife]

Oh, and I know there's been debate on whether or not you need strollers at DL. We definitely needed strollers. It was much faster to get the kids to and from attractions, and we definitely needed them at the end of the day for the walk back to the Hojo. The first day we only had one stroller, and carrying DD2 back to the Hojo was *tiring*. So in the end it was okay that we forgot the Disney Visa since even with the Visa, we would have had to turn in our stroller rentals at the end of the day (and wait in line to pick them up at the beginning of each day) and then we wouldn't have had a stroller for the all-important walk back to the Hojo.

I TOTALLY agree. BOTH kids wanted to ride and we had 2 umbrella strollers I was SO grateful for. The walk back to Hojo isn't bad, but it's hard when your kids are exhausted! BRING STROLLERS!!!

[spunkybaby]

We stayed in Bldg. 1 in the premium Disney view rooms with 2 queen beds. We requested connecting rooms but did not receive them. There are apparently very few connecting rooms with 2 queen beds (and supposedly they are located at the end of the building that is closest to the freeway, so they are noisier than the other rooms). We also did not receive the bedrails we requested.

If you're staying in these rooms, I recommend requesting rooms in the middle of the building for the best view. Also, don't forget to request double sinks. We had one room with double sinks (one sink inside the bathroom and one sink outside, which is convenient if you need to use the sink while someone is using the bathroom) and one room with just one sink.

The seventh floor apparently has high ceilings and lots of light in the morning. We requested the sixth floor so that we could sleep in.

HTH!

[urquie]

thanks for the tips!!