Where should we stay?

[KCMiller]

Hi,

We're coming west for a week in June, to see the LA sights. We'd like to spend a few days at Disneyland, husband wants to jaunt down to Mexico for a day, and the kids want the beach. Oh, and the oldest son wants a day in LA, seeing the Hollywood sights.

So where would you stay, if you were me, and wanted to stay in one place for the week? Would you stay in Long Beach? In San Diego? In Anaheim?

I'll be looking for Disneyland info later - right now, I'm just wondering where I'm going to lay my head...

Never been, and totally open to suggestions - give me all your thoughts, and thanks in advance !


KC

 

[dbanzai]

I went to the LA area for my first time last summer. I stayed a few nights near LAX airport, one night in a city near Anaheim (as all the neighborhoods are actually technically cities and towns unto themselves), and a couple of nights right by the main gate to Disneyland.

The airport is fairly central. south of L.A. proper but close to the main city... It's near the coast and beaches too.

As someone who has made the trip himself recently, I'd suggest staying in two places. Maybe a few nights in Hollywood and some in Anaheim... For the latter I'd actually use the Disney site to book, as that's what I did. I got a pretty good rate with park tickets (Park Hoppers or the Californian equivilant). I stayed at the Fairfield Inn which is a block from the entrance. There was free parking at the hotel and all things seemed reasonable in price.

Getting around L.A. was a chore. Public transportation seemed to live up to its reputation, seeming both non-existant and hard to figure out. Driving seems to be the only way around as the subways/Metro operates only in the main city area. That's part of the reason I suggest not staying in L.A. The highways are packed. I think it took me about 20-30 minutes to get to Hollywood from near L.A., which would be I guess about an hour from Disneyland. If you stay some of the time in the south and some time in the north, I think you could see everything without having to worry excessively about driving through the horrid traffic of L.A.

 

[KCMiller]

Is it true that you can actually walk across the street to Disneyland from your hotel? I've only been to WDW, where how to get to the park in the morning is a big question.

Getting up and walking to the gates would be a nice change!

KC

 

[peachgirl]

It's true!

We're regular vistors to WDW and the closeness of everything at DL was one of the things we loved the most.

We stayed at the GC, so we were really impressed with being just a minute away from the parks. After the miles and miles of walking and bus riding at WDW, being steps away from either park was really fun!

Strange as it may seem, not having all the choices of WDW was actually kind of nice...much more relaxing!!!

 

[got2travel]

Is it true that you can actually walk across the street to Disneyland from your hotel? I've only been to WDW, where how to get to the park in the morning is a big question.

Getting up and walking to the gates would be a nice change!

KC

Not only can you walk to the maingates. Other than the Grand Californian, many OFF-site hotels are closer to the gates.

 

[KCMiller]

Wow, that's great!

I did so much research when I was going to WDW, because it's just so darn big - but I have a few questions about DL - on how it's the same or different from WDW.

For instance, those Connection vouchers that everyone gets for dining at WDW - do they have those for DL?

And do you have to make PS's for lunch and dinner like you do at WDW?

And can you park hop?

I'm getting very excited - this was sort of spur of the moment for us, and now that I'm really going, I'm all about the info!

KC

 

[daannzzz]

Here is what the Disneyland resort looks like. You can see all the motels across the street.
http://www.beachcalifornia.com/dlmp.html
The closest one is the Best Western Park Place Inn. It is a fine place to stay and a five minute walk to the front gates of the parks. My favorites are the Howard Johnson or Candy Cane Inn which are a 7-8 minute walk.

 

[got2travel]

No connections vouchers.

Dinning in the park, there's not many full service restaurants, but you'll definitely want to get a PS for Blue Bayou. Its inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. I prefer lunch, its not as pricey.

And if you want to do any character meals, you'll need PSs. Either Goofy's Kitchen, The Plaza Inn Princess breakfast or StoryTeller's Cafe with Chip and Dale. The princess breakfast is the only one in the park, the others are at the hotels.

You can park hop only if you purchase a multi day pass. There are some deals right now, a free kids ticket with an adult purchase, or adults at the kids price. Check out mousesavers.com for all the deals right now.

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Great photo daannzzz -- Thanks for the link!

 

[WheresGoofy]

For instance, those Connection vouchers that everyone gets for dining at WDW - do they have those for DL?

I wanted to mention that DL has a meal voucher program, but it does not compare to the WDW program. I think WDW made some changes to theirs either late 2003 or sometime in 2004. But at DL, my DW and I got a meal plan once and it was not what we expected. They use a voucher program and in the long run, I don't think it was a value. That is just our opinion.

 

[LucyKate]

We stayed at the Howard Johnson - a 10 mimnute walk from the gate, and wouldn't consider staying anywhere else - cheap, very friendly, clean and efficient hotel - a must for anyone without the money to stay at the Grand Californian.

As you will spned most time at Disneyland, I'd stay there and take day trips to other locations.

There are heaps of tours from Anaheim to all the places you describe - one combines a day at universal studios with a look at Hollywood etc - others go to Mexico and back for the day, or Seaworld etc.

Stay at the HoJo and take day trips. Although if planning to do both Mexico, and San Diego sights like Seaworld and the Zoo, it might save you a lot of time and hassle by spending a couple of days at San Diego which is much closer to the border and a very nice city.

 

[dbanzai]

That's a cool arial photo, but one thing that's missing is the monorail stop by the Disneyland Hotel... It might give a little better idea of the walk you need to take to get into the park, as the monorails run from near the hotel to Tomorrowland.

As I said, I stayed at the Fairfield Inn, I definitely could see myself staying there again. It was close, had a couple of restaurants (one in the parking lot and a deli-like counter inside), and it was one of the cheaper places listed when I was searching for a place to stay. It had nice rooms and the one I stayed in had two twins: Enough room I'd say for a family. Space Mountain was across the street from my window, and the monorail ran past the window as well.

Actually, here's a shot from the walkway in front of my window at the Fairfield:

It was a 5-10 minute walk down the block and through the bus pick-up area to get to the gates of the parks.

 

[LucyKate]

The other thing missing from the photo is any sense of where you have to walk to to actually enter the park.

The entrance is across the road from the Park Vue, so even though a lot of those hotels are correctly described as "right across the street from Disneyland", or "right next door to Disneyland" for all the hotels on that side of Disneyland you still have to walk to about where the Park Vue is to enter the park.

Our hotel, the Howard Johnson, was right across the road from the monorail track and the Matterhorn bobsled, but we still had to walk to the Park Vue to enter (although this was no more than 10 minutes).

 

[Ballybunion3]

Definitely Ho Jos!

Their service is on par (believe it or not) with WDW resort hotels. Probably similar to an All Star, something like that, rooms are big, but simple. They DO have a little fridge though! Nice pools, Mimi's Cafe right outside the hotel. I would say no more than a 7 minute walk to the main gate, and there is a tram available - though we never wanted to wait for it.

I agree w/ staying at Ho Jos and doing day trips from there - much simpler. Maybe a night or two in San Diego, which is about 2 hours south.

Have fun!

 

[disneysteve]

Thanks to all for the info. I've been thinking about booking at the Fairfield Inn and it sounds like a good place. I love the photo dbanzai posted. That really puts things in perspective.

We are Marriott Reward members so I really wanted to stick with a Marriott property. Plus I can use Bonus Bucks to knock $50 off the bill for every 2 nites of our stay. Sounds like that's the place for us.

Is the Anaheim Marriott too far to walk from?

 

[chipanddalenuts]

We are going on the MAGIC cruise in July. I know that this is peak for DL. How far should I book an off site room for 2 nights pre cruise? Are these hotels large? Are they as pricey as Disney?

 

[daannzzz]

The motels/hotel around the Disneyland resort are not (in general) as expensive as the Disney hotels. Because July 17th is Disneyland true 50th birthday expect it to extremely busy around that week. I would plan on booking a motel/hotel soon just to be safe.

 

[MrShiny]

Yes, you'll find that the cheaper places on Harbor are atually a lot less walking than the DL hotels. Although the GC is "in" DCA, it's actually a good walk to DL (either through DCA or through DD).

We've stayed at the Del Sol, the Desert Inn and will be at the Carousel Inn tomorrow (and we aren't local - we're in Chicago). All are really a short walk to DL or DCA.

Here's my favorite site:

Bret's Disneyland Lodging LinkMap

 

[JC Butterfly]

thanks for all the great photos to compare!

 

[AOPI57]

We booked the Fairfield Inn for July after the cruise. Thanks for posting the pictures. I love the view! We also used our Marriott rewards points.