Help Disneyland best dates and planning needed
Disneyland: What are the slowest days?
Help please,
We are wanting to plan a vacation to Disneyland. We have a 5yr old and a 2 yr old to plan for. How do you find out the slowest days as to avoid the crowds and also any tips on how to tackle the park and reasonable accomodations would be much appreciated!
Thankyou- the desperate mom
I've heard that a great time to go is in late January or anytime in February, as long as it's a weekday when the kids are in school. I just went and wished I had waited until February. As far as accomodations go, we stayed at the La Quinta Inn & Suites. While it's a little bit too far to walk with little ones, the staff was GREAT, the prices were good and it was real clean. The complimentary breakfast each morning saved us money and actually tasted good (except for the coffee!). Make sure you take them to DCA and check out the Bugs Life area and the Block Party Parade. Your five year old will love the Jumpin Jellyfish.
Any non-holiday weekday should be fine. Just get there before the park opens (usually 10 am for those days) and you'll avoid lines on most attractions. Hit Fantasyland first, especially the low capacity, long-wait rides like Dumbo, Casey Jr. and Peter Pan. Then move to the higher capacity rides like the Carousel, Storybook Land and It's a Small World.
Kids that age should be ready for a nap by mid-afternoon, so don't skip that. Tom Sawyer's Island followed by the Tiki room is a good way to blow off energy, then begin to calm down for nap time.
Beware of the Pooh ride. Little kids often can't see anything over the ridiculously oversized safety harness, rendering that attraction a waste of time. I wouldn't bother with the California Adventure park, either, as your local playground offers more entertainment than the awful It's a Bugs Land. Jumpin' Jellyfish is the only ride worth doing for kids in that park, and unless you have someone to watch the younger child while you ride with the older one, you won't be able to do even that. If you have a package deal that includes California Adventure at no extra cost, fine. But don't pay extra for that park.
What about the Brother Bear Area at DCA and the Monsters Inc attraction in the Hollywood section? There are many places to go in DCA. I would highly reccomend going there becase of these attractions, the ones that Robert mentioned, and the Animation and Aladin shows. This is a big thing I disagree with most on this site. DCA is still very good and worth some of you time. However, I will admit you should spend more time at DL!
Thankyou all for your input. Did anyone else have a suggestion for accomodations, that are reasonable, clean and close to the park?
Thanks!
From Gareth H
Posted January 11, 2006 at 9:04 AM
Not sur eif there are any close, but try somewhere like Extended Stay America, reasonable rates and you get a Kitchen, which should save you some money..
I know many will probably disagree with me, but I really liked Paradise Pier when I went down there!
My husband and I went to DisneyLand the last week in October, and it was great. On the weekends there were small lines(halloween was busy though), but during the week, we walked directly onto most of the rides. we rode space mountain 4 times in a row withing an hour. Make sure to take advantage of the fast passes, you can get one every hour, and you don't have to wait until you use your last one up, before you can get another one. The fast passes have a timeframe when you can come and get on the ride, but we found that as long as it was after the beginning of the time frame, you could use them anytime, including after the time frame was over. ( I don't know if that would work on a really busy day) Also, if your not interested in the parade, the lines are short while people are watching the parades and fireworks.
there is an extended stay america within two or three miles of disneyland. Reserve your hotel on priceline.com you basically name your own price, and it searches for you. You specify your area (anaheim/Disneyland), and input a low price.I recommend starting at $25 it will search and if there are no bites or you don't like your choices, you can increase your amount. (it won't let you lower it. Start by telling it that you want a 1 star hotel, (quite often you will find 5 star hotels registering themselves as 1 star. ) Sounds scary, but there are no 1 star hotels near disneyland. Also, only do it, when you are really ready to buy, and you know when you want to go. they are a little weird that way, and will lock you out if your on there constantly, but not choosing anything. The extended stay america we stayed in was on clementine street. We paid $35 a night. (you can find the best deals during the off season, when hotels are not filling up. We also booked our rental car this way. ($25 p/day) if you need plane tickets, go to Expedia.com. (130 each round trip Salt lake city to anaheim) and use john wayne airport, it's less crowded than LAX, and it's closer to disney land. (only 20 minutes away) and in our case, cheaper.
From bla bla
Posted January 29, 2006 at 10:01 PM
I go to Disneyland a lot with my family and I find that if you are going in January, go around the 15th if you can, it isnt too crouded there. February you should definatly try to go around either valentines day of the 26. March is a bad month because of spring break but if you must go around the 1st or 3rd. April is preety much an open month. May is too but early May is best. June is the absolute best time to go but it is very crouded. Anytime in June would be the same but you would have the most fun around the 27th. July is absolutley terrible to go because of heat, lines, and so many people a there! August is the same as July. September it starts to get a little slower around the 16th or so. October you should definatley go between the 3rd and the 16 or on Halloween. November is pretty open and December is worth the wait! It is beautiful down there near Christmas!
We enjoyed staying at the Park Inn Anaheim. It is right across the street from the park entrance, so you can just walk to the park. The pool deck has a great view of the fireworks. It's not fancy but is a good standard motel.
My favorite tip for figuring out when the park will be less crowded is to use the Disneyland Calendar. Just go to Disneyland.com and click on "Calendar" in the upper right, then choose the month you're interested in.
Disneyland is really good at predicting attendance, and the longer the park is open the more crowded it will be. Avoid the 8 a.m. to midnight days, and the 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. days are about the quietest. But remember that on quiet days there will be fewer shows and parades and probably no fireworks.
We are going up there next week (Feb. 2-3) and we are staying at the Desert Palms Suites which are surprisingly affordable in the off-season. We got a large 2 bedroom suite with bunkbed and trundle (I have 3 kids) for $99/night. My brother and his family just stayed at the same place last week and said it was very nice, huge breakfast (included), heated pool and jacuzzi, and you can walk to Disneyland. Its right behind California Adventure so you can walk to everything. Here's their website: www.desertpalmshotel.com
If you can go during the week, Tue./Wed. are the least busiest days. We are going Mon/Tue this time which will still be pretty empty because there's no holiday and everyone still has school.
by the way, I went to CA for the first time a few weeks ago, and LOVED Soarin' over California! Your kids could go on that too.
First, I would try booking the vacation on Southwest Vacations. That way you would be able to get a very nice discount on a great onm-site hotel. If you do decide to go this route, pick the Grand Califonian Hotel & Spa. This is the best of all of the on-site hotels, as it is the closest to the parks (3 minute walk to Disneyland Park and has its own special entrance into Disney's California Adventure), has two great restaurants ( a 5-star adult restaurant and a family restaurant where chip, dale, and pluto meet daily), and a pool with a water slide, not to mention the great rooms with bunk beds which the kids will like.
Now to park advice. Since you have young kids, you will probably want to go this route:
Disneyland Park:
Avoid
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain
Space Mountain
Honey I Shrunk The Audience
Haunted Mansion
Must Do's
It's A Small World
Dumbo
Jungle Cruise
Disneyland Railroad
Matterhorn
Fantasmic!
Peter Pan's Flight
Star Tours
Pirates of the Caribbean
Disney's California Adventure:
Avoid
California Screamin'
Twilight Zone
Mulholland Madness
Must Do's
Toy Story Mania
Soarin'
Turtle Talk With Crash
Grizzly River Run
Monster's Inc.
Mupet Vision 3D
It's Tough To Be A Bug
Disney's Electrical Parade
I hope you find my advice useful and that you have a great vacation at the happiest place on earth.
Best Dates: Anything not on a school or holiday break |OR| Between Thanksgiving and christmas/January-May (DON'T GO ON EASTER BREAK!)
PS If you do find some time and money, take a 7 minute drive to Knott's Berry Farm where your kids can meet Snoopy, the rest of the Peanuts gang, and ride some fun Snoopy themed rides in the Camp Snoopy area.
Desperate Mom,
I'm a Disneyland junkie and I have stayed at most budget hotels. For the best prices on any of these hotels, go to www.getawaytoday.com. Their package deals are much better than Disney's or any travel agents and definitely better than booking with the hotel directly. I would say if its still available to book at the Del Sol. Relatively speaking it is DIRT cheap,it is DIRECTLY across the crosswalk from the Disneyland entrance, and it has recently been remodeled so it is clean and nice looking. A REALLY good value. Most other hotels within a mile radius have shuttles that run every twenty minutes, but with a toddler I would recommend one within comfortable walking distance. With the 2 year old you wanna keep movin, Waiting for the shuttle will probably make him/her antsy and drive you nuts trying to keep him/her occupied and distracted. You'll get your fill of that in line at the park.
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