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mickeymom
06-05-2002, 11:18 AM
We are planning a trip to Disneyland this summer. We are frequent WDW visitors, and I'm wondering if there is anything I need to know.

I have been to DL 3 other times in my life, but the trips have only been for one day each.

We will be in So Cal for 10 days, so...

How many days do I need to do both parks?
Do I need a rental car to go other places?

We are staying at the Grand Californian...that is the only definite thing I know.

Thanks :cool:

RideMax Mark
06-05-2002, 01:16 PM
I would think you'd want at least 3 days total, 2 for Disneyland and 1 for DCA.

SoCalSnowWhite
06-05-2002, 01:19 PM
yeah , I'd say 2 or 3 days at Disneyland and 1 at DCA is enough. Plus you want to enjoy your time at the Grand Californian. you will definitely need a rental car if you are planning on going to Universal Studios or Magic Mountain, and I think it's better being on your own schedule than having to rush to meet up with a bus.

Niwel
06-06-2002, 08:31 AM
You will probably enjoy having your own car ... unlike WDW, where you can spend a week without a car, the DL-area is more spread out.

I believe there is still a shuttle that goes from Anaheim to Universal Studios, but you will have to check Universal Studios.com for the schedule.

As far as days spent ... 2/3 total should be fine ...
Have fun!

adriennek
06-06-2002, 09:21 AM
10 days in So Cal there's a lot to see and do, but I can't quite imagine staying within walking our touring distance of DLR for 10 days. I know there are people who do it, mind you, but I would vote for the car.

Keep in mind, I am a native So Californian-- we're married to our cars. But part of that is necessity. You don't mention what else you might want to see (looking for suggestions? ;) ) but our public transportation pretty much-- isn't good (I cleaned it up.)

Adrienne K

Lani
06-06-2002, 09:54 AM
One thing I would recommend -- Whitewater Snacks, the little snack shop down on the ground floor of the Grand Californian, has a mug refill program like they do in the WDW resorts (someone correct me if I'm on wrong on this). If you are staying more than a couple of days, get yourselves a mug or two so you can enjoy some coffee and soda down there.

...that is unless you are staying as a Concierge guest at the GCH, in which case never mind. You can have all the free soda you want. :)

Not Afraid
06-06-2002, 10:04 AM
Adrienne brought up a good question. What else do you want to see? There's an infinate variety of things to do within easy driving distance to DLR. Palm Springs, Long Beach Aquarium, Queen Mary, the many beaches, San Diego parks/zoos, LA in general (museums, amusement parks, sites), Great shopping close by (SCP), Catalina, the list goes on and on. You can live here for ever and still not get to places.

Regardless, all of the things I mentioned require a car. So Cal is not a place for public transportation.

stan4d_steph
06-06-2002, 10:09 AM
Originally posted by lani
One thing I would recommend -- Whitewater Snacks, the little snack shop down on the ground floor of the Grand Californian, has a mug refill program like they do in the WDW resorts (someone correct me if I'm on wrong on this). If you are staying more than a couple of days, get yourselves a mug or two so you can enjoy some coffee and soda down there.

They still sell the mugs with free refills. I can say that some people have been "staying" for a while now. ;)

mickeymom
06-06-2002, 10:18 AM
Thanks for the mug info...but we are "concierge" so I figure I'll save $75 a day just on breakfast and beverages.

I am not really sure what I want to do.

I am looking for suggestions.

I travel with 3 kids, 15, 12, 8, and a husband who would rather be playing golf!

And we were just at WDW last week!

I want to do things so I don't feel like I just flew 3000 miles to sit by the pool (I can do that at home) but I don't want to come home exhausted.

We come home on Saturday Night...School starts Wednesday Morning!

hbquikcomjamesl
06-06-2002, 10:37 AM
San Diego Zoo (and there are other attractions, like a Natural History Museum, a model train museum, the Fleet Science Center, live steam train rides, and the Spreckels Organ Pavilion [1-hour concerts every Sunday afternoon; full-length concerts during the summer on Monday nights], and so forth, all within walking distance) in Balboa Park.

San Diego Wild Animal Park (the San Pasqual Valley facility of the San Diego Zoo, with one enclosure big enough to swallow the original Balboa Park facility).

A concert at Hollywood Bowl.

Various museums in Los Angeles County

Disney operates a two-surface ice rink, Disney ICE, about a 15-minute drive from DLR.

And of course, there are plenty of parks and beaches.

Not Afraid
06-06-2002, 10:58 AM
As a native Southern Californian who loves to travel, I will give a quick, but inadequate list of things to do In So Cal.

The Getty Museum (even my red-neck brother likes it)
Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific (unless you live in Chicago or Monterey)
Laguna Beach - gorgeous coast/beaches.
Will Rodgers State Park (Santa Monica Mts) for hiking
Santa Monica (3rd St promenade for shopping/eating/people watching, Pier for playing/music)
Venice Beach for just strange people and a "typical" California experience (not really)
San Diego Zoo - Best zoo ever (and Balboa Park had more fun things)
The other amusement parks - Knotts, Magic Mt.

There is soooo much. It depends on what you like to do. I tend toward the museum/nature/people watching experiences. There are also day trips, sports experiences and lots of other stuff. I suggest you get yourself one of those So Cal overview travel books. We had a Lonely Planet condensed guide for Paris that was the best. No hotel information, just things to see and do.

Good luck. I think your biggest challenge will be deciding on what to do.

Oh, and for your husband, there are plenty of WONDERFUL golf courses close by.

justagrrl
06-06-2002, 11:37 AM
Originally posted by hbquikcomjamesl
the Fleet Science Center

This is absolutely one of my favorite places to go in that area. I've been as a kid and an adult and enjoyed it just as much. I love all of the hands on exhibits... They also have a"The giant tilted dome OMNIMAX® screen, combined with the world's largest film format, create a super - realistic cinematic experience." :p

http://www.rhfleet.org/

Also nice is that there are several other musuems and what not right there next to each other...the weather is usually cooler as it's closer to the beach...and Balboa Park which is a nice little shopping trip.

hbquikcomjamesl
06-07-2002, 08:11 AM
we're married to our cars. But part of that is necessity. . . . our public transportation pretty much-- isn't good (I cleaned it up.)

Regardless, all of the things I mentioned require a car. So Cal is not a place for public transportation.
It's not as bad as it was from, say, the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s, but it is, to put it mildly, problematical. But it's better than it was at its worst, and it wasn't always bad.

If you look at a map of the area, just about all of Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura Counties look like they were laid out around the freeway system, and for about the past forty-odd years, they were. It also looks like a classic textbook example of urban/suburban sprawl, and quite frankly, it is. But for much of the 20th century, Southern California was laid out not around freeways, but around what was one of the most extensive trolley systems in the world. A number of Los Angeles city streets have what appear to be absurdly wide median strips; those were once protected streetcar right-of-way. At least some of the strips of abandoned railroad right-of-way running through L. A. County once contained the tracks of the Pacific Electric (the "Red Car"). Much of the "patchwork" development occurred simply because of where the Red Car went: if the Pacific Electric decided to serve an area, it got developed; if not, it didn't. And a goodly chunk of the route of the present Metro Blue Line is on old Pacific Electric right-of-way.

Then, about the time the primitive "Arroyo Seco Parkway" (i.e., the Pasadena Freeway, with its absurdly short onramps) began to evolve into the present freeway system, the Pacific Electric (under new ownership, I'm given to understand) was slowly dismantled, with the last run of its last line in the early 1960s, and Southern California began to become totally dependent on automobiles and freeways. There may be more than a little truth to the rumor that this acquisition and dismantlement (fictionalized as a major plot point in Who Framed Roger Rabbit) was a deliberate act by automotive and petroleum interests to force Southern California to become automobile-centric.

But things actually have improved steadily since the Blue Line opened in the 1980s. At the time it opened, naysayers from all quarters declared that riders would be in constant danger of being mugged (the cars and stations were in fact islands of near-absolute safety during the L. A. Riots), or that ridership would be so anemic that it would be cheaper to pay all potential riders to drive the freeways instead (last year, the stations were expanded to accommodate 3-car trains during peak periods, and the Blue Line has had a significant impact in reducing freeway congestion), and last summer, I ended up saving perhaps a hundred dollars worth of gas simply by taking MetroRail to Hollywood Bowl concerts.

But even so, it's not very practical at all to be without a vehicle in Southern California, especially if one is on vacation for over a week. If you were simply spending four days in DLR (2 days to fully explore DL, a third for DCA, and a fourth to explore DTD and get back to anything missed in DL and DCA), and staying on-site, it would work without a car, but going off-property by public transportation is a far bigger challenge here than it is in Florida (not that off-property side trips are necessarily easy there: just try getting from All Star Music to St. Richard's Episcopal Church in Winter Park on a Sunday morning, in time for the late service!).

Enjoy your vacation. I'll be back to WDW this November.

EandCDad
06-07-2002, 08:36 AM
I can't add much to the suggestions on things to do, but I will say, GET A CAR. Unless you are spending all your time in and around the DLR (which would be a waste frankly), you're gonna want a car. Now, you could plan to pick up the car say the third or fourth day of your trip, after you've done the Disney stuff.