Advice: Disney World Family’s 1st to Disneyland:)

[lorilclevelandrn]

Which character meal is better food wise?

 

[dieumeye]

Which character meal is better food wise?

Goofy’s, Storytellers, and PCH are all pretty comparable in my opinion. Pretty good too for a buffet.

I feel like Plaza Inn is also comparable quality but feels like a more limited selection to me.

I’ve never done the Napa Rose princess breakfast, but imagine the food is best of them all, or at least certainly on par with the others.

 

[goooof1]

We like Storyteller's for food (buffet)..... but Minnie's at the Plaza Inn is best for characters.... we have seen from 11 -15 different characters at one sitting !! (also buffet).

 

[bcla]

I didn't really want to eat there, but my wife said Captain Kidd's wasn't that bad. I'm kind of skeptical. My kid just wanted McDonald's so we ate while m wife went with the buffet.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I didn't really want to eat there, but my wife said Captain Kidd's wasn't that bad. I'm kind of skeptical. My kid just wanted McDonald's so we ate while m wife went with the buffet.

PSA:
Re: Captain Kidd's -- Winner, Winner, Don't Eat Dinner: The Worst Restaurant in the ...https://www.ocweekly.com › winner-winner-dont-eat-dinner-the-worst-rest...
When a restaurant wins Worst Restaurant in OC (and that reviewer knows his stuff -- he's an ace cook and food reviewer), and when that same restaurant is notorious on this board for making people sick (eat there and get to know your new best friend, Pepto Bismol!), it is just not worth any risk for the low price! Eat there at your own risk! But even better, just stay away, stay far away!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Thank u to all for such helpful information. I’ve been down and out with the flu and finally getting around to checking my post. I truly appreciate all your help!

Welcome back -- hope you are feeling much better! Work your way through all the information, then come on back with any questions. We're here to help!

 

[dmar]

You could also do a split stay, as long as you're staying among Paradise Pier, DL hotel, and Grand Calfornia. It could be tiring to move around. If you wanted to do it, I would recommend staying at GC last. Also, drop the luggage off at the bell desk before you leave for the park early in the morning and request them to have it shipped over to the next Disney Hotel.

Free morning coffee, tea and hot cocoa at Craftsman Grill (formerly whitewater snacks) up to 10 or 11 am.

Make sure you try the churros, they are made to order, or let's say heated to order vs the ones you get at DW.

If you're looking for a nice dinner (fancy) definitely try Carthay Circle in the park at DCA, Napa Rose in GC is wonderful too....

Take advantage of magic morning if you can... you can get a lot of rides in during that time.

We like bringing a stroller (our kids finally aged out but we still brought it so they can sit if they're tire and we used it to help carry our bags/jackets/slippers (to go on splash mountain which my kids don't like getting their socks/shoes wet).

Enjoy your time out there

 

[bcla]

PSA:
Re: Captain Kidd's -- Winner, Winner, Don't Eat Dinner: The Worst Restaurant in the ...https://www.ocweekly.com › winner-winner-dont-eat-dinner-the-worst-rest...
When a restaurant wins Worst Restaurant in OC (and that reviewer knows his stuff -- he's an ace cook and food reviewer), and when that same restaurant is notorious on this board for making people sick (eat there and get to know your new best friend, Pepto Bismol!), it is just not worth any risk for the low price! Eat there at your own risk! But even better, just stay away, stay far away!

My wife has a thing for AYCE even though she's not a big person and doesn't have a big appetite. The idea of variety just appeals to her. The night before we ate at Show Sushi in La Palma. That was actually quite good. Even uni was on their AYCE menu and I tried it for the first time. $30, but I'm pretty whatever we had would have cost at least $60 per at another sushi place.

 

[bcla]

NM

 

[lorilclevelandrn]

Again, I would like to thank each and everyone of you individually for sharing such valuable and helpful information. I do not think I could have gotten any better anywhere else, not even a book store. You all are great!!!

To give you a bit more information, we have finally decided on Grand Californian. We fly in after lunch on Sunday, 3/22 and depart late 3/28.

Kids ages; daughter 6 and 2 teenage boys.

I guess my first question is about tickets. Would you recommend 3 or 4 park days and Maxpass’s for everyone?

 

[goooof1]

Definitely 4 day park hoppers !! Lots to see and do and you want to have plenty of time to enjoy everything.... actually 5 days is the best !!

 

[JaibuJenn]

My husband and I always do 5 day park hoppers. At least do a 4 day so you don't have to rush through everything. I love that in DLR you find characters just roaming about. It's a fun surprise to turn around and see Peter Pan or Mary Poppins. Maxpass is worth every penny! I find it much better than fastpass +, plus you get free photo pass so all your ride photos and stuff are included. Have so much fun!

 

[Carrie in AZ]

Again, I would like to thank each and everyone of you individually for sharing such valuable and helpful information. I do not think I could have gotten any better anywhere else, not even a book store. You all are great!!!

To give you a bit more information, we have finally decided on Grand Californian. We fly in after lunch on Sunday, 3/22 and depart late 3/28.

Kids ages; daughter 6 and 2 teenage boys.

I guess my first question is about tickets. Would you recommend 3 or 4 park days and Maxpass’s for everyone?

I think you are going to have an amazing time! May I recommend you request a room in the 300 wing near the Napa Rose elevators? Soooo convenient and fun to ride Grizzly River Rapids and then just pop back up to the room to change clothes. Your teens will LOVE being able to come and go and be off on their own at intervals with your permission. The GCH is so convenient to everything!!

 

[azdisneylover]

4 day park hoppers with Maxpass. You will be able to get a lot done without waiting every morning staying onsite and using Maxpass. If your teenagers are anything like mine (will eat you out of house and home) check out the menus and some of the threads about food here (lots of pics of food) so you can see the size of things. Many foods can be split. Plus, if you split food, you are able to try more things without lightening up your wallet too much.

 

[Disney dreaming2]

Following .1st trip in August looking for ideas on hotels. Was looking at Candy cane inn. I can’t getGC on my DVC try everyday at 8 am and miss out.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Following .1st trip in August looking for ideas on hotels. Was looking at Candy cane inn. I can’t getGC on my DVC try everyday at 8 am and miss out.

We love the CCI! Always stay in the Premium Rooms and have never had a bad stay.

 

[mouschievous]

Again, I would like to thank each and everyone of you individually for sharing such valuable and helpful information. I do not think I could have gotten any better anywhere else, not even a book store. You all are great!!!

To give you a bit more information, we have finally decided on Grand Californian. We fly in after lunch on Sunday, 3/22 and depart late 3/28.

Kids ages; daughter 6 and 2 teenage boys.

I guess my first question is about tickets. Would you recommend 3 or 4 park days and Maxpass’s for everyone?

We got our 5 day hoppers from LMTC for $325 and change. It was just $2 more than the 4 day hoppers! So my vote is for 5 day hoppers from LMTC. LMTC doesn't sell hoppers with maxpass, but you can add it daily. We figured that might save us some money - for $2 it's no biggie if we end up not using one of our 5 days, or if we only go in for a couple of hours. But I definitely don't want to spend $15 for each of us if we're only going to be there a couple of hours on a particular day!

But yes, during your trip I would definitely get MP, whether it's added daily or built in to the ticket. That week is spring break for a lot of places, so I'd expect it to be a bit crowded. MP will help with wait times.

 

[lorilclevelandrn]

Grandparents are now considering joining. Should I wait and buy their Maxpass on park days or now for convenience?

Additional question... My mother is planning on treating my daughter and I to Princess Breakfast. I was thinking I want to make reservations for our planned resort day so it doesn’t interfere with park time; however, now I’m wondering if I should make reservations for BBB before breakfast, if available. Ur thoughts?

 

[Catvondita]

Hi there! I'm so excited for you all to experience "The Land." I grew up a WDW girl - my family would go about every other summer and from Texas, Orlando was much closer than Anaheim. I have a few thoughts as someone who was in a similar situation to you all:

1) Don't compare! A lot of people like to talk about which coast is "better" and while it's fun to discuss which versions of rides you prefer, I think you're going to have way more fun if you just experience Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure for what they are - not comparing them to the 4 Orlando parks. I love BOTH coast's parks equally - just for different reasons.

2) Park hopping and MaxPass are MUSTS. The distance from one park's turnstiles to the other is about the length of a football field. It's so easy to hop back and forth. MaxPass costs extra per day but it's SO WORTH IT. As soon as you scan your ticket into one park that morning, you can begin reserving FP times from the Disneyland app for EITHER park. And you have a shorter window of required wait time between FPs (90 mins versus 120.) It's also SUPER easy to cancel an FP from your phone and grab a new one instead.

3) On site hotels are NOT necessary. Proximity to the turnstiles is what you should be thinking about. Disneyland Hotel and the Grand Californian are both pretty close to the turnstiles, but there are some hotels just across Harbor Blvd that are a shorter walk (think 7 minutes from hotel room to turnstiles). Paradise Pier Hotel is DEFINITELY not worth it - something like a 15 or 20 minute walk. If you want to splurge on a Disney hotel, cool beans. I just personally think there are much better uses of your money.

4) When you visit REALLY matters because Disneyland is a local's park. I highly recommend going by this guideline: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/crowd-calendar-disneyland/ as these bloggers are locals with years of experience heading to the Land at all times of year.

5) I think for your first visit, you should have 4 full days in the parks. And I would split up your trip like this: arrival day, park day 1, park day 2, REST DAY!!, park day 3, park day 4, departure day. This will give you time to SAVOR the parks and enjoy the seasonal offerings.

6) There are tons of things to splurge on as far as tours and dining packages and such. The one I would recommend over and over again is the Blue Bayou Fantasmic Dining Package. Blue Bayou is a GORGEOUSLY themed restaurant, and the food is always tasty. The plus of this dining package is that you get a 3 course meal (cheaper if you get the lunch package) and reserved front and center seating for Fantasmic that night. They even add in a souvenir seat cushion for you (which is nice, because you're gonna be sitting on the ground to watch Fantasmic.) The DHS version of Fantasmic is my least-favorite nighttime show at WDW, but I LOVE Disneyland's version!! It's very popular out here, and it's nice to skip the hassle of trying to get a Fastpass and then waiting in line to get into the Fastpass section.

7) You don't have to plan out your day nearly as much as you do at WDW. It's still important to be there at rope drop and to prioritize your time for your first 3ish hours in the park. But I've never had a day where, by lunch time, I wasn't on to re-riding major attractions. That always leaves me free time to go back to my hotel for a couple hours around 2 pm to nap, rest my feet, etc. (Hey.. I need my sleep) and then come back to stay until fireworks. This is another reason why hotel proximity is so important! I personally love Casey Starnes' blog DisneylandDaily. She has a very helpful article called "How to Start Your Day at Disneyland Resort" https://disneylanddaily.com/how-to-start-your-day-at-the-disneyland-resort/. If you follow her suggestions, you're going to see everything you want to see without waiting more than about 20 mins for rides (with the exception of the SWGE ones.)

Totally agree with 7. You def don't need to plan the way you would at Disney World but its still beneficial to have a basic outline of what you'd like to do. there is still a lot of room to play by ear but fastpasses go quick!

 

[aymiewilson]

Grandparents are now considering joining. Should I wait and buy their Maxpass on park days or now for convenience?

Additional question... My mother is planning on treating my daughter and I to Princess Breakfast. I was thinking I want to make reservations for our planned resort day so it doesn’t interfere with park time; however, now I’m wondering if I should make reservations for BBB before breakfast, if available. Ur thoughts?

Awww your mom is so kind! I can't speak to BBB or the Princess Breakfast, as I've never done one of them. I do think it's nice to have ONE fun thing planned on your resort day (on my last trip, we had reservations at THE VOID that afternoon.) I do think there's HUGE value in not making any plans until lunch time or the afternoon on your resort day so that you feel the freedom to SLEEP IN!