Disneyland Part One of Three: Travel and Accommodations

We love Disneyland.
The magic is undeniable to our entire family!
Richard and I were both born in Southern California, so I joke that Disney love is basically in our blood.
This was our ninth trip in the ten years we’ve been married, and it was a truly wonderful vacation.
I can’t wait to share the highlights with you, and decided early on that a three-part series would allow me to detail each subject to the best of my ability without crossing wires too much! I will link all of my recommendations at the bottom of the page.

First up is travel and accommodations.

Although not the most glamorous, it’s an incredibly important component as travel can set the pace for your entire vacation.

Here’s a little back-info on our past trips:
May 2008 Richard and I took our honeymoon in Disneyland (and stayed in Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel).
May 2010 we went for my 30th birthday.
April 2012 Conner and I met Richard after he wrapped up a work trip and we spend a day in the park.
Nov 2012 Richard and I took a solo trip while Conner stayed with his grandparents.
Nov 2013 Richard, Conner, and I took a family trip.
Nov 2015 Richard, Conner, Bentley, and I traveled with our extended family.
April 2017 Richard and I surprised Conner with a trip for his 6th birthday.
Nov 2017 the five of us traveled down.
Nov 2018 the five of us traveled down again.

We’ve traveled the right way and the wrong way, and I’m here to give you some tips on how to make travel an easy and enjoyable part of your trip, so you can arrive as rested and ready to hit the parks as soon as you want to!
First of all, we’ve always flown. Every single time. When I was a child, we drove down there twice with my family, and as a young adult, I drove down twice with friends. Everyone has their own opinions on how best to do the drive, but for us and our family, it’s just too much time. The money saved on flights just isn’t worth the 11+ hours down and 11+ hours back. We take the early 630am nonstop to LAX, and usually arrive anywhere from 830-9am. We’ve traditionally rented a car, which means shuttling from LAX to the nearest rental shop. We book the car rental through Costco, as you can reserve a car and keep checking back to reserve a lower price. You pay for your vehicle upon pickup.
This last trip, however, we decided to forgo the car rental in favor of a Disneyland shuttle directly from the airport to our hotel. This proved much easier, and part of our reasoning for this was a shortened overall trip. We didn’t plan to hit the beach or any shopping centers this time around. We had a five day trip and all five days were spend in the park.
So flying. Here are the basics of what flies free:
Strollers
Car seats
Boosters
Some carry-ons
Personal item such as a purse or backpack

The wrong way.

Alright, here it is ... the trip where we did it all the wrong way. And I mean THE.WRONG.WAY.
It was November of 2017, and it all started when we got a notification that ours nonstop has been canceled and replaced with a connecting flight both ways. We wondered if we should cancel our flights through Expedia and book an Allegiant one {as we’d planned a Sunday to Thursday trip} but decided to just leave it and deal with the stops. We also had decided to do this trip as cheaply as possible with baggage, which meant taking a carry-on plus a personal item per person for the four of us with assigned seats, and carting our triple stroller, an infant seat, a toddler seat, and a booster seat. Our connecting flights both ways incurred hour + delays, and by the time we arrived in LA, gathered up our mountain of possessions, shuttled all five of us over to the car rental to collect our mini van, inputted all of the car seats and kids into said car seats, and finally started the drive to Anaheim, we were exhausted. At that moment I honestly wanted to turn around and go home. I felt physically drained from lugging so much weight around two different airports for hours. We headed right into the park as planed, and of course it was still fun. The kids were ecstatic and did so well up until just after dinnertime when the meltdowns started. We instantly knew that all we really needed was sleep. We’d been up since three AM, and closing down the park until midnight that night just wasn’t going to be an option for any of us. We headed back to the hotel and slept soundly that night.
We had chosen to stay at the Embassy Suites on harbor Blvd that trip, which is where we’d stayed multiple times in the past. All the rooms are suites {hence the name, ha}, and the breakfast in one of the best we’ve had. Made to order omlettes, pancakes, meats, potatoes, pastries, cereals, juices, and coffee. It was like a nice sit-down meal, but complimentary and buffet style. The only downside to this hotel was the need to shuttle to the parks. It was a few miles away, so walking daily wasn’t really an option with a stroller and three kids. We had never minded it in the past with just one child or solo as a couple, but now when we wanted to take a break mid-day, walking to go wait for a shuttle and then waiting for one to head back to the parks put some stress on the clock that we just didn’t enjoy while on vacation.

The right way.

Ok, so here’s the main changes we made this time to ensure a much smoother transition from Medford to Anaheim. We kept an eye on our fights, and planned to switch to Allegiant if we got word that ours was cancelled again. Luckily it did not change, so the next order of business was minimizing our STUFF. With five travelers, three of which were children, we knew that this would be a challenge, but we organized and prioritized only what we truly needed to bring. I ziplock baggied one outfit per boy per day (with a couple extra ones for Kingsley), and labeled each bag for easy access to their clothing. I brought two pairs of pajamas for each child, plus their swim trunks and swim shirts. They each had two pairs of shoes that they put in their personal backpacks, and Richard and I kept our clothes to a minimum as well. This way, we packed everything into one large suitcase that fell just under the weight restrictions {we weighted it at home with a handy luggage scale you can find here} .
Each boy brought a stuffed animal, a blanket, and two books. Conner and Bentley brought their tablets and headphones as well, and all of this was divided up between their two backpacks since Kingsley was still young enough to be a lap child and didn’t qualify for a personal item.
They were honestly the best little travelers. Kingsley cried for a bit on the way home since he had lost three sippy cups {yes, THREE. And they weren’t cheap! 😭} plus his ears were bothering him. But otherwise they were all perfect little gentlemen. We have flown about once a year with them, so they have had a decent amount of experience in the air for their respective ages.
The last big change we made was shuttling from the airport to our hotel instead of renting a car. This did away with the need for bringing any of the big stuff with the exception of our stroller. We booked the Disney shuttle through Coach USA since we were staying at a good neighbor hotel this time around. A good neighbor hotel is one that Disney has partnered with in close proximity to its parks, and there are various deals and perks you can get per institution. The shuttle was one of those perks, so we enjoyed a very comfortable, tour bus style ride from the airport to Anaheim. Our hotel, the Desert Palms Inn and Suites, was about a half mile walk to and from Disneyland. Not as close as I’d imagined it to be {when booking, I had mixed it up with the Desert Inn and Suites directly across from the parks main entrance}, but it still was a great hotel with a decent breakfast plus amenities across the street such as a Starbucks, CVS, and Walgreens.

Disney hotel versus good neighbor
The upsides:
Any Disney fan will tell you that staying at a Disneyland resort hotel is insanely fun. And there are definitely some cool perks. Characters roam the premises freely, interacting with guests. You can enter the parks for magic mornings every single day of your trip {this is one hour early entry before the general public can go in}. The hotels embody Disney themed food, decor, and hospitality, and it can feel like an extension of being in the parks. The Disneyland hotel boasts an impressive pool area that feels more like a day at a water park that a simple hotel. They have highly trained lifeguards and security is strict, so you can feel good about letting your older kids roam a bit more freely.

The downsides:
There is a definitive price difference, which is why we have traditionally opted for a close or good neighbor hotel versus lodging at Disney. The other main factor is you aren’t saving any sort of distance walk unless you spring for the swankiest of all Disney hotels: the Grand Californian. This hotel has its own private entrance into California Adventure, and also houses one of the most prestigious dining experiences in all of Southern California, the Napa Rose.

Park passes: hoppers versus one park per day
There is so much to do in each park! Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll outline food, drinks, attractions, shows, and so much more so you can effectively plan out your perfect park day. We usually do one park per day, and get five day passes per person. Park hoppers allow guests to move from one park to the other as many times in a day as they'd like too. One park per day is exactly that: you pick a park and stay there for the duration of the day. We did park hoppers for our first few visits (EIGHT day hoppers on our honeymoon!), because truly you can have so much fun hitting your favorite rides in one park, and then jetting over to catch your favorite evening shows in the other! However, the past four or five trips, we swapped to one park per day to minimize the amount of running around with several small children. We plan out our days around the shows and attractions we want to see, and we've never regretted saving the time (and a good bit of money!) sticking to one park per day. I will expand on this a bit more when I get to Shows and Attractions.
Ares.com is where we buy our Disney tickets. They are generally slightly discounted, with approximately a $20 savings per park pass per person over the Disneyland site. We saved about $80 booking our tickets through this site for our last vacation (as Kingsley was still free to get in since he was under three years old).

Crowd index
I am a firm believer that many who have had poor Disney experiences have simply gone at the wrong times! We have traditionally gone the second or third week of November, when crowds are low and the park is decked out for the holidays (more on that as well when I write about shows and attractions). To check the general crowdiness 😉 , head over to isitpacked.com and chose the month and date you are planning to go. It will generate four different categories: "Ghost Town", "Hey, It's Alright!", "Yup, It's Packed", and "Forget About It".
We stick to the first two, as this keeps crowds to a minimum, and the wait for rides is completely doable. I will go into more about Fast Passes and the newer Max Passes, plus convenient amenities such as their Baby Swap program in Part three of this blog.

Cost breakdown
The cost! This is always the big question, and I know you know this but pricing is an ever changing variable. Hotels vary throughout the year, flights can fluctuate based on fuel costs, plus Disneyland raises their ticket rates every so often as well. I will give you cost breakdown of our last trip, so you can see how and where we allocated our funds:
Flight + Hotel: $1776 (this broke down to about $1000 being for the flights)
4 Five day, one park per day passes: $1152 (RIGHT NOW and up until mid-May they are discounted to $218 per ticket for this same 5 day pass, so the total would be $872!)
Checked Baggage fee: $50 ($25 per way)
Food: Approximately $600 over the five days (two meals plus several snacks per day in the parks; breakfast was included with our hotel)
Shuttle: $104 (for 2 adults and 2 children, Kingsley was free. We used a code that said it was expired, but still worked for $10 off each adult ticket! Code: AOC )
Total: $3632

Wrap up and links
There is a lot of information packed in here! I would be happy to chat more in depth with anyone who might have questions about a specific area of travel, site, or booking procedure. With the right planning and budgeting, Disneyland can be a fun and affordable family vacation option.
I have linked all of the sites I listed below for easy access:

expedia.com (flight + hotel)
isitpacked.com (crowd index, plan your dates)
costcotravel.com (car rental)
dre.coachusa.com (shuttle from LAX to Anaheim) $10 off an adult ticket, code: AOC
arestravel.com (discounted Disney tickets)

I am so excited to be jumping into Food and Drink for next week ... arguably my favorite part of the entire experience! 😉

Until then, happy planning!

OX,
~H

Next Week ~ Disneyland Part Two: Food and Drink

In Two Weeks ~ Disneyland Part Three: Shows and Attractions