QF WP’s do Disneyland (LA), Seattle and beyond

[QF WP]

Disneyland: preamble (continued)

 

[QF WP]

So, without doubt, check the website AND YOU MUST download the Disney App. After using it for the 4 Days we had in the parks, you can’t go to Disneyland without it. I’d also suggest taking a power bank and cable, just in case your phone runs out. I was using a new IPhone X and didn’t have to use the powerbank even though I was on the phone continuously for hours, but it was good to have a back up (my daughter used it with her iPhone 6S).

Here’s an idea of what the App looks like and what you can do with it. The front page looks like this and there are other icons on each line.



Whilst you need to pick up the physical ticket on your first day, it can become superfluous once you have loaded it onto your App using the “Link Tickets & Passes” icon below

You can also buy your tickets using on the App using the “Buy Tickets” icon and I believe if you do it this way, it will always remain digital



Buying a Fastpass is a must for at least one day of your trip. An absolute must. Yes, it does cost $10USD per ticket holder, but being able to bypass lines of up to 90 minutes and enter the ride in the expedited line within a nominated period is beyond beneficial.



So my understanding is that we can buy on the App from Australia - we didn’t so I can’t confirm.



If you still want to buy and hold the old fashioned ticket, may I suggest you buy a lanyard and plastic sleeve for each person (so bringing them from Australia will save you a couple of bucks). Otherwise we found them at a local store in one of the nearby hotels.

 

[Denali]

So. Did you go to City hall for badges?

 

[QF WP]

Final App details - Annual Passes

Okay, I can’t see too many of us here able to buy these California-resident options (not too many AFF members are CA residents), but might as well show them to you all. Remember these are shown in USD







There is the option for changing to non-CA residents, SoCal or other Californian residents

 

[drron]

Our neice who lives in Sydney has an annual pass to Disneyworld most years.

 

[Straubs]

Thanks for adding! Such great resources. We are so lucky to have this AFF community.

 

[rainbowgirl]

I'm enjoying the read and will go back and make notes as research if our holiday goes ahead. Will know in a few days whether we are going to make our US trip. Thanks for the notes on Disneyland. They will be very useful.

If we go our dates will be in late August after schools go back so I'm hoping it won't be as busy as what you have at the moment.

 

[rock86]

This is a great trip report so far. Great stuff on Disneyland and very helpful! Thanks QF WP.

 

[Dr Ralph]

Enjoying your trip report.

Just booked a flight to Vancouver for June 29, 2019 and planning on driving to Seattle/Spokane area. So keen to see what you get up to when you make it there.

 

[ellen10]

Love Disneyland last time we were there was in 2000. I need to go back!
Enjoying your trip report.

 

[QF WP]

Our neice who lives in Sydney has an annual pass to Disneyworld most years.

Seems that depending on the type of pass purchased, 7 days plus here would give you a break even and the ability to see and do everything. I’m a broken man after 4 days, with a day off in the middle to rest my weary legs - clocked up 35K steps in the first two days, but moderated it back to 15K for the last two days (as we had a better idea on how to get from ride to ride).

Thanks for adding! Such great resources. We are so lucky to have this AFF community.

Community is everything. I’d noticed there hadn’t been one on Disneyland for a while and knew the changes to [what is now] Pixar Pier (and it just opening) would make a good TR. I have hundreds of photos to post, so this will help visualise most of the rides - but not the vast size of the two parks and the sheer number of people at the parks at any given time. We were fortunate not to go today (Independence Day), it would have been like sardines in a can and hate to think what the wait times would have been for rides/attractions.

I'm enjoying the read and will go back and make notes as research if our holiday goes ahead. Will know in a few days whether we are going to make our US trip. Thanks for the notes on Disneyland. They will be very useful.

If we go our dates will be in late August after schools go back so I'm hoping it won't be as busy as what you have at the moment.

No, it should be more reasonable as US schools will be back from holidays.

 

[QF WP]

Enjoying your trip report.

Just booked a flight to Vancouver for June 29, 2019 and planning on driving to Seattle/Spokane area. So keen to see what you get up to when you make it there.

Flying to Seattle tomorrow and hoping to get more of the TR done at night whilst there - because after that we’re staying with friends in Blaine and then my cousins in Spokane and doubt we’ll get much time at night to do much more and so will continue when I get home (no better way to fill in jet lag time than finishing off a TR).

 

[rainbowgirl]

Now to find our transfer. During my research I had looked at all kinds of transfers - Uber, taxi, coaches and mini- buses. Whilst any of these would have been perfectly suitable to me and my wife, I needed to consider what my children would like - after all, the first week was all about them. So I found something that suited them and still met our needs - Disneyland Resort Express. Whilst it had specific stops (one - the Marriott was only 300m away from our hotel), it did state that we could ask the driver if they are able to accommodate our hotel.

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So, time to find it at LAX. Wasn’t expecting it to be quite so easy, as soon as we came out into the Terminal and looked out the door, there was the sign

I found a taxi fare calculator for Los Angeles which estimated $100USD for a taxi ride to Anaheim. The bus sounds more than this but I agree that it would be more comfortable for a family of 4 than a taxi. I hope they have plenty of luggage space.

 

[cove]

We used Lyft to go to Anaheim Stadium from 10 minutes north of LAX and it cost about $45 USD. Lyft is a better version of Uber according to my son.

 

[QF WP]

I found a taxi fare calculator for Los Angeles which estimated $100USD for a taxi ride to Anaheim. The bus sounds more than this but I agree that it would be more comfortable for a family of 4 than a taxi. I hope they have plenty of luggage space.

The Coach USA (Disneyland Resort Express) buses are double storey ones (as I call them), downstairs are the side opening baggage compartments and upstairs is the seating. I’m on the bus now so I’ll grab a photo of the luggage compartment and post.

Damn, forgot to get a photo - let me see if I can find an example online

Also the cost was $124USD for return LAX/Anaheim Hotel/LAX for 2 adults & 2 children and 3 pieces of luggage - plus $5USD tip each way, so $134USD all in. Pretty bloody good value now that I’ve taken it. Door to door. No stress trying to work out the route or driving in LA traffic. Do it again this way in a heart beat.

Got to also love the car pool lane on the freeways - although about 10 mins after this photo the carpool lane slowed to a crawl as ahead there had been an accident - only saw a mini-van with damage to its front passenger side stopped in our lane and before we got there, the CHP motorcycle (wasn’t Eric Estrada) and squad car went past us and had blocked off the lane.

 

[QF WP]

Day 1 - Disneyland

So here we are - our first time off to Disneyland. After letting the kids sleep in until 11am (My wife and I had both gone to breakfast and brought some up for them as it stops at 9am), we headed off for the afternoon/night session in Disneyland. We had spied the Disneyland shuttle as mentioned by @Kangarucci above on the bus ride to the Hyatt - only half a block to West Katella and across the road.





So for 3 of the 4 days, we headed here - in the Toy Story lot, most times the car parks weren’t full and line up for the buses were no more than 10-15 minutes. It’s not a huge drive or walk to Disneyland (probably 2 kms) but probably still beyond our kids (who aged 8 and 11 are still feeling the effects of jet lag) to walk every day - as well as attacking the huge walking distances around the parks. Hey, the buses transfer is really within the ticket price so why not get value for money.

So we arrive in the shuttle buses and then we start to understand the sheer size of the parks and the crowds - as soon as you exit the bus you are in a roped line heading for the security tents.





Think of it like any airport security screening - first stage is the bag look through. Open all zips and place on the bench while the security officer (who are friendly) will look through it, occasionally using their pocket torches to look in the dark crevices. Nothing to see here - water bottles, food, lightning cord and charger, thin jumpers for tonight. All good and then it’s onto the second stage - the walk through scanner, again just like airport. Empty your pockets into the small plastic bowl provided and put that together with your pre-searched bag onto the bench and they bypass the check - they’re looking at you this time. Scanner time - nice, another dose of low level radiation.

HINT - as you are coming into the Plaza on the bus, look both left and right at the length is the security lines. Just because you arrive on a bus in a certain area, doesn’t mean you have to enter that security line. If you want to change, hug the walkway that is against the metal poles/rails that are next to the roadway - it’ll take you straight to the front of the Plaza and simply crossover to the shorter queue. One day we used this trick as I saw the lack of lines on the other side - we saved an easy 30/40 minutes just there.

So you are through security and into the Plaza area that intersects Disneyland, California Adventures and Downtown Disney.

You feel like you’ve achieved something but in reality you have only just started...you still haven’t got your tickets yet - unless you’ve already purchased them electronically using the App - if so then head stratify for one of the entrances. If not, time to go and line up at the Customer Service buildings that thankfully have multiple window (I recall 8 to 10 per building). Again, not all of them are situated near the security area, there are others across the Plaza if the lines are too long. Don’t be a sheep, leave somebody in that line and check out the lines on the other side quickly.



All of the Parks are open until different times as well as the closing times for rides - Disneyland and California Adventures standard opening times are 9am with rides usually shutting at either 8pm or 10pm with the Parks both closing at midnight. Downtown Disney Is open until 2am if you are up for it.

HINT - the only difference for opening times is with a 4 Day pass or longer, you get one day where you can use a MaxiPass and entrance starts from 8am - a boon to get around to access some of those rides that from early on in the day have long wait queues (some stretch to 90 mins +). I’d recommend that first timers spend a day or two getting to understand where everything is, how to get around and the times it takes to get from ride to ride. Try to utilise rides in the one park first before moving across to the other, otherwise that will eat into your time.

Now back to the not-so-fun but significantly important part of Day 1, swapping our TA-produced voucher for that all important Park Pass. Slowly wend your way to the front of the queue. Head to an available window and learn all the tricks from the attendant. Get your passes printed and hold onto them for dear life as if they are an heirloom passed down through generations - because losing them doesn’t bear contemplation. Here the lanyard and plastic sleeve can come in real handy - much easier than pulling them out of your wallet or purse at every ride.

So you’re got the passes but you’re still not in Disneyland yet - yet another line to endure but it’s the main one - park entrance.

Hold your pass under the scanner and the round light should glow green. Sometimes scanning it vertically or from top to bottom is required. Go through the metal bar and finally YOU’RE IN...and all that hard work has just paid off.

By now reality has dawned - you and your family aren’t the only ones in the park - in fact, it’s teeming with people of all nationalities and languages, there is chaos all around. Some organised (those knowing what they are doing and where they are going) whilst the rest are looking around, going into shops, looking at maps, trying to organise their day. You want to be the former not the latter - but you’ve read my TR so I’m confident you’ll be in the former. In fact, almost guarantee it if you last to the end.

 

[QF WP]

So we’re in and to answer @Denali’s previous question, yes we visited City Hall but with a large queue to get in, we moved on - as we were also told that some of the shops have small number of “first timer” badges. We didn’t want to waste time as soon as we got in to Disneyland


Here is a view up the Main Street

and the statue of Walt Disney and Mickey

 

[Straubs]

Bringing back memories from 1995 as a teen on a school trip - it would be unrecognisable to me now - except for that statue and iconic castle!

 

[QF WP]

So now time to understand the different sections of Disneyland, gauge how far it is to walk between them and work out which are the ones our kids wanted to ride. We also thought we’d start off with “easy” rides and work up to the “scarier” ones.

So we started off in Tomorrowland and the first one that caught our kids eyes was Star Wars but they didn’t want to do the ride but some of the characters were available::






My kids meeting Rey, the heroine of the episode and asking questions



Posing for the photo, but my son was awestruck



We wandered through all the Star Wars costumes and we did see a couple of Stormtroopers wandering around, but my son didn’t want his photo with them.

However, in the shop, he saw this and wants one of these in his bedroom - but it’s a little beyond our budget and luggage capacity:

 

[Denali]

FYI, if you go to SF, at Presido, Lucasfilm offices have a Yoda fountain and inside there is a real Darth Vader outfit that you can take photos with. Open weekdays business hours only.