I received such good information on this board that I wanted to post a quick trip report and hopefully give a few tips and ideas that others might find interesting.
I flew to LAX from Portland, OR on December 4th with my 19 month old son on Alaska Airlines. This trip was designed to be inexpensive, so I used miles and did not get a ticket for my son. I was hoping that the flight would have some extra seats so that I could seat my son in a car seat, but it was not to be. He rode on my lap the whole way. However, he is an experienced traveler (over 25,000 mile already!), and he was a trooper. It always makes you feel good when two or three people compliment you on your son's good behaviour when they are getting off the plane!
This trip was a little "sanity break" for me, but the deal with my wife is that I would bring my son so she could finish the semester (she is a professor) without distractions. She would then fly down a few days later. My sister needed a break too, so we decided to meet at LAX. She flew in from Madison, WI. I was excited about this trip as I thought it would be nice for my sister to have a little private "nephew time" without Mom around. He always stays close to Mom when she is around, so this was a chance for my sister to spend some time with him without him always running for mommy.
My son and I arrived first at LAX, so we went to pick up the car. We reserved a mid-size from Dollar, and the shuttle was quick and the driver was great helping me juggle luggage and son. The wait at the counter was a little long, but the counter help was friendly. She told me it would take about 5 minutes to have a car brought up. About 4 minutes later she called me back up to the desk and asked if I would take a mini-van instead, which I gladly accepted. It certainly made our life a lot easier. So we got a mini-van for $110 for 6 days - sweet.
My sister arrived at LAX a bit early, we co-ordinated pickup via cell phone, and we were off.
We used Priceline and got the Hyatt for $36 a night. This worked out great. This is a very nice hotel, and staff was always friendly and efficient. The crib they supplied for my son was first class. We stayed in the South Tower, which I had read was somewhat run-down. However, we found our room to be very nice. The bed and bedding was great, and everything worked in the room. I guess the only thing that wasn't really up to standard was there was a hole in the wall paper. But making the hole a bit larger kept my son busy for quite a period of time, so this turned out to be a plus...
Parking was $11 for self-park. We had no problem finding a spot, and found it to be convenient and it seemed safe.
The hotel had a Pizza Hut Express, but its hours were limited. We did use it one night and found it to be what we would expect. Nearby options include Joe's Crab Shack (didn't try) and Red Robbin. Red Robbin is a sort of gourmet hamburger place, which is pretty good. There is also a Target across the street for your discount store needs.
After checking in to the hotel, we went to the parks. We had the 5 day (for the price of 3 day) hoppers through AAA. I like to be in control, so we always drove to the parks. Our pass included parking at the big garage, which worked out ok. One note for the stroller set - there is only two elevators (that I could find). When we arrived at about 4:00PM as we did on Dec. 4, this wasn't a problem. However, during "rush hour", there is a huge line for it. If you can fold up your stroller easily and take the escalator, you can save a lot of time when crowded.
Another note on the garage; it is kind of like two huge garages connected only on the ends. You don't have any choice about where in the garage they park you. If you end up in the garage farthest away from the elevator/escalator, you have to walk to the end of the garage, and then into the closest garage before you get to the escalator. It can be a long hike. Most importantly, when you return you have to remember to turn right, walk along the end of the close garage until you get to the 2nd garage, and then you can go down your row to your car. If you try to walk diagonally to your car to save your tired feet, you will discover that you can't get to the further garage without walking all of the to the other end. This is probably hard to visualize, but if you do it wrong this paragraph will pop back into your memory (when it is too late).
We wanted to stretch our legs after our flights and drive, so we walked through Downtown Disney to Disneyland. Even though we didn't get there until late and the park closed at 8, we were able to ride a lot of rides and see the parade and fireworks. Fantastic!
The next day we also spent at Disneyland. The park closed at 6, but this was probably a good thing. By the time 6 rolled around, we were exhausted.
We spent Friday at California Adventure, as well as Saturday morning after checking out of the Hyatt. My wife landed at John Wayne early afternoon, and off we were to the Double Tree in Dana Point (Duheny Beach is in the name I think). My wife is a not a big park fan, and she wanted some beach time. My sister and I went back to the parks for a few hours in the evening.
Sunday we walked the beach, visted the mission at San Juan Capistrano, made a pillgrimage to Ikea (why won't they build one in Portland?) and had dinner at Knott's.
Just to finish the narrative, we had planned on going to the parks for a few hours before our flights on Monday, but we slept in instead. We just decided squeezing it in would be too stressful.
My wife and I were on the same flight home, and there was an extra seat for my son! Much easier. All in all a great little break.
Now to back up and make a few comments. First, I would very highly recommend the Double Tree. The rooms are all small suites, with a french door seperating the bed room from the sitting room. This was great as we could put my son to bed in the sitting room and read and watch TV without keeping him up. I used Hilton Points for the stay, but they still gave us breakfast for free, which I wasn't expecting. I was also expecting to pay for parking, but it didn't look like anyone was paying for parking. We certainly didn't. To get to the beach, you walk across a busy highway and then through a campground. The beach itself was pretty nice, and quite quiet when we were there.
The mission was very interesting (contains the oldest building in California for example). The signs and displays could use a bit of freshening, but I would highly recommend a visit.
Traffic: As you can tell, we did a lot of driving. If the thought of 8 lanes in each direction doesn't terrify you, I didn't think the driving was too bad. We stayed very close to I-5 and I-405, and rarely had traffic jams. When we did things broke up rather quickly. The commuter lanes were very nice and helped us keep our distance from the 85mph weaving looneys.
Knott's Restaurant: I was really curious to see what it was like, and we enjoyed ourselves. The restaurant is very plain and is huge. They don't take down names, so we had to wait in a huge line. It moved fairly quickly though. Their specialty is fried chicken, and that is what we all ordered. It was good, but in my opinion is not worth the hype. Another specialty is Boysenberry punch and pie, both of which were great (they invented the Boysenberry). Perhaps next time we will check out the park itself.
Disney food: In general the prices were high (but not as bad as we feared). The quality was better than we expected. We had some very good chicken and pasta in Disneyland for example. The best meal on property we had though was the buffet at Story Teller's in the Grand Californian. I always have low expectations for buffets, but I was ravenous so I decided to try it instead of ordering off the menu. It was very, very good. It featured salmon, roast beef, tortellini, chicken, and much more. It was $25 which is a lot, but I was very happy to pay the bill when I was done. I thought this was better quality than any buffet I have had in Vegas, including Bellagio. Ok, maybe I was just really hungry. But I'll certainly try it again next time I am there. Just as an example, I find that salmon at any buffet and all restaurants I have been to east of the Rockies tastes far too "fishey". This salmon tasted like salmon is supposed to. I had 3 portions.
The really nice thing about California compared to Florida is that it is much easier to eat offsite. We saved lots of money eating offsite some of the time.
Downtown Disney: I liked this area a lot. It is so much more compact than the one in Florida. In the evening on the weekend there was really fun and free entertainment, and the atmosphere was really great. The shops were good, and the ESPN club looked a lot more fun than the one on the Boardwalk in Florida. I wish I had time to try some of the crazy video games they had. Next time!
California Adventure: Having a hopper meant that we didn't have to think of it as an individual investment. Instead, it was a just a nice addition to Disneyland for us. As such we really enjoyed ourselves. We got to see Alladin, and this is fantastic. This is a very ambitious show, and they pulled it off. A great cast and wonderful effects. Two of the cast members had only fair voices, but their acting made up for it. In my opinion, this is a "Fantasmic-like" addition to the park, making almost everything else you enjoy there seem to be a bonus.
Soaring is also great, and I enjoyed the big roller coaster. The movies are good, and the Redwood area is fun. It was neat to see the Electric Parade for the first time (for me) in 20 years. Also the entertainment around the park was great. All told, we enjoyed ourselves there quite a bit.
Disneyland vs. Disneyworld: I have to say that I prefer Disneyland to Disneyworld's Magic Kingdom. I think the attention to detail is better. Also, some of the details in the Florida one seems a bit plastic to me. In California, it is all metal and wood.
In general, I found this vacation much more relaxing than a Florida vacation. I loved having everything so close by. The addition of California and Downtown Disney makes it much more interesting for me now as a "destination". I can't wait to go back.
Travelling with a 19 month-old: I realized before we left that this trip was for me, not for my son. He was precious bagage with veto power, but this was not for his enjoyment. As it turned out, this was probably the right attitute to have. He was just too young to really get much more than music and color out of the experience. Still, on that level he enjoyed it. I was surprised how his stamina held out. We just took it easy and tried to go at his pace, and a good time was had by all.
One final note - For Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones and Soaring over California (probably other major rides too), use the single rider lines! For Indy and Splash, you have to ask the Fast Pass person for a single rider pass. Then you take it through the exit (you feel like a salmon). When my sister and it did it, it turned Indy and Splash into a near walk-on. This was *much* faster than the wait with Fastpass even when your Fastpass was valid. At Soaring, you go into the Fastpass line and ask for a single pass. Then I skipped even the wait the Fastpass people had and went right to the attendant lining people up. Right into the pre-show. It was incredible. I estimate that the single-rider line saved me 3 hours over the 4 days compared to if I used Fastpass, not counting time to wait for the Fastpass time to arrive. Unbelievable.
Sorry for the randomness. Let me know if you have any questions.
I flew to LAX from Portland, OR on December 4th with my 19 month old son on Alaska Airlines. This trip was designed to be inexpensive, so I used miles and did not get a ticket for my son. I was hoping that the flight would have some extra seats so that I could seat my son in a car seat, but it was not to be. He rode on my lap the whole way. However, he is an experienced traveler (over 25,000 mile already!), and he was a trooper. It always makes you feel good when two or three people compliment you on your son's good behaviour when they are getting off the plane!
This trip was a little "sanity break" for me, but the deal with my wife is that I would bring my son so she could finish the semester (she is a professor) without distractions. She would then fly down a few days later. My sister needed a break too, so we decided to meet at LAX. She flew in from Madison, WI. I was excited about this trip as I thought it would be nice for my sister to have a little private "nephew time" without Mom around. He always stays close to Mom when she is around, so this was a chance for my sister to spend some time with him without him always running for mommy.
My son and I arrived first at LAX, so we went to pick up the car. We reserved a mid-size from Dollar, and the shuttle was quick and the driver was great helping me juggle luggage and son. The wait at the counter was a little long, but the counter help was friendly. She told me it would take about 5 minutes to have a car brought up. About 4 minutes later she called me back up to the desk and asked if I would take a mini-van instead, which I gladly accepted. It certainly made our life a lot easier. So we got a mini-van for $110 for 6 days - sweet.
My sister arrived at LAX a bit early, we co-ordinated pickup via cell phone, and we were off.
We used Priceline and got the Hyatt for $36 a night. This worked out great. This is a very nice hotel, and staff was always friendly and efficient. The crib they supplied for my son was first class. We stayed in the South Tower, which I had read was somewhat run-down. However, we found our room to be very nice. The bed and bedding was great, and everything worked in the room. I guess the only thing that wasn't really up to standard was there was a hole in the wall paper. But making the hole a bit larger kept my son busy for quite a period of time, so this turned out to be a plus...
Parking was $11 for self-park. We had no problem finding a spot, and found it to be convenient and it seemed safe.
The hotel had a Pizza Hut Express, but its hours were limited. We did use it one night and found it to be what we would expect. Nearby options include Joe's Crab Shack (didn't try) and Red Robbin. Red Robbin is a sort of gourmet hamburger place, which is pretty good. There is also a Target across the street for your discount store needs.
After checking in to the hotel, we went to the parks. We had the 5 day (for the price of 3 day) hoppers through AAA. I like to be in control, so we always drove to the parks. Our pass included parking at the big garage, which worked out ok. One note for the stroller set - there is only two elevators (that I could find). When we arrived at about 4:00PM as we did on Dec. 4, this wasn't a problem. However, during "rush hour", there is a huge line for it. If you can fold up your stroller easily and take the escalator, you can save a lot of time when crowded.
Another note on the garage; it is kind of like two huge garages connected only on the ends. You don't have any choice about where in the garage they park you. If you end up in the garage farthest away from the elevator/escalator, you have to walk to the end of the garage, and then into the closest garage before you get to the escalator. It can be a long hike. Most importantly, when you return you have to remember to turn right, walk along the end of the close garage until you get to the 2nd garage, and then you can go down your row to your car. If you try to walk diagonally to your car to save your tired feet, you will discover that you can't get to the further garage without walking all of the to the other end. This is probably hard to visualize, but if you do it wrong this paragraph will pop back into your memory (when it is too late).
We wanted to stretch our legs after our flights and drive, so we walked through Downtown Disney to Disneyland. Even though we didn't get there until late and the park closed at 8, we were able to ride a lot of rides and see the parade and fireworks. Fantastic!
The next day we also spent at Disneyland. The park closed at 6, but this was probably a good thing. By the time 6 rolled around, we were exhausted.
We spent Friday at California Adventure, as well as Saturday morning after checking out of the Hyatt. My wife landed at John Wayne early afternoon, and off we were to the Double Tree in Dana Point (Duheny Beach is in the name I think). My wife is a not a big park fan, and she wanted some beach time. My sister and I went back to the parks for a few hours in the evening.
Sunday we walked the beach, visted the mission at San Juan Capistrano, made a pillgrimage to Ikea (why won't they build one in Portland?) and had dinner at Knott's.
Just to finish the narrative, we had planned on going to the parks for a few hours before our flights on Monday, but we slept in instead. We just decided squeezing it in would be too stressful.
My wife and I were on the same flight home, and there was an extra seat for my son! Much easier. All in all a great little break.
Now to back up and make a few comments. First, I would very highly recommend the Double Tree. The rooms are all small suites, with a french door seperating the bed room from the sitting room. This was great as we could put my son to bed in the sitting room and read and watch TV without keeping him up. I used Hilton Points for the stay, but they still gave us breakfast for free, which I wasn't expecting. I was also expecting to pay for parking, but it didn't look like anyone was paying for parking. We certainly didn't. To get to the beach, you walk across a busy highway and then through a campground. The beach itself was pretty nice, and quite quiet when we were there.
The mission was very interesting (contains the oldest building in California for example). The signs and displays could use a bit of freshening, but I would highly recommend a visit.
Traffic: As you can tell, we did a lot of driving. If the thought of 8 lanes in each direction doesn't terrify you, I didn't think the driving was too bad. We stayed very close to I-5 and I-405, and rarely had traffic jams. When we did things broke up rather quickly. The commuter lanes were very nice and helped us keep our distance from the 85mph weaving looneys.
Knott's Restaurant: I was really curious to see what it was like, and we enjoyed ourselves. The restaurant is very plain and is huge. They don't take down names, so we had to wait in a huge line. It moved fairly quickly though. Their specialty is fried chicken, and that is what we all ordered. It was good, but in my opinion is not worth the hype. Another specialty is Boysenberry punch and pie, both of which were great (they invented the Boysenberry). Perhaps next time we will check out the park itself.
Disney food: In general the prices were high (but not as bad as we feared). The quality was better than we expected. We had some very good chicken and pasta in Disneyland for example. The best meal on property we had though was the buffet at Story Teller's in the Grand Californian. I always have low expectations for buffets, but I was ravenous so I decided to try it instead of ordering off the menu. It was very, very good. It featured salmon, roast beef, tortellini, chicken, and much more. It was $25 which is a lot, but I was very happy to pay the bill when I was done. I thought this was better quality than any buffet I have had in Vegas, including Bellagio. Ok, maybe I was just really hungry. But I'll certainly try it again next time I am there. Just as an example, I find that salmon at any buffet and all restaurants I have been to east of the Rockies tastes far too "fishey". This salmon tasted like salmon is supposed to. I had 3 portions.
The really nice thing about California compared to Florida is that it is much easier to eat offsite. We saved lots of money eating offsite some of the time.
Downtown Disney: I liked this area a lot. It is so much more compact than the one in Florida. In the evening on the weekend there was really fun and free entertainment, and the atmosphere was really great. The shops were good, and the ESPN club looked a lot more fun than the one on the Boardwalk in Florida. I wish I had time to try some of the crazy video games they had. Next time!
California Adventure: Having a hopper meant that we didn't have to think of it as an individual investment. Instead, it was a just a nice addition to Disneyland for us. As such we really enjoyed ourselves. We got to see Alladin, and this is fantastic. This is a very ambitious show, and they pulled it off. A great cast and wonderful effects. Two of the cast members had only fair voices, but their acting made up for it. In my opinion, this is a "Fantasmic-like" addition to the park, making almost everything else you enjoy there seem to be a bonus.
Soaring is also great, and I enjoyed the big roller coaster. The movies are good, and the Redwood area is fun. It was neat to see the Electric Parade for the first time (for me) in 20 years. Also the entertainment around the park was great. All told, we enjoyed ourselves there quite a bit.
Disneyland vs. Disneyworld: I have to say that I prefer Disneyland to Disneyworld's Magic Kingdom. I think the attention to detail is better. Also, some of the details in the Florida one seems a bit plastic to me. In California, it is all metal and wood.
In general, I found this vacation much more relaxing than a Florida vacation. I loved having everything so close by. The addition of California and Downtown Disney makes it much more interesting for me now as a "destination". I can't wait to go back.
Travelling with a 19 month-old: I realized before we left that this trip was for me, not for my son. He was precious bagage with veto power, but this was not for his enjoyment. As it turned out, this was probably the right attitute to have. He was just too young to really get much more than music and color out of the experience. Still, on that level he enjoyed it. I was surprised how his stamina held out. We just took it easy and tried to go at his pace, and a good time was had by all.
One final note - For Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones and Soaring over California (probably other major rides too), use the single rider lines! For Indy and Splash, you have to ask the Fast Pass person for a single rider pass. Then you take it through the exit (you feel like a salmon). When my sister and it did it, it turned Indy and Splash into a near walk-on. This was *much* faster than the wait with Fastpass even when your Fastpass was valid. At Soaring, you go into the Fastpass line and ask for a single pass. Then I skipped even the wait the Fastpass people had and went right to the attendant lining people up. Right into the pre-show. It was incredible. I estimate that the single-rider line saved me 3 hours over the 4 days compared to if I used Fastpass, not counting time to wait for the Fastpass time to arrive. Unbelievable.
Sorry for the randomness. Let me know if you have any questions.
