Disneyland Package Deals???

I've been to Disneyland a couple of times now and have done things on my own and used AAA (the last time we went). Although all trips have been fun (and expensive - par for the course), I think the best experience we had was when we booked through AAA. We stayed at the Marriot Residence Inn which is about 1 mile from Disneyland so we had to drive there every day. However, we had a two bedroom suite with a full kitchen which was great and very comfortable. In addiiton, the hotel offers a full breakfast with the room every morning. By booking through AAA we got free parking at Disneyland, early entry tickets to Mickey's Toon Town and part of the park, bonus tickets to use within Disneyland (merchandise and food), and preferred seating to some of the shows. I will definately be going through AAA again! BTW - I called an agent there and had her do all the work. The service is free (if you are an AAA memeber) and it's great not having to sweat all the details. I just told her what I was looking for and she provided me with several options from which I got to choose. Best of luck and have fun! Disneyland is truly the "Happiest Place on Earth"!

We just went to Disneyland with my 2 girls (3 and 1 year old) and we stayed at the Residence Inn Anaheim Maingate. It was the PERFECT hotel. 10-12 minute walk to Disneyland on a sidewalk that leads directly to the park. All the rooms are suites (full kitchen etc..) they even have rooms big enough for 2 families. Free breakfast every morning and the breakfast is amazing. the best part was being able to walk back and forth easily. It is also Right by the new city Walk (shopping/food area)Disneyland will be perfect for that age group- I wouldn't waste money on CA. Adventures- not as much stuff for kids under 40 inches.

Check the Disneyland booking site. to be honest most deals aren't really deals. They sometimes have special but prob not many as you are going close to some Spring breaks. Check out the book "The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland." great tips when traveling with kids. If you go to a Disney hotel (which is nice because you get entrance with your room key to the early admission days) I found booking rooms and buying tickets separate was actually cheaper.

Amazon link to book
http://www.amazon.com/Unofficial-Guide-Disneyland-2011-Gu...

you can get this in most big bookstores also. It has great detail on the attraction so you know which rides work for what ages. If you have a little girl in your group, or a princess fan. Make reservations for Ariel's Grotto for lunch. This is in California Adventures and you get greeted by Ariel and have 4-5 princesses walk around the room during the meal. This is soooo much better than waiting in line to see them. They take time to talk to the kids and sign autograph books. It is an expensive meal like all of them in the park but was actually good and worth every penny for how excited my 3 yr old was to talk to the princesses.

Lots of kids have the autograph books so order them from the Disney store online before you leave or buy them inside the park. Kids under nine can wear costumes in the park also. Again if you have a princess fan, get a costume at Target, Disney store or Toys R Us before you go. 80% of the little girls are wearing them and they are really expensive at the park.

When you enter the park go to the Main Street Town Hall office and get First time visitor button's for the kids.

Last fun tip. If you have any pictures taken by employees, they give you a card (photograph it so you dont lose the number) you can have unlimited photos for the same crazy price of $60 for the disk which you view and order later at home. Same price for 1 to 1000 photos so use this and maybe split the cost of the disk with your friend. if you lose your card but have the number don't worry you can add multiple cards to an account at home. So if your friend gets a different card you can put them all together.

Not many deals for Disneyland day passes. Try mousesavers.com , Costco and your local AAA. Some hotel packages include slightly discounted tickets and/or early entrance. There are hotels in the area that provide a free shuttle to Disneyland. This would save you the $15 parking fee and a walk + tram ride from the parking garage to the entrance.

Weather in April can be cool and rainy, sunny and warm or... one time we arrived to temps over 100. Bring sunscreen!

Disneyland is awesome - the weather is almost ALWAYS nice in LA - dress in layers so that you can add or subtract clothes as it gets cooler/warmer throughout the day. If you can, go for 5 days or more.

There is a really nice hotel called the Tropicana that is right outside the front gates to go to Disneyland. The rooms are very nice, they are a good price, and they offer free breakfast. It is easy to go back to the room for naps, etc.

There are also lots of places to eat very close so that you don't have to pay and arm and a leg for food inside the park. I packed snacks in a back pack and took them into the park with us. I also packed bottled water and bought some of those single packs of kool-aid and crystal light and we drank that throughout the day - I did one bottle of water for each person and then just refilled them at drinking fountains when needed.

There are lots of things that you can do to cut down on the cost - so get creative!! and Have a great time. BTW - I just got an e-mail regarding Disney packages, you can send me a private message with your e-mail address and I will forward it to you if you would like!!

You can check the weather on line. It will give you the averages. I think it
will be warm. Also look for hotels in the Anaheim area. Will you have a
car or will you need a shuttle from the hotel. Tickets are all about the same
price no matter where you get them. Not sure if Disneyland has on site
hotels, but worth checking out.

Hi,
I absolutely love Disneyland and have been going there since I was 2 years old... 44 years ago. So I have been there a few times and in many different ways. You could go directly through the disneyland web site to find hotels, not just the Disneyland hotels but all of the hotels (and just a cheap as AAA (I looked for my last trip a couple of weeks ago). You can also buy your tickets at the same site. and they are discounted through some time in April... everything goes up as soon as California spring break hits (approximately the first week in april). The parks also get significantly busier. I love California Adventure for the little kids there is Bugs Land (based on the bug's life story) and Playhouse disney although it is being reinovated right now... check on the disneyland web site calender for what is closed. The 5 year old might like the toy story ride (but there is usually a wait). If you have girls you might consider going to Ariel's grotto for lunch or dinner (make reservations). It is very expensive (like 30 dollars a person, slightly less for the kids) but the Princesses come around to the tables, and they get their picture taken with Ariel. World of Color (which is amazing) is also in California Adventure. And there is a huge playground with lots of climbing for the younger kids. Disneyland is also great for little kids as it has fantasyland and jungle ride over in Frontierland and a tree house (Tarzan's), Winnie the Pooh ride, you can take them across on rafts over to the pirate island where they can run and jump and climb and Mickey's toon town where they can meet Minnie, Goofy, Mickey. There is also a Princess meet area (another long line) but they have activites for the kids if you have someone waiting in line for you where the kids are busy during that wait. There is also Pixie Hollow where they can meet the Fairies from the Tinkerbell movies. Astro blasters is great for the 5 year old, may be a bit loud for the younger kids, just depends on the kid, very popular.
In all the times I have gone, most recently we have stayed at the Grand Californian. It is in California adventure and the most expensive hotel in disneyland but great to be at. The other hotels are either right across from the maingate opening or further down the street, if it is not walkable there is a bus system that picks up from most of the hotels. You should be able to see where they are on a map.
Weather in LA... would check on Weather.com or you can call the disneyland number (at the disneyland web site to book hotel and packages) and they will tell you. Any discount you get through disneyland is duplicated at other places... AAA sometimes has some bonus things that Disneyland does not offer.
Email me if you have any questions
L.

I think somewhere other than the Disney Hotel will be better priced. I went when I was a kid and we stayed at a different hotel a block away and there was a shuttle that took you to Disneyland.
So, obviously, I'm not a wealth of info. I just wanted to say your weather should be great! I lived in LA for a year. It was so nice! It hardly rained and when it did the air was so clean and fresh. You didn't notice how smoggy it was until then. Shouldn't rain though.

disneyland has 3 hotels onsite. disneyland hotel is the older one, we stayed once when i was a kid, you use a walkway to get to the park, the grand california is fancier, has an entrance and packages to get you in the park 1 hour early. and a 3rd hotel, can't remember the name. i just planned a disneyland trip for my boss. i called disneyland directly and found out all that you could do/pay for and then customized the trip, including vip tours etc. when i called i asked the lady to give me all the details she could on a trip to disneyland, and she walked me through all the options. they have a toon town for the smaller kids and i think you can get in early with one hotel, you can plan a dinner with a character (mickey etc). it depends how much you want to spend. when you call, ask them to mail you the disney DVD (which is free once you book i think). i watched it with my 3 year old and she wants to go now! your kids will get so excited! it got me excited! also, if you get your park passes online they had a 3 day deal until April 14th i think. you could ask when you call. i literally told the lady that i knew nothing about disneyland and needed all the info she could give me. we talked for probably 30 minutes. good luck!

I took my kids to Disneyland right before Christmas last year. It was the worst trip since it poured rain the entire trip and rain boots were sold out all around the Anaheim area and the rain slickers ripped on everything. The maid kept turning off the air in the room to assist the wet clothing laying everywhere. (Sorry, rampage for an expensive trip.)

I would check the weather before your trip since we have had odd weather patterns. I bought my tickets through Getawaytoday.com. The tickets were the best deal around and was even cheaper than AAA. I would check the good neighbor hotels across the street on Harbor. If you check the website for good neighbor hotels across the street from Disneyland, it came up with a map and hotels in the vicinity of Disneyland. Some charge parking and others do not. I noted if you are going to pay for parking in the parking garage at Disney, you might as well seek a less expensive hotel further away since you have to drive to the parking garage anyway. Good luck and have a good time!

I have to second the suggestion of picking up The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland. We went for one day last year with a 2 & 5 yo (it was the 5yo's bday)... and the longest we stood in line for a ride was 30 minutes (and that includes Finding Nemo and Space Mountain). Granted, we stood in line for 90 minutes to meet the princesses and that just threw our schedule completely off... but what can you expect with girls! ;-)
If this is your first visit, I recommend at least three days, so you can get the full experience. And don't just pack a sweatshirt for nighttime, pack two (because little kids spill!)
Good luck in your planning and have fun!

The dessert anaheim suites is one of the cheapest hotels at any time. It is less then any hotel and it is right accross the street.
In the library there is a book or can find it at the book store that will tell you how to visit Disney. I think it is called The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2009,2010, 2011 .... it gets updated every year. It is worth the investment or even to check it out in the library. It will tell you how to do a 2,3,4 day trip there, cost of the cheapest food, hotel, accomidations, where to buy cheap tickets ect...

Disneyland is in Orange County, you best bet is to fly into the John Wayne Airport in Santa Anna. Disneyland has it's own hotel and offers packages. There are also several other hotels within a 1-2 block area as well as restuarants. Disneyland is basically on the corner of Harbor Blvd and Kattella Ave. And the Anaheim Convention Center is across Kattella, be aware the 'ladies' ply their trade sometimes right in front of Disneyland and very close to the park. I have never seen anyone be disruptive or rude to the kids and families but just so you are not shocked. I was the first time I saw that. Depending on how many days you will be there, you might also want to check out Knott's Berry Farm it is just west on Kattella a couple of miles. Yes it's the place the wonderful jelly and syrups come from.
You might want to contact the Orange County Visitors Center. They might have packages available.
I lived near there for 10 years.
In April the weather should be nice and warm with little chance of rain. However it can be 80* during the day but when the sun goes down it can get to 65*-70* plan to take at least one jacket or sweatshirt for evenings. If you go to the beach (south on Harbor) it will be a bit cooler day or night.