Scheduling a Disneyland Trip

DW and I are thinking about doing DLR in a couple of years. Since the Grand Californian is Dvc. It'll just be Airfares, Tickets (unless I upgrade my annual pass), and food. I wonder if Tables in Wonderland works there too.

Tables in Wonderland is only a WDW thing.

Been to DLR well over 100 times.

• Where are you coming from (drive or fly)
  
• How many in Party  
  
• What are your particular goals

More info I have, better I can advise

Airport Target: If you can, arrive at John Wayne Airport (Closest to park), Burbank second. LAX is your last choice. Traffic in the area suxxors bad. Be prepared for a long drive from LAX and Burbank.

I suggest 3 days for the parks. Arrive in the evening and do downtown Disney. Next 3 days do the parks, check out next morning (that is 4 nights in hotel). The difference in cost between park property and good neighbor hotels is significant. If you target a park property, I suggest Disneyland Hotel. JMHO, this should be a historical landmark. If not, there are numerous hotels right across the street where you can walk across the street and be at the park.

There are packages that combine Sea World, Knotts Berry Farm (Walt actually helped design some of that park), and Universal Studios (A big disappointment to me). If you pull this sort of package, start at Sea world and do DLR last.

Knotts, Universal & Sea World are highly over rated if you ask me.

If you stay off property in a Good Neighbor hotel, I suggest you go to Target (1/4 mile south) and stock your fridge with cold cereal, plastic knives, bowls, milk etc. This will save you a bunch of money.

Since this is your first trip, to DLR places to eat:
Disneyland: Blue Bayou. This is an absolute must. If you can only eat at one spot, this is it. I prefer lunch because of the Monte Cristo (ranked the best in the country). It is not available at dinner. The other Restaurants are good but not great. Rancho Zocalo is pretty good if you like Mexican.

CA: First thing is get your fastpass for World of Color. Good seats are a must. If you eat lunch at the Trattoria (Italian) and order off the special menu, if comes with front and center passes to World of Color. Pricey food but very good food.

Schedule your trip home on the last day to leave around 4ish. This means you need to be at airport around 1-2. Check out early and go to Downtown Disney. The World of Disney store is incredible (3 hours to view whole store). Then you can do lunch at one of the DD restaurants or Tony Roma's which is a decent rib place.

I highly suggest the Walk in Walt's footsteps tour. You get to visit his private apartment above the Fire Station and they will share with you the significance of the light in the window. Neat story.

If you wish to explore the area around the city I highly recommend the beach. I personally am particular to the South Bay area (I grew up there). Redondo Beach, Huntington, Manhattan Beach. Del Amo Shopping Mall used to be the largest in the world.

If you go in winter, Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead are snow areas that are an hour away. 6 Flags Magic Mountain is about 90 minutes away up the 5 Freeway depending on traffic. This is a white knuckle park.

Hope this helps

This is a nice overview of what to do....thx from us Floridians!  It's been since 1969 since I was there in Disneyland but I'd like someday to go back....I bet the light in the window is the same story that  we have here at Disney for Walts apartment....he was quite sentimental.....have you visited the exhibit in Hollywood Studios called One Mans Dream?  There are lots of Walts original things there on display from CA

I think this is a GREAT written out plan.  We wanted to stay at Disneyland Hotel for the whole nostalgic thing but ended up staying at Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel instead as we were there on a budget.  Paradise Pier is very nice and we got a room overlooking the park so it was nice seeing the parks all lit up at night.

We wanted to eat at Blue Bayou especially since we love New Orleans and everything about the city but again because of budget, we opted to dine at French Market Restaurant Cafe Orleans instead.  The next time we go back we will be eating at Blue Bayou as it is also located inside my favorite ride (Pirates of the Caribbean).  We also ate at Village Haus.  Other than that, I think we snacked our way around like at Bengal Barbecue, Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe and final dinner at House of Blues (which I understand has moved off property now) before we headed to San Diego for our conference.

The next time we go, we will stay longer to take in the other parks and restaurants.

Kinda on the subject but also kinda off the subject.  You mentioned the other parks.  I know Disney Vacation Packages offer a SoCal CityPass which includes 3-day hopper for DLR, 1 Early Morning hours, 1 day admission to SeaWorld and 1 day admission to LegoLand.  What is your opinion of LegoLand?  Is it only for families as we are two adults?