Question 2: How long will I be at Disneyland?
This doesn't have to be a difficult decision, but there are other factors that contribute other than just "how long do I want be in the parks?"
For instance, something you need to figure out is how long you can afford to escape real life. Do you have a week? Two weeks? Three days?
After you figure that out, you need to sort out your transportation. Will you be flying or driving? And how many days will travel consume? Being in Utah, I am lucky enough that it never takes me more than one day to travel to California. However, if you are close enough, you can even fly into California and go to Disneyland on the same day. I'm not sure I would recommend this, but it depends on your own travel needs. I've done it before, and it was a little tough. It requires getting up really early. I mean REALLY early! You've got to make sure you have time to get out of the airport and to your hotel and THEN into the park. I'm the type that likes to get to the parks right when they open, which is why I don't always take that option. Another thing to consider is that many hotels do not allow check-in until after around 3:00pm. I remember that the time I flew in in the morning the hotel allowed us to store our luggage there, but they charged us a fee. Not every hotel will charge a fee, though! You can always call when reserving your hotel and ask about that.
As for driving, you're going to have to live pretty close to drive to anaheim the morning of your first day on the parks. If you don't live that close, you'll need to take an extra day or two just for travel. This could cost you more for your hotel as well as cost you in terms of days you can spend in Disneyland. Make sure to do the calculations and figure out which option works for your vacation time, as well as your budget.
Now let's say you figured out your travel days. How many days can you afford to spend in the parks? I'm sure you've heard by now that you can't do Disneyland in a day. If a day is all you have, don't worry, I will help you out. But if at all possible I would recommend going for at least 3 days.
After you figure out how many days you will be there, there's one last choice. Park Hopper passes or One-Park-Per-Day passes? Each has its benefits. The Park Hopper, as you can probably guess, allows you to go back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure as many times as you want throughout the day. This is nice because you can get a change of scenery, and you can also hit all of your favorite rides every single day! However, since the expansion of California Adventure, the OPPD passes are gaining value. They are less expensive, typically by about $40 per person depending on how many days you are going for. Again, as the name hints at, you can only go to one park per day with these passes. It doesn't matter to them which park, but once your ticket is scanned into one park you cannot enter the other for that day. The benefit, other than the cost, is that you don't feel so rushed to do everything in one park and then do everything in another. You can take a leisurely stroll through one park, knowing that you have all day there. It's a lot of peace of mind that you're gaining with these tickets. However, if you are going at a time of year that is a little slower, the biggest entertainment won't be happening during the week, only on weekends. Sometimes park hopping is necessary to see all the best stuff, because you might only have one night to see both World of Color and Fantasmic, or something like that. Just make sure you consider that before making your decision. I personally think that having the Hopper passes is worth the extra money.
After you figure out how many days you will be there, there's one last choice. Park Hopper passes or One-Park-Per-Day passes? Each has its benefits. The Park Hopper, as you can probably guess, allows you to go back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure as many times as you want throughout the day. This is nice because you can get a change of scenery, and you can also hit all of your favorite rides every single day! However, since the expansion of California Adventure, the OPPD passes are gaining value. They are less expensive, typically by about $40 per person depending on how many days you are going for. Again, as the name hints at, you can only go to one park per day with these passes. It doesn't matter to them which park, but once your ticket is scanned into one park you cannot enter the other for that day. The benefit, other than the cost, is that you don't feel so rushed to do everything in one park and then do everything in another. You can take a leisurely stroll through one park, knowing that you have all day there. It's a lot of peace of mind that you're gaining with these tickets. However, if you are going at a time of year that is a little slower, the biggest entertainment won't be happening during the week, only on weekends. Sometimes park hopping is necessary to see all the best stuff, because you might only have one night to see both World of Color and Fantasmic, or something like that. Just make sure you consider that before making your decision. I personally think that having the Hopper passes is worth the extra money.
Now here's an example of all this craziness. My friends and I had never been at Christmas time, so we want to go in December. We decide on the first week of December, since crowds are low but we still get all the Christmas decorations and entertainment. We have about a week that we can spend away from home. We decide to drive rather than fly, so that's one day each way. We want to do four days on the park (with Hopper passes), during the middle of the week to get the best hotel rates and low crowds. Now, since two days travel + four days park only totals to six days even though we have a week to travel, we decide to split up our park days with a day off in between. I'm talking driving day, two days at Disneyland, day off, two more days at Disneyland, and then a day to drive home. That way we have a day to rebuild some stamina, seeing as how we are the type that gets to the park early and stays till it's closed. We also get to see some other California sights, to get even more out of our trip.
Well, hopefully this can help you to decide the length of your trip. Fear not, the boring stuff is almost done!
Happy planning!
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