Disneyland - Boulder Creek,CA

We ways stay at the Embassy Suites which offers a break breakfast and they are on the shuttle run so for $4 you can hop on the shuttle there and back. TOTALLY worth it I think. The suites have fridges so you can stock up on snacks for when you get back, cereal for the morning if you don't want breakfast and they have king or two queens suites that have a pull out sofa for the kids...
they also have a Bucca Di Beppo in the parking lot and if you have ever eaten there, that's enough left overs to last you thru the full 3 days so you always have osmething there to snack on .

Have fun!

We went to Disneyland this past fall, but stayed in a hotel away from the park, because it was much cheaper. It was quite easy this way, as we just parked at the park and a Disney bus took us to the front door. Very easy and we saved a lot of money.

My kids are 6 and 3, so we just did Fantasyland. Adventure Park was a little too much for my little ones. Plus, my inlaws live only 2 hrs from there so we'll be going again for sure and can do Adventure Park when they are a bit older.

Two days was perfect for Fantasyland. We saw everything, we had time to wait in line so my daughter could meet the princesses and we were there from open to close both days.

We love the Candy Cane Inn. They are walking distance on the same side of the street as the park or have free easy to use shuttle bus.Free Breakfast bar in the morning. Nice clean comfortable rooms. Good prices. We've always had park hoppers and enjoyed both parks. It's tough to cram it all in in 3 days. But even if you only go to California adventure one day I think you'll enjoy it. I'd say spend first day at Disney , second at California Adventure and last day at Disney and you might find that there was something you want to go back for at California Adventure and do both.
Have fun

Hi Judy,
I have been going to disneyland since I was two. I love it! I would recommend staying at any of the hotels on Harbor blvd in the number range 1400 to 1500... in other words 1500 Harbor blvd... 1510 Harbor blvd... Those are directly across the street from the main gate and if you have kids, you can walk, instead of taking a shuttle. You can get cheaper, or nicer the farther away you go from the gate, but in my experience, I am using the room to sleep and not much else, so I don't worry about pool etc. You do have to wait for a shuttle to take you or walk one or more blocks (very long blocks) to get to the main gate. You can look up on expedia(or others), a map, that will show you the ones across from maingate. Tropicana Inn is directly across. To give you some idea when you are looking at the map. I found that the map is somewhat deceptive in the distance. Do remember you will be walking a lot at the park. The less you have to walk from a hotel the better!
The park hopper pass is the best you can do for tickets. If you have little ones, most of the rides for little kids are in disneyland, but with Cars land open, and Bugs land, also has little kid rides. So I would go with both parks. But it is a lot of walking, and they may get tired. You could also go with one day park hopper and then disneyland tickets for the other two days. Then you could see both parks. In the past (before Cars Land opened), California adventure has been much more quiet. I have not been since Cars Land opened.. I suspect though... it will have made it busier, at least for the summer.
There is no cheap way to get tickets... don't buy off of craigslist... often a scam.
Have a great time! I love Disneyland!!

We always stay at the Anaheim Plaza. Reasonable rate and walking distance. We like to pack snacks and light lunches to avoid having to purchase at least one meal. Also you can bring in your own drinks. Just pack a small cooler and throw it under the stroller. Have fun!

Hi J.,
The Grand Californian is in walking distance. It's pricey though. We stayed because it was our first time taking our son and our first vacation in a looooong time. A lot of places have shuttles to the park. I don't think the park hopper passes are worth the price if your kids are little and you'll be going back when they're older. There is plenty to do in just Disneyland for 3 days. We went for 1 night and 2 days and I missed all of the princessland, Alladin, it's a Small World, and a bunch of other rides. I also missed a lot on the CA Adventure side. We did do both parks both days we were there. They are both great but the only 2 rides worth it in CA Adventure (for me) were the Tower of Terror (too scarey for little ones) and the Soaring over CA. My son, who was almost 4, did see Bug's Life with my friend while I waited in line for the T. of Terror. I never even saw it. Good luck! Tip - bring some of your own food!!

Hi-
We just went to Disneyland earlier this summer. It probably depends on the ages of your K.. I have a 4 1/2 year old and a 1 year old. We wanted to stay in a hotel with a suite so that the K. could be asleep in the bedroom and my husband and I could stay up. (We opted to not stay in the parks much past their bedtimes this time--too much meltdown potential!) So, we stayed at the Doubletree Suites. It was great--nice rooms and a small fridge so we could have a quick breakfast in the room before heading to the park. We went to the park 3 days. The hotel is on the shuttle route. We walked two of the days (about a 20 minute or so walk with the baby in the stroller and my 4 yo walking) and took the shuttle one day since it happened to be there when we walked out. We took the shuttle back to the hotel all three nights.
We purchased out 3 day park hopper tickets through Costco. Disneyland is just super expensive, but the tickets did include lunch or dinner at Goofy's Kitchen (highly recommend), preferred seating for the Aladdin show at CA Adventure, and a few other things too (sorry, I've already forgotten). I think the park hopper tickets were worth it. This was our first trip with K.. We spent the first day just at Disneyland, spent the first half of the second day at CA Adventure, then the 2nd half at Disnelyand, and went back and forth many times the third day depending on show times, parades, having a Starbuck craving, :), etc. I think when my K. are a bit older, we could easily spend one day at each park, but I liked having the flexibility to go back and forth.

Have a great time!
-J

We love the Annabella Hotel. It's a 10-15 minute walk to the park, very clean, very nice rooms including mini-suites for families and it's very reasonably priced.

Personally I think the park hopper is a waste, especially now that California Adventure has added Cars Land. There is plenty to do in each park without "hopping" to the other one. The only exception to this is if California Adventure closes earlier than Disneyland, then you could keep on having fun until mid-night if you wanted to. Check park hours for the dates you'll be there.

We have stayed several times at the Embassy Suites there in Anahiem and reallly liked it. It is not within walking distance, but it is on the Trolley route. The Trolley picks up and drops off right in front of the hotel. They aslo serve a full breakfast which is included with the price of your room. Is breakfast crazy busy? Yup, but worth it!

Have Fun, We'll be there in October.

M

I think there is so much for your kids to do and see that you won't want to leave which ever park you start out in.

I don't know of any motels/hotels so close you can walk to the park from them easily. It would be much wiser economically to stay at a hotel that is further away and has a shuttle. You can then use their shuttle. I can guarantee that your kids will be so tired after a day at either park that you will be carrying them. And a hotel even across the street will be way too far to carry kids. BTW, even "across the street" will mean a walk of 200 to 400 yards or more.

Unless you are Bill Gates favorite niece, you should take a stroller and a small ice chest with sandwiches and water. You will save a bundle on food and water/drinks. We put 3/4 filled bottles of water in our freezer and then put them in the ice chest where they kept the sandwiches and cold fried chicken cold until lunch and dinner.

Be sure to enjoy the frozen pineapple drinks at the entrance to the "Tiki Room". They are fantastic and very refreshing on a hot day. Also, the Tiki Room is a nice place to enjoy the A/C on a hot day and be entertained at the same time.

Good luck to you and yours.

We had season passes and I love that we the option of both parks,example at california disney they have the World of Color show,which is amazing and so beautiful.But then at disneyland you have the fire work show which again is amazing.If your gonna go and you can afford it my advice would be to go to both.California Disney is not that big,havent seen the new car land "our passes expired before it open" But I would probly want to avoid that area anyways cause it will crowed.But they also have the "little Mermaid" ride which is so cute. I love Disneyland and say you should at least try both :) have fun !!!

We are actually going to Disneyland next week, so I don't really any suggestions. I can just say what we're planning to do. We opted NOT to do the Park Hopper since we realized that there's no way we'll be able to do 2 parks in one day. We're going to do 1 park for a full day, then the other the next day.

We're staying at the Eden Roc Inn and Suites just off Katella by Denny's, and from the map, we might even be able to see the Magic World of Color from our hotel room!! The room we booked is a 2 bedroom suite, with FOUR beds, for just a little more than the Travelodge typical hotel room we had originally found. This was an awesome option for us because I'm taking my kids (2.5 and 5.5) with a friend of my son's and his mom :)

We'll be trying to save as much money as possible, but one area we decided to splurge was for Goofy's Kitchen buffet the morning we leave. We've heard it's the best food around, and you get to dine with the characters. Because it's at the Disneyland hotel, you don't have to have park tickets to eat there!!!!