I am going to give you a PTR its for DisneyWorld but its their first trip to the World and they are Disneyland veterns she could give you some great advice and you could give her some about Disney World... I have been meaning to give her your trip report anyway as they are going at Christmas and she is staying at the resort you are current at on our TR here.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2861228
P.S. I am jealous... I am hoping we can get there one day.
Sounds good! I will check it out!
And aww I hope you do too!
OH MY GOOOOOOOOSH!!!!!
JESS. WHAT? I'm SOOOO excited for you!!!!!!!!
OMG. I'm so jealous though!
I wish I could help... but I just can't. I've never been to Disneyland. It's a VERY big dream of mine to go. I've never even been to California! The farthest west I've been is Arizona hahah. BUT OH MAN!!!! YAY!!!!!!! I hope you get all the help you need!
SURPRISE! I know, it's completely unexpected right? I never thought in a million years that this summer would be the year I would finally get to go back to Disneyland!
Aww well I'm sure you'll get there someday! I really haven't been out west very much either, don't worry.
But thanks! I'm sure I will! Disboards is such a great community, I'm sure I will be adequately prepared!
I am really excited for you. I can feel your excitement. WooHoo.
Aww thank you!
I totally freaked out for you when I saw your Tweet. SO FREAKING BEYOND AMAZING. AND IT'S COMING UP SO SOON!!! I NEED TO KEEP TYPING WITH CAPS AND EXCLAMATION POINTS BECAUSE I AM THIS EXCITED FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!
Okay, I'll try to contain myself. I'm eager to see what you do for your extra days in Cali, because when we plan our trip out west, we want to split it between Disneyland and the other sights out there, since we have never been. The fact that you are going to be checking out all 3 DL hotels on one trip is just the coolest thing ever, since you'll be able to give such great comparisons between them.
I am by no means a DL food expert, aside from stalking the food thread on the DL board, haha, but I've heard great things about the food at Hungry Bear, a counter services restaurant, particularly the Fried Green Tomato sandwich and their Bumblebee cupcake. I would also book an early lunch at Blue Bayou, the restaurant that's in PotC, so you can try to get a seat as close to the water as possible. Popular snacks at the Holly Jolly Bakery - the Matterhorn Macaroon and Mickey Chocolate Tart.
As far as trip reports, I have a couple bookmarked on here, but I'll have to go back and check them. This thread has a lot of great info:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599
And you have probably thought of it, but the Disney Tourist Blog has my absolute favorite trip reports ever, and he features a lot of info about Disneyland, including fantastic food pics and reviews. He's also heading out there right now for the CarsLand opening, so you should get some awesome input about the new food and things there.
************************************disneyland-trip-reports/
^Boooo apparently DisBoards blocks their site for some reason. I'm sending it to you on Twitter (which I'm sure you'll see before you read this, but I'm still typing anyway, haha)
YAYYYYYYYYY. I have been doing a lot of planning of my own, so if I can think of anything else, I'll pass it along to you. I AM SO SO SO SO EXCITED FOR EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS TRIP REPORT.
Aww THANK YOU! Thanks for the Disneyland food pictures thread the other day. LOL I've been going through that a lot!
Yeah my Dad has been wanting to do an out west trip for YEARS and we decided that next year would be the year. However, I wanted to do a big chunk of time in Disneyland. So we decided it would just be smarter to split up the trips.
I've also heard great things about the hungry bear! I've seen pictures of sweet potato fries so that's a MUST do. And ahh yes Blue Bayou for sure!!
Thank you for the references! I'll check them out!
Thank you SO much! I am so excited too!!
Thank you! I'll look at those once I have time!
WOOHOO! You lucky, lucky girl! So excited for you!
I'll second the recommendation for Disney Tourist Blog...really good stuff and lots of pictures!
Aww thank you!
Yeah that sounds like a pretty good site! I'll check it out!
WOOOHOOOO, Yay for you and Disneyland! Altho I have to say I hope you don't love it TOO much because we don't want you running off to Cali to live. We want you to run off to Florida and work there and be a princess and we (or all that live on "this" side of the US) can come and have our kids/grandkids pics taken with you! But all that aside, congrats on the trip!! Now, calm down for just a minute and tell me if you've ever eaten breakfast at Whispering Canyon.
Thank you! Hahaha don't worry, California is a little too far from my family. WDW will always be my real home, anyways.
It's not too too far. And aww you are too sweet! Thank you!
And YES I have eaten breakfast at Whispering Canyon! It is very delicious! You can get the big ol' skillet with lots of Disney breakfast food like Mickey waffles, sausage, scrambled eggs, etc. Or there are items you can order off the menu! And of course all of the crazy antics that go on in that place are tons of fun! I really enjoyed our breakfasts there in the past!
Yea DL!! I was totally expecting you to say you were going back to WDW when I saw the title of the update, but DL...thats so cool!
I dont know ANYTHING about DL (never been), but I just wanted to say that I was super excited for you.
Still very much enjoying this Christmas TR too!
Hahaha SURPRISE! I'm actually still in shock haha
Aww thank you so much! I can't wait to write the trip report for you guys!
And thank you! I am very much enjoying writing it! So don't worry, I'll still keep writing and chipping away at it! There is a lot more to go!
So exciting about Disneyland! Your going to love it! I recommend Hungry Bear quick service right by Splash Mt. The food is just normal hamburgers and such, but I love the area!!
And your just in time for Cars Land!
Thank you! I CAN'T WAIT! Ah I heard that one is good! I'll make sure I go there! And AHH I KNOW I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!
OMG that is sooooo exciting u r going to Disneyland!!! I'm also going there this summer but my trip is in 11 days and I can't wait!!!!!!! The last time I was there I was 4 so I am pretty much in the same boat as u with the whole knowing everything about disneyworld and nothing about Disneyland thing. We r staying at the Marriott down there since my moms friend travels alot and can basically give away free points for Marriott rooms all over the world! When I get back I will make sure to give u a bunch of Disneyland tips from a disneyworld experts eyes.
I'M SO EXCITED! And oh my gosh are you!? You'll have to let me know how your trip goes! That's really awesome! Have a great trip!
I'm so excited for you Jess! I was actually a bit sad reading your latest updates with no little ticker on the bottom for your next trip and now you have one!!! Congrats!
Thank you! Aww you're so sweet! Haha I'm glad I have a new one too! Thank you!
AHH!!! I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! WOW WOW WOW!! YOU MUST BE JUMPING UP AND DOWN!!!
I was at Disneyland for my college graduation in 2010. It's amazing. We stayed at DVC Grand Californian. It's gorgeous. Some similarities to Wilderness Lodge. I can't believe you get to stay at all 3. That's amazing!! Some things you have to do:
-Do the dining package for World of Color. Eat at Ariel's Grotto. It's so worth it to do the package. You get awesome reserved seats. Plus you don't have to waste time waiting to get a fastpass for it. The show is amazing. Seriously, you will be blown away! I still listen to the soundtrack. It's awesome!!!
-We ate at Napa Rose. It's very nice, but I still like California Grill better. The service though is spectacular.
-Notice the differences and similarities from Disneyland to Magic Kingdom. I loved their version of Pirates! We didn't eat there but there's a restaurant inside; Blue Bayou. Similar to Mexico where you can eat by the ride. I wish we did this!
-Hungry Bear is a counter service in Critter Country in Disneyland. It's cute. I liked it!
-We ate at a Mexican counter service at CA Adventure. Can't remember the name but it was by the La Brea bakery.
-Downtown Disney District is fun! Doesn't feel like Disney though. Regular stores and fun entertainment/musicians.
-You can WALK to EVERYTHING! Seriously...it's unbelievable how close everything is. It's great! The parks are literally right across from each other. California Adventure has a private entrance by Grand Californian Resort.
-Fantasmic is great at Disneyland! I liked it better actually than MGM's version. If you get there early you can sit down. People even brought blankets to sit on. Like at the beach. If not, you'll stand. If you picture MK then you'll be able to visualize this. Their Fantasmic is basically on the Tom Sawyer Island water area.
-Aladdin show at CA Adventure is AMAZING!!! It's so good. The genie is hilarious!
-Dress appropriately. We were in July and we were actually cold! Wore jackets and capris. Check the weather and bring warm clothes just in case. I assumed it would be like FL weather or at least as hot as PA. IDK if we were just there during a chilly time.
If I think of more I'll let you know!! You'll get to see Cars Land (super jealous...I really need to go back to see this!!) and the Ariel ride! Awesome!!
Oh, and I need to read the rest of your updates! I have been so busy so I didn't get a chance to catch up. I just saw this disneyland update and HAD to reply ASAP!!!
You have no idea how much this post helped! I sat down with my Mom earlier and we read it over together! Thank you for such awesome notes!!! And lol take your time, the updates will be here for ya!
YAYAYA for Disneyland! I took my first (and solo) trip there in March, and honestly knew NOTHING about it, so I'll try to help ya through as much as I can.
#1: Dining. They don't do ADR's at DLR, you just walk up to the resturant, and make it right then and there. For character dining, there's Princess lunch at Ariel's Grotto in DCA, I seriously suggest it. I'd say go to the resturant the day before, or the morning of, and make the reservation (I also strongly recommend the santa maria tri tip. Greatest meat I've ever had)
-In DCA, for Counterservice: Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill is another one of my faves, they've got delicious food, and big portions, but it's not a heavy meal on a hot day.
-Over in DLR: I wanted to try the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ, but being by myself figured it wouldn't be worth the money, but I'd try it out!
-For a quick breakfast: Jolly Holiday Bakery Cafe has great and delicious options (it's right down Main St, where you would expect Caseys to be)
-Across from it, is the Plaza, which has Minnie & friends character breakfast, but then converts to a quick service place for lunch & dinner, (if you want red velvet cake, this is where you'll find it)
-In New Orlean's Square, I GREATLY recomment Cafe Orleans for a dinner (TS) it has amazing and great good, and really good pricing, again, you can just walk up and ask for a reservation (especially if you have a small party)
-Also in NOS, is French Markey Restaurant (QS) It has a lot of great food, big portions, and, don't forget to get some: Mickey Beignets!!
-I suggest reading the "DLR for WDW veterans" thread, it helped a lot when I was attempting to plan my trip, other things to know, some of the rides will be different, longer, shorter, darker, wetter, you get the point.
-Splash mountain is single file line ridden, and there are no lap bars
-It will be CROWDED, but it's just the matter of figuring things out, and you'll be ok.
-The castle is smaller....way smaller...it doesn't feel the same at all walking down DLR's main street (to me at least)
-The fireworks at DLR are a not miss event!!
-The layout of DLR was a little weird for me, but that was because of ToonTown, which I never experienced at WDW, so it may be the exact same, who knows?
-World Of Color. You will die. It is amazing. I suggest on your DCA day, you follow the crowds and go straight in to get your WOC fast pass, then head straight to the next rope to head over to TSM (Edited to add: I see Kelliroo's post above me now, and I'm pretty sure that I read that they're not offering the dining package anymore/currently, I'm not too sure. I also don't think it really wastes time to get a fp, as the rest of the park isn't open yet, you're going from one rope to the next, but that's just me)
-TSM has no fast passes
-Tower of Terror's drops are the same every time, but the ride itself is different from DHS, and thus, the first couple of times you have no clue when you're going to drop.
-You guys just have WDW Ap's, right? If you have any kind of annual pass that works at DLR, every single time you buy food/merch, ask if there's a discount, I saved roughly $200 on food when I was down there thanks to my premium annual pass.
-I have a solo DLR trip report (pretty sure it's my signature) that might help some stuff if you wanted to check that out.
Have an awesome trip!!!
THANK YOU SO MUCH. Oh my gosh this was SUCH a helpful post!! I will probably be printing it out for future reference. This is just making me even more excited!
Also - I wonder what their version of Stacey is. I expect a report entry devoted entirely to the in-resort TV, hahaha.
Hahaha I will definitely check that out for you! I'm curious myself!
before our disneyland vacation, i went to the DL thread here on the dis and learned a ton. we stayed @ the Hojo across the street with a huge room with a DLview. you will see that it doesn't take long to see everything like it does wdw. we did 3 day tickets. we did a ADR @ blue bayou, and wine tattoria sitting outside while the electrical parade went by. our so. california vacation was perfect, everything went so smooth. you will also notice they don't have nearly the restaurants! we loved DL but wdw is our fav! the california people kept asking us about wdw. i loved comparing the rides too. we think they need a water parade like the one in CA in the afternoon, i think it was also a pixar one but all the characters and floats shot out water on the audience, and i was like man they need this in florida in the summer!!! it was different how you can walk to CA, DTD, and DL, they are all next to each other. i liked our monorails better too. the nemo ride underwater was cool. i would like to go back and see the carsland.
Have a great trip! post a trip report!!
Any threads in particular or just the entire disneyland board in general? And aww that's awesome! Those sounds like really great things to do! I'm kind of glad that the park is smaller since I can't get there as much. So I will try to do EVERYTHING that I possibly can! I'm sure I'll be doing a ton of WDW and DLR comparisons! And I definitely want to see those parades! Awesome! Thank you so much! And I definitely will be writing a trip report!
No more dining package? That stinks but then again when we did it it was when it first came out! And, for us they had the FPS giving out the same time as the park being opened. I'm glad they changed that then! That line was so long and people said they waited hours! Crazy, right? Thanks for updating me though!
I'll have to look into that! I thought I saw that they were available but I wasn't sure. I'll see World of Color one way or another!
I replied to your tweet that my Mom and I *also* booked a Disneyland trip this morning.
Now I come here and see that
your trip is also a Mother/Daughter trip AND is practically the same time as ours.
We're leaving here on August 25, spending the 26-29 in the parks and leaving on the 30th.
Anyway, I went with my husband (then boyfriend) about 2 years ago in March. My TR is in my signature. It was my first Disneyland Trip, so hopefully that will help. We stayed at the Hojo though (and this trip we're staying at the Fairfield.)
I would suggest Napa Rose, it's really really wonderful. Seriously it's the best Disney restaurant I have
ever been to. I also really want to check out the new Carthay restaurant (I'm looking into lunch so we'd have reserved spots for WOC.) Oh, and at DL you can only make reservations 2 months out, but in most cases they're not really needed. I'll make one for Napa Rose and Carthay, but the rest I'll be planning on walking up to. And seriously...it's 2 months, not 60 days...but if you call a week or two ahead you'll have your pick.
Check out this thread over on the DL section of the boards:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1162599 They're super friendly over there too and really helped in planning my last trip.
ETA: They're *definitely* doing WOC packages at the new Carthay place. If you eat between 11am and 7pm you get reserved seating for the first show, after 7pm and you get reserved seating for the second showing. The catch is that each adult must order one appetizer and one entree OR one entree and one dessert.
Aww that's SO exciting! I hope you have a great time! I actually am going with my Mom and Dad! We planned it for the four of us, but my brother has volley ball try outs and he literally found out a few hours after we booked it.
So we're hoping that he can just stay with one of his friends. He isn't a huge Disney person and volleyball is important to him so he seems okay with it. I really hope this doesn't change anything overall, but everything is booked so we're going!
And hey, it sounds like we'll be overlapping! If you see me around, make sure you say hi!
I'll check out your trip report!
That's good to know that reservations will be available even that close to the trip! I'm probably going to make some for the character meals/fancier places (that Napa Rose sounds like a must do!) just because I don't want to miss anything. But that good to know! Thanks for the tip!
THANK YOU! That'll be a really helpful thread.
And ahh okay that's awesome! I'll look into that place!
I saw your tweet about going to Disneyland and I was like OMG OMG! And I was thinking you were going to post something about it on here so I rushed to get on the dis to see if you did! Good thing I had no homework.
I am soooo happy for you!
Ive only been to Disneyland once when I was five and I dont remember a thing from my trip. I have been dying to back. Please take me with you! Please?
Youre staying at all three resorts?! That. Is. Awesome.
I am so excited to read the TR!
EDIT: I just remembered Cars Land and Buena Vista Street will be open when you go. I am so jealous now. I cannot WAIT to see the pictures!
Hahaha aww I'm glad you're so excited!! YAY I seriously can't even believe it!
I wish I could take all of you with me!
Yeah, one day I just had the brilliant idea and my Mom seemed to agree! Thanks to vacation club we were able to work something out!
Thanks! I'm so excited to write it!
YAY! Wait is Buena Vista street going to be open? I thought that was a work in progress still? I don't really know haha
YAYAYAYAY!!! 
This is seriously fantastic news. I'm super jealous/excited/happy!!! YAY! I know you are going to have a magical time, and I can't wait for the TR!
Also, yay for spending time with Preston. I know how hard long distance can be. 
Hang in there, it's totally worth it! John and I are pretty much pros at the long distance thing. He was stationed in Alaska for FOUR YEARS while I was here in NC. It was craptastic, but seeing him again was always so amazing!
Okay so back to Disneyland...unfortunately I am no help whatsoever in this planning process. I am just excited to hear about the plans you make! YIPPEEE!
73 DAYS!
Aww thank you! And ahh I know it's going to be AMAZING! I can't wait for all of the pictures. I better go out and get a 16 GB memory card!
YAY I'm so so sooo excited for that too. Long distance is SO hard, so I'm really looking forward to my trip down there, then going to Disneyland, and then going right back to school. I just gotta get through these two months! Oh my God FOUR YEARS?! That would be awful. I really feel bad for complaining about three months now
I'm so glad that he's back home, even if he isn't at the very moment, but overall. And then you get to go to WDW, so life is good!
Haha that's TOTALLY fine.. I'm glad you're so excited to hear about it!!
YAYAY NOW IT'S 72!
I love Disneyland!!! Your going to have a blast.
I seriously can't wait!!!
Ok....I think I'm having a heart attack for you right now!!!!! OMGTHATISSOAWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhh, August sounds like so much fun for you!!! it's weird, my mom and I were thinking about Disneyland recently as well! Jeez, this is awesome! I CANNOT WAIT to hear about your experiences planning and BEING IN DISNEYLAND!!!!!!
Very cool news!!!!
Awww thank you so much! I know, I can't WAIT! Haha it seems to be the thing to do! Disneyland has just been calling me for the past few months! I can't believe this is real! I can't wait to tell you guys all about it!!! Thank you!
YAYAYAYAYAY!
I want to go to Disneyland but then I just don't know if I could pull myself away from Florida
I know, that's how I always felt! But I feel like I've really gotten to know WDW extremely well over the past year, so it seems like a good time for Disneyland!
Wow! Disneyland is going to be soooo much fun! I went there a few years ago, but I don't remember any restaurants? I do remember the giant frog hopper next to Screamin.... SO MUCH FUN! I don't know if other people love frog hoppers as much as I do 
confused: 
), but this one was so fun
Hahaha but I also went to Santa Monica when I was there, and that was lots of fun too
Good luck with all the bookings!
I know, I can't WAIT! Hahaha I'll look for that!
Thank you so much!
WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But Blue Bayou is great! It's in Pirates so it's fun to watch people in the boats go by. And I'm pretty sure I got crabcakes which were delicious! But I couldn't eat them all.
