Grandma and I are back from our adventures at the DVC Villas at the Disneyland Hotel, or VDH for short. It was a great trip and fact finding mission. We were scouting out the parks, attractions, food, and accommodations for future trips with our Grandkids. It was very successful in all regards. We also wanted to see if the Crushing It strategy would work at Disneyland Resort. Read on to find out.

Villas at Disneyland Hotel

Disneyland was the first park we visited for family vacations. We started going in the early 1990s and made yearly pilgrimages to Walts playground. We always stayed at the Disneyland Hotel. We had truly magical times. This changed when we visited Walt Disney World in 1996 and became members of Disney Vacation Club. The kids were older and starting to get a life of the own. Our yearly trips cut back to every other year or so. Walt Disney World is great. Our DVC Resort is fantastic. However, we always kinda missed Disneyland.

Last year DVC opened a new property at the Disneyland Hotel. This was a great opportunity to get back to our Disney roots. Anaheim is a much shorter (and cheaper) flight than Orlando. With only 2 parks, you don’t have to stay as long to experience everything. Weather is much better than here at home. So DVC at Disneyland Hotel seemed like a no brainer so we took the plunge.

Preplanning

As with all DVC trips, planning starts a year or so, before you wish to travel. With DVC you can make reservations at your home DVC resort 11 months in advance. You can use your points at any DVC resort 7 months in advance. The 11 month reservation window is critical as reservations can be hard to come by at popular and smaller resorts. We planned on staying 8 nights. That gives us a down day, 5 park days, and 2 travel days. More on the importance of those days in a bit.

Picking the Perfect Time

So the big first question is WHEN? When to go. We consulted our usual resources, Touring Plans and Thrill data to find a time that was least crowded. The last week of February look like it would fit the bill. Crowd levels below to much below average in both parks. So we booked it. As with many decisions, this did not turn out so well!

Transportation

Other than the resort hotel, transportation is another major expense and consideration. We almost always fly on Delta Airlines when we have a choice. They just seem to go the extra mile to make things work out easier for you. Their airfares are usually among the lowest, which is a bonus. Deciding to rent a car or use other means of ground transportation is another huge decision. Being old school, we almost always just rent a car. Renting a car is not the most economical decision you can make. The car usually sits in the resort parking lot for most of the trip. We do it out of habit and are just not that comfortable with Lyft or Uber. Old School remember! We decided on Budget Rent A Car this trip because of the low rates. This was yet another decision that went awry.

Time To GO!

One bad thing about making your resort reservations 11 months in advance is the waiting. It seems like forever before you get to leave. And It IS! But for us the big day arrived, we boarded the plane and was off to sunny Southern California. This is when things started to go a little sideways. The WiFi on the plane did not work. Well it worked, but was supposed to be free. Instead it tried to charge us. Not a huge deal as the flight is 2 hours and change. Delta gave us a bunch of miles on our frequent flier account for the issue, so that was great. The rest of the flight was uneventful and we arrived at the airport 20 min early.

Here there be Dragons

We got our luggage without issue. John Wayne Airport is great. I love the signage. Finding our way was simple. The real problem started at the Budget Rental car counter. We arrived at 10:00 in the morning. I had a Rav4 reserved. I had to wait in line at the counter for around 20 min. They did not have enough people working. The other issue is that no one was getting the cars that they reserved. I finally made it to the counter. I was told that the car I had reserved would not be ready for another 30 min! This was the same story they were telling other people in line. They were trying to push electric cars, but I wanted the Rav4 I reserved. Not wanting to wait, I took a Dodge Hornet. BIG MISTAKE. It was not a great car. It was very hard to get into and out of. Grandma almost could not ride in it. Moral of this story is stick to your guns and don’t settle. Also never use Budget.

DISNEY!

Drive to Disney is very easy from John Wayne Airport. Getting to the Disneyland Hotel was easy. Great signage directed me to the hotel lobby. The staff was on the ball and we had no problem off loading the car and luggage. Checkin time was 4:00 and it was now around 1:30. Our plan was to wonder around Downtown Disney and get the lay of the land. Our room was ready by 2:00! We checked in and got our luggage sent up. Went off very smooth.

The Room

We had a DVC 1 bedroom villa. We were totally blown away by the theming of the entire hotel from lobby to room. Lots of colors and little touches. Even the hallways were spectacular.

The one downside to our room was the view. We were on the 6th floor looking North over the small pool. We could see the mountains in the distance, which was very nice. We could also see the truck delivery area, this was not so nice. In fact you can hear the backup signals from trucks making their morning deliveries.

Location

The Disneyland Hotel sits on the far west side of the Disney property. This means you have to walk ….. a lot! To get to the parks you must go through Downtown Disney. It is 0.6 miles from the lobby to the gates of Disneyland and California Adventure. This is not a problem in the mornings, but in the afternoon, it is a real killer. Most of the time you could take the Monorail from just inside the Downtown Disney gate to Tomorrow Land in Disneyland. However, the monorail was down for refurbishment during our visit.

Security screening happens when you enter Downtown Disney. The gates at Downtown Disney can get really backed up. Especially first thing in the morning. Fortunately there is a gate at the Disneyland Hotel for Hotel guests to use. This is near the Giant Sorcerers Hat. Disney Security does check for a room key for early entry., which is before 7:00 when Downtown Disney officially opens. This entry is really a godsend. It is very close to the resort and well staffed.

Planning Your Stay

Remember I said that I would explain the importance of our schedule? Well wait no more. One of the biggest questions that need to be answered is “How Long Should I stay?”. Grandma and I like to have at least 2 days in each park. We also take a down day every 2 days or so. We usually do not enter the parks on travel days so those have to be figured in as well. How long you can stay is of course very personal. Every day comes with added expense. Hotel, parking, meals, rental car, etc all adds up. Then there are other expenses such as boarding your pets to getting a house sitter, all add to the daily expense. Of course if you are taking Grandkids and their parental units, how long can they stay out of school or work. The length of stay is a very important decision and it effects how you approach your Disney vacation.

Down Days

A down day is a day where no park visits are planned. These days are used to relax and recharge. We found as we get older, we just can’t be the Energizer Bunny all the time. We take these days for things like exploring the resort, visiting other resorts, or just hanging out. A big mistake is taking a Disney Vacation like a marathon. Remember our Disney strategy is all about relaxing and having a great time.

Park Days

Unsurprisingly these are the days where you visit a theme park. Grandma and I plan these days starting at Rope Drop or Early Entry till around 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Occasionally we will reenter a park, but usually by early afternoon, I am looking for a nap. Parks involve a lot of walking. It seems that exercise takes a lot more out of me than in my youth. It also takes longer to recharge. It is important to not overdo it. You can really spoil a vacation with an injury, heat stroke, or total exhaustion. Do not over estimate your abilities. It is not a race. It is Vacation!

Travel Days

We never plan on a park day on travel days. The older you get, the more travel takes it toll. We found this out the hard way. We flew all day to Orlando. Once checked in to the Boardwalk Villas, we headed to Epcot to experience the Christmas Decor. That was a Huge mistake. We could not walk as far and had to stop more often than when fully rested. It was miserable. It is not fun when your dogs are barking and your legs are aching.

Disneyland Resort Plans

So now you know how Grandma and I plan our trips. So let’s see it in action. As stated before we had 2 travel days, 5 park days and 1 down day. We purchased 5 day park hopper tickets through Get Away Today. I highly recommend them. Great prices and service. This gave us 2 days in each park and 1 day to pickup any leftovers. We chose to fly in on a Saturday and return the following Saturday. This trip we had 2 days in each park. We used these days for attractions. We also had 1 extra park day to do shopping. This day was also used to pick up any must-do rides that we missed. On our travel days, we just explored the resort area as well as Downtown Disney. This trip we did something different. We took our down day on Sunday after arrival. We did this to break in our walking legs. Remember the hotel is 0.62 miles from the gates. We needed to ease into the stress. We did this by exploring Downtown Disney and the Grand Californian Resort. We also went to the grocery store to lay in supplies for our stay.

Crushing It

As usual I studied crowd calendars before picking dates. The last week in February looked great with crowd levels predicted to be 2 or 3 out of 10. These predictions were way off the mark. We experienced crowd levels of 8 and 9 instead. Touring plans updates their crowd calendar with actual crowd levels. This is how it looked after our trip.

We would have never chosen these dates based on these numbers. However, we got to see if Crushing It would work during high crowd days. Would we have to resort to a Lightning Lane purchase? Would we be capable of doing any rides at all? Happily we can report it all worked out! The Crushing It strategy worked perfectly. Remember, this strategy is all about flexibility and going with the flow. Plans are fluid and changeable. You adapt to the conditions on the ground as things unfold in real-time.

How it Worked

As usual we consulted Touring Plans and “optimized” a list of attractions we wanted to experience. We almost never follow this plan. It is used as a guide and a starting point. This trip was no exception. We picked the park based on early entry. Disneyland and California Adventure alternate early opening days. Early opening is 1/2 hour before rope drop and is only available to guests staying in a Disney Hotel.

Using the first level 9 day as an example, it was Disneyland’s early opening day. We used the Disneyland Hotel entrance to Downtown Disney at around 6:45. Non resort people were already lining up, but we got to pass them. We made the stroll through Downtown Disney. We were getting passed by families rushing to the parks front gates. It is easy to get caught up in the rush. FOMO becomes strong. Resist if you can. You will be stopped again in another line, usually only a few guests back from the runners!

We arrived at the gate at 7:10 and lined up waiting to be let in. By this time people were in line that were rope dropping as well as the early entry guests. The gates opened at 7:15 and we were in. Cast Members had signs directing early entry guests to a gap in the ropes. At 7:30 this gap opened. Here we had to show our hotel key and we were in!

We entered Tomorrow Land first. Crowds had dispersed to all corners of the park. Since we do not walk very fast, we decided to stay in Tomorrow Land. By 8:00 rope drop we had ridden Buzz LightYear, Star Tours, Space Mountain, and Matterhorn Bobsleds. All as walk ons! Early Entry is a must. At this time rope drop happened and guests started pouring in. We headed towards Haunted Mansion and along the way road Finding Nemo and Little Mermaid. Our pace is fairly leisurely to be generous. Instead of Haunted Mansion we saw that Indiana Jones had a 30 min wait. So we got in line However, the ride broke down so we bailed. Never be afraid to leave a line if it looks like the wait will be long. This can happen if the lightning lane backs up or the ride goes down.

Consulting the ride map on the Disneyland app, we saw Jungle Cruise was close and had no wait. That was a no brainer so we got on. It was a walk on! No wait at all. Afterwards we were off to Pirates of the Caribbean. We found the queue confusing and could not find the back of the line. Instead we went next door to Haunted Mansion which had a 40 minute wait posted. Now Lightning Lane guests were showing up for their return times. The early advantage to standby was gone. We waited only 30 min to get on the ride.

By this time it was around 10:15. We had brunch reservations at River Bell Terrace at 10:30. Time for a brunch break. Brunch at River Bell Terrace was fantastic. Great service, great food and a relaxed atmosphere. We stayed for around an hour, watching the crowds and enjoying the vibe.

After brunch the park was starting to get very crowded. We decided it was time to do shopping. We made our way to Main Street and hit up all the shops. The stores were not very crowded at all. Main Street was totally packed! Time to start back to the room. We strolled through Downtown Disney, stopping at some shops. We were back at the resort by 1:30.

How was it on a level 9 day! Very Packed. However by remaining flexible and taking advantage of early entry we rode everything we wanted. The longest wait we had was 30 min at the Haunted Mansion. Crushing It worked gangbusters on one of the busiest park days I have ever seen!

Our experience at California Adventure was the same. We hit the popular rides during early entry. Then we went on to the Lightning Lane attractions. We did this before return times filled the Queues. For second park days we hit the rides we missed on the first day. Turns out you can survive busy times if you:

1. Have enough Park Days
2. Use Early Entry
3. Do Lightning Lane supported rides first
4. Don’t be afraid to leave a Queue
5. Be Flexible
6. Watch wait times in Disney app, but verify. Wait times may be off.

Conclusion

We had certainly not planned on being at the parks during when crowds were at their peak. As with all things, plans have a way of changing! When the parks get crowded, there is no way to do everything standby. Having 2 or more park days becomes essential. You could substitute buying Lightning Lane passes instead of having extra park days. Grandma and I prefer to have more days instead of spending more on passes. Having more days is more expensive, I get that. However it is more time. More time to enjoy the vibe. More time to relax. More time to decompress. More time is simply just more.

Grandma and I were more than a little excited when Crushing It paid off big time. What could have been a disastrous set of circumstances turned into a very pleasant and relaxing vacation. We just went with the flow and made it work for us.

If you had any similar situations Please let me know in the comments. I would also like to know which ride version you find better. Disneyland or Walt Disney World. I can start this off by saying Pirates of the Caribbean is much better at Disneyland. Same goes for Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railroad. The theming of the Queue is much much better.

Until Next time