Hi Everyone,

My wife and I are planning our first Disneyland vacation with our two young kids (ages 2 and 4) in mid-September to avoid the high season in July and August. We have family in LA and will be staying with them as our "home base" but will be travelling to Anaheim for 2 or 3 days (during the week of September 9th or 16th) to explore the theme parks in the area including Disneyland, Disney California Adventure Park and possibly Adventure City. Both kids are born in November and will be turning 5 and 3 then so we are strategically planning this vacation just before my youngest turns 3 to take advantage of the free entrance for kids under 3.

We are Canadians travelling from Toronto and I have seen the promotion for Canadians at $69 USD admission per day, but this promotion is only intended for usage by May 23rd 2019 (before high season). I'm not even sure if this is the best deal or not but we can't use it anyway since we'll be going in September. I'm hoping that we can buy tickets at a later date and that there will be another promotion for September as most parks promote low season pretty aggressively. I suppose my first question is, what is a good price to get into Disneyland? There seem to be so many options for buying tickets with or without Fastpass or Maxpass but I'm looking for some guidance on when and where to buy tickets that will provide the most value. Since my kids are on the younger side, I'm sure there will be some roller coasters that they are too small to ride, so I'm not sure if that should factor into which tickets to buy.

I'm also looking for some suggestions on accommodation. We will be driving from LA to Anaheim but would prefer not to pay for parking at Disney. Is there a surrounding hotel that you guys would recommend we stay at which is walking distance from Disneyland? I'm hoping not to spend an arm and a leg for accommodation so Disneyland Resort is probably out of the question unless they typically have a great promotion for accommodation and ticket combos for September. We also plan on bringing our own snacks / lunch in a thermos to avoid crazy good prices inside the park so a hotel with microwave and fridge is pretty important.

We're in the early stages of planning our trip and the above mentioned items are what is top of mind right now but if there are any other tips, tricks or suggestions anyone has to help maximize the fun factor during this vacation they would be very much appreciated. Fodors is my "Go-To" for trip planning! Thanks All!

Ari

>>I'm hoping not to spend an arm and a leg for accommodation so Disneyland Resort is probably out of the question unless they typically have a great promotion for accommodation and ticket combos for September. We also plan on bringing our own snacks / lunch in a thermos to avoid crazy good prices inside the park so a hotel with microwave and fridge is pretty important.

Be advised too that mid- to late September is quite often the hottest time of the year in southern California, especially when you're some distance from the beaches (as is Disneyland.) So I'd be careful about time management; if you stayed someplace close to the park (ideally with easy access to the shuttles) you might consider a siesta and pool break in the heat of the day (typically late afternoon) then re-admission to the park(s) after sunset. You're allowed to re-enter the same day.

We did that every time we went to Disneyland when our kids were young. Some swam, some napped, all snacked and all were re-energized.

It can be a long walk even from the closer non-Disney properties, esp.for little kids; lots of the hotels have shuttles.

. . . and don't really expect bargains -- Sept won't be low season, though not 'highest' of seasons for sure. Definitely schedule DL for weekdays and not over a weekend.

Probably the two closest motels to the Disneyland entrance are the Best Western Plus Park Place Inn and the Park Vue Inn. Howard Johnson's is also popular with families and has a small water play area.
Most of the hotels and motels do not have their own shuttles, there are only about two. Most of the rest have service on the ART Shuttle. You can usually take in a small snack like a sandwich and a plastic water bottle (no glass) but of course not a bucket of KFC chicken or a giant pizza.
Fastpasses are free on the rides that have them, MaxPass is $10 and lets you reserve FPs on your smart phone rather than having to visit a FP machine.

When I've commuted to DL, I allow an hour travel time ( from Long Beach) including riding the shuttle from Mickey and Friends parking structure. Try to time it to get to the park gates so you can enter when it opens and is far less crowded. Depending on how far away the relatives live, I wonder if you even want to book a hotel room. I'd probably only do it if you planned to stay late to see fireworks but with little ones, that may not even be reasonable The closer Non Disney hotels are on Harbor Blvd, such as Park Vue Inn. I never think it's worthwhile to leave for lunch. Yes you can bring stacks and plastic water bottles. The website has menu prices for many of the restaurants https://disneyland.disney.go.com/ and lots of other info, like the daily calendars. I assume you already know about it.

If you won't be going back to a hotel midday, know where the cooler inside spots are..eg in California Adventure you might plan for a midday viewing of Frozen the day you go to California Adventure. Or at DL, reserve for lunch inside Blue Bayou, or do the inside rides like Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion, or ride the Mark Twain.

Measure your kids' heights and sort on the DL Resort website so you know which rides that they'll be allowed on. Also, will they be frightened on even the kiddie rides?. Lots of stories of nephews ..one loved HM another hated it. And I've heard many screamers inside all of the "dark" rides in Fantasyland. So know how you'll handle that issue.

If you want to make restaurant reservations, you can do that for some places ahead of time, online or through Disney Dining ( (714) 781-DINE.

This site is LOADED with great information about Disney parks...
https://www.disboards.com/

Just so you know, the new Star Wars section of Disneyland options in late May. That's why the promotion ends on May 23. After that, I doubt there will be any promotional ticket prices for at least 6 to 9 months. In fact, you have to make a reservation just to visit the new part of the park. If that interests you, consider that as part of your planning.

Frankly, given all the traffic, I'd opt for a cheap motel in Anaheim (there are dozens) over staying with friends and facing a long, traffic-filled drive every day to Orange County, which is not nearly as close to LA as a lot of people think. It's not far from Long Beach, but you'll be facing an hour-plus drive from west LA. I guess it really depends on where your friends live.

Reservations are only required if you visit between now and the end of June, which won't apply to the OP. Depending on when Rise of Resistance Opens, you could see more crowds then. So I might go mid-September hoping that it isn't open yet! Or even a little later, hoping to get the beginning of the Halloween Overlays. That time is popular so you'll likely have larger crowds.

Disney's own website has some information about "When to Go"

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/when-to-visit/

Another fan site is mousesavers.com

I find the DISBoard site to be very WDW focussed.

We took our two kids to Disney World when they were about 5 and 3.
As others say above, it was important for our kids to take a break during the day, because Disney is a lot of excitement and stimulation for them.
So, keep that in mind when you choose a hotel, and/or don't try to spend too many hours straight at Disney, if you want to avoid kiddie (possibly parental) meltdowns.

Awesome advice, thank you all. We have decided we will indeed stay at one of the closer hotels like Park Vue Inn or Best Western as we don't want to rush doing Disneyland in 1 day. We'll probably drive from LA to Anaheim area late in the day on Monday and stay in the hotel so we can get started early in the morning for 2 days at DL on Tuesday and Wednesday. We'll definitely need the mid-day break and want the kids to be able to stay awake for the evening parade and / or fireworks.

Since we'll be getting started early, would it be better for us to do both days, both parks with the hopper pass or just do DL day 1 and California Adventure day 2? I don't think we'll get the best value out of the 3-day passes.

I was looking at full price tickets for DL in September and it's fairly steep, so I am hoping to find a package deal with hotel or promotion between now and then. Any additional ideas about saving on entrance passes would be greatly appreciated!

With kids that young, I wouldn't get the park hopper.

Try UndercoverTourist or aRes Travel, both have offered pretty good discounts in the past.

My wife and I also traveled to Disneyland and stayed close by. Our biggest tip is to take your time to enjoy the experience. Make sure you get to Disneyland early to skip the long line. If you have extra cash then purchase fast passes. It makes it so you can book another ride before you get on the first one. Its amazing for hitting all the rides in each park