Off We Go

Well, it serves me right, starting a new blog right before I take off for vacation at my Grandmother's. Not to fear! I am back. And you were all so worried, right? :P But enough about MY vacation... Let's talk about yours! :D

Anyway, I thought for my first "official" post, I'd talk about something fundamental to vacations... Travel. I mean, you gotta get there, right? And there are so many ways in which to do it. Let's start with the most obvious, your car. Assuming you have one, of course. ^_^

A good rule of thumb: If you live in the same state as the theme park, driving is a viable option. However, my personal feelings on the matter are, if it's going to take you upwards of three+ hours to get there via car, you may want to consider another option. I know some of you are seasoned drivers and 3 hours may seem like a walk in the park to you. (haha, a pun!) But if you consider that you may have to drive through Los Angeles traffic to get where you're going, which is a place where you're going to be walking around all day, and THEN you have to drive BACK, I beg you to consider how grouchy you might be when you get there and how TIRED you're going to be at the end of the day. Also consider how young your children are and how many you have. Another good rule of thumb: Generally speaking, children under teenage years can barely tolerate an hour's worth of driving at a stretch. And you don't want to arrive already tired and crabby to a place where you're supposed to be having fun! :D

A solution: arrive with the intention of going to the parks the following day. Yes, this means hotel stay and some of you may not want that, mostly those of you who only intend on going to the parks one day. But there are distinct advantages, such as having a place to rest and being able to start fresh in the morning. I'll talk more on hotel stay later.

Another solution: don't drive. Use another mode of transport, which will allow you to not have to drive and the novelty will generally keep the kids occupied longer than if they were in a car. Let's talk about some of these options.

Public transport: Unfortunately, Orange County does not have a subway system. More's the pity, believe me. But we do have a bus system. My advice: unless you are a veteran bus rider and used to tedious trips, avoid this option. The bus system can be daunting, crowded, dirty, and sometimes unreliable. I'll only mention the time I was headed to LA and the driver decided to take a random detour, I'll leave out the gory details. There were tears involved. The good side: It's cheap. Less than $3 to get from LA directly to Disney's side door is really good, considering the price of gas. And if you're travelling alone or maybe as a pair, this may be a good option for people who want to keep their costs down and save their funds for the admission, food, and souvenirs at the parks. Check octa.net and metro.net for bus schedules, making sure you're looking at the right days that you'll be going, as some busses have reduced or no service on weekends.

Train: Amtrak is a great option. A little less tedious than busses, especially if you're taking the Pacific Streamliner, definitely cleaner, and more fun for the kids in my opinion. And the Anaheim station is literally a five minute drive from Disneyland. And if you'd rather not taxi, it's currently $1.50 for one short bus trip down Katella to Harbor. A lot more manageable. Yes, it is more expensive than the bus, but less expensive than a plane. Depending on how many tickets you need to buy, it may even be more economical than gas for your car. Like I mentioned, the Pacific Streamliner is a great train ride, it goes up the coast, so you get a great view, and it goes all the way from San Diego to San Luis Obispo and stops right in Anaheim. Check Amtrak.com for more information.

Plane: If you're not afraid of flying, a plane trip can be the shortest distance between two points. The Santa Ana/John Wayne Airport is the closest to Anaheim and can be cheaper than flying into LAX. However, a lot of people don't know that you can also check into the Long Beach, Ontario, or Burbank airport as well. It just depends on how far you'd care to travel from the airport to the parks. Sometimes airports offer special deals at certain times of the year and are always worth a look to save a little extra money. John Wayne, Long Beach, and Ontario are all smaller airports and thus are very easy to navigate. If you're looking for the best deal, booking a flight yourself can be better than going through a travel agent, as they generally work off of commission and that is added to your cost. Surprisingly, whenever I look for a good deal on airfare, AOL.com has invariably given me the best price, since they look at so many different airlines. Southwest has typically been a price leader, but it's also a good idea to check Jet Blue. They have limited service, but have great pricing. Now, flying is more expensive, but depending on where you are coming from, may be the best option for the shortest trip. And if you're looking at airfare, you also need to look at:

Airport transport: A taxi is the simplest, but can be a very expensive way to go. Luckily, Disney has some very reliable and oftentimes better priced options. Now, a taxi charges the same amount for up to 5 passengers. Depending on how many people you have, that may end up being a better price. But you should also look at SuperShuttle or the Disneyland Resort Express. Both of these options allow you to call and reserve seating, but should you just show up, you can also pay right at the door (so to speak). The Disneyland Resort Express stops first at the 3 Disney hotels and from there will go on to the "Good Neighbor" hotels. Always check and make sure the DRE goes to your hotel, because although many hotels in the Anaheim area will sell Disney tickets, not all of them have the "Good Neighbor" stamp.

Also, whichever mode of transport you choose, if you are not driving yourself and you have a disability, make sure you ask what kind of accomodations a particular service offers. Most will have storage for a wheelchair if they don't have the ability to lock you into the vehicle, but some transports require that you are able to make it into the vehicle without assistance (as part of a liability issue). Always check, it's better than being stuck at an airport at a loss... Literally, if a refund isn't possible (for some reason).

I feel I should mention this here, even though it really is about hotel stay, but it goes hand in hand with traveling. If you're planning on driving and you're crossing multiple states to get here... Make SURE your hotel isn't going to give away your hotel room if you are a day late in getting there. While I was working for Disney Travel, I once had a couple who was going to drive all the way from the East Coast, and I couldn't stress enough that if they weren't going to make it by the day of check-in, they HAD to call the hotel and let them know. I mean, you'd think that once you've paid for a hotel stay, the hotel wouldn't give away your room, because you've reserved it for a certain amount of time, right? So even if you're not there, the room should just stay empty until your stay is up. Well, that's not always the case. Hotels often over-book to compensate for no-shows and cancellations. So, if you don't show up, usually by midnight on the day of your scheduled arrival, your room is in danger of being given away. And oftentimes, your money is non-refundable at that point. So, please remember to get the number of your hotel and to call them if you suspect you're going to be late, it's better safe than sorry.

Well, I think I've talked about the major ways to get here... So, before this post gets any longer, I'll sign off! As always, if you have any questions you'd particularly like answered or you need clarification, please comment and I'll answer you as promptly as I can!