halloween time at Disneyland resort

BY LISA BJELLAND

For fall break I took my two boys, ages 8 and 13, to Disneyland in California for our first time.

We flew into Santa Ana Orange County Airport, approximately a 15-minute drive to Disneyland Hotel. There are plenty of transportation options including public transportation, ride-shares, shuttle services and rental cars to get to your hotel. I opted to book a ride using the Lyft App, which was less expensive than a pre-arranged shuttle service. The airport was easy to navigate and after collecting our bags we arrived at the hotel in no time.

We chose to stay at the Disneyland Hotel due to the close proximity to the Parks, the 30-minute early entry park access, and for the water park and pools onsite. The hotel is very elegant and whimsical and was decked out in not-so-spooky Halloween décor. There are many magical touches including teacup shaped seating in the lobby and firework lighting on the headboards and Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes and waffles.

The hotel has Disney memorabilia throughout as well as gift shops, dining, and entertainment. We had a Standard View room, which overlooked one of the parking lots.

As for the Parks, you will want to do a bit of research and planning beforehand. For us, this meant watching YouTube videos and studying the “Lands” to come up with our list of “Must Do” rides at each park.  Disneyland Parks require Park Reservations in addition to purchasing your single or multi day tickets. I decided to purchase the Park Hopper and Lightening Lane Passes. Although there is an added cost, we only had two park days, and wanted to make the most of it, so for us it was well worth the extra money. The early entry access was also a nice benefit as we were able to fit in a few extra rides before the public entered the parks.

Having the Disneyland App on your phone is a must! I do not know how you would get by without it. The App can be used to unlock your hotel room door, pre-order meals, make dining reservations, check ride wait times, book Lightening Lanes, view interactive park maps, see special events, access your digital photos and much more.

After walking just under ten miles on the first day, we took a break and headed for Newport Beach the next day. I booked a 2-hour Whale Watching Tour through Viator with a company called Davey’s Locker. It was a 35-minute Lyft ride to the dock in Newport Beach. Although we did not spot any whales, we did get to see dolphins. We ended the day with a quick and chilly dip in the ocean and visited the shops at Newport Beach. The beach was clean and the waves safe enough for kids to swim.

That evening we had a Halloween themed buffet dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen, located in Disneyland Hotel. Although I had made reservations weeks in advance, there was still a bit of a wait once we arrived. While waiting for our table, we could get in line to have our picture taken with one of the Disney Characters, however we chose to wait in the quieter part of the lobby for our table as it was quite a busy place.

The Disneyland properties offer online check-in up to 48 hours prior to your arrival. Here you can put in your estimated arrival time, room requests and even set up your mobile phone to unlock your room door. Since our flight arrived at 11:00am and we had been up since 4:00am, it was such a relief that our room was available for us as soon as we arrived, well before the standard check in time. The front desk staff were so friendly and made us feel very welcome. They were sure to inform us of the special event nights and Halloween activities available during our stay, such as trick-or-treating between the three Disney properties, only for hotel guests.

Our last day was spent between the two parks and although we wanted to stay out to watch the fireworks, we tiredly headed back to our hotel.  A short time later, we discovered that we could see the fireworks from our parking lot view room, which was a very enjoyable surprise and a great way to end our stay.