Where to eat in Anaheim when you aren't going into Disneyland

If you are staying in Anaheim and want a meal outside Disneyland, here are some of my favourites...again this list is not exclusive, just our favourites.

In Downtown Disney

You don't need park tickets to eat or shop in Downtown Disney. You will need to pass through security to get there unless you are staying at Downtown Disney. 

The Travel Concierge Tip
In most restaurants in and out of Disneyland, dine outside normal dining hours or expect a LONG wait. You can also book online up to 60days in advance via the Disneyland Resort website.

Tortilla Joe's (Mexican)
This is my two daughters and my favourite Downtown restaurant. We went here first one night when my husband had a migraine so we wondered out from Grand Californian to Tortilla Joes. We loved that they bring out complimentary tortilla chips and salsa. As you sit there and order they keep filling them up and then even after you have ordered they keep filling them up. Because of this, I would suggest ordering half of what you think you want as you will be full from the complimentary food. You can also orde to go.

The details and where to book online in advance can be found here.

Express dining can be found here.

Naples (Pizza/Italian)

Naples is a great family style restaurant. Here you order meals to come out for your family to share (or a whole dish if you are really hungry) There are outside nad inside dining options, you will be asked a preference or first ready. Make sure you know what your family preferences are so that you can answer this as you put your name down. Again, you can book up to 60 days in advance here.

Rainforest Cafe (American)

This chain restaurant is a great one for allowing each member of the family to have something they like. The menu is quite varied and the prices are great. You can boo up to 60  days ahead here.

The menu is found here.

The Rainforest Cafe is part of the Landry group which also includes McCormick and Schmick's as well as Bubba Gump locations. You can join the Landry club which costs a one-off $25. It entitles you to a $25 voucher to use next time you dine (so you get your money back) It also gets points per $ spent to be redeemed in restaurants. On your birthday you will get a $25 voucher to use in the restaurants. This is valid until the 15th of the month after your birthday month. If you know you will be dining at a few of these restaurants and your birthday HAPPENS to be the month you are on holiday so you get another $25 it will put you $25 ahead, as well as having priority seating. You can look into it here.

The Travel Concierge tip
If you are going to apply- do it online and even if you don't get your card in time you can give your phone number and details and still redeem your vouchers. If you apply in the restaurant, you then have to do an online confirmation and wait for 24 hr for the voucher to apply to your card.

Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen (New Orleans Cuisine )

The only bad thing about this restaurant is there is only one in the world! We love this restaurant for the food, the decor, the Jazz music, the beignets, the Jazz Sunday Brunch and the beignets (yes they are that good it should be repeated) You can dine in the restaurant or grab take out at the separate Jazz express. OR you could be very hungry at night and duck down from your nearby hotel and grab beignets from the express just for supper...

The menu is found here.
The Jazz express menu is found here.

The area to make a reservation is found here. Although they prefer walk-in reservations.

The Travel Concierge tip
If you or your children are a Disney's Princess and the Frog  film fan- you will definitely want to try one of the beignets like Tiana made in the movie.

Dining in Disneyland Resort Hotels

I am not listing lounges and fast convenience style places.

Dining in Disneyland Hotel

Goofy's Kitchen

Goofy's Kitchen provides a buffet style character dining experience for breakfast and dinner. In here you will find Goofy and friends (on rotation so you will generally see some of the following Donald, Minnie, Pluto) there is also a selection of other available characters. Over the years we have seen the following...but not all at one sitting, some at each sitting. - Aladdin, Jasmine, Alice, The Mad Hatter, Baloo, The Fairy Godmother (a rare find), Mulan

The characters will come to  your table as you dine. While there, they will engage with your children...and you, pose for photos and give autographs. As soon as you get there, look around at where the characters are in comparison to your table. If there are none around, all go and grab some food. If they are close leave hold off or keep one adult at the table to call others back if the characters arrive at your table. 

The Travel Concierge tip
Be prepared whenever you meet characters. Have your camera, autograph books and working pens on the table ready to go. Do practice runs at home for when your children meet the characters. In our family, we have individual photo style autograph books so we are in a routine where our children greet the character, get autographs in each book, pose together and then one rushes out while the other poses for a photo and then they quickly swap...then they give final farewell hugs and then the character goes. The character will be moved on by their minders if you take too long, but by us being well-rehearsed we have never missed out, even with 3 children.

Reservations are highly recommended and can be booked up to 60 days ahead. They can be made by phoning (714) 781-3463 or from the website found here.

The Travel Concierge tip

Before you go, make sure that you get whatever you are getting autographs in so that you can officially get autographs while you dine rather than somewhere else in the park where you have to line up for a long time.

Steakhouse 55
Is a fine dining restaurant that is aimed more at adults ad families with older children. I love the memorabilia of photographs of Walt Disney and family and well-known friends that line the walls. Details can be found here.

Dining in the Grand Californian

Storyteller's Cafe
The Storytellers Cafe is a Character dining experience during breakfast and a table service restaurant for lunch and dinner. You have the option of having a buffet meal or a la carte. The Character breakfast is the "Chip and Dale critter experience" and has obviously  Chip and Dale and then a rotation of other animals found in Disney movies. Bookings are recommended and can be made up to 60 days ahead. They can be made by phoning (714) 781-3463 or from the website found here.

The characters will come to  your table as you dine. While there, they will engage with your children...and you, pose for photos and give autographs. As soon as you get there, look around at where the characters are in comparison to your table. If there are none around, all go and grab some food. If they are close leave hold off or keep one adult at the table to call others back if the characters arrive at your table. 

The Travel Concierge tip
Be prepared whenever you meet characters. Have your camera, autograph books and working pens on the table ready to go. Do practice runs at home for when your children meet the characters. In our family, we have individual photo style autograph books so we are in a routine where our children greet the character, get autographs in each book, pose together and then one rushes out while the other poses for a photo and then they quickly swap...then they give final farewell hugs and then the character goes. The character will be moved on by their minders if you take too long, but by us being well-rehearsed we have never missed out, even with 3 children.

Napa Rose
Is a fine dining restaurant that is aimed more at adults ad families with older children. Details can be found here.

Dining in Paradise Pier

Disney's PCH Grill
This is Paradise Pier's character meal breakfast restaurant based around a Surf's up theme. All the characters are dressed in surf gear. You will usually find some of the following characters on rotation- Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto and  Stitch just to name a few. PCH Grill is closed for lunch and night it is not a character meal but is a fun Californian style buffet with the option of 'Smores' for dessert. Reservations are recommended and can be made up to 60 days in advance. They can be made by phoning (714) 781-3463 or from the website found here.

The characters will come to  your table as you dine. While there, they will engage with your children...and you, pose for photos and give autographs. As soon as you get there, look around at where the characters are in comparison to your table. If there are none around, all go and grab some food. If they are close leave hold off or keep one adult at the table to call others back if the characters arrive at your table. 

The Travel Concierge tip
Be prepared whenever you meet characters. Have your camera, autograph books and working pens on the table ready to go. Do practice runs at home for when your children meet the characters. In our family, we have individual photo style autograph books so we are in a routine where our children greet the character, get autographs in each book, pose together and then one rushes out while the other poses for a photo and then they quickly swap...then they give final farewell hugs and then the character goes. The character will be moved on by their minders if you take too long, but by us being well-rehearsed we have never missed out, even with 3 children.

Dining outside Disney Resort

In the street opposite Disneyland  (South Harbor Blvd) where most of the Good Neighbour hotels can be found, there are a number of dining options. They are listed with websites below

Tony Romas Ribs website with menu (near traffic lights to cross over to Disneyland Resort)

Denny's website with menu Up near traffic lights to cross over to Disneyland Resort) 

The Travel Concierge tip
Dennys is open 24/7. This is great when you are jetlagged or arrive really late. It really is not that great but when it is 3am and you are hungry anything open to eat is treasured!

IHOP (International House of Pancakes) website with menu Near Denny's

The Travel Concierge tip
IHOP is open 24/7. This is great when you are jetlagged or arrive really late. It really is not that great but when it is 3am and you are wanting pancakes, these are pretty great!

Mimi's website with menu Found up the Space Mountain end of S.Harbor Blvd.

Panera Bread- This restaurant used to house one of our family favourite's -Millie's. It was open till midnight and had a menu full of family favourites for great prices. Now it is a more healthy choice restaurant. The menu is found here.

Yes there is a McDonalds...no I am not going to write about it...this McDonalds has the slowest service in the WORLD!!

Dining at Garden Walk

You will need a car to get to this complex with your family.

Address: 321 W Katella Ave, Anaheim
Parking is Free the first hour and then $3 per hour after that.
Garden Walk website: here

The Garden Walk has a number of shopping and entertainment venues and is open from 11am to 9pm daily.


The Travel Concierge tip
Ask the restaurant you are dining at if they have parking validation. This needs to be put on the parking ticket.


Bubba Gump (part of the Landry group- see above re membership)Bubba Gump website hours
CPK CPK website   hours 
Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake Factory website  hours
House of Blues (Opening December 2016) House of Blues website  hours
Johnny Rockets Johnny Rocket's website  hours
McCormick and Schmick's Grille (part of the Landry group- see above re membership) McCormick and Schmick's website hours
P.F. Chang's hours  P.F. Chang's website
Roy's Restaurant hours  Roy's website

Disneyland Character Meals- and how to get the most out of one

We love character meals. They offer a great stress-free way of getting autographs and pictures in your children's autograph books while you are in out of the weather and sitting down.

In the parks, when you are lining up for autographs, you are missing out on precious attraction time. MANY times we have been close to the front and the character has had to go in for a quick pit stop that means you are waiting a long time for them to come back out. You get to that point in time where your children know they are meeting the character and are SO excited to meet them, but you have wasted over an hour and are still not next up to meet them, and you want to just say "forget it!" but are stuck there. There will still be some characters that you have to line up for in the park, but when at all possible, be smart and do a character meal to see them. This is especially true for Princesses. I totally put a price on my time and have gladly paid for the Ariel's Grotto experience, just to at least tick a few princesses off the list. As we travel from Australia to see them, I budget this in. If you can't have the added cost, try to lock out large blocks of time to allow for meeting them in the parks. Be smart and go early or very late.

Before you even get to the Character meal

1.Buy your autograph books. We usually buy the Disney photo autograph book. This has meant that each of my children has their own evidence of being with the characters over the years, from toddlers to grown-ups every trip no matter their age, we buy them for them. (Ok, so my son hasn't wanted one for a NUMBER of years but I think the girls will always want them. )These can be purchased in the Word Of Disney stores at Downtown Disney or in either park.

2. Make sure you have a working 'non- gluggy' pen and plenty of spares.

3. Organise what you will wear. I have always dressed my children up to meet the characters. You might not want to, but I always pre-organise clothing choices so you don't look back and wonder why your child had mismatched socks or their choice clothes when they had a great top or outfit that would have looked perfect for meeting the characters. You don't want to fight with your children on the morning as you are headed there on what they are wearing and then have photos with them pouting or with tear-stained faces. Sometimes we have bought a costume for our children to wear. Think about what they will wear on their feet. I think I will be old and grey and my husband will still tease me about shoes my daughter wore with a costume one trip and how daggy they look in the photos.

4. Practice the character time- OK so sounds weird, but when you only have a limited time with a character, you want to make it run smoothly and get everything done. Nothing worse than getting home and realising you forget to get one of their autographs in one book or missed a photo of them.  Our family is in the routine of ...
*Greet character- hugs/chat etc
*Autograph signing
*All in for a photo THEN
*One stays in the other go out and then they take turns with individual shots
*All say bye- hugs and chat

I usually let the character know what we are doing before hand...something like "Minnie, are you ok if we have a photo with all the children in and then they have a photo with you one at a time?" They will acknowledge and then you go ahead.

My nephews, Connor and Cooper, are headed to Disneyland for the first time soon ( I am SUPER excited for them!!!!), and on a recent visit, we did a quick practice where we had them standing by a "character" (ok so it was only their Nana...but she is totally a character) and they ran in and out for pretend photos. It was funny and silly, but if you do that before you even leave home it honestly makes it run smoother.

When you are at the meal

You have paid a lot of money, so make sure that you and your children are adequately fed. Don't just sit around waiting for the characters. We go in 'shifts' so that there is always someone at the table to mind our cameras etc.

Each character rotates around the restaurant. They will come to you. Make sure as soon as you sit down you have your camera/video camera etc. ready to go, based on practicing as above, if you have a camera and video, try to make sure the children know which one to look at by telling them..."ok look at the camera now" etc. Set up the autograph books open at the page you want the autograph on. I have little tabs that go in the book to show free pages. Make sure the pen/s are handy too.

As the character comes to your table we used to do the following. We told the kids out loud who is coming so that (when they were younger) if in the excitement they forget who the character was, we reminded them.Something along the lines of an excited "Here comes____!" We check faces to make sure no big food splodge is on their face...although one time Aladin had to do this for us! I go camera, my husband goes video. As the characters interact with our children, I sometimes assist where I can. Obviously, if the characters spoke to every child all day they would lose their voices, so the animal characters don't speak at all. So I chat with them and will tell my children what they are indicating with gestures.

The Travel Concierge tip
Take posed and candid photos with the characters. Some of my favourites have been candid hugs etc. Likewise, especially when your children are too young to remember, seeing themselves interacting in positive or negative ways can be hilarious to show them when they are older. We have video footage of our youngest refusing to be anywhere near Belle as a 13 month-year-old, but by the next trip, she was totally captivated by her.

Common issues at Character Meals to be Aware of

A Character skipping your table when they come back from a break and miss your table. This happens often. It is usually the last character you are waiting on! We usually just advise the wait staff or a wandering manager and they usually escort the character over as soon as possible. I hear about people just sitting and waiting for ages. I have attractions to get to!

Children from other tables photo bombing and taking your time with the character. This has happened a number of times. Often the parents are having a great meal and totally ignoring what their child is doing. I don't want a random child in all my pics. Usually, the character or their minder will sort the issue out, but again a chat to the wait staff or a manager should sort this out. Make sure you also chat to your children beforehand to explain that they need to wait for the character to come to their table as the automatic instinct is to rush to them in excitement.

Wait staff trying to rush you out. As most character meals are a buffet, the tip will be lower for the wait staff, so they want to rush people through to get more people through thus more tips. We pretty much stay till we are ready to go...read when we have eaten what we want and met all the characters. We had on one occasion the waitress asking why we hadn't gone and what we were waiting on. We explained that we still hadn't met one of the characters, and of course, she organised this and we were gladly on our way.

You seem to have been seated in an area that the characters skip by. We had this on our first ever time at Goofy's Kitchen. I gave feedback at City Hall and got compensated with a whole heap of Fastpasses, but if it happened now, after it happened one or two times I would totally ask to be moved.

Birthdays and "Un-Birthdays"

We are usually overseas around my eldest daughter's birthday, so she has had many parties and characters helping her celebrate her birthday. When booking, we tell Disney it is a birthday celebration and for no extra cost they will bring out a cupcake, a badge "pin" that says Happy Birthday and your child's name and age is drawn on it. They have a character celebrate by singing Happy Birthday and helping them blow out the candle. You can also pay an additional cost for different birthday goodies which come with an actual mini cake.

To make it up to our other children, we followed the Alice In Wonderland "Un-Birthdays" that say you have one actual birthday a year and every other day is your "Un-birthday", so we tell Disney it is their birthday and celebrate it then.


What to tip at a buffet

Usually, at a buffet, you rely a lot less on the wait staff. You will notice because of this there are usually less per table. You can do one of two things. You can tip them on 15-20% of your bill BEFORE the tax is added or you can just tip them on the drink service and clearing of plates. On a family table, this might be anywhere from $5-$20+. Think about what fits into your budget.

Travel Documents and How to Organise Them

I was recently at the hairdressers, and she was saying that she was going on her first overseas holiday. We were chatting about how to organise things like your passport and travel documents and I thought I would share with you what has worked for me over the years.

Passports

I photocopy the information page of each of our passports (the one that has your picture on it.) I copy all of ours onto one page and then I take a copy that goes in with my husband's things, one with our travel folio, one that stays at home with someone back home, and I scan and e-mail a copy of it to my travel e-mail address. If we lose our passports or they are stolen or damaged, this will be a step closer to getting replacements from the Australian Embassy.

I put Dymo labels on the back cover of each passport with the first and last name of whose passport it is. This makes it a lot quicker to sort out than having to flip open to the info page.

I have a travel folder that I put my husband and my passport inside the left side and the kids ones inside the right. Again this just helps me to fast track if I have to get a specific passport out quickly.

In the passport folder, I have a pen there at all times. I use one type of pen for all my travel writing. This means that if I partially fill out a form and have to go back to it, it will still be the same pen and not raise questions as to why it was done with two different pens. (I use kilometrico...don't know why just always do.)I go to the airport before my trip to get the outgoing passenger cards and fill them all out so we don't have to do it at the airport. You will have so many other things on your mind, so do this at home where you can think clearly and not add to the airport stress.

Have a set place to store the passport folder in your cabin baggage or handbag. The night before the trip, I always show my husband that I have each of our passports in the folder in the set place ( I physically pull each one out so we both can see) and have our flight e-tickets and outgoing passenger cards completed. This will mean we both won't stress and second guessing whether we have them in there as we get ready the next day.

Travel documents

I have a folio that I store all my travel documents in. I label each tab according to the places I am going. I usually have a tab for all my flight documents, one for the car hire documents and one for other general travel info. Every piece of paper that is in the folio has been e-mailed to my travel e-mail address. Again, I keep a pen in here and some blu-tac. Why blu-tac you ask?? Well, I break my itinerary down into sections and photocopy it. SO for example, if we are spending 4 days at one place, I have that section photocopied onto paper and I blu-tac it up usually onto a mirror or mirrored cupboard door so we can see at a glance what we are doing each day. The kids like this as it saves me getting frustrated when I have been asked 20 times what we are doing tomorrow. I don't put things like confirmation numbers etc on there as housekeeping will be in and out of the room...it is just a basic breakdown of what we are doing to allow my family to know roughly what is going on so they can be excited.
Before we go away, I sit down with my husband and go through every step of the trip to make sure I have all the documents we will need. He asks questions that often lead to me checking or adding things in. Me saying it all out loud also has me realising where I might need to add things or to be reassured I am well prepared so I will have less "holiday dreams" worrying about getting on holidays and having nothing organised so we waste the trip. ( Be ready for these!)

Note pad

As mentioned above, I have travel dreams, even after all the trips I have done and all the organisation I have put into place. What I find lessens them, is when they start, I put a note pad by my bed so that if at One a.m. I wake with the thought of something I need to do, I can write it down in messy 'pitch black 'writing and mentally forget it and go back to sleep. The more organised my trip is the fewer dreams I have.

Travel E-mail

I set up a travel e-mail that I organise before every trip. I make up folders that are labelled itinerary,car hire, hotels, flights, tours, documentation etc. Every piece of documentation I have for the trip is e-mailed here and organised into a folder. This means that if I lose my folder or papers I can get to a wifi area and print new documents off. This gives me the reassurance that I have a back up. In my documentation, I e-mail my passport information, travel insurance information and credit card emergency contact details.

Phone Contacts

I have within my phone contacts, my medicare card number, and my credit card emergency number to ring both within Australia and Internationally (because even though the number is on the back of my credit card...if I lose the card I won't have the number!) You could add other pertinent information that you might need.

Travel Book/ Journal

Within my travel book and Journal I have all our Passport numbers/expiry dates and issue dates recorded. This is specifically for when I am in the plane and I have to fill in the incoming passenger forms for overseas customs and Australia. It gives me all the details in one place. They are always handed out near the end of the flight when you are jet-lagged and have your eyes hanging out your head so you need to think clearly and NOT make mistakes that mean you fill in the form 3 times!

The Travel Concierge Tip
When the flight attendants are handing out the forms, say you need two forms. This allows you to fill in the second form correctly straight after you make a mistake rather than having to call them back after they have taken a lot of time directing everyone else on the plane how to fill them in. READ the whole form first to check whether your answer comes before or after the question. If you are amazing like me and don't make a mistake (only because I used to make them EVERY time and so now are used to them) you can then pre-fill it in for your next trip.

Itinerary in progress

My itineraries have changed dramatically over the years. It has evolved as I guess I have through my experiences travelling. Right now, I have my itinerary set up in columns. All the things I need to do are noted in red. As I do them, I delete the message and fill in the itinerary with a booking number or details. It becomes quite a thick document, but again, I know that I haven't missed anything.

Date	This column is where I put all important things I need to know each day	This column starts out labelled Follow Up and then as the itinerary rounds out I change it to Notes.
Date	Itinerary	Notes
4th August	HA452 Departing 9:20pm Arr HNL 10:15am Limo booked for arrival time with lei greeting Ruth Chris Steakhouse dinner	Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach. 2335 Kalakaua Ave, Honolulu Booking No: 8219762 Meet Limo driver in the middle section of the airport at the Blue column. (payment in envelope includes the driver tip) reservation for 6pm under the name 'Howard'.
5th August	Orchids Sunday Brunch at 10:45am Walk to Ala Moana- shopping Dinner at CPK Early night to bed ready for tour in morning	A $57.00 Chn. $39 (payment in envelope marked Orchids has tip included) Booking Lanai side under the name of Smith. Notify them it is Machaela's birthday Take Sephora voucher
6th August	Tour of the Big Island	Up at 5am to meet shuttle bus at foyer at 5:45 Book Wake up call. Need picture ID No camera bags allowed Remember travel sickness tabs.

Anaheim- Where do I stay?

I will write a post (or three) solely on Disneyland, don't you worry! This post is just on Anaheim hotels so it doesn't get lost in the Disneyland buzz.

Rough Driving times from Anaheim 
To LAX (Los Angeles airport) is approx 45 mins to 1hr.
Las Vegas is approx 4hr 10 mins
San Diego is approx 1hr 43 mins

The Travel Concierge tip: The traffic on the LA freeways is unpredictable. Depending on peak hours, traffic accidents or on days ending in "y" the traffic can be bumper to bumper. Allow PLENTY of time if you are heading to the airport or have a booking. TSA (security) at any airports these days is very time-consuming, but a few places like LAX are even worse so allow more than the usual hour to be at the airport before a domestic flight.

There are two types of accommodation choices at Anaheim- Disney Resort hotels and Good Neighbour hotels. 

Disney Resort Hotels

The original hotel was the Disneyland Hotel. It is past both theme parks and Downtown Disney- the opposite side to where most of the Good Neighbour hotels are. It has Goofy's Kitchen inside. (A character meal restaurant.) For those who want to stay at the hotel that Walt Disney put in place, this is it! The website with cost is found here.
What I love about this hotel- The light up sleeping castle bed headboards, Goofy's Kitchen and the pool area.

Pacific Pier was a chain  hotel that Disney brought out during one of their many expansions. It is the most basic of the three resort hotels but still has the perks of staying in a Disney Resort hotel. It also has a character meal restaurant (Surf's up)here based around a beach theme. The website with costs is found here.
What I love about this hotel- The rooftop pool area and the view of the fireworks with the synchronised music piped in on the third-floor pool deck.

The Grand Californian is the flagship hotel of Disneyland Resort, It has its own entrance into California Adventure. It is the most expensive of the three hotels. Why we stay here is because the rooms are larger and they fit 5 in the room with a queen bed and a bunk/ trundle bed configuration. We also love the foyer area with the HUGE fireplace, groupings of chairs and rocking chairs. We have stayed here a number of times, and the two Christmases we stayed here were extra special with the multi-storey Christmas tree and the visits from the Big man in red himself coming to pose for photos in front of the tree. The atmosphere year round is great and worth every penny. The Storyteller's Cafe is a great Chip and Dale-themed breakfast. At night, it is not a character meal, but the buffet and a la carte options are great. The website with costs is found here.
What I love about this hotel- The foyer area, the large rooms, Storytellers Cafe, the great pool and slide area and the private entrance to California Adventure.

Why do we enjoy staying at a Disney Resort?
Disney Resort hotel guests get the following perks;

1. Early entry to one of the theme parks every day of your stay. You get in one hour before the general public.
2. A private entrance to California Adventure
3. Access to be able to charge at all theme parks and Disney Resort hotels using your room key and to be able to have purchases made in the theme parks delivered to your hotel.
4. Close access to the parks and Downtown Disney.
5. Access to free activities run in the hotels.

Good Neighbour Resort Hotels

Disney has very high standards, so any hotel that is a part of the Good Neighbours hotels have to meet those standards. To be honest, most of the hotels are pretty much the same. You just need to decide on the following when choosing one of them

1. Is it just going to be a bed for you OR do you plan on spending a lot of time at your hotel?
2. Are you going in a season where you might use the pool? Will you be paying extra for a themed pool you won't use?
3. How long a walk do you want to have after being at the theme park all day OR how long do you want to have to wait at the end of the day with every other guest from your hotel to get on a shuttle bus or miss out on room and have to get the next one?
4. Will you have a car? What do they charge for you to have your car parked at the hotel? This has been a really big thing in the last 10 years. Before then most places parking was within the cost, now some hotels charge a large amount for you to have your car sitting in their lot while you theme park it.
5. Do you have points you can use at one of the hotels?

Personally, in Anaheim,we have never stayed at a hotel that we need to get a shuttle to. We prefer to just walk home when we are ready. At Disneyland, we get up first thing in the morning and are hard at it until night. Our children theme parked till they dropped. We took our own stroller for comfort and when they were babies, we made sure they were used to sleeping in it so we could just keep going and do a 'baby swap' on rides so one of us could keep riding while the other rode and then not have to line up again. Some of you will be able to do this. You need to think about if your child/ren won't sleep anywhere else other than a bed in a quiet room, and need a day sleep, how you will manage this while still getting value for your Disney buck! Likewise, think about whether if you are paying for extra perks and activities whether you will really use them or whether you are better to book one of the hotels that will cost less and have fewer perks if you are not going to use them. 

A starting point for Good Neighbour hotels is found on the Disneyland website here. Look to get an  idea and then if you want, you can start trying to get the cost lower yourself.

Booking Disneyland tickets/ hotel/ packages

I book all my own flights and accommodation and have done for over 15 years. When it comes to Disney, though, I book through a Disney travel agent that charges no commission. which means more money in my pocket! Contact me here and I can give you her details. The perks of booking through her are that you get a lanyard and free pin (Disney Badge) for Disneyland and luggage tags for Disneyworld. The other amazing perk is that after you book if there are specials that go on sale after you have booked, she applies them to your booking! 

The Travel Concierge tip:
If you are booking a good neighbour hotel on your own, get your best price and then go to the hotel website and contact the hotel directly to see if they have a manager's special that beats your lowest price. 99% of the time I will make a saving. It may be only $10 a night or $50 depending on the hotel.

Hotel Card keys

It is easy to look at the little plastic card and not be too concerned about it, but your hotel card key has all the details that you have given for your booking- this can include your name, address, and credit card number with expiry. It also unlocks your room which has all your belongings in it. Many places now allow you to charge things to the card, so it is essentially an extra credit card. If you lose it, let the hotel staff know immediately and ask them to cancel that card. At the end of the stay, I never give back the card. I always tell them that I collect them, so can I keep it and have never been denied. Even though they might wipe the card, as you know you can’t truly delete information, so I don’t want anybody else having access to my private information, especially when I am overseas not looking as closely to my banking statements. I do actually collect them. They make a great conversation piece when guests see them inside my glass table.