Laughing Lindsay

Travel Reviews, Giveaways, & More!

Disneyland Package: Should You Book Room and Tickets Together

By Leave a Comment

In my Sheraton Park Hotel Review I mentioned that I booked the room as part of a Disneyland package. That means that I booked the hotel through Disney and added on park tickets to make it a combo deal. Today, I’m going to look at the pros and cons of doing it that way.

Disneyland Package

Disneyland Package

You can book a Disneyland package either by booking an official resort or a Good Neighbor Hotel through Disneyland’s website and adding park tickets. On my trip in May I stayed at a Good Neighbor Hotel, however I chose to book through Disneyland for the ease of simplicity, among other reasons. Here’s a look at the pros and cons of doing so.

Pros

  • Easy – Honestly, it’s easier to access my hotel information and tickets all on one website or app.
  • Ability to make payments – Typically, hotels require you to pay a deposit and then pay the remainder of the bill prior to departure. However, Disney requires the full amount to be paid a month in advance. The good news is that you can make payments towards your trip anytime you want! That makes it especially useful if you are planning a trip with another person and are splitting costs (like when I travel with my mom).
  • Cancellation/Modification Policy – After booking my May trip, I decided to change my hotel to a cheaper one and add a night on. With a few clicks, this was easy to do. I also like that Disneyland has a more generous cancellation policy than some hotels have when you book direct. Personally, I find the peace of mind to be priceless.
  • Free pin and lanyard – This certainly shouldn’t be a reason to book a package, but it’s a nice perk. I received the free pin and lanyard shown in the image above for booking a package! It’s a nice souvenir to remember my first solo trip to Disneyland and the Disney100 celebration at Disneyland.
  • Trustworthy – I’m sure individual hotel sites are trustworthy. However, I just feel more confident dealing with the Disney website. I also like the assurance they might be able to help me if something were to go wrong.
  • Extra Savings – I didn’t use it, but you receive a voucher to save 10% off at select dining and merchandise locations at Downtown Disney.

Cons

  • More Expensive – The package was a little more expensive than booking the hotel directly and purchasing park tickets separately.
  • Limited Availability – There seems to be a limited number of rooms available for the packages. For instance, I was seeing availability on hotel’s websites but not on Disney’s website. So, if you have a specific hotel in mind, you should book early.

Should you book a Disneyland package?

Honestly, I think it comes down to what is most important to you. If the budget is tight, it may be better to book direct and buy tickets separately. Although, I would encourage you to check for any deals before booking anything. However, if you value the ease and cancellation policy, than a package may be best. So, have you ever booked a package or do you prefer to book things separately?

Last Minute Disneyland Trip Tips

By Leave a Comment

As you may know, I booked a last minute Disneyland trip a few months ago. Having done that, I thought I would share a few tips in case someone else decides to do the same.

Last Minute Disneyland Trip

Last Minute Disneyland Trip

I planned and booked my last minute Disneyland trip about 5 weeks out. Seeing as how the Wondrous Journeys fireworks show is showing for the last time this year later this month and Halloween starts next month, I thought now was the perfect time to create this post. I know lots of people plan their trips months in advance. That’s why Disney allows you to book dining reservations 60 days in advance. However, that’s not who this post is for. I’m talking 3-6 weeks out in this post. Here are my tips for planning your last minute trip!

Tips

  • Check park availability. As of 2023, Disneyland is requiring a park reservation to enter a theme park. So, before you book your trip, make sure that you can actually visit the park by checking their availability calendar linked above.
  • Book a room and buy tickets. If your dates at the parks are open, then you should get to booking your trip asap. You can stay at one of the Disney’s 3 official resorts or off-site. For my most recent trip, I stayed at the Sheraton Park Hotel, which you can read my review of there. You should know that the hotels closest to the parks (including Disney’s hotels) cost more. Additionally, there are homeless people around the Katella Avenue and South Harbor Boulevard corner. As soon as you buy your tickets, make the park reservations as well.
  • Book dining reservations. In my limited experience, only the most popular restaurants get booked up 60 days out. That includes Blue Bayou and Lamplight Lounge. Others may have availability a few days or weeks out. If you can’t get one you want, I recommend setting up a reservation finder. I’ve had some success with Touring Plans (more so with their WDW one, but still valid) and Mouse Dining. Additionally, you can continue to check back yourself. If all else fails, try some quick service locations for meals.
  • Book flights. Generally speaking, flights are cheaper 6-8 weeks out than they are 2 weeks out. So, book the flights asap as well.
  • Remain calm. Disneyland is typically seen as a locals park, versus the tourist parks of Florida. A Disneyland trip is typically more relaxed than a WDW one. Securing reservations is typically easier. Plus, the people at Disneyland are usually (not always) calmer than at Disney World.
  • Pack and enjoy the trip. A last minute trip can be stressful to figure out. However, you should make an effort to relax and enjoy the trip once you arrive!

Final Thoughts

In my opinion, it’s much easier to plan a last minute Disneyland trip than a Walt Disney World one. I had a much easier time getting dining reservations. Plus, Lightning Lane was very beneficial at Disneyland for skipping the ride lines. So, do you have any other tips?

Storytellers Cafe Brunch Disneyland Character Meal Review

By Leave a Comment

During my trip to Disneyland Resort in May, I jumped at the chance to enjoy Storytellers Cafe brunch with characters! Here is my review of that experience to help you decide if it’s worth the money and time for your family.

Storytellers Cafe Brunch

Storytellers Cafe Brunch

There are four different character dining experiences at the Disneyland Resort. A few weeks ago, I reviewed Goofy’s Kitchen breakfast (which I also liked). For this meal, I opted to get brunch instead of breakfast as it’s only available on the weekends and who doesn’t love brunch? Plus, it was only $2 more expensive than breakfast ($51 vs $49). However, I will admit it was a little late for this Eastern Time girl to wait to eat. Brunch starts at 11:00 AM, Pacific Time. So, to me it was 2:00 PM. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable experience.

The Restaurant

Storytellers Cafe is located at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. This made it the perfect location for my DCA morning. With its direct park entrance, I was able to rope drop DCA and ride several rides there. Then, I wandered over to the resort and had brunch. So, I highly recommend this restaurant for a DCA day. Also, I really enjoyed the Craftsman-style theme of the restaurant. It fit perfectly with the resort’s theme and was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the park. In fact, I almost didn’t mind waiting for my table while enjoying the hotel’s lobby and scenery.

Brunch Food

The food here is really good. It has a nice assortment of foods to try on the buffet, plus they allow you to order select things from the kitchen. I tried some raspberry beignets, which were more like donuts. They were tasty though. I also got a cheeseburger slider and fries from the kitchen. It was ok.

I really liked the buffet food. There was a really good pasta dish that I got a second serving of. I also enjoyed the bread pudding and selection of pastries from the buffet. Everything was fresh and a step above the food you typically find on a buffet at Walt Disney World.

The Characters

I enjoyed seeing the characters in their adorable outfits! They were dressed for an adventure! I loved that Mickey actually sat down at my table at one point since I was by myself. All of them were happy to let me take photos of them as well as selfies with me. Additionally, they did a little dance around the restaurant at one point. I missed seeing Pluto, but I got to meet Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale during my meal!

Is Storytellers Cafe brunch worth it?

While $51 is an expensive meal, it was a fun and unique experience. I will admit that I had to wait a good while to be seated as well. However, the food was good and the character interactions were great. I think if I dine here again, I will probably try breakfast as the brunch was a little late for this East Coaster. Have you ever eaten here? What was your experience like?

Goofy’s Kitchen Character Breakfast Review

By Leave a Comment

Last month, when I visited Disneyland for the Disney100 Celebration I booked Goofy’s Kitchen character breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel! It was a fun way to start my day! Here’s my review to help you decide if it’s worth the money.

Goofy's Kitchen Character Breakfast

Goofy’s Kitchen Character Breakfast

Disneyland currently has four character dining experiences on property. I managed to eat at two of them on this trip and they were both excellent! Stay tuned for my Storytellers Café Brunch review in the future!

The Ambiance

I’ve done several character meals at Walt Disney World. However, this was my first one at Disneyland and I have to say it really got things started on the right foot! Immediately upon entering the restaurant, I was wowed with the extra little touches around the buffet. It was fun to see all of the huge fake food displays. It really added to the goofy ambiance of the meal.

The Food

For this review, I booked the earliest time slot I could get since I’m from Virginia and on a three hour time difference. That means I booked a 7:00 AM breakfast, but it felt like 10:00 AM to me. Haha! However, the food on this buffet was the perfect combination for a brunch! In fact, given that Goofy is the chef here, it makes perfect sense to have a wide variety of unique and tasty options! Although, it did strike me as a little wild to have dessert on the breakfast buffet. Nonetheless, it was good!

Goofy’s Kitchen is known for their unique assortment of pizzas. I highly recommend trying whichever ones they have when you visit. I enjoyed their peanut butter and jelly pizza as well as chicken and waffles pizza. The Nutella and berries pizza was also good! Honestly, they had so many options here that you can’t go wrong, even with a picky eater. I definitely think everyone can find at least a few items they enjoy from this buffet.

The Characters

At Goofy’s Kitchen character breakfast, the fun with characters technically starts before you even enter the restaurant! Goofy himself is waiting just outside of the restaurant to take pictures with guests with a photographer. It’s a fun way to kick-off the meal for sure! Once seated, different characters dressed in their chef outfits will come around to meet guests. On my visit, I got to meet Minnie, Pluto, Chip, and Dale! I loved Minnie in her cupcake apron outfit! I also enjoyed watching Pluto mess up the napkins during a lull in guest arrivals. It may have been my early reservation, but I definitely had amble time with each of the characters and didn’t feel rushed at all!

Also, I was pleased to discover that all of the characters did a dance around the restaurant at one point. In fact, all of the guests are encouraged to swing their napkins over their heads as the characters come around. It makes for a memorable meal and fun moment.

Is Goofy’s Kitchen character breakfast worth it?

If you are looking for a fun meal or a great way to meet several characters, then this may be the meal for you! Granted, it is an expensive meal. Also, Disneyland Hotel is the furthest hotel away from the parks. So, it may be a little out of the way for your family depending on where you are staying. However, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal here and wouldn’t hesitate to go back! So, have you ever dined here? What was your experience like?

Sheraton Park Hotel Review

By Leave a Comment

On my most recent visit to Disneyland, I stayed off-site to save some money since I was traveling solo. However, I didn’t want to stay somewhere shabby. So, I stayed at the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim Resort. This is my review of my four night stay there!

Sheraton Park Hotel

Sheraton Park Hotel

Unlike Walt Disney World, Disneyland has only three on-site resorts and they are all considered deluxe resorts. Seeing as how this was a last minute solo trip, I didn’t feel right spending that much money on this trip. So, I opted to stay somewhere that was nice and within walking distance to the parks without paying a fortune. I ended up going with the Sheraton Park Hotel at the Anaheim resort. Here are the pros and cons of staying here.

Pros

The majority of these bullet points are the exact reasons why I chose to stay here.

  • Location. It’s technically near the convention center, so it would make a great conference/event hotel. It’s also a 15-ish minute walk to the theme parks. I loved being able to just walk to the parks. That’s a huge perk over visiting WDW and dealing with the buses.
  • Restaurant. Unfortunately, I never was hungry enough to enjoy dinner here, but it sounds amazing! Nonetheless, I was very thankful for the 6 AM breakfast of french toast. I always prefer to stay somewhere with a restaurant so I don’t have to wander far if I get hungry. So, this was a nice perk.
  • Newly refurbished. The rooms were recently refurbished and are really nice. Everything still looks shiny and new, so you don’t have to worry about something falling apart or being overly dirty.
  • Comfortable. The beds are very comfortable. Also, I had a very quiet stay here, which is more than I can say for some other theme park stays.
  • Balconies. Every room has a balcony to look out over California. Some rooms even have a theme park view. I had a city view and was happy with that.
  • Disney Good Neighbor Hotel. I booked a Disneyland Good Neighbor package, which was super convenient for booking the hotel and park tickets together. Plus, I was able to log-on and make payments. I intend to make a future post about the pros of staying at a Good Neighbor Hotel in the future.

Cons

Now, admittedly some of these are minor or even petty complaints. However, they are things that I didn’t like and want to share for complete honesty.

  • Walk by homeless. Remember that short walk I mentioned as a pro? Well, it seems a lot longer when you are dodging the homeless. This certainly wasn’t the hotel’s fault as it wasn’t on their property. Although, a free shuttle to/from the park would be a nice amenity to have at night here. I probably won’t stay here again for a strictly theme park visit again unless I’m with my husband simply due to the night time walk.
  • No free in-room Wi-Fi. This was a complete surprise as I assumed every hotel with business guests would offer free Wi-Fi. However, there was only free Wi-Fi in the lobby here and that was a nuisance.
  • Dark bathroom. This probably wouldn’t bother most people. However, there isn’t a light over the shower. So, it was a darker bathroom than I’m used to. Also, I could see how people with limited vision could have trouble with this room.
  • Air conditioner is finicky. It seems like it shuts off after there’s no movement in the room for a period of time. I can’t guarantee that’s what was happening, but the room was certainly warmer when I slept or left it. I can see this being a bigger problem in the heat of summer.
  • No early access to room. I attempted to check in a little early, however my room wasn’t ready. In fact, my room wasn’t ready at check-in time either. They did store my luggage for me while I waited, but it was a bit of an annoyance to start the trip this way.

Is the Sheraton Park Hotel worth it?

If you are considering a stay at this hotel for a conference at the convention center, it’s probably a good option. If you are comfortable walking past the homeless population, then it’s a terrific option for a Disneyland stay as well. As I said above, I will probably look at spending a good bit more money to stay on-site next time just to feel safer on the walk as a female traveler.

Have you stayed here before? What was your experience like?