Disneyland

We made a week out of Disneyland by planning a couple of beach days. You could also do Knott's or Legoland? Hollywood?

I think every Disney fan should go to DL. There's just something about the original.

I've never been there either. I was considering it for our next trip but when I did some pricing it turned out to be WAY cheaper to go to WDW for almost double the amount of time than DL.
I hope to get there someday though!

I grew up at DL, but it had been maybe 15 - 20 years before I went back in 2010. We planned 2 days, 1 for each park. We really needed a 3rd day. We went again in 2012 for 2 days and decided that we really need 4 days or more. I like to stroll and check things out.

Check into the Southern California City Pass. http://www.citypass.com/southern-california It gives you entry into DL, DCA, Universal and SeaWorld. There really is a lot to do in the LA and San Diego area. Knott's Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain are 2 of the good ones.

Well I must chime in here and say GO. I always thought that there would not be enough for one of my usual 2 week trips but I was wrong, as you may recall I actually made a 3 week trip and would have liked a few more days. Since we were there for New Years we went to the Rose parade, we stayed at the GC (thanks DVC!) and while at GC we went to both DL and DCA and went to day trips to LA sightseeing and a side trip to San Diego Zoo. What I found while planning for this trip was that the Gray Line Sightseeing Tours, which is one of the leaders in the sightseeing industry, actually has a scheduled stop every morning at GC where they pick you up in a large A/C tour bus and bring you to their terminal where you can purchase tix to whatever tour you wish to go on. We did a few tours and given more time, we would have attended more sightseeing tours. Even the SD Zoo tour is completed in one day morning to evening. If I can find the time to resize them, I have many pics that I can put up.

I echo what VL says above 100%. Before we moved to CA last year, I was planning a DL trip that was going to include a lot of side and/or day trips. The DL location provides access to a number of amazing things to do.

The 3 days we just spent at DL was just about the right amount of time for us, though I could see adding one more day just because. But I can't see 10 days just at DL itself, whereas I could easily spend 10-14 days at WDW and never leave the property.

Just my opinion. But I think DL is well worth visiting, as taratru notes.

We have stayed at both the Best Western Plus Anaheim Inn and the Fairfield Inn Anaheim Disney. Both are really close and very nice, the Best Western might have been a few feet closer.

Next time, I really want to stay at the Best Western Plus Park Place Inn. I am almost positive that it is right at the crosswalk to Disneyland. When we have gone, they were all competitively priced with each other. And the walk is about as far as you would walk from the front of the park to one of the last Disney Resort bus stops. Might even be shorter than that. There may be a hotel closer to the crosswalk, but, for the life of me, I can't remember.

Yes, you can go to DL without a car. But there is no Magical Express.

I can do 5 nights there and be really happy not leaving the DLR property.

You could easily add a day trip to Sea World, Catalina, Long Beach, Universal, Hollywood. There's really a lot to do in Southern California. There are many hotels within walking distance to the parks.

On both of our DL trips, we combined them with other vacations, our first was 4 days prior to a cruise. then we did 5 days prior to flying to Australia. 5 Days is perfect. We did not rent a car, frankly the thought of driving from LAX to DL terrifies me, i am not a big city girl, i hate driving in Vancouver or Toronto when i am there. We did take a cab to one of the near by malls on the last trip, and next trip we hope to hit Sea world & Lego Land.

I think i prefer the shorter DL trips VS 2 weeks @ WDW, It may be mostly due to the long travel for us to get to WDW, although next time i have decided we will drive to Seattle or Bellingham and fly from there.

It is true that DL is easily incorporated into a larger vacation. There is so much to do in Southern California.