I Am Not a Disneyland Expert
In February 2024 we took Harrison on his first trip to Disneyland. Of course I exhaustively planned every last detail so that we could have a magical time. Of course I read every single one (probably) of the approximately 1 million blogs and articles about Disneyland to plan the perfect vacation. But two trips to Disneyland does not an expert make and there is so much fantastic information out there. I’m not going to rehash all the knowledge you can find elsewhere on the internet. I am not here for that kind of redundancy. However there are two specific things I would like to share that you may be less likely to run across in a Disneyland planning search.
First, we rented Disney Vacation Club (DVC) points for an incredible stay at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa. This is a stunning Craftsman style resort that is literally steps from California Adventure. In fact, there's an entrance from the hotel directly into the park. This is the iconic Disneyland stay. The drawback? It's really expensive. Even in comparison to the many other really expensive resorts and hotels nearby. Cash prices for a basic room started at about $3500 for our four-night stay. No thank you. Instead, we rented DVC points and were able to book that same four-night stay in a studio villa for just over $1700, basically half the cost. For comparison, we used a Marriott free night certificate for one night at the Fairfield Inn the day of our arrival. Four nights here would have cost over $1500 for a themed room on a high floor, a room that was not nearly as nice as our Grand Californian studio and without the same access to resort amenities and proximity to the parks (although this is a great nearby spot to stay on points!).
I get it, it sounds too good to be true. I too was skeptical when I first learned about DVC points rental, but with a little effort and some flexibility, you can save thousands of dollars on a Disney vacation. DVC is the Disney version of a timeshare. Like with any timeshare, people buy into a home resort and get so much currency, in this case points, to use each year to book resorts. Because owners have the best access (11 months out) to their home resort, rentals at Disneyland can be a little trickier than at Disney World - at the time there was only one DVC resort in California, although there is a second one now. Owners who are not able to use their points can “rent” points to others. Practically speaking, they make a reservation on your behalf and you reimburse them a dollar amount per point used to book the reservation. Of course this can be done directly, but assuming you don’t have a friend with a DVC membership, the most secure way to do this is through a reputable website such as David’s Vacation Club Rentals or, the one I used, DVC Rentals. There are both available bookings that you can immediately reserve if they fit what you need or you can put in a specific request and the platform will see if any owners can and will book it for you. If you have a specific request, it never hurts to check both sites. In our case, I put in a request exactly 11 months in advance because I knew that it is difficult for anyone except those whose home resort is the Grand Californian to make reservations there. Within an hour, I had a confirmed reservation. This was a stunning resort and made for a once in a lifetime Disneyland experience that, for us, was possible because we rented DVC points.
Second, although I had carefully timed our trip for February with the hope of marginally less crowds, I was again reminded that I can't control everything. In this case, the thing I could not control was the weather. I could never have predicted that in sunny, southern California there would be record setting rain during our trip. Amid the vast amount of information there is about planning a trip to Disneyland, I didn't really find too many tips for surviving torrential rainfall in a park that, unlike its counterpart in Orlando, is not designed for rainy days. These are my not necessarily life changing tips for surviving record rainfall at Disneyland.
Have a good attitude.
Have a good attitude. Okay, but really. There is nothing you can do to stay dry. No amount of rain gear or ponchos or wellies will ultimately matter. We had it all and we bought more and we still were soaked for most of the day. The main thing that salvaged our trip was simply choosing to make the best of it. Literally dancing in the rain. Disneyland is still magical, even with an umbrella.
Take strategic breaks. We made sure to make lunch reservations and usually spent a bit of the afternoon back at the hotel for naptime, taking the chance to dry off and mentally prepare for going back out into the rain. Inside lines for character meets and rides suddenly became a break from the rain instead of a boring line to be endured. A warm drink was absolutely delightful.
Make the most of the low crowds. Disneyland is, in many ways, a local park. That means when all of the local annual pass holders see rain in the forecast, they simply don’t go. There were times when rides such as Rise of the Resistance were literally walk ons. Partly because of the rain, we were able to ride every single ride we wanted to, most of them more than once. Honestly, the rainy days may have been more fun than the sunny day and a half we had at the end of the trip. Of course, rides broke down more, but by keeping an eye on the app, we were able to ride even the finicky rides like Cars more than once with minimal wait times.
A trip to Disneyland is a lot of things, but most of all, experiencing it all with a four-year-old is magic. Despite the rain, we had the best time. Soon after we returned, I actually started looking at Disney cruises, which led to a whole other adventure. I’m not planning to share more about this trip (again, there is so much information out there), but if there is something specific you want to know, please ask! After this trip, we took a bit of a break from our travels, for a while at least, but I’ll be back with more of our 2024 adventures.