CVII All About Anaheim - Airports, Hotels, Parks, & More!

Thinking of taking the Amtrack from Chicago to Anaheim...and getting a hotel in that area...according to what I plotted out, it's not that far and most likely walkable.

 

Miana Kenobi, Maulfly and I are planning on doing 5 days at Disneyland, either before or after the con. Should I get one hotel room for the whole stay, or spilt it up between 2 hotels? I'd rather stay at one hotel and just walk, any suggestions?

 

Not to be presumptious, since I've never been there, but from the looks of it on the map and from all the hotel descriptions I could find, going to the Convention Center and going to Disneyland is pretty much the same in terms of distance from wherever you're staying, so one hotel for the entire stay would make sense. Right?

 

That's what I'm thinking, but sometimes maps can be.... misleading. For instance, at C VI we stayed at the Rosen, becuase it was directly next to the Convention Center. Turns out that, yes, it is, but you still had to hike a half mile to the single entrance they used. I just don't want to pick a hotel and wind up having to walk halfway around the convention center to get to the front doors, even if the weather is infinitely more nicer.

 

From the Sheraton to the Disneyland Entrance plaza, walking, is .8 miles, or about 15 mins.

Don't know if I can hotlink or not (mod please remove if I can't), but here is a map that shows the walking route from the hotel (which is next to the CC) to the Entrance Plaza.
https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=...NrP4-A&dirflg=w&mra=dme&mrsp=0&sz=18&t=h&z=17

 

I know Google maps says the Marriot which is behind the convention center is twelve minute walk.

 

The key is that the easiest way to get to the Entrance Plaza from outside hotels is to go up Harbor about half way between Katella and Ball. The Entrance Plaza will get you into both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. You can also go through Downtown Disney if you are staying on Disney property. I suppose if you are a bit more westerly, you can also go through the Grand Californian, which has an entrance directly into DCA or into Downtown Disney.

 

Thank you for posting all of that information so we have it in one place.

One additional note for transportation from local airports, Super Shuttle (http://www.supershuttle.com/) has a service from LAX to the Disneyland area for $16 which might be a slightly cheaper alternative to the Greyline buses.

 

That is better.

 

The entrances to the convention center are all along the side facing the Marriott and Hilton, so it's really less than a 5 minute walk.

I guess it depends on you. If you got one hotel, then that would be easier (though I don't think you need 5 days for Disneyland. It's got less extra parks than DisneyWorld). I guess it just depends on where you want to stay. If you wanted one of the convention center hotels, then it's very easy to kinda cheat to get to Disneyland by walking directly across the street into the Toy Story parking lot and hopping on one of those shuttles to take you to the front gate. Or you could walk, take the city transportation, etc.

 

I just figured that out. You get there by the Grand Plaza which runs in between the hotels.

 

Exactly. For other conventions, they usually cut off that road (which makes getting to/from the hotel via car annoying) and let a ton of food trucks in so you have an variety to choose from instead of just the convention food. Which isn't bad, actually.

 

So for Disney Hotels:



You've got three: The Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier, or the Grand Californian. All are nice, but pricy. They're about a 10-15 minute walk to the convention center (like 10 from Paradise Pier, 15 from the Disneyland Hotel).



Edit: First post updated to include Super Shuttle info, Ontario airport, and Disney hotels.

 

Since we're doing Disneyland, we're going to book thru the park site, and hopefully get a better deal on rooms. I did a quick check, and would be able to get a 10 day vacation package (5 day park hopper, but 10 day hotel stay) at one of their 'Good Neighbor' hotels (of which the Marriott and Hilton are a part of) starting on Dec 1 2013 for Apr 15-25 2015 (you can only reserve 500 days out). I saw that one of them is book 3 nights get the 4th free, or something like that.

 

I stayed at the Rosen Center for C6 and they had the sky walk that connected the hotel to the convention center. It was pretty quick and easy to get there. You only had to go to the main entrance in the morning before the convention opened.

 

I live here in So. Cal and the freeways are always crazy if you are driving into town check to see if any freeways or streets maybe closed just to be on the safe side

 

Thank you so much for this thread!!!

 

Oh, that's interesting; they didn't do that back in the GenCon SoCal days. As someone who was recently introduced to LA-area food trucks, let me say that if they do this, you should all try them at least once. Unexpectedly good and affordable food.

 

I found this too about Anaheim/Orange County. You can get coupons for restaurants and transportation. Information about Day trips and Theme parks.

http://anaheimoc.org/

 

http://www.sigalert.com/Map.asp?region=Orange+County

Funny thing... the Sig Alert system will give you data for a number of cities across the US, but I don't think I've ever heard it referred to outside of southern California.

 

Bless Sig Alert. It's amazing.

 

thanks very useful information for ppl outside the US!

 

When I attended Celebration in LA I flew into San Diego. Southwest had a fare sale and the flight was about half what it cost to fly into LA. Of course I spent my savings staying four days in San Diego. I figured coming across country I should do it up right. I went to the zoo and other area attractions. I took the train from San Diego to Anaheim. It was a great trip. I opted for what I think was called business class and had a nice booth upstairs. I made sure I sat on the ocean side since the train goes up the coast. I spent four or five days in Anaheim visiting Disney. Luckily the timing was perfect. I was able to attend one of the Pirate movie premieres. Once done in Anaheim I took the train on up to LA. I arrived a few days early to check out LA. If you have the extra time and you're traveling across country I recommend you spread out and explore some of the other offerings. After Celebration I flew to Las Vegas for a week using it as a base to explore the Grand Canyon area. My only regret is I hadn't saved enough funds to take the train north to wine country. Maybe I'll get to work that in this time.

 

This is a gold mine! Thank you!

It also pointed out that I had faulty idea that the convention was in August instead of April. Will keep that straight, especially when it comes time to ask for time off