Planning a trip to Disneyland?? Need Vacation package information/ideas?

[Savannah35AZ]

My husband & I are planning a 8 day trip this coming October. We are buying the "Southern California City Pass" which allows 3 whole days ( hopper pass) at Disneyland & California Adventure plus one day at the following places: 1) Universal Studio Hollywood, 2) San Diego Sea World & our choice of EITHER San Diego Zoo or Wild Animal park.

We are getting AAA & we currently have our costco card which we will inquire on specials with them but are wondering who else should we try to look into .

We are hoping anyone out there can give us ideas and/or share any experiences they had with buying "Vacation Packages".

We also like to note, we plan on staying at Disneyland Hotel for 5 NIGHTS then we will stay at a San Diego hotel for an additional 2-3 NIGHTS.

We know this trip is gonna costs over several thousand dollars to include food, hotel, tickets, etc but we want to make it worth our wild. We are still trying to save some money to buy gifts 4 family.

Please help...

 

[Amy]

A 2-day pass will do if you're not taking kids. You'd do better to choose a Sea World package, and rent a car for a couple days and see the sights in L.A. on your own, Universal Studios/City Walk, Hollywood Graumann's Chinese theatre, Griffith Park Observatory, an evening horseback ride by the Hollywood sign, visiting Santa Monica Pier, visit the Huntington Library Gardens in San Marino, etc. Rather than stay at the Disney Hotel, you could stay 35 min. away in Huntington Beach which has a Hilton and Hyatt across from the beach. It's central to everything that would make for a nice vacation. There's gondolas in Newport Beach, electric Duffy's you can cruise the harbor in, walking around Lido Isle and Laguna Beach.

I've never used a "package" vacation but living on the West coast, I think you're missing out on some real nice places by limiting yourself to a Disney dominated package.

Edit: Any gifts you can find in California are most likely available on the internet.

If you like theme parks, there's also Knott's Berry Farm and Magic Mountain.