California New Year January 2019 - Planning

Disneyland in Anaheim, California has become one of our favorite place to go.  My side of the family is a Disney family and we have been telling them how much we love it there.  Well guess what?  They want to go with us now.  So January 2019, the Holk family will be going to Disneyland!  We are all getting really excited because we are getting close.  The planning for this trip has been a little different, mainly because there are more people going with us.

When and Length of Stay:
When to go with this group was a little more difficult.  We wanted to go close to Christmas so we could use the trip as most of our Christmas present.  My brother works at a restaurant and is not allowed to travel from Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day.  He had to get an exception for the trip.  My dad is usually busy this time of year with his job as well, but he was able to schedule it in.  Our first trip to Disneyland was in January and we really enjoyed this time of year to travel.  The weather was nice and it is a good time to get away from the cold here in Kansas.  The crowds were very light in January as well.  We have also found that there is plenty to do for 5 days in the parks.  We are not adding extra days to see other things in the area this time though.  We are only going to Disneyland.

Transportation:
We found some really good airfare on Southwest for non-stop flights to LAX.  They are good times in the morning so we will still have a full day in the parks.

Since we have so many in our group, we chose not to use a rental car this time.  We are going to try the Disneyland Express, which is a coach bus service.  This will be a little different so we'll see how it works.

Accommodations:
We loved staying at the Courtyard by Marriott Theme Park Entrance last time, and we planned on staying there again.  I had booked three rooms for us to stay there in January.  We had some issues with dates, but it worked out.  Around Christmas my brother called me saying that Disney released a discount on their hotels for while we are there.  We looked into it and found that we could stay at the Disneyland Hotel for about the same price.  It is a little bit more, but comparable.  This made my wife and I very excited.  We have gone to the Disneyland Hotel to eat or walk around or even get a Dole Whip on our past 2 trips, and we have wanted to stay there.  We are going to get our wish.  My wife is very excited about the headboard and I am excited for the history.  We might even get to try out Trader Sam's this time.  The one drawback is the rooms look a little smaller and are setup more conventional compared to the Courtyard.  A big bonus by staying at the Disneyland Hotel is we get early entry to the parks every day.  This will be huge, especially since the parks open later.

Our biggest change this trip will be taking our son Grady on his first trip.  This will be an adjustment, especially with sleeping.  Our first trip with Ellie was tough getting her to sleep.  We'll see how it goes with him.  We are also going to have a LOT of stuff in the room with us (4-5 suitcases, 2 strollers, backpacks, etc).  We'll see how it goes.

Food:
We are planning a couple more sit down reservations this time.  We did not have enough rest during park hours on our last trip so we are trying to change that.  We are starting with Blue Bayou for a Fantasmic dining package.  Then we have reservations at Cafe Orleans, Carnation Cafe, Lamplight Lounge and Carthay Circle.  There are plenty of quick service restaurants and snacks that we shouldn't have a probably eating.

We are all looking forward to trying the new Tropical Hideaway.  It sounds delicious.  We are hoping that Tangaroa Terrace re-opens while we are at the Disneyland Hotel.

Entertainment:
We have purchased 5 day park hopper tickets with MaxPass.  MaxPass was the best add on we used last time.  It is a great addition to a Disneyland vacation.  We are little concerned because of all of the refurbishments/closures going on.  Small World closes while we are there.  The castle is undergoing a major refurbishment and you can barely see it with the fencing up.  They are replacing the roof.  Because of this, the Sleeping Beauty walkthrough is closed.  A Bug's Land closed this fall (changing to a Marvel land).  Star Wars Land is still being constructed.  We will still have a great time, but it will be a little different.

Ellie still doesn't know we are going, which is a big surprise.  We are telling her at Christmas that we are going.  Our trip is really close.  We are getting really excited.

Update:  We told Ellie at Christmas.  She opened her new Minnie suitcase and I told her she could use it on our trip to Disneyland with our family and she said "Oh."  Great reaction.  No more surprise trips for our kids.