Hi Susan!
Welcome to planDisney! Oh boy! I think a few nights close to the magic is always a good idea. And I'd love to help make your Disney dreams come true, Susan!
Mickey offers a few different resources when it comes to planning a trip of a lifetime; the first is the
helpful Cast Members at the Disneyland Resort Hotel Reservation Helpline. They can do everything from explain different views and room types to help price out the
three Disneyland Resort Hotel options. They can even offer quotes and place complimentary 24-hour holds on said price so you can talk it over and book when you're ready. For a room-only hotel reservation, you'll call 714-956-6425; for a
theme park admission ticket + hotel room vacation package, that number is 714-520-5060.
Another great set of helpers are the planDisney Panel planEARs! I usually resEARch, price out, and discover the various pieces of my visits to Mickey's house right on the
Disneyland.com website. I'll play around in the various booking portals with any and all dates that I'm thinking might work with our schedule. I usually start with looking at the
Disneyland Resort Hotels and then look at the
Disneyland Good Neighbor Hotels. What I like about the Good Neighbor Hotels sEARch option is that you can filter by various amenities, like transportation to the parks or included breakfast. When I do decide to go with a Good Neighbor Hotel, I'll go one step further and book the room through the hotel's website (Marriott.com, Hilton.com, etc) as there might be
special offers or discounts available (AAA, Military, etc) as well as to earn or burn that brand's loyalty points. Once I know where we're going to sleep, I'll move on to
theme park admission tickets because the decisions are so much easier: how many days will I be in the parks, and do I want to visit only one park per day or park hop? After those two choices have been made, you're practically done. All that's left are your
dining decisions, which
reservations can be made starting 60 days in advance; booking your
Park Pass Reservations, which can be
made starting 120 days in advance, and how you'll get to and from Disneyland Resort and you'll be set!
The best part about using the planDisney Panel, Susan, is that we'll be hEAR for you whenever you might have a question. Ask away! We love to help Guests through their entire vacation planning process. We even have an
official planDisney Instagram account and we just launched the brand new
planDisney Podcast where we share all kinds of tips and tricks! I hope that this helped to set some plans in motion for your upcoming Disneyland days, Susan. And if you have any more Disneyland Resort vacation planning questions, We're All Ears!
~Kristen N.