Aussies coming to LA...want to clarify a few things

Hi Rob and everyone else,

I have been lurking at TPR for a few years now but never had a reason to post. I wasn't sure if I should post the following in Ask Alvey or the general forum but this seems a good place.

I am planning a family holiday (me, partner and one 13yo child) that takes in a little over a week in LA with a focus on going to theme parks. We are also hitting Detroit (have to visit some family and one of my bucket list items is to see a Red Wings home game) and San Francisco...oh and a very brief stop in Las Vegas, maybe.

The intended timing of the trip is starting in LA in the last week of February 2015 for about a week, not ideal being the end of winter but that is the only time we really have. As I mentioned The LA part of the trip is mainly about theme parks which at this stage are Disneyland, SFMM and KBF, so some Q's/advice being sought...

Disneyland related - 1) We intend on getting a 3 day pass with park hopper but we don't plan on doing 3 days straight (Red Wings are playing an away game at Anaheim and I want to see that so no Disney or other parks that day). Can we split the 3 days up to be non-consecutive?

2) My intent is to stay in Anaheim the whole LA portion of the trip. We are considering hiring a car in the latter half of the LA week as we are going to drive to Vegas. Car hire seems super cheap over there so I was considering extending the car hire forward to drive to KBF and SFMM. Any issue with driving from Anaheim to these parks or are there transfers from Anaheim hotels/area which would be less stress? (keeping in mind that my daily trip to work in Melbourne takes 1 to 1.5 hours to do 20 miles so driving in traffic itself does not scare me but does frustrate me)

Opening hours/days - There are no 2015 hours for these parks yet so...

1) When do they tend to update their site to show the schedule in the new year?

2) It appears that it is likely that Disneyland and KBF will be open all week in this time frame (late Feb) but SFMM is only a weekend thing. Does that seem to be a correct assumption?

Eye glasses and bags - 1) Parks in Australia expect you to take off your glasses for anything more than a kiddy flat ride. I have even been asked to remove them on slow kiddy coasters. Without glasses I am very short sighted (although my wife suggests I am even short sighted with them on). I have a couple of pairs of glasses with straps designed for sport/surfing that I would like to wear on coasters. I have also read a bunch of posts here on wearing glasses on rides. Do these parks have general rules or ride specific rules about which rides you can and can't wear glasses on? (I haven't found much on their websites)

2) We usually like to have a bag with us at theme parks to carry water, a few snacks and put our loose items into for rides. It has been OK at most parks here is Oz although Movieworld does make you hire a locker for Superman. Does having a bag present an issue at any of the parks we are visiting or specific rides within them?

Again, hope this was the right spot to ask, but if not, feel free to move/delete the thread.

Thanks,

Corey

I can offer a few answers based on my experience.

Can we split the 3 days up to be non-consecutive?

Yes. Once you use the first day you'll have 14 days in which to use the other two, before your ticket expires. If this is your first visit to Disneyland I'd recommend getting the one-park-per-day ticket instead, and spending two days at Disneyland and one day at DCA.

1) When do they tend to update their site to show the schedule in the new year?

 

2) It appears that it is likely that Disneyland and KBF will be open all week in this time frame (late Feb) but SFMM is only a weekend thing. Does that seem to be a correct assumption?

Not sure about Knotts and SFMM, but Disneyland tends to update about 6 weeks out. Typical hours for Disneyland in February would be 10-8 Mon-Thurs, 9-12 Fri-Sun. Knotts probably 10-5 on weekdays and longer on weekends, and SFMM 10-6 on weekends only.

Any issue with driving from Anaheim to these parks or are there transfers from Anaheim hotels/area which would be less stress

Drive drive drive. LA traffic can be daunting at first (especially after a 15 hour flight!) but it's not really any worse than Melbourne. Just don't expect anyone to use their indicator and you'll be fine. In the past I've had good experiences with rentalcars.com. They are just a broker, but their prices are good and include all the insurances you'll need over there. They also let you pick which car rental company you are actually renting from - Alamo have always been good for me, but avoid Dollar if you can.

Do these parks have general rules or ride specific rules about which rides you can and can't wear glasses on?

Disneyland will let you take pretty much anything on a ride, within reason. I don't wear glasses so can't speak for Knotts or SFMM, but as long as they are secured with the strap you should be OK.

Does having a bag present an issue at any of the parks we are visiting or specific rides within them?

All parks have lockers, again Disneyland is much more relaxed about what you can take on a ride (although, to be fair, most of their rides are fairly tame so bags don't present much of a risk). Knotts has all-day lockers near Ghost Rider. SFMM has $1 single-use 2-hour lockers outside a lot of rides.

One more recommendation - grab a Gold Flash Pass at SFMM, it'll make your day far better!