We just got back from 6 days in the Disneyland area and had a great time. That's most likely our last trip for a long time as the older one is heading to college in a year. She did say she may request a WDW trip for her graduation next May. 4.5 park days. 3.5 at DLR, 1 at CA. Got in everything we wanted to do. It was really hot about 11am each day so we would go till about 2 and then head back to swim or nap. But man that morning and evening weather is so nice. On the 2nd day, we each took a kid and rode rides with just that one in the morning, whatever they wanted to do and then switched midday. Since that meant one got less time with each parent since we take a break at 2, we did the same thing on our final morning. With Lightning Lanes and getting there when the parks open, you can get so much accomplished. The kids took our LLs on Tuesday as we just took it easy, they got to ride most of the better rides twice. California Adventure really is a one day park and I should've just bought single day tickets over the park hoppers that we did. Incredicoaster was being refurbished the entire time we were there so that cut out a big option that my kids love to ride over and over. The Guardians ride fastpasses go really quickly so we never went back over to ride it. I could've saved a decent amount not getting the park hoppers. Wife and I went over to Trader Sam's at the DLR Hotel for some drinks and lunch. We didn't want to walk all the way back to our hotel so we just took a Lyft from the DL Hotel to our hotel.
I would definitely recommend going over the weekend as some of the passholders are blocked from going and it keeps the parks from being a lot less crowded since the locals aren't able to go. We took one day off and I went with my oldest to tour UC-Irvine as she is interested in going out of state for college. It's a beautiful campus and is 5 minutes from John Wayne Airport. That airport is so easy to travel through and I would opt for it over LAX any day. We were able to check out from our hotel, store our luggage with them, go to Disneyland from 8am to 1pm and then head back to the hotel to change and grab our stuff so we could head to the airport for a 4:30 flight home.
The Courtyard Theme Park hotel is so choice and we opt for it every time because the room is a great size for what you pay. There are 2 queens and a bunk bed, 2 showers, a 2 sink vanity which is key for teen girls, a Starbucks in the lobby to fuel your morning, a bistro for breakfast and lunches, a decent pool with hot tub that overlooks the side of Disneyland where you can see the fireworks which we opted to do on our rest day. It's under 10 minutes to walk to the security area which is great when you're hot and tired from a long day of walking around. We saved a good amount by booking a package with Getawaytoday.com. We had a great time on our trip. It just took a decent amount of planning and flexibility to deal with the crowds and heat. I would still opt for Disneyland over WDW 9 out of 10 times.