planning a trip to disneyland

we've been saving for four years to make a trip to a california theme park. my son is convinced disneyland is the one. he's 12 yrs. old. i think six flags would be more his idea of fun but its been over 20 years so i could be wrong.

i'm looking for cheapest flight, car rental, and theme park tickets. any guidance or advice much appreciated!

Quote from tripletsnthree : we've been saving for four years to make a trip to a california theme park. my son is convinced disneyland is the one. he's 12 yrs. old. i think six flags would be more his idea of fun but its been over 20 years so i could be wrong. i'm looking for cheapest flight, car rental, and theme park tickets. any guidance or advice much appreciated!

Ugh, heck ya. Six Flags has got insanely better rides. Check out their site as they have a first person view of many of their rides, or they did!

Six flags has fun rides for teenagers, Disneyland is an experience.

Six Flags Magic Mountain in California is aged, has a mild looney tunes theme along with superhero themes on rides. Almost entirely thrill rides/rollercoasters, and are in abundance. Last time I went though, about 3-4 of the rides are out of order.

Disneyland has hundreds of millions of dollars put into every detail. The rides are more about the decorations and experience as much as the thrill. They have attractions for all ages. Disneyland also has rollercoasters and thrill rides, and is about 4-5 times the size of six flags when you factor in California Adventure and the citywalk area.

I wouldn't even put these two parks in the same league. With special offers, its easy to find tickets to Six Flags for under $40 (carls jr and burger king routinely have coupons in-store, and local coke and pepsi cans/bottles often have a coupon on them), whereas Disneyland is upwards of $100 for the park hopper. Also, if you want to do everything, Disneyland will take at least 2-3 days, whereas on a non-packed day, I rode every coaster at six flags in about 3 hours.

Is this a family trip, or a trip just for your son? If you don't enjoy rollercoasters, you'll have nothing to do at six flags. Do you know for a fact your son wont get cold feet when he actually sees the size of these rides? If he does, the entire trip will be a dud.

How long are you planning to stay? Instead of doing say, 3 days at Disneyland, you could do one day at each of the other major So Cal theme parks (Knotts Berry Farm, Universal Studios, Sea World, Six Flags, etc)

I would still take Disneyland over all of them combined. There's a reason it costs so much more.

if you are flying in, why not go to Disney World?

Disneyland was first and serves a major metropolitan area, but Disney World is a destination. It is the better theme park as far as I know.

I suggest Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA. Nothing beats it for rides and teenage (and adult) fun! Disney SUCKS! He will HATE it.

Quote from tripletsnthree : we've been saving for four years to make a trip to a california theme park. my son is convinced disneyland is the one. he's 12 yrs. old. i think six flags would be more his idea of fun but its been over 20 years so i could be wrong. i'm looking for cheapest flight, car rental, and theme park tickets. any guidance or advice much appreciated!

Check out www.mousesavers.com for various Disney (and other theme park) discount information. If you go Disney (land or world), I'd also look at www.touringplans.com to optimize your trip, and (for world), www.tourguidemike.com.

That said, I'd consider (but wouldn't necessarily state it'd be better) to go to some of the other theme parks... If your son wants thrill rides, Disney is *NOT* the place to go. They do have some fun rides (Space Mountain in CA is a lot of fun, and Tower of Terror at either location is great), but nothing like a Six Flags Coaster. As others have said, Disney is an *experience* however...

I'd also second the comment about Disney World -- 4 parks (instead of 2), and (IMHO) all around better. (I don't like Space Mountain @ Disney World, but the rest are good.)

Quote from dealgate : I suggest Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA. Nothing beats it for rides and teenage (and adult) fun! Disney SUCKS! He will HATE it.

Disney is a lot of fun -- Admittedly, I can't speak to how Busch Gardens is (never been), but it all depends on what you're going for...