"boondocking" (wally-docking?) hehe Near Anaheim

Staying currently at Anaheim RV Park, one mile from the main gates of Disneyland. It's VERY clean! Nice bathroom/showers and the pool/hottub are clean. Security cruises by every 15 minutes or so and very friendly. Internet is very fast too! As the crow flies 1/2 mile from Disney. Fireworks are very nice if you aren't going into the park first night there.

There is noise from the freeway, but it's like fan noise at night; white noise. Not bothersome.

It's great to take in the park first thing, come back for lunch and a nap, then back again on the shuttle. The shuttle has 4 stops total for $5 unlimited riding a day. This place is the first stop on the way back; 5 minute ride, and the first stop on the way to the park 15 minutes ride. To walk, it's about 15 minutes.

Disneyland is very unfriendly to bikes. We took our bikes, thinking we could ride those, but no bike racks except at Downtown Disney and then at the far, FAR end. I think they do this deliberately in order to realize the max for parking and shuttle fees. 5 nights here cost me $280. Much cheaper than a hotel by far. There is a dog walker available in the park. For a fee, they will come let your dog out, walk it, water, food, etc. Drop off your key at the registration desk. The walker will come by to discuss what you would like them to do.

I highly recommend the place. Convenient, safe, easy to come and go during the day. Our own meals and our own bed.

You can try Oneil Park OC county park. It may be within your 25 mile range. No hookups (plenty water spigots and dump station), very reasonable (senior discount), and very empty mid week in summer. Can get hot during day-but nights often cool into low 60s. Take Santiago Canyon road to Orange, then Anaheim for trip to Disneyland.

Foothill Ranch Walmart always does seem to have an RV or two in the lot, although it is listed as no parking. But at $15 per night senior I'd just stay in the campground. It's about the same distance.

gmsumsion wrote:
We went a week and a half ago. I planned to make a reservation at the Anaheim Resort RV Park but never got it done. They showed as having pull through sites that would have accommodated our 38' rig. I could just never get myself feeling "right" about making the reservation and never pulled the trigger. The pull through sites sold out before we got down there. We had some troubles with our rig at our stop the night before and got away late so we didn't get into town until 1:00 a.m. local time.

We tried the Anaheim Harbor park. They had only back in sites, which were very narrow and not long enough to accommodate our unit. They would have let us rent two and park the truck on the second. I, however, am a cheapskate and even in the middle of the night was unwilling to do that. So . . . we looked for a wal-mart or other large parking lot nearby.

We found a church parking lot a few miles up the road. It is the church of which we are members and we felt OK about staying there. The parking lot was fenced and gated, but when we arrived, notwithstanding the late hour there were people in the parking lot and the gates were open. There had been a funeral viewing there that night with the actual funeral to be the next morning. The folks in the parking lot assured us we would be fine and that they would be back early in the morning so we didn't need to worry about being locked in. It was the perfect set up for us, and we felt very blessed.

The next morning we drove our 38' fiver to Disneyland. Let me tell you -- that was the best Disneyland parking experience I've ever had. We parked in the Pinocchio lot, which is right next to the tram stop, and just south of the Mickey and Friends structure. No hassles with the escalator or elevators. Just a short walk to the tram. We were literally just a few spots away from the "guest of the day" reserved spots. When we left that evening there was a long line to go up the escalators into the parking structure and we skipped that entirely. Went to the RV, had a snack, and headed out.

We didn't want to sleep at the church again because this was saturday night and we didn't want to (a) use spaces that would be needed for the congregation on Sunday, or (b) get pinned in by said congregation. There was a Wal-Mart directly across the street from the church. We parked over there. There was another RV already in the lot so we took the chance on staying there. There was security in the lot and they seemed to have no problem with us being there. We parked near the freeway offramp. It was a little noisy, but after the late night previous and the full day at California Adventure, we slept great. The next morning we got up, went to church, and headed on our way down to Carlsbad.

It may be that we got a little lucky. For future planning it probably makes sense to go ahead and reserve the pull through site at Anaheim Resort RV Park, but that part of our trip could hardly have gone better for us. The money we saved paid for our corn dogs. :)

neat experience :)

profdant139 wrote:
Dockweiler can be almost two hours from Disneyland, depending on traffic. (I live fairly near Disneyland and am very familiar with driving from the LAX area to this area.) I would not recommend staying there -- it is right under the LAX flight path, and there has been some crime.

The problem with Wallydocking is that areas that look safe in Orange County sometimes aren't. An example is Buena Park -- the shopping malls look very nice, and they are. But there are high-crime areas that are fairly close by -- certain parts of Anaheim and Stanton are kind of sketchy. I have discovered this during my travels: the problem with being from out of town is that you don't know what you don't know, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld. I would recommend a motel or a decent RV park.

as someone who lives there, THANK YOU for the advice. I'm finding this out I think in Salem Oregon tonight. We're at the Walmart on Turner. A car drove in and parked by us back out in the "back 40" and the passenger was twitching and jumping around in the car.

so, valuable advice, thank you!

Dockweiler can be almost two hours from Disneyland, depending on traffic. (I live fairly near Disneyland and am very familiar with driving from the LAX area to this area.) I would not recommend staying there -- it is right under the LAX flight path, and there has been some crime.

The problem with Wallydocking is that areas that look safe in Orange County sometimes aren't. An example is Buena Park -- the shopping malls look very nice, and they are. But there are high-crime areas that are fairly close by -- certain parts of Anaheim and Stanton are kind of sketchy. I have discovered this during my travels: the problem with being from out of town is that you don't know what you don't know, to paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld. I would recommend a motel or a decent RV park.

We went a week and a half ago. I planned to make a reservation at the Anaheim Resort RV Park but never got it done. They showed as having pull through sites that would have accommodated our 38' rig. I could just never get myself feeling "right" about making the reservation and never pulled the trigger. The pull through sites sold out before we got down there. We had some troubles with our rig at our stop the night before and got away late so we didn't get into town until 1:00 a.m. local time.

We tried the Anaheim Harbor park. They had only back in sites, which were very narrow and not long enough to accommodate our unit. They would have let us rent two and park the truck on the second. I, however, am a cheapskate and even in the middle of the night was unwilling to do that. So . . . we looked for a wal-mart or other large parking lot nearby.

We found a church parking lot a few miles up the road. It is the church of which we are members and we felt OK about staying there. The parking lot was fenced and gated, but when we arrived, notwithstanding the late hour there were people in the parking lot and the gates were open. There had been a funeral viewing there that night with the actual funeral to be the next morning. The folks in the parking lot assured us we would be fine and that they would be back early in the morning so we didn't need to worry about being locked in. It was the perfect set up for us, and we felt very blessed.

The next morning we drove our 38' fiver to Disneyland. Let me tell you -- that was the best Disneyland parking experience I've ever had. We parked in the Pinocchio lot, which is right next to the tram stop, and just south of the Mickey and Friends structure. No hassles with the escalator or elevators. Just a short walk to the tram. We were literally just a few spots away from the "guest of the day" reserved spots. When we left that evening there was a long line to go up the escalators into the parking structure and we skipped that entirely. Went to the RV, had a snack, and headed out.

We didn't want to sleep at the church again because this was saturday night and we didn't want to (a) use spaces that would be needed for the congregation on Sunday, or (b) get pinned in by said congregation. There was a Wal-Mart directly across the street from the church. We parked over there. There was another RV already in the lot so we took the chance on staying there. There was security in the lot and they seemed to have no problem with us being there. We parked near the freeway offramp. It was a little noisy, but after the late night previous and the full day at California Adventure, we slept great. The next morning we got up, went to church, and headed on our way down to Carlsbad.

It may be that we got a little lucky. For future planning it probably makes sense to go ahead and reserve the pull through site at Anaheim Resort RV Park, but that part of our trip could hardly have gone better for us. The money we saved paid for our corn dogs. :)

40 miles, in LA, you decide how far away it is. Doesn't look like a camping beach.

DesertHawk wrote:
There is this one on the beach not too far away:
Dockweiler RV Park just a little southwest of downtown LA in Playa Del Rey. The campground is situated on the beach and provides easy access to the Marvin Braude Bike Path. Views from the front row are great but the park itself is pretty much a parking lot and offers little in the way of space or privacy. It also happens to be surrounded by the Los Angeles Airport, Hyperion sanitation plant and a powerplant. So it's definitely an urban vibe even with the gorgeous beach. All sites have full hookups. Here's the video I made from there and a couple pics!

Urban camping at Dockweiler RV Park: YouTube Video

Been here, done this, perfect for what you're wanting to do.

OutdoorPhotographer wrote:
We stayed at Anaheim Resort RV Park a couple years ago. A little noisy but not quite a parking lot. Has a pool if you are so inclined. We were just looking for a safe place to sleep near Disney with a shuttle.

I just checked and you would be less than $60/night for up to 8 people per site. They run a regular shuttle to Disneyland. No fuss with parking at Disneyland and if park of your group wants to go back for a nap during the day they can't.

I can't imagine that you are going to find a safe, clean hotel for less in Anaheim. I picked random dates and it ranged from $394 to $502 depending on the site. That's pretty reasonable for the area.

Golden Hvac?...

"Summer and it might be in the 90's in So Cal. I would want the A/C unit to run. Otherwise I might stay at a friend's house near Disneyland.:

Uh, I've lived within 45 minutes of there, and don't need AC nor heating, living 20 miles inland...Good God man, there's no humitidity here! 90 feels like 72, You can sleep in an upstairs loft in an abandoned hotel and be comfortable. It's why its so g*damned crowded, after all! Come, camp, and spend a ridiculous amount of money to do it. This is the socialist utopia, coming soon to your state, that will set your free, brudah!
:)

thank you!!!