We're planning to take the family to Disneyland for the first time in October. The on-site hotels are more than I care to spend (family of 7 - Jr Suites start at $1300/night - nope) so I think we will just do an Airbnb house in the area for 10 days. I haven't ever spent any time in CA myself so I think we will do just a couple days at Disneyland and maybe a day or 2 at Universal then use the rest of the time to explore. Any must-do's while we're in the area? We've got 5 kids ages 6-11, should we do 2 days at Disneyland and skip DCA? Maybe 3 days Disney and just a day at Universal? We typically do WDW in FL and kinda know what we're doing out there but this will probably be a 1 and done destination for us so would like to see what there is to see while there on this trip. Are there areas to avoid when picking a place to stay? We got Shanghai and Tokyo Disney's done just before the shutdown so we're excited to finally visit the place that got it all started.

Speaking of parks...
I understand that it's a different culture and locale but one place that still very much has the Disney magic is Tokyo Disneyland & Disney Sea. Ironically, not owned by Disney - and maybe that's why they still have the magic. Their theming is incredible. They do a fantastic job of immersing you in their themed lands and somehow manage to jam a lot of lands into a small space yet keep them from clashing or spoiling sight lines. Would love to see what they could do with a place like WDW which has been losing its immersion lately (a la giant-box show building for Guardians at EPCOT). I think the parks/resorts could benefit from a hostile takeover if they were split off into their own entity. To me, parks & resorts is the only part of Disney that I really care about anymore and the current management hasn't been good for them.
Regarding employees, Tokyo had the most professional and sincere cast members by a mile in my opinion. Even with the language barrier you still get a sense that they really love what they're doing and genuinely care. As a for-instance I needed to hop out of the middle of a rather large snaking line at Soarin (if you want to see an example of how to theme the a show building correctly, take a look at that ride), anyway I was trying to figure out how I was going to go about it and a cast member must have noticed what I was going to attempt. He quickly worked his way through the line to me and asked what I needed. I told him I needed to get out of line so he cleared a path undoing stanchion ropes so we could have a direct path out. When we were out he asked in broken English if I would be coming back to the line later - when I said no, he groaned, dropped his head and acted so sad that I wouldn't experience his ride. It was hilarious. Even if it was just an act he put on it made me feel kinda special in that sea of people. We've had those experiences at WDW as well but they don't seem to happen as often anymore. Not a reflection on the cast members themselves - I think most of them at the parks here do a great job but they might be spread a little too thin these days to be able to have many of those interactions.
Regarding park pricing - a 2-day park hopper cost us about $100 each. I would say that prices over there are about even with the US, or maybe bit higher in Tokyo so its a fair comparison. Somehow they still manage to make money ...maybe they make it all up on their overpriced popcorn.

We thought it would be a once in a lifetime event to go do the Tokyo and Shanghai Disneys but after doing those then coming back to WDW and what they're doing to these parks - we will be saving our pennies (by spending fewer pennies at the parks here) and taking the fam to Asia again. It will unfortunately take a lot of saving....