¤*~*¤May/June 2013 ¤*~*¤Trip Planning Thread

[imasily]

My family and I will be staying at the Grand Californian June 23-27 2013. We haven't been to DL or DCA since the new cars land opened. We are very excited!

 

[stubby]

Started packing some of the extra stuff. Can't wait! It feels like the closer it gets the harder it is to get through the day.

 

[dt1304]

One week to go for me.

I am so excited and the best part of all is that the last few days my kids are showing their excitement.

We there from Friday 24th till Wednesday 29th and staying at the HoJo.

Then off to Vancouver, Alaska cruise and back to LA for a day on way home to Australia.

 

[BlueFairy]

9 days!!!!!! It's real now. Today we made Carthay Circle reservations, watched Cars, and arranged for club level access at the hotel.

 

[disneydreamer74]

Just had to say....we leave in 20 days . I can't believe how close we are yet we still have so much to do. I decided that I am going to do my last bit of clothes shopping for myself today. I still have to buy the vanity items but I will probably wait on that. I really am hoping these last 20 days will go by faster then it has been....for some reason it seems like the days are getting longer and time is at a stand still .

Trust me...I feel your pain!! Tick....tock...tick...

 

[okielovesdisney]

We leave 0klahoma in 7 days for our 5 days in Disneyland starting on the 27th. We are already there in our minds. The bags are almost packed, the car gets new tires this weekend, and only 4 days left of school (I am a special education teacher) so the days can't get busier but that makes it go by faster. When they said too excited to sleep they were right. I get on here every night before. Bed and can't stop thinking about it all night - who needs sleep anyway?!?! We got our photo pass today in the mail tomorrow the tickets come--

I just want to thank everyone who posts- this just makes my day, and truly helps me plan so much!

 

[tiggerluvr]

Leaving tomorrow morning for a quick weekend trip to the happiest place on earth! Can't wait!!!

 

[whoever]

In 21 hours, we'll be on the road!!!! SO CLOSE!!!

 

[ColoradoGirl85]

We are back from our trip! A few things -

-Photopass plus is awesome!! We got over 100 pictures. So worth it to actually be in the vacation photos for once

- Stayed in a kids suite at the HOJO again this trip and loved it just as much as we did last time. We ended up with a top floor room, and the skylights didn't bother us (but we aren't the kind of people that need it to be super dark to sleep). The highway noise was louder in this room but that doesn't bother us.

-We were in the pars Tuesday - Friday. Now let me preface this by saying we have only been to Disneyland once before...a very slow week in October, pre Carsland. Crowds were much higher then our previous trip, but we expected that. We also were traveling with a 4 year old so we didn't do rides like the Materhorn, Space Mountain etc so I can't comment on waits for those rides. We also had grad nights 3 of the 4 days we were there and you did notice the large amounts of teenagers but had no problems with them being rude or using bad language. Mornings were great, took a break for nap/swimming and came back in the evenings. It was pretty dang busy each evening, but we planned ahead and made sure to do the rides that are in more demand earlier in the day so that wasn't a problem. We stuck to the fast loaders in the evenings (Little Mermaid, Pooh, the train etc). Friday evening though was a flipping mad house!

- Carsland is more amazing then I thought! We were able to walk right up around 11:45 AM on Wednesday and get fast passes for RS Racers for 8:05 PM that night. That ride is sooo amazing, especially at night.

We had a great time, it went by too fast. For parents of little ones....don't push your kids. It sucked having to leave the parks so he could nap, but it made the nights so much better for us. My feet were killing me by that final walk back on Friday night, I wish I could have ridden in the stroller.
I'm happy to answer any questions!

 

[lovebug33]

Thanks for the info, ColoradoGirl!

 

[disneydreamer74]

Colorado girl, Glad you had a great time! I am surprised that RSR had FPs available that late in the day! This is a good sign!We are looking forward to Hojo's. We will stay there 2 nts. in a 2 queen room before switching to PPH. This will be our first time there, very excited to see why people seem to like it so much. I am relieved to hear that Grad Nights did not effect your trip much. We have 3 grad nights during our stay. I agree about not pushing the little ones. We learned the hard way that naps are a necessity and breaks from all of the stimulation is a must!

 

[Haymak]

I am getting very excited for our upcoming trip, we will be there May 28th-June 1st. We will be at the parks the 29th-31st but I am thinking of adding an extra day because all three night we are there will be grad nights and Tuesday is the only one that week that will not be a grad night. We are staying at PPH. It will just be me and my DS 10 and DD 4. My photo pass plus should be here in the mail on Monday.

I am driving from AZ so we can get there pretty early on Tuesday if I want to add an extra day. How do I go about doing that? Can I do that before we get there or can I do it when I check in?

Thanks

 

[disneydreamer74]

Haymak,
I would highly suggest adding an extra day before you arrive. If you wait until check-in there may not be availability. Have a fun time!!!

 

[PoohsFan1]

We leave 2 weeks from today .

 

[Butterfly123]

Thanks for the report Colorado girl! We too have 3 out of 4 days with grad nights, so I am always happy to hear good reports. We are also planning on hitting the e ticket rides early to avoid the larger crowds for those rides later in the evening.

It sounds like you had a great trip!

 

[PigletGurl]

we are here now! 12 days of fun woohoo


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[Butterfly123]

Have a great time! Please share your grad night experiences, too!

 

[heybets30]

We were there may 15-17, felt wed & thu crowds were ok, then Friday got crazy. I recommend if you plan on purchasing or adding ride photos to your photopass+, to expect teenage nonsense. My hubby and 6-yr old got front seats on space mountain at 10 pm friday, but could not get their photo because 1/2 the kids gave the camera the bird. The cm was kind enough to block out the idiots and at least showed my daughter part of the pic. But obviously would not liad it. DD was disappointed. Nonsense like that was rampant.

 

[disneydreamer74]

Heybets30,
Thanks for sharing your experience. Last summer I had a similar experience. It wasn't a grad night, just a group of unruly teens on BTMRR. It really irks me when things like that happen. Hope you enjoyed your trip otherwise!

 

[PoohsFan1]

We were there may 15-17, felt wed & thu crowds were ok, then Friday got crazy. I recommend if you plan on purchasing or adding ride photos to your photopass+, to expect teenage nonsense. My hubby and 6-yr old got front seats on space mountain at 10 pm friday, but could not get their photo because 1/2 the kids gave the camera the bird. The cm was kind enough to block out the idiots and at least showed my daughter part of the pic. But obviously would not liad it. DD was disappointed. Nonsense like that was rampant.

Thanks for the heads up....we have the Photopass+ and ride photos are big with us, hence one of the reasons why we purchased it. It's a shame that you weren't able to get the photo that you wanted . We have never been during Grad Nights (always go in late August/early September at WDW), this is going to be a new venture for us. We will be in the parks on Friday but decided to take the advice from a lot of people to stay away from the parks on Saturday and Sunday, hopefully this will help. I have a feeling we will be doing a ton of park hopping this trip .