Planning trip for Nov 2-7 !!!

[azdisneylover]

I am doing it; planning a trip for Nov 2-7th. I am Murphy's law, so in the back of my mind, I know something might happen and I might have to cancel. So, I am telling myself, ifthat happens and I have to cancel this trip, I will be one step ahead on planning for another. Right?
This trip will be to cheer us up from a horrible year, celebrate my birthday, my 17 years cancer free and most important to me, my triplets first trip to Disneyland!
We are driving from AZ early Nov. 2nd. I can get a package from Costco to stay at Best Western Park Place with 2 character breakfast meals. Since we are an hour ahead of CA in Nov, we will gain an hour driving in.
Any suggestions on planning this trip are welcome!
One DD wants to ride the train, DS and other DD haven't decided what they would like to do. Goofy's Kitchen is on the list, and I would like to have breakfast in the park.
Where exactly is the Lego store? Has anyone been in there? How are the prices? Anything ever on sale?
Woohoo, I am really planning a trip! I am getting excited.

 

[azdisneylover]

Talking with DH about trip, and he says he doesn't want to wake up in the middle of the night, drive to get to DL when it first opens, he wants to wake up and be there at DL, so we are going on Nov 1-7th! He said we can get up in the morning of the 1st, drive to the hotel, and take it easy. I mentioned that we could take care of our ticket stuff in the afternoon, so we could be ready 1st thing! Woohoo, I am getting excited. Anything to suggest to do with three 7 yr olds on Sunday afternoon/evening if we do not enter the park?
Thanks.

 

[LavenderPeach]

Sounds like it will be a fun trip! I hope it works out for you and you won't have to cancel! And how fun that you'll get to be there an extra day!

The Lego store is in DTD not too far from the monorail station. I'm not too sure about the prices since I don't think I've ever bought anything there but I think they sometimes have stuff on sale. DS likes legos okay but not enough for us to buy too much for him. I'm sure someone else will chime in with a better answer about that.

Have fun planning your trip!

 

[PinkBudgie]

We love the Lego store! The prices are mostly regular price. But they have items you can't find anywhere else. They have sets of pink legos for girls (Bellville) and Lego kitchen items. They also have some good clearance sales from time to time. It just depends on when you go. I've always seen some Lego set on clearance there. Last summer my boys got some $12 sets for about $2.50.

 

[Sherry E]

I am doing it; planning a trip for Nov 2-7th. I am Murphy's law, so in the back of my mind, I know something might happen and I might have to cancel. So, I am telling myself, ifthat happens and I have to cancel this trip, I will be one step ahead on planning for another. Right?
This trip will be to cheer us up from a horrible year, celebrate my birthday, my 17 years cancer free and most important to me, my triplets first trip to Disneyland!
We are driving from AZ early Nov. 2nd. I can get a package from Costco to stay at Best Western Park Place with 2 character breakfast meals. Since we are an hour ahead of CA in Nov, we will gain an hour driving in.
Any suggestions on planning this trip are welcome!
One DD wants to ride the train, DS and other DD haven't decided what they would like to do. Goofy's Kitchen is on the list, and I would like to have breakfast in the park.
Where exactly is the Lego store? Has anyone been in there? How are the prices? Anything ever on sale?
Woohoo, I am really planning a trip! I am getting excited.

Linda, did you see the replies to your other thread? (Just wanted to make sure you didn't miss them):

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2237590

Anyway, I am glad you are taking the plunge and planning a trip. I missed you over on my Trip Report thread and I had been wondering if your DH was taking that job you mentioned or found something closer to home, and now I know he took the job, which is kind of far away. I know it's been a tough year - hang in there, and take joy and pleasure in the planning of the DLR trip.

P.S. I am glad you are going to Goofy's Kitchen (I hope you choose it for breakfast rather than dinner, but dinner should be fine too)!!! Perhaps Minnie & Friends can be the other character meal and breakfast in the park?

 

[azdisneylover]

Thanks, Lavender Peach for your response! I am starting to let myself enjoy planning this trip. I am hesitant to letting the kids know though. I"m thinking the best to do is plan everything, and if it is a go, tell them we are celebrating my birthday early and get them in the car to go eat....and start driving and not tell them where we are going until we have been driving for a while! LOL

We love the Lego store! The prices are mostly regular price. But they have items you can't find anywhere else. They have sets of pink legos for girls (Bellville) and Lego kitchen items. They also have some good clearance sales from time to time. It just depends on when you go. I've always seen some Lego set on clearance there. Last summer my boys got some $12 sets for about $2.50.

Wow, Those are great deals! I'm thinking of ordering a Lego gift card online to let the kids pick a toy there, and if they have clearances like that, they will be able to get lots of stuff! Thanks! These guys love their Legos.

 

[azdisneylover]

Linda, did you see the replies to your other thread? (Just wanted to make sure you didn't miss them):

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2237590

Anyway, I am glad you are taking the plunge and planning a trip. I missed you over on my Trip Report thread and I had been wondering if your DH was taking that job you mentioned or found something closer to home, and now I know he took the job, which is kind of far away. I know it's been a tough year - hang in there, and take joy and pleasure in the planning of the DLR trip.

P.S. I am glad you are going to Goofy's Kitchen (I hope you choose it for breakfast rather than dinner, but dinner should be fine too)!!! Perhaps Minnie & Friends can be the other character meal and breakfast in the park?

Thanks for the link, Sherrie, I couldn't locate the thread. DH will be going out of town Tuesday for a few days, and he will find out when he will be going after that. I am hoping the work that is closer will start soon.
I am slowly getting more excited about planning this trip, and have decided still not to let the kids know just in case we once again have to cancel. Im' thinking of telling them we are going to celebrate my birthday early on the Sunday and go out to eat, get in the car and start driving and not tell them until they really start to hound us! LOL I am thinking up an excuse where we have to take the dog! Anyone, any ideas?
Minnie and Friends, is that at Plaza Inn in DL at the end of Main Street on the right (if you are facing the castle?) I was thinking of doing a late breakfast in the park after our early morning entry into the park. I don't know what time the park opens in the off season, I think it is 9 or 10. So, once we do early morning, get rides in, then eat a late breakfast, then do more stuff.
One of my dd want to go on Indy ride, and my son still hasn't said what ride.
Where do we go Sunday afternoon, evening to get our tickets stuff since we have to exchange stuff to tickets, and where do I go to get my birthday card on Monday? I am factoring in this trip to get us all APs so I can hound the dh that it would be cheaper to go on the triplets 8th birthday! When would be the best day to upgrade our tickets?LOL
I have to keep reminding DH that it will be November and the weather is different that us in AZ and so it may be too cold to go swimming the day we drive in.
Thanks again, Sherrie.

 

[azdisneylover]

I have been thinking, and if we change our dates from Nov 1-7, to Nov 1-5, we might be able to stay at Paradise Pier! Now I just need to figure out how much more we need to come up with for upgrading tickets to AP.
At Paradise Pier, are there any microwaves in the hotel to use, and is their WIFI connection in the rooms, or do you have to hook up with a land line?

 

[Brady's Mom]

I love the idea of not telling your kids until after you are already driving. My sis did this in May with her kids. They tossed them in the car and told them they were going somewhere fun, but had to drive to get there and left.

They actually didn't tell their kids until they were passing Disneyland! And they had been driving at least 10 or 11 hours by then. Their kids were totally surprised and thought it was the best surprise, EVER!!

When you get in to Anaheim, go to the ticket booths in the Esplanade and they can change any vouchers you have to tickets for you. You can do this Sun. night, as long as you don't go through the gates into DL or CA, your tickets aren't activated. A lot of times they can give you your Birthday button at the ticket booths, too.

When you go to DLR on Monday morning, go to Guest Services (we went to the DL side) and they can set you up with your Birthday fun Card. You will have to have your license to prove it's your birthday. They can give you your birthday button here, too, if you don't have it already. It didn't take us very long to get DH's gift card and button and Fantasmic dessert tickets when we went a couple of weeks ago.

And my kids will swim in almost any kind of weather. When we were at DLR last Dec. my kids were swimming. The weather got as warm as 75 and they wanted to go swimming. They didn't swim as long as if it was warmer - but they swam!

 

[Brady's Mom]

I have been thinking, and if we change our dates from Nov 1-7, to Nov 1-5, we might be able to stay at Paradise Pier! Now I just need to figure out how much more we need to come up with for upgrading tickets to AP.
At Paradise Pier, are there any microwaves in the hotel to use, and is their WIFI connection in the rooms, or do you have to hook up with a land line?

Have you checked out the Howard Johnson? I noticed they still have dates for the first of Nov. and if you want a little more space, they have the Ent. rate available for the kid's suite, too.

They do have a micro and fridge and internet for free (but no WiFi). You have to have a cord and we always bring a longer one.

Here is the link to HoJo.

 

[azdisneylover]

I love the idea of not telling your kids until after you are already driving. My sis did this in May with her kids. They tossed them in the car and told them they were going somewhere fun, but had to drive to get there and left.
Thanks! I do not want to get them so excited, and something happen and we have to cancel.Just me knowing we had a trip cancelled is bad enough! LOL I hope I can keep DH from telling them! He told me today that he will probably be too excited to sleep, so we might get on the road very early in the morning!LOL anyhoo, we will see.
They actually didn't tell their kids until they were passing Disneyland! And they had been driving at least 10 or 11 hours by then. Their kids were totally surprised and thought it was the best surprise, EVER!!

When you get in to Anaheim, go to the ticket booths in the Esplanade and they can change any vouchers you have to tickets for you. You can do this Sun. night, as long as you don't go through the gates into DL or CA, your tickets aren't activated. A lot of times they can give you your Birthday button at the ticket booths, too.
Thanks for letting me know where to get the voucher, tickets , etc. It will help me immensely.
When you go to DLR on Monday morning, go to Guest Services (we went to the DL side) and they can set you up with your Birthday fun Card. You will have to have your license to prove it's your birthday. They can give you your birthday button here, too, if you don't have it already. It didn't take us very long to get DH's gift card and button and Fantasmic dessert tickets when we went a couple of weeks ago.

And my kids will swim in almost any kind of weather. When we were at DLR last Dec. my kids were swimming. The weather got as warm as 75 and they wanted to go swimming. They didn't swim as long as if it was warmer - but they swam!

It's settled! We will bring our suits and towels just in case. I can always sit in the hot tub for a bit.
Any idea what time the park closes during the winter? Is it at 8 or 9?
Thanks, again for the great tips!