Anyone Game? It’s my Sep 2013 Blog! I'm home; with a TR link in #1189, 10/14

[YoYoAurora]

PIO, what a great planning report! Love the food porn - some are familiar from another thread and I didn't realize you were the photographer. WOW!

 

[zanzibar138]

I thought that hotel looked familiar! Lucky you having such a nice work provided weekend - I've never been lucky enough to work for a company that does team building weekends/days/mornings Can't complain too much though I have got some pretty good perks over the years!

And as much as I was encouraging you to go to Hawaii to report on Aulani, I think you should try to skip Hawaii for more days at WDW

 

[PrincessInOz]

PIO, what a great planning report! Love the food porn - some are familiar from another thread and I didn't realize you were the photographer. WOW!

Thanks Aurora.

I thought that hotel looked familiar! Lucky you having such a nice work provided weekend - I've never been lucky enough to work for a company that does team building weekends/days/mornings Can't complain too much though I have got some pretty good perks over the years!

And as much as I was encouraging you to go to Hawaii to report on Aulani, I think you should try to skip Hawaii for more days at WDW

DH was talking about wanting to get to Cape Canaveral again this trip. I'm doing the softly softly approach right now. He's mulling over what he wants to go see. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Cape Canaveral, that would be neat to see. When we came in 06 I wanted to see so much , but alas only so much time..

 

[PrincessInOz]

Cape Canaveral, that would be neat to see. When we came in 06 I wanted to see so much , but alas only so much time..

I know you're flying in on the 2nd October. When are you leaving?

 

[franandaj]

We enjoyed Cape Canaveral in 2008 and would not be adverse to going back there, but we have to get there this year before we make any commitments.

We are now not going to Dallas in September, hmmmmm maybe we can get up to my parents while Brandi is in SF....

Lots of things are up in the air!

 

[dgbg100106]

That would be fun....

 

[usnuzuloose]

I know you're flying in on the 2nd October. When are you leaving?

We are leaving on the 10th

 

[PrincessInOz]

Cape Canaveral, that would be neat to see. When we came in 06 I wanted to see so much , but alas only so much time..

We enjoyed Cape Canaveral in 2008 and would not be adverse to going back there, but we have to get there this year before we make any commitments.

We are now not going to Dallas in September, hmmmmm maybe we can get up to my parents while Brandi is in SF....

Lots of things are up in the air!

Maybe we should consider a day at the Cape.

That would be fun....

Brandi - when are you going to be in SF?

We are leaving on the 10th

I'll keep this date in mind.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Narrowing the Field of Beds for SoCal


I have 3 nights to plan for in SoCal and have been doing some research on places to stay. DH and I normally stay in Anaheim; simply because of the choices and the proximity to DLR.

For this trip, we do plan to stopover in SoCal to go see CarsLand and hopefully get to catch up with Alison. On my short list:

• Fairfield Inn - I've been following a TR on the DLR side of the boards and the review/pictures have been good for this location. It is a short walk across South Harbour Blvd from the Disneyland maingate. The down side to this place is that breakfast is not included.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Residence Inn Maingate - DH and I have preferred to stay here for our last two visits. The rooms are nice and a hot buffet breakfast is included in the tariff. It is a 10 - 15 minute walk to DLR but that's only a super minor cross in my book.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Howard Johnson - One of the highly rated hotels by a lot of Dissers (and Aussies) for staying at DLR. If you had an Entertainment card, the rates were significantly reduced. This policy seems to have recently changed and I need to go sign up to their website to see if the deep discounts will continue to apply for direct email subscribers.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Candy Cane Inn - Another highly rated motel/hotel in the area. We stayed here in 2007 and thought it was reasonable. A continental breakfast is included in the tariff and the main advantage is that CCI run a free shuttle to DLR every 30 minutes. It does save the feet at night; but there really isn't any time saving for the shuttle.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

At this stage, I haven't included any of the Disney resorts on my short list. The reason? Onsite hotels at Anaheim seem over-priced compared to the "off-site, good neighbour" hotels. Unlike WDW, everything is walkable at Anaheim.

I'll be watching these hotels with interest over the next year or so....

Anyone want to nominate any others for me to monitor? What is your favourite Anaheim home away from home; and why?

 

[zanzibar138]

Not much help as I *wouldn't* recommend the hotel we stayed at lol! Peacock Suites was toooooo faaaarrrr after a long day at the parks! 10-15 minutes would definitely be manageable.

But we did enjoy the night we spent at the Hojo You may remember from my TR we got a park view room and requested a high floor. I can't remember which floor we were on now, but it was an awesome view of the park and fireworks!

The Residence Inn Maingate looks familiar... I think that may be one of the ones I was eyeing off for next time

 

[PrincessInOz]

Oooh....yes! I do remember your night at HoJo. Level 4, wasn't it? You had fireworks.

Thanks. Peacock Suites is off my list.

And I do recommend RI. The rooms are nice and the breakfast cannot be beat......make your own waffles.

 

[dgbg100106]

Brandi - when are you going to be in SF?

Sep 29th thru Oct 4th of this year!

 

[dgbg100106]

Anyone want to nominate any others for me to monitor? What is your favourite Anaheim home away from home; and why?

We always stay at the Embassy Suites I like the breakfast and the drinks in the evening

 

[PrincessInOz]

Sep 29th thru Oct 4th of this year!

DH has a trip coming up to SF. He doesn't know what the exact dates are...but I suspect that might be too early. I am on the fence as to whether I want to hop on a plane with him or not.

Of course, I am being rather presumptuous about possibly catching up with you and David if the timing was right....

 

[mvf-m11c]

I always stay at Best Western Park Place Inn which is the closest offsite hotel right by the DLR or Best Western Anaheim Inn (which I stayed this past trip) which is a few buildings down from BWPPI.

You can't beat the location with BWPPI which is right across the street from the crosswalk. It has a continental breakfast which is not a full breakfast, but a good place to get a quick breakfast in the morning. The rooms are nice which some of them have a sofa bed. You get free Wifi at all the Bestwestern hotels which is a great thing.

The only downside I have with BWPPI is the parking which can get really full and it is very tight to park. It has a small pool in the middle of the hotel. It is not as big as Hojo or other hotels, but if you don't care about swimming then it is no problem. You have to pay for parking which is about $8 a night.

BWAI is a few buildings down from BWPPI. I like to stay at that hotel when BWPPI prices are just way too much. Just like BWPPI, the location is great and the prices can be cheaper than BWPPI. It doesn't have sofa beds like BWPPI, the standard rooms are very nice and updated with LCD TV's. You don't have to pay for parking at BWAI.

The downsides of BWAI is that it doesn't offer a continental breakfast and the parking can get really full at specific times of the day.

Hope this helps you PiO.

 

[dgbg100106]

DH has a trip coming up to SF. He doesn't know what the exact dates are...but I suspect that might be too early. I am on the fence as to whether I want to hop on a plane with him or not.

Of course, I am being rather presumptuous about possibly catching up with you and David if the timing was right....

Would love to meet up with you if the timing is right...
David does not know if he is coming... I am going for work.

 

[PrincessCC]

Great PTR!!! I'm plannning a trip to WDW in October 2013.

The food porn is great. I love the ones from your WORK weekend. I work with a bunch of foodies. Everytime we have contest at work with food being the prize, my branch always wins. I'm hoping the big bosses don't catch on and we end up with pizza for our year end bonus.

 

[PrincessInOz]

We always stay at the Embassy Suites I like the breakfast and the drinks in the evening

I like the Embassy Suites as a chain. They do good breakfast as well; but I thought it was a little far away from the gate. Is it walkable?

I always stay at Best Western Park Place Inn which is the closest offsite hotel right by the DLR or Best Western Anaheim Inn (which I stayed this past trip) which is a few buildings down from BWPPI.

You can't beat the location with BWPPI which is right across the street from the crosswalk. It has a continental breakfast which is not a full breakfast, but a good place to get a quick breakfast in the morning. The rooms are nice which some of them have a sofa bed. You get free Wifi at all the Bestwestern hotels which is a great thing.

The only downside I have with BWPPI is the parking which can get really full and it is very tight to park. It has a small pool in the middle of the hotel. It is not as big as Hojo or other hotels, but if you don't care about swimming then it is no problem. You have to pay for parking which is about $8 a night.

BWAI is a few buildings down from BWPPI. I like to stay at that hotel when BWPPI prices are just way too much. Just like BWPPI, the location is great and the prices can be cheaper than BWPPI. It doesn't have sofa beds like BWPPI, the standard rooms are very nice and updated with LCD TV's. You don't have to pay for parking at BWAI.

The downsides of BWAI is that it doesn't offer a continental breakfast and the parking can get really full at specific times of the day.

Hope this helps you PiO.

Thanks Bret. I will keep the BWs in mind. I liked what I saw of your room in the TR.

Great PTR!!! I'm plannning a trip to WDW in October 2013.

The food porn is great. I love the ones from your WORK weekend. I work with a bunch of foodies. Everytime we have contest at work with food being the prize, my branch always wins. I'm hoping the big bosses don't catch on and we end up with pizza for our year end bonus.

Thanks! Now that's a bonus worth working for!!!

Welcome to the Dis....and welcome to my PTR. Really appreciate you stopping in here; particularly if you're going to be there in Oct 2013 as well.

What are your dates?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Would love to meet up with you if the timing is right...
David does not know if he is coming... I am going for work.

Just checked with DH. Looks like he's going mid October, and the timing doesn't overlap with your trip. I'm not sure I'll be going....it is still during school term time.