Disneyland take 2~July 2013 PTR aka I obsess over making decisions!-updated 7/8

[teentoddlermom]

Hi we are staying at pp too! I only got a teeny discounted aaa rate too. But I really want to stay on property and I think pp seems pretty convenient to both parks!

 

[stacy~**]

Hi we are staying at pp too! I only got a teeny discounted aaa rate too. But I really want to stay on property and I think pp seems pretty convenient to both parks!

Can't wait to stay there too. When we stayed at the Hojo in 2007 it was pretty convenient so I am expecting this to be amazing. Plus I love the idea of walking in and out through DTD.....especially now that there is an Earl of Sandwich. I imagine many a late night dinners there.

 

[stacy~**]

Getting Stuff Done and Watching Movies

​

Yes...I just randomly gave this post a title. Not sure why? But I kinda like it.

So as far as getting stuff done~

Photopass plus is ordered
AAA membership has been purchased
Car rental (for 10 days @ $255) with AAA discount has been made


Some progress...right??

As far as movies....well back in December I decided that to make a countdown until our trip would be depressing since it would be like a million days so instead we chose 20 movies that we wanted to watch before the trip. It was set to be about 1 movie every 10 days. Wellllll....we haven't done all that well and are really going to need to get watching. We have now watched 5 (the 5th one being last night). So here is our list...a few are pretty random but that is just how it goes.

Pinocchio
Adventures of Icabod and Mr. Toad
Alice in Wonderland
Lady and the Tramp-Watched!!
Brave
Oliver and Co
Brother Bear
Pocahontas-Watched (last night!)!
Sword and the Stone
Wall-E-Watched
Cars
A Bugs Life
James and the Giant Peach
Fantasia
Meet the Robinsons
Secret world of Arietty
Hercules-Watched
Up
Tower of Terror-Watched!
Frankenweenie

So....I see alot of pizza, popcorn and movies in the next 60ish days!!

 

[Sherry E]

Can't wait to stay there too. When we stayed at the Hojo in 2007 it was pretty convenient so I am expecting this to be amazing. Plus I love the idea of walking in and out through DTD.....especially now that there is an Earl of Sandwich. I imagine many a late night dinners there.

Some suggestions -

1. Go out the front entrance of PPH to Disneyland Drive, cross the street and take the "short cut" from the PPH through the Grand Californian Hotel lobby to get to wherever you are going. (I don't know if the grandfather clock is back in the GCH lobby - it was missing when I was there in December -- but if it is, look for the hidden Mickey on the clock.) It's a nice way to start and end the day -- enjoying a bit of that elegant GCH atmosphere.

From the GCH you can either follow the signs to the entrance to DCA and go into DCA that way, or follow the signs to DTD and head to the parks that way. Earl of Sandwich is at the opposite end of DTD from where the parks are -- it is close to the Disneyland Hotel, ESPN Zone, Rainforest Cafe and all of those places.



2. Look for the not-so-hidden white-on-white Mickey icons in the bedding on the PPH beds. Actually, there are Mickey icons in several places in the rooms, but those can sometimes be overlooked unless one is really examining the bedding up close.



3. Make sure to check your order before you leave Earl of Sandwich! The DTD Earl of Sandwich is a great value and the sandwiches are good. However, they make a lot of mistakes, from minor things (like leaving certain ingredients on the sandwich that the customers asked to be left OFF of the sandwiches), to major mistakes (like giving a customer the completely wrong sandwich).

I have since read other accounts of mistakes made at EoS, so it seems to be something that happens fairly often.

Because my sandwich was so snugly wrapped and packaged up in the convenient take-out bag, I just took it back to the PPH to eat in my room and I didn't discover the mistake until then. I should have checked the order before I left the restaurant.

On a different night, my friend noticed she had the completely wrong sandwich as she was eating it, but she ended up liking the sandwich and the front counter was busy with customers so she didn't complain.

Mistakes and all, I still ended up getting food from Earl of Sandwich 3 nights in a row in December, so they did a good job for the most part!

 

[Cory's Gal]

Hi Stacy!

I just started following along on your TR! We will be in CA for 10 days in July too, the 19th-29th. We are staying at the Candy Cane Inn the last 5 days and doing DL/CA. It will be our first trip! I saw you were still waiting on getting tickets, we just did the Orbitz deal buy 3 days get the 4th free, and I think they had the same deal for buy 4 get the 5th free. It's worth checking out. I still need to order PhotoPass+ also, I can't believe we are right about the 2 month mark already! I am looking forward to following along on more of your planning!!!

~Beth

 

[stacy~**]

Some suggestions -

1. Go out the front entrance of PPH to Disneyland Drive, cross the street and take the "short cut" from the PPH through the Grand Californian Hotel lobby to get to wherever you are going. (I don't know if the grandfather clock is back in the GCH lobby - it was missing when I was there in December -- but if it is, look for the hidden Mickey on the clock.) It's a nice way to start and end the day -- enjoying a bit of that elegant GCH atmosphere.

From the GCH you can either follow the signs to the entrance to DCA and go into DCA that way, or follow the signs to DTD and head to the parks that way. Earl of Sandwich is at the opposite end of DTD from where the parks are -- it is close to the Disneyland Hotel, ESPN Zone, Rainforest Cafe and all of those places.



2. Look for the not-so-hidden white-on-white Mickey icons in the bedding on the PPH beds. Actually, there are Mickey icons in several places in the rooms, but those can sometimes be overlooked unless one is really examining the bedding up close.



3. Make sure to check your order before you leave Earl of Sandwich! The DTD Earl of Sandwich is a great value and the sandwiches are good. However, they make a lot of mistakes, from minor things (like leaving certain ingredients on the sandwich that the customers asked to be left OFF of the sandwiches), to major mistakes (like giving a customer the completely wrong sandwich).

I have since read other accounts of mistakes made at EoS, so it seems to be something that happens fairly often.

Because my sandwich was so snugly wrapped and packaged up in the convenient take-out bag, I just took it back to the PPH to eat in my room and I didn't discover the mistake until then. I should have checked the order before I left the restaurant.

On a different night, my friend noticed she had the completely wrong sandwich as she was eating it, but she ended up liking the sandwich and the front counter was busy with customers so she didn't complain.

Mistakes and all, I still ended up getting food from Earl of Sandwich 3 nights in a row in December, so they did a good job for the most part!

Once again, thanks Sherry for all the "insider" tips! We leave Friday!!!!

Hi Stacy!

I just started following along on your TR! We will be in CA for 10 days in July too, the 19th-29th. We are staying at the Candy Cane Inn the last 5 days and doing DL/CA. It will be our first trip! I saw you were still waiting on getting tickets, we just did the Orbitz deal buy 3 days get the 4th free, and I think they had the same deal for buy 4 get the 5th free. It's worth checking out. I still need to order PhotoPass+ also, I can't believe we are right about the 2 month mark already! I am looking forward to following along on more of your planning!!!

~Beth

Hi, Beth! Thanks for reading! I was pretty much a terrible PTR writter. I will have to up my game for my TR! This was just practice. I DID end up getting the Orbitz deal when they offered the additional percent back through ebates. We leave Friday!! Hope your trip is great!

 

[stacy~**]

So...here we are...the week that we leave!! I know I didn't do too well keeping this PTR moving but I really intend to make it all up to you with an amazing TR!

We are pretty much ready...besides packing, etc. Our plan is as follows:
Friday-travel day
Saturday-Getty Museum, Santa Monica/Venice Beach
Sunday-Beverley Hills (trolley tour)/Rodeo Drive, Griffith Park, dinner with local friends in Los Feliz
Monday-9:00am WB tour and Hollywood Blvd stuff
Tuesday-Tar Pits, LACMA, The Grove (hopefully extra taping) and FM-check in to PPH!!
Wednesday-Park hopping,Carsland during EE, Minnie and Friends late breakfast
Thursday-Park hopping, Carnation Cafe dinner
Friday-Walk in Walts footsteps tour/parks
Saturday-park hopping
Sunday-park hopping (our 12th wedding anniversary!)
Monday-get up and go walk in offered, check out and leave

Can't believe it is almost here!! Follow me on twitter! I will be tweeting!!

 

[DisneyMarvelStarWars]

Finally we are about 2.5 people collectively vegetarians so once we get to DL, I will do my best to document vegetarian eats as I don't think there is as much info out there for DL as there is WDW.

Wow, you got to meet Bolt! That is so awesome!!!

 

[mrsmoore]

Found your PTR!! Cool you are there the same week!!

 

[Sisa]

Looking forward to hearing your TR, we are also staying at PP. Curious to see how you like it.

 

[stacy~**]

Wow, you got to meet Bolt! That is so awesome!!!

Thanks for stopping by! Bolt was a very fun character to meet!

Found your PTR!! Cool you are there the same week!!

We leave in the morning!! SO excited...I can't believe our trip is here! Ironically I am feeling very unprepared even though I have planned this trip farther out than any other!! Have a great time, too! Maybe we will run in to you!!

Looking forward to hearing your TR, we are also staying at PP. Curious to see how you like it.

Super excited to stay in the resort this trip!! I hope it lives up to my expectations! Can't wait to share (although that means my trip will be over... ).

 

[stacy~**]

We are back!! Our trip was SO awesome! What I thought would be a trip we wouldn't likely repeat for another 6 years or so...is now possibly going to need to share in a rotation with WDW. The magic and convience at DLR is so perfect!

I have decided to start a TR separate from this report and I probably won't start it for a few weeks...I need some time to enjoy summer before it's over (and do some of the "behind the scenes" stuff like photobucket and photopass).

My trip report will include all the Hollywood things and will also highlight many of the foods we ate (3 our of 4 of us are vegetarians). I will link it here once I get going...

One of our favorite photo ops from this trip:

 

[mrsmoore]

Welcome home!!! Wasn't it hard to come back to reality??!!

 

[stacy~**]

Welcome home!!! Wasn't it hard to come back to reality??!!

SO hard being back home. I am already scheming and planning for next year...although my oldest is applying for the Disney College Program (WDW) this fall so I have to wait to see if she is accepted before I can really start planning. Fingers crossed!!

I hope your trip was great and can't wait to read along your TR to see what we did that was similar. I am dying to know how the Ross Lynch thing went. My oldest REALLY wanted to surprise my other daughter but I just couldn't see potentially wasting our last day doing that. If you were in line that morning we passed you at about 6:50 on our way to DCA!

 

[SarahDisney]

Okay. I just read through all 3 pages of this, and I have a few comments:

1 - We've never stayed onsite at DL (we've stayed at two different offsite hotels), but for my next trip (hopefully my belated 30th birthday trip in September 2016, possibly also with the Disneyland 1/2 marathon) I'm thinking about staying onsite ... since our last few trips have been WDW and totally immersed in Disney magic, I'm worried that staying offsite would be a huge letdown (especially because where we stayed last trip, which was on Katella, felt like really leaving the Disney bubble ... when we stayed on S Harbor, it wasn't as bad, but it still wasn't the same as staying at a Disney hotel). So I was interested to see that you chose to spend the extra money to stay onsite - I may end up doing that next trip.

2 - I think Universal CityWalk is the best part of Universal. We did Universal on our first SoCal trip and it was really a letdown and felt like mostly a waste of time ... but we did enjoy exploring CityWalk a bit (until my knee gave out, at which point we ended up just sitting at Coffee Bean drinking coffee)

3 - You planned a lot of good SoCal stuff! Now I just have to go back to the TR to see if you got it all done.... I'm dying to do the Getty, but Beth doesn't do art museums (I found this out when I dragged her to an art museum with family, because I love art museums), so no luck for me so far.

4 - You look so different with long hair (in the 2007) pictures! I'm so used to seeing pictures of you with short hair that I almost didn't recognize you!