ALA June 2012 attendees

[moniqueand2]

Hi,

This is my first trip to DL and I'm going as part of the conference. For those more experienced, if I am in DL Park or DCA and have a meeting at DisneyLand Hotel or Grand Californian can I enter from the park? What about the opposite? I have park hopper tickets.

 

[AuntieKels]

ALA = American Library Association?

FUN!

 

[moniqueand2]

Yes, it's from June 21st through 26th.

 

[DisneytheKid]

Hi,

This is my first trip to DL and I'm going as part of the conference. For those more experienced, if I am in DL Park or DCA and have a meeting at DisneyLand Hotel or Grand Californian can I enter from the park? What about the opposite? I have park hopper tickets.

If its at the DLH, you just exit the park and go to the end of Downtown Disney where the hotel is located. It shouldnt take more than 5 minutes

 

[SeattleRedBear]

GCH has an entrance directly into DCA. DLH is about a 5-10 minute walk from the entrance plaza (depending on how long it takes to get through security).

Monique -- Are you planning on getting a conference twilight pass? I'm trying to keep my evenings free and happy to take people around the park. let me know if you want a guide.

 

[moniqueand2]

SRB,

What I've done (with the advice on this board) is bought 3 day park hopper tickets. I'm bringing my two kids ages 7 and 10. My sister and BIL are coming down from of all places Seattle! We are all staying at the Sheraton Park.

I arrive on Friday around noon. Wasn't planning to go to the parks. But am thinking about doing Goofy's Kitchen for dinner. The kids are looking forward to going to the pool. From noon to dinner I plan to get my badge at the CC, pick up my Disney tickets, and go to Downtown Disney. May hit a RUSA open house at 3:00 pm with the kids.

Then on Saturday, all of us are going to Disneyland. I will be using my MM on Saturday. If possible I may hit a session or two while Aunt and Uncle are with the kids. Plan is to be at DL for a loooong day and into the evening with breaks when needed.

Then on Sunday, I will need to attend the conference for most of the day. That's why I have the extra family members to watch the kids. They go back to Seattle that evening so when I finish up. I'll go to Disneyland with the kids. May do the picnic dinners and watch WOC. So my plan is to go Disney on Sunday.

On Monday, I'll take the kids around DL, DCA whatever. Likely no conference stuff for me on that day. Then we get on a 10:30 pm flight to head home.

If you'd like to critique my plan please go right ahead. It's my first conference in Anaheim and first Disney experience. Thanks SRB!

 

[SeattleRedBear]

Sheraton Park...perfect location to get to both the convention center, downtown disney and the parks. I've had friends stay there who have very good things to say about it.

I've got no critique...looks like you've thought everything through. Considering the crowds expected for the CarsLand/BVS opening and the fact that Sunday is not a blackout day for any flavor of annual pass, I would suggest focusing on Disneyland on Sunday and doing rope drop at DCA either Saturday or Monday (or maybe both).

Take advantage of fastpasses as much as practical. 7 & 10 are great ages for the parks. We took our grandsons last year for the first time (6 & 9 at the time) and had a fantastic time.

 

[sammons70]

If you're in Disneyland Park, you can take the Monorail from Tomorrowland right to Disneyland Hotel.

 

[DISHoppy]

ALA = American Library Association?

FUN!

ALA == library nerd fest.

And note, my DW works for OCLC, so I can poke fun @ that. And yes, she is attending ALA next weekend after our visit to DLR. Time to say farewell to Jay Jordan...a good man.

-Kevin

 

[moniqueand2]

Ha ha to you DisHoppy!

 

[SeattleRedBear]

Lynn Connaway (OCLC researcher) was giving a talk at NASIG when the announcement was made about Jay Jordan's replacement. She stopped her talk for a minute to find out from the audience who was announced.

Monique -- No one here has mentioned (but I'm assuming you might have read somewhere), there is a direct entrance to DCA from the Grand Californian which is fairly close to the GCH meeting rooms. If you're in DCA and need to head over to a meeting either at GCH or DLH (or vice versa), quickest way to go is out the GCH park entrance (which is located across from the entrance to GRR). From that entrance, just a 2-minute walk to the meeting rooms. Definitely longer in and out through DCA main entrance.

As for the monorail, yes, you can catch the monorail from inside DL to almost the DLH, but I've found it's generally just a quick (if not quicker) to walk then to take the monorail. If you happen to be in tomorrowland and catch one just as it's coming in, it's a timesaver, but otherwise, I'd walk.

 

[moniqueand2]

SRB,

What I've done (with the advice on this board) is bought 3 day park hopper tickets. I'm bringing my two kids ages 7 and 10. My sister and BIL are coming down from of all places Seattle! We are all staying at the Sheraton Park.

I arrive on Friday around noon. Wasn't planning to go to the parks. But am thinking about doing Goofy's Kitchen for dinner. The kids are looking forward to going to the pool. From noon to dinner I plan to get my badge at the CC, pick up my Disney tickets, and go to Downtown Disney. May hit a RUSA open house at 3:00 pm with the kids.

Then on Saturday, all of us are going to Disneyland. I will be using my MM on Saturday. If possible I may hit a session or two while Aunt and Uncle are with the kids. Plan is to be at DL for a loooong day and into the evening with breaks when needed.

Then on Sunday, I will need to attend the conference for most of the day. That's why I have the extra family members to watch the kids. They go back to Seattle that evening so when I finish up. I'll go to Disneyland with the kids. May do the picnic dinners and watch WOC. So my plan is to go Disney on Sunday.

On Monday, I'll take the kids around DL, DCA whatever. Likely no conference stuff for me on that day. Then we get on a 10:30 pm flight to head home.

If you'd like to critique my plan please go right ahead. It's my first conference in Anaheim and first Disney experience. Thanks SRB!

I'm getting a little worried about my plan. That Monday is going to be a long hot day. We'll have to check out of the hotel and check our bags. Then go to DCA/DL but we won't have a pool or room to go back to during the day. Then we will take a shuttle to the airport around 7:30 pm.

I could use one of my 3 day park hoppers and start on Friday around 1:00 pm but only get in about 5 hours of DL time. It's a grad night so I was planning to avoid Friday 6/22.

If I did that I could do something else on Monday. Perhaps a one day whale watching that I saw on Anaheim411.

From what I've read on these boards the crowds are going to slow us down on all of our days so I believe I needed 3 days.

 

[QueenGoblin]

Another librarian here! I am a WDW junkie but this will be my first trip to DL since I was 5. Traveling with my 5 year old DD and my mom (also a librarian, also attending the conference, it runs in my family like a genetic trait).

We arrive Friday morning and leave Tuesday afternoon. My mom and I are part of a panel Monday morning but otherwise plan to play it by ear, switch off keeping DD, etc.

My inclination is just to get park hoppers for all 3 of us but I can't decide whether to go for 3 or 4 days. The twilight ticket seems like a really good deal but I am worried it won't give us enough time in the parks considering we have a youngster in the mix. Like the OP, I am struggling with which days to do what and how much time to devote. Being a WDW girl I am having a hard time wrapping my head around how walkable things are at DL so any advice from those of you more familiar with the area would be appreciated. We are staying at DL Hotel.

 

[WittyreaderLI]

Hey,

I'm going to ALA solo so if anyone wants to meet up, I'm going to go to DL on Friday, Sat and DCA on Sunday, Monday.

Brian

 

[moniqueand2]

Another librarian here! I am a WDW junkie but this will be my first trip to DL since I was 5. Traveling with my 5 year old DD and my mom (also a librarian, also attending the conference, it runs in my family like a genetic trait).

We arrive Friday morning and leave Tuesday afternoon. My mom and I are part of a panel Monday morning but otherwise plan to play it by ear, switch off keeping DD, etc.

My inclination is just to get park hoppers for all 3 of us but I can't decide whether to go for 3 or 4 days. The twilight ticket seems like a really good deal but I am worried it won't give us enough time in the parks considering we have a youngster in the mix. Like the OP, I am struggling with which days to do what and how much time to devote. Being a WDW girl I am having a hard time wrapping my head around how walkable things are at DL so any advice from those of you more familiar with the area would be appreciated. We are staying at DL Hotel.

Are the park hoppers really that much more than a twilight? If you did a twilight on Friday. Could you do 3 day park hoppers for the remainder?

 

[KateDrake]

So jealous of all of you who get to go to ALA! I just finished my MLS and I'm still trying to find a library job, so hopefully I'll see you all at the conference next year. But I'm super bummed to miss this one, it's the best of both worlds - Disney and libraries!!!! Have a great time!

 

[SeattleRedBear]

OK, where to start?

Except for the 4-day park hopper, the multi-day tickets will cost more than the twilights:

• Twilight ticket: $50 (one park) $70 (park hopper)
• 3-day: $220 (one park) $250 (park hopper)
• 4-day: $245 (one park) $275 (park hopper)

This doesn't account for any discounts through a travel service, so you can probably get the multi-day tickets for slightly less.

But given the potential crowds and the fact that you've got children, I think it's well worth the extra money to get park-hoppers so that you've got the flexibility to get in early and work around the crowd times. And given that the difference between a 3 & 4 day ticket is only $25, I'd opt for the 4-day ticket.

As for the decision to not go on a grad night...I can't speak from direct experience. I don't know your kids, but we had one day where we didn't go back to the pool, but I made sure we did Abe Lincoln after lunch (nap time ;-) and also did some of the inside dark things (Tiki Room, Aladdin, Animation Academy, Disney Jr) so they were out of the heat. It's not the same as a pool break, but it's still a chance to sit down and chill for awhile.

 

[MadgeatMU]

I'll be at ALA too as a tag-along daughter-of-a-librarian and can't wait to check out Disneyland while we're there! I'm planning to get 2-day hoppers and go Thursday and Monday. I know it's going to be wicked crowded-any suggestions for "must-dos" for someone who goes to wdw about once/year and will ride anything and everything but has never been to Disneyland?

 

[MKEMSE]

I am going a couple days early for DL and then will hit the many AASL meetings that I have to attend

However, I do have a question. I normally wear shorts for WDW theme parks. I am looking at the weather & it shows some lows into the sixties at night. Will I look weird in shorts? Any advice on attire would be appreciated. Thanks!!!