You Mean There Are People Out There Who WANT To Read About My Planning? aka our June 2017 PTR

[jenng1983]

I've been reading Dis Boards for a while now, and apparently I registered way back when because when I tried to register, my email address was already in use. I thought these forums were strictly WDW, but now that I've stumbled upon the DLR section, and see people doing PTRs and TRs, I am super pumped! I will try to figure out the avatar and signature thing, but for now, I will start with a little about us. I'm a bit of a chronic planner, and I like to write, so this could get long. Settle in!

I'm Jenn, and I love coffee, red wine and Disney. I went on my first ever WDW trip in 1993, I was 9/10. It was my family's first ever (and only) family vacation (minus my dad, who was terrified to fly). My mom got the trip as a work incentive or something. It was originally a trip for 2 to the Bahamas but because of my dad's fear of flying, my mom asked if she could change it and they luckily said yes. They paid our flights, hotel and rental car, my mom paid for our tickets. I remember little bits here and there from it, and pull out our 3 photo albums frequently to look back on. There are 3 VHS tapes somewhere taken with our gigantic rented camcorder, but between a cross country move, a divorce and all of us going our separate ways, they're missing.

DH is James, he loves me and therefore Disney.

Kids are DSS, 15 and DD, 5. Both love Disney almost as much as me. I feel so blessed to be able to take them places and give them the experiences my parents couldn't/wouldn't. I scrimp and save every penny I can to be able to go, and with our Canadian dollar being so crappy right now, I need to save even more.

In February 2016, we took our kids on their first ever Disney trip, first time ever leaving Canada for them even. I won't go into too many details of that trip, as I may write a TR (is a year later too late to write one??), but I can't resist telling a little bit. We kept the secret until Christmas 2015 (SO HARD!) and they were so excited. We drove to Anaheim, from our home in Calgary. We left on a Friday afternoon, alternated driving through the night and following day with minimal stops until Vegas, where we arrived at noon Saturday. Stayed the night, and left early Sunday morning for Anaheim. Stayed for 8 glorious nights and sadly came home. This is when the Disney Bug bit the other 3 members of my family and we were planning our next trip back immediately ("Once in a lifetime" trip DH called it at the beginning... right.)

We talked about dates, and because that first trip was over DH's birthday, we decided that we would go this year in June, over DD's birthday. She will get to turn 6 years old IN Disneyland! I, of course, got carried away and told her how we'd do a princess makeover, eat lunch with the princesses and all sorts of other fun (expensive) things that popped into my head and immediately regretted, so I hope she forgets some of those things and/or forgive me if I don't follow through.

Ok, going to post this, go feed my animals and I'll be back with some of the details of our planning so far!

 

[jenng1983]

On to the planning!

Like I said, I love to plan. I follow many Disney blogs, Facebook pages and forums. Planning hard makes me happy and lets me extend the excitement. We learned a lot from our first trip that will hopefully makes a few things go smoother this time around, although the first time was pretty freaking awesome!

Our dates this year are June 3 - 11, 2017, including driving time. We are leaving home in Calgary, AB at 8am Saturday morning. Coffee will be consumed in high quantities, which will lead to frequent bathroom stops for the first little while, much to my husband's delight, I'm sure. DH is starting off the driving, then I'll drive after a few hours while he rests up and gets ready to drive through the night. I have anxiety, which wasn't fun on our February trip as I imagined blizzards and sliding off the road into a ditch, among many other morbid thoughts. None of which happened, thankfully. DH is a professional trucker and his driving skills are spectaular! This time I'm not concerned about weather, but am scared about crossing the border, in light of recent political things. This is going to be a fear until we actually get across. I've learned to accept the facts of my anxiety and live with it.

We have 3 day park hopper passes (yay!) that we didn't pay a dime for thanks to Air Miles, a Canadian rewards program (double yay!!). We're collecting every bit of American money we can, and putting it in our Disney can. Between birthday money, the few bucks here and there I get when a customer at our restaurant pays with USD and the USD tips my cousin donates to us he gets from the hotel he works at, we've almost collected enough to pay for gas there & back, without having to pay the exchange rate! Every little bit helps. DD (she has a name - it's Keileigh) loves putting "Disneyland money" as she calls it, into the can.

We originally were thinking of upgrading our park hoppers to AP's... we figured with that expense out of they way, we'd be able to visit more often, even with the 23 hour drive. While that idea is not completely off the table, we're in talks of expanding our Disney horizons, and DLR may not be our next Disney destination. More to come on that another day.

We are currently booked in at the Grand Legacy at the Park. It was recommended by a Facebook page I follow, and I got a promo code from her page. Since we booked, we were notified about a change to their breakfast offering. What was a hot breakfast buffet is now a grab & go breakfast consisting of a granola bar, cheese string, piece of fruit and bottle of water - for the same price we were paying before. With our budget, we were counting on that "free" breakfast, and to be honest, eating a granola bar & cheese string every morning for 6 mornings just doesn't sound appetizing (or filling enough for a day at the parks!) to me. We are considering switching to the hotel we stayed at last year, the Park Vue Inn, which we LOVED, and we would be paying just a little more.

That's it for today! I'll bore you all with more smaller details when the mood strikes!

 

[VandVsmama]

We are going to be at DL the week right before you! Planning on being at the parks Tues 5/30 - Sat 6/3. From what I know from prior trips to DL, the earlier you book a room, the better because as time moves along closer to your summer travel dates, room rates tend to go up.

So I'd suggest that if you're thinking of switching to Park Vue Inn, go ahead and book it now so you can get a less expensive room rate. If you wait a month, it will likely be more expensive.

For example, I booked our room at Hojo's about a month ago. Since then, the rate went up $15/night!

I, too, would be disappointed at the 'free breakfast' being just a granola bar, cheese stick, piece of fruit, & bottle of water. Meh. If you factor in the cost of a full breakfast in Anaheim for a family of 4, the difference in price between PVI & Grand Legacy at the Park might not be that bad.

 

[Frozen2014]

Great report so far. Just read if your Christmas surprise on another thread...Lol.

I hear you on the free breakfast. It takes care of one if your meals and makes a difference.

I'm a planner too and get obsessed with forums and research. But it helps keep busy and in the excitement of the trip, right?

Looking forward to reading more as your planning comes along.

 

[jenng1983]

Great report so far. Just read if your Christmas surprise on another thread...Lol.

I hear you on the free breakfast. It takes care of one if your meals and makes a difference.

I'm a planner too and get obsessed with forums and research. But it helps keep busy and in the excitement of the trip, right?

Looking forward to reading more as your planning comes along.

Totally! Any way to extend the excitement!

We are going to be at DL the week right before you! Planning on being at the parks Tues 5/30 - Sat 6/3. From what I know from prior trips to DL, the earlier you book a room, the better because as time moves along closer to your summer travel dates, room rates tend to go up.

So I'd suggest that if you're thinking of switching to Park Vue Inn, go ahead and book it now so you can get a less expensive room rate. If you wait a month, it will likely be more expensive.

For example, I booked our room at Hojo's about a month ago. Since then, the rate went up $15/night!

I, too, would be disappointed at the 'free breakfast' being just a granola bar, cheese stick, piece of fruit, & bottle of water. Meh. If you factor in the cost of a full breakfast in Anaheim for a family of 4, the difference in price between PVI & Grand Legacy at the Park might not be that bad.

The prices at the PVI have gone up $200 since I booked the Grand Legacy. I knew I should have stuck with what I know!! We're likely going to be booking soon. Just have to wait till we clear up enough on the credit card to accommodate the first night charge.

 

[VandVsmama]

Totally! Any way to extend the excitement!



The prices at the PVI have gone up $200 since I booked the Grand Legacy. I knew I should have stuck with what I know!! We're likely going to be booking soon. Just have to wait till we clear up enough on the credit card to accommodate the first night charge.

I know how that goes!

 

[jenng1983]

The Plan (for now)

Day 1 is arrival day! We should get into Anaheim and into our hotel around 10am. If our room is ready, we plan on checking in, unpacking, going for a swim, having lunch in DTD and check out the shops in DTD for the afternoon. We didn't really get to explore DTD last trip so I'd really like to this time. Find somewhere for a fun dinner, and go to our hotel to watch the fireworks from the breakfast patio. Probably more swimming too.

Day 2 is our first Disney day! We plan on starting our day in DCA, and getting to see Anna & Elsa before the lines get too long. We majorly lucked out last trip. We wandered into the Animation Building, not knowing they were there, in the middle of a busy afternoon. A CM pointed us in the direction of the line for A&E without us asking, and there was NO ONE IN LINE. We waited maybe 5 minutes. Moments after we got in line, the lineup immediately grew and it was a 60+minute wait. So, we want to get that out of the way so DD doesn't harass us the while trip to see them and so we don't end up waiting too long. Then we want to get to Toy Story Mania (DSS so badly want to ride this and with the terrible wait times, we never ended up doing it), get RSR fast passes, WOC fast passes and California Screamin'. After that morning, I'm thinking of doing lunch at Ariel's Grotto, part 1 of DDs birthday fun. After lunch is just flying by the seat of our pants. We do want to try to stay mostly in DCA (crowds permitting) as there is so much we missed there last year that we want to make sure we don't get distracted by DL and miss it again.

Day 3 is planned to be Magic Morning at DL! No real set plans there, but we want to bang out the longest line rides during MM, and then just do whatever. I'm thinking of doing the Aladdin's Oasis lunch package for the MSEP, so we'd watch the MSEP at night.

Day 4 & 5 are non-Disney days. Last year we went to Santa Monica, and loved every minute of it, but we want to try somewhere else this year. We know we want to do a beach day, and we know to avoid LA rush hour going back to Anaheim. We also want to go to Hollywood/LA and explore. I'm unsure if we can make 1 of these 2 non Disney days a mix of LA/Hollywood/Beach, and leave the other one for hanging out at the hotel, swimming, and DTD? Anyone have any insight into this? I don't want to be rushed if we cram it all into one day, but we don't want to be bored either.

Day 6 is our 3rd and final Disney day It's DD's 6th birthday! We are wanting to do a BBB makeover but are undecided if the castle package is worth it, especially with our not so hot exchange rate. Will make this decision closer to the date. The rest of today is just to do anything we didn't get done in previous days. This, I imagine, will be a big park hopping day.
​

 

[jenng1983]

How I included everyone in the planning

While I was doing the planning, I realized I was planning all the things I wanted to do, assuming my family would feel the same. So I sat down with each of them and asked them to list their Top 3 free experiences (rides, character experiences, etc) & Top 3 counter service places they'd like to go. From there, I complied all the things that were overlapped by 2 or more of us, and made those MUST DO things, which I made sure to include in our list. Those include: riding California Screamin (DH missed out last year, DSS and I loved it), Toy Story Mania, Fantasmic (if it's open when we go - otherwise, WOC), Splash Mountain, Animation Building (explore it rather than just get sucked into A&E and leave), and eating at Flo's Diner, Rancho del Zocalo and Hungry Bear Restaurant.

I'm really glad I did this - there were things my boys wanted to do that I didn't think was important at all. Yes, I'm the one doing all the planning, but that doesn't mean this is MY trip​

 

[jenng1983]

Right now, I'm feeling at a loss as to what to do now. We have to book PVI and cancel GL, but that has to wait a little bit. We have our passports & park tickets. I have a very detailed savings/budget spreadsheet, which includes how much we're planning on spending at each meal (for a total food budget of $880!! ), a souvenir budget, a "miscellaneous" budget of $200, just in case, and gas budget. We know roughly what we're doing each day. All that's left to do is to go through our summer clothes, making sure we all have enough, and if needed, get a few more. Then we wait till around 30 days out from out trip to make the Ariel's Grotto and BBB reservations, and at that time, decide if I am going to bite the bullet and surprise my family with Blue Bayou lunch reservations (all depends on $$$). Then, a week or so before, do the vehicle tune up, load movies onto the tablets and gather our road trip supplies. Then we go. I want more to do, but there is nothing left to do!! Basically, if it wasn't for money and this thing called work, we can go any time now.

 

[MerissaAndMomLoveDis]

We are going to be at Disneyland May 28-June 1 for our second trip. I'll be following your PTR, hoping to pick up some tips! ~Rhonda

 

[jenng1983]

We are going to be at Disneyland May 28-June 1 for our second trip. I'll be following your PTR, hoping to pick up some tips! ~Rhonda

Hi Rhonda! Welcome! Being a super planner, I actually know a lot about DLR for someone who's only been once. Feel free to ask any questions!

 

[Frozen2014]

Wow..you are even more of a planner than me. At WDW, I did plan down to the hour and what rides, but with FP+ you almost have to. Great that you have an idea for DL.

What a special present for your DD. I know what you mean..they grow too fast that every age is emotional. The BBB is great. My DD did it at WDW at 5.5 years and loved it. It really makes them feel like a princess. I don't remember the package name but it was the basic one. She brought her own dress (Anna) and just wore that. Was a great experience. Ariel's Grotto seems like a great character meal for a girl too.

 

[VandVsmama]

Right now, I'm feeling at a loss as to what to do now. We have to book PVI and cancel GL, but that has to wait a little bit. We have our passports & park tickets. I have a very detailed savings/budget spreadsheet, which includes how much we're planning on spending at each meal (for a total food budget of $880!! ), a souvenir budget, a "miscellaneous" budget of $200, just in case, and gas budget. We know roughly what we're doing each day. All that's left to do is to go through our summer clothes, making sure we all have enough, and if needed, get a few more. Then we wait till around 30 days out from out trip to make the Ariel's Grotto and BBB reservations, and at that time, decide if I am going to bite the bullet and surprise my family with Blue Bayou lunch reservations (all depends on $$$). Then, a week or so before, do the vehicle tune up, load movies onto the tablets and gather our road trip supplies. Then we go. I want more to do, but there is nothing left to do!! Basically, if it wasn't for money and this thing called work, we can go any time now.

Your PTR makes me smile because this is how I plan our DL trips, too. For example, my Excel spreadsheet has:

• $$ amount per person for souvenirs. Each person gets their own souvenir budget and once the money is spent, that's it!
• misc category of $$
• gas $$
• an approximate $$ amount/day + extra $$ for special meals like a character meal. I figure if we can stick to $100/day total for food (including any snacks bought in the parks) then we're doing well. I spend a lot of time on Allears.net to figure out where my family will want to eat (YDD is picky & not an adventurous eater) plus it helps me figure out how much the food will cost.
• tickets
• hotel
• food budget for the days we're not at DL, including our travel days

Re: the castle package at BBB -
It might be more cost effective for you to just get the Crown Package ($59.95) and buy the princess dress ahead of time. For example, you could find the dress on sale at the Disney Store at some time between now and when you leave for your trip. AND sometimes they run out of dresses in certain sizes for certain princesses so that way, you can be sure that your little princess will get the dress she really wants. You can bring the dress with you into the park. That's what we did when my DDs were 4 and 6.

 

[VandVsmama]

Princess dresses right now at the Disney Store website are around $45-$50, with prices varying a bit based on which specific dress and size. The deluxe dresses will run you ~$99. You really don't need the deluxe version. The $50 ones are really nice. I've found that the sizing runs a tad small, so if YDD wore a size 5/6, I'd get a 7/8 and it would fit perfectly.

To buy that same regular princess dress AT Disneyland will be maybe $20-$30 more expensive.

 

[jenng1983]

Princess dresses right now at the Disney Store website are around $45-$50, with prices varying a bit based on which specific dress and size. The deluxe dresses will run you ~$99. You really don't need the deluxe version. The $50 ones are really nice. I've found that the sizing runs a tad small, so if YDD wore a size 5/6, I'd get a 7/8 and it would fit perfectly.

To buy that same regular princess dress AT Disneyland will be maybe $20-$30 more expensive.

Yeah, we've bought many princess dresses at the Disney Store. I always buy them a bit big anyways, so they fit for a while.

I actually got one of the deluxe dresses at a thrift store once for some ridiculously low price like $10 or something. It was our favourite! But not worth the $100 they are brand new.

Wow..you are even more of a planner than me. At WDW, I did plan down to the hour and what rides, but with FP+ you almost have to. Great that you have an idea for DL.

What a special present for your DD. I know what you mean..they grow too fast that every age is emotional. The BBB is great. My DD did it at WDW at 5.5 years and loved it. It really makes them feel like a princess. I don't remember the package name but it was the basic one. She brought her own dress (Anna) and just wore that. Was a great experience. Ariel's Grotto seems like a great character meal for a girl too.

Yeah... the one thing making me want to lean towards the castle package is the front of the line escort at the Royal Hall. But, really, if I think about it as spending $150 on front of the line access, then it's not really a good deal.

Your PTR makes me smile because this is how I plan our DL trips, too. For example, my Excel spreadsheet has:

• $$ amount per person for souvenirs. Each person gets their own souvenir budget and once the money is spent, that's it!
• misc category of $$
• gas $$
• an approximate $$ amount/day + extra $$ for special meals like a character meal. I figure if we can stick to $100/day total for food (including any snacks bought in the parks) then we're doing well. I spend a lot of time on Allears.net to figure out where my family will want to eat (YDD is picky & not an adventurous eater) plus it helps me figure out how much the food will cost.
• tickets
• hotel
• food budget for the days we're not at DL, including our travel days

Re: the castle package at BBB -
It might be more cost effective for you to just get the Crown Package ($59.95) and buy the princess dress ahead of time. For example, you could find the dress on sale at the Disney Store at some time between now and when you leave for your trip. AND sometimes they run out of dresses in certain sizes for certain princesses so that way, you can be sure that your little princess will get the dress she really wants. You can bring the dress with you into the park. That's what we did when my DDs were 4 and 6.

Planning is my favourite thing to do! I feel so accomplished when I have plans like this.

Last year when we went, I brought envelopes filled with the money I'd budgeted for each day in individual envelopes. It worked really well because we weren't tempted in the moment to spend extra money, because we simply didn't have it on us. We saved majority of our souvenir shopping for the last day, and went to WoD so we didn't get too carried away with spending money day by day and not even realizing what we're spending.

 

[jenng1983]

Some road trip things we did last time, that we are doing again this time are:

Movies on tablets and headphones
An activity binder for DD, including colouring pages, mazes, a dry erase page (just a blank page, laminated, with some dry erase markers), magnet puzzles/games on a cookie sheet
Snacks!! Lots of snacks!
A "fun bucket" with things like Play Doh, pipe cleaners, foam letters and shapes, glue, etc

Hopefully the kids (and myself) will sleep most of the night and the drive will go by quickly.

Last trip we went directly there, stopping in Vegas for one night, but then took 3 days to come home, and went up to San Francisco, and took a more scenic route home. It was terrible. I think we were all so tired and just wanting to get home. We also didn't take into account how long it would take to get into SF with traffic and it was just... torturous.

This time we are planning on leaving Calgary on Saturday morning, driving straight through with minimal stops and arriving in Anaheim on Sunday morning. And then drive straight through to home on the way back. Should work out, as we won't have snow to contend with this time. As long as the kids' bladders co-operate, that is.

 

[VandVsmama]

Animation Academy is 1 of our family's FAVORITE things to do at DCA. The Minnie Mouse I drew is in my cubicle at work and the kids have their hanging up on the wall in their bedroom. And you can do it as many times as you want! AND they have several different character drawings throughout the day. AND it's a free souvenir to take home with you.

I grew up in the SF Bay Area, so I totally know what you mean about driving through San Francisco! It's a beautiful city, but a huge pain in the neck to navigate through.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Following along!

I hope we can do road trips to Disneyland again some day. We've done it a couple times before we had a child. We hope to get a camper (travel trailer) some day. But for now, flying makes more sense. But I HATE flying. (Side note - the Calgary area is totally on my list of places to travel to some day!)

I would be super annoyed to find out the breakfast had changed. When we planned our 2015 trip I had a hard time picking a hotel because I couldn't decide between more space or a better breakfast or what. In the end, we went with more space. We ended up getting cereal and stuff at Target and eating breakfast in our rooms most days. I think we're going to do the same this time.

I am so bad about a budget. We honestly don't really stick to it for vacation. Last time, we didn't even keep track of what we were spending on souvenirs and we spent way more than we should have. I think this time for souvenirs we might get some Disney gift cards. That's not to say we won't also spend extra money on more when the gift card runs out. But at least we'd be able to keep track of spending more. For food...we just eat whatever since it's vacation. Though, like I said, we prefer to cheap out on breakfast a bit. Partly because it saves time too. We spent around $800 on food last time for the 3 of us. Sounds like a lot but that was a total of 9 days so I don't think it's too awful.

Anyway...looking forward to following your planning!

 

[VandVsmama]

Just curious how you get movies on your kids' tablets. I haven't done that yet. Usually we drive our minivan to DL (which has a DVD player in it) and this time we're taking a smaller vehicle.

 

[jenng1983]

Animation Academy is 1 of our family's FAVORITE things to do at DCA. The Minnie Mouse I drew is in my cubicle at work and the kids have their hanging up on the wall in their bedroom. And you can do it as many times as you want! AND they have several different character drawings throughout the day. AND it's a free souvenir to take home with you.

I grew up in the SF Bay Area, so I totally know what you mean about driving through San Francisco! It's a beautiful city, but a huge pain in the neck to navigate through.

I had NO idea all the stuff available in the Animation Building when we were there! We walked in to get into some AC, happened to see that A&E were in there, did Turtle Talk with Crush then left. I only realized after we got home how much that place offers.

We were going into SF during rush hour... for a quick one hour stop there. It was madness. As a HUGE Full House fan, I wanted to visit Alamo square, see the painted ladies and then go see the actual house that acts as the outside of the house in the filming of the show. And we wanted to cross the Golden Gate bridge. So we fought traffic for an hour, found Alamo square, drove the few blocks to the Full House house, and left via the GG bridge. It was all worth it.

Following along!

I hope we can do road trips to Disneyland again some day. We've done it a couple times before we had a child. We hope to get a camper (travel trailer) some day. But for now, flying makes more sense. But I HATE flying. (Side note - the Calgary area is totally on my list of places to travel to some day!)

I would be super annoyed to find out the breakfast had changed. When we planned our 2015 trip I had a hard time picking a hotel because I couldn't decide between more space or a better breakfast or what. In the end, we went with more space. We ended up getting cereal and stuff at Target and eating breakfast in our rooms most days. I think we're going to do the same this time.

I am so bad about a budget. We honestly don't really stick to it for vacation. Last time, we didn't even keep track of what we were spending on souvenirs and we spent way more than we should have. I think this time for souvenirs we might get some Disney gift cards. That's not to say we won't also spend extra money on more when the gift card runs out. But at least we'd be able to keep track of spending more. For food...we just eat whatever since it's vacation. Though, like I said, we prefer to cheap out on breakfast a bit. Partly because it saves time too. We spent around $800 on food last time for the 3 of us. Sounds like a lot but that was a total of 9 days so I don't think it's too awful.

Anyway...looking forward to following your planning!

We just went for it and hoped for the best. We've never really been about road trips, as I have bad anxiety, but the end result was worth it for me so I fought the anxiety. I also hate flying.

We feel that we spend so little time in the hotel, the space isn't worth it but we love food, and are huge eaters, so the breakfast was a win for us over space.

Going with all cash and using the credit card as little as possible (thank you, Canadian currency!), we had to stick to a budget. Of course, we did go over. We had no idea that our Canadian debit cards wouldn't work most of the places we went, and we also had no idea how many gas stations didn't take cash during certain hours, so where we had to use debit/cc (overnight gas stops etc) we ended up using the card... freeing up some of the cash we'd earmarked for gas. So, naturally we spent that. The food was also more expensive than I'd anticipated so we ended up spending more there. This time, we know what to expect and are planning for it.

Just curious how you get movies on your kids' tablets. I haven't done that yet. Usually we drive our minivan to DL (which has a DVD player in it) and this time we're taking a smaller vehicle.

Umm... to be honest, I have no idea. My DH does that part. I'm 99% sure he downloads movies in mp3 format and it saves to the tablet as a media file. I can ask him and find out!

Also, when you purchase Disney movies, a lot of them come with Digital Download codes that you can use. I'm not sure about US Netflix, but we now have some Netflix shows that can be downloaded to be watched later, when there's no internet. So we plan on taking advantage of that too.