ª"˜˜ª¤.¸Team August 2013 Thread! (Part 2)¸.¤ª˜˜"ª&#9733

[Dizneefamily+4]

27 days to go! I really want the counting to be over.

Katie

23 for us - But I don't want the counting to be over! I know all too well how fast that trip goes, so I almost don't want it to get here! And then once it's over, I feel like summer's almost over!

 

[zabache]

Phew, just read 5 pages worth of posts, never again, lol

Pigletto: congrats and your puppy. We have two dogs and a guinea pig. Totally understand your family's decision. Post pics done can see him.

As for the posts on the OOP and DDP: when I first started planning the trip I didn't want to add the DP but we wanted to do character meals so for us it was better money wise to pick the DP over OOP. Since we are going to CRT which is 2 credits I have and ADR that needs to be payed OOP. I just have to figure out which one is the cheapest.

 

[racinjunkie]

I've heard that Toontown is better. And I didn't realize they had Pooh. I knew they still have Mr. Toad, so maybe that's why I thought there was no Pooh. I am actually very excite to ride Mr. Toad again - that is the WDW attraction I miss most!

So, have you stayed at the GC or DLH? I was leaning towards DLH, DW wants GC. And how many days would you suggest we do? Also, I'm debating a rental car...do you know if you have to pay for parking if you stay on property? I am making my list of questions to take to the DL boards on here, but it looks like I found an expert right here in August .

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You should definitely still ask questions on the DL board. I am FAR from an expert. We've only been once. We spent 2 and a half days and felt that that was plenty. However, (and this is a big however) we had a disney tour guide. My daughter had a wish granted by Make A Wish. She wished to meet Corbin Bleu (he was Chad in High School Musical.) We were flown to LA to have lunch with him and his Dad in Burbank. Since we were going to be out there we asked to extend the trip at our expense so we could do DLR. This came up at lunch and when we returned to our hotel we received a call from Corbin's Dad saying Corbin had arranged to have our entry comped along with 2 days of a tour guide. We did not receive any front of the line access but we did have help with touring. I still think the 2.5 days was plenty but we're pretty commando style tourers and that was before Carsland (early May 2009.)

I have not seen DLH but GC is AMAZING! We didn't stay there but we met the tour guide there both days and toured the resort. There's also an entrance straight from GC into DCA which we thought was really cool!

The biggest difference is the proximity. DL and DCA are literally a "courtyard" apart, a paving stone courtyard. And their Downtown Disney is also adjacent to this same courtyard.

I have no idea about your parking question but you definitely don't need a car if you stay at GC. I saw DLH but I don't remember it's proximity to the parks. We paid to park for our half day (before the 2 full days) but we didn't stay onsite. We had a car because we had driven from LA to Anaheim.

Good luck with your planning. We really liked DLR! If they had something comparable to AK we might even prefer it over WDW...

 

[DisMom1981]

Haha $100 worth of coffee......well when you look at it that way!!!!!!!!

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[DisMom1981]

No lol. It's that Disney brainwashing that gets you every time!! I don't know if anyone remembers I ordered that limited edition AK t-shirt for DS15 back in April. DW ordered something from Disney.com the other day and I got the shipping confirmation email today. I just realized I never got that t-shirt! So I called customer service, long story short, the item sold out, and they never notified me OR credited back my Visa!! Somehow after 20 minutes on the phone I ended up with a $40 online GC instead of $37.88 credited back to my Visa. And I went along with it! As if I need to order anything from Disney right now lol.

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Lol I'm sorry this is terrible, but I love this story! I could see myself in the same circumstance!

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[DisMom1981]

Time for a happy dance....

DW and I are registered for the Tinkerbell 1/2 marathon and the Neverland 5k at Disneyland in January!!!!!!!

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!! I've never been to DL, and only to CA once. I feel like I need to learn all new things to head over to the other coast!

I've never been away from the east coast. Future trip to DL is going to be a definite with a full fledge CA tour bc I told DH I'm only going once lol. I've heard DL is great and they have Cars Land so that is a plus in DS eyes. This is the most amateur Disney post ever lol.

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[lovingeire]

I've heard that Toontown is better. And I didn't realize they had Pooh. I knew they still have Mr. Toad, so maybe that's why I thought there was no Pooh. I am actually very excite to ride Mr. Toad again - that is the WDW attraction I miss most!

So, have you stayed at the GC or DLH? I was leaning towards DLH, DW wants GC. And how many days would you suggest we do? Also, I'm debating a rental car...do you know if you have to pay for parking if you stay on property? I am making my list of questions to take to the DL boards on here, but it looks like I found an expert right here in August .

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Well, I can't be a total expert since DCA has changed so much since I went! I've been home numerous times, but get wrapped up in visiting family, etc and never seem to do touristy stuff!

I stayed at DLH once for one night. My dad took my brother and I to breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen. (This by the way was a lifetime ago!) They are both nice properties, but GC is definitely more the "deluxe" property with DLH being more their moderate and Paradise Pier being the value. I would think 2-3 days is more than enough. I've honestly never gone more than 1 day, but we just hop back and forth and do what we love. (The curse of being a local) If I took my youngest I'd want 2-3 days since he's never been.

DL has a bus service to and from the airport like Magical Express, however it's not included in your package. I would use the bus though as they do charge daily for parking. Then if you want to explore more of SoCal there is car rental pick up locally like at WDW that you could use to rent a car to go to San Diego, etc. or to head north to LA.

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

You should definitely still ask questions on the DL board. I am FAR from an expert. We've only been once. We spent 2 and a half days and felt that that was plenty. However, (and this is a big however) we had a disney tour guide. My daughter had a wish granted by Make A Wish. She wished to meet Corbin Bleu (he was Chad in High School Musical.) We were flown to LA to have lunch with him and his Dad in Burbank. Since we were going to be out there we asked to extend the trip at our expense so we could do DLR. This came up at lunch and when we returned to our hotel we received a call from Corbin's Dad saying Corbin had arranged to have our entry comped along with 2 days of a tour guide. We did not receive any front of the line access but we did have help with touring. I still think the 2.5 days was plenty but we're pretty commando style tourers and that was before Carsland (early May 2009.)

That's an amazing story! I bet your daughter was thrilled to have lunch with Corbin and then go to DL. Make-a-Wish is a wonderful organization. I had a sibling who had a wish granted, and they definitely make dreams come true!

 

[skedinger]

Hi everyone! I've been lurking for a couple of weeks and decided to take the plunge and register. I'm not sure how I didn't discover this board until recently.

We're headed to WDW in August and I'm very excited. It will be our longest trip ever. I have a work conference from 8/8 - 8/13 at the Beach Club and then a holiday with the family from 8/14 - 8/22 at All Star Movies. The days seem to be moving so s-l-o-w-l-y, but at the same time I don't want them to move too fast or the trip will have come and gone before I know it!

Looking forward to getting to know everyone!!

 

[racinjunkie]

That's an amazing story! I bet your daughter was thrilled to have lunch with Corbin and then go to DL. Make-a-Wish is a wonderful organization. I had a sibling who had a wish granted, and they definitely make dreams come true!

MAW was more than I could have wished for, they were amazing. Corbin and his Dad were also amazing. We actually went to NY the following January to see Corbin on Broadway. I emailed his Dad to let him know we were going to be there and he invited us on stage after the show but didn't tell Corbin we were coming. He remembered us and was so excited to see how much healthier my daughter looked. They are truly good people.

 

[amomma23]

Lol...you could run! Believe me, if I can do it anyone can!

As of right now it looks like the boys won't be coming. That decision was harder to make than getting up at 6am to run nine miles the other day! I am still so torn, but the biggest issue is school, followed by expense (we are going to Rome in April and I'm crossing my fingers for a BB for August), followed by logistics. Both races start around 5 am, which means we will be getting up around 3:00 and I just think it will be a lot to worry about getting them settled somewhere and getting us to the starting line on time. There is a little part of me that is still thinking maybe my mom could fly out with them after school Friday and we can all head home Monday (MLK day). We plan to go out on Wednesday as the 5k is Friday morning and we will need to be at package pick up by Thursday afternoon.

So we shall see... But then I try to alleviate the guilt by realizing this is something we've been training for and working towards for a long time now, and I don't think it's a bad thing for them to realize that as adults we can have goals for ourselves that can be individually achieved and rewarded. Plus DS17 will be going to WDW for his class trip in March (add that to the expense list!) and the others will have senior trips in the future. And we are spending 10 days at Disney this August after just having done the Disney cruise....have I convinced anyone yet that I shouldn't feel guilty lol??

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I feel your guilt! DH and I are heading back in November for the Wine and Dine Half weekend. Leaving the kiddos behind is going to be really, really hard. We never do anything without them. The last time we went out to eat alone was at Cali Grill on our trip last September!
I agree that it's a great example to set a (healthy) goal and meet it. It's going to be hard to leave them, but I think once we get there, we'll have a blast!

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

MAW was more than I could have wished for, they were amazing. Corbin and his Dad were also amazing. We actually went to NY the following January to see Corbin on Broadway. I emailed his Dad to let him know we were going to be there and he invited us on stage after the show but didn't tell Corbin we were coming. He remembered us and was so excited to see how much healthier my daughter looked. They are truly good people.

That story might even top the other story! It's good to know some celebrities are really as nice as they seem.

 

[squirrel4569]

Had a wake up call yesterday that makes me realize that the trip is closer than I thought!

Went to the Disney store in the mall to kill time while my cell phone was being worked on and saw they had gotten rid of all of the summer stuff and had back to school items already on the displays!

I was hoping that we could get some of the bathing suits with the swim shirts for the girls but they didn't have any summer stuff at all. There is some on the website but the only swim shirts they have are boy themed and while my girls like Cars and Toy Story and such I don't think they want it on their swim suit. I'd rather them have the swim shirts both for modesty reasons and for sun protection, so I'm hoping we can find something girly.

Think I'm going to have to hit Wal-Mart or Target here soon to grab something on clearance.

On the upside though having the back to school stuff available is great for our plan to have autographed backpacks.

 

[ThereYouSeeHer]

Went to the Disney store in the mall to kill time while my cell phone was being worked on and saw they had gotten rid of all of the summer stuff and had back to school items already on the displays!

Already?!?! Ugh....I have to get clothes and swim suits for our girls, too!

 

[pigletto]

Already?!?! Ugh....I have to get clothes and swim suits for our girls, too!

You can get them from the Disney store!!!
They are still having their twice upon a year sale and they are advertising "Swim Shop" savings!

 

[Pirate princess 2]

It is crazy how soon they clear out summer stuff and get the back to school stuff out. My kids were home on summer vacation for less than a week when I received my first back to school ad.

Pigletto, I'm sorry to hear you cancelled your trip, but congrats on the puppy. It is wonderful that you stick around to talk to all of us. Your kids are going to be so surprised about the Dec trip. I don't know how you keep it a secret. I'd be terrible at it.

 

[pigletto]

It is crazy how soon they clear out summer stuff and get the back to school stuff out. My kids were home on summer vacation for less than a week when I received my first back to school ad.

Pigletto, I'm sorry to hear you cancelled your trip, but congrats on the puppy. It is wonderful that you stick around to talk to all of us. Your kids are going to be so surprised about the Dec trip. I don't know how you keep it a secret. I'd be terrible at it.

Thank you. I needed that. I had a moment of "Oh my god what have I done!" a few minutes ago
It's still the same, and the right choice, and we're so excited for puppy. It's just a little rough.
The bank account will have a healthy pet emergency fund now though and it was the right thing to do

 

[Koh1977]

Just heard about this thread on the Resort Boards Poly thread! We go EVERY Aug. and are headed to the Poly 7/31-8/8. Can't wait!!!

Glad you made it over here!! I am sure we will see you at the Poly!

 

[Koh1977]

23 Days to go!! Did you switch to CR yet?? ;-)

Lol no availability, remember? And I loved the Poly when we were there pre-DD. (the first time I'd stayed on property besides Fort Wilderness Campground) I just figure my decision was made for me, so I'm good with it.

 

[Koh1977]

I think if you enjoy the desserts and prefer that over appetizers or something else, the DDP is great! I prefer to eat my desserts a little while after dinner or while wandering around, so OOP is better for that.

To be honest, the most painful part of paying OOP is buying the mugs! I will ask the boys if they even want them this trip, but if they say yes, which they probably will, I will buy them. DW will drink the $100 worth of coffee by the end of the week so it'll balance out .

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I too think we would save maybe a bit if we did OOP instead of the DxDP, but I like being able to have dessert with a meal and not feel guilty about ordering it or not ordering it because I don't think I should or something.