2 Nights at GC Concierge, no parks. Worried

[DbleTheFun]

Hi all! we are less than 2 weeks away from our upcoming trip and I am starting to get anxious.

We are actually cruising from LA for a week, and decided to fly in 2 days early to stay at GC concierge. Since it's labor day weekend and we are arriving Friday and leaving for the ship Sunday, I made the decision to not even attempt the parks, as it will simply be insane that weekend.

We did book Goofy's kitchen for Friday night, and Lilo Stitch breakfast for Saturday morning... but other than that we have NOTHING planned (Which is sooo not me!)

We wont have a car, as we are using a car service to drive us to/from the airport and the pier.

What can we do that will keep us all entertained? I am assuming the pools will be great this time a year... but is there enough to do without hitting the parks? (It's just hubby and I, as well as our 2.5 year old twin boys)

We are going to WDW the first week in December, so we'll get our "park fix" then, but just getting worried that there will be to much down time, and everyone will be bored!!!!!

 

[Carrie in AZ]

I think your plan sounds like a dream! Truly! We LOVE spending time at the Disney Resorts and always leave wishing we had spent more resort time than we did.

You can swim and do your character meal on Friday, Saturday you'll have your character breakfast, then you could spend time going through DTD followed by a nap, then more swimming or vice versa, and then whatever sounds good for Sunday.

You'll have the luxury of the lounge and your boys could watch a little TV in there while you and DH sit at a nearby table.

I personally think it's all good. :thumbsup: Your boys will be able to see characters at their meals and swim -- sounds pretty fun to me! If you do decide to spring for some entrances, you could be in line for rope drop and get to do some fun attractions before it gets crazy busy. You could play it by "ear" and see how it goes and keep that option in the back of your mind.

Have FUN with your two little pirates!!

 

[lulubelle]

I think you will find plenty to keep you busy. DTD, the three hotels. Stop by the Koi ponds/waterfalls at DLH. They have a scheduled fish feeding, don't know what days/times. They have storytelling at the Grand. The pools are wonderful. I don't know about a character meal for dinner and then again for breakfast. It's a lot of food, excitment and expense. Maybe cancel one or the other. There are plenty of other great eating options at DLR, including all the great free items that come with concierge.

Have a great trip!

 

[kerickson]

The Grand Concierge has lots of fun activities. Not sure if all would be appropriate for 2.5 yr olds. Storytelling at night is great, they have scavenger hunts in the hotel, special Build a Bear access, pools if it's warm enough. I'd call the Concierge CMs ahead of time and ask for suggestions. I'm sure they will have lots of ideas. The boats/waterfalls at Disneyland Hotel are also a great way to spend some time. Not sure if you've taken your little ones to a movie yet, but there's also the theatre in DDD....

 

[DbleTheFun]

Thanks for easing my mind all!!!

As for the 2 character meals, we arent that concerned with that choice, since economically it is actually a great deal, since our boys are only 2, they are free to eat in the buffet, and would cost us more to order them something in a typical restaurant only for them to eat 2 bites and say they are all done! Plus we are used to doing it... for our WDW trips, we normally have 5 Character meals over 7 days!!!

swimming, concierge extras and DTD sound like a great plan.. thanks for reassuring me! Are the pools all pretty basic? I know there is a slide at one of them, but I am assuming it is 1 person at a time, which means our boys would be to scared (They love pool slides, but only when they can go down with us).

 

[Golfing Goofy]

The nice thing with the lounge is that you will be able to see the fireworks. Since it will be a very busy weekend, you can arrive early, stake out a great seat on the balcony and wait with snacks and drinks until the fireworks begin.

The pool has a very small kiddie slide in addition to the larger, one at a time slide. My kids are older, but I think the smaller one is off to the side and parents can see the kids and wait for them at the bottom of the slide. It is very shallow. Also, I think I have seen parents go down with their kids on the bigger slide.... but that might have been years ago, when our kids were younger and I used to have to wait for them in the pool.

HTH. Have a great time.

 

[nunzia]

How about the hotel tour? You can always catch a movie at the theaters in DTD..

 

[daneenm]

The nice thing with the lounge is that you will be able to see the fireworks.

I'm fairly certain you cannot see the fireworks from the GCH Concierge Lounge. It has been a number of years since we were there, but if recollection serves, it is facing the wrong way for that. You can see them beautifully from the DLH Concierge Lounge.

I dream of 2 days at GCH CL with nothing to do but relax! We will be there that weekend as well, not CL this time :-( Maybe we will run it to you at the pool. I will watch for 2 year old twin boys.

 

[tinkermell]

I noticed that your siggie doesn't list DL. Have you ever visited DL?

You may want to check it out if you have not seen it. Most people will agree that Fantasyland and Toontown are better at DL. More to see, and more themed. The whole park is also more intimate and charming in my opinion.

If you did, I would pick Saturday as your choice, cuz some AP holders are blocked that day. Go early in the morning, and take advantage of way less crowds.

Just a thought.

 

[DbleTheFun]

I noticed that your siggie doesn't list DL. Have you ever visited DL?

You may want to check it out if you have not seen it. Most people will agree that Fantasyland and Toontown are better at DL. More to see, and more themed. The whole park is also more intimate and charming in my opinion.

If you did, I would pick Saturday as your choice, cuz some AP holders are blocked that day. Go early in the morning, and take advantage of way less crowds.

Just a thought.

Both DH and I have been there in our younger years... our kids have never been. Only reason why we arent thinking of doing the parks this trip is simply because of the crowds. It being the last long weekend of the summer, and marathon weekend to boot, it is going to be insane. I dont want to start our holiday standing in hour long lines and being packed like sardines. This wasnt supposed to be a Disney holiday at all... but I snuck in a bit of the magic (couldnt help myself!)

BUT...if the crowds are low and it's true that some AP holders dont have access that day, this may be a real option!! Can you confirm that there is a blackout on September 5th?

We live closer to the West Coast than the East, so we will certainly take our kids to DL/DCA again in the coming years... letting them actually enjoy the parks! We just didnt plan this week with the parks in mind, and now it just doesnt seem attractive at all to try and fight the crowds.

As for the GCA CL, I believe you can watch the fireworks... read quite a few reviews where that was something people did... so we certainly plan on taking part in this one!

Hopefully with our Character Meals and staying on site...we will get just enough of that Disney Magic to get us ready for our trip in December where it is 100% Disney!!!

 

[kari12177]

ESPN zone. My DLH and DLS were in there for 3hrs playing games.

 

[GrandBob]

BUT...if the crowds are low and it's true that some AP holders dont have access that day, this may be a real option!! Can you confirm that there is a blackout on September 5th?

You can find the AP blockout dates here

Sept 5 is blocked out for both SoCal APs and DAPs

-Bob

 

[nunzia]

You can find the AP blockout dates here

Sept 5 is blocked out for both SoCal APs and DAPs

-Bob

Wow..thanks..I could have sworn earlier I saw that Sept 7 was a Deluxe AP blockout day.. Now I can upgrade to AP on my birthday and not wait for the 8th..Odd..I could have sworn..hmm

 

[DbleTheFun]

You can find the AP blockout dates here

Sept 5 is blocked out for both SoCal APs and DAPs

-Bob

Ok, well after doing some quick research, I think we will stick with our original plan (unless we get the total bug Friday night and decide on a whim to get last minute tickets for Saturday). Disney blocks dates for Deluxe APs for a reason... and my guess is that weekend is still going to be INSANE... and I dont think it's worth it for us. We'll just have to wait 2 months 'til WDW.

From the suggestions people have given here (THANKS BTW!) I can think of worse ways to start off a week long cruise, than hanging in the pool and partaking in GCH CL privileges.

 

[Golfing Goofy]

I'm fairly certain you cannot see the fireworks from the GCH Concierge Lounge. It has been a number of years since we were there, but if recollection serves, it is facing the wrong way for that. You can see them beautifully from the DLH Concierge Lounge.

Actually, you can see the fireworks, just not as well as the DLH Lounge. I agree, that the DLH Lounge is absolutely the best view!!! The GCH view is just the top of the fireworks. They pipe in the music, but you are not able to see the lower fireworks or the flying Tinkerbell or flying Dumbo, now. jBut, we still love it!

Here is the view from the lounge during the day.

 

[bumbershoot]

Ok, well after doing some quick research, I think we will stick with our original plan (unless we get the total bug Friday night and decide on a whim to get last minute tickets for Saturday). Disney blocks dates for Deluxe APs for a reason... and my guess is that weekend is still going to be INSANE... and I dont think it's worth it for us. We'll just have to wait 2 months 'til WDW.

Crowds have been very unpredictable this year. I personally could NOT do what you're doing....especially since your kids would be free to get into the parks. The only reason I easily justified APs for us including my then 3 year old was b/c we'd had two (short) FREE visits for him already!

I'm not sure how the marathon affects DL timing, but if your Sat is a Magic Morning day, you'd get that MM just by staying at the resort...you'd get Sunday MM too, but you're probably leaving too early for that.

Important thing with DL is to get in early early and get to Fantasyland before the others do. That way you can get those rides done much quicker than if you wait until later.

Note that the Disneyland hotels seem to have different policies for their slides than WDW resorts do. From what I've read, it seems taht WDW lets you wait at the bottom, and lets kids wear vests while going on the bigger ones. That doesn't happen at disneyland resorts, it seems (definitely not at DLH). So if there's a "baby" slide in the other pool at GCH (I didn't even know there were two pools there!) they'll need to use that. If it's like the "baby" slide at DLH, there's no regulation, and there were often a few kids going down at once, utter chaos to me.

Also, there's no pool hopping between resorts at DLR, just so you know.

I wish you luck in not going to the resorts, I just could'nt do it!