2 Trips, 2 Coasts and so much to plan for 2023

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Hello Everyone!!

I am back here, looking for advice and just someone to listen to my crazy disney planning! We are looking to plan 2 trip for next year! And I can't wait! I already have countdowns on my phone for both, even if they are fairly far off trips at this point. But it just helps me to know we have a trip coming up.

So, who are we?
IMG_0427
From Left to Right: Morgan (14), myself Ariella, Gwen (12), and DH Andy

We have been visiting Disney World since the girls were 3 and 5. We have loved all of our trips over the years and loved how they have evolved as the girls have grown. And these next 2 trip are just the same, they will be slightly different for us.


Trip #1:
A California / Disneyland Trip over the girls Spring Break. (early April)
The girls both have basically a week and a half off for Spring Break this year (we are entering in an era where they are in different schools and technically different school districts). It varies depending on when passover falls with Easter. And 2023 has a bit of a longer one. So, we can take a long 11 -12 Day long trip, which will help with getting used to the time change. (We are in New Jersey on the east coast)

We obviously want to go to Disneyland! We went to Disneyland back in 2018, it was a short trip. Andy had a work trip planned and we tagged along before that started. But it was a last minute thing and we were only in the park 3 days. So, we did as much as we could but we have been wanting to go back ever since.

Family Photo w/ Walt
Here is us from that trip. As you can see the girls were a bit smaller then.

Since we can go for a long period of time, we also want to do some things in California as well. We are thinking San Diego this time, as we saw some of LA already. I don't know too much about San Diego, other than the zoo is to be great. So, we will def have that on our list.

My initial questions for this trip:

• Anybody know if the drive from San Diego to Disneyland is manageable? It say right now to drive is an hour and a half. Which isn't terrible. But I swore I looked before and it said 3 hours?
• What should we do in San Diego? Any recommendations, hotels, restaurants, places to see? I really have lots to research with this part of the trip.
• How many days should we plan for Disneyland? I know we want at least 4 days, 3 wasn't enough for us last time. I am thinking 5 so we can also relax in there as well.

Trip #2:
Disney World in July!
Again, with keeping on the not missing school front, we are regulated to summer. AND Morgan is doing Marching Band at the High School. And they have band camp practices all summer but August is 3 weeks of the main part. So, July it is!

But that also means, it's an excuse to go for Gwen and my birthday! We have gone for Morgan's and most recently Andy's. Gwen is 2 days before mine, so we can get both in one trip!

We also have been talking about this trip and how to manage the heat. We have been talking about alternating park days with rest days. Which is great in theory until you actually map out the days with a standard week trip. So, I will have to figure out what makes sense.

It also means, the hotels we decide to stay at will need to hav lots for us to do. We will probably have a few pool days in there.

I don't have as many questions for this trip, as this is my comfort zone for planning. But things I have been thinking about for this trip:

• Which hotels do we want to stay at. What Hotel do you think has the best pools?
• How to make each birthday special. Any thoughts? I have a few but still too new to talk out just yet.
• Things to do on the "rest days" Suggestions?

Anyone who has made it this far. Thanks for following along on my planning! I can't wait to plan both trips out!

 

[NJlauren]

Hi! Following along, currently sitting in a babaycare center with a sleeping 4 year old so might as well play on DIS.

We did the drive in 2018 from San Diego to Disneyland I don’t remember it being that bad. We survived haha!

We enjoyed both spots and April will be lovely weather!

I don’t have to many suggestions as it was a while back, but it was fun and we are looking at going back in 2024!

I think 4 days is pretty good, I don’t think you need to much more then that but could also stay a week

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

We did the drive in 2018 from San Diego to Disneyland I don’t remember it being that bad. We survived haha!

We enjoyed both spots and April will be lovely weather!

thanks!

I think 4 days is pretty good, I don’t think you need to much more then that but could also stay a week

I am thinking 5 days because I want to convince DH to stay at the Grand Californian or Disneyland Hotel and if we do, I will want to spend some time at the pool and resort as well.

Enjoy your trip!!!!

 

[missjackiemcg]

YAY for 2023 trip planning!!!!! I want to go to Disneyland so badly. It's on our list for some day at the moment.

We'll be in Orlando in July, too, but on the dark side LOL We're taking Jimmy to Universal for a week to celebrate his 8th grade graduation. We're planning to drive because we're doing a road trip to Hilton Head after USO, so hoping to squeeze in a Disney Springs trip while we're there to get a little magic

 

[vamassey1]

Two trips to look forward sound great.

I want to go to Disneyland so bad. Danielle is going with 3 friends next month. They are planning a week so they can do some South California stuff. One of her friends' parents live there so no hotel cost and they get into the parks for free. I don't know if they have any plans for traveling further out.

Glad you'll make it back to DW too. It's so hard when you have to juggle kids schedules. We're finally past that, except when we want to travel with Michelle and the kids.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I’m about to head to DLR and CA so I will keep you posted! Can’t wait to hear all your plans!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

YAY for 2023 trip planning!!!!! I want to go to Disneyland so badly. It's on our list for some day at the moment.

You guys def need to at some point! I know it's hard to make that switch.

We'll be in Orlando in July, too, but on the dark side LOL We're taking Jimmy to Universal for a week to celebrate his 8th grade graduation. We're planning to drive because we're doing a road trip to Hilton Head after USO, so hoping to squeeze in a Disney Springs trip while we're there to get a little magic

Ha! We are waiting to go to Universal for the new park. So, maybe next trip.

I want to go to Disneyland so bad. Danielle is going with 3 friends next month. They are planning a week so they can do some South California stuff.

FUN!!!!

I’m about to head to DLR and CA so I will keep you posted! Can’t wait to hear all your plans!

Def!!!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Two trips? Yay! I can't wait to hear all about the planning.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Two trips? Yay! I can't wait to hear all about the planning.

I already have an update. Is it too soon to be posting again?

 

[BigOnDis]

I don't have as many questions for this trip, as this is my comfort zone for planning. But things I have been thinking about for this trip:

• Which hotels do we want to stay at. What Hotel do you think has the best pools?
• How to make each birthday special. Any thoughts? I have a few but still too new to talk out just yet.
• Things to do on the "rest days" Suggestions?

Anyone who has made it this far. Thanks for following along on my planning! I can't wait to plan both trips out!

I have been on Disboards for a long tine time and today was the first time I found pre-trip reports are a thing.

Best pool has got to be Yacht and Beach Club, but my family has always enjoyed AKL as well.

Make sure the resort knows that it’s someone Birthday, sometimes they will sprinkle pixie dust and make it special. I have always wanted to get a special cake made. We usually just do a nice dinner.

We like to visit different resorts on “rest days”.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

I have been on Disboards for a long tine time and today was the first time I found pre-trip reports are a thing.

There is so many boards on here! I don't even look at half of them.

Best pool has got to be Yacht and Beach Club, but my family has always enjoyed AKL as well.

Agreed! Which is why I am leaning towards at least part of our stay at Yacht Club.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Trip #1 Update, Yes Already!!!

So, little backstory, 2019 we decided to get Annual Passes for the family and we did a bunch of trips that year. We took our last trip on the APs February 2020 and well, we all know what happened after that! BUT we started accumulating miles with American Airlines in hopes of using them for a 50th Birthday trip to Hawaii. Again, "something" made us decide to postpone that trip. And instead we decided to do Disney, as it was familiar to us. So, we planned 2 trips a February trip and an April trip. And we ended up using the airfare miles for the February Trip.

Then as the February trip got closer, we just didn't feel comfortable going. Which ended up being silly as we still got "the thing" after the April trip. But I digress..... With the cancelling of the February trip, we had these miles just burning in our pockets!!!

Well, with the decision to go to California, I wanted to use those miles while the prices weren't too crazy. So....

I booked our flights yesterday!!! Woo Hoo!

We are flying out on a Wednesday Morning flight 8:30-ish which will get us into San Diego 11:00-ish SD time. And we are flying back the week and half later on a red eye on Saturday. And I was able to use all out miles and only needed to buy $75 worth of extra miles to make the purchase. So, our flight to California is costing us $160! (I included the taxes from this transaction and the one before)

It will be a nice long trip (11 Days), with probably half the time in SD and the other half at Disneyland!

Next for this trip: Looking into hotel options for both San Diego and Disneyland.


Trip #2:
My next item to figure out.... I want to grab some sort of hotel reservations for the July trip. I try to grab the deluxe hotel reservations early so I can get standard room rates.

My random thoughts for hotel options at the moment:

Yacht Club - Probably do this for the second half of the trip. I mean it is the best pool. I was kind of hoping to stay somewhere different but the pool keeps bringing me back to it.

Riviera - Speaking of trying something new, Andy's sister has stayed there a few times now and they love it. And I was contemplating it for part of the stay. Plus we love Caribbean Beach for having the Skyliner there and that would fit the bill

Poly - I would love to stay here again. It is a beautiful hotel. I would love to finally make it to Trader Sam's and staying there would make it easier. But I guess if we have true rest days we could prioritize that as well. They do all have couches still? Which would be good for Gwen to sleep on.

French Quarter - I asked Gwen were she would want to stay on her birthday. And she mentioned here! The girls love the feel of the resort itself, the way it feels with the streets. But it is such a pain, as it is bus only! And food options are pretty low for staying at the resort all day.

Caribbean Beach - This is probably our overall favorite Moderate Resort. I know it's large but that doesn't bother us. Love the pool, the pool bar and the Skyliner. Plus I can book a room with a 5th Sleeper. That is becoming more and more important to have as the girls get older.

Animal Kingdom Lodge - This is a bucket List hotel for us still. But I keep holding off, as I want to stay there with my sister and Brother in law. He is a huge animal and zoo guy. And I keep waiting for the day they want to some with us.

Too many choices? YES!!! But I literally bounce around like a bouncy ball. Not know what to do!

Usually we stay at a moderate for the first half and then switch to a deluxe. It helps keep the cost down. But Since it is a 2 birthday trip.... I feel like we could do 2 deluxe resorts...

When I am in that thinking, I am leaning towards starting at the Poly and then switching to the Yacht Club.

But then I smarten up and think we really should do a moderate and then switch to a deluxe. But that leans me towards Caribbean Beach and then Yacht Club. And we have done this many times already and doesn't feel special.


I also need to figure out the timing of the split stay. Gwen's birthday is Wednesday and she said she didn't want to be moving hotels on her birthday, which is fair. but Wednesday is usually when we switch...

Decisions Decisions.....

 

[SEAGULL59]

Following! Excited to see how these two trip plans progress.

 

[BigOnDis]

I am curious, do you do split stays because you like the variety it gives or just to save money? The reason I ask, is that we did a split stay once, a long time ago, and my wife says never again. If you are only doing it to save money, could you just do AKL for the whole trip, it might average out to be about the same, since it is one of the cheaper deluxe resorts? I am biased as AKL is the first deluxe we ever stayed at when it first opened and it has a special place in our hearts.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Following! Excited to see how these two trip plans progress.

Glad you are here!!!

I am curious, do you do split stays because you like the variety it gives or just to save money?

It's both. We like trying new places, and this helps since we usually go once a year. So, we can try a new resort without committing to it for the whole trip. And saves money for sure! And that is a big factor as well.

I have gotten good about packing one suitcase with stuff for the first resort and then one for the second resort. So, one suitcase never gets opened unitl half way through.

I am biased as AKL is the first deluxe we ever stayed at when it first opened and it has a special place in our hearts.

I feel like they happens! We all have our favorites. AKL has a big downfall for us. Busses! But I do want to stay there sometime!!!! We love Yacht Club and it's not the cheapest deluxe but the cheapest in the boardwalk area. So, similar.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Yay for flights on points! Hubby is racking up the AA miles and status with his work trips to Korea. Every time I'm annoyed at the solo parenting aspect (so multiple times a day!), I just have to say, "free trip to Hawaii, free trip to Hawaii."

Poly would be a bucket list trip for me, but Crescent lake is just so darn convenient! I know people like the monorail resorts, but monorails can go down, too. I love being fully in control of just walking for 2/4 of the parks.

 

[vamassey1]

Congrats on booking your DL flights! It makes it more real.

Hard choices on your WDW stay. I will say that the Poly is my bucket list resort so I would towards it.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Yay for flights on points! Hubby is racking up the AA miles and status with his work trips to Korea. Every time I'm annoyed at the solo parenting aspect (so multiple times a day!), I just have to say, "free trip to Hawaii, free trip to Hawaii."

Poly would be a bucket list trip for me, but Crescent lake is just so darn convenient! I know people like the monorail resorts, but monorails can go down, too. I love being fully in control of just walking for 2/4 of the parks.

This is us but for London! Rack up the points!

 

[becauseimnew]

Two trips!! That is awesome!
We lived in SD for 6 years and we try to go back every couple of years. This year we stayed downtown, it was perfect but we didn't have a car we just Ubered and focus on the downtown/Balboa park attractions. If you don't want a car I would recommend downtown, if you are going to get a car I would recommend staying in La Jolla. We usually stay at Hyatt hotels because we can transfer our Chase points and they are pretty inexpensive on points.
All the things you must do: visit the Zoo and Wild Animal Park, you'll need a car to visit the wild animal park. Eat all the food, Sushi Deli is delicious, Tacos el Gordo amazing tacos, they have some authentic and delicious Vietnamese and Korean food.
Don't miss out on Coronado Island, visit La Jolla Cove we saw small sharks near the shore when we visited in October, and La Jolla tide pools. So much to do and not enough time.

 

[amazingact21]

I'm here!
Really looking forward to following along on your 2023 trip plans! Both parks in one year, sounds amazing!!!