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

[buzzrelly]

Sounds like you're going to have an amazing year!

I visited San Diego more than 20 years ago, and it was beautiful but I don't have any advice. We did go to the zoo and loved it!

So happy you'll be getting to DLR again...I should be having my first trip there in just about a month!

I hate split stays so I would just pick a hotel and stay. I know you've been to YC many times, but that gets my vote! I love it there and in July I'm guessing you'll need lots of pool time!

 

[Disney102015]

Following along! So fun that you have 2 trips in the works. We always love the Poly especially when we know we’ll have rest days - we love the pool there, the castle view, and the ability to boat or monorail over to the other resorts for meals. But you can’t go wrong with Yacht Club!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

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."

Just keep your eye on the prize with that!!! Hawaii will be amazing one day!!!

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.

I agree to both. And really makes me want to do Poly for a couple days.

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

Disney just makes it hard, almost all of the resorts are great.

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

London would be great!!!

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.

This is great!!! I am keeping all of these suggestions!!!! Thank You!

I just assumed we would need a car, didn't even occur to me that would could get away with out one.

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

Thanks! I am excitied about it. And it is helping me forget about my attempt to have a Thanksgiving trip this year.

So happy you'll be getting to DLR again...I should be having my first trip there in just about a month!

YEAH!!! You will have to give me all the tips! Where are you staying?

I hate split stays so I would just pick a hotel and stay. I know you've been to YC many times, but that gets my vote! I love it there and in July I'm guessing you'll need lots of pool time!

We don't mind split stays. Honestly we have gotten so used to it, we don't even think twice about it. But I do think 2 is our limit we did 3 once and it was just too much.

Following along! So fun that you have 2 trips in the works. We always love the Poly especially when we know we’ll have rest days - we love the pool there, the castle view, and the ability to boat or monorail over to the other resorts for meals. But you can’t go wrong with Yacht Club!

Thanks for following along. So, I will probably do a post about it, but that is part of the problem, I am not sure if we would have a full rest day at the Poly depending on how the days work out. I have to figure that out.

 

[missjackiemcg]

Hooray for being able to use your miles for those flights!!! What a great deal!

We are so boring and always just stay at Pop because it's cheapest and we don't really do resort days. I have always wanted to stay at Poly though, so I vote there so I can live vicariously through you Also, hope you are able to get into Trader Sam's! We still haven't done it either except to sit in their outside area...so not the same!

 

[NJlauren]

What an amazing deal for CA! That’s such a good amount of time! Will be lovely!

Ugh I hate having to pick a hotel! Similar issue here thinking of going back next year in august, but it would be a short trip, 5 days max, and I don’t have exact dates yet, so trying to decide do I book a hotel with dates i think will work, and where??

I’m leaving Rivera, so I’m going to vote you should stay there too!

 

[dbug 89]

If you can find a way to make ot work SanDieago zoo is awsome as is the safari park so see if you can squeeze both in if possible

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Hooray for being able to use your miles for those flights!!! What a great deal!

I am really glad we got to use the points so efficently! Now I just have to hope they don't change the flights on us!

We are so boring and always just stay at Pop because it's cheapest and we don't really do resort days.

That is NOT boring!!! You are at Disney. We all hmm and haw at where to stay but in reality we are all in Disney what more do we need!!!! Plus I totally get liking to stay at the same place each time. It's familar! I am going to hopefully write a short post but as of now, we are doing Caribbean Beach for the whole trip. CB has become our go to for a "cheap" option.

Also, hope you are able to get into Trader Sam's! We still haven't done it either except to sit in their outside area...so not the same!

Ironically we might make it to the original Trader Sam's before the Disney world one! I am def putting TS on the Disneyland to-do list. But we will see, that one is hard to get into as well.

Ugh I hate having to pick a hotel! Similar issue here thinking of going back next year in august, but it would be a short trip, 5 days max, and I don’t have exact dates yet, so trying to decide do I book a hotel with dates i think will work, and where??

They all have pluses to them! It makes it hard to decide!

I’m leaving Rivera, so I’m going to vote you should stay there too!

I was leaning this way until I priced it out! It is pretty pricey for being a skyliner hotel. I know everyone loves it but I don't know.... We might just stay Caribean Beach and just come over to try the food and walk around!

If you can find a way to make ot work SanDieago zoo is awsome as is the safari park so see if you can squeeze both in if possible

I def think we are going to do both of those! I saw they have elephants and Koalas. My 2 favorite animals!!!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Good Morning Everyone!!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend! Today is prep for back to school tomorrow! Yes, we still haven't gone back to school yet! We are almost always the last to post the traditional back to school photos on facebook.

We went to brunch in Philadelphia on Saturday, And it was just as good as Homecomin'!

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Our traditional vacation cheers! Just not as good of a vacation but a few days off is a few days off!

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We all shared this massive Warm Pecan Cinnamon Roll. It def rivalled Morgan's Gaston's cinnamon roll!

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Morgan's Andoulile Sasage and Bisquits

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I got the Short Rib Chaquilles... these were really good!

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Andy got the Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich... It was amazing!!!!

And Gwen got her beloved Chicken and Waffles!
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Morgan also had her first football game! She actually liked it!!! Morgan and Gwen are NOT into sports, so I wasn't sure how she would like playing at the games. But she had a great time.
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Gwen.... on the other hand was stuck sitting with her lame parents... so she wasn't quiet as excitied about being there.

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You have to zoom in a little on the trombones to see Morgan, but hint she is the short one. She is the only girl trombone and 1 of 3 girls in the whole brass section.

Our terrifying mascot!
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We are the Vikings...

Gwen drew a sketch of what she thought the mascot should look like.
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That is what we have been up to!

I haven't done too much planning. I DID change our November reservation to July!

For now we are staying at Caribbean Beach for the whole stay. It was the easiest to make the modification. (See we didn't have to pay anything, I was able to transfer the deposit this way)

I do hope we can add a few days at the end at a deluxe but we will see. Even if we don't, we love the Caribbean Beach pools and it's location.

The general plan for the July trip:
Fly in Friday or Saturday. (that will probably depend on flight $$$)
Park Day Sunday & Monday
Rest Day Tuesday
Gwen's Birthday Park Day - Wednesday
Rest Day Thursday
My Birthday Park Day - Friday
Park Day - Saturday
Fly Home Sunday

My Rest Day "plans" are:
Swim, rest, dinner in Disney Springs and See Cirque de Soleil
Swim, rest, dinner at Hoop Dee Doo Review
I am hoping we could try and hit Trader Sam's on Saturday when we arrive. Especially if we fly in Friday.


April California Trip:
I also started looking at hotel options for Disneyland. Anybody have recommendations on good neighbor hotels?

I think we might start at a good neighbor hotel for a few nights and switch to Grand Californian for the last night or 2? We will see. It is pretty $$$ but I would love to at least spent one night there and walk into the park using the seperate entrance and pools. Most of the good Neighbor Hotel pools are well. hotel pools.

I also think some activities we want to do in San Diego:

• San Diego Zoo
• San Diego Safari
• Comic Con Muesum
• Whale / Dolphin Boat tour
• Possibly the Hop on Hop off bus to see a bunch of stuff
• Gaslamp Quarter

It's just a list of things I have found by poking around here and there. Still need to look at hotel options in San Diego and think about what we want to do ON Easter. Probably a zoo, maybe?

 

[Woth2982]

Anybody have recommendations on good neighbor hotels?

I have Stayed at Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier, Fairfield Marriott (the one with the Pizza Hut in in) and Red Lion Hotel. Of all of them, DLH was the best for obvious reasons, however the only one I would consider going back to of the 3 was Red Lion. It is reasonably priced and CLEAN! The rooms are a good size, a family of 4 would easily fit with room to spare. It is walking distance to the parks, maybe a quarter mile max. I have stayed there three times and would not hesitate to book it a fourth. I actually may be doing so for October of Next year. We want to visit some friends who moved to San Diego area and we all want to do a couple day at DLR with our kiddos.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Good Morning Everyone!!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend! Today is prep for back to school tomorrow! Yes, we still haven't gone back to school yet! We are almost always the last to post the traditional back to school photos on facebook.

We went to brunch in Philadelphia on Saturday, And it was just as good as Homecomin'!

Untitled

Untitled
Our traditional vacation cheers! Just not as good of a vacation but a few days off is a few days off!

Untitled
We all shared this massive Warm Pecan Cinnamon Roll. It def rivalled Morgan's Gaston's cinnamon roll!

Untitled
Morgan's Andoulile Sasage and Bisquits

Untitled
I got the Short Rib Chaquilles... these were really good!

Untitled
Andy got the Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich... It was amazing!!!!

And Gwen got her beloved Chicken and Waffles!
Untitled


Morgan also had her first football game! She actually liked it!!! Morgan and Gwen are NOT into sports, so I wasn't sure how she would like playing at the games. But she had a great time.
Untitled
Gwen.... on the other hand was stuck sitting with her lame parents... so she wasn't quiet as excitied about being there.

Untitled
You have to zoom in a little on the trombones to see Morgan, but hint she is the short one. She is the only girl trombone and 1 of 3 girls in the whole brass section.

Our terrifying mascot!
Untitled
We are the Vikings...

Gwen drew a sketch of what she thought the mascot should look like.
Untitled


That is what we have been up to!

I haven't done too much planning. I DID change our November reservation to July!

For now we are staying at Caribbean Beach for the whole stay. It was the easiest to make the modification. (See we didn't have to pay anything, I was able to transfer the deposit this way)

I do hope we can add a few days at the end at a deluxe but we will see. Even if we don't, we love the Caribbean Beach pools and it's location.

The general plan for the July trip:
Fly in Friday or Saturday. (that will probably depend on flight $$$)
Park Day Sunday & Monday
Rest Day Tuesday
Gwen's Birthday Park Day - Wednesday
Rest Day Thursday
My Birthday Park Day - Friday
Park Day - Saturday
Fly Home Sunday

My Rest Day "plans" are:
Swim, rest, dinner in Disney Springs and See Cirque de Soleil
Swim, rest, dinner at Hoop Dee Doo Review
I am hoping we could try and hit Trader Sam's on Saturday when we arrive. Especially if we fly in Friday.


April California Trip:
I also started looking at hotel options for Disneyland. Anybody have recommendations on good neighbor hotels?

I think we might start at a good neighbor hotel for a few nights and switch to Grand Californian for the last night or 2? We will see. It is pretty $$$ but I would love to at least spent one night there and walk into the park using the seperate entrance and pools. Most of the good Neighbor Hotel pools are well. hotel pools.

I also think some activities we want to do in San Diego:

• San Diego Zoo
• San Diego Safari
• Comic Con Muesum
• Whale / Dolphin Boat tour
• Possibly the Hop on Hop off bus to see a bunch of stuff
• Gaslamp Quarter

It's just a list of things I have found by poking around here and there. Still need to look at hotel options in San Diego and think about what we want to do ON Easter. Probably a zoo, maybe?

Fairfield Marriott on Harbor Boulevard. Not the best pool but clean rooms and attentive staff. Plus the Panera is right there (sorry we were obsessed as our closest one is now like 30 minutes away). The courtyard next door looked schnazzy with covered parking and an epic looking water slide!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

No real ideas for Cali as I haven't even started thinking about a trip west. My girls are still crap at even a one-hour time change.

We went to brunch in Philadelphia on Saturday, And it was just as good as Homecomin'!

Looks yum! Where is this? We might have to take a ride into the city...

 

[vamassey1]

We went to brunch in Philadelphia on Saturday, And it was just as good as Homecomin'!

The food really does look good!

Morgan also had her first football game! She actually liked it!!!

My oldest, Brent did 4 years of High School Band and them college marching band. He didn't like sports but had a great time in the band with his friends. I'm glad Morgan is enjoying it.

You have to zoom in a little on the trombones to see Morgan, but hint she is the short one. She is the only girl trombone and 1 of 3 girls in the whole brass section.

I'm very impressed she is doing trombone. Brent was alto sax in winds.

I haven't done too much planning. I DID change our November reservation to July!

Moving up reservation is always good.

For now we are staying at Caribbean Beach for the whole stay. It was the easiest to make the modification. (See we didn't have to pay anything, I was able to transfer the deposit this way)

Sounds like a solid plan. We enjoyed our 1 stay there.

My Rest Day "plans" are:
Swim, rest, dinner in Disney Springs and See Cirque de Soleil
Swim, rest, dinner at Hoop Dee Doo Review
I am hoping we could try and hit Trader Sam's on Saturday when we arrive. Especially if we fly in Friday.

Love your rest day plans.

I have nothing to contribute towards your DL trip since I have never been. Danielle arrived late last night/early this morning.

 

[NancyLuvsMickey]

Anybody have recommendations on good neighbor hotels?

We stayed at The Aniheim Hotel this summer and we would stay there again... It was about a 10 walk from our room to security... It's an older hotel and only 2 stories tall but the pool is very big... Not a Disney pool but bigger than most hotel pools... We booked a deluxe room with 2 king beds... The beds were so comfortable!!! Way better than the beds at Animal Kingdom Lodge... And having a king bed was so nice!!! I don't know if the rooms with queen beds are just as comfortable... https://www.theanaheimhotel.com/ There is a Mexican restaurant right down the street in the strip mall... They do mostly carryout, but do have 2 tables in there to sit at... The food was soooo good!!! We ate there 3 times in 24 hours... I wish we would have found the place sooner!!! It's called Sabrosada... http://www.sabrosada.com/

 

[SEAGULL59]

That brunch looked delicious!! Your plans for your trips seem to be coming along. Good luck picking your hotels. Looks like you have some good suggestions!!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

, however the only one I would consider going back to of the 3 was Red Lio

Fairfield Marriott on Harbor Boulevard. Not the best pool but clean rooms and attentive staff. Plus the Panera is right there (sorry we were obsessed as our closest one is now like 30 minutes away). The courtyard next door l

Where is this? We might have to take a ride into the city...

No real ideas for Cali as I haven't even started thinking about a trip west. My girls are still crap at even a one-hour time change.

I'm very impressed she is doing trombone. Brent was alto sax in winds.

When she said she wanted to do trombone she was so tiny! Andy played Alto Sax.

Danielle arrived late last night/early this morning.

I can't wait to hear how her trip goes!

The Aniheim Hotel this summer and we would stay there again... It was about a 10 walk from our room to security... It's an older hotel and only 2 stories tall but the pool is very big... Not a Disney pool but bigger than most hotel pools... We booked a deluxe room with 2 king beds... The beds were so comfortable!!!

I was surprised that most of the hotel pools are just meh. But I guess it makes sense, they are all fairly old and not a lot of space in the area.

The food was soooo good!!! We ate there 3 times in 24 hours... I wish we would have found the place sooner!!! It's called Sabrosada... http://www.sabrosada.com/

Oh! I love a recommendation like that! Adding it to my list!

DLH was the best for obvious reasons, however the only one I would consider going back to of the 3 was Red Lion. It is reasonably priced and CLEAN!

Red Lion is one I haven't heard before. I will def check it out! Thanks!!!

Fairfield Marriott on Harbor Boulevard. Not the best pool but clean rooms and attentive staff. Plus the Panera is right there

I will def check it out!

 

[DLo]

Sorry , a little behind. Took a DIS break after my May trip .

We have gone to the San Diego area twice. We stayed outside in Carlsbad so can’t give advice on where to stay closer in . I think there is plenty to do . There is a museum campus near the zoo at Balboa Park - lots of options there. We went kayaking to see sea lions in La Jolla and hiking in Torrey Pines National Park. We rode bikes on the pacific coast highway . Not sure how active you want to be. Where we stayed had an area that had badminton, croquet , and other outdoor games that we would do on our down days before/ after pool time. When we went with the kids , it was unseasonably cold so we didn’t go in the ocean . Oh , we also went to sea world and Birch Aquarium at Scripps .We live in Atlanta where we have an amazing aquarium so that was a little underwhelming for us to be honest . We toured the USS Midway and went to a Padres game. I have two active boys so obviously some of this won’t work for your family .

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Personal Update: It's looking like a San Diego / Disneyland trip is likely to be our big family vacation in Summer 2023, so I'm hear to steal all of your planning notes.

So far, we're looking at flying into San Diego, doing what we want there, then returning the car and taking the train to Anaheim. No car in Disneyland, but staying at one of the easy walk hotels (Looking at Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park Entrance because it has plenty of rooms for family of 5, short walk, great splash area). That will allow us to fly into San Diego but out of John Wayne without a one-way rental car fee.

Not sure how many days to do in Disneyland, as people say you just don't need as much time as World. You felt like 3 was too short, right?

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Sorry , a little behind. Took a DIS break after my May trip .

The good thing about me starting this WAAAY too early, you aren't really late! Ha!

hiking in Torrey Pines National Park.

We aren't super outdoorsy people BUT a hike might be nice one day if the views are good. I will have to check out Torrey Pines Park.

ent to a Padres game. I have two active boys so obviously some of this won’t work for your family .

The girls are def not into baseball but Andy might be!

Personal Update: It's looking like a San Diego / Disneyland trip is likely to be our big family vacation in Summer 2023, so I'm hear to steal all of your planning notes.

FUN!!!! Maybe we should have a dis meet in jersey here and swap ideas this winter.

then returning the car and taking the train to Anaheim. No car in Disneyland

Hmmm there is a train to Anaheim... Interesting!!! We def don't plan to have the car once we get to Disneyland. There is a car rental place walking distance of Disneyland. Going to look up the train situation.

but staying at one of the easy walk hotels (Looking at Courtyard Anaheim Theme Park Entrance because it has plenty of rooms for family of 5, short walk, great splash area

I was looking at that but for us, the splash pad is kind of a downer for us. As adults I don't want to go in the splash area and even M & G are getting a little too old for that. I am lean ing towards one of the hotels in that area for a few days and then switching for 2 nights at Grand Californian... I think... If we go that route, the hotel might just be a close cheap one to save for the last few days.

I am also thinking, that way, too if we don't want park ticket that last day, we can just enjoy the hotel and pool for a last vacation day.

Not sure how many days to do in Disneyland, as people say you just don't need as much time as World. You felt like 3 was too short, right?

Personally, i would def do 4 at least. We did 3 days and didn't get to a bunch of stuff. As East Coasters who aren't going to make it out there often the extra day lets you get in everything (hopefully) And maybe do some things more than once.

I am thinking 5 days for us, since we a) have a long trip and b) that way we can be a little chill about it. You know? I don't want to feel like we need to go hard core. LIke if we want to go back to the hotel and relax we will feel like we can.

That will allow us to fly into San Diego but out of John Wayne without a one-way rental car fee.

We are booked round trip at San Diego. Andy didn't want to fly in and out of different airports. We talked about just lyft or uber back. But I am going to check out the train as well.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

But I am going to check out the train as well.

It's $30 one way with Amtrak, multiple trains a day.

In San Diego, there's a free shuttle between the train and the airport (3 miles between them).

In Anaheim, it's an 8 minute Uber/Lyft or a bus that's $4 each between the train and Disneyland area hotels. Since there are 4 of you, Lyft probably cheaper than 4 bus tickets and definitely faster.

Since you're flying back out of SD, the cost of keeping the rental and paying to park might be cheaper than the train round trip. Depends on how good a rate you get on the car, how much your hotel charges parking, etc. A Lyft from between Anaheim and SD is going to run you $140ish plus tip, so a bit more than the train. It's a drive.

With us, it's definitely less to drop the car in San Diego, thus avoiding one-way rental fees, and take the train up to Anaheim one-way. We'll just Uber to John Wayne on departure day.

 

[afwdwfan]

Anybody know if the drive from San Diego to Disneyland is manageable?

Well, we did it in 2015 with 2 young kids and it wasn't bad. One of them was even fighting a stomach bug that morning and we made it from San Diego to the CGH parking lot without stopping between incidents, so I'll call that a win.

Gaslamp Quarter

That's a good one. Great places to eat around there. I was in San Diego for a conference when we were there so we didn't get to do a whole lot as we were only there for a few days then we were in a hurry to get to Disneyland. We did visit the USS Midway, which was walking distance of our hotel one afternoon and enjoyed seeing it.