2020: Time to see the West Coast (but still find time to go to Orlando too)! complete 10/22

[Raeven]

I'm sure everyone saw the news that February brought Disney ticket price increases.

Ugh yes

Also, when we were out to dinner last night for Valentine's Day, we were reminscing over how we spent previous Valentine's Days and started talking about Beetle House. It's a restaurant here in NYC that celebrates Halloween and Tim Burton and we went there one year. Well, it dawned on me that their second location is in LA!

This looks so fun! It was on my list for potential things to do.

 

[missangelalexis]

Wow thank goodness you jumped on the cheaper tickets! That's a huge savings!

 

[NJlauren]

This ticket increases are getting a bit out of hand! Just saying !!

 

[Ngwira]

California Trip Basics

So let's start with our biggest trip for the year- and the one that's the furthest away but stressing me out the most lol.

When we first decided we were going to California this year, I planned a crazy complicated trip that had us flying to Arizona, driving to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, San Francisco and all through California to end in Disneyland.

Well, I didn't really think that- Mike thought it for me. Also, I started plotting out the days and it would be like a 4 week long trip. I get 5 weeks of vacation a year but I don't think my boss would approve me to take 4 of them at once nor do I want to- hello there's lots of other trips to plan!

So, I cut down the plan and resigned myself to the fact that some things would have to wait for another trip.

Anyway, I'm still working on the day to day details of the plan but here's how it currently stands.

On September 6, we'll fly into San Diego (on some flight that will be booked at some point ).

We'll spend the 6-9 in San Diego. On the 9th, we'll rent a car and drive to Los Angeles where we'll stay until the 11th.

Some time on the 11th, we'll drive to Sequoia National park and we'll spend the 12-14 exploring Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Yosemite National Park.

The night of the 14th, we'll drive back to Anaheim and check in to the hotel we'll spend the rest of our time at.

Even though I would love to stay in one of the onsite hotels at Disneyland, the prices are crazy and don't seem worth it to me. I'm currently looking at the hotels near Disneyland and trying to pick one. I think my top contenders are the Candy Cane Inn or the Best Western Plus that advertises being closest to the parks- although I'm 100% open to suggestions! I'm not that picky- I'm just looking for something clean and close to Disneyland lol. The shorter the walk, the better in my opinion.

My original plan was to do 3 day park hoppers and 1 night at the Oogie Boogie Bash but as I started reading, it discovered that the fireworks and Fantasmic would probably only happen on Friday and Saturday nights so I added the 4th day on Saturday. The website I'm looking at to buy tickets from has 4 day park hoppers for the same day as 5 days so it only makes sense to buy 5 days lol.

Sunday the 20th we'll fly home but since the flight isn't booked yet, I don't know what time but I'm thinking an afternoon flight would be nice so we can have breakfast in the morning before leaving but still get home at a decent hour!​

We are doing a California trip in June, but also added Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon to the mix. We are flying though, no driving for us and we booked a few tours. Here is our itinerary : Fly into San Diego, spend 4 days at Hotel Del Coronado, Amtrak to Anaheim, 2 days at Disneyland, fly to Las Vegas- 3 days in Vegas with one day at Grand Canyon, fly to San Francisco, 2 days there, 1 day at Yosemite. Fly home.

 

[Ngwira]

Yeah it's really crazy how much they raised the price! I've decided not to renew for now and then just get a new AP in May if we end up going.



Ooo that would be awesome!!



I literally was like oo wow this is the perfect trip and then realized how long it would take afterwards.



Yess! I loved Hey Arnold!!



Oo thank you for this! There's so many hotels around DL that it's overwhelming me. Someone on the DL suggested the Ayres Orange to me too. It really does look nice and it is cheaper than the other options I've priced out but not by a lot. I've convinced myself we need to be able to walk to DL from our hotel but we very rarely take midday breaks anyway so I'm not sure why. I'm definitely overthinking this!

We are at the Hyatt House Anaheim.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I'm officially following along.

I have to say, I'm totally jealous that your year with less WDW still includes two trips.

Cali sounds like a blast!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Even when it broke down in the early days, no one died.
Pretty sure you'll mostly be fine.

You make very rational points. I mostly believe you.

Ah. Not being a beer drinker, I'll pass on this one.

I'm not either but I'm a sucker for a good hard cider or a specialty drink and they've got some on the menu that interest me!

I figured it out after I posted that. I hope it's good, it sure sounds good.

It does sound good! Now if only it ever opens lol.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Oh wow, that's a big price difference! Glad you were able to snag them (with Maxpass) at the lower rate.

It is! Between the ticket price going up and maxpass going up, it really benefitted us to be able to buy them at the old price!

That Tim Burton restaurant sounds awesome. I love Beetlejuice. Can't wait to hear all about the L.A. version. If it lives up to the hype, I'll have to add it my eventual CA trip itinerary.

I hope it's great! We love the NY version (my sister even got engaged there!) and the LA version sounds like it's wayy bigger so hopefully we'll love it!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Ugh yes

What drives me even more crazy than the price increases is that everyone at work feels the need to ask me if I heard about it, ask me if I'm still gonna go and then get offended when I say yes.

This looks so fun! It was on my list for potential things to do.

It does! It sounds like the LA version is way bigger than the one we have here so I'm excited to see it!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Wow thank goodness you jumped on the cheaper tickets! That's a huge savings!

I couldn't believe how much more expensive they'd be! I'm so glad the old tickets were still available.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

This ticket increases are getting a bit out of hand! Just saying !!

100%. I can not believe the cost of an AP now compared to what it was when we first got them in 2015.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

We are doing a California trip in June, but also added Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon to the mix. We are flying though, no driving for us and we booked a few tours. Here is our itinerary : Fly into San Diego, spend 4 days at Hotel Del Coronado, Amtrak to Anaheim, 2 days at Disneyland, fly to Las Vegas- 3 days in Vegas with one day at Grand Canyon, fly to San Francisco, 2 days there, 1 day at Yosemite. Fly home.

Sounds like a great trip! I never considered amtrak from San Diego to Anaheim instead of renting a car.

We are at the Hyatt House Anaheim.

Oo I will look into that one!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I'm officially following along.

I have to say, I'm totally jealous that your year with less WDW still includes two trips.

Cali sounds like a blast!

Thanks for joining!

I keep trying to say we'll stay away from WDW but it never seems possible.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Flights and Airlines

So I don't have any big trip planning updates to share but I do have a long-winded tirade about flights and airlines.

Southwest and Jetblue were always our go-to airlines to go to WDW but it seems we've lost our go-tos.

When Southwest first came to Newark, the flights were cheap and the nonstop options were great. Slowly, the prices rose and there were fewer nonstop options. Now, they only fly out of Laguardia (which I despise) and there's never any nonstop flights to MCO.

So, Jetblue went back to our go-to. Alas, they've gone the way as the others and included less and less in their fares and introduced the "Blue Basic" option that just about all the others have too where you have to pay for everything including picking your seats.

And yet, I know we have no choice and we will likely continue to use Jetblue but, at the risk of sounding like my grandma, I'm frustrated that we keep paying more for less.

Anyway, to make this a productive post, instead of me just whining- tell me your "go-to" airline! ​

 

[NJlauren]

Flights and Airlines

So I don't have any big trip planning updates to share but I do have a long-winded tirade about flights and airlines.

Southwest and Jetblue were always our go-to airlines to go to WDW but it seems we've lost our go-tos.

When Southwest first came to Newark, the flights were cheap and the nonstop options were great. Slowly, the prices rose and there were fewer nonstop options. Now, they only fly out of Laguardia (which I despise) and there's never any nonstop flights to MCO.

So, Jetblue went back to our go-to. Alas, they've gone the way as the others and included less and less in their fares and introduced the "Blue Basic" option that just about all the others have too where you have to pay for everything including picking your seats.

And yet, I know we have no choice and we will likely continue to use Jetblue but, at the risk of sounding like my grandma, I'm frustrated that we keep paying more for less.

Anyway, to make this a productive post, instead of me just whining- tell me your "go-to" airline! ​

Ugh! Right? JetBlue is my go to, but it’s becoming hard to justify it.... but I also am not a huge united fan..... which is what we are flying home on Sunday.....

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Ugh! Right? JetBlue is my go to, but it’s becoming hard to justify it.... but I also am not a huge united fan..... which is what we are flying home on Sunday.....

Girl you are dedicated! Dis-ing from Disney! Good luck for the race this morning!

Ugh I was looking at United too. They have a good price on an early morning flight going to Orlando but the flights coming home are insane lol

 

[missangelalexis]

I am so upset at the current state of flights from our area to MCO! I hate that they got rid of Southwest in Newark. And JetBlue is just NOT what it used to be!

Can I ask why you despise LGA? I've never flown out of there and just curious because there are some flights I'm considering out of there for August.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Flights and Airlines

So I don't have any big trip planning updates to share but I do have a long-winded tirade about flights and airlines.

Southwest and Jetblue were always our go-to airlines to go to WDW but it seems we've lost our go-tos.

When Southwest first came to Newark, the flights were cheap and the nonstop options were great. Slowly, the prices rose and there were fewer nonstop options. Now, they only fly out of Laguardia (which I despise) and there's never any nonstop flights to MCO.

So, Jetblue went back to our go-to. Alas, they've gone the way as the others and included less and less in their fares and introduced the "Blue Basic" option that just about all the others have too where you have to pay for everything including picking your seats.

And yet, I know we have no choice and we will likely continue to use Jetblue but, at the risk of sounding like my grandma, I'm frustrated that we keep paying more for less.

Anyway, to make this a productive post, instead of me just whining- tell me your "go-to" airline! ​

I think we're just entering the era of reasonably priced flights being few and far between.

We got good rates direct with Southwest from Philly to MCO in Feb/March but they have been much higher since.

Frontier from Trenton has a few direct MCO flights every day. The fights area super cheap, but then you're once again paying for every little thing. Same with Spirit out of AC. I haven't tried either yet because the seat selection is a must with my kids, but it might be worth giving a shot if you're traveling as a party of adults who can handle not sitting together for the flight.

 

[ljcrochet]

Anyway, to make this a productive post, instead of me just whining- tell me your "go-to" airline!

We had a flight on Southwest to to Newark that we canceled due to weather, we wound up using the credit to fly into Philly. It was crazy.

My husband flys a lot for work, he only uses American Airlines.

Last time we flew Jetblue out of LGA it was in the marine air terminal, so other than the lack of food options it was fine.

 

[Ngwira]

Flights and Airlines

So I don't have any big trip planning updates to share but I do have a long-winded tirade about flights and airlines.

Southwest and Jetblue were always our go-to airlines to go to WDW but it seems we've lost our go-tos.

When Southwest first came to Newark, the flights were cheap and the nonstop options were great. Slowly, the prices rose and there were fewer nonstop options. Now, they only fly out of Laguardia (which I despise) and there's never any nonstop flights to MCO.

So, Jetblue went back to our go-to. Alas, they've gone the way as the others and included less and less in their fares and introduced the "Blue Basic" option that just about all the others have too where you have to pay for everything including picking your seats.

And yet, I know we have no choice and we will likely continue to use Jetblue but, at the risk of sounding like my grandma, I'm frustrated that we keep paying more for less.

Anyway, to make this a productive post, instead of me just whining- tell me your "go-to" airline! ​

Fellow NJ girl here. I am sitting on over 100,000 Jetblue points but you are right, flights have gotten so outrageous. And SW is even worse as we fly out of PHL alot. I am not loyal though. Whichever is cheapest. This year we are trying a few "new to us" airlines including Emirates, Frontier, Delta and Alaska. We have trips booked on AA as well.