A trip of 1sts for this Disneyland noob! *Oct 2014 PTR & TR*COMPLETED!!

[Rubygoose]

I think you're looking at the price for the 3 day hoppers because the 5 day adult hoppers are $305.

 

[Rubygoose]

I think you're looking at the price for the 3 day hoppers because the 5 day adult hoppers are $305.

Sorry, got distracted earlier and didn't finish my explanation...
It's $305 for a 5 day hopper, so if you plan to do 2 trips it would cost $610 compared to $516 for the Deluxe AP. We're upgrading our Air Miles tickets to APs because we will do another trip next summer and this way we're spending $211 instead of $305 next year. Also, we're going to spend 7 days in the parks this time and we're staying onsite so we get the 10% discount.

 

[DenaRox]

Sorry, got distracted earlier and didn't finish my explanation... It's $305 for a 5 day hopper, so if you plan to do 2 trips it would cost $610 compared to $516 for the Deluxe AP. We're upgrading our Air Miles tickets to APs because we will do another trip next summer and this way we're spending $211 instead of $305 next year. Also, we're going to spend 7 days in the parks this time and we're staying onsite so we get the 10% discount.

Right. Makes sense now. Thanks. If I was 100% positive we would do another DL trip within the year I'd go for it but so hard to say being as we have never even had first visit lol

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[luulu1999]

I am PRETTY DARN sure you will want to do another one after your first one I said our last(first) trip would be a one time only thing but there was so much we didn't get to do and we loved it so much I had to find a way to get back there!!

 

[DenaRox]

I am PRETTY DARN sure you will want to do another one after your first one I said our last(first) trip would be a one time only thing but there was so much we didn't get to do and we loved it so much I had to find a way to get back there!!

lol I have no doubt i will want to do another trip to DL, just not too sure i would want to do it within the year. I would more likely alternate yearly between WDW and DL normally but i am currently in the process of planning and saving for a big 2+ week trip to Japan so its more a matter of reigning myself in financially and focusing on the bigger picture... Tokyo Disney Sea!!!

 

[DenaRox]

Almost had a major meltdown and huge panic attack today! Got an email from Expedia (that's who i booked flights through so it would be in Canadian funds instead of US) stating that one leg of my flight home, LAX to DEN, was changed, now leaving later. The expedia email was all polite stating they accepted the changes on my behalf and i didn't need to worry about anything and have a good day. Well the changes ended up giving me exactly 35 minutes to transfer to a different plane to continue on to my destination. *** expedia. lol. even if i was a pro traveler who knew the denver airport like the back of my hand, 35 min to catch a connecting flight is NOT doable!! *insert the panic attack now lol*

Thankfully i got on the phone with the actual airline and they were very friendly and helpful. I was going to just cancel the whole return flights and book with a different airline but we found a flight leaving LAX an hour before this one so i will have almost 2hrs to connect in Denver, much more acceptable. Crisis averted! that is the second time I have used a Us airline and both times they changed flights to unacceptable times. GRRR!! might have to just suck it up and pay the extra and only fly westjet lol Happy friggin' Monday all y'all lol!!!

Anyone else have flight booking horror stories?? I am sure there are loads out there.

 

[eRiQ]

Yay ... I am going to Disneyland 22 - 26 October 2014 !!!

Booked the Hotel ( Castle Inn ) -

Have been to Disneyland 4 times.
1977, 1981, 2004 and 2008.
This will be my first ever SOLO trip to the parks. Coming all the way from New Zealand. Will some of you be meeting up somewhere in the park?

Counting the weeks .... !!!

 

[DenaRox]

Yay ... I am going to Disneyland 22 - 26 October 2014 !!!

Booked the Hotel ( Castle Inn ) -

Have been to Disneyland 4 times.
1977, 1981, 2004 and 2008.
This will be my first ever SOLO trip to the parks. Coming all the way from New Zealand. Will some of you be meeting up somewhere in the park?

Counting the weeks .... !!!

Yay! Congrats!!! That is quite the journey you'll be making. I am unsure of any meetups, as it gets closer i bet some will form.

I am happy to have you here at my pre-trip report but have a sneaking suspicion you meant to be in the Official Oct 2014 thread which can be found HERE

I am going to go ahead and add your info to the check-in on that thread. Look forward to chatting and planning and all that good stuff!!!

 

[eRiQ]

hahaha - oops -
Yeah - not the best at posting at these forums - lol -

Only 15 weeks to go ( on Sunday ) ... the long trip is going to be the biggest challenge....

 

[paisleymoo]

You are certainley further along in your planning process than I am!! We won't be going until December though so I have some time Anyway, you will LOVE halloween at Disney it was so much fun when I went a few years ago. I'm still trying to decide on a hotel, the problem I'm running into is that for the dates we will be going, many of the hotels are already booked! It will definatley be one of the good neighbor hotels, never really found a need to stay on-site in DL when off-site is (basically) just as close, which is what really matters. Leaning towards the HOJO myself, according to google it is a 16 minute walk from DL front gates, which means 25 with tired achy feet! But hey with no little ones to worry about whats wrong with a nice stroll to start and end the day? Loving this report so far, can't wait to see the updates!

 

[DenaRox]

You are certainley further along in your planning process than I am!! We won't be going until December though so I have some time Anyway, you will LOVE halloween at Disney it was so much fun when I went a few years ago. I'm still trying to decide on a hotel, the problem I'm running into is that for the dates we will be going, many of the hotels are already booked! It will definatley be one of the good neighbor hotels, never really found a need to stay on-site in DL when off-site is (basically) just as close, which is what really matters. Leaning towards the HOJO myself, according to google it is a 16 minute walk from DL front gates, which means 25 with tired achy feet! But hey with no little ones to worry about whats wrong with a nice stroll to start and end the day? Loving this report so far, can't wait to see the updates!

I am so very excited to have my first disneyland trip be during the Halloween time. I LOVE Halloween so it's a perfect mix for me We went to WDW jan2013 and were lucky enough to catch a lot of the Xmas decor still up. Such a beautiful thing to see so I just know Halloween time will be just as magical.

I hope you can snag a hotel real soon. HOJO doesn't look like it would be that long of a walk when you google street view it but I guess it's hard to say until you are actually walking it. I think on site at DL is not as important as it is with WDW, the on site perks there are really good. I just couldn't justify the huge price increase to stay on site at DL as the perks just really were not that special. Granted I hit WDW with free dining and that was well worth it for our group of foodies

I wish I had more to update, busy summer. Finally started my week of holidays and am busy packing to head to the lake. I still haven't decided when we will be doing the MHP and the ultimate experience. I really have to figure that all out because I will have to hunt down cell reception and order tickets at the lake!!!

Thank you for taking the time to read my insanity lol, hope to have some good updates soon..

On my mind...
- do they make Disney string lights for camping???
- where oh where will I find the perfect red dress to make my LILO costume???
- I think a Friday ultimate party might just be the plan, going to be busy anyway so might as well take advantage of some ride escorts and all that. Then we can just do the MHP on a week day
- Can we do WOC AND fireworks in one night??? I think I'm up for the challenge but will my DD feel the same lol
- what the heck are we going to eat at the lake for a week if I don't get my butt in gear and make a menu and buy groceries.
- lol, time for bed,

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[DenaRox]

so i would like to start off this little update by mentioning the issue we had with our MHP tickets. I ordered tickets for the 24th as soon as they opened up to general public. I was planning on doing the ultimate experience on the 27th so didn't order those tickets. Found out there is a good possibility that they are not doing the UE so ordered out tickets for the 27th on aug2. Got our first set of tickets within 5 days of ordering but waited 10 days before calling about second set. Talked to a lovely CM and she simply sent us out new tickets which arrived 3 days later (impressive as we are in Canada). Happy dance as we had all our tickets. Next day we get the original tickets in the mail. oops. Now i assume that when she resent the tickets the original tickets were deactivated and are now simply souviners but will take both sets just in case there is some kind of mix up. Yeesh, I was rather nervous as i ordered online from a friends cell and didnt have any confirmation numbers or anything. CM informed me that i could always track stuff through my CC used to pay, good info to know

it is officially 51 days 12 hours and 14 min until we are in the air headed to Cali! now that we have hit the 60 day mark i have really gone into Disney mode

Made reservations for the WOC lunch meal @ Wine Country Trattoria. I figured we have to eat anyway so might as well get our WOC passes too. Also made reservations for Surf's up breakfast. I had a hard time picking a time and day as Stitch is DD fav character so this will be THE highlight to her. I decided to schedule it for our last day first thing when it opens. I really think that will be a great way to end our Disney time. I Figured we could go for breakfast and get some lovely disney magic to last us until our next vacay. our reservation is for 7am and our shuttle is set to pick us up at BWPPI at 915 so should be plenty of time.

I also booked our one non disey day, OC beach bus tour. After reccomendations from fellow DISers i decided on the beach bus tour because it just seems perfect. I am a beach gal and will thoroughly enjoy strolling along and wouldnt mind hopping in for a swim, DD has yet to swim in the ocean so hopefully the weather is on our side that day
(we are Canadians so unless its a raging thunder storm there isn't much else that would keep us out)

I feel like i have accomplished so much for this trip but still have soooooo much more to do. still have to:

• make our shirts
• make my lilo dress for our lilo and stitch costume
• pick out another costume as apparently DD is over minions which is what i wanted to do
• get my roam sim activated
• make my vons delivery order... i NEED Pepsi, not coke *gag* just pepsi lol
• find out if BWPPI will accept an order from 6pm.com
  
  and last thing i can think of is to finalise our itinerary. I like to use touringplans to make our park plans. I don't necessarily follow them to a t, but it gives me a good guideline. We used them for WDW and it really worked good, we skipped things we weren't feeling and took extra time to do other things when the mood struck but overall having the plans right there kept us in motion instead of frozen in awe hahaha

 

[Amilo]

Great update! Sounds like you've made some awesome plans! Is DD still not aware you're going?

 

[DenaRox]

Great update! Sounds like you've made some awesome plans! Is DD still not aware you're going?

It has been loads of fun planning, I am made for WDW planning so to finally be able to have hard copy proof of my vacay is awesome!!! As far as i know the trip is still a secret. If she knows she is very good at keeping it unknown but there is a possibility, i have photos of tickets and passes and what not on my iPad and she has used my iPad taking pictures of her and her friends so there is a chance she "could" have looked farther through the photos...have changed passwords now on it lol. Also i have the Facebook group and this group usually open on my browser so she potentially could read the tabs at top but just might chalk it up to my irrational Disney addiction lol. i truly don't think she would be that good of an actress to know and play it that she doesn't though.


our itinerary... take one



everyone and anyone... please feel free to critique the itinerary, if something seems wrong or off or just plain silly I really really really want to know lol

 

[Cheshirecatty]

I love the Mickey heads on your itinerary! Nothing looks silly to me, in any way!

It looks like you have a lot of fun things planned, especially the two Mickey's Halloween Parties, and the Happiest Haunts Tour---so exciting!

I think you will really like the convenience of the BWPPI, to the Parks(we've stayed there numerous times in the past). It is so quick and easy!

I surely hope everything goes smoothly with your tickets for the Parties---think positively!

I'm really interested to know how your Wine Country Trattoria meal/experience goes---that's one place I've always wanted to try, and just never have!

We've been in the ocean in October, before, and it's chilly, but do-able! Your DD will love it!

I'm so curious to know if she has caught on or not. You'll have to tell us, after the reveal, if she admits to having known. How fun to surprise her with such an amazing trip!!!!

 

[DenaRox]

I love the Mickey heads on your itinerary! Nothing looks silly to me, in any way!

It looks like you have a lot of fun things planned, especially the two Mickey's Halloween Parties, and the Happiest Haunts Tour---so exciting!

I think you will really like the convenience of the BWPPI, to the Parks(we've stayed there numerous times in the past). It is so quick and easy!

I surely hope everything goes smoothly with your tickets for the Parties---think positively!

I'm really interested to know how your Wine Country Trattoria meal/experience goes---that's one place I've always wanted to try, and just never have!

We've been in the ocean in October, before, and it's chilly, but do-able! Your DD will love it!

I'm so curious to know if she has caught on or not. You'll have to tell us, after the reveal, if she admits to having known. How fun to surprise her with such an amazing trip!!!!

thanks for taking a peak at my itinerary, glad to hear it doesn't look silly. I am suck a geekthat i have to coordinate my bullets with whatever theme/topic i am using lists for. yup, big geek but seeing mickey's smiling face there makes me happy

i think i will give disney a call back and see what they reccomend in regard to the double up of tickets. then bring them both anyway hahaha

i will make sure to really take it al in so i can come back with a good review. it was the only WOC place that seemed yummy and awesome to me so here's hoping my tummy made a good pick lol

as for the ocean, i figure if i can swim for hours in florida in january and not be a frozen popsicle i can handle cali in oct. can't be any worse than saskatchewan lakes in may... now thats cold!! puts all those ice bucket challenges to shame lol

i too am curious and i just know that her reaction/face will tell it all. i know what her truly surprised face looks like. my gut says she is still in the dark so lets hope my mama instincts are correct.


Question ... would it be weird to do non disney costumes. From all the photos it seems like 99.9% of people dressed up are in disney theme. I am still going for the minions but don't want to be looked at weird.

 

[Cheshirecatty]

DenaRox…

It would not be weird at all for you to be in a non-Disney-themed costume!

In all the parties we've attended, we have seen costume choices literally, all across the board!

Yes, there are lots of Disney-type costumes, however, there are also many who are just Halloween themed(witch, ghost, Dracula,etc.), many who just wear orange and black, those who wear no costume at all, and then many who are in a costume unrelated to Disney OR Halloween!

We have so enjoyed looking at all the different choices over the years---it's really fun, and everyone fits in, regardless of what they are wearing!

I honestly feel like you shouldn't worry about that aspect at all---it will be great, no matter what you wear(I love the Minion idea---so cute)!

 

[Sherry E]

Dena --

One of our DIS'ers, Bret/mvf-m11c, is a big fan of BWPPI (I think that's his usual preference of where to stay when he goes to DLR). He has stayed there a lot, if I am recalling correctly. I think you'll be pleased with it.

At the MHP I have seen people dressed as giant Crayola crayons; big, fluffy poultry; M&M's; generic, nondescript "senior citizens" or "babies"; Raggedy Ann and Andy, and everything in between. I've seen some costumes that I couldn't identify if you paid me! I have no idea what they were, but they didn't appear to be Disney-related.

Of course, there are plenty of people in Disney-inspired costumes too, as well as plenty of people who are not in any kind of costume at all. There are also people who just throw on a Halloween t-shirt or maybe wear a Halloween-ish pair of ears and that's the "costume."

I think that the Minion idea will be great, and very cute!

I'm actually wondering if there will be an uptick in Genie costumes this year, because of the recent passing of Robin Williams.

One non-Disney costume that I will be very curious to look out for at the MHP is the Ice Bucket Challenge costume. I saw on the news last week that this is going to be an actual Costume this year. I guess that the bucket will somehow be worn as head gear, and maybe the rest of the costume will look wet? I'm really not sure how it's being done, and I'm sure it will look very silly, but I wonder if anyone at the MHP will be wearing it.

I have never ordered Vons to be delivered while at DLR -- I was almost tempted to do it last year, when I stayed 4 nights, but didn't. (I bring a 12-pack of water bottles with me, and a couple of snacks.) I think I would probably order from them if I stayed 5 nights or longer, because there are a lot of benefits to being able to grab a piece of fruit or make a quick sandwich in the room on some days, and it seems to really come in handy for guests visiting DLR.

I have, however, used the Vons delivery service (at home) for the last 10 years. I am hoping that the delivery guys in Anaheim are still good and not 'slipping' like my home delivery guys in L.A. are. I get the impression that -- because the real possibility of losing their jobs looms large, when the takeover by/merger with Alberstons goes into effect late this year or early next year -- the drivers are getting more careless and less customer-friendly over time. I notice that they are paying less and less attention to the instructions I leave about how to reach me so I can buzz them in my building. They totally ignore the instructions and just do their own thing, even if it inconveniences me. One guy even lied to my face the other day, after I saw him pick up one of my items that fell on the ground and throw it back in the crate with the rest of my items. When I asked him what dropped (it was too far away to tell), he lied and told me he had dropped his keys and put them in his pocket.

I've been a Vons delivery customer since 2004, and most of the drivers and store personnel know me and know that I will be ordering every month -- and yet, that delivery guy lied to me about the dropped item. So I can't imagine what they are telling new customers whose orders go awry (on the rare occasion that sort of thing happens)!

I have never done the OC Beach Bus tour, but it sounds like a lot of fun from what little I have read about it. It may end up that we have an extra-warm October (which is not too uncommon these days) in SoCal, and the water could be very nice.

 

[Cheshirecatty]

I have been driving myself bonkers trying to pick out a hotel for our trip. Researching until i couldnt see straight but could not make a 100% pick. Like I mentioned before, the two main contenders were the HOJO and the BWPPI but believe me, there were many others that popped into 1st place momentarily. As much as I loved the look of HOJO, it's whole atmosphere screams holiday fun, I just could not get past the location of BWPPI. I know HOJO is not FAR, but this will be the 1st time I have ever travelled with my DD, just the 2 of us so the closer and quicker to our rooms the better.


We officially have our room booked at the Best Western Park Place Inn. Yay for officially having all major components of this trip booked!!

Who has stayed at BWPPI? Any room request advice or hotel tips in general??

Dena….

We have stayed at HoJo(nothing wrong with it, just liked BWPPI better), and BWPPI, and if I had to choose between them, I would absolutely choose BWPPI(that's just me---others might feel differently)!

I think you will love the close proximity, and the fact that it is so easy to run back to your room, if need be, during the day/evening!

If you can, you might want to request a room on the second floor, at the back---much quieter there than towards the front.(I remember one year, we had a room by the driveway, which runs between BWPPI, and Captain Kidd's, and the garbage truck came for pick up and it was extremely loud---of course, if you need help getting up in order to get to rope drop, that might be a good thing?!)

 

[DenaRox]

Dena --

One of our DIS'ers, Bret/mvf-m11c, is a big fan of BWPPI (I think that's his usual preference of where to stay when he goes to DLR). He has stayed there a lot, if I am recalling correctly. I think you'll be pleased with it.

At the MHP I have seen people dressed as giant Crayola crayons; big, fluffy poultry; M&M's; generic, nondescript "senior citizens" or "babies"; Raggedy Ann and Andy, and everything in between. I've seen some costumes that I couldn't identify if you paid me! I have no idea what they were, but they didn't appear to be Disney-related.

Of course, there are plenty of people in Disney-inspired costumes too, as well as plenty of people who are not in any kind of costume at all. There are also people who just throw on a Halloween t-shirt or maybe wear a Halloween-ish pair of ears and that's the "costume."

I think that the Minion idea will be great, and very cute!

I'm actually wondering if there will be an uptick in Genie costumes this year, because of the recent passing of Robin Williams.

One non-Disney costume that I will be very curious to look out for at the MHP is the Ice Bucket Challenge costume. I saw on the news last week that this is going to be an actual Costume this year. I guess that the bucket will somehow be worn as head gear, and maybe the rest of the costume will look wet? I'm really not sure how it's being done, and I'm sure it will look very silly, but I wonder if anyone at the MHP will be wearing it.

I have never ordered Vons to be delivered while at DLR -- I was almost tempted to do it last year, when I stayed 4 nights, but didn't. (I bring a 12-pack of water bottles with me, and a couple of snacks.) I think I would probably order from them if I stayed 5 nights or longer, because there are a lot of benefits to being able to grab a piece of fruit or make a quick sandwich in the room on some days, and it seems to really come in handy for guests visiting DLR.

I have, however, used the Vons delivery service (at home) for the last 10 years. I am hoping that the delivery guys in Anaheim are still good and not 'slipping' like my home delivery guys in L.A. are. I get the impression that -- because the real possibility of losing their jobs looms large, when the takeover by/merger with Alberstons goes into effect late this year or early next year -- the drivers are getting more careless and less customer-friendly over time. I notice that they are paying less and less attention to the instructions I leave about how to reach me so I can buzz them in my building. They totally ignore the instructions and just do their own thing, even if it inconveniences me. One guy even lied to my face the other day, after I saw him pick up one of my items that fell on the ground and throw it back in the crate with the rest of my items. When I asked him what dropped (it was too far away to tell), he lied and told me he had dropped his keys and put them in his pocket.

I've been a Vons delivery customer since 2004, and most of the drivers and store personnel know me and know that I will be ordering every month -- and yet, that delivery guy lied to me about the dropped item. So I can't imagine what they are telling new customers whose orders go awry (on the rare occasion that sort of thing happens)!

I have never done the OC Beach Bus tour, but it sounds like a lot of fun from what little I have read about it. It may end up that we have an extra-warm October (which is not too uncommon these days) in SoCal, and the water could be very nice.

Thanks so much for the hotel and costume reassurances. Still not 100% on the minions but LILO and stitch is a go and dress is almost done. I too can see genie being a common occurrence with robins passing as he was so well loved around the world. Ice bucket challenge costume would be silly. It would make me smile if done up good but for the life of me I can't envision it. I am unsure of Von's but I can't like without my Pepsi so let's hope Anaheim drivers are not lacking in job pride and workmanship.

Dena…. We have stayed at HoJo(nothing wrong with it, just liked BWPPI better), and BWPPI, and if I had to choose between them, I would absolutely choose BWPPI(that's just me---others might feel differently)! I think you will love the close proximity, and the fact that it is so easy to run back to your room, if need be, during the day/evening! If you can, you might want to request a room on the second floor, at the back---much quieter there than towards the front.(I remember one year, we had a room by the driveway, which runs between BWPPI, and Captain Kidd's, and the garbage truck came for pick up and it was extremely loud---of course, if you need help getting up in order to get to rope drop, that might be a good thing?!)

I'm happy to hear good things all over the www about BWPPI. Makes me feel my choice was the best for us. That and it was one of, if not the only hotel across the street that wasn't on any of the bedbug registries I looked at. Lol. I actually requested a room closest to front for that exact reason, I live on a very busy street so I am accustomed to noise, silence is unnerving and messes with my ability to sleep. Ya, I'm an odd duck the proximity is what won me over. Can't beat across the street


A little update, I finally finished our trip shirts. They turned out to be the project from hell. Printer ran out of ink, silhouette wouldn't cut properly so I had to do half of it by hand. In the end they are good enough. I am a perfectionist so I'm not happy with them but I can live with them. I ended up not making two shirts ( was supposed to make two nerds and two peace) because I was just done with the whole experience lol. Proud of myself that I didn't hack it all in the garbage and start drinking!! I joke, but only slightly lol. Anyway here is a pic of the finished products.

My dd loves minecraft so she will go crazy over the creeper shirt that she will be wearing the day we fly out. I love the incredible scones and look forward to our one true matching day.