Checking it off the Bucket List- Disneyland at New Years-PTR

[DisneytheKid]

Hello Everyone,

My wife and I recently decided to create a pre-kids bucket list and one of those items is to go to Disneyland over New Years. Disneyland had always been a special place to me and after we were engaged there in 2009, We have wanted to go back and enjoy it before we are there with children. Sooooo, the planning process begins!

We are planning on flying in on December 30 and hitting the parks Dec 30-Jan 1st and fly out on the 2nd. I know its still a ways out but I am an anxious planner. I came across a nice price for one of the good neighbor hotels, Best Western Raffles Inn, which offers a military rate that I couldn't match at some of the other hotels in the area. I still have some other planning to do but have come up with some questions along the way...

For anyone who has done this before, can anyone help me with a couple questions?

1. Is the Super Shuttle $16 rate from LAX to your hotel the same for them picking you up and taking you to the airport?

2. Any problems with Raffles Inn and Suites? Hows the breakfast?

3. I found a 3 day park hopper for $199 at our local grocery store. Has anyone heard of it cheaper elsewhere?

4. I know they do a little new years eve celebration on the 31st in Disneyland, do they do the countdown in DCA as well (might be nice to have champagne with the countdown)

I'm sure I will come up with plenty more questions as the months progress but thanks to anyone who reads and certainly thanks to anyone who can pass on some wisdom!

Mitch

 

[monkey30]

Oh do I get to be the first follower?? YAY ME! I have no anwsers to the questions though!!

 

[ArchOwl]

DH and I did NYE at the DLR just this past year. It was super fun and we opted for the special Fireworks and Fountains show at DCA with champagne. DCA was much less crowded than DL and a lot of fun. They had a great DJ at electronica, which would now be the Mad T Party. Anyway, I wrote up some observations here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2857991

Let me know if you have any questions. I am sorry, I don't know anything about the Best Western, but if you start a thread on the main board you might get more opinions.

 

[DisneytheKid]

And I'm back! So I've found some of the answers I was looking for but I suppose first I will introduce myself...

This is my DW and I who I'm sure will be able to help me find plenty of ways to get into trouble over New Years! We are both fun loving individuals and can't wait to take what will most likely be our last pre-kids Disney trip

As I mentioned, I did find some answers to what I was looking into:

1. Is the Super Shuttle $16 rate from LAX to your hotel the same for them picking you up and taking you to the airport?

Yep, $16 all around. And according to their website you need to contact them 24 hours prior to your pick up. If anyone has any experience with the supershuttle pick up from the hotel to the airport I would be all ears!

2. Any problems with Raffles Inn and Suites? Hows the breakfast?

Not much information yet, I hear they have a waffle maker...

3. I found a 3 day park hopper for $199 at our local grocery store. Has anyone heard of it cheaper elsewhere?

Well I suppose this is a little out dated now isnt it

4. I know they do a little new years eve celebration on the 31st in Disneyland, do they do the countdown in DCA as well (might be nice to have champagne with the countdown)

The last poster answered this for me!

 

[DisneytheKid]

Oh do I get to be the first follower?? YAY ME! I have no anwsers to the questions though!!

Yay you! Glad to have you onboard!

 

[DisneytheKid]

Thank you so much for helping me out with this! Does DCA hit capacity like DL does? If so, what time would you recommend heading to DCA? Where was the show at in DCA... we definitely like to celebrate new years with the alcoholic beverages... Thanks again!

DH and I did NYE at the DLR just this past year. It was super fun and we opted for the special Fireworks and Fountains show at DCA with champagne. DCA was much less crowded than DL and a lot of fun. They had a great DJ at electronica, which would now be the Mad T Party. Anyway, I wrote up some observations here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2857991

Let me know if you have any questions. I am sorry, I don't know anything about the Best Western, but if you start a thread on the main board you might get more opinions.

 

[ArchOwl]

Thank you so much for helping me out with this! Does DCA hit capacity like DL does? If so, what time would you recommend heading to DCA? Where was the show at in DCA... we definitely like to celebrate new years with the alcoholic beverages... Thanks again!

No problem! When I was there DCA never hit capacity, but DL did. They did stop selling one day tickets that day. Now that DCA has Carsland and new BVS, who knows how busy DCA will be this year? We did make sure to get there and get our hand stamped so we could re-enter. The countdown and show is on the WOC lagoon. We spent some time in the Hollywood area where they have the dance party as well. They gave out noisemakers and hats and had live music in. Lots of different areas of the parks. They also had roving entertainers, which was fun.

 

[DisneytheKid]

No problem! When I was there DCA never hit capacity, but DL did. They did stop selling one day tickets that day. Now that DCA has Carsland and new BVS, who knows how busy DCA will be this year? We did make sure to get there and get our hand stamped so we could re-enter. The countdown and show is on the WOC lagoon. We spent some time in the Hollywood area where they have the dance party as well. They gave out noisemakers and hats and had live music in. Lots of different areas of the parks. They also had roving entertainers, which was fun.

Thanks Archowl, that sounds so fun!

 

[DisneytheKid]

Well I was going to buy tickets pretty much before we left but now that the tickets have risen in price I'm going to be scouring ticket company websites looking for deals. I have heard of get away today, but has anyone else heard of other companies for ticket sales?

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[DisneytheKid]

Yay! Just realized I'm under 200 days! Hopefully it'll be under 100 before I know it!!!

 

[Goofy_Mom]

I would get a jump on getawaytoday.com for the tickets. They may still have the old ticket prices in stock. What happens is those companies buy the tickets from Disney and re-sell them. They may still have the "old price" tickets still in stock. Another site is arestravel.com. Be careful of other discouted sites, though. Some of them sell unused days off someone elses tickets. Disney doesn't alow this and if they catch you they will not let you into the parks.

I don't have any tips on New Years at Disney, but have a good time

 

[DisneytheKid]

Thanks Goofy_Mom! I'll take a look at those sites.

I would get a jump on getawaytoday.com for the tickets. They may still have the old ticket prices in stock. What happens is those companies buy the tickets from Disney and re-sell them. They may still have the "old price" tickets still in stock. Another site is arestravel.com. Be careful of other discouted sites, though. Some of them sell unused days off someone elses tickets. Disney doesn't alow this and if they catch you they will not let you into the parks.

I don't have any tips on New Years at Disney, but have a good time

 

[DisneytheKid]

So I finally watched Cars ... you know, so I could know what I was looking at with all of these Carsland trip reports! And wow, what a great movie! Beyond that, it was a lot of fun to be able to really see what a great job Disney did with bringing the details to Carsland from the movie

 

[mvf-m11c]

So I finally watched Cars ... you know, so I could know what I was looking at with all of these Carsland trip reports! And wow, what a great movie! Beyond that, it was a lot of fun to be able to really see what a great job Disney did with bringing the details to Carsland from the movie

Glad that you watch the movie "Cars" since it will show you everything what to expect from CL when you see it in person at DCA. The Disney Imagineers really did a great job on the details of the town of Radiator Springs.

 

[monkey30]

Following along... well I have been for a bit, but just realized I never posted!

Enjoy your trip!

 

[DisneytheKid]

Yeah, every time I was seeing the pics and videos of Carsland I thought "Huh, that looks nice." But now that I see what it corresponds to, I am very impressed.

Glad that you watch the movie "Cars" since it will show you everything what to expect from CL when you see it in person at DCA. The Disney Imagineers really did a great job on the details of the town of Radiator Springs.

 

[DisneytheKid]

Thanks Monkey30! Glad to have you following along!

Following along... well I have been for a bit, but just realized I never posted!

Enjoy your trip!

 

[DisneytheKid]

Oh man still 174 days left! At least there are all of these great trip reports to keep me busy

 

[DisneytheKid]

Finally at 150 days out! Man thats still a long ways out