DL 2nd time around - SO much to see and do pretrip

[kim532]

Hi all.

We decided we missed so much on our 1st Disneyland trip that we needed to go back for a second time. So excited we can't wait.







Ryan - the Disney lovin' Daddy
Kim - The momma with the most
Evan - The princess expert
Joel - The mermaid expert

So excited to start the planning process. I will let you all know more details soon. But the dates are hopefully July26 - Aug 2 2014

Kim

 

[scrpbookr]

Sounds like fun! Enjoy the planning!

 

[kim532]

I am a planner. I think everyone here on the DIS knows there is definite pros and cons to the whole planning process.

Pros:

• You know all the options and the best ways to get it done.
• You know all the prices and know the reality of how much this vacation will cost (including food and souvenirs costs).
• It is just fun to plan a vacation

Cons:

• Changing your mind on previous decisions and driving your spouse insane.
• THE WAIT. Waiting to book airline tickets. Waiting till you save the money to book hotels. Wait..wait.wait.wait.

I am in the CON phase right now. Our hotel plans since we own DVC involve booking VGC at the 7 month mark for 4 of our 6 nights of our trip. The 7 month window is not for 2 weeks. Also I am driving Ryan crazy with the constant debate on Howard Johnson or Disneyland Resort for the other 2 nights. I am cheap so the HoJo with its pool area for my 2 little ones seems win-win. Part of me desperately wants the Disneyland Resort. Awesome pool area. Rooms are whimsical with the magical headboards. Plus we have always been on-site kind of people. But that comes at twice the cost of the HoJo. Decisions...Decisions.... I broke Ryan down last night and he said this may be our last trip to DL for a while so just book what we want. Cheapo in me can't yet.

I don't think we will make any hotel decision until we buy our airline tickets. We really want SW, but for July next year, it may be another month or so until they release that. They are at June next year right now.

So...here I am. Ignoring my Christmas responsibilities to plan my summer vacation. Christmas cards sent..nope. Presents all bought...nope. Groceries for the food fests bought or even planned...nope.

I think my Christmas miracle will be if I can pull myself away from the computer long enough to get everything done.

 

[DisneytheKid]

Cool! Looking forward to hearing more about the planning

 

[kim532]

Well I was able to get done for Christmas what needed to be done. Thankfully we had a very low key Christmas.

The hotel rooms are mostly booked, but I'll get into that later. I want to tell the tale of my family. I love them....And they make vacations fun.

My niece is coming with us on this trip. I need to ask her permission before I post any identifying info on her though. We don't buy Christmas or birthday presents for any of the kids in the immediate family. We decided many years ago that everyone has enough and lets just keep things simple for holidays and such and not buy presents. However, I plan on taking my sister's kids (she has 3) on a vacation with us as sort of gifts for all those years. My nephew went to WDW in 2011, so my niece's turn will be this trip to DL.

We have logistics problems. We live in Wisconsin and she lives in Ohio. Also while she will be 15 at the time of the trip and would be old enough to travel unaccompanied; her parents (and me too) think a trip into LAX might be safer with an adult to travel with her. So to help out my Mom offered to come with my niece (but that was when we were thinking about going to WDW not DL). Anyway money and health are considerations with my mother and she didn't seem to want to go to DL.

I guess to condense the drama of who is or isn't going (and this changed sometimes on an hour by hour basis over the holidays), I am so excited to say that we have more people coming. Added to the trip is my Mom, my sister, and my niece!!!! So of course this is my hotel drama as well since I need enough room for all of us. Total on the trip now is 7. 4 adults and 3 children.

We booked the HoJo Anaheim for the first 3 nights. (this is the mostly part I mentioned earlier). We have one standard room booked, but plan on booking a 2nd standard room this weekend when DH gets paid. We are going to put in a request for connecting rooms.

For the next 3 nights we are using our DVC and will be in a 2 bedroom villa at GC. Last trip we stayed in a studio at GC, so this will be a major upgrade.

I am so happy my sister, mom, and niece are coming. Part of the reason we wanted to buy DVC was to include family on our Disney trips. The problem is that we are really the only people in our family that seem to like Disney vacations. Oh well. More points for us.

So now the focus is airfare. We need airfare to come down to around $350 per person for the trip to be a go. Right now it is more in the $400-450 range. If it doesn't come down we might end back up in WDW, but I am hopeful. Southwest will release flights for our trip on Jan 27th and they usually have reasonable prices. Sad thing is I can't pay for those until we get our tax return or my bonus at work. So that means end of Feb at the earliest for purchasing. Again in the wait game.

Next will be airport transfers and the beach day, but I can't think about those now. Have to put that off for later.

 

[mumto2]

Glad everything is working out for your extended family to experience the magic!

 

[kim532]

Well this is the end of this pre-trip report....at least for Disneyland. We booked airfare this week to go back to WDW. The price for my immediate family to fly Milwaukee to LAX was reasonable. But where my sister, niece and mom were coming from Ohio, it was just way to expensive.

So we have our airfare for everyone and rooms booked. I will create a trip report over at the DVC board. We are staying 6 nights in a 2 bedroom at AKV standard view room and then over to AoA for a one night in the Little Mermaid room.

Very bummed about not going to DL. There is always 2015.

Kim