DL and Wonder Cruise -April 2012..help please!

[mbb]

Hey everyone!
I'm in serious need of some DL planning help - ask me anything about WDW, I'll type for hours...but DL, I'm stuck.

We're a great big gathering of 15 for my niece's 8 birthday.
Our tradition in our family is heading to WDW when your 8th birthday comes along, but our only Princess out of 7 grandkids has decided that she should have California...and a cruise!

She has learned well

So, 2 grandparents, their 3 kids, their spouses, and all 7 kids...

We usually rent a couple of houses in WDW, but not sure if that will work at DL?
DB and DSIL of the Princess would like to stay "onsite".
We're looking at flying in from the east cost somewhere around April 17 or 18...then departing on the 7 night Wonder Mexican Riveria cruise.

2 or 3 days at DL tickets??

Car rental suggestions?
Towncars to hotels, then cruiseport?
Dining plan?
Tickets?
Should we schedule in a visit to Legoland for the boys? (ages 13 on down to 1 year old)

Any and all help is much appreciated!!

 

[Disney Dreams]

What an exciting trip! You are going to love DLR and LOVE the Wonder! That's one smart (and apparently persuasive) princess! Can I come? (hehe!)

There are houses you could rent near DLR. I don't know much about them so I will let others chime in on that. Just know... it's do-able.

As for how many days at the Park... I don't know what day everyone leaves on the cruise, but I would suggest 3 days. You have a big group and people will inevitably want to do different things. This can be great, but also slow things down a bit. If you have 3 days and can afford them, I say, 3 days! Also, the price difference between 2 days and 3 days per person is not huge.

Rental car? Hertz, Avis, Enterprise. The usual. You didn't mention which airport you are flying into so I can't comment much more on this one.

Getting to San Pedro (port)? You could use Super Shuttle, PrimeTime shuttle. I am now second-guessing myself and not sure if they do that route. Someone else will chime in. They could definitely do port to airport.

Dining plan? Forget everything you know about WDW in this area. You are at DLR now. Do not do the dining plan. It's not the same. It's not worth it. It's not really a dining plan.

Tickets? Check out disneyland.com and look at 2 day and 3 day parkhoppers.

LegoLand? It's about an hour south of DLR in clear traffic. The 13 year old will be bored with most of LegoLand, the younger kids will love it. If you want more LegoLand details, just ask.

HTH get you started,
Dreams

 

[skiingfast]

2 or 3 days at DL tickets??

Car rental suggestions?
Towncars to hotels, then cruiseport?
Dining plan?
Tickets?
Should we schedule in a visit to Legoland for the boys? (ages 13 on down to 1 year old)

3 days maybe 4 if you have a 4th day.

Rental for what? If the whole time maybe look into priceline, but you might be better off using shuttle buses since you have such a large group.
Below is a good thread on transportation. To the cruise I would advise asking on the cruise forum instead of the DL boards.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2318297

No Dining Plan worth considering so I'd just look at where everyone might want to eat.

You might want something other than a house, so many hotel are walking distance to the gates you would probably be better off. That said there are some time share places nearby.

I remember a favorable review of a rental home just across Walnut St. which runs behind the disneyland hotel. There is also a place a couple blocks aways on Clemetine but I don't recall the name or operator.

Legoland I would only do if most of your group is 7 and under. It's for young kids. Also in the future it may be handy for you to visit the LL currently being built in Orlando. I assume it will offer a better variety of rides that the one in California.

 

[mbb]

Oookay...so I'm reading, reading, reading...
So far, here's what I've got:

We will *want* to stay onsite.
(well, all except DB and DSIL with the 3 littlest kids. They will be renting a mini-van to visit friends in SoCal, and they've been to DLR before. They also live the closest to DLR.

They're coming for 2 of the days we are at DLR, then heading onto other adventures).

If we go with the DLH, chose a Preferred Room - because that will get us:
a) the Tower, fireworks viewing complete with music piped through TV
b) the light up headboards
c) Book through a TA in order to secure enough Preferred Seating tix for Aladin and Wonder of Colour??

If we go with GC:
a) attempt to rent some points for a villa, or two..but must arrange soon in order to grab one of the 48 available at the 11month window
b) within very close walking distance to DCA
c) kitchens and washer dryer availabilty

No DP, because it is a voucher system, and no financial benefit, except pre-paying.

The cruise leaves April 22.
Flying into LAX, I'm assuming..mid week prior. We generally fly JetBlue from MA or ME, so we'll see what airport pops up cheaper.

I'm going to look into the timeshares mentioned...saving some on our land budget means momma could get herself a verandah on the cruise

How'm I doin' so far??

Thanks all!!
Keep the suggestions coming!

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

We just did a show on the Wonder Mexican Riviera Cruise this week. You can go to the Podcast link at the top of this page and stream it live or download it from iTunes.

DL has the equivalent of Magical Express for the Cruise, so don't worry about that part. It is an additional charge, so you might want to see if that will work for you.

They will rent the 2BR DVC villas at the GCH for cash. Possibly another option - they do sleep 9.

Paradise Pier has 1BR suites that sleep 6. One of those plus a couple regular rooms would give you space, plus sleeping. I just did a blog on those, as well as a discussion on another of this week's podcast segments. Click the BLOG link at the top of the page or this link. http://www.disunplugged.com/2011/03/19/the-suite-life-at-disneylands-paradise-pier-hotel/

No dining plan. Just don't even go there.

Hope this all helps and have a fabulous trip!

 

[skiingfast]

They're coming for 2 of the days we are at DLR, then heading onto other adventures).

If we go with the DLH, chose a Preferred Room - because that will get us:
a) the Tower, fireworks viewing complete with music piped through TV
b) the light up headboards
c) Book through a TA in order to secure enough Preferred Seating tix for Aladin and Wonder of Colour??

If we go with GC:
a) attempt to rent some points for a villa, or two..but must arrange soon in order to grab one of the 48 available at the 11month window
b) within very close walking distance to DCA
c) kitchens and washer dryer availabilty

The cruise leaves April 22.
Flying into LAX, I'm assuming..mid week prior. We generally fly JetBlue from MA or ME, so we'll see what airport pops up cheaper.

I'm going to look into the timeshares mentioned...saving some on our land budget means momma could get herself a verandah on the cruise

For car rentals, onsite there is an Alamo, just offsite, budget and dollar across Harbor Dr. from the parks. But still I might do priceline to get that minivan.

DLH, new rooms are pretty nice.
A. Firework view is ok, but should be viewed from the park because it's the best Disney firework display.
C. WoC you won't get tickets through a TA. And preferred Aladdin isn't perfect so only kind of a small perk.

Much more reading on WoC.
WoC Superthread

GCH Villas.
A. Not a bad idea.
B. Villas are not close to the park. Not far but further than some of the offsite hotel rooms. They are just located far from the special DCA entrance because it was added to the back of the hotel.
C. If you do want to cook some meals. Before they dissapear in a minvan go to the Food4Less that is a coupel blocks east on Katella from the resort. And of course if you drink some wine, beer, soda or even water that you can carry on board to enjoy on DCL.

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

Since the topic of distance has been brought up by the previous poster, I would like to point out that the GCH Villas are NOT "far" from the parks, when you consider the locations of the other Disney owned hotels, plus you get the automatic bonus of being able to pop in and out of DCA whenever you feel like it and be allowed to get your FPs for WoC earlier than anyone else.

The Villas are also extremely close to the pool area of the hotel, which will be convenient for having that many kids on hand. In fact, having all of those kids in tow would make the extra expense of this hotel worthwhile.

We have done both offsite and onsite with multiple families and using our DVC in all 3 hotels and find the convenience of the GCH Villas to be exceptionally convenient and stress free.

In the best perspective, compared to WDW, none of the resort hotels are inconveniently far.

 

[mbb]

For car rentals, onsite there is an Alamo, just offsite, budget and dollar across Harbor Dr. from the parks. But still I might do priceline to get that minivan.

DLH, new rooms are pretty nice.
A. Firework view is ok, but should be viewed from the park because it's the best Disney firework display.
C. WoC you won't get tickets through a TA. And preferred Aladdin isn't perfect so only kind of a small perk.

Much more reading on WoC.
WoC Superthread

GCH Villas.
A. Not a bad idea.
B. Villas are not close to the park. Not far but further than some of the offsite hotel rooms. They are just located far from the special DCA entrance because it was added to the back of the hotel.
C. If you do want to cook some meals. Before they dissapear in a minvan go to the Food4Less that is a coupel blocks east on Katella from the resort. And of course if you drink some wine, beer, soda or even water that you can carry on board to enjoy on DCL.

Excellent!
No preferred on WoC through a TA because it's a dinner package, a la Fantasmic. Off to read the Superthread...jusst finished the GC one....well, the first page updated links.

Thank you!!!