First "Home" stay - VGC - June 2024

[ClaraOswald]

Day 4 - Tuesday, June 18th

We woke up around 7:30. Went down to Craftsman Grill at 8:00 for breakfast. We did this every single morning. We always sat at a table outside. It was really nice....but the price really does add up. If we ever stay in a 1-bedroom, I think we'll probably eat in our room. Except, I will still need to eat a bear claw or two. Those were so good! Wish I had one right now.

We made it over to Disneyland at 9am. I didn't take much in the way of notes for our park days. Just listed the rides we went on and whether or not we used DAS for them. So here goes....
Main Street Vehicle - horseless carriage. This was a first for myself and my son. It was a nice way to go down Main Street. I highly recommend it, especially if it's hot/crowded.
Snow White
Peter Pan (DAS)
Small World
Mickey and Minnie's Runway Railway (DAS)

Then our son played in the little Toon Town fountain for a bit. And he checked out the new play area but was less interested than I expected. It was our first time seeing it and I thought it was all super cute and nicely done. It's great to have this area for kids.

At this point, it was time to put on sunscreen. This is probably my least favorite part of going to Disneyland in the summer. In the winter, the UV index is low enough that we can usually get away with not wearing any. But in June, it's a 10 so we definitely have to put it on and usually re-apply. I hate the feeling of sunscreen and I hate having to carry it around all day. But after your husband has had melanoma and basel cell carcinoma, you definitely get super cautious.

Next up...
Alice (DAS)
Indiana Jones (DAS) - Our son has been on this previously and seemed to enjoy it. But this time, he seemed kind of scared. Later in the trip we asked if he wanted to go on it again and he said no.

At this point, we decided to get a snack. We went over to the little fruit stand area across from the Jungle Cruise and shared mixed vegetables and strawberries.

Then we went on the Jungle Cruise (DAS.)

After that, it was lunch time so we went over to Alien Pizza Planet (though I still call it Pizza Port.) My husband tried one of the newer options - Chicken Sesame-ginger vegetable noodles. It was actually pretty good. My son just had plain noodles but then he started going for some of my husband's and liked them. It's always a big deal when he likes something new. I got chicken fusilli. In the past, I've ordered it without the chicken. This time I decided to ask for the chicken on the side and I gave it to my son and he ate it all. Needless to say, we came back here to eat several times since our son actually liked a lot of the food.

We then went on....
Storybook Canal (DAS)
Mr. Toad (DAS)
Casey Jr. - we got the caboose. Our favorite spot!

It was around 2:45pm now so we decided to head back to the hotel for break.

We went to California Adventure around 4:30.



This was the least crowded day of the trip as you can kind of tell by the background of this picture. I mean, the whole park wasn't this empty. But it definitely wasn't bad and that's why we made it on a lot of attractions.



We rode...
Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters (DAS) - one of our son's favorites!
Mater's Junkyard Jamboree (DAS) - End of an era....we had to ride in 2 separate vehicles because it's just too tight of a squeeze for the 3 of us on this one.
Then we did standby for Ariel.

We had dinner at Flo's and sat outside. I also grabbed my son some popcorn from one of the Cozy Cones to have with his meal.

After this, we decided to head back over to Disneyland. We got caught up in the parade crowds. The cast members were directing everyone where to go and telling them not to stop, which I really appreciate.

However....they ended up directing us all to a dead end. Basically everyone was stopped around the front of Carthay Circle. It was a massive crowd all on top of everyone with nowhere to go. My husband was trying to squeeze through and find a away out but we were just trapped. It was panic-inducing. Our son was starting to get super upset. I still have no idea why the crowd was all sent here. There was one CM nearby just sort of waving his wand nowhere in particular as we were all crushed together. Very strange. Everyone was super confused as to why they put us here. It wasn't an area with a crossing really like they do at Disneyland. I was happy when we were finally able to get out after the parade was done.

It was about 7:00ish when we made it over to Disneyland. We stopped and bought some pins and then went over to ride Autopia, Buzz Lightyear, and Star Tour (DAS.)

At 8:15 we went back to the hotel. We wandered through the gift shop for a few things. Then we stopped by Craftsman Grill for some cookies to eat back in the room.

All in all, it was a great first day. We ended up going on 17 attractions which is definitely a lot more than usual for us.

(Sorry there aren't more pictures, I didn't take that many without our son in them and these days I'm a bit more paranoid about posting his face online.)

 

[ClaraOswald]

Day 5 - Wednesday, June 19th

Slept a little later and went to breakfast at 8:30. We made it into California Adventure around 9:30. We used the entrance near Goofy's Sky School for the first time and it was great! We were the only ones there. Very convenient though this was the only time we actually used it the whole trip.

First up was Emotional Whirlwind. A first for us. (Well, my husband and I went on Flik's Flyers many years ago.) Our son absolutely loved this and had a huge smile the whole time. I loved listening to the commentary from "Sadness" while we rode. Very cute.

Then we used a DAS return for Toy Story Mania. Our son likes the motion of the ride but isn't really interested in the game at all. Then we rode Mater using standby. After that we went over to the Cozy Cones to get some churros. We also saw Lightning McQueen.



We happened to catch the little Spiderman show after this. Then we used a DAS return for the Spiderman ride. Again, our son wasn't super into the game but he seems to just enjoy being on the ride.

We hopped over to Disneyland next. The line at City Hall wasn't too long so we decided to jump in it to get some anniversary buttons. Several people in line were there for DAS reasons and were sent back to the esplanade since it was just day 2 of the rule DAS rules.

After getting our buttons, we went and used a DAS return for Peter Pan. Then we had lunch at Rancho del Zocalo. It was super crowded but we managed to find a spot mostly in the shade. Unfortunately, our son wasn't super into his meal here.

We saw the Mark Twain arriving and decided to ride it. Another new one for our son. We got a spot on the bottom level, in the shade. It was a really nice and relaxing ride. I'm thankful things like this exist because it's a good break from the crowds. Tiana didn't ride with us but we saw her getting off the boat right before us. Very cute!

Next up was Pirates using DAS. Our son isn't a huge fan of the drops but he does okay. I got completely soaked on one of the drops. Probably the most wet ever for me on Pirates but that's okay. It was hot and and we were headed back to the hotel for break next. We stopped at Starbucks in Downtown Disney first for some blended drinks. Then it was time to relax for a couple hours.

I love the new window at the hotel!



We went back over to Disneyland around 5:00. Here's the husband and the son walking down Main Street.



Side note - the timestamps for the two pictures above are 4:56 and 5:06. So from that window in the hotel to main street, with stops at security and the turnstiles to get in...it still only took 10 minutes at a leisurely pace. Not too shabby!

We used a DAS return for Rise of the Resistance. Our son went on this for the first time at WDW and seemed to like it (minus the drop.) He even watches the video of it on youtube sometimes. He did well but is still not at all a fan of the drop. (Or when the vehicle rises up at the beginning.)

After this we went to dinner at Alien Pizza Planet again. There was nowhere to sit there so we decided to walk over near Tomorrowland Terrace to eat instead. It was shaded and quiet so that was nice.

Then it was time for MMRR using DAS. I'm so obsessed with this ride.



EDITED TO ADD - I was just looking through my pictures again, and I see that we went on Small World after this. I didn't put it down in my notes though. Makes me wonder how many other rides we went on that I forgot to write down. Ha!

We decided we would hop on the train at Toon Town and head to Tomorrowland. The line was long but we waited anyway. Took WAY longer than we would have liked but our son did okay. Probably too tired to get upset. He just leaned on me and relaxed. Last up was Autopia with a DAS return, which wasn't really needed but that's okay.

Got back to the hotel around 9:45pm, so kind of a late night for us. We got on 13 rides. It felt a lot more crowded than the day before but we still had a good time.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Day 6 - Thursday, June 20th

We woke up at 7:45. As usual, had breakfast at Craftsman's Grill. The day before, I was carrying my cheapy small umbrella for shade and a gust of wind destroyed it. I remembered I had another umbrella in our car so after eating, my husband took a little detour out to the parking lot for it. Of course, after this I was more paranoid about using it in any sort of breeze so it didn't get quite as much use.

I snapped a picture of the view looking straight out from our room. Not great but not horrible either.



A little after 10am, we finally made our way over to Disneyland. I loved the Pride flower display. Very pretty.



The first thing we did was hop on the train to take it to Toon Town. I can't remember if I mentioned this or not, but I think this was our first trip where we really used the train as transportation. I'm not sure why we never did this before but it was really helpful since it was so hot outside.

We used a DAS return for MMRR. Then a DAS return for Roger Rabbit. We explored the play area only briefly. Then it was time for our DAS return for Mr. Toad. After that, we got on Casey Jr. in a short standby line.

We were thankful to get the caboose which isn't always the case when we do standby.





We used a DAS return for Pinocchio next. Then it was lunch time. Recently, I saw an Instagram video about an extra room with a couple tables at Red Rose Tavern so I went and found that. There were just 3 tables and one was open. Score! I think this room was once used for a character meet and greet, but not sure. We made ourselves comfortable and joked about all of our "junk" that we put onto the counter by our table. Not unlike our "junk" counter space at home.



After lunch we rode Peter Pan with a DAS return. And then Star Tours. (I can't remember for sure, but I think this was one of our DAS pre-selects and the wait ended up being super long and our son almost ran off toward the end. Very stressful.)

We were ready to take a break after this. I wanted to try a slush they were offering at Bengal BBQ. It was called a Jungle Julip and it said it had pineapple, grape, orange and lemon juice. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed because you could mostly just taste the grape flavor. I had hoped for something a bit more tart. It wasn't terrible but I wouldn't order it again.

We were back at the hotel around 2:30. This was the day we planned to do a load of laundry. We went down to the laundry room and saw a couple loading up one of the machines. They told us the 2nd machine was broken. And that none of the machines in the other laundry room were working. So we set a timer to come back down when they were close to done with their load. We went down there about 10 minutes before so we could hopefully be next "in line." I'm glad we did because a few minutes later, a woman and her adult son came in and wanted to do laundry as well.

We got our stuff into the machine and went back up to our room to relax for a while. When it was time to move it to the dryer, we went back down. The woman and her son were sitting in there waiting. We chatted when them for a bit while we waited for our load to finish up. They were very nice and were in town from Florida. While I was moving things from washer to dryer, ANOTHER person came in and wanted the machine. She was pretty annoyed when she realized she'd be in line after the Florida people. She said she'd been down a couple hours ago or something but we let her know we were all basically waiting in the room in "line" for the one working machine.

It was pretty annoying that there was one machine available for the entire hotel but what can you do? I was just thankful to get my load done!

We went back over to Disneyland at about 5:30. We first did the Storybook Canal boats in the standby line. The line took what seemed like forever and it was so sunny and hot! But our son loves this ride so it was worth it. We had an amazing cast member so I made sure to submit a cast compliment about her on the app afterwards.

Next up was MMRR again, with DAS. Then we went to Plaza Inn for dinner. Our son ended up eating a pretty decent meal. He had buttered penne. Then he shared my chicken and green beans. He also had a cup of mandarin oranges.

After this, we road Autopia. And then our son was ready to go back to the hotel for the night. My husband wanted to grab a cookie from Craftsman. My feet were killing me so I grabbed a rocking chair by the fireplace and waited for him.



Back up in the room, we just relaxed while our son played with his cars. I'm glad the room is carpeted. I'm worried it won't stay that way after the refurbishment though.



The crowds on this day felt about the same as the day before. Maybe a smidge better. But still pretty crowded for us.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Day 7 - Friday, June 21st

Same old, same old for our morning routine. This morning was very sunny and no June gloom.....boooo. So we had to apply sunscreen before even heading into the parks. We got into California Adventure at around 10am. We hit up Luigi's and Mater with little wait times. Then we went to ride Monster's Inc. I wish they'd just redo this entire section of the park. It's such a wasted area.

I liked this poster though!



On our way through Avenger's Campus, we made a quick stop to meet Captain America. Our son hasn't really wanted to meet characters these last few trips but since there wasn't much of a line, we decided to give it a shot. He did pretty well!





After this, we headed back to Cars Land to use a DAS return for Radiator Springs Racers. But our son kind of freaked out and said he didn't want to run. This was such a bummer. He's ridden in a few times before. He never likes the fast part at the end but he loves everything before it. I guess this time it just wasn't worth it? I don't know. His fears change a lot. So we didn't force it. I was bummed though and never did get back over to ride it this trip. Next time, if he doesn't want to go, I'll probably do single rider.

At this point, I wanted a Jack Jack cookie so I headed that way. My husband and son headed elsewhere to grab a hot dog (husband's 'snack') and a churro (son's snack.) We found a table in the shade down near Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta. At this point it was getting super hot out and I was not a fan of that. My cookie was good though!

We then road Inside Out with a DAS return. Our son loved it again. Definitely a new favorite for him.

We grabbed lunch next at Boardwalk. Our son chose pizza but then he didn't eat much of it. Oh well.

We reapplied sunscreen and decided to hop over to Disneyland. It was around 1:15pm at this time. It was so hot out by now. We decided to get on the train and do the full circle. It was a nice 'break' from crowds and heat. We actually rode the full loop...plus an extra bit to get to the back of the park. Our son was kind of over it at this point but he didn't do too bad.



The above section is probably my favorite park. Our son really liked the Grand Canyon and dinosaurs.

The plan was to go on MMRR but it was closed so we went on Small World instead with a DAS return. And then Alice with a DAS return. Break time next! First we walked through World of Disney to buy a few things. And then we went to Starbucks for some blended drinks to enjoy back in the room.

We went back over to Disneyland around 6:15pm. Got a quick picture of our brick.



We had picked up a Rise DAS earlier so we headed over there to use it. As we entered the line...our son started to get upset. We weren't sure what the problem was and hoped he'd be okay. We got into the pre-show and he was still iffy. Then as we were heading toward the "transport" vehicle, he got REALLY upset. So we decided to exit the ride completely. I told the CM at the exit and she was nice enough to load a new DAS pass for us to use later, if our son seemed up to it.

We decided it would be best to get some dinner next. We went to Pizza Port again and our son ate a great dinner - noodles, chicken, spinach, and oranges.

After this, we asked if he wanted to do Rise and he gave us a very definitive no. I have a feeling he just doesn't want to deal with the drop even though he seemed to love most of the ride. (Not unlike his new fear of RSR.) So we used the DAS returns we were give for MMRR instead. Then we went over and used DAS for Star Tours and for Autopia before heading back to the hotel around 9:30pm.

Overall, an okay day....except for our son's new fear of rides he used to enjoy. Oh...and the heat was a bit much for me!

 

[ClaraOswald]

Day 8 - Saturday, June 22nd

Last day in the parks! We decided to get our breakfast 'to go' today and eat in our room. We sat and waited for my husband's food forever. So my son and I just went back up to the room. Well, apparently there was some issue and they ended up having to re-make my husband's food. He finally made it back up to the room. It was a slow morning, to say the least. We didn't make it over to Disneyland until 10:45.

We hopped on the horse-drawn carriage for a ride down Main Street.



Mr. Toad had a short line so we jumped on that.



Then we rode:
Peter Pan (DAS)
Tea Cups
Dumbo (DAS)
Casey Jr.
Alice (DAS)
Star Tours (DAS)
The train back to Main Street.

We walked over to DCA and had lunch at Flo's. Then we rode Luigi's with a DAS return. After that, we stopped at the ice cream place and got some to take back to our room. I felt the walk was a bit far with melting ice cream but thankfully a good portion of the walk is indoors. We were back in our room around 3pm. We enjoyed our ice cream and then we spent some time packing up.

We headed back to the park around 5:45. But first I wanted to go up to the 3rd floor 'lobby' area. I've never been up there before.





Once over at Disneyland, we rode the Jungle Cruise. Then MMRR using DAS. Small World had no wait so we rode that real quick.









We went over to Pizza Port for dinner. On previous trips, we always sat at the tables near the Space Mountain entrance. But on this trip, it was almost always full. So we ended up getting our food and walking over near Tomorrowland Terrace to eat instead. Kind of a pain but it worked out okay and was way less crowded.

Our last two rides of the trip were Star Tour and Autopia (both using DAS.)



Then we walked through some shops. I wanted a mug ornament at Starbucks and while my husband waited in line to purchase it, my son listened to the Party Line phone. He thought it was pretty funny. I love the little things like this around the parks.



We went through DCA on our way back to the hotel so I could get the other Starbucks mug ornament I wanted.



We were back in our room around 9:30.

It was a nice last day in the parks and not nearly as crowded as some of the days earlier in the week. We got on 15 total attractions!

Next up: the long drive home.

 

[Enzo1212]

We don't go on our trip until next month but I'm just so excited and wanted to start my thread now.

This will be our 2nd time staying at the Grand Californian and our first time in the Villas. We'll be in a studio villa for 6 nights. We have 5-day park hoppers. We'll be driving so it's a fairly long trip, overall. Here's what it will look like....

Saturday 6/15 - Drive 550 miles to the Denver area.
Sunday 6/16 - Drive 570 miles to Cedar City, Utah.
Monday 6/17 *our 18th wedding anniversary* - Drive 430 miles to the Grand Californian.

Once we arrive, we'll get checked into the hotel. Then we'll do our usual Target run for bottled water and snacks.

We'll be in the parks Tuesday 6/18 - Saturday 6/22. We have park reservations at Disneyland on Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday and DCA on Wednesday/Friday. But we'll park hop a lot, I'm sure. We aren't going to the Pride events that occur on our dates. But we'll probably try to wear some LGBTQ shirts or something those days for fun anyway.

Sunday 6/23 - Drive 550 miles to Richfield, Utah
Monday 6/24 - Drive 545 miles to Fort Morgan, Colorado
Tuesday 6/25 - Drive 460 miles home

We did this same route for our trip in June 2022. Though we took an extra day on the way there last time so we could stop at some museums and parks. But this time we likely won't stop nearly as much. Just bathroom and meal breaks. If our son (he's 10 and autistic) gets too antsy, we'll try to find some parks for brief stops.

(Hopefully we don't catch Covid on this trip like we did in 2022!)

My husband does all of the driving and I'm just a passenger princess, relaxing and eating my little snacks. So I'm really looking forward to it. I plan to do a lot of Instagram posts and stories throughout the trip so that's always fun. Well, for me, anyway. Probably bores my few followers to tears since a lot of them aren't Disney people. Most of them don't even know we're DVCers because some are already a bit judgmental about how often we travel to Disney parks. But I'm not going to let them ruin my fun! (If anyone wants to follow along, just let me know.)

This trip will mark 20 years since my very first visit to Disneyland. In June 2004, my husband and I were newly dating and lived 1500 miles away from each other at the time. I made my first trip to California for a visit. We did 1 day at Disneyland and 1 day at California Adventure. I didn't have a digital camera at the time so I have very few photos (and the quality is just crappy but maybe I'll scan them or just take some pictures of the pictures to share.)

As I mentioned above, our wedding anniversary is also the day we arrive. We don't have anything planned to celebrate at all. I wish we could swing by our wedding chapel for fun but I doubt we'll get around to it. But it's such a cute chapel. I took this last time we visited (June 2017.)

View attachment 857903

We have no dining reservations so we'll just do what we always do, which is eat at quick service places. We haven't talked about what we'll do for breakfast yet. When we stayed at the Grand Californian (hotel side) in 2023, we ate at Craftsman Grill every morning. I suspect we may do that again, even though eating cereal or something in the room would be quicker and cheaper. But we'll see, I guess.

That's all for now! We leave in 38 days!

 

[Enzo1212]

Day 7 - Friday, June 21st

Same old, same old for our morning routine. This morning was very sunny and no June gloom.....boooo. So we had to apply sunscreen before even heading into the parks. We got into California Adventure at around 10am. We hit up Luigi's and Mater with little wait times. Then we went to ride Monster's Inc. I wish they'd just redo this entire section of the park. It's such a wasted area.

I liked this poster though!

View attachment 879626

On our way through Avenger's Campus, we made a quick stop to meet Captain America. Our son hasn't really wanted to meet characters these last few trips but since there wasn't much of a line, we decided to give it a shot. He did pretty well!

View attachment 879629

View attachment 879630

After this, we headed back to Cars Land to use a DAS return for Radiator Springs Racers. But our son kind of freaked out and said he didn't want to run. This was such a bummer. He's ridden in a few times before. He never likes the fast part at the end but he loves everything before it. I guess this time it just wasn't worth it? I don't know. His fears change a lot. So we didn't force it. I was bummed though and never did get back over to ride it this trip. Next time, if he doesn't want to go, I'll probably do single rider.

At this point, I wanted a Jack Jack cookie so I headed that way. My husband and son headed elsewhere to grab a hot dog (husband's 'snack') and a churro (son's snack.) We found a table in the shade down near Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta. At this point it was getting super hot out and I was not a fan of that. My cookie was good though!

We then road Inside Out with a DAS return. Our son loved it again. Definitely a new favorite for him.

We grabbed lunch next at Boardwalk. Our son chose pizza but then he didn't eat much of it. Oh well.

We reapplied sunscreen and decided to hop over to Disneyland. It was around 1:15pm at this time. It was so hot out by now. We decided to get on the train and do the full circle. It was a nice 'break' from crowds and heat. We actually rode the full loop...plus an extra bit to get to the back of the park. Our son was kind of over it at this point but he didn't do too bad.

View attachment 879631

The above section is probably my favorite park. Our son really liked the Grand Canyon and dinosaurs.

The plan was to go on MMRR but it was closed so we went on Small World instead with a DAS return. And then Alice with a DAS return. Break time next! First we walked through World of Disney to buy a few things. And then we went to Starbucks for some blended drinks to enjoy back in the room.

We went back over to Disneyland around 6:15pm. Got a quick picture of our brick.

View attachment 879634

We had picked up a Rise DAS earlier so we headed over there to use it. As we entered the line...our son started to get upset. We weren't sure what the problem was and hoped he'd be okay. We got into the pre-show and he was still iffy. Then as we were heading toward the "transport" vehicle, he got REALLY upset. So we decided to exit the ride completely. I told the CM at the exit and she was nice enough to load a new DAS pass for us to use later, if our son seemed up to it.

We decided it would be best to get some dinner next. We went to Pizza Port again and our son ate a great dinner - noodles, chicken, spinach, and oranges.

After this, we asked if he wanted to do Rise and he gave us a very definitive no. I have a feeling he just doesn't want to deal with the drop even though he seemed to love most of the ride. (Not unlike his new fear of RSR.) So we used the DAS returns we were give for MMRR instead. Then we went over and used DAS for Star Tours and for Autopia before heading back to the hotel around 9:30pm.

Overall, an okay day....except for our son's new fear of rides he used to enjoy. Oh...and the heat was a bit much for me!

Love the flower pictures. Keep them coming

 

[crazydad123]

We use Bell Services with every trip, as we usually arrive in the morning before rooms are available, and leave after checkout time. The cast members are very helpful, and are (in our experience) very prompt in delivery and pick-up. Gratuity is appreciated, but not demanded. This is a 4-5 star hotel and now that staffing is back to normal, the service is very good and the staff very friendly.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Well...we're starting to figure out our next VGC stay so I'm just going to add that to this thread.

Right now, we have a studio booked for early December.

We like to fly Southwest and they will release December flights on March 20th. Today, they released through the beginning of November so I just searched some random days to see what the schedule/prices look like. And YIKES. Not only are the flight times/layovers not what we like to see....the prices are crazy high.

When we go in the warmer, non-school year, months...we like to drive. It takes a lot of extra days but we enjoy it. Just can't take our kid out of school that many days at once. So for winter, flying is necessary. HOWEVER....if the flights are really bad, we came up with a backup plan....

We would try to drive out in March and overlap part of the trip with our son's spring break. He'd still miss 5 days of school, which is the same he misses when we fly. The downside of this backup plan is the points are much higher this time of year. And it throws off our future trips a bit.

Right now, we have these tentative plans....
December 2025
June 2026
June 2027

But if we do the back-up plan and go in March, it would essentially replace December 2025 AND June 2026. So yeah....not exactly ideal. We'll have to make our decision once the flights are released. I will need to check other airlines as well. So far I just searched direct to LAX but didn't care for the times. And honestly, don't want to deal that long of an Uber ride.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I was looking through old pictures.

February 2015 - our son's first trip to Disneyland. We stayed at the Desert Inn on Harbor. But one afternoon we wandered DTD, The Grand Californian, and the Disneyland hotel. We sat in the grand cal lobby for a bit and our son got very sleepy. I posted this on Facebook with the caption "Grand Californian lobby. We aren't staying here...it's too rich for our blood!"



Fast forward 8 years to February 2023....our friend got us a 40% discount so we were able to stay here for the first time! (And the rest....is history....)

Here's me and my son in the lobby during that trip. We'd be VGC members just a couple months later!

 

[ClaraOswald]

Well...we're starting to figure out our next VGC stay so I'm just going to add that to this thread.

Right now, we have a studio booked for early December.

We like to fly Southwest and they will release December flights on March 20th. Today, they released through the beginning of November so I just searched some random days to see what the schedule/prices look like. And YIKES. Not only are the flight times/layovers not what we like to see....the prices are crazy high.

When we go in the warmer, non-school year, months...we like to drive. It takes a lot of extra days but we enjoy it. Just can't take our kid out of school that many days at once. So for winter, flying is necessary. HOWEVER....if the flights are really bad, we came up with a backup plan....

We would try to drive out in March and overlap part of the trip with our son's spring break. He'd still miss 5 days of school, which is the same he misses when we fly. The downside of this backup plan is the points are much higher this time of year. And it throws off our future trips a bit.

Right now, we have these tentative plans....
December 2025
June 2026
June 2027

But if we do the back-up plan and go in March, it would essentially replace December 2025 AND June 2026. So yeah....not exactly ideal. We'll have to make our decision once the flights are released. I will need to check other airlines as well. So far I just searched direct to LAX but didn't care for the times. And honestly, don't want to deal that long of an Uber ride.

Update-ish.

Getting pretty stressed about flight options. Especially with Southwest's announcement today about things changing over there.

Now it looks like flights for our dates won't be released on SWA until March 27th.

I just searched other airlines and the flights with the times (and are refundable) are $611-$785 per person, depending upon which dates we pick. Plus $40 per checked bag.

Oof! Not great at all.

I hate that if we decide to drive, we would eliminate an entire trip. Plus, we'd risk running into bad weather/road conditions.

This sucks. I hope SWA has some decent options.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Update-ish.

Getting pretty stressed about flight options. Especially with Southwest's announcement today about things changing over there.

Now it looks like flights for our dates won't be released on SWA until March 27th.

I just searched other airlines and the flights with the times (and are refundable) are $611-$785 per person, depending upon which dates we pick. Plus $40 per checked bag.

Oof! Not great at all.

I hate that if we decide to drive, we would eliminate an entire trip. Plus, we'd risk running into bad weather/road conditions.

This sucks. I hope SWA has some decent options.

Not sure where you live but look up the budget airlines and see if you can fly into SNA, LGB, SBD or ONT. Breeze, Allegiant, Sun Country are a few that fly those airports. Edit to add the charge for bags. But the extremely low fare can more than make up for it.

 

[ClaraOswald]

The only one of those that operates out of our airport is Allegiant and it only goes to LAX. And very limited.

We don't have the others here at all.

 

[VGCgroupie]

The only one of those that operates out of our airport is Allegiant and it only goes to LAX. And very limited.

We don't have the others here at all.

Do you happen to have a small airport nearby? They tend to fly out of small airports not so much the large ones which I Iove. So much less hassle at tiny airports.

 

[AstroBlasters]

Update-ish.

Getting pretty stressed about flight options. Especially with Southwest's announcement today about things changing over there.

Now it looks like flights for our dates won't be released on SWA until March 27th.

I just searched other airlines and the flights with the times (and are refundable) are $611-$785 per person, depending upon which dates we pick. Plus $40 per checked bag.

Oof! Not great at all.

I hate that if we decide to drive, we would eliminate an entire trip. Plus, we'd risk running into bad weather/road conditions.

This sucks. I hope SWA has some decent options.

Alaska buying Hawaiian airlines has so far eliminated our ability to use a companion fare to Hawaii…. (Only Hawaiian flights direct, no more Alaska) nearly doubling the price of a trip.

Also, flights to Orlando direct during spring break that aren’t a red eye were double what I expected. Luckily we could use a companion fare there.

Flight prices are definitely impacting our travel thoughts.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Alaska buying Hawaiian airlines has so far eliminated our ability to use a companion fare to Hawaii…. (Only Hawaiian flights direct, no more Alaska) nearly doubling the price of a trip.

Also, flights to Orlando direct during spring break that aren’t a red eye were double what I expected. Luckily we could use a companion fare there.

Flight prices are definitely impacting our travel thoughts.

Im taking the red eye to Orlando next month

 

[AstroBlasters]

Im taking the red eye to Orlando next month

I ran that by my wife and she said if we can’t afford to not to take a red eye then we can’t afford to take the trip and to just cancel it….

I actually upgraded the outbound to 1st class because the cost to upgrade wasn’t that big of a jump with the economy plus already being so darn expensive.

They let us upgrade the companion fares for the same price… so…. I guess I’ll take that as a win.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Do you happen to have a small airport nearby? They tend to fly out of small airports not so much the large ones which I Iove. So much less hassle at tiny airports.

Nope. Nothing within a couple hours.

Alaska buying Hawaiian airlines has so far eliminated our ability to use a companion fare to Hawaii…. (Only Hawaiian flights direct, no more Alaska) nearly doubling the price of a trip.

Also, flights to Orlando direct during spring break that aren’t a red eye were double what I expected. Luckily we could use a companion fare there.

Flight prices are definitely impacting our travel thoughts.

Such a bummer.

I'm going to have my husband run the numbers on what it would cost to drive (tricky because you never really know what gas prices will be so he'll estimate high to be safe.) I'll price out hotels and food on a drive. And dog sitter for extra days. If it's similar or less than flying.....we will have to decide if we want to do that in February (decided that would be better than March if we use the days my son has off for conferences/presidents day) and then skip our June DLR trip.

It's a bummer and we might actually end up with VGC points (2026 UY) we can't use before expiration. So we'd have to rent them out maybe.

I'm going to hold out hope for SOMETHING doable on Southwest in December. I'm antsy waiting for flights to come out.

Im taking the red eye to Orlando next month

We have to be so picky about flight times and layovers because of our son. It just makes our options so limited. And it a big reason we actually prefer driving. It will be much easier once he's out of school (in 2032. Ha!)

 

[AstroBlasters]

Nope. Nothing within a couple hours.



Such a bummer.

I'm going to have my husband run the numbers on what it would cost to drive (tricky because you never really know what gas prices will be so he'll estimate high to be safe.) I'll price out hotels and food on a drive. And dog sitter for extra days. If it's similar or less than flying.....we will have to decide if we want to do that in February (decided that would be better than March if we use the days my son has off for conferences/presidents day) and then skip our June DLR trip.

It's a bummer and we might actually end up with VGC points (2026 UY) we can't use before expiration. So we'd have to rent them out maybe.

I'm going to hold out hope for SOMETHING doable on Southwest in December. I'm antsy waiting for flights to come out.

The wear and tear on your body when driving….

 

[ClaraOswald]

The wear and tear on your body when driving….

How do you mean??