CardinalsFan
First Time to DLR in Dec 2007
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2007
- Messages
- 192
First of all, this is my first post, after reading much of what's already available out there, and I want to start of by saying THANK YOU to all of you who voluntarily supply us with so much information!
My family (DW 32, DD7, DD3 and me, 37) will be visiting DL for the first time this winter. We were first considering an early January trip (Saturday, January 5th through Thursday, January 10th) in 2008, but after learning much on this forum, we believe we'll pull the kids out of school in early December instead, settling on Saturday, December 8th through Thursday, December 13th, 2007. Saturday and Thursday are travel days, with Sunday through Wednesday in the parks. Reasons for bumping up the dates:
The weird Saturday-to-Thursday itinerary is all about cost savings and minimizing weekend days in the parks. We can travel from Kansas City to the Ontario airport via Southwest Airlines for $654 (including taxes/fees!) if we avoid Friday and Sunday travel. I can't believe that rate! It is part of the reason we decided to do this trip. That, and the excitement built after reading this forum!
We're not locked-in to those dates (yet); I hope to buy the airline tickets soon before we lose the opportunity for the best flights. My first question (#1) is about those dates: IS THERE A BETTER CHOICE IN DECEMBER FOR FOUR DAYS IN THE PARKS? Today, after reading on this forum, I learned that the Electrical Parade operates seasonally, and it might be dark during our proposed timing, but if we delayed by a week, it would be running. So that is an example of the data points I'm looking for from y'all... any other benefits to being in the parks on 12/16 through 12/19 instead? More opportunities for fireworks and parades and shows? Any negative consequences to delaying by a week? Bigger crowds? More expensive hotel rates?
Second question (#2): Since Disney hasn't/won't publish them yet, WHAT ARE THE PARK OPERATING HOURS FOR SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY IN DECEMBER? For those of you who visited in early December 2006 - do you remember what time the parks opened/closed?
We are Costco members. We're not AAA members. We do get an Entertainment book every year (school fundraiser). I've been using the Costco Travel site to help price out lodging options. There's no way we're going to afford a stay at a Disney-owned property, so it's Good Neighbor for us. After I read many, many threads, you all had me talked into the Candy Cane Inn, but my wife really wants a suite so we can put the kids down for a nap mid-day in a room separate from us. And she feels like we'll be "constantly on top of one another" in a small CCI room, leading to stress/tension not necessary when we're on vacation. I'll bet we'll be going back to the room each day for a park break, so I want to optimize travel time to-and-from the park. Also, a free breakfast is important to me, as a time-saver and money-saver. So, knowing that we don't want to be on top of one another in a small room, and that we would ideally like to have a separate sleeping area for the kids to nap in, and we don't want to spend a lot of time traveling to-and-from the hotel for a park break, and a decent free breakfast is important, the next question (#3) is WHICH GOOD NEIGHBOR HOTEL OPTION IS OPTIMAL FOR US?
Thanks in advance for your responses. I'm sure I'll have more questions specific to our visit later, but these are the important ones so I can get started on reservations.
My family (DW 32, DD7, DD3 and me, 37) will be visiting DL for the first time this winter. We were first considering an early January trip (Saturday, January 5th through Thursday, January 10th) in 2008, but after learning much on this forum, we believe we'll pull the kids out of school in early December instead, settling on Saturday, December 8th through Thursday, December 13th, 2007. Saturday and Thursday are travel days, with Sunday through Wednesday in the parks. Reasons for bumping up the dates:
- We want a chance to visit during the Year of a Million Dreams promotion, which ends at the end of the 2007 calendar year
- (slightly) better weather in early December as opposed to early January?
- A chance to experience the BEFORE-Christmas magic instead of the AFTER-Christmas magic
The weird Saturday-to-Thursday itinerary is all about cost savings and minimizing weekend days in the parks. We can travel from Kansas City to the Ontario airport via Southwest Airlines for $654 (including taxes/fees!) if we avoid Friday and Sunday travel. I can't believe that rate! It is part of the reason we decided to do this trip. That, and the excitement built after reading this forum!
We're not locked-in to those dates (yet); I hope to buy the airline tickets soon before we lose the opportunity for the best flights. My first question (#1) is about those dates: IS THERE A BETTER CHOICE IN DECEMBER FOR FOUR DAYS IN THE PARKS? Today, after reading on this forum, I learned that the Electrical Parade operates seasonally, and it might be dark during our proposed timing, but if we delayed by a week, it would be running. So that is an example of the data points I'm looking for from y'all... any other benefits to being in the parks on 12/16 through 12/19 instead? More opportunities for fireworks and parades and shows? Any negative consequences to delaying by a week? Bigger crowds? More expensive hotel rates?
Second question (#2): Since Disney hasn't/won't publish them yet, WHAT ARE THE PARK OPERATING HOURS FOR SUNDAY THROUGH THURSDAY IN DECEMBER? For those of you who visited in early December 2006 - do you remember what time the parks opened/closed?
We are Costco members. We're not AAA members. We do get an Entertainment book every year (school fundraiser). I've been using the Costco Travel site to help price out lodging options. There's no way we're going to afford a stay at a Disney-owned property, so it's Good Neighbor for us. After I read many, many threads, you all had me talked into the Candy Cane Inn, but my wife really wants a suite so we can put the kids down for a nap mid-day in a room separate from us. And she feels like we'll be "constantly on top of one another" in a small CCI room, leading to stress/tension not necessary when we're on vacation. I'll bet we'll be going back to the room each day for a park break, so I want to optimize travel time to-and-from the park. Also, a free breakfast is important to me, as a time-saver and money-saver. So, knowing that we don't want to be on top of one another in a small room, and that we would ideally like to have a separate sleeping area for the kids to nap in, and we don't want to spend a lot of time traveling to-and-from the hotel for a park break, and a decent free breakfast is important, the next question (#3) is WHICH GOOD NEIGHBOR HOTEL OPTION IS OPTIMAL FOR US?
Thanks in advance for your responses. I'm sure I'll have more questions specific to our visit later, but these are the important ones so I can get started on reservations.