Marie,
Your comment about staying away from the time share guys made me laugh
as we have come very close to going along with them. So did you decide to purchase shares or was your stay part of the promotion? They are always so convincing and offer great incentives. The only thing that "saved" us last time was that we were leaving for the airport in less than an hour. I'm not sure they believed us, but it really was the truth
I am sure you will have a great stay regardless, but I can relate to your anxiety about not being so close. We usually stay at the BWPPI at the crosswalk, but this time DI was quite a bit cheaper, and since we didn't need the larger room, we went with it. You can't beat $63/nt.!
As for the pool, DD is like yours, and as long as she can swim, she's happy. And I would rather smell chlorine than something else
In our past trips, I think she has only ever gone swimming once, so I'm not even sure it will happen.
We also are not going to the parks the first day, but it's because we don't land until 9:45 at LGB, so we won't get to the hotel until at least 11:00. It will be tempting knowing we would have an hour left to be there, and who knows, it's only a $5 add-on to get that 7th day, so maybe we will do it! I am thinking it would be better to get a good nights sleep and get settled into our room. Maybe we will just go to DTD for a bit.
So are you staying at DI for the first part of your trip or the last part? Do you do any side trips to Sea World, etc.? We never have, but we would love to do Sea World for a day. My only hesitation is the shorter hours. It's a lot of time and money for only 7 hours of park time. As of now we are doing it, but that could change. Have you been there, and is that enough time?
We are doing the Pirate Dinner this time, but last time we did Medievil times which we loved. Since the parks close at 8, we enjoy being able to do those kind of things. We usually don't rent a car, and take taxi's if we need to, but this time we might for a day or two. I would like to go to the Character Warehouse since we never have, but I have to find out where it is. I feel like I am writing a book
I was so excited that my ticker said 1 wk 6 d
We have been planning this since May. I am one of those who absolutely loves the planning, and am very sad when I have nothing to plan
I will have to come over to the Nov. thread and look for you. Thanks again for everything, and who knows, maybe we will see you there!
Blessings,
Traci
Money was a little tight last year so when the Worldmark guy offered DH $100 to take the tour he decided it would be worth it. I was thinking #1-that I would rather spend the precious time in the park, #2- that I couldn't think of anything that would be more torturous than wasting my time on something we really didn't need to be spending money on and #3- that he had lost his mind. He was under the crazy assumption that we would be able to resist! Well, let me tell you they are some pretty slick salesmen! If you love to travel they will make it sound like you just cannot live without one of their timeshares! Unfortunately, they do bend the truth a little. The real reason they managed to wear us down was because they assured us that we would be able to stay in the Disney properties. DVC IS listed in our resort book but every agent I have talked to since we bought in has practically laughed at me thinking I would ever get in a reservation with them. Evidently they stay so well booked with DVC owners that the chances of anything ever becoming available for us is next to impossible. So yeah. We were suckers. Don't fall into the same trap.
As for incentives. HA! They "gave" us a couple free weeks (which end up really costing at least $249) which are so restricted that I have been unable to use either of them. One of Worldmark's phone agents even actually told me that "they dangle those free weeks in front of you like candy" but there are very few who are actually able to find something they can use. Kinda stinks, huh?
So...., for now we are trying to make the best of a disappointing situation and will be trying one of the other properties in Anaheim that we were able to book which, of course, is NOT Disney. As usual, reviews are mixed about Dolphin's Cove so we will be coming home either pleasantly surprised or even more disappointed with the prospect of being stuck in a contract that is not what we signed on for. I am trying to keep positive but the whole experience did leave me a little bitter to think that it might not work out well for the purpose we intended. One positive thought is that DH does hope that we will be able to travel more someday when he retires so it may work perfect for that when our travel plans are more versatile and our destination is not specifically
Disneyland. In the meantime, it has really messed up our usually simple lodging plans. We will be at DI Oct 31-Nov 5 and Dolphin's Cove Nov 5-12. I am going to try to remember to pack my LGMH so maybe I will see you. Will you have yours?
Apologies for going so deep into that..... now back to the rest of the regularly scheduled program!
Desert Inn does offer great rates, especially if you book well in advance. We always stay in their largest room, which is basically 2 rooms, even though there are just the four of us. We enjoy having plenty of spread out space! Plus dear hubby snores like a bear so it's best to have a separate sleeping area for the rest of us who want to get a little sleep.
Anyway, $63 is a great rate and I hope you find it works just as well as BWPPI.
Sounds like your DD will be just fine with the pool. I confess. I am just plain old mean. I have never taken our DD swimming while we are at DI because I am afraid she would end up wanting to spend all her time in the pool instead of Disneyland!
She can be goofy that way! On the other hand, I do make sure to make swimming a main priority when we travel anywhere else.... but when we are in California our trip is meant to be completely devoted to park time.
Actually, I was looking at the park hours on the Disneyland site for the 28th and it says DL is only open til 7:00 and CA til 11:00. That sounds like it solves your dilemma of trying to decide whether to go to the park on your first night.
Our first few trips we did a lot of exploring outside of Disneyland because we had never been to California before but we decided it was just too much of a hassle dealing with the crazy traffic. We saw almost everything we were interested in in the area but I would like to drive up the coast someday now that DD is older to see the Hearst Castle. Never made it to Seaworld since we have one of those in San Antonio. We did enjoy that one so I figure it is probably very similar.
Legoland was similar with the shorter hours. When we went there we just made sure that we were at the gates bright and early to get the most out of our shorter day. I do think we still got our money's worth and I bet 7 hours at Seaworld will probably be enough too.
Never done the Pirate dinner but we have done Medievil Times because we have one in our area. If it is anything similar I bet you will have a blast. Character Warehouse will probably be pretty neat. I hate shopping on our trips so I have always been able to resist that temptation!
I think taking the cab probably keeps it simpler, even if it might cost a bit more, but you can let the driver deal with the driving. To me that is worth a lot! Also, worth mentioning is the fact that the parking spaces at DI are pretty tight and pretty limited. It also costs $8 a day.
I agree. It is sad when the planning is over. Luckily, I generally don't have that problem too long because I usually start planning all over again almost as soon as we get back home!
Maybe you can do the same thing.
Please let us know how you like Dolphin's Cove. I traded a week in for our Feb trip for a 2 bedroom at the Dolphin's Cove. Not sure what to expect.
Sounds like we are in the same boat not knowing what to expect. I am hoping for the best and since we are fairly easy to please I think we will be just fine. One of my main concerns is getting back and forth to the park. We won't have a car and I am not really looking forward to using shuttles. Sounds like it's going to be too far to walk so we will just have to find out what works best. I will be glad to give you the low down when we get back!
Are you Worldmark owners? If so, have you been with them long? How has your experience been? We are all new at this timeshare thing. I can tell it is going to take me a long time to figure it out!
We get in around 10:45 on 10/28, and leave around 4:00pm on 11/4. This will be our third trip during this time of year, but it will be the first time it will be just the three of us which we are excited about 
If your DD is anything like mine she will be perfectly content to swim in it just so long as it means she gets to go swimming. So, if that's what's important then I have no idea why it wouldn't work just fine for a few swims.
