"I can't believe we're staying here!" An Feb'16 DLR PTR (TR link Post #355)

[skier_pete]

Not a drop of rain yesterday or today (so far). Erika must be a cast member.

 

[kcpinwdw]

Not a drop of rain yesterday or today (so far). Erika must be a cast member.

Right???

We were planning on skipping TL tomorrow and just doing a resort day but maybe the weather will continue to surprise us.

 

[Teetah]

Interested to hear more about what you thought of Beach Club! Glad your stay is going well and the rain seems to be at bay!

 

[skier_pete]

OK. I liked the Beach Club, but I LOVE the Poly! How much are points again?

 

[kcpinwdw]

omg your view is to DIE FOR.

I agree I love it here, we will definitely be back to the poly... in a theme park view room THough our monorail view has been great for the kids!

 

[franandaj]

Are those the DVC bungalows? Less than a month until I see if I can get one of those!

 

[skier_pete]

Are those the DVC bungalows? Less than a month until I see if I can get one of those!

Yes, those are the bungalows. I can see why people are complaining they block the view, it we are on the third floor so not bad.
Good luck. I really have no idea how hard they are to get. Can't imagine that many people can afford the points. Can't beat the location though. I'd love to see them inside. The new rooms are quite beautiful.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I am so envious about that view!!!

WOW! How fantastic for you and the family.

 

[skier_pete]

I admit I DID have to lean out and look hard right for that view. The straight out view is of another building. What was nice though is we were on the third floor, so for the fireworks you walked to the end of the building, and you could see over the bungalows and watch the fireworks. No music though. They need to move the speakers, where the speakers are with the music is the part of the beach that is blocked by the bungalows. The part of the beach that gives you a clear view to the fireworks doesn't have speakers. Must fix Disney.

That and the Pool is WAAAYYY too small for the resort. With the secondary pool in rehab, the primary pool felt like I was at Pop Century with the crowd of people in there.

Anyways - so in case everyone hasn't figured it out, we're back from our trip. It'll take a little time before I can start writing a TR, so please be patient with me. I think I took plenty of pictures....though I missed some food porn along the way. Give me a week or so and I will set up a link.

 

[rteetz]

I admit I DID have to lean out and look hard right for that view. The straight out view is of another building. What was nice though is we were on the third floor, so for the fireworks you walked to the end of the building, and you could see over the bungalows and watch the fireworks. No music though. They need to move the speakers, where the speakers are with the music is the part of the beach that is blocked by the bungalows. The part of the beach that gives you a clear view to the fireworks doesn't have speakers. Must fix Disney.

That and the Pool is WAAAYYY too small for the resort. With the secondary pool in rehab, the primary pool felt like I was at Pop Century with the crowd of people in there.

Anyways - so in case everyone hasn't figured it out, we're back from our trip. It'll take a little time before I can start writing a TR, so please be patient with me. I think I took plenty of pictures....though I missed some food porn along the way. Give me a week or so and I will set up a link.

Can't wait to hear all about it Pete

 

[franandaj]

Looking forward to when you get it sorted all out.

 

[Tinker326]

Can't wait for the TR!!! I am drooling over that Poly stay!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Welcome back!


No rush.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Holy moly, what a view! Looking forward to your TR!

 

[skier_pete]

Hey everyone! Trip report is now On-line!

Trip Report Link: "I think I'm in Love - and her name is Polynesia"

Just so you know - I consider this PTR to still be active and will use it for updates for our Disneyland trip, which is now less than FIVE months away. There is no news there - and in fact in this case, No news is BAD news. We still are wait listed for the Grand Cailfornian DVC villas, and I STILL haven't come up with a good alternative plan if I don't get it.

In the meantime, please follow over to my Trip Report. I can't promise it'll be entertaining, but if nothing else, there WILL be lots of pictures!

 

[NJlauren]

Jumping over to the TR and sending positive vibes for your DVC coming though for DL.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Nice! Popping over now! Crossing my fingers you get you GC reservation soon.

 

[skier_pete]

Another reminder to check out my new Trip Report -
Trip Report Link: "I think I'm in Love - and her name is Polynesia"

But really this is an update for our Disneyland trip - sorry that there aren't any pictures, but sometimes their aren't:

So - with our waitlist not coming through at all I am losing patience with not having a plan B in place.
In addition, after our recent Disney World stay, I am realizing that it just won't a comfortable situation for us to have myself and DW, DD12 and DMom75 all sharing a single hotel room for any length of time. I think it's manageable for a night or two, but realistically for a whole week it just isn't.

So - this here is now our plan A that I came up with
Friday (2/12) - We fly out to Arizona, arrive 10:30 AM. Stay with my mom.
Saturday (2/13) - Spend the day doing odds and ends around the house. Relax a bit as this trip might be kind of hectic. Pick up the rental car from the Mesa airport in the evening.
Sunday (2/14) - Drive to Hollywood. Check our the walk of fame / Chinese Theater area and also dinner at the Farmer's Market. Stay 1 night in Burbank, standard hotel room.
Monday (2/15) - Warner Brothers tour (around 10 AM). Then lunch and head to Anaheim by around 2 PM. Hopefully traffic isn't too bad and we can make the drive in less than 2 hours. (Should be about an hour, but in LA who knows!) Check in to our 1 night at (Grand Californian) VGC in a studio.
Tuesday (2/16) - Take advantage of early entry at Disneyland and the locale of VGC. Check out but use the hotel as a base until afternoon. In the evening, check into the Carousel Inn and Suites. I booked a two-bedroom suite for $206 (plus tax) for three nights. The Carousel is the hotel NEXT to the Tropicana, where we stayed before. For those not familiar with Disneyland, the off site hotels can be as close or closer than the on-site hotels. In this case, The Carousel is probably about the same distance from DLR as the VGC, though of course the VGC is actually attached to DCA.



I'd clearly rather be at the VGC for the whole trip, but that seems unlikely to happen. This seems like a reasonable substitute. The suite has a king bedroom, and a 2nd bedroom with 2 queen beds. I originally looked at two rooms, but this was actually a tiny bit cheaper. As I've said before, I'm more concerned at the effect on my budget. Since I already have the points paid for, the 3 nights at the Carousel Inn add $750 to my budget that I wasn't anticipating. We'll find a way to make it work if we have to.

Anyways - back to the trip plans.
Wednesday- Friday (2/17-2/19): Time spent at Disneyland. With about 3 1/2 total days, we can take a much more relaxed pace than our past two visits, which our first one we had 2 1/2 days, and our second one we were there 3 days but spent a lot of time doing backstage stuff.
Friday (2/19) afternoon we will leave Anaheim and drive to Legoland. My thought is to leave around 1 - 2 PM, to try and miss the worst of the weekend traffic. Since we have no real hurry, it's not a big deal, but we'll have plenty of time.
Saturday (2/20): Legoland for the day. We already have a good deal on a place right across the street, it's a 1-bedroom with a living area and sleeper sofa. So the plan is likely DW and I will take the bedroom, and we'll bring an air mattress for DD while my mom takes the sleeper sofa. (Hopefully it is reasonably comfortable.) Alternately, let mom and DD take the bed, and DW and I take the sofa!
Sunday (2/21): Drive back to Mesa, Arizona. Drop off rental car.
Monday (2/22): Fly home - arrive 7 PM.

The "PLAN B" is our former "PLAN A". I already have a waitlist for 2 nights in a 1-bedroom at the VGC on Wednesday and Thursday night. I cancelled the wait-list for the studio - even though I really want to get into the VGC, I just don't think staying in a studio - especially with one bed and a sofa bed - will work for more than one night. So for my 2nd waitlist, I put in a single day in a 1-bedroom on Tuesday.

If the FIRST original waitlist (2-night) comes through - I'll cancel the single night in the studio at VGC, and instead we'll do two nights at the Carousel and two nights at the VGC.
If the SECOND waitlist (1-night comes through - we'll keep the studio and then switch to the 1-bedroom (a pain I know), then do two nights at the Carousel.
If BOTH waitlists come through - we'll cancel the single night in the studio and I will decide what we are going to do for Monday night, but I will be so happy I won't even care.

So - I apologize if this was a bit boring - but that's where things stand.

 

[Teetah]

The fact that you can keep track of all of that so well is truly impressive.

 

[YodasMom]

Good luck with your waitlist, but don't give up hope. I have had a waitlist come through twice at VGC around 2 months before vacation time during a busier time of year, so you still have lots of time left. Like you, I had alternative hotel plans just in case, though. Hope it still comes through!