I did it! Upgraded to staying on property for the first time!

[Erin M]

We have a trip planned in late November and had been booked to stay at BWPPI, but I looked at DLH rates again today and while it will cost me some extra $$$ it seemed worth it to me to be in the bubble for the first time ever, at Christmas time, and get early entry every day of our stay. I even changed our flight to arrive the day before so we'll get a full day on Monday (our first in the park) instead of getting there at 11am after a morning of travel.

I'm pretty darn excited! Mostly about the magical headboards! Ha!

Soooooo, any tips and advice for a first stay on property? Or on using the monorail to our advantage? Or anything else I need to know?

I had to purchase 4 day hopper tickets because DH arrives a day later than DD and me, and I was told could just upgrade two of the tickets to 5 day hoppers easy peasy. Has anyone done this? Is it just that easy?

 

[pharmama]

We have a trip planned in late November and had been booked to stay at BWPPI, but I looked at DLH rates again today and while it will cost me some extra $$$ it seemed worth it to me to be in the bubble for the first time ever, at Christmas time, and get early entry every day of our stay. I even changed our flight to arrive the day before so we'll get a full day on Monday (our first in the park) instead of getting there at 11am after a morning of travel.

I'm pretty darn excited! Mostly about the magical headboards! Ha!

Soooooo, any tips and advice for a first stay on property? Or on using the monorail to our advantage? Or anything else I need to know?

I had to purchase 4 day hopper tickets because DH arrives a day later than DD and me, and I was told could just upgrade two of the tickets to 5 day hoppers easy peasy. Has anyone done this? Is it just that easy?

Yay! Enjoy your stay! I love the DLH.

Adding a day to your tickets is indeed pretty painless- you just have to do it before the end of your last day on your current ticket, though you could do it any time before that too. The most painful part may be waiting in line to have it done as the ticket booth lines can be very slow. Might be worth asking on your arrival night if you can do it at guest services in the hotel so its all taken care of.

 

[Nickarooney]

I just did that on my last trip. It was easy. I did not realize when you add a day that they issue a new physical ticket and that means a new picture going through the turnstiles, new ticket number in Maxpass, etc. No biggie at all, just didn't know it worked like that. I might have made more of an effort to do it at the very beginning of my trip and not deal with it during the middle if I were to do it again. Enjoy DLH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ExcitedMama]

Have a great stay! I love being there at Christmas! Don’t forget to check out the lobby of the GC. If you can it’s a great place to go and get some hot chocolate and a mickey gingerbread cookie while admiring the gingerbread house. My kids loved it. Don’t forget to have your room keys ready for EE. Personally I don’t recommend the monorail. When we stayed at DLH it was pretty slow in opening up.

 

[Little E]

We did our first trip to Disneyland in August and stayed at the DLH. It was amazing! I cannot even begin to imagine how magical a stay will be with Christmas decorations!! We had at DTD premium view and stayed in the Adventure Tower. We loved being just steps away from the security line and it made rope dropping either park in the am easy peasy.

We loved how close DTD and the park were to the hotel...it made going back and taking a break and a dip in the pool so quick! It felt every bit as magical as any bubble stay at WDW. (One morning I was even able to run back to the hotel, grab Tylenol for my DS, and rejoin my family in line before rope drop happened. That's how close DLH is to the parks!)

I will say we never once used the monorail. It was just so slow...walking was much easier and quicker. YMMV. We had hoppers and Maxpass; both are a MUST DO. We only had three days in the park and we were able to enjoy so much of both parks by hopping and using Maxpass. I wish WDW would get on the bandwagon and do Maxpass.

Enjoy every moment of your trip! DLH was awesome!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Do the upgrade when the ticket booths are quiet in like mid-afternoon or evening. We upgraded in the mid-morning (at the insistence of a member of my family) and it was the worst DLR related decision they ever made, lost an hour and a half of park time in the lines and with the new confused cm who could not get the attention she needed from her supervisor to complete our transaction.

 

[Erin M]

I will say we never once used the monorail. It was just so slow...walking was much easier and quicker.

Thank you! I am seeing this from a few people. I don't mind a walk and we'll have a stroller if the little legs in our family get tired.

Is it true that you can use the special GC entrance to DCA? I had read that somewhere but wasn't sure it was true or how it worked.

 

[Erin M]

Have a great stay! I love being there at Christmas! Don’t forget to check out the lobby of the GC. If you can it’s a great place to go and get some hot chocolate and a mickey gingerbread cookie while admiring the gingerbread house. My kids loved it. Don’t forget to have your room keys ready for EE. Personally I don’t recommend the monorail. When we stayed at DLH it was pretty slow in opening up.

Hot cocoa and cookies! Check! Our first night there we won't be in the park so this seems like a perfect thing to do!

 

[Winnowill]

Is it true that you can use the special GC entrance to DCA? I had read that somewhere but wasn't sure it was true or how it worked.

I'm pretty sure only GCH guests can use that entrance.

 

[Erin M]

I'm pretty sure only GCH guests can use that entrance.

That makes sense, but I thought I'd seen it somewhere so worth asking.

 

[gerilyne]

That makes sense, but I thought I'd seen it somewhere so worth asking.

I have found after about 10am anyone can use the GCH/DCA entrance, at least that has been my experience when I wasn't a guest there. On our first trip we used it to go in and take a look at the lobby and sit and cool off for a while and then used it to go back into DCA.

 

[StarlitNight05]

I don't have any tips, but I wanted to share in your excitement since we are also staying at the DLH for the first time during Thanksgiving!
I'm so excited about the headboards too!

 

[ExcitedMama]

Hot cocoa and cookies! Check! Our first night there we won't be in the park so this seems like a perfect thing to do!

Depending on how interested your daughter is in characters you could consider doing Goofy’s on your arrival night since you won’t be going to the park. It’s great having it in your hotel. I had so much fun surprising my kids with it during our first stay at DLH. Plus without your DH it’s much cheaper. My DH is not at all interested so I often take the kids when he has work obligations.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Thank you! I am seeing this from a few people. I don't mind a walk and we'll have a stroller if the little legs in our family get tired.

Is it true that you can use the special GC entrance to DCA? I had read that somewhere but wasn't sure it was true or how it worked.

Fwiw it's slow in the morning because the monorail isn't always up and running. We like it for returning in the afternoon or hitting the park at night to save our feet!

Like mentioned above you can use the GCH entrance to DCA after like 10am. You can use the GCH DCA entrance as an exit from DCA any time of day. The downside is when transiting through GCH from DLH (or visa versa) you will have to go through security twice. You hit security coming from DLH to enter DtD and you'll hit it again going from GCH into DCA. (The other direction to exit DCA to go to DLH you'll have security from GCH into DtD. We thought that would be a great way to avoid the late night crowds exiting DCA last week but oops- so did a bunch of other people. To security's credit they know a bunch of people flood out of GCH that time of night and they kept stuff moving.)

 

[gottalovepluto]

I don't have any tips, but I wanted to share in your excitement since we are also staying at the DLH for the first time during Thanksgiving!
I'm so excited about the headboards too!

They are magical It was so magical I wanted to keep it on all night but others in the family objected. (It even twinkles if you look close!)

 

[Erin M]

Depending on how interested your daughter is in characters you could consider doing Goofy’s on your arrival night since you won’t be going to the park. It’s great having it in your hotel. I had so much fun surprising my kids with it during our first stay at DLH. Plus without your DH it’s much cheaper. My DH is not at all interested so I often take the kids when he has work obligations.

We had been planning to do Goofy's Kitchen for breakfast on our our last day as our flight isn't until 3:30 that day, but maybe I should save our Character Dinging Voucher (costco package) for something in the parks and do that our first night. DH really doesn't care all that much. You've given me something to think about.

I am secretly hoping our first night it will be warm enough to take a dip in the pool. DD loves water slides, and I know she'd love the pools. Warm enough for us is 70 or above. I know it's unlikely, but I'm still hoping.

 

[Erin M]

Fwiw it's slow in the morning because the monorail isn't always up and running. We like it for returning in the afternoon or hitting the park at night to save our feet!

Like mentioned above you can use the GCH entrance to DCA after like 10am. You can use the GCH DCA entrance as an exit from DCA any time of day. The downside is when transiting through GCH from DLH (or visa versa) you will have to go through security twice. You hit security coming from DLH to enter DtD and you'll hit it again going from GCH into DCA. (The other direction to exit DCA to go to DLH you'll have security from GCH into DtD. We thought that would be a great way to avoid the late night crowds exiting DCA last week but oops- so did a bunch of other people. To security's credit they know a bunch of people flood out of GCH that time of night and they kept stuff moving.)

This is a great tip! Didn't even consider the extra security check but it makes sense. When it's not busy I can see that it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but with a crowd en mass I would not want to deal with it. Thank you!

 

[Geemo]

We had been planning to do Goofy's Kitchen for breakfast on our our last day as our flight isn't until 3:30 that day, but maybe I should save our Character Dinging Voucher (costco package) for something in the parks and do that our first night. DH really doesn't care all that much. You've given me something to think about.

I am secretly hoping our first night it will be warm enough to take a dip in the pool. DD loves water slides, and I know she'd love the pools. Warm enough for us is 70 or above. I know it's unlikely, but I'm still hoping.

Call the DLH to see what the hours are for the slide. When we were there it closed everyday at 5pm. Kids were SO DISAPPOINTED.

Geemo