Alright, so you can tell by my siggy that my friends and I are planning a Grad trip to Disneyland next year. Originally it was going to happen in late August, but it's since been moved to early July. Hehe, I need a new ticker... We're still debating, but we're agreeing that we want to get there a lot sooner and we don't want to wait a year. We're having a meeting on Monday, so I thought I'd pop in here and gather as much info as possible!
The visitor cast includes myself, my friends Jenny, Victoria, Madison (all have been before, but it's been years and they were only kids) and Megan (who has never been to anything Disney related save for a Disney Store.) I'm the only one in our group who frequents the park (my last trip being in November) and so the planning has mostly fallen on my shoulders. We intend to do everything we can and have the full Disney experience on this trip, no matter the cost.
Since this will be many of our first times traveling on our own (I've flown alone before, that's it) I figured it'd be great to hear from all of you, who are experts at planning your own trips.
Our first concern is ages and rates. I'm not sure what the legal age is to check into the Disneyland hotel, or if there will be any sort of special package we can get. 2 of us will be 18 and the rest will be 17, and we plan to only get one room at the Disneyland hotel. If we need him, my dad will come with us only to check us in and be the older guy. He'll probably come anyway, since he works for Air Canada and we could all get heavy flight discounts.
We plan to stay for 4 nights with a 3 day parkhopper. First day is afternoon arrival and Downtown Disney, then 3 days of park, and an afternoon flight home. So Monday-Friday. I think that's more than enough time, but will there be a day for all of the shows? We want to see any parades as well as WoC and F! since I've never seen either of them in all the years I've been to DL. (ok, so WoC just opened, but still!).
Unfortunately there are no 2011 packages up yet, but I was wondering if they ever have packages that include transportation from the airport to the hotel? I have always gone with my family, and we have always rented a car especially since my sister was born 6 years ago. We obviously don't need to rent a car now, since we won't be going anywhere else. We don't need flights included or anything, just transport. What is the best way to get to Disney with 5-6 people?
Are there any restaurants or eateries that we MUST go to? My family has always traveled on a budget (eg, buying all the food at walmart and keeping it at the hotel or something) until last year when we stayed at our first Disney hotel, Paradise Pier. Now of course, we're going all out and eating basically every meal in the park. We've got the Blue Bayou (I have ALWAYS wanted to eat here!) and my favorite restaurant, the Rainforest Cafe, but where else should we hit up? We want character meals and fancy dinners!
I was also wondering which rides offer the fastpass option, since I've been stuck in some pretty awful lines (Peter Pan's Flight, anyone?).
Which rides are open during early mornings? We had that last time and I think it was Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, but I just wanted to make sure.
Which stores offer the hotel room delivery service? I'm a hardcore shopper and I'm a softy for my favorites (I bought the giant $100 Eeyore in November, but it was too late to have it delivered so I had to carry him. It was a little annoying...) I don't want to buy something amazing and then have to carry it around for the whole day! And neither do my buddies (who seem to think they won't spend very much. But I know them better, and this is Disney, after all!)
Is the photography service worth it? We did it when I went with my family in November, and they thought it was worth it to get such good shots, but would a fast moving group of teens like us favor our own cameras over this? Don't get me wrong, we'll all be getting our autograph books filled out like the cool kids we are, but we don't want to pay too much for pictures.
Are there any permanent 'special' character meets that I should know about now? My family doesn't plan for things like that since we're go-with-the-flow kinda people, but I'd like to see more than I did last year (and Megan has yet to meet any characters! We have to make the most of this, obviously. She's had a rough time with her family and other stresses, so this is just the kind of thing she needs.)
And I think this is my last question, what sort of 'magical' things can we do? We're excited for anything Disney, even the 'little girl' sorts of things. I've heard about waking up Tinker Bell, but I can't remember if that's just WDW. I know Megan would love to do anything like that. We're a pretty goofy group of girls.
Any tips and tricks would be much appreciated!
PS: We're also hardcore gamers. Does the Disney Hotel offer any in-room gaming systems? Thanks!
The visitor cast includes myself, my friends Jenny, Victoria, Madison (all have been before, but it's been years and they were only kids) and Megan (who has never been to anything Disney related save for a Disney Store.) I'm the only one in our group who frequents the park (my last trip being in November) and so the planning has mostly fallen on my shoulders. We intend to do everything we can and have the full Disney experience on this trip, no matter the cost.
Since this will be many of our first times traveling on our own (I've flown alone before, that's it) I figured it'd be great to hear from all of you, who are experts at planning your own trips.
Our first concern is ages and rates. I'm not sure what the legal age is to check into the Disneyland hotel, or if there will be any sort of special package we can get. 2 of us will be 18 and the rest will be 17, and we plan to only get one room at the Disneyland hotel. If we need him, my dad will come with us only to check us in and be the older guy. He'll probably come anyway, since he works for Air Canada and we could all get heavy flight discounts.
We plan to stay for 4 nights with a 3 day parkhopper. First day is afternoon arrival and Downtown Disney, then 3 days of park, and an afternoon flight home. So Monday-Friday. I think that's more than enough time, but will there be a day for all of the shows? We want to see any parades as well as WoC and F! since I've never seen either of them in all the years I've been to DL. (ok, so WoC just opened, but still!).
Unfortunately there are no 2011 packages up yet, but I was wondering if they ever have packages that include transportation from the airport to the hotel? I have always gone with my family, and we have always rented a car especially since my sister was born 6 years ago. We obviously don't need to rent a car now, since we won't be going anywhere else. We don't need flights included or anything, just transport. What is the best way to get to Disney with 5-6 people?
Are there any restaurants or eateries that we MUST go to? My family has always traveled on a budget (eg, buying all the food at walmart and keeping it at the hotel or something) until last year when we stayed at our first Disney hotel, Paradise Pier. Now of course, we're going all out and eating basically every meal in the park. We've got the Blue Bayou (I have ALWAYS wanted to eat here!) and my favorite restaurant, the Rainforest Cafe, but where else should we hit up? We want character meals and fancy dinners!
I was also wondering which rides offer the fastpass option, since I've been stuck in some pretty awful lines (Peter Pan's Flight, anyone?).
Which rides are open during early mornings? We had that last time and I think it was Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, but I just wanted to make sure.
Which stores offer the hotel room delivery service? I'm a hardcore shopper and I'm a softy for my favorites (I bought the giant $100 Eeyore in November, but it was too late to have it delivered so I had to carry him. It was a little annoying...) I don't want to buy something amazing and then have to carry it around for the whole day! And neither do my buddies (who seem to think they won't spend very much. But I know them better, and this is Disney, after all!)
Is the photography service worth it? We did it when I went with my family in November, and they thought it was worth it to get such good shots, but would a fast moving group of teens like us favor our own cameras over this? Don't get me wrong, we'll all be getting our autograph books filled out like the cool kids we are, but we don't want to pay too much for pictures.
Are there any permanent 'special' character meets that I should know about now? My family doesn't plan for things like that since we're go-with-the-flow kinda people, but I'd like to see more than I did last year (and Megan has yet to meet any characters! We have to make the most of this, obviously. She's had a rough time with her family and other stresses, so this is just the kind of thing she needs.)
And I think this is my last question, what sort of 'magical' things can we do? We're excited for anything Disney, even the 'little girl' sorts of things. I've heard about waking up Tinker Bell, but I can't remember if that's just WDW. I know Megan would love to do anything like that. We're a pretty goofy group of girls.
Any tips and tricks would be much appreciated!
PS: We're also hardcore gamers. Does the Disney Hotel offer any in-room gaming systems? Thanks!
