Multiple Mini Trips or 1 Big Trip

[usschmidt]

I've convinced dh that we should get AP's for our next trips(s). But now I'm starting to wonder how to handle the actual visits...can you tell I think waaayyy too much lol?

We were originally going to go Nov 9-15, and then visit a few times for long weekends during the spring/summer. But now I'm thinking of doing more long weekends and skipping the week-long trip.

We live in the SF bay area, so we could drive down after school/work on Friday and come home on Sunday eve. That way there'd be no school missed kwim. Dh is worried that, although a fun getaway, it won't be relaxing. He's afraid we'll always feel rushed to get as much done as possible. But with a week-long trip we could do things at a more leisurely pace. While I agree w/that assessment, I personally need my DLR fix! The girls are young, so missing a few days of school will not be totally detrimental. We both agree on that. We feel family time is important too kwim.

Ugh...I just don't know.

I don't have much to look forward to and we don't "do" much kwim. I think the planning, for me, is part of the whole experience. It gives me something to do that's not "everyday" and "status quo".

THANKS! I think this has become more of a diary than a question lol!

 

[audrabolster]

I would vote for an original long trip, and then mini trips from there.

 

[bumbershoot]

What Audra said.

Especially since you can drive down so easily (though we drove from Santa Cruz in September and hit some weird vortex of time, and it took us 12 hours and that was NOT relaxing), or even sign up for Ding fares and maybe sometimes catch some crazy good rate cheaper than gasoline, you can be really relaxed about it all.

Many people, once they have APs, find that the more they go, the more relaxed they can be. So Space Mtn has a crazy-long line this weekend and no FPs, who cares, we'll be back in 2 months and can do it then. Tiki Room is closed for refurb? Eh, we'll be back in 5 weeks. Makes things easier.

(ignore the fact that I personally am still a running-around freak who had to take a solo trip to try to get that out of her system...I'm not most people and I'm like that all the time, not wanting to miss anything...MOST people find they are calmer, LOL)

 

[Cass]

I vote for all long trips!

 

[usschmidt]

I vote for all long trips!

Me tooooo!!!!

Thanks for the input

I've got another question in the 5 for 3 post...

 

[pixiewings71]

Well, how's this?

We too are in the SF area....actually in between Sac and SF in a small town off Hwy 12 called Suisun City. We have AP's......we got them in July, we've been to DL 8 times since we upgraded in July! LOL We leave Friday after work, drive down, stay until Sunday and leave around 2 pm. No traffic on the way home, we get home sort of early and we aren't dead tired the next week. We've taken Friday off and left Thursday night or we've taken Monday off to make it an extra day in the parks. We've NEVER been disappointed in any of our trips. We love being able to just go, we even drove down one Saturday night and went for a few hours on Sunday! LOL We stay at the HoJo for the Ent Rate or on site if we can get a killer hotel rate but no matter where we stay we've never regretted it. It takes us about 6 hours to drive down, we are a family of 4 so flying just gets too $$.
Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[usschmidt]

pixiewings, I remember you from another post I had a few weeks ago...How do you do it in 6 hrs? When we went in Oct it took us 7 from Cupertino. It was actually a little long b/c we went the weekend of the I-5 tunnel fire, but I took that time off when figuring how long it actually took us. I think I may have hit the vortex bumbershoot was speaking of lol!

I know why I'm so obsessed...dh and I have been together 18 yrs and last Oct was only the 2nd real vaca we've ever taken...and the first w/o his family...long story.

 

[TripHHH]

I love taking long trips...that way you're less hurried and can really immerse yourself in the Disneyland experience. Me and DD7 are going next week for 2 days...and again in October for a week. I am much more excited about the October trip!

 

[mindylovesmickey]

We did 5 days in Feb. I'm doing 4 or 5 two or three day trips with the kids before dh gets back from the land of the sand. And then when he gets back we are taking two more long trips and two or three short trips before our passes expire next Feb.

So, I guess my vote would be for both, the longer trips AND the shorter trips. The longer trips, make it a point to do EVERYTHING and the shorter trips just do your top 10 list or something different each time. Whatever sounds cool to you.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

I just want to say that I am jealous! I have only been to DL 3 times in my whole life!!! Going for the 4th time in May... boy do I wish I could make it more of a habit!

--Lisa

 

[jencav5]

I vote for both kinds of trips, too!

We live in Tracy, CA and we have had AP's for about 8 years. They are a commodity! lol We do short trips and long trips. We just got back yesterday from a 9 day trip, during the kids spring break. My dh actually came home part way through to do some work and then came back. I love long trips because you can just do whatever and enjoy the parks, especially when it's busy like it was last week. We also went to Legoland and SD Wild Animal Park during this trip (which we also have AP's for). When it gets cool in the evenings, we just head to the movies in DTD. We usually use Priceline for our rooms to keep the costs down. It takes us between 5 & 6 hours to drive down, depending on how much/long we stop. We usually drive down at night and arrive late-like 1am, etc.... We also do short weekend trips which are fun, too, but I still live for the long trips! We still don't stress about what we do on a short trip, though, because we will be back! Even on this last long trip, we didn't do Pirates, now that I think about it. We spent a lot of time in DCA this trip. We wanted to see the new parade, but they kept cancelling it! Then, we finally saw it! I'm not sure if I like the "wet" parade, though!

 

[usschmidt]

Lisa, I've only been twice...when I was 10 in 1978, and last Oct (2007). I had no idea how much fun I was going to have! I thought it'd all be for my girls...obviously I've changed my mind

 

[pixiewings71]

pixiewings, I remember you from another post I had a few weeks ago...How do you do it in 6 hrs? When we went in Oct it took us 7 from Cupertino. It was actually a little long b/c we went the weekend of the I-5 tunnel fire, but I took that time off when figuring how long it actually took us. I think I may have hit the vortex bumbershoot was speaking of lol!

I know why I'm so obsessed...dh and I have been together 18 yrs and last Oct was only the 2nd real vaca we've ever taken...and the first w/o his family...long story.

Well the "official" time on mapquest is 6 hrs 21 min. It's pretty accurate, it's about 411 hours from our door. I don't know, we drive about 5 mph over the speed limit, stop a couple times for potty/food breaks but that's what it takes. Maybe because you're deeper in the Bay. We drove from Berkeley once (DBF works there) and it took us an hour longer.

 

[disneymom23]

Well the "official" time on mapquest is 6 hrs 21 min. It's pretty accurate, it's about 411 hours from our door. I don't know, we drive about 5 mph over the speed limit, stop a couple times for potty/food breaks but that's what it takes. Maybe because you're deeper in the Bay. We drove from Berkeley once (DBF works there) and it took us an hour longer.

We are in the East Bay. It took us 6 1/2 hours on Saturday to drive down. This included dropping the dog off at the kennel and a stop for lunch/potty/gas. Not too bad. However, coming home on Thursday took 8 hours. We left DL at 11:00 and it took almost 2 hours to get through LA. Then we hit a major spot of construction traffic on I-5. Of course DS really had to go potty at that time. Luckily, we made it to a rest stop. The ride home wasn't fun! And the kids kept singing the Tiki Room song.

 

[BillyFan]

If we leave at the right time to avoid San Jose and LA traffic, it takes us between 5.5-6 hours door to door. We usually bring snacks and just make one potty/gas stop. I'm guessing it takes you longer from Cupertino simply from all of the traffic on Hwy 85.

 

[usschmidt]

If we leave at the right time to avoid San Jose and LA traffic, it takes us between 5.5-6 hours door to door. We usually bring snacks and just make one potty/gas stop. I'm guessing it takes you longer from Cupertino simply from all of the traffic on Hwy 85.

Yeah, that and the fact that dh HAS to fill up every time we stop. I totally don't get that one.

 

[bumbershoot]

Yeah, that and the fact that dh HAS to fill up every time we stop. I totally don't get that one.

Augh, I can't even imagine how frustrating that must be!

How do you ever tell what mileage you're getting?