Lagoongirl
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 21, 2005
- Messages
- 37
I posted a planning report a few months back, but now that the entertainment and hours schedule has been posted at Disney.com I thought Id give you an update.
My DD(5) and I are going on this trip from 9/12 to 9/19. We have a tradition in our home since my DH does not like amusement parks .that I will take each of our children on their own special trip. With my older children, I went to WDW because there were more parks. But living in Mountain Time, I always found it difficult to get my kids to the parks at 9AM sharp (we always managed it, it just wasnt pleasant) Eastern Time. Their systems didnt adjust to riding wild rides at what would be 7AM to their bodies and they always ended up not quite awake and feeling normal!!! So I thought I would try DLR for my last child. Its always easier for them to stay up later than it is to get up earlier.
I havent been to DL since 1993 when I went with a friend. Before that I had been twice for a one day deal when I was a child, so I dont remember a whole lot about the park. Im so excited to do the comparison as I have been to WDW 4 times in the last 10 years so I know WDW fairly well.
There are a couple of things I am disappointed about this trip. One is that HM (my most favorite) will be down in September. I knew that when we made the reservations, but I had to choose between going when it was warm at the beach or when HM was open. I chose the beach because my DD has never swum in the ocean. I love the ocean and wanted to incorporate that into my trip. October probably would have been warm enough, but oh well whats done is done. I was also disappointed when I got the entertainment schedule that they put the Electrical Parade and the Snow White show on hiatus and that wont be running, even on weekends, while we are there. My kids loved Spectromagic in WDW and I thought the Electrical Parade sounded similar.
Airline
We are flying Delta out of SLC on September 12 at 11:20 am and arriving in San Diego at 12:09 pm. Our return trip is leaving out of Orange County on September 19 at 8:15 pm and arriving in SLC at 10:59 pm. My husband travels a lot for business and had enough frequent flyer miles to enable us to get these flights free.
Car Rental
I booked through Budget and got a rate of $189 for the week. Ive been keeping my eyes open for a lower rate, but I havent found any yet. When I went to WDW, car rental rates dropped all the time and I was always canceling and rebooking, but I havent seen that happening this time. Maybe Californias prices are more stable.
Hotel
Once again, my husband got us our hotels for free because of frequent traveling. Hes a Hilton Honors member and we booked at Hampton Inn near Sea World for 3 nights and Hampton Inn in Buena Park near Knotts Berry Farm for 4 nights. You cant beat a free hotel, but this does make it so that in all the Disney trips Ive made Ive only stayed on Disney property once at WDW. We only use the hotel for sleeping basically so I guess were not missing out on too much. Hamptons always have a nice breakfast and microwaves and fridges in the rooms so you can eat some meals and snacks in the room.
I want to thank all of you for your trip reports because Ive learned a great deal about things to do and see as well as a better understanding of how Fast Pass works. In the past, I always thought I had to use my fast pass during the one hour window and I think I even threw a few away when we had got stuck on a ride elsewhere and the window had passed. Duh!!! This trip will be different, now that I know those tricks. I wonder if people doing this bothers Disney? Do you think they will make changes to the FP system so we cant do the late FP thing anymore? Maybe so few people really know about it that it isnt a problem for them yet.
I purchased RideMax about a month ago and have been having fun playing with it. I think I will use it for only certain parts of the day and leave other parts of the day open for FP rides and shows. Im only going to plug in the rides that dont use FP into Ride Max and then always be picking up FPs as soon as time permits in whatever area of the park Im in. I think it will be very helpful for non FP rides. The only downside to this is that because Im the only adult, I dont have a FP runner. Runners are great because the rest of your family can save a seat at a show, parade or ride while the runner goes and gets FPs. I will do the best I can.
Ive always read the guidebooks and they are all very good, but they do direct you to head straight for the E ticket rides as soon as a the park opens. Im trying something new this time and riding non FP, slow loading rides early in the morning and grabbing FPs along the way and then riding the FP rides in the afternoon or evening when their standby lines are more crowded.
Anyway, here is my plan for our trip.
Monday, September 12, Arrival & Beach
After arriving in San Diego and checking into our hotel, we will do some grocery shopping and stock up on snacks and microwavable meals. We will take a short drive up to LaJolla Cove and possibly do some swimming and go to the Caves. After a quick dinner at the hotel, we will either swim in the hotel pool or go to Belmont Park.
Tuesday, September 13, San Diego Zoo & Beach
We will arrive at opening to the San Diego Zoo which is where I will purchase a city pass. We will also buy an upgrade to the zoo admission so we can take the bus/tram thing around the zoo. We will stay at the zoo until about 2 oclock, then we will head to Coronado Beach or Belmont Park (if we missed it the night before) where we will swim in the ocean. Did I mention I LOVE the ocean?!!! (I hope the weather cooperates).
Wednesday, September 14, Sea World
We will spend the day at Sea World, riding the rides first thing in the morning, then seeing the shows and exhibits later in the afternoon. We will have a quick dinner at our hotel, do some swimming in the pool (my DD is an excellent swimmer for her age and loves to swim, swim, swim) and then do laundry and pack in preparation for check out the next day.
Thursday, September 15, Lego Land/Drive to Buena Park
We will check out early and drive the 30 miles to Carlsbad and hopefully, arrive at Legoland at opening at 10. Does anybody know how early I should leave San Diego in order to be in Carlsbad by 9:30? I have never been to this park and though my DD doesnt play with legos, I still think it will be intriguing. Legoland closes at 5 and we will leave for Buena Park then, having dinner somewhere along the way. We will stop at DD just to get an autograph book, pen and FP lanyard. Somebody mentioned a Disney Outlet on Orangethorpe in another post. Does anybody know if they sell autograph books and FP lanyards at this outlet and exactly where the outlet is? My hotel is on Orangethorpe in Buena Park and if they sell them at the outlet and its located close to my hotel Id rather go there than DD on this busy night. Hopefully, the traffic wont be too bad and we will arrive and be checked in by 9. Then we will make another stop at a grocery store for perishables before we take a swim and go to bed.
Friday, September 16, DL/Character Breakfast at Plaza Inn
We will arrive at opening (9AM) and spend an hour in Fantasyland, picking up FPs for Matterhorn and Roger Rabbit. We have a PS for the Plaza Inn character breakfast at 10:10 (which BTW is no longer the princesses, but Minnie Mouse and friends, I believe. I dont know exactly when they will make that change, but when I called to make the PS they told me they were changing character venues for Plaza Inn and Ariels Grotto). I wanted to make the PS for something like 7:30 a.m so I wouldnt have to miss prime riding time, but DL doesnt start the character breakfast at Plaza Inn until the park opens. In WDW, they allowed you to go in the park early, which was so much better because we finished our breakfast right as the park was opening. The characters leave at 11 so I figured 10 was the best time to make it.
After our breakfast we will head into Tomorrowland and ride those rides, picking up FPs for Buzz or Autopia, whichever has the longest standby. By this time I should have 3 FPs in my possession. I will wait until my second or third day to ride Space Mountain as this day is devoted more to what my daughter would like. SM might scare her a little. Well let her have a few days to warm up to the idea. Then well go back to Fantasyland and ride what we didnt get to in the first hour before we head to Critter Country for a FP to Splash and ride on Winnie, Davy Crockett, Tom Sawyer Island and another FP to BTMRR. At this point, I will stop the Ride Max itinerary and devote the rest of the day to parades, shows and FP attractions.
We will watch the early parade and I will use this cool thing I bought through Magellans catalog. It is a chair that folds down into this small little thing that will easily fit in my umbrella stroller pocket. (Even though my DD is 5 I will still use a stroller so she doesnt get worn out). When at WDW I grew tired of sitting on the ground to save a spot for a parade so when I saw this chair I snatched it up. After the parade we will try to squeeze in a FP attraction (I should have 4 or 5 in my possession by now) before heading to the Golden Horseshoe for the Billy Hill show and a snack/dinner (depending on how hungry we are). By this time it should be about 5 and we will spend the evening using our FPs and filling any extra time with non FP rides or shopping as time permits. At about 8:15 I will buy a snack to eat while we save our spot for the fireworks. I will try to get a spot in the hub.
Saturday, September 17 Knotts Berry Farm/Soak City
I wanted to stay away from the crowds on Saturday at Disney so we will head to Knotts Berry Farm on this day. Since my DD is too short to ride a lot of the rides at Knotts I figured we would leave there at about 2:30 and head to Soak City. After 3 their ticket prices lower by quite a bit and we will spend the rest of the afternoon splashing around the waterpark. We will go down to DD in the evening and do some shopping and browsing and try to watch the fireworks from outside DL.
Sunday, September 18 DL/DCA
DL opens at 9 and DCA at 10 so we will spend a half hour at DL before going to DCA. I will pick up a FP for Splash and try to ride POC and JC before heading to DCA. I heard that they often open SOC a half hour early so Im hoping for that and well ride SOC before the park opens. I will pick up FPs for GRR and SOC at opening and then head down to Paradise Pier until 11:30, picking up a FP to Sun Wheel or MM before I leave the area. At 11:30 I will start heading to HPB riding SOC and GRR along the way using my FPs. Then I will go to wait in line for the 12:30 Aladdin show. We will eat lunch at Pacific Wharf Café (I want the clam chowder in a bread bowl.) and then watch Muppetvision. After Muppetvision I will pick up a FP to TOT. We will watch the 3:15 showing of Playhouse Disney, ride TOT using FP and the head to Bugs Land where well spend about and hour and a half going on those rides and seeing ITTBAB. We will then play in RCCT and spend some time in the Animation Building. At this point, I will decide if were having fun in the Animation Building or if we want to go watch the parade again. If we decide to stay we will go use our FP in Paradise Pier and then head to DL to use our FP to Splash or SM and get a spot for Fantasmic. I hope you can see the fireworks from the Fantasmic area because I don't think I'll be able to maneuver very far after Fantasmic ends.
Monday, September 19 DL/DCA/Princess Lunch at Ariels Grotto & Departure
This is our last day in the parks and will be our EE day. Since I dont know which rides will end up being my DDs favorites I will not use Ride Max this day. We will just go with the flow riding our favorites, those we missed and try to maximize our time using FP. We will do Fantasyland during EE and I will pick up FPs to SM at opening. When TT opens we will do that as we missed a lot of it the first day because of the character breakfast. At 1 we will head to DCA as we have a 1:30 PS at Ariels Grotto for the Princess Lunch. We will try to sneak in a ride on SOC or at least grab a FP if the return time works with our schedule. After lunch we will either do Paradise Pier, Fliks Fun Fair or go back to DL which ever appeals more to my DD. At about 5 we need to leave the park and head to John Wayne airport. I know this is right during rush hour and I dont know what the traffic will be like. Our flight is at 8:15. Does anybody know if leaving DLR at 5 is allowing enough time for us to get to the airport by at least 6:30?
I know this sounds very commando. I seem to do better, even in other areas of my life if Im like that. Im the type of person that makes a to do list and then if I happen to do something that wasnt on my list originally, I write it on the list just to cross it off. I dont know why Im that way. I guess it makes me feel like Im progressing if I can see it tangibly. Anyhow, Ive decided long ago that there are all kinds of personalities in this world and wouldnt life be bland if we didnt have a variety of people in it? I try not to let the strange looks and comments I get from more laid back people bother me and try to remember that the earth would be boring without them and their way of doing things in it. Less than 4 weeks to go!!!!!
My DD(5) and I are going on this trip from 9/12 to 9/19. We have a tradition in our home since my DH does not like amusement parks .that I will take each of our children on their own special trip. With my older children, I went to WDW because there were more parks. But living in Mountain Time, I always found it difficult to get my kids to the parks at 9AM sharp (we always managed it, it just wasnt pleasant) Eastern Time. Their systems didnt adjust to riding wild rides at what would be 7AM to their bodies and they always ended up not quite awake and feeling normal!!! So I thought I would try DLR for my last child. Its always easier for them to stay up later than it is to get up earlier.
I havent been to DL since 1993 when I went with a friend. Before that I had been twice for a one day deal when I was a child, so I dont remember a whole lot about the park. Im so excited to do the comparison as I have been to WDW 4 times in the last 10 years so I know WDW fairly well.
There are a couple of things I am disappointed about this trip. One is that HM (my most favorite) will be down in September. I knew that when we made the reservations, but I had to choose between going when it was warm at the beach or when HM was open. I chose the beach because my DD has never swum in the ocean. I love the ocean and wanted to incorporate that into my trip. October probably would have been warm enough, but oh well whats done is done. I was also disappointed when I got the entertainment schedule that they put the Electrical Parade and the Snow White show on hiatus and that wont be running, even on weekends, while we are there. My kids loved Spectromagic in WDW and I thought the Electrical Parade sounded similar.
Airline
We are flying Delta out of SLC on September 12 at 11:20 am and arriving in San Diego at 12:09 pm. Our return trip is leaving out of Orange County on September 19 at 8:15 pm and arriving in SLC at 10:59 pm. My husband travels a lot for business and had enough frequent flyer miles to enable us to get these flights free.
Car Rental
I booked through Budget and got a rate of $189 for the week. Ive been keeping my eyes open for a lower rate, but I havent found any yet. When I went to WDW, car rental rates dropped all the time and I was always canceling and rebooking, but I havent seen that happening this time. Maybe Californias prices are more stable.
Hotel
Once again, my husband got us our hotels for free because of frequent traveling. Hes a Hilton Honors member and we booked at Hampton Inn near Sea World for 3 nights and Hampton Inn in Buena Park near Knotts Berry Farm for 4 nights. You cant beat a free hotel, but this does make it so that in all the Disney trips Ive made Ive only stayed on Disney property once at WDW. We only use the hotel for sleeping basically so I guess were not missing out on too much. Hamptons always have a nice breakfast and microwaves and fridges in the rooms so you can eat some meals and snacks in the room.
I want to thank all of you for your trip reports because Ive learned a great deal about things to do and see as well as a better understanding of how Fast Pass works. In the past, I always thought I had to use my fast pass during the one hour window and I think I even threw a few away when we had got stuck on a ride elsewhere and the window had passed. Duh!!! This trip will be different, now that I know those tricks. I wonder if people doing this bothers Disney? Do you think they will make changes to the FP system so we cant do the late FP thing anymore? Maybe so few people really know about it that it isnt a problem for them yet.
I purchased RideMax about a month ago and have been having fun playing with it. I think I will use it for only certain parts of the day and leave other parts of the day open for FP rides and shows. Im only going to plug in the rides that dont use FP into Ride Max and then always be picking up FPs as soon as time permits in whatever area of the park Im in. I think it will be very helpful for non FP rides. The only downside to this is that because Im the only adult, I dont have a FP runner. Runners are great because the rest of your family can save a seat at a show, parade or ride while the runner goes and gets FPs. I will do the best I can.
Ive always read the guidebooks and they are all very good, but they do direct you to head straight for the E ticket rides as soon as a the park opens. Im trying something new this time and riding non FP, slow loading rides early in the morning and grabbing FPs along the way and then riding the FP rides in the afternoon or evening when their standby lines are more crowded.
Anyway, here is my plan for our trip.
Monday, September 12, Arrival & Beach
After arriving in San Diego and checking into our hotel, we will do some grocery shopping and stock up on snacks and microwavable meals. We will take a short drive up to LaJolla Cove and possibly do some swimming and go to the Caves. After a quick dinner at the hotel, we will either swim in the hotel pool or go to Belmont Park.
Tuesday, September 13, San Diego Zoo & Beach
We will arrive at opening to the San Diego Zoo which is where I will purchase a city pass. We will also buy an upgrade to the zoo admission so we can take the bus/tram thing around the zoo. We will stay at the zoo until about 2 oclock, then we will head to Coronado Beach or Belmont Park (if we missed it the night before) where we will swim in the ocean. Did I mention I LOVE the ocean?!!! (I hope the weather cooperates).
Wednesday, September 14, Sea World
We will spend the day at Sea World, riding the rides first thing in the morning, then seeing the shows and exhibits later in the afternoon. We will have a quick dinner at our hotel, do some swimming in the pool (my DD is an excellent swimmer for her age and loves to swim, swim, swim) and then do laundry and pack in preparation for check out the next day.
Thursday, September 15, Lego Land/Drive to Buena Park
We will check out early and drive the 30 miles to Carlsbad and hopefully, arrive at Legoland at opening at 10. Does anybody know how early I should leave San Diego in order to be in Carlsbad by 9:30? I have never been to this park and though my DD doesnt play with legos, I still think it will be intriguing. Legoland closes at 5 and we will leave for Buena Park then, having dinner somewhere along the way. We will stop at DD just to get an autograph book, pen and FP lanyard. Somebody mentioned a Disney Outlet on Orangethorpe in another post. Does anybody know if they sell autograph books and FP lanyards at this outlet and exactly where the outlet is? My hotel is on Orangethorpe in Buena Park and if they sell them at the outlet and its located close to my hotel Id rather go there than DD on this busy night. Hopefully, the traffic wont be too bad and we will arrive and be checked in by 9. Then we will make another stop at a grocery store for perishables before we take a swim and go to bed.
Friday, September 16, DL/Character Breakfast at Plaza Inn
We will arrive at opening (9AM) and spend an hour in Fantasyland, picking up FPs for Matterhorn and Roger Rabbit. We have a PS for the Plaza Inn character breakfast at 10:10 (which BTW is no longer the princesses, but Minnie Mouse and friends, I believe. I dont know exactly when they will make that change, but when I called to make the PS they told me they were changing character venues for Plaza Inn and Ariels Grotto). I wanted to make the PS for something like 7:30 a.m so I wouldnt have to miss prime riding time, but DL doesnt start the character breakfast at Plaza Inn until the park opens. In WDW, they allowed you to go in the park early, which was so much better because we finished our breakfast right as the park was opening. The characters leave at 11 so I figured 10 was the best time to make it.
After our breakfast we will head into Tomorrowland and ride those rides, picking up FPs for Buzz or Autopia, whichever has the longest standby. By this time I should have 3 FPs in my possession. I will wait until my second or third day to ride Space Mountain as this day is devoted more to what my daughter would like. SM might scare her a little. Well let her have a few days to warm up to the idea. Then well go back to Fantasyland and ride what we didnt get to in the first hour before we head to Critter Country for a FP to Splash and ride on Winnie, Davy Crockett, Tom Sawyer Island and another FP to BTMRR. At this point, I will stop the Ride Max itinerary and devote the rest of the day to parades, shows and FP attractions.
We will watch the early parade and I will use this cool thing I bought through Magellans catalog. It is a chair that folds down into this small little thing that will easily fit in my umbrella stroller pocket. (Even though my DD is 5 I will still use a stroller so she doesnt get worn out). When at WDW I grew tired of sitting on the ground to save a spot for a parade so when I saw this chair I snatched it up. After the parade we will try to squeeze in a FP attraction (I should have 4 or 5 in my possession by now) before heading to the Golden Horseshoe for the Billy Hill show and a snack/dinner (depending on how hungry we are). By this time it should be about 5 and we will spend the evening using our FPs and filling any extra time with non FP rides or shopping as time permits. At about 8:15 I will buy a snack to eat while we save our spot for the fireworks. I will try to get a spot in the hub.
Saturday, September 17 Knotts Berry Farm/Soak City
I wanted to stay away from the crowds on Saturday at Disney so we will head to Knotts Berry Farm on this day. Since my DD is too short to ride a lot of the rides at Knotts I figured we would leave there at about 2:30 and head to Soak City. After 3 their ticket prices lower by quite a bit and we will spend the rest of the afternoon splashing around the waterpark. We will go down to DD in the evening and do some shopping and browsing and try to watch the fireworks from outside DL.
Sunday, September 18 DL/DCA
DL opens at 9 and DCA at 10 so we will spend a half hour at DL before going to DCA. I will pick up a FP for Splash and try to ride POC and JC before heading to DCA. I heard that they often open SOC a half hour early so Im hoping for that and well ride SOC before the park opens. I will pick up FPs for GRR and SOC at opening and then head down to Paradise Pier until 11:30, picking up a FP to Sun Wheel or MM before I leave the area. At 11:30 I will start heading to HPB riding SOC and GRR along the way using my FPs. Then I will go to wait in line for the 12:30 Aladdin show. We will eat lunch at Pacific Wharf Café (I want the clam chowder in a bread bowl.) and then watch Muppetvision. After Muppetvision I will pick up a FP to TOT. We will watch the 3:15 showing of Playhouse Disney, ride TOT using FP and the head to Bugs Land where well spend about and hour and a half going on those rides and seeing ITTBAB. We will then play in RCCT and spend some time in the Animation Building. At this point, I will decide if were having fun in the Animation Building or if we want to go watch the parade again. If we decide to stay we will go use our FP in Paradise Pier and then head to DL to use our FP to Splash or SM and get a spot for Fantasmic. I hope you can see the fireworks from the Fantasmic area because I don't think I'll be able to maneuver very far after Fantasmic ends.
Monday, September 19 DL/DCA/Princess Lunch at Ariels Grotto & Departure
This is our last day in the parks and will be our EE day. Since I dont know which rides will end up being my DDs favorites I will not use Ride Max this day. We will just go with the flow riding our favorites, those we missed and try to maximize our time using FP. We will do Fantasyland during EE and I will pick up FPs to SM at opening. When TT opens we will do that as we missed a lot of it the first day because of the character breakfast. At 1 we will head to DCA as we have a 1:30 PS at Ariels Grotto for the Princess Lunch. We will try to sneak in a ride on SOC or at least grab a FP if the return time works with our schedule. After lunch we will either do Paradise Pier, Fliks Fun Fair or go back to DL which ever appeals more to my DD. At about 5 we need to leave the park and head to John Wayne airport. I know this is right during rush hour and I dont know what the traffic will be like. Our flight is at 8:15. Does anybody know if leaving DLR at 5 is allowing enough time for us to get to the airport by at least 6:30?
I know this sounds very commando. I seem to do better, even in other areas of my life if Im like that. Im the type of person that makes a to do list and then if I happen to do something that wasnt on my list originally, I write it on the list just to cross it off. I dont know why Im that way. I guess it makes me feel like Im progressing if I can see it tangibly. Anyhow, Ive decided long ago that there are all kinds of personalities in this world and wouldnt life be bland if we didnt have a variety of people in it? I try not to let the strange looks and comments I get from more laid back people bother me and try to remember that the earth would be boring without them and their way of doing things in it. Less than 4 weeks to go!!!!!
