My Sept Trip

[Soaptopia]

My fiance and I are planning a Disneyland trip (our last, as two single people!) and I basically obsess over this trip on my free time. I was planning on staying at the GCH. I was pretty much set, I've ALWAYS wanted to stay there, and we could afford it by then. But of course, I keep looking up prices and everything because it just sorta gives me a Disney fix.

Quantity: If I stay at a hotel on Harbor, I can eat at all the fancy places I was going to eat at, shop til I drop, have an extra day at DLR than originally planned, AND have two or three weekend trips before this one. It will still be less than the cost of one big trip at GCH. We won't be at the hotel very much due to location and not really caring about it since we didn't pay so much, lol.


Quality: At the GCH, we will be staying in a VERY nice hotel with a great pool, great location, very relaxing, ext. If we stay here, we'd use the hotel more than we normally do, because of the money we pay and how convenient it is to get there. I'd get to know the feeling of living it large! AND without so many DLR trips, this one will be the first in about 9 months by then (A LONNNGG TIME for us DLR regulars!) and it will be special and new by then.

What do you think... quality or quantity?

 

[DahliaRW]

Maybe compromise and stay at the DLH?

 

[longtimedisneylurker]

I just haven't been able to give up the quantity to try the quality.

Seriously though, we did stay at the DLH once for a brief stay when we had some extra dough and wouldn't have to give up quantity, and it was very fun to have a full Disney experience. Never had to see Harbor once. Would we have done it though if we had had to cut back our number of trips for the year? Probably not. But that's just our preference, to get to go often to have that Disney fix, rather than to put everything into a once a year kind of trip.

 

[blackjackdelta]

Since we are stuck with only going once a year or so(Boss is very restrictive on when I can be gone) we do the quality. We also budget the expenses all year long based on what we want to do.

Jack

 

[SeansMom]

We'll be there in Sept for our anniversary, and are in the same boat. I SO love GCH, but cosidering how little time we spend in the hotel, in some respects I'd prefer off-site. However, the immersion experience is just SO nice

 

[Soaptopia]

We'll be there in Sept for our anniversary, and are in the same boat. I SO love GCH, but cosidering how little time we spend in the hotel, in some respects I'd prefer off-site. However, the immersion experience is just SO nice

I'm glad you know what I mean, it's a pretty tough decision! I think I should just stick with one decision and NOT do any type of research until I go on my trip. What do you think you're going to do?

Since we are stuck with only going once a year or so(Boss is very restrictive on when I can be gone) we do the quality. We also budget the expenses all year long based on what we want to do.

Jack

That's no fun! We can have one big trip per year, and last year I think we had at least 10 weekend trips. But we had AP's. This year is different because we didn't renew, so trips will be less frequent.

I just haven't been able to give up the quantity to try the quality.

Seriously though, we did stay at the DLH once for a brief stay when we had some extra dough and wouldn't have to give up quantity, and it was very fun to have a full Disney experience. Never had to see Harbor once. Would we have done it though if we had had to cut back our number of trips for the year? Probably not. But that's just our preference, to get to go often to have that Disney fix, rather than to put everything into a once a year kind of trip.

Hmm.... LOL I'm just thinking!

Maybe compromise and stay at the DLH?

I was sorta thinking I don't want to stay at DLH until the renovations are over. I think Sept is about the time they are going to start the pool renovations. I could be totally wrong. ALTHOUGH... you are able to use the other DLR hotel pools if one of them is closed, right? Hmm....

 

[DahliaRW]

The towers should be done by September. In theory, the new bigger pool will be done this summer and they will start on the Neverland pool in the Fall. I would call and ask, but if that's the case the biggest pool will be done and the tiny one will be under renovation, and, IMO, that's better then it is now!

 

[SeansMom]

I'm glad you know what I mean, it's a pretty tough decision! I think I should just stick with one decision and NOT do any type of research until I go on my trip. What do you think you're going to do?

I'm torn. I've already purchased plane tickets, so that is paid for, and we have an almost embarrassing amount of DL points from our disney visa. I'm leaning towards the GCH, but with some modifications from last time; I don't know that we need a car, so that would shave off some money.

One thing I really like about the GCH is the pool area and grounds. While the restaurant and grounds can be appreciated by anyone, the pools can't. The other thing I noticed on our last trip is all the brown hills surrounding Anaheim, and coming from Washington I found it depressing. But inside the resort it was hardly noticable, and the grounds at GCH are green and beautiful.

We'll see....6 months to save! I do plan on making reservations in a couple of weeks, room only, and then seeing if any deals come out closer to our travel dates. Last time we paid about $260.00 a night. TOO much, but better than $400.00!

Have fun planning!

 

[purplecrush]

Id LOVE to stay at the GCH, buuuuut for that price, we can stay ALOT longer and have more fun if we stay on Harbor...Its tough, I know lol..My kids dont really care either way, just as long as we are AT Disneyland, so it kinda makes up my mind easier.

Let us know what you do If you stay at GCH, take lots of pics for me

 

[Soaptopia]

The towers should be done by September. In theory, the new bigger pool will be done this summer and they will start on the Neverland pool in the Fall. I would call and ask, but if that's the case the biggest pool will be done and the tiny one will be under renovation, and, IMO, that's better then it is now!

I think I may wait to stay at the DLH until everything is finished.. I just think it will be more worth the money then. But thanks for this info! I think next time we are there we will take a look around and see how much the construction interferes with the rest of the hotel.

I'm torn. I've already purchased plane tickets, so that is paid for, and we have an almost embarrassing amount of DL points from our disney visa. I'm leaning towards the GCH, but with some modifications from last time; I don't know that we need a car, so that would shave off some money.

One thing I really like about the GCH is the pool area and grounds. While the restaurant and grounds can be appreciated by anyone, the pools can't. The other thing I noticed on our last trip is all the brown hills surrounding Anaheim, and coming from Washington I found it depressing. But inside the resort it was hardly noticable, and the grounds at GCH are green and beautiful.

We'll see....6 months to save! I do plan on making reservations in a couple of weeks, room only, and then seeing if any deals come out closer to our travel dates. Last time we paid about $260.00 a night. TOO much, but better than $400.00!

Have fun planning!

I hope you find out what to do! It is still early on. Who knows, you could win the lottery and stay at GCH for a month! LOL. I gave the fiance those options and OF COURSE he said, no to the GCH but since I'm the one paying for it I get to make the decision. Right now, I am trying to think of other ways to make the trip different than normal, and I'm thinking maybe Build a Bear or Ridemakers, eat at all the nice restaraunts we've always wanted to eat at, we ARE adding Sea World to this trip, and I'm keeping an eye out for opennings of the Swimming w/ dolphins thing.... So, we'll see! I'm gonna wait to book anything so I can figure out where I'm at in my job.

Id LOVE to stay at the GCH, buuuuut for that price, we can stay ALOT longer and have more fun if we stay on Harbor...Its tough, I know lol..My kids dont really care either way, just as long as we are AT Disneyland, so it kinda makes up my mind easier.

Let us know what you do If you stay at GCH, take lots of pics for me

Yeah if we don't stay at GCH I think we could swing another day off (him w/out pay) so it may just be better to do that. I am going to stay at it eventually but it probably won't be until maybe 2013, after we've gone to WDW for our honeymoon! But I am going to keep looking at the prices and my paychecks!

 

[GEB@okw]

I say take both and rent DVC points for a studio at GCV. At $10 a point it's $150 for weeknights and $270 for weekend nights, and no tax.

 

[Soaptopia]

I say take both and rent DVC points for a studio at GCV. At $10 a point it's $150 for weeknights and $270 for weekend nights, and no tax.

I'm on my phone right now but I will look into that later.. Another idea I'm surprise I hadn't come up with earlier is to do a split stay,and have two nights at GCH and three or so at clarion hotel.