Lots of Dis fans going in October! I'm going to type up a date chart later today. Comment your dates and where you are staying (if you want to share) and I'll add you to the list!
We've been planning this "once in a lifetime" epic SoCal trip for a while, but now that we finally booked our flights I feel like it's finally official!
Now we got ears, it's time for cheers!
We are flying from Atlanta and arrive on October 1. We are renting a car and heading to San Diego for the first 4 nights. The kids (two boys, age 6 and 7) are going to be so excited to see the ocean! We have two hotels booked and are trying to decide between them. One is more centrally located to the downtown area while the other costs a little bit more, but is gorgeous and right on the beach. We haven't nailed down an exact itinerary yet, but some of our ideas are the San Diego Zoo, the USS Midway, Legoland, Sea World, Coronado Beach, La Jolla to see the sea lions, and the Miramar Airshow (Top Gun, my hubby is stoked!!) will be going on while we are there. The best part is most of these attractions are a part of the "Kids Go Free" promotion that San Diego has going in October! I don't think we can see and do everything, so trying to prioritize. I'm pretty nervous about running our kids ragged between the time change and also trying to do too much, which is partly why we are leaning towards the hotel on the beach so we can always come back and let them run around and unwind. It's a fine line to walk between wanting to experience as much as possible on a "once in a lifetime" trip, but not over-scheduling so that we end up rushing from one thing to the next without really enjoying anything!
We drive from San Diego to Anaheim on October 5. We will return our rental car at this point since we are staying at the Candy Cane Inn and will be within walking distance of everything, although I do think we will make a grocery store run on the way into town. Not sure what we will do our arrival night....maybe just walk over to Downtown Disney and enjoy the sights and sounds! I think our plan is to get 5 day park hoppers. I've been debating about whether or not MHP is worth it for us. I'm sure my boys would love dressing up and the party atmosphere, but it's cheaper to get 5 day Park hoppers than to do 4 day park hoppers plus MHP tickets. With the 60th anniversary celebration going on, I feel like there's plenty of night time spectaculars to see without having to do the party. But maybe one of you DISers will convince me otherwise about the party!
If we can EVER get Disney to finally open up the October dates (see the October Dining Booking Issues thread), we plan to book the WoC lunch package at Carthay Circle, Breakfast with Minnie and Friends at the Plaza Inn, and maybe the Blue Bayou F! dinner package, since F! will only be playing one night while we are there. I'm also trying to decide which morning to use our one Early Entry at Disneyland. And I know the boys would love to do the Jedi Training Academy, if we can get them both picked. Otherwise, we are going with the flow and just do as much as we can in 5 days! Although we've taken the boys to WDW several times, I'm so excited to experience DLR all together as a family for everyone's first trip. We are used to keeping a pretty fast pace at WDW, but this will be our first Disney trip where the boys aren't in strollers. Plus, we won't know our way around like we do at WDW, so this will be a whole new experience being forced to go at a slower pace LOL! But I'm thinking it might actually help us to stop and smell the roses more, and we really do want to soak up as much of the "original" Disney experience as possible! Thanks to the Disneyland Podcast Team, we've got a pretty good idea of what we want to see. We fly home on October 11 and will face the task of getting adjusted to the time change and back to school for the boys! So excited....and thankful for a place to share like the DIS!!
Ooooh and we have NO idea how/when we are going to tell the kids yet!!!
and then going to the party on the 22! 
few weeks of school going astray. What kind of room did you pick for your last hojo stay? We requested the newly renovated premium room this time.
