*****Official February 2015 Thread! Come check in and chat!*****

[AZMermaid]

We think we will get there around 2. The plan is to check in and head over to DCA. We will head to Redwood Creek Trail first to let the kids burn off some energy. Then we will sort of meander around paradise pier. We want to try out Flo's for dinner and check out the neon lights. We will head back to the room after dinner.

 

[smithfamilyof7]

We're planning a trip for Feb 1-5, though we may end up flying down on 1/31 instead.

Not sure where we're staying yet. Has anyone ever stayed at Del Sol? We have a family of 7 (which also explains my name) so need a bigger room - the Del Sol has the best rate for the size we need. I like that it's right near the crosswalk. It's possible my dad may go with us, so in that case I think we'll go with Desert Inn & Suites and get one of the parlor rooms.

 

[mckennakendall]

Just saw the list of refurbishments when we will be there in February and I am a bit bummed. Rides closed will be Splash Mountain, Matterhorn, Peter Pan, and Soarin' over California.

 

[Aladora]

We're planning a trip for Feb 1-5, though we may end up flying down on 1/31 instead.

Not sure where we're staying yet. Has anyone ever stayed at Del Sol? We have a family of 7 (which also explains my name) so need a bigger room - the Del Sol has the best rate for the size we need. I like that it's right near the crosswalk. It's possible my dad may go with us, so in that case I think we'll go with Desert Inn & Suites and get one of the parlor rooms.

Welcome and I have added you to the first post!

We've never stayed at the Del Sol although we have been next door at DI&S twice so far. I booked a room at Del Sol for our trip last August but after I read that their wifi is not that great, I changed to the Desert Inn...although we ended up at neither since my sister in law joined us so I got us a room at Park Vue Inn instead!

All three of us use the wifi whenever we stay at a hotel so having decent signal strength is important to us.

Given the size of your family, you will have to get 2 rooms at the Del Sol so it might be more cost effective to get either a C1 or B1 suite at Desert Inn since they both sleep up to 8. We have stayed in the C1 and the only difference between the C1 and B1 suites is that the B1 has two full bathrooms and the C1 has one full bathroom and one half bathroom (sink and toilet only).

Again given the size of your family, if you can get a decent rate you might want to look at the Park Vue Inn, their rate includes a fairly decent breakfast where DI&S has a pretty bad one. The Del Sol talks about having a continental breakfast which tells me it is probably as bad as the DI&S one.

 

[MadameRebecca]

I have to admit my husband and I are feeling pretty down about the ride closures. I'm so disappointed WOC won't be on. Coming all the way from Australia, it's not like we'd have the opportunity to go again once the rides are open. We know we'll be back to Disneyland at some point in the future but we treat every holiday like it's our last. We'll just have to make the most of what's open! Holidays are what you make it, right?!

 

[minneylovesmicky]

I have to admit my husband and I are feeling pretty down about the ride closures. I'm so disappointed WOC won't be on. Coming all the way from Australia, it's not like we'd have the opportunity to go again once the rides are open. Holidays are what you make it, right?!

We are the same, we are hoping there will still be enough to make it wonderful though.

We have not been out of australia before, we are sure the whole holiday will all be great

 

[NoIdea]

Another coming from Australia that's particularly disappointed in WOC won't be on. Kids will be heartbroken :-(

 

[aprincessatlast]

I have to admit my husband and I are feeling pretty down about the ride closures. I'm so disappointed WOC won't be on. Coming all the way from Australia, it's not like we'd have the opportunity to go again once the rides are open. We know we'll be back to Disneyland at some point in the future but we treat every holiday like it's our last. We'll just have to make the most of what's open! Holidays are what you make it, right?!

I agree. Those are some pretty big closures. For me it is Splash and Soarin. Our kids love splash mountain and sing the song at home all the time. I admit I was so bummed I started looking at Hawaii instead. However after pricing it up I just resorted to what you said "holidays are what you make it". So we will live it up in other areas and stick with DL. What a sacrifice

I was also wondering how reliable some of it is.? Soarin was supposed to go down last year for the long refurb but did not. Their schedules seem to change quite a bit. I am still scratching my head at getting rid of a ride in Carsland that is only 2 years old. Does it really cost that much to operate and does no one really ride it? We liked it. Having a hard time believing that one. Also what is wrong with the WOC that it needs to be replaced or worked on? I am just so used to WDW where they do not fix something until they absolutely have no choice.

ETA: I really have noticed that DL seems to have so many more rehabs than WDW. I honestly can not say I have ever heard of night shows going down for long rehabs (even small ones for that matter) We have been hitting WDW for a good 15 years and can not remember a time when they changed a show or when one was not running.(not that they don't need to. lol) We travel during the off season there too. It really has me confused.

 

[DLmama]

We're planning a trip for Feb 1-5, though we may end up flying down on 1/31 instead.

Not sure where we're staying yet. Has anyone ever stayed at Del Sol? We have a family of 7 (which also explains my name) so need a bigger room - the Del Sol has the best rate for the size we need. I like that it's right near the crosswalk. It's possible my dad may go with us, so in that case I think we'll go with Desert Inn & Suites and get one of the parlor rooms.

Our go to hotel is usually the Del Sol because of their prices. It's definitely nothing fancy, but you can't really beat the location. We spend so much time in the parks that we basically just need somewhere to sleep and shower.

I don't know about their bigger rooms since the most we've had is 5. We stayed in one of their bunk bed rooms, which my DS5 LOVED! He still asks if he can sleep in a bunk bed when we go to Disneyland.

We'll be staying at the Desert Inn & Suites for the first time in Dec. We were booked in a regular room at the Del Sol, but our friend and her daughter are coming with us, so we needed something bigger and the Del Sol was sold out.

 

[Halloweenqueen]

The problem I have with the refurbishments is that most are done for economic reasons, not that the attraction needs work. Seasonal closures, like Splash are done because crowds are low and it's colder causing less ridership. I think the only reason Pooh is closing is that it is cheaper to close all of Critter Country since many guests will not walk past Haunted Mansion with Splash closed. I bet Hungry Bear will be closed as well. Again, just to save money during slower periods.

Splash could easily be spruced up quickly. It just sits there in winter. All these refurbishments are saving them money for the expenses of the 60th at the expense of the guests who come in winter.

 

[ClaraOswald]

The first thing we are going to have to do is head to either City Hall or the Chamber of Commerce to get my son's DAS card...after that, we will ride whatever he wants to first! One of the things that we found helps him not get overwhelmed at DL is to allow him to take the lead on where we go. So, if we go to DL first, then we will absolutely have to ride Space Mountain first. In DCA, we will probably get a return time for RSR and go on Monsters Inc on the way there.

This trip will be a little different in that instead of catching the earliest flight possible we are taking a late afternoon flight that gets us in around 7:45 pm so we will not go to DL that first day. When we fly in early in the morning, we have to wake up at 4:00 am which always ends with DS getting super tired in the afternoon and having a total meltdown. By taking a later flight and not going into the park that first day, we are hoping to avoid the first day nightmare and just enjoy 4 full days plus a half day on our last day.

We arrive in California in the afternoon on a Tuesday. We won't be going to the parks that day. We will go to Target to buy a ton of things for the week. And if our son seems in a decent mood, we'll probably go to Downtown Disney for a while and maybe wander around the Disneyland resorts a little. Wednesday will be our first park day.

I have to admit my husband and I are feeling pretty down about the ride closures. I'm so disappointed WOC won't be on. Coming all the way from Australia, it's not like we'd have the opportunity to go again once the rides are open. We know we'll be back to Disneyland at some point in the future but we treat every holiday like it's our last. We'll just have to make the most of what's open! Holidays are what you make it, right?!

It's actually really common for rides to go down at Disneyland in the Winter. I always recommend people who really care about that sort of thing to book a trip in the Spring/Summer months because most things will be open.

 

[Aladora]

We arrive in California in the afternoon on a Tuesday. We won't be going to the parks that day. We will go to Target to buy a ton of things for the week. And if our son seems in a decent mood, we'll probably go to Downtown Disney for a while and maybe wander around the Disneyland resorts a little. Wednesday will be our first park day.

Sending you a pm to ask you a big favour!

 

[jmac323]

My user name is an old nickname 'jmac' which is my first name initial and my maiden name is McKinney, hence 'mac'. Then I added my oldest DD birth date, 3/23. Not creative, I know LOL.

Reading about the closures has me a bit bummed too. Typically we don't mind closures as we know it's the trade off for lower crowds in February. But Soarin, Peter Pan and Pooh? Yikes. We love those ones!!! Splash is almost always closed when we go in Jan/Feb so not a big deal for us there. Someday we will get to try it!

The first day in the parks we usually do the early seating at Minnie's breakfast and then start at Space mountain!!! Maybe we will go the opposite way next time haha.

 

[AZMermaid]

We are going right before my little one turns 3. I knew there would be a lot of closures, so this doesn't feel too bad.... although I worry how many more are coming. This is just the closures that start on or before January 12. Any starting later haven't been announced yet.

I figured Splash would be down so while that's my fave, I'm not surprised. I had heard about the Soarin' closure already, so I already was bummed and recovered from that. We don't really get the Peter Pan hype, so although we would have ridden it, no big loss for us. I am a little sad about WoC. We have always stuck close to bedtime and we are going to try to have a late night. WOC seemed like a good choice for nighttime entertainment as it runs a bit earlier (often) than the fireworks, is close to VGC and we haven't seen it, but oh well. DH pointed out now if we get a theme park view, we don't have to worry about noise from a late showing.

I am bummed about Matterhorn. I think I have told this story, but my son was a colicky baby. He would scream bloody murder every night from 5-10. This lasted from 3-14 weeks. He fussed all day, but the nightly crying was brutal. It sounds silly, but I used to rock him and picture the day I would ride the Matterhorn with my little boy who wouldn't be this difficult baby forever. This is the first trip he is tall enough and even though I really don't love the Matterhorn, I was really looking forward to this. Oh well. There will be another trip. DH said next trip we are going in June, lol!

We did figure that is 3 less rides my son can ride that my daughter can't, so that is a good thing. We will be rider swapping, but she is old enough to feel left out. Next trip, she should be at least 40 inches.

 

[MadameRebecca]

It's actually really common for rides to go down at Disneyland in the Winter. I always recommend people who really care about that sort of thing to book a trip in the Spring/Summer months because most things will be open.

Oh, I know! I told my husband that. We're lucky that we've been to Disneyland before and have been on Splash and Peter Pan. WOC wasn't around when we went because California wasn't finished at the time. We could only go during this time because of work and other things. Although it's a bummer, I'm just excited to be there and get my Disney on!

 

[MadameRebecca]

Are they likely to announce more closures starting in February? If so, it seems like that would be a lot of rides down.

 

[Aladora]

Are they likely to announce more closures starting in February? If so, it seems like that would be a lot of rides down.

Not sure if they will add more but they might change around the schedule so some that are listed might be open and some others might be closed.

I usually wait until a few weeks before and then look at the schedule.

 

[MadameRebecca]

To pick up the mood, what's everyone's favourite non ride thing to do at Disneyland? Or if you haven't been before, what do you want to do?

On this trip, I want to take time to hang out in Mainstreet and I want to get some great family pics using PhotoPass+ around the park.

 

[GatorChris]

Add another family for Feb 26-28th. Staying for the very first time at DLH! My kids are super pumped about the waterslides. It's never too cold to ride one of those.

And count me in as one who's bummed about Splash being down. I figured it would be down all of Jan and maybe early Feb, but not for three months. And I'm with PP who said it's probably more for economic reasons than it is for actual time needed for refurb.

 

[AZMermaid]

Are they likely to announce more closures starting in February? If so, it seems like that would be a lot of rides down.

I'm going to assume so with the 60th coming. I'm hoping I'm wrong, but I am managing expectations.

My favorite non ride thing is the Flag retreat ceremony. It tears me up every time.