OMDD Pre-trip Planning Thread

[dbbydk]

For our everyday the kids each have a Britax Regent and they're HUGE. They also have a 5-point harness and they're good to 80 pounds. They also seem to weigh about 80 pounds. They would probably be the worst carseats to take on a trip because I can barely lift them!

In DH's car my 7 year old has a Graco booster with a back. My youngest is going to use that for the trip and I got my oldest the same booster with no back. I don't think they're the best things to use on a day-to-day basis, but they'll be fine for our trip. These are the ones I'm talking about (for the youngest): http://www.gracobaby.com/Products/Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=1781042. And for the oldest: http://www.gracobaby.com/Products/Pages/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=1749734. You're not able to use them on the plane, but we'll just check them at the gate. The back on the bigger booster falls off easily so I don't know how we'll keep it from getting broken. I guess we'll just take our chances.

We do use a stroller for our 4 year old. I haven't used it since he was a year and a half old, but we always use it for Disney World. It's kind of annoying because he barely walks anywhere when we're there. We love it because we store all of our drinks, lunch, ponchos, and anything else we've got in the basket. I didn't want to take it to California because it's just one more thing to drag along, but now that we're staying in the DLH and it's a bit further walk, I've changed my mind. I'm not carrying him anywhere so we'll take it. This is the stroller we have and it's great! http://www.quinny.com/us-en/strollers/quick-use/zapp. My oldest walks everywhere. He's awesome about it. He never complains that his brother gets to sit in the stroller all day while he has to walk. Usually once during every trip if it's an exceptionally long day we might rent him a Disney stroller. We usually do this when we stay at Epcot all day because there's a LOT of walking at that park, especially when we criss cross it a lot. I think DL will be a lot better since the parks are smaller.

DS has a Britax Boulevard, which is wide. I traveled with DD old Britax Marathon once, then had my mom just buy a car seat to use when we are at her house. I love her Frontier, it's light, holds up to 120lbs (that is NOT a typo) and converts from the 5 point harness to a belt positioning booster eventually. I was so happy to learn that I wouldn't need to take car seats with us to DL. Little guy has never used a car seat on the plane, we've got one of those travel seat belts that converts a plane seat into a 4 point harness.

I haven't gotten DS to ride in his Zooper in almost 6 months, but we call the Graco the battle stroller because it's big, can kill people when they get in our way, and has a HUGE basket underneath for holding all of our shtuff.

 

[watkinsme]

DS has a Britax Boulevard, which is wide. I traveled with DD old Britax Marathon once, then had my mom just buy a car seat to use when we are at her house. I love her Frontier, it's light, holds up to 120lbs (that is NOT a typo) and converts from the 5 point harness to a belt positioning booster eventually. I was so happy to learn that I wouldn't need to take car seats with us to DL. Little guy has never used a car seat on the plane, we've got one of those travel seat belts that converts a plane seat into a 4 point harness.

I haven't gotten DS to ride in his Zooper in almost 6 months, but we call the Graco the battle stroller because it's big, can kill people when they get in our way, and has a HUGE basket underneath for holding all of our shtuff.

we have 2 frontiers - my 5 & 7 year old both are still 5pt harnessed. but they are both under 50lbs - they may sit in those seat till they are in highschool

our youngest is in an advocate - that thing is a beast to move around.

I wanted to give you a link to these. They were rated a best bet booster and would be great for travelling

http://www.bubblebum.us/

 

[monkyby87]

Brent I hope you get yours soon! You chose WDW right? I apologize, I am sure you already mentioned this but what dates and hotel were you hoping for?

Lol no need to apologize, it's hard to keep everyone straight and who is going where and when. I did indeed choose WDW. I'm hoping to get August 3-7 and the Grand Floridian. I wouldn't think the dates would cause much of an issue.

 

[dbbydk]

we have 2 frontiers - my 5 & 7 year old both are still 5pt harnessed. but they are both under 50lbs - they may sit in those seat till they are in highschool

our youngest is in an advocate - that thing is a beast to move around.

I wanted to give you a link to these. They were rated a best bet booster and would be great for travelling

http://www.bubblebum.us/

That looks cool. Those would be great for Sue. We don't need them because we won't be leaving the resort once we are there.

 

[suevr]

we have 2 frontiers - my 5 & 7 year old both are still 5pt harnessed. but they are both under 50lbs - they may sit in those seat till they are in highschool

our youngest is in an advocate - that thing is a beast to move around.

I wanted to give you a link to these. They were rated a best bet booster and would be great for travelling

http://www.bubblebum.us/

That looks cool. Those would be great for Sue. We don't need them because we won't be leaving the resort once we are there.

That would be perfect for us. Thanks! I'll have to look into them. I might just buy one and return the backless booster I already bought.

 

[monkyby87]

This thread slipped to the 2nd page, so I just thought I would bring it back up. I don't know if anyone's really interested in it right now, but here it is

 

[dbbydk]

This thread slipped to the 2nd page, so I just thought I would bring it back up. I don't know if anyone's really interested in it right now, but here it is

Oh no, we slipped to the second page. Glad you bumped us.

 

[J.J.]

I've always been a second page kind of guy.

 

[camsmama]

Thanks for the info Debby. We've got two smaller booster seats that we're bringing with us. I now we can't use them on the plane so it's no big deal as long as they don't break them. They're so expensive to rent for a week for two kids, plus I've always been warned not to use the rental ones because they don't take care of them. Still, thanks for sharing the info.

I e-mailed our DL contact today asking about the Disneyland Resort Express. In her confirmation e-mail she told me she'd send me vouchers for certain days and those aren't the days we're planning on taking the shuttle. I figured they'd just send us paid vouchers to use any day so I e-mailed to find out. I haven't heard back yet, but I'll let you guys know what she says.

Let me know what she says because we fly into LAX on 8/4, check out of Grand Californian on 8/8 to head to San Diego and then head back to DL on 8/11 for 1 night and then fly out of LAX on 8/12. I would need our vouchers to be for 8/4 and 8/12, even though we check out on 8/8. Hmmmmmmmm....

 

[Toystoryfan32]

Lol no need to apologize, it's hard to keep everyone straight and who is going where and when. I did indeed choose WDW. I'm hoping to get August 3-7 and the Grand Floridian. I wouldn't think the dates would cause much of an issue.

Yes that will be a good time to go. I am glad you picked the Grand Floridian!! I was starting to think I would be the only one! I sure hope the monorail won't be down this summer. I read somewhere that they might have to suspend service due to the construction. They did say they would have more boat shuttles so that will be good. Have you been on the Grand Floridian thread yet? The Disers there are super duper nice and are so helpful. Thanks for bumping up the page!

 

[suevr]

Okay, I heard back from her about the shuttle. Originally she told me she'd send me the vouchers for two specific dates, but after I questioned her some more she said that they would be good for 30 days before and 30 days after the date shown, so it won't be a problem what day we use them (unless someone plans to stay in CA more than 30 days). She also said that we'd get a copy of the schedule when we get the vouchers and they'd be Fed Exed to us about 10 days before our arrival. She did mention that the Disneyland Resort Express recommends you board the bus 2 hours prior to your flight for Orange County or 3 hours prior to your flight for LAX. I think you were wondering about that Debby so hope that helps.

One more thing I asked was if she could send me some park maps because they don't print correctly from the DL website. She said no because she's not near DL.

That reminds me, for those of you going to WDW you should definitely order the customized maps from the WDW website. I just ordered some to see what they look like and they're pretty cool. They're not something you'll want to take with you, but more of a keepsake thing. Unfortunately they don't have them for DL for some reason. You can order them here: http://customizedmaps.disney.go.com/?CMP=ILC-WDWFY12Q1CMRCustomizedMaps0006. They do take a while to come, something like 6-8 weeks so you might want to order them now.

 

[Toystoryfan32]

Okay, I heard back from her about the shuttle. Originally she told me she'd send me the vouchers for two specific dates, but after I questioned her some more she said that they would be good for 30 days before and 30 days after the date shown, so it won't be a problem what day we use them (unless someone plans to stay in CA more than 30 days). She also said that we'd get a copy of the schedule when we get the vouchers and they'd be Fed Exed to us about 10 days before our arrival. She did mention that the Disneyland Resort Express recommends you board the bus 2 hours prior to your flight for Orange County or 3 hours prior to your flight for LAX. I think you were wondering about that Debby so hope that helps.

One more thing I asked was if she could send me some park maps because they don't print correctly from the DL website. She said no because she's not near DL.

That reminds me, for those of you going to WDW you should definitely order the customized maps from the WDW website. I just ordered some to see what they look like and they're pretty cool. They're not something you'll want to take with you, but more of a keepsake thing. Unfortunately they don't have them for DL for some reason. You can order them here: http://customizedmaps.disney.go.com/?CMP=ILC-WDWFY12Q1CMRCustomizedMaps0006. They do take a while to come, something like 6-8 weeks so you might want to order them now.

I ordered our maps a few days ago. They are so darn cute. We don't really need them anymore but we always get them as a nice keepsake for our trip!

 

[monkyby87]

Yes that will be a good time to go. I am glad you picked the Grand Floridian!! I was starting to think I would be the only one! I sure hope the monorail won't be down this summer. I read somewhere that they might have to suspend service due to the construction. They did say they would have more boat shuttles so that will be good. Have you been on the Grand Floridian thread yet? The Disers there are super duper nice and are so helpful. Thanks for bumping up the page!

I was reading about the possible monorail service issues and got scared But more boats would be cool. I couldn't pass up a chance to stay at the Grand Floridian for free! I'll definitely have to check out that thread then and see what's going on

 

[cerilene]

Well we're still on baby watch here so...
I'm starting to breathe a bit easier now that it's nearing the end of leap day!

I called Michael and left a voicemail yesterday and sent an email. Still no response. Wonder if I should bug the crap out of him tomorrow?

 

[J.J.]

Yes that will be a good time to go. I am glad you picked the Grand Floridian!! I was starting to think I would be the only one! I sure hope the monorail won't be down this summer. I read somewhere that they might have to suspend service due to the construction. They did say they would have more boat shuttles so that will be good. Have you been on the Grand Floridian thread yet? The Disers there are super duper nice and are so helpful. Thanks for bumping up the page!

We almost chose the Grand Floridian. It was our second choice. My daughter loved the animals at AKL so we decided to go back there again. I love them as well so it works out great. I am not sure that I will ever be able to stay at the Grand Floridian but I am ok with that. I like to go and see the Christmas decorations when the are up so we will surely stop by.

 

[MouseEarsForAll]

Well we're still on baby watch here so...
I'm starting to breathe a bit easier now that it's nearing the end of leap day!

I called Michael and left a voicemail yesterday and sent an email. Still no response. Wonder if I should bug the crap out of him tomorrow?

Congratulations!

 

[J.J.]

Has anyone heard from Michael, our fulfillment specialist, since last week? I have sent several emails and have not heard back yet.

 

[suevr]

We almost chose the Grand Floridian. It was our second choice. My daughter loved the animals at AKL so we decided to go back there again. I love them as well so it works out great. I am not sure that I will ever be able to stay at the Grand Floridian but I am ok with that. I like to go and see the Christmas decorations when the are up so we will surely stop by.

You definitely need to check out the giant gingerbread house at the GF at Christmas. I loved the Christmas decorations at the Wilderness Lodge as well.

 

[cerilene]

Has anyone heard from Michael, our fulfillment specialist, since last week? I have sent several emails and have not heard back yet.

Well that doesn't leave me much hope that I'll hear back from him soon regarding my email yesterday.
Hopefully it's just the craziness of the contest ending and we'll get some info soon!

 

[monkyby87]

Has anyone heard from Michael, our fulfillment specialist, since last week? I have sent several emails and have not heard back yet.

I got an email this Monday from him that just was saying he received my completed questionnaire and was beginning to book my trip, but nothing else since then.