One if by Air, Two if By Sea: Disneyland Twice in One Month (Pre-Trip Report)

[Vexorg]

To be honest, I'm still not quite sure how it worked out this way, but through a set of somewhat random circumstances, I now find myself preparing for two separate trips to Disneyland in September, no more than a couple of weeks apart from each other. And just what crazy set of circumstances would lead to this kind of thing? Well, let me explain...

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For some time now , me and several friends had been talking about doing a Disneyland trip sometime in either August or September. Having been on several trips to Disney (the most recent one being last May,) I suggested that the best time to do this would be in mid-to-late September, and we begun making tentative plans for the weekend of September 24th-26th. Back in March of this year, I went with my parents, brother, and a number of aunts, uncles and other family members on a Caribbean cruise, and quite thoroughly enjoyed it. As a result of this, I had been looking around at various cruises when I saw that the Sapphire Princess was doing a 5-day sailing from Vancouver to Los Angeles (with stops in Victoria BC and San Francisco along the way) as the Alaska cruising season ends and the Hawaii cruising season begins. This would give me the opportunity to not only take a trip down to Disneyland, but to take a nice little cruise down along the way. I booked the cruise shortly after, figuring that I would meet the others there.

That was the plan anyway. What really ended up happening is that several of the people who were planning to go on the Disneyland trip decided that they weren't going to have the time off later in September, which meant that the only window of opportunity they were going to have to go on the Disney trip would be Labor Day weekend. The dreaded Labor Day weekend. That time when no sane Disney fan would dare go anywhere near the parks (well, no sane Disney fan except the 50,000 or so that'll inevitably be there anyway.) On one hand, I wasn't a big fan of the whole Labor Day idea, especially after booking the coastal cruise just two weeks later. On the other hand, it's Disney, and thanks to the fact that my friends will have access to a condo within semi-reasonable distance of the park, it'll also be a relatively cheap trip without the need to pay for a hotel, so what the heck?

But with that trip in the books, what of the cruise? Well, that's still happening too, and thanks to a nice little deal for return airfare to Seattle on Virgin America I managed to catch a couple of weeks ago, I find myself with about 3 days of extra time on my own in the LA area after disembarking from the ship before my flight home (I'm going to be traveling solo on this trip, nobody else I know could get time off for it.) With two trips planned in one month, suddenly I find myself with a somewhat convincing excuse to actually get a Disneyland annual pass that would cover both of these trips and an excuse to make another trip or two sometime within the next year, particularly after the completion of Cars Land next year.

To be honest, I don't necessarily plan to spend too much time at DLR the second time around, since I'd like to get out and see some of the other sights in the LA area, and I haven't really had much opportunity to do this on previous trips. I've got a hotel near Disneyland booked for the three nights after the cruise (the BWPPI) for easy access to the parks, but at the same time I also plan to rent a car for the three days, and do some exploring around. One thing I've been looking at doing is taking a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway to San Diego. I had also seen a suggestion on another board saying that the Warner Brothers Studio Tour is something I might find interesting, and I have been thinking that might be a good activity for Monday before I fly out, since it would probably be a good idea to be in the general vicinity of LAX that day. So on the second trip, I expect that the Disney portions of the trip will probably be mostly in the evenings, which would provide an opportunity to catch the evening shows and (hopefully) the Halloween overlays on the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain, take advantage of the less crowded evening hours and hopefully not be completely wiped out at the end the day. At least that's how it's supposed to work.

So, to make a long story short, two trips in one month. More details on the first trip (and if I'm smart, I should probably consider doing some planning at some point) to follow.

 

[skiingfast]

Looks quite interesting.

As some big rehabs have been announced. I'd focus on labor day on those attractions that you won't get another chance out on the post cruise visit.

As far as the AP. You might buy a PH for labor day weekend and then upgrade it to a AP after or on the last of the blackout days.

Although since Carsland will make next summer busy. You might delay on getting one so you aren't forced to use it over the 2012 summer, but can visit in the fall off season of 2012. So maybe the later visit or an AP isn't a good idea at all.

 

[Vexorg]

Admittedly, the whole thing is still kind of up in the air right now, but I figured that I wouldn't be spending full days at Disneyland on the second visit, probably just evenings (you can actually get quite a bit done in the couple of hours after the fireworks when most of the crowds have left,) and if I did get the AP I could probably sneak in a couple of quick weekend visits in early 2012 (basically when I can manage to catch cheap airfare,) and maybe (in spite of better judgment) throw in a Summer trip as well once the DCA overhaul is done.

I'm looking at the park schedule on the second trip now, and the only closures being listed for the days I'd be there are PotC , California Screamin and some Bugs Land ride I'd probably skip anyway, which doesn't sound too bad.

 

[skiingfast]

If you have the work flexibility and can go down for a 3 day weekend or quick midweek trip when airfare is great, an AP may work great.

 

[Vexorg]

I do get a pretty decent amount of paid time off here (which is nice, especially after spending 10+ years working in contracts where I had basically no vacation available) so I do have a reasonable amount of flexibility on that as long as I provide enough advance notice. Then again, my parents (big-time cruisers, and the ones who got me started on the whole thing) and some other extended family members have made tenative plans for another Caribbean cruise next January (I went with them on one in March of this year) so there's a pretty good possibility I could be doing that, which would eat a decent chunk of vacation time.