Planning on short notice again... Gotta' learn to plan these things better, don't I?

[Vexorg]

To make a long story short, I've got a situation currently where I need to take some sort of trip somewhere to keep frequent flyer miles from expiring, but I don't think I can get away with taking more than one day off of work right now, so if I do anything it's going to end up being a long weekend. It's been a few years since I last made it to Disneyland (January 2006 was the last time) so I was thinking I might look at taking a solo trip down forthe weekend before Memorial Day (May 21-23, probably an early morning flight home on the 24th) to try to beat at least some of the schools getting out. Apparently I have a bad habit of doing these things on exceedingly short notice. Since this is about as close to anything resembling planning as I'm going to get, here are a few questions:

As far as crowds go, what should I expect? Taking a quick look at the schedule for the weekend shows Midnight closures and 9:15 fireworks for each of the three days, which works well for my night owl tendencies.

I suppose I should know this one already, but if I'm looking for a decent hotel with minimal walking to the parks (or if I can get a decent deal, ART would probably work too) what should I look at? I stayed at the Anabella on my last visit, and it didn't turn out so great, to put it nicely. I haven't quite got the budget for a Disney hotel, and even if I did I'd like to try not to spend too much for a room I'd presumably be spending little time in. Besides, I've got to save something for an onsite stay at Disneyworld, right?



How crazy would I have to be to attempt Memorial Day Weekend? The only reason that even looks like an attractive option (aside from a potential extra day) is because the Mariners are playing the Angels in Anaheim that weekend, and I was thinking it might be fun to catch a road game (I happen to work almost exactly half a mile from home plate at Safeco Field in downtown Seattle these days.)

 

[skiingfast]

For hotels I suggest you try searching "hotels" on www.bing.com After the first few link suggestions is a seach box for the place and dates. It works better than expedia or hotwire because it isn't trying to sell you a room just refer you to were you can book rooms.

It will look tight since in is a holiday weekend and under a month away.

If you decide to back out you could try buying a minimum amount of miles to keep the miles going for another year.

If not enjoy the game, wear some red.

 

[RweTHEREyet]

You can also go to flyertalk.com where those folks have lots of ideas for helping keep miles alive other than buying a ticket. They helped me out with my Delta miles when they were about to expire, it didn't cost me a penny and they extended for another full year.

 

[S. S. Columbia]

For your dates (May 20 - 24)

Expedia.com has the following motels available:

Best Western Park Place Inn (BWPPI) $119/night
Park Vue Inn $109/night
Camelot Inn $129/night
Fairfield Inn $107/night
Anaheim Plaza $89/night

The prices above don't include the 15% tax.

The motels above are all within walking distance (5 to 10 minutes) to the main entrance.

HTH

 

[Kayla's Mom]

Hojos has the entertainment rate available May 24th-31st. The prices are $59, $69, $79 depending on the room type. Here is a link if you are unfamiliar:

http://www.hojoanaheim.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=14

We always stay here, it is about a 10 minute walk. If you don't already have an entertainment card you can usually buy one on Ebay for a couple of bucks.

 

[Vexorg]

Edit: OK, scratch the "Looking at" part here, I've gone ahead and booked the trip basically as outlined below. I suspect I'm crazy, but haven't managed to prove that yet...

(Tried to reply earlier, but the board's not letting me stay logged in for some reason...)

I'm kind of looking at the Fairfield Inn across the street for the hotel, but I'm not set in that. Mostly I just don't want a half mile walk back to the hotel at the end of the day (even some of the "One Block Away" hotels are 2/3 of a mile or more away from the park gates, which normally wouldn't be a problem for me, but I don't usually spend all day walking either.) I think what I'll try to do is get either a late Thursday or early Friday flight from SEA-SNA, then take a SuperShuttle to the hotel. I'm not exactly what you'd call a rope drop person, so if I get there a bit later in the day it's not too big a deal. The last time I went, the early flight down (with a connection at SFO) got me to the park with bags stowed at the hotel around Noon or so. This time it looks like all nonstops. As for getting home, I'll probably try for an early flight on Monday, then head to work from the airport (maybe not the greatest idea I've ever had...)

Of course this isn't going to be a relaxing vacation (or anything bearing any resemblance to relaxing for that matter) but I don't do relaxing anyway. Even though I last went in 2006 there should be plenty new to see, and stuff I missed last time (last time I went they had the Holiday Haunted Mansion, so I haven't had a chance to see the regular one since 1987. The new changes to Pirates also weren't there at the time.) I still need to make it back to Disney World somewhere along the line (Note: I wouldn't recommend trying to do Disney World in 4 days, and don't plan on trying it again,) but this should be nice to get away for a bit.

 

[bumbershoot]

Sounds like fun! Also sounds like you work close to where my hubby does, if you're north instead of south...he's right across from Uwajimaya.

Fairfield is right across from DL, but it's not right across from the entrance plaza. It's probably halfway between the entrance crosswalk and Hojo. Maybe closer to hojo.

I'd try Tropicana, see the rates there..or Carousel (though I didn't enjoy my stay, and if you had issues with Anabella, know they are sister hotels)...Park Place Inn, Desert Inn....


The holiday weekend will probably be packed, but it can be fun anyway. I *would* work hard to make it for ropedrop though, especially on a holiday weekend. You can get SO much done while everyone else is following YOUR natural sleep-in instincts...


If you're going on the holiday weekend, leaving on Monday seems to be what everyone does. Last two years, Monday was lovely! So honestly, I might consider NOT taking days off beforehand, getting there Sat (or leave Fri night if possible, depending on what airline you have your miles with), then taking Tuesday off and leaving later in the afternoon or even evening...that gives you two more open days, if it follows the last two years, than getting there when everyone else is getting there, the days before the holiday.

 

[Vexorg]

Sounds like fun! Also sounds like you work close to where my hubby does, if you're north instead of south...he's right across from Uwajimaya.

Fairfield is right across from DL, but it's not right across from the entrance plaza. It's probably halfway between the entrance crosswalk and Hojo. Maybe closer to hojo.

I'd try Tropicana, see the rates there..or Carousel (though I didn't enjoy my stay, and if you had issues with Anabella, know they are sister hotels)...Park Place Inn, Desert Inn....


The holiday weekend will probably be packed, but it can be fun anyway. I *would* work hard to make it for ropedrop though, especially on a holiday weekend. You can get SO much done while everyone else is following YOUR natural sleep-in instincts...


If you're going on the holiday weekend, leaving on Monday seems to be what everyone does. Last two years, Monday was lovely! So honestly, I might consider NOT taking days off beforehand, getting there Sat (or leave Fri night if possible, depending on what airline you have your miles with), then taking Tuesday off and leaving later in the afternoon or even evening...that gives you two more open days, if it follows the last two years, than getting there when everyone else is getting there, the days before the holiday.

Sounds like I work pretty close then (My office is at First and King, pretty much the south part of the Pioneer Square neighborhood.) I actually booked for 5/21-23, but I don't think I could manage more than one day off at this point. I'm looking at the possibility of doing a week somewhere later in the year (I do contracting, so time off is a bit tricky.) I suspect it might not be the empitest park I've ever been in (the rainy day on the January 2006 trip was pretty nice for that, although it was, as noted, rainy) but going solo does definitely make it a lot easier to get around and do stuff on the fly, so I'm not too worried. It does look like there are SoCal AP blockouts that weekend but if there's even hints of possible World of Color soft openings going on I suspect all bets could be off.

I'd start a countdown, but I don't think there's enough time for that...

 

[Kayla's Mom]

Fairfield is right across from DL, but it's not right across from the entrance plaza. It's probably halfway between the entrance crosswalk and Hojo. Maybe closer to hojo.

Fairfield is next to Hojo with that little side street (Manchester?) separating them.

 

[bumbershoot]

Fairfield is next to Hojo with that little side street (Manchester?) separating them.

It's been so long since I've been there....the memory fades. And ever since that one map went away when angelfire went away, I haven't had an online map I liked to refresh memory!


Vexorg, go and have fun!

 

[Kayla's Mom]

It's been so long since I've been there....the memory fades. And ever since that one map went away when angelfire went away, I haven't had an online map I liked to refresh memory!

We stayed there for years before I even noticed that the Fairfield was right next door!

 

[Vexorg]

I've gone ahead and started a PTR for this trip here:

Planning? What's That? A Solo Trip on Short Notice