PTR - Disneyland, Vegas & Hawaii

[Meemoo]

Oh exciting, how long will you be away for? What's your itinerary?

At this stage we're looking at around 2.5-3 weeks. We are hoping to do return flights to Hawaii then local flights return Hawaii to LA to break the long trip and stay at Aulani on the way for a couple of nights then for longer on the way home from Disneyland. We visited Disneyland for their 50th Anniversary and I always said I would visit again for their 60th, so that's the plan, I can't wait for my kids to experience DL!

 

[mellyB]

At this stage we're looking at around 2.5-3 weeks. We are hoping to do return flights to Hawaii then local flights return Hawaii to LA to break the long trip and stay at Aulani on the way for a couple of nights then for longer on the way home from Disneyland. We visited Disneyland for their 50th Anniversary and I always said I would visit again for their 60th, so that's the plan, I can't wait for my kids to experience DL!

Sounds great. I'm so looking foward taking my kids to DL. My son has been to hong kong DL but he was 2 so doesn't really remember it and its also not the orginal DL.

 

[mellyB]

Booked the cruise part of of our trip today. Departs 14 December 2015 for 4 nights. Very excited to have one part of the trip booked.

 

[Tashinwdw]

Booked the cruise part of of our trip today. Departs 14 December 2015 for 4 nights. Very excited to have one part of the trip booked.

 

[losfp]

Booked the cruise part of of our trip today. Departs 14 December 2015 for 4 nights. Very excited to have one part of the trip booked.

Nice!! Cruise is the only part of our trip booked too Hopefully will be able to get some other bits booked soon as well as we approach the 11 month mark for DVC rentals.....

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Booked the cruise part of of our trip today. Departs 14 December 2015 for 4 nights. Very excited to have one part of the trip booked.

Congrats.
I love that you can book cruises so early. It truly feels like a trip is happening once you have something booked.

 

[zanzibar138]

Yay for booking the cruise

 

[mellyB]

I'm so excited to have the cruise booked, it really does make the trip feel real.

I'm thinking of adding San Fran and hopefully a trip to Yosemite. Does anyone have any must do's for San Fran. Thinking 2-3 nights.

 

[Kristin5]

Just saw this MellyB - good to see another planner for next Christmas!

Yours is a similar trip to our last couple of trips (although ours were in Sept/Oct). And we've never been on a cruise but are actually going on our first ever cruise later this year. It's a Carnival cruise to Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

Last year, we went to San Fran for 3 nights (Alcatraz is a definite must see). Then we flew to Vegas (5 nights) - there is so much to see there. DS loves it! And DH loves the shopping there (and he definitely is not a shopper here at home!). We went to the Grand Canyon the first time and last year we did a Hoover Dam tour (and DH did a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon). Then we drove to Anaheim (we were travelling with another family so we hired a mini bus). We stayed at Hojos for 10 nights, then switched to the Grand Californian for 4 nights - wow! I'm glad you have switched things to go to Hojos first (not that I had any complaints about it, but just the convenience of the GCH was brilliant, as well as the ambience of the place).

I am envious of your Hawaiian stopover too. Sounds like a lovely way to end your trip.

 

[DVCAustralia]

In regard to San Francisco: -
Fisherman's Wharf is our must visit.
Union Square is where all the main shops are.

In regard to Yosemite, try to avoid doing the 'day' trip. It is so much better staying in the National Park one night to give you time to properly do both the main Half Dome area as well as the spectacular redwood forests.

 

[zanzibar138]

Were you going to try to fit Yosemite into your San Francisco time, or were you going to add another couple of nights there?

Yosemite is quite a drive from San Francisco. It can be done as a very long day trip, but you would only just scratch the surface of what it has to offer. Plus, if you only have 2 nights in San Francisco, this would be your entire day, and you wouldn't get to see any of the city! I would definitely spend at least one night, preferably two. If you can't do that, there are redwood areas closer to the city that you could visit in half a day, like Muir Woods (just on the other side of the Golden Gate), or places further down the coast.

As for San Francisco itself, we stayed 3 nights, and it really wasn't enough. Having said that, we 'wasted' a lot of time just walking around. It's a nice place to walk around though! We stayed in the Fisherman's Wharf area, and arrived in the evening, too late to really do anything that day. Our first day we walked up to Chinatown and went to the Cable Car Museum, then walked to the crooked street, then back to the Fisherman's Wharf for our Alcatraz night tour. The night tour was good in that there was only one boat load of people on the island, we got to see the city skyline light up as the sun set, and we got to see the hospital, which is off limits to day visitors. The second day we walked to and about halfway over the Golden Gate Bridge (long, long walk, but lovely). We then got lost in the Presidio area looking for the Walt Disney Family Museum, which was closed when we got there anyway as it was a Tuesday It was actually a nice place to get lost, and we saw a heap of stuff I bet very few tourists see. Apart from views and general scenery, we saw some old military housing/buildings, what appeared to be police horse headquarters/stables, and a beautiful cemetery. After finding the museum was closed, we went to a nearby cafe for drinks and nibbles, and had a great time there chatting with the barman. We'd had enough of walking by then and caught a bus back to the hotel The next day we left early in the morning.

 

[mellyB]

Just saw this MellyB - good to see another planner for next Christmas!

Yours is a similar trip to our last couple of trips (although ours were in Sept/Oct). And we've never been on a cruise but are actually going on our first ever cruise later this year. It's a Carnival cruise to Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

Last year, we went to San Fran for 3 nights (Alcatraz is a definite must see). Then we flew to Vegas (5 nights) - there is so much to see there. DS loves it! And DH loves the shopping there (and he definitely is not a shopper here at home!). We went to the Grand Canyon the first time and last year we did a Hoover Dam tour (and DH did a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon). Then we drove to Anaheim (we were travelling with another family so we hired a mini bus). We stayed at Hojos for 10 nights, then switched to the Grand Californian for 4 nights - wow! I'm glad you have switched things to go to Hojos first (not that I had any complaints about it, but just the convenience of the GCH was brilliant, as well as the ambience of the place).

I am envious of your Hawaiian stopover too. Sounds like a lovely way to end your trip.

I'm thinking we'll split our stay at DL 50/50 between Hojo's & Grand Californian, which means we'll be at the Grand Californian for xmas.

This trip all started out with we'll go to hawaii for 10 days

 

[mellyB]

In regard to San Francisco: -
Fisherman's Wharf is our must visit.
Union Square is where all the main shops are.

In regard to Yosemite, try to avoid doing the 'day' trip. It is so much better staying in the National Park one night to give you time to properly do both the main Half Dome area as well as the spectacular redwood forests.

Thanks for the tips. I've played around with dates and length of time in Hawaii and have added a few extra days in San Fran to ensure we avoid the day trip to Yosemite.

 

[mellyB]

Were you going to try to fit Yosemite into your San Francisco time, or were you going to add another couple of nights there?

Yosemite is quite a drive from San Francisco. It can be done as a very long day trip, but you would only just scratch the surface of what it has to offer. Plus, if you only have 2 nights in San Francisco, this would be your entire day, and you wouldn't get to see any of the city! I would definitely spend at least one night, preferably two. If you can't do that, there are redwood areas closer to the city that you could visit in half a day, like Muir Woods (just on the other side of the Golden Gate), or places further down the coast.

As for San Francisco itself, we stayed 3 nights, and it really wasn't enough. Having said that, we 'wasted' a lot of time just walking around. It's a nice place to walk around though! We stayed in the Fisherman's Wharf area, and arrived in the evening, too late to really do anything that day. Our first day we walked up to Chinatown and went to the Cable Car Museum, then walked to the crooked street, then back to the Fisherman's Wharf for our Alcatraz night tour. The night tour was good in that there was only one boat load of people on the island, we got to see the city skyline light up as the sun set, and we got to see the hospital, which is off limits to day visitors. The second day we walked to and about halfway over the Golden Gate Bridge (long, long walk, but lovely). We then got lost in the Presidio area looking for the Walt Disney Family Museum, which was closed when we got there anyway as it was a Tuesday It was actually a nice place to get lost, and we saw a heap of stuff I bet very few tourists see. Apart from views and general scenery, we saw some old military housing/buildings, what appeared to be police horse headquarters/stables, and a beautiful cemetery. After finding the museum was closed, we went to a nearby cafe for drinks and nibbles, and had a great time there chatting with the barman. We'd had enough of walking by then and caught a bus back to the hotel The next day we left early in the morning.

I've had a play around with dates today and will probably have 4-5 nights in San Fran now, depending on flights. This way we can go to Yosemite at least overnight and still allow plenty of time to explore San Fran. Thanks for the suggestions of what to do, seems we won't be short of things to do.

 

[Kristin5]

I'm thinking we'll split our stay at DL 50/50 between Hojo's & Grand Californian, which means we'll be at the Grand Californian for xmas.

This trip all started out with we'll go to hawaii for 10 days

GCH is supposed to be unbelievably beautiful at Christmas - I am very envious!