Reflections on/lessons learned from our first "briefer" trip as AP holders.

[egritz]

This is a great post! We are similar in that the past 3 trips have all been during the holidays (the first intentionally, the other two just worked out that way). This last Nov trip we decided to upgrade the family since the baby will continue to be free for the duration of our passes. We did 6 full days in the parks in Nov and hubby and I are headed back for an adult trip at the beginning of February (it will be our first vacation alone since 2009!) And then I may take our 5 year old on a trip in May depending on hubby's work status (he was laid off 2 weeks ago so if he starts a new job he may not be able to take the time off which will lead to a girls trips, which I have to say I'm kind of hoping for!)

We are opposite in that we've been staying kind of far away (S Clementine area hotels) and we are excited to return to S Harbor hotels for the 3 or 4 trips planned this year. I can't wait to be across the street again! We never took shuttles bc hubby didn't want to deal with folding up the stroller and it really added a long walk to the beginning and end of each day.

Great tips on the heads up game...I was thinking we needed to find something to do while in line (no kids to wrangle this time. Oh my!) I can't wait to go with no plans or expectations....and dare I say it? With no kids? Lol.

 

[arcadiandj]

Would love to hear more about the shuttle as we will be staying offsite on our trip in April. Where did you stay? Was it the ART or a private hotel shuttle? Cost?

DD and I always play Heads Up while waiting in lines or waiting for our table to be ready for dinner. Another great game to pass the time is Trivia Crack. You can play against each other or against strangers.

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn,
11777 Harbor Blvd, Garden Grove, CA 92840
It shared a private shuttle with the Embassy Suites next door and it was 10 dollars a day. We never had to wait long at all. Once, we got there, and the shuttle was full, but another came behind it about 5 minutes later.

Please tell me about Trivia Crack! That immediately sounds like fun! You can play with strangers?

 

[arcadiandj]

I agree with most of what you say including staying off site but I really don't consider anywhere that isn't on South Harbor. Taking a shuttle just isn't for me. I think it builds tension rather than alleviating it. We are not typical (if there is such a thing) DL AP holders since we are a 6-hour flight away (MA). We would come for a week and do 6 days at DL and then an LA day bit we now come for a week and may do parts of a few days in the park but we tend to explore a little more outside of the park. We're working on a June trip which will include a side trip to San Simeon. We also have a 10-day trip planned for August which includes side trips to Joshua Tree and possibly Puerto Vallarta. I still love the time we spend in the parks but we don't feel like we need need to do everything any more. We had WDW APs for about 10 years and I did feel a bit of a burnout after making probably 40 tips over those 10 years. We've had DL APs sporadically (maybe 4 of the last 6 years) and we make at least 3 trips a year when we've had the APs and didn't feel any burnout like I did with the WDW passes.

DANG! You read like you know how to vacation! And I'm guessing you are an EXPERT Diser!

 

[arcadiandj]

OH gosh I hope we were hilarious in a good way. We had a better trip than usual, but the last couple days I hurt my neck (I think it was the dude in the MMA shirt smashing into my shoulder while walking between me and DH in a big hurry) and I was cranky and might have had two moments over two days that weren't cute. (it's hard when you hurt)

You all looked like you were having fun with each other-a lovely sight! Sorry to read about your neck. I'm guessing he was a "full contact" Diser?

 

[arcadiandj]

This is a great post! We are similar in that the past 3 trips have all been during the holidays (the first intentionally, the other two just worked out that way). This last Nov trip we decided to upgrade the family since the baby will continue to be free for the duration of our passes. We did 6 full days in the parks in Nov and hubby and I are headed back for an adult trip at the beginning of February (it will be our first vacation alone since 2009!) And then I may take our 5 year old on a trip in May depending on hubby's work status (he was laid off 2 weeks ago so if he starts a new job he may not be able to take the time off which will lead to a girls trips, which I have to say I'm kind of hoping for!)

We are opposite in that we've been staying kind of far away (S Clementine area hotels) and we are excited to return to S Harbor hotels for the 3 or 4 trips planned this year. I can't wait to be across the street again! We never took shuttles bc hubby didn't want to deal with folding up the stroller and it really added a long walk to the beginning and end of each day.

Great tips on the heads up game...I was thinking we needed to find something to do while in line (no kids to wrangle this time. Oh my!) I can't wait to go with no plans or expectations....and dare I say it? With no kids? Lol.

Glad you like the post! Hey, your avatar looks familiar. Did you do a post that provided some context to the photo? I am interested to read that you are looking forward to girls trips. My wife does girls trips with her friends/sisters (not to Disney resorts) and they enjoy special bonding, but I wonder what it would be like for girls who all enjoyed Disney. Do you know there are some Disunplugged pod casts that discuss girl trips?

 

[sharona]

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn,
11777 Harbor Blvd, Garden Grove, CA 92840
It shared a private shuttle with the Embassy Suites next door and it was 10 dollars a day. We never had to wait long at all. Once, we got there, and the shuttle was full, but another came behind it about 5 minutes later.

Please tell me about Trivia Crack! That immediately sounds like fun! You can play with strangers?

That is great news as that is where we are booked! Any tips on the hotel?

Trivia Crack is like playing Trivial Pursuit on your phone. You can challenge friends or play against others that you don't know - it's all through the game so they don't get any of your info or anything. When you get a question wrong, it's the other person's turn. When it's your turn you get a notification. You have a set amount of time to respond so we usually have multiple games going on so there is not a lot of waiting. You have to get a couple of answers right to get a "crown" in each category and you collect crowns for Science, Geography, Arts, Entertainment, History and Sports. First one to collect all their crowns is the winner. We have the free version, the ads are not intrusive.

 

[egritz]

Glad you like the post! Hey, your avatar looks familiar. Did you do a post that provided some context to the photo? I am interested to read that you are looking forward to girls trips. My wife does girls trips with her friends/sisters (not to Disney resorts) and they enjoy special bonding, but I wonder what it would be like for girls who all enjoyed Disney. Do you know there are some Disunplugged pod casts that discuss girl trips?

Good memory! Yes, my avatar is from our last-minute trip in Nov 2013 when I was on maternity leave. My daughter wanted to be Sally for Halloween, so my mom made the dress & my MIL the wig (and our 4 month old son was Jack) and we decided we just had to go to DL to get a picture of her with the "real" Sally. We brought everything except her boots and blue makeup and when we finally saw Sally, she rushed through the (very long) line to get to us spent a lot of time with our family, took one more group, then had to leave. It was a truly magical experience.
I have shared this experience a few times here, I think on the Christmas thread and on a thread about your most magical Disney experience.

I'll have to check out the info on the girls trips! I am actually re-booking hotels for that weekend right now thinking that Hubby may not be joining and will need to fly with my daughter (I don't want to drive without someone to keep me awake, so would fly if it is just the two of us). It is a trip for her 5th birthday (it is actually the month before, too near Easter to actually go ON or near her birthday) and I'm thinking of finally having her do the BB Boutique, and then doing one of the PTN reserved seating options (most likely Aladdin).