Schedule help / opinions, please - August trip - thanks!!

[MemoriesintheMaking]

So, this is super early, but it's making me happy to plan our August trip while I'm sitting in our wintry temps today.

Our next trip to DL is going to be 8/11-8/17. We have rented points for a 2-bedroom GCV for the first time, and are very excited. Our group consists of myself, my husband, our two kids (14 and 17), and my brother, who has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair. We will have 5-day park hoppers, and I am trying to decide the best way to plan our days. I have two options I'm debating right now.

We will be flying in and landing at LGB on Sunday, 8/11, at 8:20 am.

***Plan #1:
After landing on Sunday, we pick up our rental van, stop at the grocery store, and check in at GCH. We would spend the rest of the day wandering DTD, hanging out at the pool, and waiting for our GCV to be ready. Maybe some of us would do The Void. I don't expect us to get our room until late afternoon / early evening.

Then, we would have Monday - Friday as park days. We usually are up for early morning, have a full morning, take a break in the afternoon at the pool, then head back to the parks for the evening. Finally, we fly out on Saturday, 8/17. Our flight isn't until the end of the day on Saturday, so we may stop by Huntington Beach for a quick visit that day, or something similar.

Pros of this plan: All five of our park days are full days, with early morning access each day. There's no rush on Sunday to get to the parks.

Cons: Sunday might feel like we are just spinning our wheels, trying to "waste" time while waiting for the room to be ready. The pool would be more difficult without having the room to change in, etc., especially with our bags at bell services.


***Ok, here's Plan #2:
After landing on Sunday at 8:20 am, we pick up our rental van, check in at GCH, and head to the parks. We would take a break when the room is ready to get our bags, unpack, rest, have dinner, my husband and I would take a quick grocery trip, and then head back to the parks for the rest of the night.

Then, we would have 4 more full park days to use within Monday - Friday. One of those days, such as Wednesday, would be a non-park day. We could sleep in, do some DTD shopping, have pool time, and recharge for the rest of the week. Finally, we fly home on Saturday.

Pros: Getting straight into the parks is fun. (My kids and I did that on our last trip and we did like it. However, that was a short, last-minute trip.) We wouldn't feel at loose ends on Sunday while we wait for our room. Also, we would have a full rest day in the middle of what will be a very fun, but very tiring, week of touring the parks with my brother.

Cons: We miss out on one of our early morning access days, since I know we wouldn't get to the parks until somewhere around 11:00 am on Sunday. Also, I see that Sunday, 8/11, is the CHOC walk day. I've never been there for CHOC walk, so I don't know what that means for crowds, etc. We might focus on low-key things that day, such as shows, etc. We wouldn't be full energy that day, since we have an early flight that morning.

Ok, so I'm open for any and all opinions or ideas.

Such as, what are your experiences with CHOC walk and crowds?

Also, I just realized I could possibly have a grocery delivery instead of making a stop ourselves at some point on Sunday. We will have the kitchen at GCV, so I would like to have a few things available to eat during the week, plus beer, milk, etc. What are your experiences with having alcohol and frozen/refrigerated items delivered to GCH when the room isn't ready until the end of the day?

I will do some searches here to see what info I can find. I'm just typing my ideas as they come right now.

Thanks for letting me bounce ideas around here. I know this will be a crazy, but hopefully fun, time to visit, with SWGE newly opened. We are fully expecting insane crowds, but we will make the best of it with lots of strategy and research. We feel like we've mastered the strategy that works for us with our past visits, and *love* using MP, getting a ton done first thing in the morning, planning a few relaxing sit-down meals, and utilizing and enjoying things like the WOC dessert party. And I will be reading everything I can between the opening of SWGE and our trip to get all the tips and info out there to help us out.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Some random thoughts:
Right now, I would go with plan A. CHOC Walk Sunday can be very busy, since many Walk participants only have that one day to use their special discount tickets in the parks. The weather can be iffy, too -- last year, it was very humid (for Southern California) -- muggy, hot, yucky. I would have chosen the pool over the parks! Plan A will also allow for any travel glitches, like flight delays, luggage delays, etc. Given your arrival time, you might do a character brunch (Storytellers? Goofy's Kitchen? Donald's? -- none of these require park tickets) or brunch by the beach somewhere. If you want to do some shopping before checking in (in addition to groceries), you might enjoy Fashion Island in Newport Beach. This is a very nice outdoor mall -- shops, restaurants, and a grocery store -- one stop for you. DTD can be very busy on CHOC Walk Sunday morning -- it clears up by a bit after noon. The ticket booths will be very crowded because Walk participants have only that day to buy their special tickets. If there are things you need to do at the booths, see if you can do them at the GCH desk or try to do them at night when there are much shorter lines at the booths. Mondays have become busy days in the parks, so plan that morning well and use the early hours to your advantage.

 

[Gaugersaurus]

I would go with plan #1 with a few changes. Since you're landing in Long Beach and will have a car I would spend the morning there or in one of the beach cities on the way to DLR. You could check out Long Beach Aquarium, the Queen Mary, or just relax on the beach at Huntington. "Spinning" your wheels somewhere other than on Disney property while you wait for the room to be ready may make it better. As a bonus you won't have to deal with the CHOC walk crowds that will be at DLR when you arrive.

 

[MrInfinity]

I guess I like both plans! I know not much help.

If you go with #1, I would take Gaugersaurus' advice and go do something else on the way. It will be way more fun to do a non-Disney thing for the half-day. At Disneyland you get tons of time at Downtown Disney already. Pretty much all your evenings when you're done w the park, you can just walk outside your hotel and you're there, so it's not like you need to plan to spend a day there.

If you prefer #2, that's fine too. Then I'd do days 1-2-3 at the parks, take day 4 to do something else, then back for days 5-6. That something else day doesn't have to be Disney again, go enjoy something in LA or a beach town. This isn't like Florida where you're in the bubble... You're in a major city with dining, beaches and a million things around you. And you've got a car too. Breaking up the trip offsite will make you enjoy those last two onsite even more.

I wouldn't bother with delivery. You're driving in anyways and you'll pass hundreds of grocery stores on the way. There's everything you could want in a 10-min radius.

 

[MrsD.Duck]

Have you thought about on Sunday going to Knotts Berry Farm then possibly Medevil times for dinner? We always do this, it givesbus a fun days and dinner that helps get us excited for the next week at Disneyland. My husband and I are going the end of July just the two of us (last family trip two years ago, boys are adults now) and we decided to add knotts and medevil times so we don't miss a morning entry because ournplan lands at 8:30 in the morning and we are staying at GHC.

 

[Aladora]

So, this is super early, but it's making me happy to plan our August trip while I'm sitting in our wintry temps today.

Our next trip to DL is going to be 8/11-8/17. We have rented points for a 2-bedroom GCV for the first time, and are very excited. Our group consists of myself, my husband, our two kids (14 and 17), and my brother, who has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair. We will have 5-day park hoppers, and I am trying to decide the best way to plan our days. I have two options I'm debating right now.

We will be flying in and landing at LGB on Sunday, 8/11, at 8:20 am.

***Plan #1:
After landing on Sunday, we pick up our rental van, stop at the grocery store, and check in at GCH. We would spend the rest of the day wandering DTD, hanging out at the pool, and waiting for our GCV to be ready. Maybe some of us would do The Void. I don't expect us to get our room until late afternoon / early evening.

Then, we would have Monday - Friday as park days. We usually are up for early morning, have a full morning, take a break in the afternoon at the pool, then head back to the parks for the evening. Finally, we fly out on Saturday, 8/17. Our flight isn't until the end of the day on Saturday, so we may stop by Huntington Beach for a quick visit that day, or something similar.

Pros of this plan: All five of our park days are full days, with early morning access each day. There's no rush on Sunday to get to the parks.

Cons: Sunday might feel like we are just spinning our wheels, trying to "waste" time while waiting for the room to be ready. The pool would be more difficult without having the room to change in, etc., especially with our bags at bell services.


***Ok, here's Plan #2:
After landing on Sunday at 8:20 am, we pick up our rental van, check in at GCH, and head to the parks. We would take a break when the room is ready to get our bags, unpack, rest, have dinner, my husband and I would take a quick grocery trip, and then head back to the parks for the rest of the night.

Then, we would have 4 more full park days to use within Monday - Friday. One of those days, such as Wednesday, would be a non-park day. We could sleep in, do some DTD shopping, have pool time, and recharge for the rest of the week. Finally, we fly home on Saturday.

Pros: Getting straight into the parks is fun. (My kids and I did that on our last trip and we did like it. However, that was a short, last-minute trip.) We wouldn't feel at loose ends on Sunday while we wait for our room. Also, we would have a full rest day in the middle of what will be a very fun, but very tiring, week of touring the parks with my brother.

Cons: We miss out on one of our early morning access days, since I know we wouldn't get to the parks until somewhere around 11:00 am on Sunday. Also, I see that Sunday, 8/11, is the CHOC walk day. I've never been there for CHOC walk, so I don't know what that means for crowds, etc. We might focus on low-key things that day, such as shows, etc. We wouldn't be full energy that day, since we have an early flight that morning.

Ok, so I'm open for any and all opinions or ideas.

Such as, what are your experiences with CHOC walk and crowds?

Also, I just realized I could possibly have a grocery delivery instead of making a stop ourselves at some point on Sunday. We will have the kitchen at GCV, so I would like to have a few things available to eat during the week, plus beer, milk, etc. What are your experiences with having alcohol and frozen/refrigerated items delivered to GCH when the room isn't ready until the end of the day?

I will do some searches here to see what info I can find. I'm just typing my ideas as they come right now.

Thanks for letting me bounce ideas around here. I know this will be a crazy, but hopefully fun, time to visit, with SWGE newly opened. We are fully expecting insane crowds, but we will make the best of it with lots of strategy and research. We feel like we've mastered the strategy that works for us with our past visits, and *love* using MP, getting a ton done first thing in the morning, planning a few relaxing sit-down meals, and utilizing and enjoying things like the WOC dessert party. And I will be reading everything I can between the opening of SWGE and our trip to get all the tips and info out there to help us out.

You should come and ideas around in the Aug 2019 check in thread!

Here are my thoughts on your two plans.

We used to fly in as early as possible and head right to the parks. This was great in theory but we found that after getting up at stupid-o'clock (typically around 3:45am), we would all get really grouchy by mid-afternoon and want to go to the hotel and rest. Most times, however, our room was not ready so we were dragging a cranky kid and sometimes even crankier adults around and eventually just hanging out in the lobby until our room was ready. We now fly in later and make the day after our first park day.

We typically are up early, go to the parks until early afternoon, back to the hotel to rest then back to the parks for the evening.

If it were me, I would go with plan #1, take it easy that first day and then hit the ground running on Monday!

 

[MemoriesintheMaking]

Some random thoughts:
Right now, I would go with plan A. CHOC Walk Sunday can be very busy, since many Walk participants only have that one day to use their special discount tickets in the parks. The weather can be iffy, too -- last year, it was very humid (for Southern California) -- muggy, hot, yucky. I would have chosen the pool over the parks! Plan A will also allow for any travel glitches, like flight delays, luggage delays, etc. Given your arrival time, you might do a character brunch (Storytellers? Goofy's Kitchen? Donald's? -- none of these require park tickets) or brunch by the beach somewhere. If you want to do some shopping before checking in (in addition to groceries), you might enjoy Fashion Island in Newport Beach. This is a very nice outdoor mall -- shops, restaurants, and a grocery store -- one stop for you. DTD can be very busy on CHOC Walk Sunday morning -- it clears up by a bit after noon. The ticket booths will be very crowded because Walk participants have only that day to buy their special tickets. If there are things you need to do at the booths, see if you can do them at the GCH desk or try to do them at night when there are much shorter lines at the booths. Mondays have become busy days in the parks, so plan that morning well and use the early hours to your advantage.

That's a good point about possible travel delays, etc. And I really like the suggestion of a character brunch! The last time we brought my brother with us, we did Goofy's Kitchen with him, and that worked really well. He loved seeing the characters, and it was easier than waiting in separate lines for them in the parks. Maybe we will try out that new Mickey's Adventure brunch at Storytellers Cafe. Then, we can play the afternoon by ear to see what sounds good. Thanks!!!

I would go with plan #1 with a few changes. Since you're landing in Long Beach and will have a car I would spend the morning there or in one of the beach cities on the way to DLR. You could check out Long Beach Aquarium, the Queen Mary, or just relax on the beach at Huntington. "Spinning" your wheels somewhere other than on Disney property while you wait for the room to be ready may make it better. As a bonus you won't have to deal with the CHOC walk crowds that will be at DLR when you arrive.

Another vote for plan #1! Thank you I will keep those suggestions in mind, definitely. I had forgotten about the Long Beach Aquarium. My brother might like that, and if we don't wind up going on our first day, possibly it will work for our last day, since our flight doesn't leave until the evening.

I guess I like both plans! I know not much help.

If you go with #1, I would take Gaugersaurus' advice and go do something else on the way. It will be way more fun to do a non-Disney thing for the half-day. At Disneyland you get tons of time at Downtown Disney already. Pretty much all your evenings when you're done w the park, you can just walk outside your hotel and you're there, so it's not like you need to plan to spend a day there.

If you prefer #2, that's fine too. Then I'd do days 1-2-3 at the parks, take day 4 to do something else, then back for days 5-6. That something else day doesn't have to be Disney again, go enjoy something in LA or a beach town. This isn't like Florida where you're in the bubble... You're in a major city with dining, beaches and a million things around you. And you've got a car too. Breaking up the trip offsite will make you enjoy those last two onsite even more.

I wouldn't bother with delivery. You're driving in anyways and you'll pass hundreds of grocery stores on the way. There's everything you could want in a 10-min radius.

I know, right? Both plans have good points and bad points. Thank you for your input on both of them - I really appreciate it! And that was my initial thought about the grocery stores, as well. I really do prefer being at the store to pick out exactly what looks good in person.

Have you thought about on Sunday going to Knotts Berry Farm then possibly Medevil times for dinner? We always do this, it givesbus a fun days and dinner that helps get us excited for the next week at Disneyland. My husband and I are going the end of July just the two of us (last family trip two years ago, boys are adults now) and we decided to add knotts and medevil times so we don't miss a morning entry because ournplan lands at 8:30 in the morning and we are staying at GHC.

Hmm, I hadn't thought about those places...I will look into them. I haven't been to Knotts since I was a kid. Thank you! And have a great trip in July!!

You should come and ideas around in the Aug 2019 check in thread!

Here are my thoughts on your two plans.

We used to fly in as early as possible and head right to the parks. This was great in theory but we found that after getting up at stupid-o'clock (typically around 3:45am), we would all get really grouchy by mid-afternoon and want to go to the hotel and rest. Most times, however, our room was not ready so we were dragging a cranky kid and sometimes even crankier adults around and eventually just hanging out in the lobby until our room was ready. We now fly in later and make the day after our first park day.

We typically are up early, go to the parks until early afternoon, back to the hotel to rest then back to the parks for the evening.

If it were me, I would go with plan #1, take it easy that first day and then hit the ground running on Monday!

Thank you Yes, I agree about wanting to avoid everyone getting overly tired and grouchy on that travel day. An easier, more laidback day is probably the way to go.

I think plan #1 is the winner, with some adjustments on what we actually do that day. Thanks so much to everyone for all the input and help!!

 

[MemoriesintheMaking]

You should come and ideas around in the Aug 2019 check in thread!

And thanks - I will do that! It's so exciting to see a thread for August...it makes it seem that much closer!