Spring Break Survival Thread

[jenok0426]

Hello

We are in too! Going 3/27 to 4/1. Staying at PPH on DVC points. Planning for lots of crowds. We are from the East coast so hopping we can stay on East Coast time and take advantage of early hours at the parks.

Not sure if they are still doing this but we went 3 years ago at Easter and they did have a huge Easter Egg hunt at the DLH. They had it separated by age groups and it was early Sunday morning.

Booked a few meals but we may change our mind between now and then.


Always looking for new ideas!

 

[Mackie Mouse]

I make all kinds of reservations and then wing it If we feel like it, we go. If not, we cancel. No penalties for cancelling so no reason not to make some. My family looks forward to certain places to eat as much as some rides.

Exactly - I'd rather have the reservation and decide on something else than be scrambling to figure something out. That said, I'm a planner. I love that with Disneyland I don't *have* to plan this way...whereas at WDW it's a necessity.

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Just curious... am I the only one who's "winging it"? We may make a reservation for a character breakfast but other than that, I'm not really planning any meals. I find it too stressful to worry about being at a certain place at a certain time. I would much rather just go with the flow and if we happen to be in DCA at dinner time, we'll hit the nearest restaurant and eat. It seems like most have every meal reserved and planned ahead. Am I the only one who doesn't?

We tend to plan, only because our first family trip to WDW with the kids we got totally caught off guard when we had free dining, but didn't make reservations and subsequently pretty much couldn't get into ANY sit down restaurants that trip. I wasn't used to the "dining chaos." Now, it's my norm since we go to WDW so much. Disneyland, however, seems like it's much more like a normal location where most customers are walkups. That said, I'm once bitten twice shy and we're also there during the heaviest spring break period, so I booked one meal a day for our 6 days, we'll wing it the rest. I'm guessing even that is probably overkill but I'll sleep better

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Welcome new folks! I just updated the first page

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

PS - going crazy waiting for the *($%#$ park hours. 6 weeks continues to seem really short compared to every other theme park on the planet. At least the weeks up to 3/18 don't look to be too crowded, as park hours are still listed at 9am vs. earlier.....

 

[SweetAlex]

PS - going crazy waiting for the *($%#$ park hours. 6 weeks continues to seem really short compared to every other theme park on the planet. At least the weeks up to 3/18 don't look to be too crowded, as park hours are still listed at 9am vs. earlier.....

I noticed that too this morning. The shorter hours are a downer in some ways but in others, it means they don't anticipate it to be too busy those days... yay! That's the week we'll be there.

I am hoping they will add another firework or fantasmic! show sometime that week so we don't have to do both on Sunday (that's a LONG day for little ones) but I think I may be out of luck.

 

[mommy2mrb]

PS - going crazy waiting for the *($%#$ park hours. 6 weeks continues to seem really short compared to every other theme park on the planet. At least the weeks up to 3/18 don't look to be too crowded, as park hours are still listed at 9am vs. earlier.....

yup think everyone does! wish they would release them 60 days out at least to correspond with people making their dining ressies...think we get spoiled from WDW doing 180 days out

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Hi all! What's everyone doing for ticket purchases? Do you generally wait to get there, or buy in advance? What is your current understanding of the "picture" situation for those of you getting multiple day tickets? Thanks!

 

[SweetAlex]

Hi all! What's everyone doing for ticket purchases? Do you generally wait to get there, or buy in advance? What is your current understanding of the "picture" situation for those of you getting multiple day tickets? Thanks!

I ordered ours online last Monday, complete with a couple of gift cards. Normally, they just email the passes to you immediately but since I had ordered gift cards too, they popped them in the same Fedex package. I got it TWO days later, in Canada! I was totally shocked. I was expecting it to take at least a week.

I'm not sure if they are cheaper online compared to the gate prices. I think I read somewhere that they were.

 

[Aurora06]

Hi everyone!
I am sooooo Happy & Excited that I discovered this website today! It was completely accidentaly but apparently this place has everything I am looking for! All tips and suggestions are right here, so thank you everyone!
Since I am a complete newbie, I hope you will not mind that I am posting for the first time here - not being sure if it is a right thread or not

We are about to book our trip to Disneyland tonight. Our dates are April 21- April 26, and we are planning to book Fairfiled Inn, since HoJo got all booked up for that time

This would be our first trip to DL so we are really excited!

We are taking our two kids - 7 year old and 2.5 year old. I am not sure about crowd at that time, but I hope it would not be as bad...

Please let me know what would be a good thread here to start with? In regards to hotel we are staying in and time of the year (weather, crowd etc.)
I am at my work right now, and can't get anything done since I discovered this place I am just reading, reading, reading... LOL

I am so jealous of all you guys that have been to those magical places so many times

I hope to have great time there!

 

[Mackie Mouse]

Hi all! What's everyone doing for ticket purchases? Do you generally wait to get there, or buy in advance? What is your current understanding of the "picture" situation for those of you getting multiple day tickets? Thanks!

I got ours a few months ago through my teachers' union at a nice discount I have them in hand already, since I decided to get traditional tickets rather than e-mailed ones.

Not sure what the "picture situation" is....anyone care to explain?

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Hi everyone!
I am sooooo Happy & Excited that I discovered this website today! It was completely accidentaly but apparently this place has everything I am looking for! All tips and suggestions are right here, so thank you everyone!
Since I am a complete newbie, I hope you will not mind that I am posting for the first time here - not being sure if it is a right thread or not

We are about to book our trip to Disneyland tonight. Our dates are April 21- April 26, and we are planning to book Fairfiled Inn, since HoJo got all booked up for that time

This would be our first trip to DL so we are really excited!

We are taking our two kids - 7 year old and 2.5 year old. I am not sure about crowd at that time, but I hope it would not be as bad...

Please let me know what would be a good thread here to start with? In regards to hotel we are staying in and time of the year (weather, crowd etc.)
I am at my work right now, and can't get anything done since I discovered this place I am just reading, reading, reading... LOL

I am so jealous of all you guys that have been to those magical places so many times

I hope to have great time there!

Welcome! I will add you to the first page listing when everone is visiting. I would suggest going to the top of the Disneyland page and looking at all the sticky threads - Hydroguy in particular has really informative threads on different DLR weather, shows, strategies, etc..

Try this link:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1072276

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Not sure what the "picture situation" is....anyone care to explain?

Well, from what I can read, if you have a multiple day ticket, they are now coming up to you in line and taking a picture, which by the time you hit the turnstyle (on the first time you use the ticket) is somehow linked to your ticket and the CM at the turnstyle verifies you are who owns the ticket. Can't get through the turnstyle with a multi-day without a pic. They started doing this in January, the threads we read were sounding like a mess from a line perspective. Was wondering if they were starting to offer the option of taking the photos early at Guest Services or the resorts to shorten the delays.....

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Happy Monday everyone! We got several inches of snow here in the Charlotte area on Saturday - I think I can count fewer than 10 times total we've had that since I moved down here in 1998 from Chicago. Kids had a blast, but it's left me yearning for some California sunshine!!

Park hours are just starting to roll out for our trip, nothing surprising that I've seen, but it's making it start to feel real!

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Can't believe we're less than 5 weeks away! Now I've got to get busy on tickets/rental car. How is everyone else doing? Congrats to those of you leaving really soon!

 

[mommy2mrb]

Can't believe we're less than 5 weeks away! Now I've got to get busy on tickets/rental car. How is everyone else doing? Congrats to those of you leaving really soon!

5 more sleeps until my DD Dance trip.... just last minute packing to do for this trip!
I emailed my TA this morning to make our 30 window(which is this weekend) ressies for our tours and F! Dessert Party...much easier for me since we will be in DLR ...so everything is on schedule! our park hours are all posted and found out a friend we haven't seen since 2007 might be able to come in on our Saturday to see us

 

[Chereya]

Hi everyone! Just noticed this thread! We'll be there from Apr 14-19 staying at VGC. Hoping we'll miss the bulk of the Spring Break crowds and also anxiously awaiting the release of the calendar hours for our trip!

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

5 more sleeps until my DD Dance trip.... just last minute packing to do for this trip!
I emailed my TA this morning to make our 30 window(which is this weekend) ressies for our tours and F! Dessert Party...much easier for me since we will be in DLR ...so everything is on schedule! our park hours are all posted and found out a friend we haven't seen since 2007 might be able to come in on our Saturday to see us

Very exciting!! I'm sure it will be great to have that 30 day ressie set complete!

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Hi everyone! Just noticed this thread! We'll be there from Apr 14-19 staying at VGC. Hoping we'll miss the bulk of the Spring Break crowds and also anxiously awaiting the release of the calendar hours for our trip!

Welcome! I'll get you added to the first page. We are taking our first trip to VGC 3/31-4/5, can't wait! I agree, I think you are going to miss the bulk of the Spring Breakers, and I am very jealous!

 

[Mackie Mouse]

Successfully booked the Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour today...and that was the last bit of planning for our whole trip! Less than four weeks to go!

FYI - we were not able to book 30 days out! This is in spite of the fact that immediately before trying to book this weekend, a CM confirmed over the phone with me that I should be able to book 30 days out rather than 1 calendar month out. I guess since Feb. is a short month things were wonky with the computer system. Not to worry, because a traveling companion called for all of us bright and early this morning. We are ready to go!