Spring Break Survival Thread

[MommyMissy]

Late to the party, but we will be there from April 21-23. Not sure yet where we are staying. We had planned on the GC but decided it wasn't worth the extra cost. Now we are debating between Desert Inn & Suites or the Sheraton Park. If you have any experience at either of these, I would love to hear about it. Our group consists of myself, DH, our 4 kids (6yrs, 4yrs, 2yrs, and 2 months) and my sister. I am really trying to plan this trip but not knowing the hours is making it so difficult. I can't wait to hear about everyone's trip!

 

[Chereya]

Late to the party, but we will be there from April 21-23. Not sure yet where we are staying. We had planned on the GC but decided it wasn't worth the extra cost. Now we are debating between Desert Inn & Suites or the Sheraton Park. If you have any experience at either of these, I would love to hear about it. Our group consists of myself, DH, our 4 kids (6yrs, 4yrs, 2yrs, and 2 months) and my sister. I am really trying to plan this trip but not knowing the hours is making it so difficult. I can't wait to hear about everyone's trip!

I've stayed at the Desert Inn & Suites with a total of 7 in the room. 4 adults - me, DH, my bro and my mom + my three kids who were 2, 5, and 7 at the time. We had the suite which was 2 sleeping rooms with 2 queen beds in each, a sofa and coffee table in the entrance room, a small table with 2 chairs in the other room. DH and I and 2 kids slept in the inner room. My mom alternated 1 kid sleeping with her in her queen bed and my brother had a queen bed in the outer room. I think I picked this room type so that my mom & I could get the kids breakfast in the outer room with the coffee table while DH caught a few extra Zzzs. My brother had no choice but to try to catch his extra Zzzs with a lot of noisy kid chatter. The drawback to this room type is that it only has one shower but we had two toilets and two sink areas, one in each room.

I Love the location. It is so close to the crosswalk heading into the DL espalande. We had stayed at HoJo on our previous trip and it felt way too far at the end of the day and at a slight incline going back also. The property is very basic and bare bones. A little on the dingy side but all 7 of us stayed for $110 per night so we understood that the trade off of expected quality for the price. We had no trouble with the room. It was clean enough. We did not see any red flags in the room. Towels were clean and plentiful. They have an indoor pool but we did not swim in it. You can strongly smell the chlorine from outside. I imagine it's overwhelming once you're inside the enclosed room. BUT, at least you know the germs are getting killed!

Our next trip we rented points to stay at VGC in a 2 bedroom villa with 8 people. This time with my DH's family and they are not the type to slum it in a motel. My immediate family (me, DH and 3 kids) is going to be staying overnight at Desert Inn the night before we check into VGC bright and early to take advantage of our on site guest EE privilege.

 

[rentayenta]

Pls add me to the Spring Break survival thread. We'll be at the parks for two days, not sure which 2, between April 2-5. This is very last minute and we'll be staying with my best friend.

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Welcome everyone! I'll get you added to the first page.

Kinda bummed, I just got a call from Disney Dining saying Big Thunder Ranch is going to be closed 4/1-4/3, which really suprises me given it's a busy week. Not sure what we're going to replace it with yet, and there's no other day it's going to work out for us outside of that window.

Was wondering, too, if anyone else noticed that there are no fireworks or parades listed for the whole April at Disneyland at this point, yet the schedule is up to date of CA? Again, confused. How hard is it really to get your schedule right 5 weeks in advance??

Ok, done being cranky, sorry.

 

[mommy2mrb]

Welcome everyone! I'll get you added to the first page.

Kinda bummed, I just got a call from Disney Dining saying Big Thunder Ranch is going to be closed 4/1-4/3, which really suprises me given it's a busy week. Not sure what we're going to replace it with yet, and there's no other day it's going to work out for us outside of that window.

Was wondering, too, if anyone else noticed that there are no fireworks or parades listed for the whole April at Disneyland at this point, yet the schedule is up to date of CA? Again, confused. How hard is it really to get your schedule right 5 weeks in advance??

Ok, done being cranky, sorry.

too bad about it being closed....have you eaten at Carnation Cafe? its pretty yummy!

they are really bad about getting the shows put up with the hours...I'm sure they will be running since its Spring Break...will probably start posting them in the next couple of days

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3070856&page=2

We may all want to check this out, may change some of our touring plans....

 

[MommyMissy]

I've stayed at the Desert Inn & Suites with a total of 7 in the room. 4 adults - me, DH, my bro and my mom + my three kids who were 2, 5, and 7 at the time. We had the suite which was 2 sleeping rooms with 2 queen beds in each, a sofa and coffee table in the entrance room, a small table with 2 chairs in the other room. DH and I and 2 kids slept in the inner room. My mom alternated 1 kid sleeping with her in her queen bed and my brother had a queen bed in the outer room. I think I picked this room type so that my mom & I could get the kids breakfast in the outer room with the coffee table while DH caught a few extra Zzzs. My brother had no choice but to try to catch his extra Zzzs with a lot of noisy kid chatter. The drawback to this room type is that it only has one shower but we had two toilets and two sink areas, one in each room.

I Love the location. It is so close to the crosswalk heading into the DL espalande. We had stayed at HoJo on our previous trip and it felt way too far at the end of the day and at a slight incline going back also. The property is very basic and bare bones. A little on the dingy side but all 7 of us stayed for $110 per night so we understood that the trade off of expected quality for the price. We had no trouble with the room. It was clean enough. We did not see any red flags in the room. Towels were clean and plentiful. They have an indoor pool but we did not swim in it. You can strongly smell the chlorine from outside. I imagine it's overwhelming once you're inside the enclosed room. BUT, at least you know the germs are getting killed!

Our next trip we rented points to stay at VGC in a 2 bedroom villa with 8 people. This time with my DH's family and they are not the type to slum it in a motel. My immediate family (me, DH and 3 kids) is going to be staying overnight at Desert Inn the night before we check into VGC bright and early to take advantage of our on site guest EE privilege.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience! It definitely helps!

 

[mommy2mrb]

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3070856&page=2

We may all want to check this out, may change some of our touring plans....

thanks for sharing!

 

[mom-2greatkids]

Add us to the list

We're taking our first trip to DL on 3/26 - 3/30. We're WDW vets and can't wait to try out DL for a change.

 

[PixiDustDears]

We will be there March 25-30. The 29th is dd 7th birthday. She just decided that she wanted to have breakfast at Ariel's Gratto and I was able to make resies for the 9:30am breakfast. I was a bit surprised what with it being the Friday before Easter. We don't have a hotel yet (hoping for tax money)but it's not to big of a deal to us. We're a very go with the flow family. lol

 

[awdsmama]

You all are going to have soooo much fun!

We went at SB last year (granted it wasn't also Easter) and found that as long as we were to the park at opening (and our one MM) that the crowds didn't get bad until close to 11am. I guess people want to sleep in on vacation? Haha.

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Welcome newcomers, I'll get the first page updated!

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

You all are going to have soooo much fun!

We went at SB last year (granted it wasn't also Easter) and found that as long as we were to the park at opening (and our one MM) that the crowds didn't get bad until close to 11am. I guess people want to sleep in on vacation? Haha.

I am so hoping you are right, I think we're gonna stay on East Coast time so we don't mind getting there early in the am (EMH is 7am, so getting there every day at 6:30, ugh). Thanks for the perspective!

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

Hey aussiechic, you are almost there!!

 

[mommy2mrb]

2 more days for us for this weekend....one month and 1 day until DD 13th bday blow out

 

[aroundtheriverbend]

2 more days for us for this weekend....one month and 1 day until DD 13th bday blow out

Woo hoo! Can't wait to hear how your first trip goes!

 

[mommy2mrb]

Woo hoo! Can't wait to hear how your first trip goes!

I will be adding it to my PTR/TR - link in my siggie!

 

[StarGirl11]

Will be there for my first spring break trip from the 25th to the 30th. Probably at the Mariott by the convention center.

 

[sophies*mom]

Our trips are getting closer now that February is behind us!

 

[nickymaria]

We're going too! Our first DL trip ever! We fly in to San Diego on 3/27 and spend a few days there, then a few nights in Laguna then Anaheim from April 2-7! We really, really wanted to stay at the DLH but I just could not rationalize the price without a discount, so we're staying at the Residence Inn Maingate with points. I am a WDW vet as well but I am combing the boards (and my unofficial guide) for tips!