The Ultimate Pre-trip Report: WDW, DL, DCL, and DLP!! update 8/8/15

[librarygeek]

Okay, so all of the above isn't happening in one trip - but they are all hopefully happening within about one year, so I figured why not start a PTR for all of my upcoming trips? That's right, we're planning to visit Walt Disney World, Disneyland, go on a Disney Cruise, and visit Disneyland Paris! Could the next year be any more exciting?

As of right now everything is booked except Paris. I have two WDW trips (one before the cruise), and one of them will be with friends. All the others will be with DH. Here are the plans:

April 22-27, 2015: Walt Disney World with friends, staying at Pop Century
August 31-September 7, 2015: Disneyland, staying at the Howard Johnson, running the DL half marathon
February 19-22, 2016: WDW for Princess weekend before cruise, not sure on hotel yet
February 22-26, 2016: Cruise from Port Canaveral on the Disney Dream
Late September 2016: Disneyland Paris for the first DLP half marathon

As you can probably tell, I'm a runner and I love doing Disney races! I completed the Princess half marathon this past February (my first half), so in September I'll be getting the coast to coast medal once that's done. And we're hoping to do lots of other stuff while we're in California as well.

The only trip that is still somewhat tentative is Paris. A lot is going to depend on how finances work out, but we are really saving our pennies to try and make this amazing year happen. I'm working extra hours, doing online surveys, whatever I can to try and save up!

And by the way, now that you know a little bit about my trips, here's a little about me and DH:



My name is Becky, I'm 27 years old, and I work as a children's librarian. I love books, theater, running, and traveling. I also have a Disney blog called Disney in your Day, and blogging is one of my favorite passions and hobbies. My favorite Disney movie is Beauty and the Beast, my favorite rides at WDW are Splash Mountain, Expedition Everest, and the safari, and my favorite characters are Belle and Tiana. Want to know anything else about me, just ask!

DH is 25 and works as a software developer. He loves techie stuff and is into video games - playing them and designing them. He also does theater and we sometimes perform in shows together. His favorite Disney movies are Aladdin and Monsters Inc., his favorite ride is Tower of Terror, and I don't know who his favorite character is, probably because if you asked him he wouldn't be able to decide!

I hope you're excited to follow along on my exciting adventures!

 

[librarygeek]

I'm eager to start planning for Disneyland, but while we have the basics down I've convinced myself to focus on WDW first! So here's some info about my April trip coming up next week:

Travelers: Myself and a friend who has never been to the World before! Full disclosure - I am very happily married, and the friend I'm traveling with does happen to be a male. Luckily DH has no issues with this. We're all very good friends, and DH could come along if he could but he just started a new job and didn't have the vacation days (with all our other travels coming up!). My friend, whom I'll refer to as Sulley, is 31 and this will be his first time there. He only recently became a fan of roller coasters thanks to myself and DH. He enjoys Disney movies and his favorite is Aladdin. He is probably most excited about doing a water park, which honestly is my least favorite lol. And he doesn't eat seafood which makes me sad because it's my favorite! I was interested in trying the new Boathouse restaurant (instead of Beaches and Cream) but I don't think it would be worth it with him so I'll probably just wait til I'm back with DH.

Resort: Pop Century. This will be my second time staying here - we were just at Pop in February in the 60's building. We really enjoyed it!

Schedule:
4/22 - arrive, head to the Poly to check out Trader Sam's
4/23 - Hollywood Studios day
4/24 - Epcot day
4/25 - Magic Kingdom day
4/26 - water park (haven't decided which one yet but I'm leaning towards Typhoon Lagoon), and dinner at Beaches and Cream so maybe spend some time on the Boardwalk or go to DTD
4/27 - Animal Kingdom day, leave with a late night flight

Dining plans:
Captain Cooks/Trader Sam's
50's Prime Time
Biergarten (and Flower/Garden booths!)
Be Our Guest
Beaches and Cream
Sanaa

What do you think? I tried to get Sulley to give some input, particularly with his food preferences, but I didn't want to overwhelm him with choices either. Do you think this is a good plan for a newbie? Any suggestions on a WDW vet bringing a first timer into the parks?

 

[librarygeek]

Just got back from my April trip! I would like to try and start a TR for that soon - I'm still in the middle of my TR for February, but I don't want to forget too many details so I'll probably have them both going at the same time. It was great - the highlights were definitely Trader Sam's, Flower and Garden festival, and Be Our Guest!

And now I'm only 124 days of Disneyland, so I'm excited (and a little nervous!) to dive into planning for that!

 

[sailored]

Following along!

 

[librarygeek]

Following along!

Thanks for joining in! I'm excited to have a follower, haha. I see you have a PTR too so I'm gonna go check it out!

 

[librarygeek]

Disneyland Plans!

So my next trip is... Disneyland! I have some of it figured out, but some is still up in the air. Here is what I'm thinking so far:

Monday, August 31st: Arrival day. We arrive at LAX at 4:15. Still have to research the best way to get from the airport to the hotel. We'll check in at Howard Johnson. Probably head to DTD for dinner and perhaps a trip to Trader Sam's. Then off to bed since I imagine we'll be pretty tired from traveling and the time difference!

Tuesday, September 1st: Disneyland day! Thinking Cafe Orleans for dinner, though we've been debating between that and Blue Bayou.

Wednesday, September 2nd: Focus on California Adventure (though we'll have park hoppers so we can always park hop if we want). Thinking dinner or possibly lunch at Carthay Circle.

Thursday, September 3rd: This is our 4th wedding anniversary We're planning to just hop around the parks and do whatever we feel like. Also we'll be stopping by the DL half marathon expo to pick up my race stuff! Then we would like to dinner at Napa Rose - strongly considering the chef's table!

Friday, September 4th: Photographer friends of ours are going to be around this day and we're going into the parks to do an anniversary photo shoot. That will either be in the morning or the late afternoon. The rest of the day we talked about doing a half day bus trip of LA just to see those tourist-y sights. If we're back in the DL area we're thinking dinner at Tortilla Jo's, but we might just wing it.

Saturday, September 5th: Don't know what we're doing this day. We had talked about going to San Diego but we don't want to rent a car so I'd have to look into other options. Not sure what else - relaxing? (I'm bad at that). Knott's Berry Farm? A Walk in Walt's Footsteps? Or maybe if we did the photo shoot in the morning on Friday we'd have time to get to San Diego for the afternoon/evening, and we could do the LA tour on Saturday? No matter what, dinner will be at Naples because I will need carbs for the race the next morning! Gotta get to bed early this night.

Sunday, September 6th: Run the DL half marathon! Since it starts so early I'll be taking a nap afterward, and then we'll probably go into the parks in the afternoon one more time before we have to leave. We have a red eye flight this evening, leaving LAX at 11:40 PM.

I'm thinking I'd also like to try and add a character breakfast in there somewhere (maybe at Storyteller's?) But I'm also concerned I'm trying to do too much. Any DL people have some advice?

 

[pmama]

Crazy!

 

[librarygeek]

Crazy!

Haha it certainly feels that way to me sometimes!

 

[librarygeek]

So I decided to narrow down our Friday and Saturday plans. This is how I plan:



I made a list of all the options we were considering, and then both DH and myself ranked the order that we most wanted to do them. So I guess we've narrowed down the choices a little bit. We definitely want to do a studio tour and see some of Hollywood, and I think we'll give in and rent a car for the day. Here are our options:

Option 1:
Friday: Photoshoot in the morning, A Walk in Walt's Footsteps in the afternoon (if the tour isn't offered in the afternoon we'd just switch the photoshoot and tour)
Saturday: See the tourist sights around Hollywood and do the studio tour

Option 2:
Friday: Photoshoot in the morning, Knott's Berry Farm in the afternoon
Saturday: See the tourist sights around Hollywood and do the studio tour

Option 3:
Friday: Photoshoot in the morning, Hollywood sights/studio tour in the afternoon
Saturday: Knott's Berry Farm

So basically, the choice comes down to whether or not we want to do A Walk in Walt's Footsteps or visit Knott's Berry Farm. I love Disney and would love to do the tour, but it's expensive. We also love amusement parks and roller coasters and have heard good things about Knott's. But a lot of our vacation will already be in a theme park, and DH is concerned about being a little let down by Knott's after spending time in Disney. And if we choose Knott's, we have to decide if we want to do a full day there or a half day.

 

[librarygeek]

Update: DH decided that he wants to do Knott's Berry Farm. That's fine with me because it will save us a little money, and we're already spending quite a bit on this trip. So the question is do we need a whole day in Knott's, or would we be good just heading over there around noon or 1 o'clock and staying until they close? (likely around 8pm for their online calendar)

 

[sailored]

Hello! Knotts wasn't an all day park for my husband and I, we actually weren't fans of it when we went. But, people do like it! We are just theme park snobs sometimes lol. Have you maybe considered Universal Studios? They take you on a tour of the movie backlots and we always have a blast when we go. If you have any questions about SoCal, let me know!

 

[librarygeek]

Hello! Knotts wasn't an all day park for my husband and I, we actually weren't fans of it when we went. But, people do like it! We are just theme park snobs sometimes lol. Have you maybe considered Universal Studios? They take you on a tour of the movie backlots and we always have a blast when we go. If you have any questions about SoCal, let me know!

Thanks so much! That is good to know. We've been to a number of other Cedar Fair owned parks and enjoyed them, but they aren't usually a full day park so that's good to know that you didn't think Knott's is either. We love roller coasters so that's why we were looking at Knotts. I thought about Universal but I'd heard that a lot of the rides are similar to the one in Orlando.... but maybe I'll do a little more research!

 

[librarygeek]

So I think I've decided which day we'll do Knott's. We are planning to take the ART and the line to Knott's doesn't run from 12:00 to 4:00. Since that's around when we'd want to head over, we'll do it Saturday and stay from maybe 10-4, then head back to DTD to get dinner at Naples so I can carb up before the race!

That means that after our photoshoot we'll rent a car and drive into LA to see some of the sights. I know there's a car rental place in DTD so I'll have to look into that...

 

[NinePoundLemon]

I'm joining in! I've never been to Disneyland, so I don't think I'll be able to offer any advice, but I'm excited to hear all about your plans! They sound exciting so far. In the last year or so I've been becoming more and more interested in Disneyland, so I'm definitely looking forward to reading about your plans and eventually reading about the trip when you get back! Same with the cruise and Disneyland Paris.....I've been to WDW a million times, but I've never branched out. I like your ranking system for yourself and your DH....I've done that with restaurants when planning a WDW trip, but I have to make my husband go first, or else he'll just say the same things as me, lol.

 

[elphie101]

I usually don't follow PTRs, but I can make an exception for you! It's exciting to see your DL plans shape up!

Do you still have your WDW AP? If you decide to rent a car, you get an AP discount on Alamo, and they have a location right in DTD by the Disneyland Hotel. Also, we found CMs all over DL still gave us an AP discount on merchandise even though DH had a FL AP and not a CA AP. Can't hurt to ask!

We just did the walk of fame and it was a letdown for us, personally. We were yelled at a lot by guides trying to sell tours of celebrity homes, and the weather was so foggy we couldn't see the Hollywood sign. We did have lunch and the Disney soda fountain shop, which was delicious! We'll probably go back again someday when we can afford the ABD tour (I want to do that one soooooooo badly!)

 

[MrsDrewsky]

Following along. I am really interested to read your possible DLP plans. We will be in Wales for a few weeks next year and I think it may be too close not to try to plan a few nights to see DLP.

 

[librarygeek]

I'm joining in! I've never been to Disneyland, so I don't think I'll be able to offer any advice, but I'm excited to hear all about your plans! They sound exciting so far. In the last year or so I've been becoming more and more interested in Disneyland, so I'm definitely looking forward to reading about your plans and eventually reading about the trip when you get back! Same with the cruise and Disneyland Paris.....I've been to WDW a million times, but I've never branched out. I like your ranking system for yourself and your DH....I've done that with restaurants when planning a WDW trip, but I have to make my husband go first, or else he'll just say the same things as me, lol.

Yay, more followers!! That's pretty much where I am now - I've done WDW so many times, and while of course I love it I'm excited to try new things! I also started working as a travel agent specializing in Disney, so I figure the more I can experience the better. It's research, right?

And lol I made my husband go first for the same reasons! He takes my opinion into way too much consideration sometimes, just wanting to please me - but I want to know what he wants to do too!

I usually don't follow PTRs, but I can make an exception for you! It's exciting to see your DL plans shape up!

Do you still have your WDW AP? If you decide to rent a car, you get an AP discount on Alamo, and they have a location right in DTD by the Disneyland Hotel. Also, we found CMs all over DL still gave us an AP discount on merchandise even though DH had a FL AP and not a CA AP. Can't hurt to ask!

We just did the walk of fame and it was a letdown for us, personally. We were yelled at a lot by guides trying to sell tours of celebrity homes, and the weather was so foggy we couldn't see the Hollywood sign. We did have lunch and the Disney soda fountain shop, which was delicious! We'll probably go back again someday when we can afford the ABD tour (I want to do that one soooooooo badly!)

Yay, I'm glad you're here! That's good to know about the AP discounts. My AP is good until October so it will still be active. I never imagined there might be benefits in CA to having a WDW pass!

Yeah, I've heard downtown LA isn't the best but I feel like we have to see it lol. That's why we're planning on some other things too. We want to do a studios tour at Warner Brothers studios, and maybe go to dinner at the Tam O'Shanter! And I would loooove to do that ABD, maybe if I win the lottery lol

Following along. I am really interested to read your possible DLP plans. We will be in Wales for a few weeks next year and I think it may be too close not to try to plan a few nights to see DLP.

Hello there! I'm really excited to start researching DLP. I bought a guidebook on Amazon and while it's not the best at least it's something. Traveling around Europe isn't too difficult so you should definitely look into getting over to DLP!

 

[librarygeek]

Disneyland Dining Options!

Okay, so I know that at Disneyland you don't really have to make reservations super far in advance, but it can't hurt to if we know what we want, right? my 60 day mark is sometime this week so I've got my food planned out for the most part. We are being a little more flexible than we would at WDW since I know some things are walk-ups and we are open to trying some of the quick service stuff too. Here's what I've got:

August 31st (arrival day): Head into DTD and go to Trader Sam's for dinner and drinks
September 1st (DL): CS lunch (considering Hungry Bear, Golden Horseshoe, and Jolly Holiday bakery as top choices)
Dinner at Cafe Orleans
September 2nd (CA): World of Color lunch package at Carthay Circle
CS dinner (considering Pacific Wharf, Paradise Garden Grill, Flo's V8)
Would also love to try to get to the Cove Bar at some point (not necessarily on this day)
September 3rd (park hopping): Considering a character breakfast this day. Storyteller's or Goofy's Kitchen?
Lunch at one of the CS places we haven't tried yet
Dinner at the Chef's Table at Napa Rose (it's our wedding anniversary this day!)
September 4th (photo shoot and LA sights): Thinking we'll try to get to an In n Out Burger for lunch just so we can try it. Hoping to do dinner at the Tam O'Shanter!
September 5th (Knott's Berry Farm): grab lunch somewhere in the park. Come back to the Disney area late afternoon and have dinner at Naples.
September 6th (DL half marathon): Just gonna wing it this day, as I'm not sure where we'll be or what we'll decide to do!

The things I need to make reservations for are Cafe Orleans, Carthay Circle (WoC), character breakfast, Napa Rose, and Naples. Also going to try and make a reservation at Tam O'Shanter.

If you've been to DL I would love some feedback. Do you have a character breakfast you prefer? And what are your favorite CS locations?

 

[librarygeek]

February 2016 updates!

So even though Disneyland in September is the next trip, I've got some exciting updates for the February 2016 to WDW/DCL!

Race registration!
Advanced registration for the races opened today for AP holders, and I was able to get in and register for the Glass Slipper Challenge! That means I'll be running the 10k on Saturday morning and the half marathon on Sunday morning.

Flights!
And! Southwest's flights opened for booking through March 2016 today. So I figured I might as well get my flights now! It used to be that it's cheaper to wait until you're closer, but I'm finding more and more that the cheapest prices are as soon as they go on sale. Plus with Southwest if a cheaper price comes up you can easily get the new price if you make adjustments to your booking without any extra fees! So I booked our flights as follows:

Thursday, February 18th: Leave Philly at 5:20 pm, arrive at MCO 7:55 pm.
Friday, February 26th: Leave MCO at 2:25, arrive in Philly at 4:55. I was able to book this trip with my rapids rewards points so I saved a good amount of money. Yay!

Resort!
I figured while I'm at it, I might as well book our resort for the time we're at WDW. With the cruise and all the trips coming up we're trying to keep costs low, so I booked us for 4 nights (Thursday-Monday) at All-Star Movies. It will be a new one for us!

Glad that so many of the details for this trip are figured out now! Next up is to think about dining for February, as well as what we'll actually do with the time I'm not running. My AP will be expired by then and I'm not sure we want to spend the money on park tickets when we won't really have full days there with the races and all. So we'll be looking into some other options.

 

[librarygeek]

Disneyland Dining Reservations Made!

All of my dining reservations are booked! We've got:
Tuesday, Sept 1st: Cafe Orleans: 5:30
Wednesday, Sept 2nd: WoC Carthay Circle, 12:00
Thursday, Sept 3rd: Plaza Inn character breakfast, 9:10am ; chef's table at Napa Rose, 5:30pm
Saturday, Sept. 5th: Naples, 7:00