Disney! Wheeee!

[LITT]

i love MMRR

agreed on face projections. they are very not good.

[LITT]

renting someones dvc points for the first time for our trip in december. will see how it goes

[DigitalGypsy66]

3 days in Disneyland, too much? Not enough? How do we breakdown the days in parks etc.? Is Park Hopper necessary? We never bothered with it at DW because the parks are so big, we just stay in one all day. Not sure how this works in the OG DL.

[nocera]

3 days in Disneyland, too much? Not enough? How do we breakdown the days in parks etc.? Is Park Hopper necessary? We never bothered with it at DW because the parks are so big, we just stay in one all day. Not sure how this works in the OG DL.

3 days is perfect. That’s what we did a few years ago and it was just the right amount of time. Park hopper is a must for us and in DLR, it’s so easy to hop over to the other park that it’s definitely worth it imo. It’s literally a 10 minute or less walk.

I’d plan on tackling one park each day (and hopping around as needed, usually one is open earlier or later than the other). Use the third day to hit anything you missed or re-do your favorites.

[tifosi77]

I mean, the gates are like 100 yards apart.

I would concur that you probably only need to spend money to Hop one of the three days, and devote full days to each park individually. Just keep on top of the closure list, because a lot of stuff is down in 2023. Haunted Mansion will be dark until at least the holidays; Tiana's isn't opening until late summer; the Monorail and Matterhorn are both undergoing refurbs and will be down periodically this year. They're getting a lot of house keeping down ahead of the major expansion that's in the works (and just passed a major government hurdle last week) in the open-air parking lots west of DCA, and also to have much of this stuff settled and sorted well before the 2028 Olympics.

[NAN]

3 days in Disneyland, too much? Not enough? How do we breakdown the days in parks etc.? Is Park Hopper necessary? We never bothered with it at DW because the parks are so big, we just stay in one all day. Not sure how this works in the OG DL.

3 days is just right. One park hopper is good

[shoeshine boy]

They're getting a lot of house keeping down ahead of the major expansion that's in the works (and just passed a major government hurdle last week) in the open-air parking lots west of DCA, and also to have much of this stuff settled and sorted well before the 2028 Olympics.

I was at DCA in 2019, right before they finished up the Star Wars addition and I remember DL and DCA being pretty crammed in to the urban landscape of Anaheim. how are they expanding? are they just reducing parking? I was stunned at how close residential areas are. there were full neighborhoods just a block or two away from the edge of DCA.

[nocera]

This site has a detailed explanation of the expansion and what to expect:
https://www.micechat.com/286075-disneyl ... expansion/

[LITT]

can you only chose to hop one day? i thought if you bought one for the duration of your trip you had to do all days

[nocera]

can you only chose to hop one day? i thought if you bought one for the duration of your trip you had to do all days

Yeah this is correct. Park hopper is a must-buy every time, especially in DLR. I suppose you could wait until the last day and then go to guest relations to upgrade just that ticket, but it'll be very similar in cost for 1 day vs 3. For 2 days, park hopper is an extra $65 (I don't think you can buy just one day). For 3 days, it's $70. Personally, you're already spending the money on getting there, on your resort, eating, souvenirs, etc. An extra $70 to get the most out of the parks is well worth the cost. Park hopping at Disneyland is fun as hell and one of the major selling points over WDW.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Yeah, we did a Costco travel thing where it (park hopper) was for all 3 days. Plus a Disney gift card and reduced rate at a partner hotel.

I just can't bring myself to stay on site. FFS, it's a hotel that we'll barely be in for $400+ per night. I thought, with our last family of four trip (!!!) we'd go all out, but just couldn't pull the trigger. So Residence Inn about $10 Uber ride from the main gate it is. The kids will have their own room for a fraction of the cost.

[tifosi77]

There was a public hearing about the expansion plans about two weeks ago, and the most vocal opposition was voiced by a handful of people who were worried about Disney's plan to buy the roadway that separates area 2 (the covered multi-level parking structures) from area 3 (the open-air parking for the hotels and Cast Members). According to Google Maps, the roadway that separates area 2 from area 3 is approximately 1,000' long. Fun fact: The neighborhood immediately north of area 1 is where Gwen Stefani grew up.

It's probably worth it to check out one of the travel sites that help plan these excursions (like Mouse Hacking or Getaway Today, or even the 'official' site at Plan Disney). Friends of mine just bought single-day Park Hopper tickets last month, so it might be the kind of thing where you purchase one Hopper and one 2-day single-entry as separate transactions (iirc you'll need separate reservations, anyway). I'm honestly not sure how it would be best to proceed there, from a money perspective, so take what I'm saying at face value.

[LITT]

Yeah, we did a Costco travel thing where it (park hopper) was for all 3 days. Plus a Disney gift card and reduced rate at a partner hotel.

I just can't bring myself to stay on site. FFS, it's a hotel that we'll barely be in for $400+ per night. I thought, with our last family of four trip (!!!) we'd go all out, but just couldn't pull the trigger. So Residence Inn about $10 Uber ride from the main gate it is. The kids will have their own room for a fraction of the cost.

we are looking to take an ad hoc trip in july (looking forward to being on satan's door step) and looking at costco and its actually a pretty nice savings when compared to booking thru disney directly

[DigitalGypsy66]

Yeah, the pricing was excellent. I think it was $400 cheaper or something compared to Disney directly, and then you get the Disney gift card on top of that.

[tifosi77]

Yeah, we did a Costco travel thing where it (park hopper) was for all 3 days. Plus a Disney gift card and reduced rate at a partner hotel.

I just can't bring myself to stay on site. FFS, it's a hotel that we'll barely be in for $400+ per night. I thought, with our last family of four trip (!!!) we'd go all out, but just couldn't pull the trigger. So Residence Inn about $10 Uber ride from the main gate it is. The kids will have their own room for a fraction of the cost.

The convenience of direct entry is pretty hard to beat. In addition to the real extra time you get by being granted 30 extra minutes of Park time before Rope Drop, the lack of shuttling also gives you an incremental increase in the amount of time you can spend in the park, plus the perk of not having to hump across the state if you want to go take a nap. (The perceived value of naps increases with the square of one's age)

[nocera]

Yeah, I get that it's a big expense but there is nothing like staying on-site and walking into the parks directly from your hotel. Grand Californian also has its own entrance for DCA, which was super nice and let you beat the rope drop rush. I won't ever stay off property at DLR and it would be difficult now to not stay at a monorail resort at WDW. The convenience of not having to get in your car, fight traffic, pay for parking, etc. is well worth the expense imo.

[LITT]

Yeah, I get that it's a big expense but there is nothing like staying on-site and walking into the parks directly from your hotel. Grand Californian also has its own entrance for DCA, which was super nice and let you beat the rope drop rush. I won't ever stay off property at DLR and it would be difficult now to not stay at a monorail resort at WDW. The convenience of not having to get in your car, fight traffic, pay for parking, etc. is well worth the expense imo.

we are trying to stay at a different resort every time we go for WDW. december 2024 will be the first time we've stayed at the same place twice (bay lake tower)

[NAN]

Yeah, I get that it's a big expense but there is nothing like staying on-site and walking into the parks directly from your hotel. Grand Californian also has its own entrance for DCA, which was super nice and let you beat the rope drop rush. I won't ever stay off property at DLR and it would be difficult now to not stay at a monorail resort at WDW. The convenience of not having to get in your car, fight traffic, pay for parking, etc. is well worth the expense imo.

we are trying to stay at a different resort every time we go for WDW. december 2024 will be the first time we've stayed at the same place twice (bay lake tower)

Ha, we do the same. Trying to hit up different resorts each trip. And this June will be the first time we double up.

[Stoosh]

Yeah, I get that it's a big expense but there is nothing like staying on-site and walking into the parks directly from your hotel. Grand Californian also has its own entrance for DCA, which was super nice and let you beat the rope drop rush. I won't ever stay off property at DLR and it would be difficult now to not stay at a monorail resort at WDW. The convenience of not having to get in your car, fight traffic, pay for parking, etc. is well worth the expense imo.

we are trying to stay at a different resort every time we go for WDW. december 2024 will be the first time we've stayed at the same place twice (bay lake tower)

LITT, a related question - how do you like Bay Lake Tower?

We just started looking into the possibility of getting into Disney Vacation Club. We had some discussions with DVC reps when we did our Wish cruise in December, and they're really pushing Riviera as a home resort. I like Riviera because of the Skyliner, but Bay Lake Tower is one of the other DVC properties that really caught my eye. Just curious to know what you think of it.

[LITT]

Yeah, I get that it's a big expense but there is nothing like staying on-site and walking into the parks directly from your hotel. Grand Californian also has its own entrance for DCA, which was super nice and let you beat the rope drop rush. I won't ever stay off property at DLR and it would be difficult now to not stay at a monorail resort at WDW. The convenience of not having to get in your car, fight traffic, pay for parking, etc. is well worth the expense imo.

we are trying to stay at a different resort every time we go for WDW. december 2024 will be the first time we've stayed at the same place twice (bay lake tower)

LITT, a related question - how do you like Bay Lake Tower?

We just started looking into the possibility of getting into Disney Vacation Club. We had some discussions with DVC reps when we did our Wish cruise in December, and they're really pushing Riviera as a home resort. I like Riviera because of the Skyliner, but Bay Lake Tower is one of the other DVC properties that really caught my eye. Just curious to know what you think of it.

i enjoy BLT. we haven't stayed at polynesian yet. i prefer it to wilderness. its a different vibe than grand floridian, obviously. the walk from BLT to MK is really really nice. less than ten minutes. very easy. much better compared to GF imo. comparing to the other deluxe resorts we've stayed (Boardwalk, Riviera, GF, BLT, AKL)

pros:
-price seems to be the best of the monorail resots
-walking to MK is great. one stop from TTC too for epcot.
-fine dining options pretty good with steakhouse 71 and california grill
-park view rooms give you a really nice view of the fireworks from the balcony
-rooms are big but feel like a traditional florida condo

cons:
-pool is OK
-theming is underwhelming
-non-fine dining options kind of stink (not a fan of contempo or chef mickeys)
-big convention center so the crowd is interesting

when we stayed at the riviera my kids were 2 and 4. i felt out of place. it seems like an adults-only resort. the rooms are small but beautiful. all of the dining is really good. i love being on the skyliner. riviera is out for us based on the age of our kids but if you have older kids, i think it's worth considering. especially because youll have easy access to epcot/boardwalk which seem ideal for older kids/disney adults.

[Joegap]

Just had a stay at Port Orleans French Quarter. That was awesome. So much better than the value resorts. Parks were not very crazy. We booked a 2 hour bass fishing trip. That was really cool and we caught some big fish

[nocera]

I love Port Orleans. I’ve only stayed at Riverside but I’ve explored the FQ plenty. It’s one of those resorts that you almost want to take a day just to chill and hang out there instead of going to a park.

[LITT]

You get those beignets or what