Stinkerbelle
05-04-2003, 08:00 PM
Hi all,
I said I would be having lots of DL questions should we decide to go there vs. WDW so here they come. We still have not decided if it will be DL or WDW but I need to get some kind of background info and some opinions & hopefully you pros can help.
There will be 2 of us going on this trip. I will fly from New Orleans and my friend will fly in from St. Louis. We are both female & total Disney freaks. Between us there have been 15 trips to WDW (3x together) and I have been to DL 3X. She has never been to DL. We really had to put a "spin" on DL being so very entirely different from WDW to get her hubby (a non-Disney person) to agree that she should go less than 1 year since we went to WDW together. Now that he has agreed I am having 2nd thoughts and am thinking WDw would be a better option. Help me choose.
These are the deciding factors:
Airfare: It will be free for her to fly to Disneyland. (Her FIL is a pilot and she can fly on a pass from his airline which doesn't fly into Orlando.) The con is that everything I have seen airfare wise is 2 - 3x more expensive for me to fly to DL than what I pay to fly to WDW.
Tickets: The promotion they are running at DL is for the price of a 3 day hopper you get 2 free days making it a 5 day hopper - the cost is $119. The cost of a 5 day hopper at WDW is $231.11. This should be a no-brainer since its over $100 cheaper. However, since I am planning on going to WDW in December it seems it would be more economical for me to get a WDW annual pass which could cover both of these trips plus 1 or 2 addtional trips in 2004.
Hotels: If we go to DL and stay at a "good neighbor" hotel the rates are ALOT cheaper than Disney hotels plus they are offering 4 nights for the price of three. Unfortunately, if I go to DL I don't want to stay at a good neighbor hotel. I always stay at All Stars at WDW which I don't mind & find quite accomodating but for what may be my only trip to DL simply for the sake of going to DL I really, really want to stay at the Disneyland Hotel which makes rooms savings at good neighbor hotels a moot point. Also to be considered is that if we went to WDW instead of DL I would be able to get an AP rate since I would be buying an AP and the cost of rooms would balance out pretty much with the prices on the West Coast option.
When to go: We do not even know for sure if my friend can go at all until the end of May. If she cannot go, I will go to WDW at the end of September making this a solo trip. If she can go and we decide DL is the right choice I also still want to go in late September. She wants to go earlier than that, perhaps sometimes in August. Now, the 5 day hopper deal and 4 nights for the price of 3 deals are blocked out until August 24. I wouldn't be able to go until the 28th which will put us there a.) over Labor Day weekend and b.) on my birthday. While I can think of a lot worse places to be on my birthday I generally like to spend it at home with my friends. Of course a Fantasmic dessert buffet would be a pretty rockin' birthday celebration. I am just concerned with how crowed it will be over a holiday weekend. Also, with west coast schools starting so much later how crowed will it be even when its not the weekend? I know all the perks of the parks being open later, fireworks & parades & such due to larger crowds and all, but have gotten quite spoiled by the non-crowds at WDW in September. I am quite happy to leave the Florida parks at 6:00 if I didn't have to wait forever in a cramped queue for Splash Mountain. This also brings up will the airfare increase with the holiday?
Attractions: I am having some major attractions issues with DL. As in, Space Mountain is down until 2005. Should we decide to skip the Labor Day Weekend crowds and push the trip back Indiana Jones will be closed for re-hab starting September 2 which means even if we push it back by less than 1 week we will miss Indy which is probably the best attraction at DL. I just don't think you should miss Indy on your first trip to DL. With Space and Indy down at the same time would it be worth the trip because on the other coast they will have had the much anticipated Mission Space up and running and that's really, REALLY[i] tempting me. Would it be better to see the new Mission Space now and "save" DL for 2005 when the castle is glittery gold for the 50th anniversary and the "new" Space Mountain is open?
Is there enough to do at DL for 5 days?: As I've said, I've been to DL 3X and did the whole park in a day each time. Bear in mind I am a total commando but I have done it in a day. I haven't been to DCA & I am somewhat curious about it but between these 2 parks is there really 5 days worth of entertainment value? We are Disney dark ride freaks and could probably spent 2 whole days in Fantasy Land alone. We are not the type to go back to the room and rest. I am just afraid that there will not be enough to fill 5 days. Am I being silly? The majority vote on the last thread was that a rental car would not be needed but I am now thinking maybe 1 day offsite at Universal or Knotts may be needed to fill up the time so maybe a 1 day rental would be in order. What is your collective take on this?
My final question is what's the deal with collecting more than 1 fast pass at a time. How many can you get at once? Are all the FP attractions included? Please, any info you have on this is welcome.
Thanks for all your help!
-ram
I said I would be having lots of DL questions should we decide to go there vs. WDW so here they come. We still have not decided if it will be DL or WDW but I need to get some kind of background info and some opinions & hopefully you pros can help.
There will be 2 of us going on this trip. I will fly from New Orleans and my friend will fly in from St. Louis. We are both female & total Disney freaks. Between us there have been 15 trips to WDW (3x together) and I have been to DL 3X. She has never been to DL. We really had to put a "spin" on DL being so very entirely different from WDW to get her hubby (a non-Disney person) to agree that she should go less than 1 year since we went to WDW together. Now that he has agreed I am having 2nd thoughts and am thinking WDw would be a better option. Help me choose.
These are the deciding factors:
Airfare: It will be free for her to fly to Disneyland. (Her FIL is a pilot and she can fly on a pass from his airline which doesn't fly into Orlando.) The con is that everything I have seen airfare wise is 2 - 3x more expensive for me to fly to DL than what I pay to fly to WDW.
Tickets: The promotion they are running at DL is for the price of a 3 day hopper you get 2 free days making it a 5 day hopper - the cost is $119. The cost of a 5 day hopper at WDW is $231.11. This should be a no-brainer since its over $100 cheaper. However, since I am planning on going to WDW in December it seems it would be more economical for me to get a WDW annual pass which could cover both of these trips plus 1 or 2 addtional trips in 2004.
Hotels: If we go to DL and stay at a "good neighbor" hotel the rates are ALOT cheaper than Disney hotels plus they are offering 4 nights for the price of three. Unfortunately, if I go to DL I don't want to stay at a good neighbor hotel. I always stay at All Stars at WDW which I don't mind & find quite accomodating but for what may be my only trip to DL simply for the sake of going to DL I really, really want to stay at the Disneyland Hotel which makes rooms savings at good neighbor hotels a moot point. Also to be considered is that if we went to WDW instead of DL I would be able to get an AP rate since I would be buying an AP and the cost of rooms would balance out pretty much with the prices on the West Coast option.
When to go: We do not even know for sure if my friend can go at all until the end of May. If she cannot go, I will go to WDW at the end of September making this a solo trip. If she can go and we decide DL is the right choice I also still want to go in late September. She wants to go earlier than that, perhaps sometimes in August. Now, the 5 day hopper deal and 4 nights for the price of 3 deals are blocked out until August 24. I wouldn't be able to go until the 28th which will put us there a.) over Labor Day weekend and b.) on my birthday. While I can think of a lot worse places to be on my birthday I generally like to spend it at home with my friends. Of course a Fantasmic dessert buffet would be a pretty rockin' birthday celebration. I am just concerned with how crowed it will be over a holiday weekend. Also, with west coast schools starting so much later how crowed will it be even when its not the weekend? I know all the perks of the parks being open later, fireworks & parades & such due to larger crowds and all, but have gotten quite spoiled by the non-crowds at WDW in September. I am quite happy to leave the Florida parks at 6:00 if I didn't have to wait forever in a cramped queue for Splash Mountain. This also brings up will the airfare increase with the holiday?
Attractions: I am having some major attractions issues with DL. As in, Space Mountain is down until 2005. Should we decide to skip the Labor Day Weekend crowds and push the trip back Indiana Jones will be closed for re-hab starting September 2 which means even if we push it back by less than 1 week we will miss Indy which is probably the best attraction at DL. I just don't think you should miss Indy on your first trip to DL. With Space and Indy down at the same time would it be worth the trip because on the other coast they will have had the much anticipated Mission Space up and running and that's really, REALLY[i] tempting me. Would it be better to see the new Mission Space now and "save" DL for 2005 when the castle is glittery gold for the 50th anniversary and the "new" Space Mountain is open?
Is there enough to do at DL for 5 days?: As I've said, I've been to DL 3X and did the whole park in a day each time. Bear in mind I am a total commando but I have done it in a day. I haven't been to DCA & I am somewhat curious about it but between these 2 parks is there really 5 days worth of entertainment value? We are Disney dark ride freaks and could probably spent 2 whole days in Fantasy Land alone. We are not the type to go back to the room and rest. I am just afraid that there will not be enough to fill 5 days. Am I being silly? The majority vote on the last thread was that a rental car would not be needed but I am now thinking maybe 1 day offsite at Universal or Knotts may be needed to fill up the time so maybe a 1 day rental would be in order. What is your collective take on this?
My final question is what's the deal with collecting more than 1 fast pass at a time. How many can you get at once? Are all the FP attractions included? Please, any info you have on this is welcome.
Thanks for all your help!
-ram