You Mean There Are People Out There Who WANT To Read About My Planning? aka our June 2017 PTR

Soo... I just found out that there are Grad Nites 2 of the 3 Disney days we were planning (Disney Day 2 & 3). We can alter Day 2 to avoid a Grad Nite but the last one is on the 9th and that's Keileigh's birthday, so I don't want to change that day. It wouldn't be too bad to change day 2 so we may do that. I've heard opposing views on Grad Nite; some say it makes little impact, others say they'd never go on a Grad Nite again. I'm sure either way, we'll be happy to be in Disneyland.
 
Soo... I just found out that there are Grad Nites 2 of the 3 Disney days we were planning (Disney Day 2 & 3). We can alter Day 2 to avoid a Grad Nite but the last one is on the 9th and that's Keileigh's birthday, so I don't want to change that day. It wouldn't be too bad to change day 2 so we may do that. I've heard opposing views on Grad Nite; some say it makes little impact, others say they'd never go on a Grad Nite again. I'm sure either way, we'll be happy to be in Disneyland.

I am not a proponent of drastically altering one's DL plans in order to avoid Grad Nights. We've gone to DL during Grad Nights twice now and have had a really enjoyable experience on both of those occasions. On Grad Night days when we're in the parks, we tend to follow these tips:

  • Get to the park at rope drop. Do this because none of the grads will be there until late morning at the earliest. So when park opening is 8am, this means that you basically have 3 hours of very little crowds until it starts to get busy.
  • Go on "E ticket" rides earlier in the day. "E ticket" = includes any roller coaster or thrill ride that would typically attract teenagers.
  • Use FP's wisely. Learn how to take advantage of FPs. When your FP window begins, get a FP for another ride BEFORE you go on the first FP ride. Lather, rinse, repeat throughout the day.
  • In late afternoon, stay out of Tomorrowland as much as possible.
  • As the day progresses and throngs of teenagers start to show up & clog walkways and such, go on rides that fall into the "kiddie ride' category. Fantasyland falls into this category. Plus Winnie the Pooh. Or anything in Bugsland in DCA.
  • When it's REALLY busy, watch a bunch of shows. Mickey & the Magical Map, Frozen musical in DCA, Fantasyland theater, Jedi Training Academy, musical chairs with Alice and the Mad Hatter at Coke Corner, etc., etc.
  • LEAVE THE PARK from ~1-5pm. Take a break from the craziness.
  • SET YOUR EXPECTATIONS. What does this mean? Expect teenagers to be travelling in packs. Expect that they will be a bit rowdy and loud. Ignore the swear words. If your kids are elementary school aged, use the opportunity to explain to your children that THIS is what you mean when you lecture them about proper manners. In other words, the lesson of the day is "Hey kids, this is how NOT to act! What do you think everybody is thinking of these kids & their families when they hear them using such bad words and behaving thsi way?" You could even wrap it into some Walt Disney history and the reason why he built Disneyland.
  • Expect that later in the day, it will take longer to walk from 1 place to another.
  • PLAN on taking breaks when you & your family start to feel frustrated or overwhelmed. Our favorite spot to do this in DL is at the French Market, preferably when the jazz band is playing so we can listen to music while we eat our Mickey beignets (I think I'm misspelling that).
  • If Rivers of America is open, go to Tom Sawyer's Island!! And take a ride on the Mark Twain riverboat.
  • go to Animation Academy and Turtle Talk.
 
Thank you, those are great tips! I agree about not changing plans! I was reading things and keeping DH in the loop, and when I told him June 9th is the first day some of the APs are blocked, and therefore there will be more locals getting a last few days in, plus Grad Nights, he was a little hesitant. But I told him we'd go anyways, that we just have to be a bot more strategic.
 
I had NO idea all the stuff available in the Animation Building when we were there! We walked in to get into some AC, happened to see that A&E were in there, did Turtle Talk with Crush then left. I only realized after we got home how much that place offers.

We were going into SF during rush hour... for a quick one hour stop there. It was madness. :crazy: As a HUGE Full House fan, I wanted to visit Alamo square, see the painted ladies and then go see the actual house that acts as the outside of the house in the filming of the show. And we wanted to cross the Golden Gate bridge. So we fought traffic for an hour, found Alamo square, drove the few blocks to the Full House house, and left via the GG bridge. It was all worth it.




We just went for it and hoped for the best. We've never really been about road trips, as I have bad anxiety, but the end result was worth it for me so I fought the anxiety. I also hate flying.

We feel that we spend so little time in the hotel, the space isn't worth it but we love food, and are huge eaters, so the breakfast was a win for us over space.

Going with all cash and using the credit card as little as possible (thank you, Canadian currency!), we had to stick to a budget. Of course, we did go over. We had no idea that our Canadian debit cards wouldn't work most of the places we went, and we also had no idea how many gas stations didn't take cash during certain hours, so where we had to use debit/cc (overnight gas stops etc) we ended up using the card... freeing up some of the cash we'd earmarked for gas. So, naturally we spent that. The food was also more expensive than I'd anticipated so we ended up spending more there. This time, we know what to expect and are planning for it.



Umm... to be honest, I have no idea. My DH does that part. I'm 99% sure he downloads movies in mp3 format and it saves to the tablet as a media file. I can ask him and find out!

Also, when you purchase Disney movies, a lot of them come with Digital Download codes that you can use. I'm not sure about US Netflix, but we now have some Netflix shows that can be downloaded to be watched later, when there's no internet. So we plan on taking advantage of that too.

Before we had a toddler, we would rarely spend time in our room either. But now we take breaks there for a couple hours each day. Plus we have a couple non-park days where we mostly just relax. Though mainly the space is because we literally need room to put all of our crap...haha! I don't pack light. And then add in a stroller (and last time a pack n play) and things get tight. So we stayed at the Desert Inn with just a basic breakfast and it worked pretty well. Plus it was only $105 a night! (It's more this time though...boooo.)

The main reason we can't do the road trip is because my husband can't take that much time off work. Hopefully some day though!
 


When we went last year, whenever we took breaks, the kids ended up at the pool, and DH and I grabbed a drink from our fridge and went to watch them. Some days it was hard to get them out of the pool to go back to Disney!!
 
It's so cold here this week. :sad2: Today is -25, -33 with wind. That's -13, -27 with wind in Farenheit for the American folk. It's. So. Cold. I want to be in Anaheim right now in the rain! :laughing:

115 more days!
 
I love winter and cold weather but that's a bit extreme. It snowed a couple inches here today. The most we've had all season, sadly. Even though the windchill is in the single digits...I still took my son out briefly.

The area you live in looks so pretty in pictures! I really hope to go there when my son is a bit older. As long as one doesn't need to be super outdoorsy or in shape to enjoy the scenery. :)
 


I love winter and cold weather but that's a bit extreme. It snowed a couple inches here today. The most we've had all season, sadly. Even though the windchill is in the single digits...I still took my son out briefly.

The area you live in looks so pretty in pictures! I really hope to go there when my son is a bit older. As long as one doesn't need to be super outdoorsy or in shape to enjoy the scenery. :)

It is super pretty here. The mountains are so close (you can see them really well on clear days). No, you don't have to be in shape or outdoorsy to enjoy it. But in the winter it's COLD. It never lasts a long time, though, as we get Chinooks, a band of warm air that heats things up. We can go from -25C (like today) to +4C (our forecast for Friday) really quick. We've had weather changes of 20 degrees in a day.
 
So, we're going to change up our Disney days to avoid one of the Grad Nights scheduled during our trip. So, instead we'll do one day of Disney, followed by 2 non Disney days, then 2 Disney days, then home.

I'm looking into LA and some of the things we'd be interested in doing there. So far, I've got:

La Brea Tar Pits in the morning. We plan on leaving Anaheim for LA around 9, to avoid some rush hour traffic. It should be an hour drive or so.
Drive up to Hollywood and Highland after that, where we'll find a place to eat lunch, see and photograph the Hollywood sign, find some of the stars on the Walk of Fame, shop and just generally be touristy.
Movie at the El Capitano Theater. I just discovered this gem in my searches, and it is definitely something we want to do! Looks amazing. I hope the movie playing when we go is something we're interested in.
Then explore a little bit more, before heading back to Anaheim around 7pm. We learned last year that LA rush hour traffic can turn a 30 minute drive into 2 hours easily. It was painful. In fact, it was the reason we didn't go to LA on that visit. We'd gone to Santa Monica and drove back to Anaheim in the late afternoon, not knowing how bad it can really get. :rotfl2: It took us over 2 hours to get back, and our GPS took us through some not so nice neighbourhoods in order to avoid accidents and whatnot. After that, we decided to stay in Anaheim.

So we're avoiding that this time at all costs.

Our second non Disney day will be a beach day. Last year we did Santa Monica & Corona del Mar (on two different days) and liked them both for different reasons. Santa Monica is what we envisioned as a typical California vacation, while Corona del Mar was more local it seemed. We liked not having vendors shoved in our faces while we were there.

Side story about Corona del Mar. It was February, so "winter". It was a windy, overcast day. Locals were coming to the beach in pants and sweaters. We, being from Canada, were in shorts & tank tops. I think we stood out a little. But the water was still a bit cold, and it was kind of rough waters. Not sure if that was because of the wind, or if it's more a surfing spot or what.

Anyways. We're thinking of Newport Beach and checking out Balboa Island while we're there. Touristy, I know. But, guess what? We're tourists. :earboy2:

It's all these things that make me really thankful that we're driving. To have the freedom to explore more than just Disney!
 
We're getting single digits today...and then 62 on Friday here. I hate the drastic change.

Even though I lived in southern California briefly, I have only been to L.A. and Hollywood a couple times. I remember being surprised the first time because it wasn't at all like you see the movies. At least, I didn't think so.

I haven't been to the two beaches you've been to so I don't know how their water is. But, in general, I've always found the ocean in southern California to be quite cold. I'm not really a fan. I prefer beaches in Florida or the Caribbean.

We went to Newport Beach during our 2015 trip (there are a few photos in my trip report.) I'm not sure what day of the week you'd be going. But we went on a weekend and the parking was not great. We ended up driving around in circles waiting for a spot to open up. And this was February so I imagine June would be worse. So just a heads up on that.

I think avoiding grad nights is a wise idea. I definitely looked at the list when we chose our dates.
 
We're from Canada. Alberta specifically, and we're pretty land locked. Any chance to go in the ocean, no matter how cold, we're willing. :) We will, eventually, get to the East coast to swim in warmer oceans!

We're going on a Wednesday. I'm assuming that with it being June, beaches will be more crowded than when we went in February, but hopefully going on a weekday will be better.

One day of our trip will be a Grad Night, which we can deal with.
 
It's so cold here this week. :sad2: Today is -25, -33 with wind. That's -13, -27 with wind in Farenheit for the American folk. It's. So. Cold. I want to be in Anaheim right now in the rain! :laughing:

115 more days!

I hear you...we had an ice storm yesterday and all I could think is...summer at Disneyland!

Sorry that your daughter's birthday..and one of your Disney days , ended up being a grad night. But your revised schedule is nicely split up between your Disney and non Disney days. You go before us so would like to hear what you think of La Brae Tar Pits. I know you mentioned it's not your first choice but hopefully will surprise you. Oh my...the drive from Anaheim To LA took you 2hrs last time? Yikes..
 
Yeah I heard about the ice storm. I remember the really bad one in Quebec in 1998 when I lived there. They suck!!

We can make it work, even if it is Grad Night. We have park hoppers, so we can go where the crowds are least. Even still... I'd rather be crowded in Disneyland than be anywhere else!!

Yes, a little over 2 hours from Santa Monica to Anaheim. There was crazy accidents, construction, in addition to the regular rush hour traffic. Our GPS kept re-routing us through neighbourhoods to avoid the accidents, and we went through Compton and Inglewood... a little sketchy, knowing their reputation. Haha. It was funny, I told my husband I was going to find my Tupac music and blare it and roll the windows down giving the West Side hand gesture. He didn't think that was a good idea and shut it down immediately. What a fun sucker.
 
Yeah I heard about the ice storm. I remember the really bad one in Quebec in 1998 when I lived there. They suck!!

We can make it work, even if it is Grad Night. We have park hoppers, so we can go where the crowds are least. Even still... I'd rather be crowded in Disneyland than be anywhere else!!

Yes, a little over 2 hours from Santa Monica to Anaheim. There was crazy accidents, construction, in addition to the regular rush hour traffic. Our GPS kept re-routing us through neighbourhoods to avoid the accidents, and we went through Compton and Inglewood... a little sketchy, knowing their reputation. Haha. It was funny, I told my husband I was going to find my Tupac music and blare it and roll the windows down giving the West Side hand gesture. He didn't think that was a good idea and shut it down immediately. What a fun sucker.

Driving through Compton is not advisable if you can help it! Glad you made it through ok. There are times when staying on the freeway despite heavy traffic is a good idea! :-)
 
Are the stereotypes about Compton true??

We had no idea that's where it was taking us. We just saw "faster route available" and took it!
 
Yes. The stereotypes about Compton...and Inglewood as well...are true. Your DH was wise to veto blasting hip hop music from your rental car with the windows down. Certain street corners are some intersections can be gang hang outs and doing something like that could result in getting car jacked and attacked.

When I was in college, a friend was driving on the 405 and her car broke down in Inglewood at night. About 10pm. She managed to make it to a gas station and the gas station employee told her, "Lady, you better not stay here. It's really dangerous." She had no choice since she had to wait for a tow truck, so the gas station employee had her come into the gas station behind the locked & barred window & door so nobody would jump her while she waited for the tow truck.
 
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Oh wow, crazy!

Yes. The stereotypes about Compton...and Inglewood as well...are true. Your DH was wise to veto blasting hip hop music from your rental car with the windows down. Certain street corners are some intersections can be gang hang outs and doing something like that could result in getting car jacked and attacked.

When I was in college, a friend was driving on the 405 and her car broke down in Inglewood at night. About 10pm. She managed to make it to a gas station and the gas station employee told her, "Lady, you better not stay here. It's really dangerous." She had no choice since she had to wait for a tow truck, so the gas station employee had her come into the gas station behind the locked & barred window & door so nobody would jump her while she waited for the tow truck.

I was totally kidding about doing that. I was trying to lighten the mood, as he was really angry about all the delays and detours. I would never ever put myself in that situation. :earseek:
 
Hello fellow Calgarian! Isn't this weather we've been having delightful! We're counting down the days until our June trip too! (We arrive on the 10th and hit the parks on the 11th) I'm not sure how tied you are to staying on Harbor but there are two Best Westerns on the other side of the parks on Katella that both include free breakfast and are cheaper than Park View. Just a thought - the walk may be a little long with kids though. We currently have reservations at the cheaper of the two - Best Western Plus Pavillions - and a reservation at the Tropicana since we aren't big on breakfasts that I'm still torn between. Both have discounts for CAA/AAA if you have a card. I was so shocked you guys drive... and then I remembered I grew up in Ottawa doing the drive to Florida at least every two years and realized it's about the same - perspective! :thumbsup2

Your plans look great so far! Enjoy the planning - from a fellow UBER planner it's almost half the fun :rotfl:
 
Hello fellow Calgarian! Isn't this weather we've been having delightful! We're counting down the days until our June trip too! (We arrive on the 10th and hit the parks on the 11th) I'm not sure how tied you are to staying on Harbor but there are two Best Westerns on the other side of the parks on Katella that both include free breakfast and are cheaper than Park View. Just a thought - the walk may be a little long with kids though. We currently have reservations at the cheaper of the two - Best Western Plus Pavillions - and a reservation at the Tropicana since we aren't big on breakfasts that I'm still torn between. Both have discounts for CAA/AAA if you have a card. I was so shocked you guys drive... and then I remembered I grew up in Ottawa doing the drive to Florida at least every two years and realized it's about the same - perspective! :thumbsup2

Your plans look great so far! Enjoy the planning - from a fellow UBER planner it's almost half the fun :rotfl:

Hi! :wave: I didn't get a notification about this post, so sorry!

We are pretty tied to "the closer the better". We're pretty spontaneous people, and tend to leave the parks in the afternoon saying things like "we should have left an hour ago" and "I'm so hungry, don't talk to me" :rotfl2:Also, while I can walk all day and be alright, my husband's job has him sitting in a truck 8 hours during the day, so he's not conditioned to walking lots. Last year when we were in Disney, I walked circles around everyone in my flat, no-support flip flops, and the rest of the family were miserable because their feet hurt. One of these days when we take a "no kids" trip, we'll be fine with staying wherever.
 

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