First Ever Disneyland Trip Updated 10/13 - Page 8 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Another ADR, maybe a World of Color and/or Fantasmic dining packages, and Flights
This is the first morning in months that I have risen before Luke. For some months now he has been getting up sometime between 5:00 and 6:00, earlier than when he got up for work. But he slept today until 8:30. So I quietly headed to the living room around 7:30 to make another reservation. Today I was booking Carthay Circle, which happens to be one of the World of Color dining package restaurants. Therefore, like Wine Country Trattoria and Blue Bayou, my only option, at least right now, was for lunch. I got the latest lunch slot available at 3:00 PM. I will keep checking to see when dinner ressie open up and probably change it at that time. This reservation is for three because Heather (ilovedisney247) will be joining us for dinner or late lunch (if I can’t get it later). This is the only one of my choices that Luke wasn’t sure about, but he didn’t have another option for it, so I’m hoping he likes it. Tomorrow should be my last day to make ADRs, but I’ll still be working on those two dinner packages until I’m successful.
Flights:
After we drove down successfully to Orlando in December last year, Luke and I both kept tossing around the idea of driving down in May. The deciding factor came when we realized that if we did not fly in May, and thereby saved our Southwest reward points, our flights to California would be quite a bit more affordable. Luke researched the flights on SWA both leaving from Nashville, TN, and Louisville, KY. We had already planned for our arrival and departure days to be non-park days, so that gave us some leeway in times to fly. To get the most out of our points, we ended up choosing to fly out of Louisville like we did last October. The flights from there have layovers, but are so much cheaper than the nonstop flights from Nashville that we decided the savings was worth it. Now Luke had to do some interesting math to get the points to work for us. First, he had more points than I did, so he needed to transfer some of his points to my account. Because of that transfer, he had to book his flights there and back and mine there on one order. Then he had to book my flight home separately once the transfer went through, which I remember was a day or two later. For a short time, I thought I might be moving to California. When all was said and done, our out-of-pocket expense was just over $200. Not bad for round trip flights from Kentucky to California.
I had no idea the GC would be so hard to book! Good to know as early October is the time I'd like to go to DL too.
That is excellent airfare!
Good luck with those dining packages. And great that you'll see Heather too. And I realized we'll be on DCL while you're in Cali!
Great with the planning and especially the flights, with a bit of work as you saved quite a bit! Seems like some other great ADRs and other stuff. But then again, I'm not that familiar with the DLR eateries as I have yet to visit there, but hope to eventually! I guess, I just need to set my mind to it and do it, but worried a bit as it may not live up to my WDW standards as far as dining and hotels! Don;t know much about either. The GC seems great but pricey and don't know how good the other DL hotels are!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Score on the flights! We, too, used RR points. I had a bunch of points and got 3 RT flights for just about $150
Sounds like your dining plans are coming together. Don't forget to use your DVC discount. We found that we were able to apply it most places, both TS and QS. Many more than WDW!
Your trip report is really coming along! Im so glad you got the 1 bedroom! It is very nice to have laundry right there in your room. I will be very interested to see how you like Disneyland.
I was hoping you'd be a around to answer questions. I sometimes feel so ignorant that I don't know what to ask, but Luke seems to have a few new questions every day or so. He was actually first interested in the Disneyland Express, but he wonders now (since your pictures have convinced me that I need to ride this bus) if you can take it back to LAX?
I guess you're like me! I'd much rather take the fun, magical bus than the boring blue Super Shuttle, that I could take in Any City, USA. And to answer your question, yes, you can take it back to the airport. When you book, they will schedule a return pickup based on your flight time, and then you just meet them in front of the GC at the appointed time.
Like you, I'd been saving my SWA points for my trip, but Delta had a great fare sale in February, and I was able to book cheap, direct flights with them. Southwest also had cheap fares then, but I would've had to change planes in both directions, so I took the Delta deal, and I used my SWA points for a trip to WDW in November!
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
Glad you got some ADR's done but hope you're able to get a later time How great that you were able to use your airline miles to book your flight to DL!!!
Good job on using the RR points. We just love the availability to use our for our trips to WDW. It looks like tings are shaping up and I hope that the package deals come out soon. I'm such a planner that would be killing me as I am sure it is you too!
I had no idea the GC would be so hard to book! Good to know as early October is the time I'd like to go to DL too.
That is excellent airfare!
Good luck with those dining packages. And great that you'll see Heather too. And I realized we'll be on DCL while you're in Cali!
We hadn't realized how quickly GC would book up either, so Luke initially was casual in his approach. I hadn't paid close attention to dates to realize we'd be vacation at the same time though on opposite ends of the country.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Great with the planning and especially the flights, with a bit of work as you saved quite a bit! Seems like some other great ADRs and other stuff. But then again, I'm not that familiar with the DLR eateries as I have yet to visit there, but hope to eventually! I guess, I just need to set my mind to it and do it, but worried a bit as it may not live up to my WDW standards as far as dining and hotels! Don;t know much about either. The GC seems great but pricey and don't know how good the other DL hotels are!
There is no way Luke and I could stay at GC without using DVC points. Of course, that is a big reason we purchased DVC to stay deluxe.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HollyH
Score on the flights! We, too, used RR points. I had a bunch of points and got 3 RT flights for just about $150
Sounds like your dining plans are coming together. Don't forget to use your DVC discount. We found that we were able to apply it most places, both TS and QS. Many more than WDW!
Luke had found the DVC discount info online and I'm making a note on my ADR sheet of all the ones that have the discount. We'll have to remember to check each time we do CS, too.
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Tomorrow should be my last day to make ADRs, but I’ll still be working on those two dinner packages until I’m successful. 
When all was said and done, our out-of-pocket expense was just over $200. Not bad for round trip flights from Kentucky to California. 
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Pixie Dust
Disney Magic - Oct 2015
Seems like some other great ADRs and other stuff. But then again, I'm not that familiar with the DLR eateries as I have yet to visit there, but hope to eventually! 
Don;t know much about either. The GC seems great but pricey and don't know how good the other DL hotels are! 
PassPorter Guide Author
~ Jenn 
He was actually first interested in the Disneyland Express, but he wonders now (since your pictures have convinced me that I need to ride this bus) if you can take it back to LAX?
And to answer your question, yes, you can take it back to the airport. When you book, they will schedule a return pickup based on your flight time, and then you just meet them in front of the GC at the appointed time.
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