Thank You Disney Movie Rewards PTR (November 16-22, 2014) - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Thank You Disney Movie Rewards PTR (November 16-22, 2014)
I just barely wrapped up our TR from our Disney World trip in March and now I really need to get started on our Disneyland trip coming up in November. So, grab some popcorn and let's get this show on the road!
I guess the best place to start is the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.
Who (Cast of Characters)
Me - Stefani - For those that may not know me from past PTR’s/TR’s, I am the Disney geek, and the one who does all of the planning and preparing for the trips. I have been to Disney World 8 times, Disneyland 6 times and we just did our first Disney Cruise in March (and loved it!). I love all things Disney and often watch Disney movies, even though the family sometimes wants to watch something else. I am also obsessed with Disney Dooney & Bourke bags (and I hate purses normally). My favorite character is Mickey (and Oswald)
Hubby - Pat - My husband loves to be in the parks and enjoys spending time with the family, but hates everything to do with planning a trip. I am lucky if I can get him to talk to me for a few minutes about dining options. He prefers to just wake up and have me tell him where we are going, what we are doing and where we are eating. Pat’s favorite character is Grumpy
Here's Pat and I:
Daughter - Shana 14 - Shana loves to go to the parks and is a thrill seeker. She loves the wildest rides but also enjoys some of the classics. Shana is not a huge Disney fan outside of visiting the parks, but she loves to go to the parks and even though she is at the temperamental teenage years, she lets herself be a kid in the parks. Her favorite character is Donald Duck
Here's Shana:
Son - Hunter 11 - Hunter is still my little Disney buddy. He is sensitive and doesn’t like more grown up shows, so Disney movies suit him well. He prefers rides that aren’t quite as wild, although on our last Disney World trip he started testing the waters and rode and loved Space Mountain, Expedition Everest and even Rock n’ Roller Coaster! Hunter collects vinylmations, which kind of drives me nuts, but he loves it. Hunter’s favorite character is Pluto.
And Here's Hunter:
We did originally invite Pat's sister and her family to come with us this trip. But they recently bought a house and just did not think they could swing it. I'm a little sad because I would have loved to spend some time in Disney with our little niece and nephew! But maybe another time.
What
Well, this is an easy one, it’s a Disney trip silly!
When
We will be leaving our home in NM on November 16th and returning on November 22nd. The 16th and 22nd will be travel days so that leaves us 5 full days (M-F) to enjoy ourselves. As of today this is only 73 days away! And I have planned little to nothing!!!!! For those that know me from previous trips, this is almost unheard of. For our last WDW trip, I had packing lists, dining, touring plans and almost everything planned out at this point. I'm not sure if it's because I know Disneyland is easier to plan, or if I'm just falling down on the job, but I need to get some plans made, quickly!!!
Where
We are heading to the West coast to Disneyland this trip. We all prefer Disney World, but there is a special reason we are heading the other way this time. We will be staying at Disney’s Grand Californian on our DVC points. We got a 1-bedroom villa and I will be putting in a request for a theme park view. We had one the last trip and we loved it. Especially because we could watch World of Color from the room and didn’t have to worry about the crowds.
Why
Do we really need a reason why???
Well, in this case we actually have one. Back when Disney started Disney Movie Rewards I started entering my little code sheets from all the movies we bought (this was back in 2006). I did get a couple small items with the points, but when it became clear that Disney was going to continue the promotion longer term than originally thought, I started hoarding them. I was very careful to always enter the codes and often went through our collection to make sure I hadn’t missed any (in case you didn't know, I'm a little OCD). I also entered movie ticket stubs and bonus points any chance I got. Well, I finally collected enough points, 15,000, last June to get the Walt Disney Studios Tour.
I was a little worried because although I had most of our movies still, I knew that I had some stolen out of my car (the movies were in the player, the idiots stole empty cases) and a few donated over the years when upgrading to Blu-ray and I knew I had to submit proof of having the codes and owning the movies. I had to submit all of the proof of purchase, which is the tiny little square on the back above the UPC. This made me a little mad because I hated cutting all of our movies (remember that little bit of OCD). But it had to be done. In the end I had over 90% of either the proof of purchase or the code sheets and our tour was approved.
We changed dates several times and finally decided on the dates above. Our whole trip is wrapped around this tour and we are all so excited.
How
Well, we will be driving from NM to CA, in our Volkswagen Passat diesel which will save us lots in gas $$, it will be less than $200 round-trip and we will only have to stop once for fuel each direction. We can't beat that!
Excited to read about your DLR visit and studio tour! I did the Studio Tour as part of an ABD trip and it was fantastic. Very cool and emotional experience!
Checking in Stef! Great start!! That is serously amazing that you acumulated all those points!!!
I think the fact that my kids were a bit older and the other rewards didn't appeal as much, I was able to focus on the prize, so to speak.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Excited to read about your DLR visit and studio tour! I did the Studio Tour as part of an ABD trip and it was fantastic. Very cool and emotional experience!
I am so excited for the tour, especially since it is a private tour for just us. I've read TR's with the ABD tour and I am just so anxious to get to the tour. We booked it in the middle of the week, and I'm going to be like a little kid counting down to that day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
That's an excellent use of your reward points, and your DVC points. Sounds like an awesome trip.
I honestly thought the tour was the one reward I would want. I didn't think I would ever get to the 15,000 points though. When I hit 13,000 I really realized that I was going to do it. I was so nervous that the tour would disappear or they would stop the rewards in the last couple months before I made it. I'm glad they didn't.
I'm very much looking forward to this PTR and TR! I just love reading your posts. I remember when you told us about having to cut your proofs! I look forward to hearing more about your adventure!!!! DL is on my bucket list.
I'm very much looking forward to this PTR and TR! I just love reading your posts. I remember when you told us about having to cut your proofs! I look forward to hearing more about your adventure!!!! DL is on my bucket list.
I am really looking forward to writing this one. It was really painful having to cut all those little proofs out. For someone OCD like me just seeing those little cut out squares on the back of the cases drives me a little nuts. But then I remember why I cut them out and I feel better. At least they are pretty small, and I cut them very neatly. :roll eyes: We really prefer Disney World, but I love that we can drive to DL, and this whole trip will cost us out-of-pocket only about $3,000 and most of that is because we like to eat at sit down restaurants each day.
How cool that you've got that many points - and what a great reward for them! Your trip sounds wonderful and I love that you can just drive to Disneyland - how neat is that?
How cool that you've got that many points - and what a great reward for them! Your trip sounds wonderful and I love that you can just drive to Disneyland - how neat is that?
It took so long to collect all the points, but I'm so happy I hoarded them. It is nice to be able to drive, really saves on the pocketbook. It's not a short drive, about 13 hours, but we live in the middle of no where and a trip to the grocery store is 1 hour, heck for us to drive to the airport is 2 1/2 hours. The kids are really use to road trips.
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How exciting! I'm hoping I can visit DL in the future. Can't wait to read all about your plans (or lack of ).
While we prefer Disney World for some reasons, Disneyland is really neat to me. I love that Walt actually walked in the parks and it just has a different feel. I hope I start having some plans soon!
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Great start and what a great reward! Makes me want to go enter all my codes now...
It was hard sometimes not to spend the points on sweatshirts or movies, but I really stuck to hoarding them. I was really worth the wait. I was so worried Disney would stop the program before I got to the 15,000!
Quote:
Originally Posted by pamcarey
Great start! I'm so impressed with how many rewards you saved! Did your points cover the tour for all four of you?
It was a lot of work. Like I said I would go through my collection every so often to make sure I hadn't missed entering any (and often I had). I'm just glad that all our movies made it safe during our move and I had all the proofs we needed.
Yes, the 15,000 points was for a private tour for 4.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KHarrod
Yeah!!! I'm in, I'm in, I'm in!!! I'm so excited to hear about your plans for this trip!!
I'm really excited to share this one as well! I think it is going to be such a fun trip and something new for the 4 of us.
Thank goodness that Disneyland is not like Disney World when it comes to dining, because I would be so out of luck getting in anywhere in Disney World this late in the game. But alas, I still have 9 whole days before our 60 day dining window opens up.
I have a different problem with picking dining in Disneyland than I do in Disney World. There are so many places we love in Disney World, that I have a hard time deciding which to go to and which we have to skip. At Disneyland, unfortunately, I have a hard time finding enough places to have a meal each evening. I really wish that Disneyland would up the dining options. But with some work and discussions with Pat (which was like trying to pull teeth!) I think I have our decisions made.
Let's go through this by day:
Sunday November 16th Breakfast - We will be on the road, so we will be getting some sort of fast food, or bringing doughnuts or cereal. Lunch - - We will still be on the road, so it will be a stop at a fast food place again. I'm hoping we can stop at an In-N-Out Burger, but the nearest one on our route is in Kingman, AZ, which is about 9 hours. Which might work, depending on what time we leave in the morning. I like to leave really early like 4am, which would put us there for lunch around 1, that might work. Dinner - We are not making any plans for dinner this night. If we leave really early we could arrive between 6-8 and could get a dinner, but I don't want to make reservations. We will just plan to either do quick service or find a table service we can easily get into.
Monday November 17th Breakfast - We are going to stop at the grocery store on the way in and get some cereal and probably fruit to have breakfast. We are not huge breakfast eaters so this works well for us. I'm not going to list breakfast the rest of the days, they will all be in the room. Lunch - We are thinking we will be in Disneyland this day and will have counter-service for lunch. The ones I have on our possible list are Bengal Barbecue or Jolly Holiday Bakery. They have food that I think we all would like, but usually we eat near where we are when we are hungry. Dinner - Blue Bayou - This was a favorite of Pat's on the last trip and I enjoy it as well. It looks like the park will be closing pretty early (based on my educated guess) and I will try to get a ADR close to closing time so we don't feel rushed.
Tuesday November 18th Lunch - We are planning to be at DCA this day and will again do counter-service for lunch. On my radar: Flo's V-8 Cafe, Lucky Fortune Cookery or Pacific Wharf Cafe. Dinner - Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria - I originally was thinking about Rain Forest Cafe, but we ended up nixing it. We have always avoided it because we have heard it is loud and the food is so-so. We were thinking of giving it a try, but decided that we wanted something different. So, we went with Naples, for some Italian food!
Wednesday November 19th Lunch - We will be eating lunch at the Walt Disney Studio's Commissary, provided as part of our tour! I'm excited about this one as well! Dinner - - House of Blues - We needed somewhere outside the park this night and we decided the menu here looked pretty good.
Thursday November 20th Lunch - I have no idea!!! I actually have no idea where we are going this day and therefore have no idea where we are going to eat lunch. Dinner - I also have no idea!!! I'm pretty sure we will eat somewhere in Downtown Disney, or at one of the hotels. I would like to wander over to Paradise Pier Hotel and maybe hit the PCH Grill, but we will have to see what we are up for and where we can get in.
Friday November 21st Lunch - We will be trying to visit both Disneyland and California Adventure for our last day and will just grab quick service wherever we happen to be. Dinner - Carthay Circle - I am not super gung-ho about the menu here, but we talked to a CM on our last trip for quite awhile about this being built and I really want to check it out. The food looks pretty good, and I hope we end up liking it.
Saturday November 22nd Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner - We will probably be eating all of these on the road, which means fast food. Maybe we can hit another In-N-Out Burger.
These plans are of course subject to change depending on what times I can get ADR's, but they should stay pretty much the same. Now I'm hungry and need to go cook something for dinner tonight!
Next Update: Top 10 Ride Choices for Disneyland (per person)
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and let's get this show on the road!
And I have planned little to nothing!!!!! 
because I hated cutting all of our movies (remember that little bit of OCD). But it had to be done. In the end I had over 90% of either the proof of purchase or the code sheets and our tour was approved. 
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Pixie Dust
Great start!! That is serously amazing that you acumulated all those points!!! 
~ Jenn 
I think the fact that my kids were a bit older and the other rewards didn't appeal as much, I was able to focus on the prize, so to speak. 
PassPorter Guide Author
Your trip sounds wonderful and I love that you can just drive to Disneyland - how neat is that? 
).
Kristin
I'm really excited to share this one as well! I think it is going to be such a fun trip and something new for the 4 of us.
But with some work and discussions with Pat (which was like trying to pull teeth!) I think I have our decisions made. 
and need to go cook something for dinner tonight! 
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