How many go more than once in a year? Non-locals

[LifeIsTinkIsLife]

We will be going down for the third time with 12 months. July 08, Jan 09, June 09. Other times we have gone a year or two in between. But with all the new changes coming up, I know I can't wait more than a year!

Those of you driving down from N. Cal:

Do you make any quick weekend trips? And if so, how? It takes us 8 hours so that is pretty much all day. And then a day driving back home. So that's two days taken up right there with driving. (Although, if we left early in the morning we could get there by afternoon and have a half day there). I'm just curious how you plan a quick trip.

well, i am in AZ and it's about the same time driving for me, but we leave at about 3am and get to the park around 11 or so. get one night of a hotel, and then drive home sunday. it's not the best, but it's disneyland!

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Once a year, but this year we got APs so we're making our 2nd trip this June. I get people asking me, "You're going to Disneyland again?!," every year and I only go once a year usually. Most of my friends don't get it.

 

[MissDisney04]

i usually try to go at least twice, but my husband was laid off last May (then rehired) and then again in January, so multiple trips are harder

if i can though, i am going in Dec for my birthday

 

[boiseflyfisher]

We live in Idaho and normally go 3-4 times a year. Our stays are normally 7-10 days.

 

[PinkBudgie]

We go to bed early on Friday night, get up super early Saturday morning and drive down to Anaheim (6 hrs for us), we go straight to the parks and then check into our hotel around 3 or 4, take a little nap and back in the parks by 7, grab a dinner on the go (CS not TS) and then stay until closing. Sunday we get up and hit the parks, stay until sometime in the afternoon and drive home. That's it, that's how we do it. Crazy? Yes, but tons of fun!! And we are exhausted the following week but it's soooooooo worth it. LOL

well, i am in AZ and it's about the same time driving for me, but we leave at about 3am and get to the park around 11 or so. get one night of a hotel, and then drive home sunday. it's not the best, but it's disneyland!

Wow! I guess that is quick alright! I'm afraid we would be too tired to drive back home after half a day at DLR. Maybe on a holiday weekend we could drive back on a Monday. We are going to let our APs expire in July until next summer. And at this point the boys don't have APs anyway, just DH and I do. Next time we would all get them.

 

[MickyamI]

NorCal here...I would LOVE to be able to go in the summer and winter holiday times! But it is so difficult to get away from work. Maybe one day eh?!

 

[InLikeSin]

We live about a 6 hr drive (more if traffic is terrible grrrr!) We go down about once a month more during the halloween & christmas time, we've gotten 3 or 4 times the worth of our APs maybe more and will be getting them again when its renew time.
We usually take a friday off (easy for us since we both work 1/2 days on fridays anyway) and leave about 8:30am get there late afternoon, check in, and hit the parks. We have been so many times that we don't usually try and stay til closing anymore just leave when we are pooped. We have all day Sat to enjoy both parks and Sunday we drive home. This works perfectly for us! Its plently of time for us to do all of our favorites and since we know ahead of time when our next trip will be if we miss something its no big deal.
I also get a ton of crap from co-workers about how often my husband and I go, im 23 with no kids so they don't understand but I would never let that stop me from having my fun.

One other tip... If you know you'll be down there a lot join a hotel rewards program. We are LOYAL Marriott customers and can get into one of there local hotels for about $80 a night if we look around plus we earn points each time we stay which means every couple of months we don't pay for our hotel. (Actually we are saving points now to take a all inclusive trip back to Costa Rica where we honeymooned, only 20,000 more points!)

 

[LynGregory]

We live in the UK and go every year!! We also buy APs just for the 16 nights we are there....that way we can dip in and out of DL as we wish, sometimes on the way home from doing something else and that way we don't feel that we are wasting a day of a 5 day pass.

Heck if we lived in the USA we'd be there several times a year!!
Oh and yes, we do get the comments from family mainly who say wouldn't we like to try somewhere else for a vacation and they can't understand why we go year in, year out. DH and I have even said we will still be going when the kids have left home!! Don't worry about what anyone else says to you

 

[50sjayne]

I live in Northern CA and went 3 times last year, will be going twice this year (but I also went to WDW in Feb.) Don't let others influence you, if that's what you enjoy doing, then by all means do it!! It's like the saying goes, "For those who get Disney, no explanation is necessary. For those who don't get it, no explanation will do".

Ohh-- can I use that? that is--perfect.

 

[50sjayne]

I get flack for going ONCE a year. So this year due to circumstances beyond my control, (yeah right) we are getting ready for our third trip in 10 months. I get tired of the "You're going to Disneyland AGAIN?" looks but it is certainly easy to let them roll off. We've been fortunate that we can afford it this year. We may have let some things go around the house like replacing some carpet or finishing our basement, but the kids are only young once and the house can wait!

Oh and we are not local. We are a 2 hours plane ride or a 14 hour car trip. Worth every minute!

I feel ya lol. We're in Eugene Oregon- that's a 15 hour drive (with lots of breaks) Our oven just spontaneously started crackling a few days ago when it was off--scary. husband had to go pull the breaker to make it stop. Pre this last Disney trip we would have just said ok the 25 yr old stove has had it- lets go to Jerry's and get a new one. Now- I looked it up on the internet and husband replaced the element for $40.

Everyone feels that way when they first get back--all you want to do is get back there--kind of like coming out of the womb.

 

[disney-super-mom]

I live in Washington too, and I've definitely gone to Disneyland more than once a year. Especially now since I go on the DisBoard ladies only trip every year. As a matter of fact, I bought an AP this year because I knew I'd get three trips out of it (ladies trip in March, then family trip in the fall, then the ladies trip again in Feb).

Ummm, I try not to mention it to my mom and dad much anymore. I do get that "You're going to Disneyland again?!!" from my dad, and my mom is more like "You're NOT going to Disneyland again are you?!!" What can I say?....me, my hubby, and my kids LOVE it. We always have such a great time. When our kids get older, we'll probably plan other vacations between the times we go to Disneyland, like to Hawaii and the Caribbean. But right now, Disney still holds lots of magic for our little guys, and so it holds lots of family magic for all of us.

 

[Kandyland]

But I am getting so much flack from friends and family about going more than once in a year.

I live in Utah.

I am going on my fourth trip in less than a years time. I don't worry about what other people say. It is MY money, that I earned, and MY life to live. I am not hurting others by going, it makes me happy. Life is very very short and can be taken away from us in a moment. Live your life with joy, and make it YOUR life.

I wanted to go to Paris one time. It was a great price, I had the money, and I was stooopid and allowed someone to talk me out of it. It was the dumbest thing I ever did. I reget it. Don't live your life with regret.

Disneyland brings me joy.

Leaving in 5 days.. Yea!!!! ​

 

[Mouse13]

We live in Kansas and have been going to Disneyland twice a year for the past few years and intend to keep it up if we can. We buy our APs and plan our trips so that we actually get three visits out of each AP. For instance, this year we're going during the first week in June, again in October, and then the last week in May 2010. We love Disney and have so much fun when we're in California. During the year we skip eating out, save our change, use our Southwest credits for free airline tickets, etc. It's all worth it for the Mouse and, personally, I don't care what anybody else thinks about it. DH, DS, and I get it and that's all that matters.

 

[pixiewings71]

Wow! I guess that is quick alright! I'm afraid we would be too tired to drive back home after half a day at DLR. Maybe on a holiday weekend we could drive back on a Monday. We are going to let our APs expire in July until next summer. And at this point the boys don't have APs anyway, just DH and I do. Next time we would all get them.

It's not exactly half a day tho, it's more like a full day when you really think about it. LOL

We live about a 6 hr drive (more if traffic is terrible grrrr!) We go down about once a month more during the halloween & christmas time, we've gotten 3 or 4 times the worth of our APs maybe more and will be getting them again when its renew time.
We usually take a friday off (easy for us since we both work 1/2 days on fridays anyway) and leave about 8:30am get there late afternoon, check in, and hit the parks. We have been so many times that we don't usually try and stay til closing anymore just leave when we are pooped. We have all day Sat to enjoy both parks and Sunday we drive home. This works perfectly for us! Its plently of time for us to do all of our favorites and since we know ahead of time when our next trip will be if we miss something its no big deal.
I also get a ton of crap from co-workers about how often my husband and I go, im 23 with no kids so they don't understand but I would never let that stop me from having my fun.

One other tip... If you know you'll be down there a lot join a hotel rewards program. We are LOYAL Marriott customers and can get into one of there local hotels for about $80 a night if we look around plus we earn points each time we stay which means every couple of months we don't pay for our hotel. (Actually we are saving points now to take a all inclusive trip back to Costa Rica where we honeymooned, only 20,000 more points!)

This is actually our preferred method of doing it, but DBF and I can't always get Friday's off and the girls have school so we tweak yours a bit, we wait until they are out of school and then leave at about 3 or 4 in the afternoon. So that means no DL Friday night but all day Sat. and half a day Sun. That is our preferred method really but I can't always get that time off so sometimes we do what I said up there.

But I am getting so much flack from friends and family about going more than once in a year.

I live in Utah.

I am going on my fourth trip in less than a years time. I don't worry about what other people say. It is MY money, that I earned, and MY life to live. I am not hurting others by going, it makes me happy. Life is very very short and can be taken away from us in a moment. Live your life with joy, and make it YOUR life.

I wanted to go to Paris one time. It was a great price, I had the money, and I was stooopid and allowed someone to talk me out of it. It was the dumbest thing I ever did. I reget it. Don't live your life with regret.

Disneyland brings me joy.

Leaving in 5 days.. Yea!!!! ​

I'm sorry you missed out on Paris. Welcome to the Dis!!!!

 

[Hound 109]

hound <-----5 times in the last two years.

Normally for 2 days & normally as part of a family visit. Plan on going 3 times a year for the forseeable future.

 

[splash5]

We bought AP's last year and went to the park in May, August and April. We flew twice and drove the 17 hours once. I still want to go again - even though the boys (DS-15 and DH want to visit somewhere else.) I'm trying to work out a trip for my birthday in December....Who knows.

 

[kkmcan]

We are in Tucson (7 hours away) and we managed 4 trips with our AP's. First trip last June (6days long), October 2008 (5 days long), January (3 days), and March (1 full day and 2 half days). So 17 days worth of admission, not bad at all.

We unfortunately will let those expire here next week because we have no further trips planned. We are cutting back a little and we just bought a new car 2 weeks ago. I plan on us being able to buy the AP's again next year, if I can wait that long....

Everyone we know says "You're going to Disneyland AGAIN?" I don't care what they think. They know I'm a diehard mouse fan!

 

[godalejunior]

I live in WA state and we ended up getting AP's on our first trip to DL as we had so much fun, we knew we would be coming back again within a year. We have gone to DL at least 2 times a year and one year we shoved three trips in. I always look for deals on flights and take advantage of the AP rates at the hotels. We only go on trips during the slower times of the year (not sure what mid next week will be like but guess we are going to find out). We have heard the "you are going to DL again?" especially the first two years we had AP's. Now family just knows that is where are going. We travel with DS once a year and stay for 7 nights and DH and I take our own trip. DH and I have gone alone in September, beginning of December and our third alone trip will be next week! It works out really great.

 

[bluegrizzlies1]

Went 3 times within a year from utah good thing we had APs.

Going monday and buying Aps again going to go at least 1 more time within a year.

The Ap really does pay for itself if you go more then once.

 

[EmEyeSeeKayEeWhy]

We live in NorCal (East Bay), and we typically go every other month. My hubby doesn't always make every trip (I'm a SAHM and will take the kids w/o him...he's ok with that though ). This is the first year we won't be going at all during the summer. School starts here at the end of July, so September is our next trip with 3 more to follow by years end. So I guess it all averages out. But we also get that "You're going again?" and choose not to listen.