October 2019 Check-In Thread!

[ashnjam]

We’are staying Oct 14 & 15 at La Quinta - everything else was super expensive - 6 of us in total - 3 adults and 3 kids. I’d like to go to Halloween party if it’s happening but not sure how I’d handle with the time change.

LOL our first day or so we are dead tired by 8pm! As soon as we get a little adjusted to the time change, we have to go back home.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Okay, booked our trip! Crazy whirlwind trip again... it gets hard in high school when your kiddo is taking a ton of honors/AP classes for her to miss school. So we have been cramming a trip on a 3 day weekend the last couple years. Just her and I, so dad can stay home with the dog lol! Also ends up being a great break for Dd who needs a stress reliever by mid-October.

So here is the current plan... we usually fly down on the 1st flight of the day on Friday morning and are in the parks by 10 or so. But this time I think we are going Thursday, one of the evening flights... I haven’t really looked yet. Then we can have a good night sleep instead of getting up at 3 am to catch a plane (we fly out of Portland, OR.) Staying off-site for the first time ever (heck, I may change my mind)... but we are only doing 2 park days, and last trip we stayed till midnight every night, and there was no chance in heck of making 7 am MM/EMH rope drop, so the early entry was wasted on us. We rolled in around 8 or so... so not horribly late and then stayed till midnight... we did find that we could ride just as much that last hour or so as we could at 7 am.

So back to my plans... fly in Thursday night, stay at Fairfield Inn across the street (anyone stay there? We have done all the on-site hotels and actually love PPH.) Likely start with DCA Friday morning, because I plan on having Halloween tix for that night (if they move Halloween to DCA, we would start in DL instead.) We have gone on this weekend more than once and every year it gets more crowded. But we know how to zig when everyone else is zagging, and I am sure we will be fine with max pass too...

Saturday we plan on doing something completely different... going to Universal. We have done Orlando and adore it. But we have never done Hollywood... so that is the plan for Saturday, capped off with Halloween Horror Nights! So that will be another late night.

Sunday we will head back into DL/DCA... I did get hoppers, we tend to hop multiple times... not unusual for us to start in DL, move to a DCA by lunch and go back to DL after dinner. I plan on getting a late flight out, so we can stay in the parks until 6 or so...

I am pretty stoked. Staying off site is saving us enough money to add universal in... plus we will get a really nice Disney gift card from booking with Costco... now I just have to wait to get party tix!

 

[ashnjam]

Okay, booked our trip! Crazy whirlwind trip again... it gets hard in high school when your kiddo is taking a ton of honors/AP classes for her to miss school. So we have been cramming a trip on a 3 day weekend the last couple years. Just her and I, so dad can stay home with the dog lol! Also ends up being a great break for Dd who needs a stress reliever by mid-October.

So here is the current plan... we usually fly down on the 1st flight of the day on Friday morning and are in the parks by 10 or so. But this time I think we are going Thursday, one of the evening flights... I haven’t really looked yet. Then we can have a good night sleep instead of getting up at 3 am to catch a plane (we fly out of Portland, OR.) Staying off-site for the first time ever (heck, I may change my mind)... but we are only doing 2 park days, and last trip we stayed till midnight every night, and there was no chance in heck of making 7 am MM/EMH rope drop, so the early entry was wasted on us. We rolled in around 8 or so... so not horribly late and then stayed till midnight... we did find that we could ride just as much that last hour or so as we could at 7 am.

So back to my plans... fly in Thursday night, stay at Fairfield Inn across the street (anyone stay there? We have done all the on-site hotels and actually love PPH.) Likely start with DCA Friday morning, because I plan on having Halloween tix for that night (if they move Halloween to DCA, we would start in DL instead.) We have gone on this weekend more than once and every year it gets more crowded. But we know how to zig when everyone else is zagging, and I am sure we will be fine with max pass too...

Saturday we plan on doing something completely different... going to Universal. We have done Orlando and adore it. But we have never done Hollywood... so that is the plan for Saturday, capped off with Halloween Horror Nights! So that will be another late night.

Sunday we will head back into DL/DCA... I did get hoppers, we tend to hop multiple times... not unusual for us to start in DL, move to a DCA by lunch and go back to DL after dinner. I plan on getting a late flight out, so we can stay in the parks until 6 or so...

I am pretty stoked. Staying off site is saving us enough money to add universal in... plus we will get a really nice Disney gift card from booking with Costco... now I just have to wait to get party tix!

Yay! I was always interested in Universal in California! I haven’t been to the one in Orlando in probably 15 years, when my wife and I were just dating ha! Hear its a good park for one day and Horror Nights has to be a blast! How far is Universal From DL?

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

Yay! I was always interested in Universal in California! I haven’t been to the one in Orlando in probably 15 years, when my wife and I were just dating ha! Hear its a good park for one day and Horror Nights has to be a blast! How far is Universal From DL?

It’s about an hour... not sure if we are going to rent a car for the weekend or just uber/lyft... I’ve never driven in CA... always used alternative transport.

 

[GenGen22]

It’s about an hour... not sure if we are going to rent a car for the weekend or just uber/lyft... I’ve never driven in CA... always used alternative transport.

It's about 45 minutes with good traffic but with bad traffic it can take up to 2 hours so, do add in extra time to get there. We have gone to USH a few times from Anaheim. My suggestion is to be there at opening as Saturday's can be very busy there. My second suggestion is head all the way into the lower lot and work your way back toward the front of the park to get more done with shorter wait times unless your buying a front of the line pass. People tend to do the from of the park first and move toward the lower lot last so, doing the opposite is the best strategy.

 

[tarheelalum]

Yay! I was always interested in Universal in California! I haven’t been to the one in Orlando in probably 15 years, when my wife and I were just dating ha! Hear its a good park for one day and Horror Nights has to be a blast! How far is Universal From DL?

If you want a incredible horror experience, Knott's Berry Farms beats Universal any day. And its cheaper and only a 10 minute drive from Disneyland in Buena Park.

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

If you want a incredible horror experience, Knott's Berry Farms beats Universal any day. And its cheaper and only a 10 minute drive from Disneyland in Buena Park.

Thanks! We are also Harry Potter geeks and are looking forward to the new Jurassic ride... so maybe next time!

 

[taysherrrx]

Did I create an account just to post on this particular post? Absolutely I did! I literally just booked our October trip and I am so excited. It will be me, boyfriend, DD (4y.o.), and my grandma. This will be DDʻs second time to DL. She was 1 the last time we went and she still loves looking at her pictures from that time. Boyfriend is a CM at Disney Aulani and heʻs excited to see the parks again from the eyes of a CM.

We will be there from Sept. 29 - Oct. 3. I did my CP at Magic Kingdom in 2013 and I love, love, love the parks during the holidays, especially Halloween. But Iʻve never been to DL for Halloween so I am beyond excited!!! We are definitely doing a Halloween party. Iʻm also looking forward to taking my daughter to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for the first time. Also, eating at the Plaza Inn for breakfast and getting a raspberry macaron is high on my list.

 

[Tasmen]

Probably going to regret this as much as one regrets a Disney vacation, but we will be there Oct 4-7. We went that time this year and it was insane busy but hey...when in Southern California, Disney is a must!

 

[ashnjam]

Did I create an account just to post on this particular post? Absolutely I did! I literally just booked our October trip and I am so excited. It will be me, boyfriend, DD (4y.o.), and my grandma. This will be DDʻs second time to DL. She was 1 the last time we went and she still loves looking at her pictures from that time. Boyfriend is a CM at Disney Aulani and heʻs excited to see the parks again from the eyes of a CM.

We will be there from Sept. 29 - Oct. 3. I did my CP at Magic Kingdom in 2013 and I love, love, love the parks during the holidays, especially Halloween. But Iʻve never been to DL for Halloween so I am beyond excited!!! We are definitely doing a Halloween party. Iʻm also looking forward to taking my daughter to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for the first time. Also, eating at the Plaza Inn for breakfast and getting a raspberry macaron is high on my list.

Haha cool! 4 years is such a fun age to be with them in the parks, really special. I was a CM at Magic Kingdom when I was a junior and senior in High School long time ago..the 90’s! Loved working there so much. Halloween at DL is the best! Happy Planning!

 

[ashnjam]

Probably going to regret this as much as one regrets a Disney vacation, but we will be there Oct 4-7. We went that time this year and it was insane busy but hey...when in Southern California, Disney is a must!

Wow and they always said the first week was the best week of October to go. Really no slow season or times any longer.

 

[tarheelalum]

Wow and they always said the first week was the best week of October to go. Really no slow season or times any longer.

It often is less crowded on the very first weekend of the Halloween parties in mid September but by the first week of October it is usually going full swing and quite crowded. Especially the Friday night party.

 

[Jperiod]

We're going Oct 13-15 at Hyatt Place at Anaheim Resort/Convention Center for DD's 9th birthday. No party because we'll likely do it in Sept.

I was thinking Oct 14 would be chaos because of columbus day, but I noticed no one has it off this year? Many school breaks are the week before, so really hoping for reasonable crowds when we fly in Sunday morning.

 

[MSH518]

We are taking a Disney cruise on the Wonder (Halloween on the High Seas!) and plan to take the train up to DL afterwards. Going to book the Fairfield Inn from October 9 through the weekend, but I'm a little surprised how high the rates are. Will cross my fingers that the rates come down in a little over the next few months. We can't wait!

 

[tarheelalum]

We're going Oct 13-15 at Hyatt Place at Anaheim Resort/Convention Center for DD's 9th birthday. No party because we'll likely do it in Sept.

I was thinking Oct 14 would be chaos because of columbus day, but I noticed no one has it off this year? Many school breaks are the week before, so really hoping for reasonable crowds when we fly in Sunday morning.

Columbus day is usually very crowded. Friday through Monday is usually very crowded.

 

[Jperiod]

Columbus day is usually very crowded. Friday through Monday is usually very crowded.

That's what I thought too, but school is in session this year, so why would it be busy?

 

[Tasmen]

Wow and they always said the first week was the best week of October to go. Really no slow season or times any longer.

First weekend in October is usually Gay Days. That brings an enormous amount of people to the parks for the weekend. Typically I think they plan to have the park of the day be Disneyland on Saturday and California Adventure on Sunday.

That said, we were able to do everything we wanted to do on those days with no difficulty. Bless you Maxpass.

 

[Tasmen]

We are taking a Disney cruise on the Wonder (Halloween on the High Seas!) and plan to take the train up to DL afterwards. Going to book the Fairfield Inn from October 9 through the weekend, but I'm a little surprised how high the rates are. Will cross my fingers that the rates come down in a little over the next few months. We can't wait!

We are doing the same thing though ours is a repositioning cruise arriving in San Diego on the 4th. We are also going to take the train up and then DL.

 

[tarheelalum]

That's what I thought too, but school is in session this year, so why would it be busy?

Because of all the adults who are off work. Tons of people who live in SoCal without kids go to Disneyland and they go in large numbers on 3 day holiday weekends. Families and kids are just part of the equation.

 

[ZimTheMouse]

Oct 26-30 (Wife's 50th birthday) - Paradise Pier

Need a good birthday dinner reservation spot and wondering if anybody does cakes. We celebrated her birthday at WDW several years ago by dining at Tony's Town Square. Had the Contemporary Resort Chef bake a cake and had it delivered to the restaurant. Would like to do the same at DL if possible.