Mich123
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2009
This was a spur of the moment trip, we'd planned for months to be in Southern California in mid September, but the original plan was to spend a day at the beach after dropping our youngest daughter off at college. As the drop off day approached, I realized that a day at the beach might just be too sad and that we needed activity, adventure, and a manic pace only found at Disney to transition to the new phase of our lives: official empty nesters.
We decided to use Max Pass, which was a bargain since there were only two of us. We visited on Monday, September 25th, which was a Halloween Party day. We decided on DCA because we have an upcoming trip to WDW and we wanted to go on RSR and GOTG, hopefully after dark.
I was also determined to hit up Trader Sam's as it is one of my favorite places on earth, and what a better place to drown those sorrows after dropping off DD18.
We also stayed off premises, which worked out fine, but we are hoping to try the DL resorts again sometime soon. Our three previous trips were spent at the Grand Californian and we were a little bit spoiled by those experiences. As this was a last minute trip and a short one, we wanted to keep within our original beach budget, so the best way to do that was to stay at the Marriott Courtyard. We stayed at the Courtyard farther from DL, which was approximately 2600 steps from the main entrance. We're fast walkers, it took us about 20 minutes. Well, maybe it was less, but it seemed like forever. The "other" Courtyard looks like tons of fun and is near the main gate. The price of the farther away Courtyard was $119 a night. It was clean and we got an upgrade to a king sized bed in a suite--sweeet! The "theme park entrance" Courtyard is about $200 more. Since we love to walk, it wasn't a problem.
We decided to use Max Pass, which was a bargain since there were only two of us. We visited on Monday, September 25th, which was a Halloween Party day. We decided on DCA because we have an upcoming trip to WDW and we wanted to go on RSR and GOTG, hopefully after dark.
I was also determined to hit up Trader Sam's as it is one of my favorite places on earth, and what a better place to drown those sorrows after dropping off DD18.
We also stayed off premises, which worked out fine, but we are hoping to try the DL resorts again sometime soon. Our three previous trips were spent at the Grand Californian and we were a little bit spoiled by those experiences. As this was a last minute trip and a short one, we wanted to keep within our original beach budget, so the best way to do that was to stay at the Marriott Courtyard. We stayed at the Courtyard farther from DL, which was approximately 2600 steps from the main entrance. We're fast walkers, it took us about 20 minutes. Well, maybe it was less, but it seemed like forever. The "other" Courtyard looks like tons of fun and is near the main gate. The price of the farther away Courtyard was $119 a night. It was clean and we got an upgrade to a king sized bed in a suite--sweeet! The "theme park entrance" Courtyard is about $200 more. Since we love to walk, it wasn't a problem.
