Turning 28 at DLR! A 6/12 solo/Dismeet PTR! -- On hold until 2012; 3/14

[DisneyFirefly]

Hello!

I'm Dana, I'm 26, and a WDW vet (and a former CM), but I've never had the opportunity to go to DLR. I've looked into it in the past, but never decided to go. Then I met a lovely person here on the Dis known as franandaj (hitherto known as Alison or Ali) who lives near there and now I'm going to DLR for my birthday next year!



I'm the one in the white shirt This was taken on my trip to WDW last month, by my lovely Dis friend PrincessInOz, who I spent three days with at WDW

So, this is the plan for right now.

Where and When: I'll be departing Chicago on May 31 and coming home on June 4. My birthday's June 3. I'll be staying with franandaj and her DP in their villa at the Grand Californian I was looking at a hotel on my own and she basically told me not to worry about it. I really have no clue what the itinerary is going to be, but she said something about a couple of surprises, but I haven't a clue what they are.

Why: As I mentioned, my birthday is June 3, so I'll be there for my birthday. I spent my 20th and 24th birthdays at Magic Kingdom at WDW (both as a CM), so this should be fun. This will be a quasi-solo, quasi-Dismeet trip, much like the one I just came home from. Alison and I have discussed the fact that I move much quicker than she and her DP do, and I'm all right with that, as are they. I have absolutely no problem hanging out in the park by myself, especially since I've never been to this one and won't have anyone to laugh at me if I get lost

A little about me: As I said, I'm 26 and a former WDW CM. I currently have not one, not two, but FOUR Disney trips planned within the next two years. I have this one, a trip with my best friend and her husband to WDW in 11/11, and a trip to WDW with two friends in 12/11. Those two WDW trips will be in a combined PTR over on that part of the Dis. My family is also planning a reunion in WDW in November 2012. I love Disney and plan to move back to work for them. I also am currently considering starting a home based travel agency, since I help people plan WDW trips all the time here at home. At the moment, though, I work as a night shift nurse's aide at an assisted living facility. I'm hoping to switch to days in January, but that will depend on if there's a position open. The reason I took nights was because of the way our shifts work (rotating 12 hour shifts) and the fact that if I'd enrolled at a traditional on-campus university to finish my degree (at the time, I was going to go into nursing), I wouldn't be able to attend classes if I worked day shift. I'm instead going to do an online program for a business degree.

Now, I have no clue what goes into planning a trip to DLR. I'm used to planning for WDW, and I know that it's a little different when you're going to California So, yeah, any tips or suggestions would be awesome

Yay!


Links

Airline, airport, airfare confusion
Dining ideas
Ticketing options and birthday chatter
Dining chatter
Possibly on hold or canceled...
On hold until my 28th birthday

[PrincessInOz]

Just in case anyone missed it.....

The HAG is the one on the LEFT! (Did I get it the RIGHT way round??)

Marking my spot.

[DisneyFirefly]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

Just in case anyone missed it.....

The HAG is the one on the LEFT! (Did I get it the RIGHT way round??)

Marking my spot.

You are such a dork



Glad you're here!

[PrincessInOz]

Just doing my Dis-board Civic duty....

[DisneyFirefly]

[therussells08]

I've never been to DLR or the DLR boards, but I'm here!

[franandaj]

Yay for the DLR TR!

So here's a few things I'd like to add.....

Here's what our room will look like:













You can either sleep here:



or here:



This will be your bathroom:





But I might let you use my jacuzzi tub:



This is my bedroom:







And hopefully this will be our view from the room:

[PrincessInOz]

Originally Posted by franandaj

Yay for the DLR TR!

So here's a few things I'd like to add.....

Here's what our room will look like:













You can either sleep here:



or here:



This will be your bathroom:





But I might let you use my jacuzzi tub:



This is my bedroom:







And hopefully this will be our view from the room:

Alison - I'm NOT sure if I expressed myself as clearly as Firefly did in your Cheating PTR.....But.......I so hate you at the moment!!

That sure is a nice apartment and VIEW!!!

[DisneyFirefly]

Originally Posted by therussells08

I've never been to DLR or the DLR boards, but I'm here!

Yay! I've poked at the DLR boards before when I was looking at taking this trip, but I never really hung out here much, since I didn't have any information or a need of any at the time

Originally Posted by franandaj

Yay for the DLR TR!

So here's a few things I'd like to add.....

Here's what our room will look like:

That room is beautiful! I can't wait to go!

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

Alison - I'm NOT sure if I expressed myself as clearly as Firefly did in your Cheating PTR.....But.......I so hate you at the moment!!

That sure is a nice apartment and VIEW!!!

I know, right?! You should try and come up

[DisneyFirefly]

All righty, so, I don't have much to update with at the moment, but I'm trying to figure out my flight so I know what to look for. I almost exclusively fly Southwest, which flies out of Midway Airport here in Chicago. They fly into LAX, SNA, Burbank, and a few other airports, but I don't know which would be the best option.

I'm leaning toward LAX, but I really don't know what would be best. I'm also not sure how to get from the airport to the Grand Californian Any suggestions? I've never been to California at all.

[franandaj]

Originally Posted by DisneyFirefly

All righty, so, I don't have much to update with at the moment, but I'm trying to figure out my flight so I know what to look for. I almost exclusively fly Southwest, which flies out of Midway Airport here in Chicago. They fly into LAX, SNA, Burbank, and a few other airports, but I don't know which would be the best option.

I'm leaning toward LAX, but I really don't know what would be best. I'm also not sure how to get from the airport to the Grand Californian Any suggestions? I've never been to California at all.

I will be happy to pick you up at the airport. SNA is preferred, LAX is OK, but sucky, Burbank could be a nightmare, it's at least an hour away in good traffic!

[DisneyFirefly]

Originally Posted by franandaj

I will be happy to pick you up at the airport. SNA is preferred, LAX is OK, but sucky, Burbank could be a nightmare, it's at least an hour away in good traffic!

Works for me I looked at airfare to LAX and SNA on Southwest out of Midway and they're both all right at the moment. I can't get the exact dates yet, though. And I'm sure I could find something cheaper if I fly out of O'Hare.

[franandaj]

Also to add to the last post, if you went to SNA, I could stop by the hotel on the way back (if you came in earlier than Fran was ready to go out there) we could drop off luggage with Bell Services, check in (get a good room) and let you start running around while I went back and dealt with the chaos at home, we would have room keys, and Fran and I could come back in our own time and get into the room once she is ready, which takes time!

With LAX there would be some serious backtracking, and it is a huge airport. I'm guessing that you would be coming in earlier than we might be ready to go out to the parks so in this instance we'd have to figure out what to do, take a shuttle or see if I could get there....

Let me know the options and we can work it out....

[DisneyFirefly]

Originally Posted by franandaj

Also to add to the last post, if you went to SNA, I could stop by the hotel on the way back (if you came in earlier than Fran was ready to go out there) we could drop off luggage with Bell Services, check in (get a good room) and let you start running around while I went back and dealt with the chaos at home, we would have room keys, and Fran and I could come back in our own time and get into the room once she is ready, which takes time!

With LAX there would be some serious backtracking, and it is a huge airport. I'm guessing that you would be coming in earlier than we might be ready to go out to the parks so in this instance we'd have to figure out what to do, take a shuttle or see if I could get there....

Let me know the options and we can work it out....

SNA works for me I prefer earlier flights, so I'm leaning toward one of those. If you'd like to do that, I don't mind. I'm pretty flexible. O'Hare's pretty huge as well, so I understand about big airports. If my flight gets in too early for you guys (the earliest I saw from O'Hare was landing around 10am and from Midway around 8:30, I think), then I can always take a cab or something. We'll figure it out

[stephielela]

I love SNA! When my BFF and I were planning our SoCal trip, we were going to fly SW there. I flew out of there to go back to college when we went to FLR for my 22nd Bday, it's cute, and smallish, which is nice!

P.S. Subbing!