2013 Dis Exclusive Backstage Magic 12/15 - 12/20/13 SOLD OUT!!!!!

[OKW Lover]

If you check the thread from this July BSM trip I believe it was about 1:00. We all had the same question. I think the discussion was more towards toe end of the thread

[Addicted to Dopey]

1 sounds about right!

[skunkvette]

Regarding early arrivals and car rentals for Hollywood portion of the adventure...

Cathy and I rented a car for a few days on our February 2011 DIS/BSM/ABD.

The car was a big help in getting around for various sightseeing, if I remember we parked at the Lowes (then Renaissance) with valet for a fee.

Car rental was worth it just to go to the Farmer's Market.

On the first day of the actual adventure, we arranged to meet the last ABD shuttle at LAX before the 1 PM dead line and traveled back to the hotel with some arriving adventurers.

One comment - when you return the rental car to the airport, be sure you know which gate where the ABD representative will be waiting.

We got off the rental shuttle too early and had quite a walk through the gates to get to the ABD pick up location.

Looking forward to our return visit next December!

[Addicted to Dopey]

So i have been watching the United site like a hawk for the past 2 weeks waiting for them to release dates and they just came out for the day we want to head down before the ABD starts (thursday the 12th)! BUT not only are the pts insane (25,000 for economy when usually its 12,500 for economy and 25,000 for first class) the one way fare is $1050!!! I know we are quite a way out from booking, but we have always found with united that as soon as the rates come out the pts are always lowest....this is quite a turn of events!

[stenogoddess]

airfare is always such a trial. I had budgeted $2,000 of us but then it always more expensive to fly out of Savannah. I usually start looking at the six month mark. We'll all keep our fingers crossed on a reduction!

[wdwscout]

Our problem is that, although we usually book airfare as soon as possible (when the dates open up), this time we don't know where we will be flying from!! 2013 will be spent actively trying to make a move to Orlando. I am hopeful we are in and settled somewhere by early fall, but we can't look at tickets yet since we don't know where our home airport is!!
I am an uber-planner- and this will drive me nuts. Thankfully- I have plenty more to keep me on the insane side of the road this year, maybe this will be the least of my problems!

In any event- we are so looking forward to this trip and meeting everyone!!! Disneyland at holiday time AND a DIS-BSM-ABD!! our first ABD!!!

[Addicted to Dopey]

United just came down for EWR to LAX on the 12th this morning!! Got it for 12,500pts (or it would have been $195!)

[stenogoddess]

You bought airfare happy dance of joy!!!

[Addicted to Dopey]

Sooo happy!! Now fingers are crossed that the return flight works out as well! Then I can breathe a sigh of relief!

[JWren1234]

Originally Posted by Addicted to Dopey

United just came down for EWR to LAX on the 12th this morning!! Got it for 12,500pts (or it would have been $195!)

I've been watching these flights too! Just this morning, the flights dropped for R/T from Newark-LAX (on 12/14)/ OC-Newark (on 12/21) from $1100 down to $580. Newark-LAX/LAX-Newark on those dates is coming in around $480. I'm definitely booking tickets this weekend, flying close to Christmas I think these prices are not too bad. Undecided on whether to use points or pay cash and save my miles for 2014 travel.

One thing too with United, I've purchased the Economy Plus seats on my last few flights (usually the exit row seats) and have found them to be worth the extra $ for the extra legroom.

Jason

[Addicted to Dopey]

Originally Posted by JWren1234

I've been watching these flights too! Just this morning, the flights dropped for R/T from Newark-LAX (on 12/14)/ OC-Newark (on 12/21) from $1100 down to $580. Newark-LAX/LAX-Newark on those dates is coming in around $480. I'm definitely booking tickets this weekend, flying close to Christmas I think these prices are not too bad. Undecided on whether to use points or pay cash and save my miles for 2014 travel.

One thing too with United, I've purchased the Economy Plus seats on my last few flights (usually the exit row seats) and have found them to be worth the extra $ for the extra legroom.

Jason

Jason,

since we did so well with using points going out we upgraded our seats to the extra legroom ones since 5 hours in a cramped united/continental plane in regular coach is not my idea of fun! If it was jetblue it would be different but regular coach on anything else is like being crushed and i don't even have long legs! lol

we are still holding out for the returning flight since the pts are still holding at 25,000 for the red eye in coach! it kills me to spend that many points for coach when i know if we went home on Sunday night on the red eye we could fly first class for 25,000. Now i just need to talk my husband into the fact that its really easy to fly the red eye and go back to work the next day instead of flying the red eye Saturday and having Sunday to "re cooperate".

[Addicted to Dopey]

as i mentioned in the above post i am trying to talk my hubby into staying one more additional night and taking the red eye out on Sunday instead of Saturday...i know the parks will be insane but what if we stayed out of them on Sunday and just hung around downtown disney? Is that enough to fill the day, will that be crazy crowded as well? Am i just being silly and we should leave on Saturday night?? any feedback would be appreciated!

[JWren1234]

Originally Posted by Addicted to Dopey

Jason,

since we did so well with using points going out we upgraded our seats to the extra legroom ones since 5 hours in a cramped united/continental plane in regular coach is not my idea of fun! If it was jetblue it would be different but regular coach on anything else is like being crushed and i don't even have long legs! lol

we are still holding out for the returning flight since the pts are still holding at 25,000 for the red eye in coach! it kills me to spend that many points for coach when i know if we went home on Sunday night on the red eye we could fly first class for 25,000. Now i just need to talk my husband into the fact that its really easy to fly the red eye and go back to work the next day instead of flying the red eye Saturday and having Sunday to "re cooperate".

I agree, I've been getting the upgraded coach seats on my last few United flights. Well worth the money!

Jason

[stenogoddess]

Originally Posted by Addicted to Dopey

as i mentioned in the above post i am trying to talk my hubby into staying one more additional night and taking the red eye out on Sunday instead of Saturday...i know the parks will be insane but what if we stayed out of them on Sunday and just hung around downtown disney? Is that enough to fill the day, will that be crazy crowded as well? Am i just being silly and we should leave on Saturday night?? any feedback would be appreciated!

I think that depends on your threshold for crowds. Myself, mine is low. I mean real low. And I always like an extra day to do the laundry and the mail before getting back to work. Since I do all the heavy lifting at home for stuff like that and I control my own schedule in your case I would stay the extra day if I really wanted to (keeping in mind their DTD is smaller than ours) and take Monday off and send Jeri to work. You might need to add in a jetlag factor. Jeri and I both get it pretty bad, but I'm much worse. So there is that to consider as well. You'll get it figured out!

I listen to a podcast that's called Capturing Magic that is all about photo taking and scrapbooking in the parks. Which is really proof that there is a podcast about everything. But I did want to recommend epi CN016 which is all about capturing the magic in Cars Land. The ladies go through the whole land and point out different areas that are not to be missed for photos and where to stand and what not. They also point out where the facilities are, which is always nice to know! It's a fun little listen. If anyone needs it there's also an app for DL and WDW where you can put in all of the photos that you want to get and then when you get close to that area your phone will vibrate to remind you. I thought that was a cool idea! I really don't need it for WDW unless I was working on a specific scrap layout and needed a photo, but I'm more overwhelmed in DL because we've only been there twice so I'm thinking of getting the app to help remind me which photos I want.

We went ahead and booked a preday, now what to do, what to do!?!?

Hope everybody's having a great Sunday!!

[Addicted to Dopey]

Originally Posted by stenogoddess

I think that depends on your threshold for crowds. Myself, mine is low. I mean real low. And I always like an extra day to do the laundry and the mail before getting back to work. Since I do all the heavy lifting at home for stuff like that and I control my own schedule in your case I would stay the extra day if I really wanted to (keeping in mind their DTD is smaller than ours) and take Monday off and send Jeri to work. You might need to add in a jetlag factor. Jeri and I both get it pretty bad, but I'm much worse. So there is that to consider as well. You'll get it figured out!

I listen to a podcast that's called Capturing Magic that is all about photo taking and scrapbooking in the parks. Which is really proof that there is a podcast about everything. But I did want to recommend epi CN016 which is all about capturing the magic in Cars Land. The ladies go through the whole land and point out different areas that are not to be missed for photos and where to stand and what not. They also point out where the facilities are, which is always nice to know! It's a fun little listen. If anyone needs it there's also an app for DL and WDW where you can put in all of the photos that you want to get and then when you get close to that area your phone will vibrate to remind you. I thought that was a cool idea! I really don't need it for WDW unless I was working on a specific scrap layout and needed a photo, but I'm more overwhelmed in DL because we've only been there twice so I'm thinking of getting the app to help remind me which photos I want.

We went ahead and booked a preday, now what to do, what to do!?!?

Hope everybody's having a great Sunday!!

I have a very low tolerance for crowds when we are in WDW, hence why we always avoid going when the kids are out of school, but this would be different since we have never been to DL before and we didnt personally choose this range of dates. That said I think i need to prepare myself for the crowds and just have a different mind set- keep calm and breathe! ha!

I know that i do not suffer from jet lag, but Leo isnt sure how he is since he hasn't flown that far west since he was very young, so thats something to consider when thinking about extending an extra day. We do have 3 1/2 days pre trip booked but we are only doing DL one of those days and I'm always pushing to get the most days packed into our vacations! lol

Thanks for those podcast suggestions! Do you know the name of the picture taking app?? That might come in really handy for us DL virgins!