DL Tours after ABD Backstage Magic

J

Jax1970

Earning My Ears
Joined
May 4, 2008
Hi,

DH and I are taking Backstage Magic this June (21 - 26), and then staying for a fruether 3 days at DL. This will probably be our only visit to DL as it is so much easier to get to Florida from the UK. Has anyone done any of the DL tours and Backstage Magic? Would it be worthwhile booking "Walk in Walt's Disneyland Footsteps" and "Disney California Story Tour" for our extra days, or do you think we'll have either "had our fill of tours" or "seen it/done it already on ABD"? Is it right that we get a 20% discount on the tours as DVC members?

Thanks!

Jackie
 
Did Backstage Magic this last winter. I think you'll have your fill of touring DL and DCA with ABD. Just take some days for yourself to walk around and enjoy the parks.
 
i agree...

But I did ask the ABD guides if there is anything "more" u get w Walk in Walts... and they basically said "not really"
 


White Rose said:
We were thinking about the happiest haunts tour this Oct after ABD - would that be good?
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Happiest Haunts is a very different type of tour - an on-stage adventure (Master Gracey meets up with you - sometimes as a friend, sometimes as a foe), rather than an explanation of how things work backstage. We took it after the ABD tour in 2013 and didn't consider it to be duplicative, even though you will visit some of the same attractions.
 
jsilvers said:
Happiest Haunts is a very different type of tour - an on-stage adventure (Master Gracey meets up with you - sometimes as a friend, sometimes as a foe), rather than an explanation of how things work backstage. We took it after the ABD tour in 2013 and didn't consider it to be duplicative, even though you will visit some of the same attractions.
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Question - is this tour meant more for children?
 
White Rose said:
Question - is this tour meant more for children?
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It tries to walk the line of being enjoyable for both adults and kids, and I thought it was largely successful (although I'm not a regular DL visitor, so any time at DL is a good time). Depending on the storyline, it might actually be a bit creepy for younger kids (the 2011 version of the tour ended with a surprise reappearance by Master Gracey just before the elevator doors closed at the Tower of Terror - and a threat that you were being sent to the Fifth Dimension forever...).
 


Thanks for your help. Good to know I won't miss anything major by skipping any other tours.
 
You definitely won't miss anything major by skipping the other tours. One of our guides this past February works full time as a VIP tour guide at both Disneyland and California Adventure when he's not working for Adventures by Disney. You will get so much background information on Disneyland and C.A. from your ABD guide that the other tours will just be rehashing the stuff you've already learned. Plus, if you happen to be on an adults only excursion, you will need the extra days to actually take in the parks and do what you want to do. We had very little "Free Time on our own" in the parks on our adults only excursion. We are actually heading back to DL this December to take in everything we missed, lol.
 
Cinderella's Slipper 2015 said:
You definitely won't miss anything major by skipping the other tours. One of our guides this past February works full time as a VIP tour guide at both Disneyland and California Adventure when he's not working for Adventures by Disney. You will get so much background information on Disneyland and C.A. from your ABD guide that the other tours will just be rehashing the stuff you've already learned. Plus, if you happen to be on an adults only excursion, you will need the extra days to actually take in the parks and do what you want to do. We had very little "Free Time on our own" in the parks on our adults only excursion. We are actually heading back to DL this December to take in everything we missed, lol.
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That's useful to know, we're thinking of adding a couple of days to the end of our trip for extra park time, so sounds like this will be a sensible move!
 
meryll83 said:
That's useful to know, we're thinking of adding a couple of days to the end of our trip for extra park time, so sounds like this will be a sensible move!
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We were on the Adult Only trip and on our arrival day at Disneyland we had maybe 2 hours to explore the park on our own after having dinner and taking part in the optional activity of seeing Fantasmic and riding Haunted Mansion. The next day which was our first full day at Disneyland was so jam packed with stuff that by the time we finished with the final optional activity, which was VIP seats for the afternoon parade it was after 4:30pm. We had time to get dinner in the park and then have a few hours to explore on our own again. The final day of the trip which was at California Adventure we were "on tour" for the morning until around 11:00-11:30am. We chose not to partake of the afternoon optional activities which were seeing the Aladdin stage show and the Frozen Sing-A-Long. We've seen the Broadway version of Aladdin which was spun off the Disneyland version and we can't take Frozen anymore so we used the afternoon to hit the rides at California Adventure. But again we only had about 5 hours maximum on our own that day cause we had to meet for dinner.

We took a late flight out on our departure day so that we could enjoy some of Disneyland on our own. We didn't get to do nearly enough stuff while we were there which is why we are heading back in December.

If you are thinking of extending your stay, I would consider switching hotels after your ABD trip to one of the good neighbour hotels. We looked at extending our stay at the Grand Californian through ABD but it was going to cost us like $600 a night to add additional nights through ABD.
 
meryll83 said:
Are there any perks you lose by staying offsite?
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Extra Magic Hour (one hour prior to park opening early morning entrance to one of the parks - it alternates which park has it which day). And being able to have your purchases sent to your hotel. That's really about it. It's not like WDW, where proximity and transportation are a benefit. Whereas the Grand Californian is right next to California Adventure (with a direct entrance), some of the Good Neighbor hotels are actual closer to Disneyland Park. (You need to walk through Downtown Disney to get to Disneyland Park from the Grand Californian). Many of the Good Neighbor Hotels are within easy walking distance of both parks.

Sayhello
 
Like sayhello said, it's not like at DW where you have all these extras to entice you to stay on site. While you may not be able to take part in Early morning Extra Magic Hours, they do have Magic Mornings for people who hold a 3,4 or 5 day park hopper pass, which is essentially early morning extra magic hours as it gets you into a specified park on a certain morning 1 hour prior to park opening. I know people from my group stayed at the Best Western that is right across the street from Disneyland so they were no farther away than when we were at the Grand Californian. The Best Western also had free continental breakfasts for its guests.
 
One other thing you lose is the transportation to the hotel. You will still get picked up at a pre-schedule time by a private car to take you to the airport. Granted, it probably ISN'T worth staying in GC if you wouldn't stay on Disney property normally, but it is something that you have to figure out before. Our problem was that when we are going, there were practically no rooms that were "cheap" available. There were none for DL hotel and that was where we were hoping to switch to (or a good neighbor if it wasn't available). I am not sure why there was no availability, seemed crazy to me.
 
Which is the cheapest Disney hotel to still get the perks? Disneyland?
 
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