Southern California (& Disneyland): Backstage Magic Meets Thread

sayhello · May 15, 2015

Lorraine said:
Hi

Have just PIF for our ABD Backstage Magic on 16th August. IT is an adult only trip and will be my husband (Giles) and me to celebrate my 50th bday which is in July. We are then heading over to Florida to meet my sister and her family and do a 7 day cruise on the Fantasy - very excited!
we are from the UK and have done many cruises and visits to WDW but this is our first ABD

Lorraine

Congrats! I've added you to the Roll Call on the first post of this thread. I've really enjoyed celebrating a few of my Birthdays on ABD's. A great way to celebrate!

Sayhello

White Rose · May 15, 2015

Our trip seems so far away...148 days till we fly to CA...

I keep hoping to see new trip reports for ABD southern CA....anyone find any recent ones for this year's itinerary? I think that would be from March 2015 and newer. It would help tide me over....I am used to being the trip planner, and this year I have nothing to plan! It is a bit weird...I am going into planning withdrawl!

Eeyore's the Best · May 16, 2015

White Rose, I know the feeling! I've pretty much planned all that there is to plan at this point. We have solidified our pre and post night plans, we ended up spending the money for the pre night at the Loews instead of staying At an airport hotel. We booked our additional 4 night post nights at paradise pier. The only thing we are not 100 percent sure on is what to do all day Sunday before the welcome dinner, we are actually considering possibly going to Universal Studios that day!

Mickey&JoshNut · May 16, 2015

White Rose said:
Our trip seems so far away...148 days till we fly to CA...

I keep hoping to see new trip reports for ABD southern CA....anyone find any recent ones for this year's itinerary? I think that would be from March 2015 and newer. It would help tide me over....I am used to being the trip planner, and this year I have nothing to plan! It is a bit weird...I am going into planning withdrawl!

White Rose I understand your wanting to read trip reports but by doing so you may spoil the surprises or be disappointed because you didn't get the same thing as another trip...I went was on the BSM in June 2014....and I am glad I didn't read any trip reports beforehand...because the surprises just added to the trip....the BSM ABD is amazing and you will love every minute of it....if you are in Hollywood prior to your ABD I would highly recommend seeing a movie at the El Capitain theatre...I saw Maleficent there and they had some sets and costumes from the movie that were amazing to see.

White Rose · May 16, 2015

Eeyore's the Best said:
White Rose, I know the feeling! I've pretty much planned all that there is to plan at this point. We have solidified our pre and post night plans, we ended up spending the money for the pre night at the Loews instead of staying At an airport hotel. We booked our additional 4 night post nights at paradise pier. The only thing we are not 100 percent sure on is what to do all day Sunday before the welcome dinner, we are actually considering possibly going to Universal Studios that day!

I do have another trip to plan, but it is a bit outside of my norm. My dad decided he wants to take the whole family to WDW and Universal for his 80th. He put my hubby and I in charge of planning...10 people. (Ages: 80 to 9!) the kicker...we are doing that trip over Labor Day!

We did universal Hollywood when we were there our first trip to the area. It was a fun day, but for us it will be just too much, considering whe will have done Orlando about a month before! (My dad decided what he wanted after we booked ABD!) We are doing the WB tour after ABD.

We are doing 5....yes 5.... Hotels. Some on points...Embassy suites, then Loews and GC with ABD...then Tangerine in Burbank, then Hyatt.

Have fun!!

ssc021796 · May 22, 2015

On average, how much time do we need to allow for the drive back to the airport for our return flight home? Not sure how early the driver will show up.

Cousin Orville · May 22, 2015

ssc021796 said:
On average, how much time do we need to allow for the drive back to the airport for our return flight home? Not sure how early the driver will show up.

Which airport? From Disneyland to SNA is less than 30 min. LAX is 45min-1hr without traffic.

ssc021796 · May 23, 2015

Cousin Orville said:
Which airport? From Disneyland to SNA is less than 30 min. LAX is 45min-1hr without traffic.

LAX. I'm guessing the driver will allow 2 or 3 hours (for security, bag check, drive time)

Cousin Orville · May 23, 2015

ssc021796 said:
LAX. I'm guessing the driver will allow 2 or 3 hours (for security, bag check, drive time)

I think my pickup time was 3hrs before my flight out of SNA. I remember wandering around the airport for a while.

You'll have a great time. It's a very special ABD for Disney fans.

ssc021796 · Jun 18, 2015

Post trip, how long before we can see the pictures? It's almost been a week :guilty:

since my tour ended and I have not had any luck signing in.

White Rose · Jun 18, 2015

ssc021796 said:
Post trip, how long before we can see the pictures? It's almost been a week since my tour ended and I have not had any luck signing in.

are you gonna do a trip report? :flower:

ssc021796 · Jun 18, 2015

I plan to. Just waiting on the rest of my pics. 2000+ so far

knewton64 · Jun 19, 2015

Eeyore's the Best said:
White Rose, I know the feeling! I've pretty much planned all that there is to plan at this point. We have solidified our pre and post night plans, we ended up spending the money for the pre night at the Loews instead of staying At an airport hotel. We booked our additional 4 night post nights at paradise pier. The only thing we are not 100 percent sure on is what to do all day Sunday before the welcome dinner, we are actually considering possibly going to Universal Studios that day!

Hey.....

for the kind tip about Paradise Pier (didn't really realize that we have options here on Hotels) as I am now just down to choosing how many pre and post nights for my Oct '16 ABD BSM adventure :yay:

(what D23 Club is currently doing is what mainly caught my attention about this adventure).

And yes,
I always do trip reports so you should see my begin to come online in about 4 weeks or so. :teleport:

P.S. Yes, I am heading out to Universal Studios in about 85 more days (but who is countin'? :tongue:

) - so if u r curios about a first timers visit into Universal Studios, I will have it listed in my below signature trip report that begins, "My Adventures n Disneyland, Catalina Island......"

T.T.F.N.
&
CHEERS Y'ALL :smooth:

Eeyore's the Best · Jun 19, 2015

Great! Can't wait to read it. We won't have the whole day to do it on the Sunday because we have to get back for the welcome dinner but we are going to attempt the highlights, mostly Studio tour, Jruassic park, Transformers, Simpsons.

White Rose · Jun 27, 2015

Eeyore's the Best said:
White Rose, I know the feeling! I've pretty much planned all that there is to plan at this point. We have solidified our pre and post night plans, we ended up spending the money for the pre night at the Loews instead of staying At an airport hotel. We booked our additional 4 night post nights at paradise pier. The only thing we are not 100 percent sure on is what to do all day Sunday before the welcome dinner, we are actually considering possibly going to Universal Studios that day!

Hey, wanted to let you know...the count for our trip is up to 17! There are 11 groups booked, so there are a few singles!

Also confirmed we get WOC, PTN and fireworks viewing...as well as "other 60th anniversary surprises"...yay!

Dreamer Kevin · Jun 29, 2015

Sweetie (Allison) and I (real name Fredo) will be on the October 11-16, 2015 trip. This is our first ADB trip and we're so looking forward to meeting everyone and going behind the scenes in Tinsletown and DL resort.

White Rose · Jun 29, 2015

Dreamer Kevin said:
Sweetie (Allison) and I (real name Fredo) will be on the October 11-16, 2015 trip. This is our first ADB trip and we're so looking forward to meeting everyone and going behind the scenes in Tinsletown and DL resort.

we are going on the same trip. If you go through the last few pages you will see we are flying down the day before and staying local to the airport at an embassy suites and switching in the morning of the 11th to The Loews. Our plans are to do the Roosevelt hotel, which I think is the inspiration for the tower of terror hotel design?No? Well, anyway it looks like an awesome old hotel and a few people have visited it from previous trips. We are also going to the tar pits, if we can do both that would be great. Afterwards, we are staying an extra day or two at DL and then doing the WB studio tour. Because we are using points we are staying at 3 hotels on our own and 2 during the trip, making it a total of FIVE hotels. Ugh. We are using packing cubes so it will be easy to unpack...and repack and unpack and...ugh...

103 days till we leave!

CrazyZeus1 · Jul 1, 2015

We are going October 25-30!
Heather, Jeff, & Reese (12)

Dreamer Kevin · Jul 5, 2015

White Rose said:
we are going on the same trip. If you go through the last few pages you will see we are flying down the day before and staying local to the airport at an embassy suites and switching in the morning of the 11th to The Loews. Our plans are to do the Roosevelt hotel, which I think is the inspiration for the tower of terror hotel design?No? Well, anyway it looks like an awesome old hotel and a few people have visited it from previous trips. We are also going to the tar pits, if we can do both that would be great. Afterwards, we are staying an extra day or two at DL and then doing the WB studio tour. Because we are using points we are staying at 3 hotels on our own and 2 during the trip, making it a total of FIVE hotels. Ugh. We are using packing cubes so it will be easy to unpack...and repack and unpack and...ugh...

103 days till we leave!

Thanks for the welcome. We want to do the WB tour, too, and probably will come in a day early and do that prior to the BSM kick-off. If you come across anymore tips or insider stuff that might be helpful for fellow travelers, we'd love to hear it. See you in October! :tiptoe:

White Rose · Jul 6, 2015

Dreamer Kevin said:
Thanks for the welcome. We want to do the WB tour, too, and probably will come in a day early and do that prior to the BSM kick-off. If you come across anymore tips or insider stuff that might be helpful for fellow travelers, we'd love to hear it. See you in October!

The Tar pits are not too far - it's apparently in walking distance. I think there is a farmer's market within walking distance too. Also I read in other's trip reports they visited the Roosevelt Hotel, which is an older hotel that is themed in a 1930's style apparently, and some compare it to The tower of Terror hotel design - it's supposedly haunted, too! (I like a bit of spooky stuff!)

We are not planning a lot of pre ABD stuff. We are coming back to Burbank after the tour and staying at a hotel near the WB studio. The reason we are doing the trip that way is because we have to end up back at LAX for our flight home, and we plan on relaxing after the heavy walking ABD days.

Out plans are:

Sat: Fly in for dinnertime - Hotel #1
Sun: Transfer to Loews. (hotel #2)Tar pits, visiting Roosevelt Hotel (maybe - hopefully!) and maybe a trip to El Capitain, if we don't go there during ABD. (I'm waiting to see if people post trip reports to know if we go inside or not.)
Mon - Fri - ABD - And Hotel #3 - Grand Californian!
Fri - Sun : Staying at the GC till Sunday night - for some relaxing days!!! spend a bit of time in the parks - DL/CA
Sun:transferring back to Burbank for hotel #4!
Monday: WB Tour, then.. yes...insanity! transferring to hotel...#5!
Tuesday: Fly back to reality.

The extra hotels we are staying at are on points. Free breakfast/food too. After we booked the trip, I was laid off from work. I spent from last August (till April) trying to find a new job. We are doing the hotel hopping to save money. We could change from the GC to a cheaper hotel, but with 5 hotels already being planned, we drew the line there! I am now employed, but we are sticking with the hotel hopping because of the savings. It has worked out quite a bit.

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