2013 Dis Exclusive BackstageMagic Adventure 6/9 - 6/14/13

[starwood]

We have our flight out now I just need to find a flight home.

 

[skier_pete]

FYI if anyone lives in the New York/new jersey area. JetBlue has a great fare the morning of Saturday (june 8th) out to lax. $149!!!

We are most likely going to take this flight out there and fly southwest coming home. Flights coming home are about $263

Not sure if this helps anyone but if it does great!

Nice fare! Unfortunately we are on the wrong end of the state for that one.

I will be thrilled if we can RT around $400!

 

[Roryh22]

Hoping to book an upper class miles seat in January for my flight over. I should have enough miles after Podcast Cruise 4.0 .

 

[disneykiwi]

We are staying another 10 days after the tour - at the Best Western Pasrk Place Inn - right across the road from the parks. Its a long way to come from NZ so we decided to make the most of it and stay a couple of weeks all up.

Now we just have to pay for it!!!

 

[skier_pete]

So, I wanted to give everyone a head's up for those looking for SWA tickets. SWA has posted that on November 19th they will be opening their schedule through August 9th, which will of course include our travel dates. They sometimes adjust that date, but it is a Monday which is when they've been opening of late.

However, I also have noticed that they don't always have the best prices on opening day like they used to, so buyer beware.

 

[DarthVader92]

Hey Pete, correct me if I'm wrong but I think they give you a credit if the price goes down.

 

[skier_pete]

Hey Pete, correct me if I'm wrong but I think they give you a credit if the price goes down.

Yes, they do give you credit, but it is a bit restrictive. You have to use the credit on the original ticket holder (a change in recent years ) and also have to fly with the money within one year of the purchase date of the original ticket. If you would still be able to use it then its a good buy.

 

[skier_pete]

Hey everyone,

For those looking for flights on Southwest, seats for June opened up today!

We bought our tickets because the price was right.

Flying out on Saturday, June 8th, arriving 3:20 PM
Leaving Saturday, June 15th @ 1:30 PM. This flights even direct (one stop, no plane change) which is the best you can possibly do LA -> Buffalo.

Round trip, Buffalo to LAX was $398. One flight was booked on points, so we only paid for the one flight plus $7.50.

We were hoping to return home on Sunday, but the flights on Sunday are $70 greater than Saturday. Combine that with an extra day park pass for Saturday, plus an extra night hotel stay on Saturday, and we couldn't come up with a good reason to spend an extra $500+ on a trip that's already stretching our budget to the breaking point, so we will just have Friday as an "extra" day in the park.

Next up...booking hotel rooms for the first night / last night. (Wish we could stay that one extra night at the Grand California, but I don't think I could justify it without some sort of deep discount rate.)

SP

 

[ymxbfalcon]

Hey everyone,

For those looking for flights on Southwest, seats for June opened up today!

We bought our tickets because the price was right.

Flying out on Saturday, June 8th, arriving 3:20 PM
Leaving Saturday, June 15th @ 1:30 PM. This flights even direct (one stop, no plane change) which is the best you can possibly do LA -> Buffalo.

Round trip, Buffalo to LAX was $398. One flight was booked on points, so we only paid for the one flight plus $7.50.

We were hoping to return home on Sunday, but the flights on Sunday are $70 greater than Saturday. Combine that with an extra day park pass for Saturday, plus an extra night hotel stay on Saturday, and we couldn't come up with a good reason to spend an extra $500+ on a trip that's already stretching our budget to the breaking point, so we will just have Friday as an "extra" day in the park.

Next up...booking hotel rooms for the first night / last night. (Wish we could stay that one extra night at the Grand California, but I don't think I could justify it without some sort of deep discount rate.)

SP

I just purchased my plane ticket too. I was able to get direct flights both ways, and I was happy with the times and prices.

 

[DisneyKevin]

Some great news....

We have 4 - 6 spaces available for this Adventure!

Know anybody that wants to have an AMAZING Time?

 

[OKW Lover]

So tempting!!! If Val & I weren't already doing the DCL west Coast reposition cruise and the first Alaska cruise just before that....

Anybody on the fence for this should just go ahead and book it. Val & I did it this past summer and it was a wonderful experience. Some really great things that you just can't get anywhere else.

 

[starwood]

Grand California DVC waitlist came through! 3 nights post ABD.

 

[DarthVader92]

I know it's early to be thinking about dining, but trying to decide where we might want to dine. I was looking at the itinerary and saw that lunch on Disneyland day is provided but is not told where. Anyone know where this lunch is?

Also, if we were looking to getting reservations for dining during ABD can ABD set it up for us? I'm guessing that we only need to look at dinner on Disneyland day and lunch on California adventure day.

 

[DisneyKevin]

I know it's early to be thinking about dining, but trying to decide where we might want to dine. I was looking at the itinerary and saw that lunch on Disneyland day is provided but is not told where. Anyone know where this lunch is?

Also, if we were looking to getting reservations for dining during ABD can ABD set it up for us? I'm guessing that we only need to look at dinner on Disneyland day and lunch on California adventure day.

In the past, lunch has been on a voucher system. ABD provides the vouchers and you can then dine where you'd like.

ABD will assist with dining recommendations and reservations during the Adventure. They do not make dining reservations in advance.

That being said, Disneyland dining reservations are much easier to acquire that WDW reservations. Unless you have an exceptionally large party or have a very specific time, reservations are usually available much closer to travel. The exceptions to this can be Napa Rose and Blue Bayou.

Something else to keep in mind....dining reservations will cut into your OYO time. ABD will provide fast passes for you to enjoy your time in the parks and most guests find that the OYO time is already tight. My suggestion is to consider "grab and go" unless you have your heart set on a specific location.

We have never made reservations prior to departure and have never had an issue going where we wanted. We havent ever tried to go to Blue Bayou during an ABD trip, so that wasnt an issue.

 

[OKW Lover]

Matt, Kevin has already given you some good advice here so I won't reiterate what he has said.

On the DL day, Val & I used our voucher at the Plaza. We don't eat much and were able to split a chicken dinner with desert. After using one voucher and our 20% AP discount on the excess we wound up paying about $1 out of pocket for the meal. I forget what we used the second voucher for but it was something similar. The Plaza is good because the food is hot and tasty plus its quick to get in and out.

 

[AndyPok1]

Fact. And the voucher is good on any day of your adventure, including the last day where you only get breakfast.

I just got a small snack for lunch that day that lunch was "provided" and paid out of pocket (since there was only 1 of me). Then I saved the voucher for a good meal in the afternoon before my flight.

 

[skier_pete]

Hmmm....this is interesting about the voucher thing.

Does this mean we get one voucher (per person) for each of the two days at Disneyland?

What sort of meal is it good for? OKW Lover mentions The Plaza, but is it pretty much good for any dining in the parks (except I'm guessing Blue Bayou and Carthay Circle)?

We were thinking of eating at Carthay Circle on Friday, but haven't really thought about any other meals. Not that I plan on calling for reservations anytime soon, but this more just curiousity how they work.

 

[OKW Lover]

The voucher was for a specific dollar value (or actually up to a specific dollar value) if I remember correctly. I think there may have been some restrictions but don't recall them and I suspect they were pretty few.

Yes, it is one voucher per person.

 

[DisneyKevin]

Hmmm....this is interesting about the voucher thing.

Does this mean we get one voucher (per person) for each of the two days at Disneyland?

What sort of meal is it good for? OKW Lover mentions The Plaza, but is it pretty much good for any dining in the parks (except I'm guessing Blue Bayou and Carthay Circle)?

We were thinking of eating at Carthay Circle on Friday, but haven't really thought about any other meals. Not that I plan on calling for reservations anytime soon, but this more just curiousity how they work.

The vouchers are for a dollar amount and not specific menu items.

I apologize for not remembering more of the details. We ended up giving ours away, as we had other plans.

 

[AndyPok1]

It was reasonable. I believe it was $15 or so per person. Give or take $5.

You only get the voucher for the Disneyland day, because there are activities that go most of the day, so they need to provide lunch. The DCA day didn't have lunch (though Dreams did provide something).