4th of July – DVC Villas at Disneyland Hotel trip report

[juliebee]

Intro: Months ago when randomly playing the DVC availability slots for an August trip, I saw a 4th of July weekend opening at VDH and spontaneously grabbed it. We hadn’t planned to go that weekend, but once I had that beautiful reservation in my hands the dream of spending the 250th birthday of the USA in Disneyland grew to be a must-do vacation. I had to sell my husband on this trip because we already planned to go to VDH in August for our wedding anniversary, but since July 4th was a 3-day weekend and wouldn’t require any time off work, he gave the thumbs up. This was our first stay at VDH, arriving 7/2 and leaving 7/5.

The parts I was most looking forward to were the special 4th of July fireworks and the flag retreat ceremony. Anything else was just a bonus in my eyes.

About us: husband and wife, traveling without our adult kids. We both love Disney and have been married over 25 years. When we were dating, he confessed he came home from work every day and watched Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, and DuckTales… I then knew he was the one. I grew up going to Disneyland as a kid in the 70s/80s when I lived in San Diego.

Day one – July 2nd: We worked a full day and then went to the airport for an 8pm flight. It’s just a 2.25 hour flight to Santa Ana (my preferred airport) from our airport. Arrived and grabbed an Uber to VDH. I had already received the room number around 2pm, but went to the check-in desk to get physical key cards and a map to the room. We were in the room just before 11pm.

Our room was a Preferred View Duo Studio, room 0329. The elevator shares a wall with this room, but we never heard the elevator. It’s around the corner from the room’s door, so my husband didn’t even realize they shared a wall. This room has a balcony (not all rooms at VDH do) however it is not private in the least. You are looking straight at a wall of other room’s windows. We kept the drapes closed. The room was in good condition and clean. This particular room was loud with pool noise during the day. It’s on the third floor, so perhaps rooms at higher floors would have less afternoon noise? I will be requesting a higher floor for our August trip.

We had never been in a duo studio before, so I wasn’t really sure how we’d feel about the smaller size. We did end up liking the room– especially for the points savings – and would do this room type again in the future. We had plenty of room for our clothes to be unpacked into the drawers. The luggage fit fine into the closet. There is a little seating area, which isn’t very comfortable, but it was fine enough. VDH offers room service, which was a surprise to me. We didn’t partake, but I loved it was an option. More resorts should have that! The bathroom was large in comparison to the size of the room. I had wished there was some storage area in the bathroom, and there was certainly enough room for a couple of shelves so I’m not sure why they didn’t do that. The theme of duo studios is The Jungle Book—since the duo rooms are just the “bare necessities”.

We left the murphy bed down the whole trip and the lack of a bed plus a couch was a little different, but we are mostly in the room to sleep so it wasn’t a big deal. We made up the bed with the pillows and blanket from the closet. The blanket was… weird. It felt like a towel which I found to be an interesting choice. The quality and comfort of the murphy mattress was good. I mean I wouldn’t pick it for every night to sleep on, but I wouldn’t hesitate to sleep on these murphy beds again.

Anyway, the duo studio was fine for the two of us. The August trip will be a regular studio at VDH so it will be nice to compare to the duo studio.

Some pics of the room, the view from the room, some resort decorations for the 4th, and our pictures at the wings photo op at VDH.

 

[juliebee]

Before we went on vacation, I had the idea to have chatgpt help me create a ride/show logging system on my phone so I could just push buttons that would log all our activities. Chatgpt suggested using the Apple Shortcuts app. I’ve never done anything like that, and apparently chatgpt hadn’t either because it kept telling me to do things that would not work. However, my youngest adult child decided to run with the idea and created the foundation of MagicTracker for me. I entered all the rides and shows into the program. Now I can click buttons like an app and it logs all my activities into the Apple Notes. When you see my daily logs below in future posts, that is what created it. Just a few of the screenshots from it. It's not for sale or anything, I'm just proud of my kid for making this for me!

 

[O2HO2HO2H]

That app looks pretty cool!

DH and his brother were also there this weekend on a whim. And we're also back in August to treat our nephew to his first DLR trip as a HS graduation gift. Seems we're on parallel-ish timelines.

I'm glad to hear good things about the Duos. We haven't stayed in one yet, but at some point I'm gonna have to start getting stingy with the points and start booking them. So far, we've done several Deluxe studio stays and have been very pleased. August is a 1 BR and I anticipate a new contract.

 

[KPeterso]

Looking forward to reading more! I hope you made it to the flag retreat on 7/4. I was there and I loved how many people were there for it. I was with a large group of people I met up with who are all big flag retreat fans and come every chance we get to see it.

 

[VGCgroupie]

About us: husband and wife, traveling without our adult kids. We both love Disney and have been married over 25 years. When we were dating, he confessed he came home from work every day and watched Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, and DuckTales… I then knew he was the one. I grew up going to Disneyland as a kid in the 70s/80s when I lived in San Diego.

awww

Our room was a Preferred View Duo Studio, room 0329. The elevator shares a wall with this room, but we never heard the elevator. It’s around the corner from the room’s door, so my husband didn’t even realize they shared a wall. This room has a balcony (not all rooms at VDH do) however it is not private in the least. You are looking straight at a wall of other room’s windows. We kept the drapes closed. The room was in good condition and clean. This particular room was loud with pool noise during the day.

I do think it's the lower floor.

It’s on the third floor, so perhaps rooms at higher floors would have less afternoon noise? I will be requesting a higher floor for our August trip.

Happy to hear you are still going in August!

The theme of duo studios is The Jungle Book—since the duo rooms are just the “bare necessities”.

This NEVER dawned me! I appreciate that theme in the room so much more now.

We left the murphy bed down the whole trip and the lack of a bed plus a couch was a little different, but we are mostly in the room to sleep so it wasn’t a big deal. We made up the bed with the pillows and blanket from the closet. The blanket was… weird. It felt like a towel which I found to be an interesting choice. The quality and comfort of the murphy mattress was good. I mean I wouldn’t pick it for every night to sleep on, but I wouldn’t hesitate to sleep on these murphy beds again.

Yeah the bedding makes it seem as if you are the 3rd wheel in the room not the main guests!

 

[juliebee]

Day two – July 3rd: My rough plan was to rope drop Disneyland, have a rest break, do the flag retreat ceremony, and see Paint the Night and the fireworks. The same fireworks were going to happen on 7/3, 7/4, and 7/5. I wanted to try to see them on both 7/3 and 7/4, just in case there were any visibility issues or if they cancelled them due to wind.

I used my MagicTracker Apple Shortcuts app to help me log our journey-
Disneyland: Main Street USA: ARRIVE at park - 7:26 AM
Disneyland: Tomorrowland: Space Mountain - 8:01 AM
Disneyland: Fantasyland: Matterhorn Bobsleds - 8:31 AM
Disneyland: Frontierland: Big Thunder Mountain RR - 8:48 AM
Meal: Ronto Roasters - 9:11 AM
Disneyland: Star Wars Galaxy’s edge: Rise of the Resistance - 9:16 AM
Disneyland: New Orlean’s Square: Haunted Mansion - 10:33 AM - LL
Disneyland: Adventureland: Indiana Jones- 10:51 AM – LL (ride broke down for 30 min)
Meal: Bengal Barbeque - 11:29 AM
Shopping - 12:02 PM
Rest Break - 12:33 PM
Disneyland: Main Street USA: ARRIVE at park - 3:03 PM
Disneyland: Main Street USA: Walt Disney: A Magical Life - 3:15 PM
Disneyland: Main Street USA: Flag Retreat Ceremony - 3:50 PM
Meal: Churro Cart – 4:38 PM
Disneyland: Tomorrowland: Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters - 4:44 PM - LL
Disneyland: Tomorrowland: Space Mountain - 4:57 PM - LL
Disneyland: Frontierland: Big Thunder Mountain RR - 5:17 PM - LL
Disneyland: Mickey’s Toontown: Mickey and Minnie- 5:37 PM - LL
Meal: Plaza Inn - 6:20 PM
Disneyland: Main Street USA: Claim spot for Fireworks - 7:00 PM
Disneyland: Main Street USA: Paint the Night - 8:45 PM
Disneyland: Main Street USA: Fireworks - 9:35 PM
Shopping – 10:00 PM

We got to the park a little later than planned for rope drop, but arrived before the gates opened. I like to hit the three mountains first, so we did Space, Matterhorn, then Big Thunder. Disneyland has the better version of Space Mountain (comparing to WDW). It is much smoother, I can get out of the ride without embarrassing myself, and I like to sit two-by-two rather than single file. I feel that Matterhorn was much smoother than my last time there in December, which I appreciated! Then Big Thunder is one of our top favorite rides, so we always try to ride it multiple times.

Then my husband got a breakfast ronto wrap to-go so he could eat it in line for Rise. Rise was about a 40-minute wait. We did all of those in the stand-by lane. Meanwhile I had been stacking lightning lanes for the late morning. Did Mansion and then then at Indy the ride broke down just before we were going to be put on the ride. They didn’t dump the que and wouldn’t give a lightning lane redemption pass, so we stuck it out. Finally rode Indy and then went to lunch at Bengal Barbeque then did a little shopping. We typically do an afternoon break. It helps it feel more like a leisurely vacation when we do. My husband had worked about 14 days in a row, 12 hour days, so he really needed daily naps to refresh his energy. The walk back to VDH isn’t bad and we popped into a couple shops in Downtown Disney along the way. After a nice nap and downtime, we headed back to the park.

On the way, we stopped by the DVC booth at the resort and they gave us these 250th buttons.

 

[O2HO2HO2H]

Disneyland: Tomorrowland: Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters - 4:44 PM - LL
Disneyland: Tomorrowland: Space Mountain - 4:57 PM - LL
Disneyland: Frontierland: Big Thunder Mountain RR - 5:17 PM - LL
Disneyland: Mickey’s Toontown: Mickey and Minnie- 5:37 PM - LL

That's expert level LL stacking! Nicely done!

 

[juliebee]

Day 2 - July 3rd continued: When we got back to the park, we went to Walt Disney: A Magical Life. It was our first time seeing it and we thought it was great! In past trips, Walt wasn’t feeling well, so we had missed it. I know some don’t like the animatronic, but other than his giant hands, it was fine. I think it’s a must see every trip from now on.

On Main Street we asked a guest relations castmember about how the flag retreat ceremony works since it was getting close to that time. In December when we were at Disneyland, we stumbled across the flag retreat ceremony and it was really touching to my husband, who is a former Marine. (Some say once a Marine, always a Marine!) Somehow, we had never seen it before and when we did walk by it in December, it was nearly done so we hadn’t seen it in its entirety. However, my husband really wanted to do it for this trip.

At 4:15pm, they have the marching band and the Dapper Dans come down Main Street from the Castle area to the flagpole which is near the park entrance. Once at the flagpole, they gather in the little circle and play/sing patriotic songs. It’s also a time they honor veterans. The band plays the theme song from each military service and asks the veterans and active-duty service members from that military branch to join them circling the flag. They do this daily. When we were there it was at 4:15, but perhaps its different times depending on the season. On July 3rd there were about 15-20 service members that came forward. Veterans don’t sign up, just be very close by so you can walk forward to stand around the flag. Then they lower the Californian and American flags for the evening. The band and Dans play another song or two and march away. It was perfectly patriotic and special. My husband decided he wanted to do it again on the 4th also, so you'll see that report in a while.

Tips: If you plan to do it on a regular day, here is a map of where it happens. The Dapper Dans are on one side of the flag area and the band on the other side of the circle. They have the vets circle the fence around the flag, in the area I marked with red. If you stand or sit at the point of the teal arrow, you will be in the shade of the trees. We were on the opposite side, looking into the blinding sun. The streets and train station had hundreds of people stopped and enjoying the ceremony. We had arrived about 3:50, which was a little late for the better spots.



Some photos from the July 3rd flag retreat ceremony. My husband is in the black Marines shirt.

 

[juliebee]

Day 2 - July 3rd continued:
After the flag retreat ceremony, we had a bunch of lightning lanes that I had been stacking all day. We did Astro Blasters, Space Mountain, Big Thunder, and Mickey & Minnie all within an hour. It was time to eat so we decided on the famous fried chicken from the Plaza Inn quick service. I don’t like dark meat, so they let me have two chicken breasts instead. It was very good. This trip I didn’t make any advanced dining reservations, and we still ate plenty of good food. Once we were done eating, I suggested we wander over in front of the castle to see if people were already claiming spots for the fireworks. And they were, so at 7pm, we sat down in a prime spot right in front of the castle. I released our 2 remaining lightning lanes and stopped gathering more for the evening, which was a bummer, but the fireworks were the top priority. I was glad to get an excellent spot even though it would be a very long wait.

Here is where we were sitting (at the yellow star on the map below). It’s an amazing spot for the fireworks, but as we found out at 8:45, it’s a horrible spot for the Paint the Night parade. We could barely see anything for PTN except for the tops of the tallest floats. We debated watching the second parade but decided we’d see it tomorrow instead.



The fireworks started at 9:35pm. It was very patriotic and a good fireworks display, but truthfully, the regular Disney fireworks shows are much better because they tell a story. We did enjoy it- it was very moving and patriotic. After the fireworks, we headed back towards the resort and did a little shopping. Here are some fireworks photos.

We were about 3-4 people back from the very front. This was 7pm.


Getting closer, at 8:15pm, the sky was super pink.


Then fireworks time! Pretty much all red, white, and blue fireworks and castle.

 

[juliebee]

So far, we've done several Deluxe studio stays and have been very pleased. August is a 1 BR and I anticipate a new contract.

I already had been thinking of VDH as our next contract. We just bought Poly a few months ago and I debated hard about buying VDH instead. I'd like to get a VDH contract so we could do two short trips each year to Disneyland. So far, we've been able to get rooms at VDH, but I also want to use my direct points other places too. Well, early congrats on your new contract! Maybe we'll see you there in August

 

[juliebee]

This NEVER dawned me! I appreciate that theme in the room so much more now.

I'm not a Jungle Book fan... the snake was scary when I was a kid! But the room decor is well done. I love the color of the couch. Too bad we only saw it for about 5 minutes until we made it a bed.

 

[KPeterso]

The last year or 2 flag retreat has always been at 4:15. It has been 4:30 before when there was the daytime parade. I go anytime I am in the park. Same with a lot of the other flag retreat regulars! I try to be there by about 3:30, but I almost always find someone I know who lets me squeeze in by them to give me a seat. The Dappers and band are dark on Wednesdays and Thursdays so flag retreat those days is a bit different without the live music. It looks like Sarah was the band leader that day --- I have only seen her lead a few times (but play her trumpet many times) ---- the usual band leaders are Peter or Tate. Also the Dapper at the far end looks to be Drew. He is a favorite of many including a friend who passed away earlier this year. He did special music at her celebration of life.

Oh and not sure if she was there that day. Did you sign the book? There is a flag retreat regular that has a book that she is gathering signatures (and some basic info) about the veterans that she has met at Disneyland. She has been working on it 10+ years and it is getting pretty full. She said she has met all sorts of veterans over the years (from the World Wars, code breakers, Tuskegee Airmen, etc...). I have gotten to see the book and I think it is amazing. She plans to donate it to the Disney Family Museum when it is full.

 

[juliebee]

The last year or 2 flag retreat has always been at 4:15. It has been 4:30 before when there was the daytime parade. I go anytime I am in the park. Same with a lot of the other flag retreat regulars! I try to be there by about 3:30, but I almost always find someone I know who lets me squeeze in by them to give me a seat. The Dappers and band are dark on Wednesdays and Thursdays so flag retreat those days is a bit different without the live music. It looks like Sarah was the band leader that day --- I have only seen her lead a few times (but play her trumpet many times) ---- the usual band leaders are Peter or Tate. Also the Dapper at the far end looks to be Drew. He is a favorite of many including a friend who passed away earlier this year. He did special music at her celebration of life.

Oh and not sure if she was there that day. Did you sign the book? There is a flag retreat regular that has a book that she is gathering signatures (and some basic info) about the veterans that she has met at Disneyland. She has been working on it 10+ years and it is getting pretty full. She said she has met all sorts of veterans over the years (from the World Wars, code breakers, Tuskegee Airmen, etc...). I have gotten to see the book and I think it is amazing. She plans to donate it to the Disney Family Museum when it is full.

Wow, you really know a lot about the flag retreat! I wish I had tapped into your knowledge before we went so we could have had a better experience. Not that it was bad, but the 4th could have been better as I'll explain when I write up that day. We didn't know anything about the signature book. Maybe when we go back in August. Thanks for letting me know there isn't live music on Wed and Thurs. When we go in August we are in the park Wed-Fri, so we will save the experience for the Friday then.

 

[KPeterso]

Wow, you really know a lot about the flag retreat! I wish I had tapped into your knowledge before we went so we could have had a better experience. Not that it was bad, but the 4th could have been better as I'll explain when I write up that day. We didn't know anything about the signature book. Maybe when we go back in August. Thanks for letting me know there isn't live music on Wed and Thurs. When we go in August we are in the park Wed-Fri, so we will save the experience for the Friday then.

The knowledge comes from years of going to flag retreat. I am a local so I see it typically a couple times a month. I have had one of my flag retreat friends text me and ask if I am going to make it on a given day.

I always love to chat flag retreat. It is one of my absolute favorite experiences in the park. On 7/4, I went to the park 100% for flag retreat and anything else was just a bonus. I know visitors can't say that like someone with a MK, but it is true. My friends and I never made it off Main Street on 7/4. Oops! We did have a fantastic spot for PTN, but not so much to see the fireworks. But that was ok because for one in our group, the fireworks can be triggering so we stayed back further with her and the large service dog.

If you ever want to talk flag retreat, hit me up on the DM. Oh and I am not saying to skip flag retreat on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but to know it is slightly different. They just pipe in the music and it does not quite have the same feel. But military is still invited up to the circle.

 

[VGCgroupie]

Day 2 - July 3rd continued: When we got back to the park, we went to Walt Disney: A Magical Life. It was our first time seeing it and we thought it was great! In past trips, Walt wasn’t feeling well, so we had missed it. I know some don’t like the animatronic, but other than his giant hands, it was fine. I think it’s a must see every trip from now on.

On Main Street we asked a guest relations castmember about how the flag retreat ceremony works since it was getting close to that time. In December when we were at Disneyland, we stumbled across the flag retreat ceremony and it was really touching to my husband, who is a former Marine. (Some say once a Marine, always a Marine!) Somehow, we had never seen it before and when we did walk by it in December, it was nearly done so we hadn’t seen it in its entirety. However, my husband really wanted to do it for this trip.

At 4:15pm, they have the marching band and the Dapper Dans come down Main Street from the Castle area to the flagpole which is near the park entrance. Once at the flagpole, they gather in the little circle and play/sing patriotic songs. It’s also a time they honor veterans. The band plays the theme song from each military service and asks the veterans and active-duty service members from that military branch to join them circling the flag. They do this daily. When we were there it was at 4:15, but perhaps its different times depending on the season. On July 3rd there were about 15-20 service members that came forward. Veterans don’t sign up, just be very close by so you can walk forward to stand around the flag. Then they lower the Californian and American flags for the evening. The band and Dans play another song or two and march away. It was perfectly patriotic and special. My husband decided he wanted to do it again on the 4th also, so you'll see that report in a while.

Tips: If you plan to do it on a regular day, here is a map of where it happens. The Dapper Dans are on one side of the flag area and the band on the other side of the circle. They have the vets circle the fence around the flag, in the area I marked with red. If you stand or sit at the point of the teal arrow, you will be in the shade of the trees. We were on the opposite side, looking into the blinding sun. The streets and train station had hundreds of people stopped and enjoying the ceremony. We had arrived about 3:50, which was a little late for the better spots.

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Some photos from the July 3rd flag retreat ceremony. My husband is in the black Marines shirt.
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Flag retreat is an amazing thing and I so happy they still do this.

 

[ClaraOswald]

awww

I do think it's the lower floor.

Happy to hear you are still going in August!

This NEVER dawned me! I appreciate that theme in the room so much more now.

Yeah the bedding makes it seem as if you are the 3rd wheel in the room not the main guests!

So I'm thinking I better request a higher floor for our VDH stay. We are doing a 1-bedroom and I was actually hoping for the ones that face toward the monorail pool/DTD more. I wonder if those are more quiet? Or maybe louder??

 

[VGCgroupie]

So I'm thinking I better request a higher floor for our VDH stay. We are doing a 1-bedroom and I was actually hoping for the ones that face toward the monorail pool/DTD more. I wonder if those are more quiet? Or maybe louder??

We didnt find them loud at all and but we have always been on a higher floor and we tend to not keep the door open because of my granddaughter.

 

[juliebee]

Day three – July 4rd: Our priorities for this day were California Adventure in the morning, rest, then do the flag retreat ceremony at Disneyland again, and Paint the Night. The fireworks weren’t our big priority anymore because we didn’t want to do the huge wait for a good view again.

My MagicTracker log for 7/4-
California Adventure: Arrive- 9:02 AM
California Adventure: Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout - 9:09 AM
California Adventure: Web Slingers - 9:43 AM – LL
California Adventure: Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout - 10:00 AM
California Adventure: Soarin’ - 10:29 AM - LL
Meal: Corn Dog Castle - 11:08 AM
California Adventure: Pixar Pal-a-Round - 11:29 AM
California Adventure: Incredicoaster - 12:03 PM - LL
Meal: Adorable Snowman - 12:21 PM
Rest Break - 12:41 PM
Disneyland: ARRIVE at park via Monorail into Tomorrowland- 2:42 PM
Disneyland: Tomorrowland: Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters - 2:45 PM - LL
DVC Lounge - 3:00 PM
Disneyland: Tomorrowland: Space Mountain - 3:25 PM – LL
Disneyland: Main Street: Photos – 3:40PM
Disneyland: flag ceremony and parade - 3:45PM
Disneyland: New Orlean’s Square: Pirates of the Caribbean - 5:09 PM
Meal: Rancho Del Zocalo – 5:50 PM
California Adventure: Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout - 6:55 PM - LL
California Adventure: Toy Story Midway Mania - 7:35 PM – LL
California Adventure: Route 66 Neon – 8:07 PM
California Adventure: Radiator Springs Racers - 8:15 PM
Disneyland: Main Street USA: Paint the Night - 8:41 PM
Disneyland: Main Street USA: Fireworks - 9:35 PM
Disneyland: Tomorrowland: Space Mountain - 9:51 PM
Disneyland: Tomorrowland: Monorail leave – 10:30 PM

We were tired so decided to sleep in and not rope drop. I’m sure if we had rope dropped we would have done so many more rides. We arrived just after 9am and within an hour had done Mission Breakout twice and Web Slingers once, all stand-by. The wait times weren’t bad all day long. Some people were speculating it was due to most Magic Keys being blocked out and others said it was due to the World Cup. We saw plenty of people all weekend long watching the soccer matches on their phones and TONS of people wearing soccer jerseys. It still felt like there were crowds, but I guess they just were not riding all the rides. Also, I don’t think I mentioned the weather was low-mid 80’s as the high, high 60s overnight all weekend long. We didn’t need jackets/sweatshirts or jeans.


We are on the far left. My husband must be on the outside edge so he can hold the handle.

The new Soarin’ Across America had just debuted, so we saw that with a Lightning Lane. It’s my new favorite of the Soarin’ films. I’m not a big lover of Soarin’ in general but my husband likes doing it. After that, we enjoyed corn dogs and my husband also got a battered cheese stick.

We got on the Pixar Pal-a-round, which we had never done. It’s just always been one of the rides I had low interest in, but before this trip I decided I would try new things- rides and places to eat we’d always overlooked. For the sake of having just eaten, we chose the non-swinging gondola. It was fine, but probably will go back to being a ride we skip. After that, we hit Incredicoaster and then our first time at Adorable Snowman Treats. I picked the flight of lemon, raspberry, and mango soft serve and shared with my husband. His favorite was raspberry and my favorite was lemon. After finishing the treat, we headed back to VDH for an afternoon nap.



I had been stacking lightning lanes for the late afternoon. That didn’t end up working so great due to rides going down, but then I had several experience redemption passes that we planned to use for Big Thunder in the evening. Unfortunately, Big Thunder didn’t ever come back online this day. We entered Disneyland by using the monorail into Tomorrowland. Our first lightning lane after the rest break was for Buzz, then we had a bit of time before the Space Mountain LL, so we went into the DVC Member Lounge at Star View Station. Unlike our Magic Kingdom experience, we were ushered right into the lounge. We grabbed a drink and snack. Sadly, my favorite bug graham crackers aren’t available here, but they had Oreos. It’s a nice lounge and had lots of available seating. We didn’t stay long because I wanted to knock out Space Mountain and then get over to the 4:15 flag retreat. We stopped for a picture in front of the castle. I liked they had props to celebrate the 250th.

 

[juliebee]

Day three – July 4rd continued: Just the day prior when we did the flag retreat, you could basically walk up at 4:15 and still be able to get a decent (but in the sun) spot to stand. Well, it’s a very different story for the 4th of July. We thought we’d be early arriving at 3:45 but frankly it was already crazy crowded. I guess everyone wanted to be there for the special 250th birthday flag retreat. We were able to get close to where we had stood the day prior, but we were outside of the center flagpole area by about 20 feet and a few dozen people. As we came to learn, the set up for flag retreat on the 4th of July is different. One of the awesome things is that it features the Marine Corp Band from Camp Pendleton- which is one of the places my husband had been stationed.



They don’t all circle around the flagpole, instead on 4th of July, the ceremony takes over the street in front of the train station. Our standing spot was not good for seeing the event. The band and Dapper Dans marched down Main Street, then stood in the areas I have marked in the graphic below. They play a few patriotic songs, then play each of the theme songs for each military branch. As they play the song, the members of that branch go circle the flagpole. There were SO MANY service members!! The service members that came forward were in the red area of the below graphic. And of course, they saved the best branch for last- the Marines. The area was already so full, my husband and other Marines had to stand in the walkway leading up to the flag. If you are planning to do this on a special day like the 4th of July-- go really early to get a place to stand or sit. There were probably almost a thousand people in this area.



The experience was wonderfully patriotic and awesome, but I wish we had been there earlier to get a better spot and known how very different it would be on 4th of July. The Marine Corp band marched into the backstage area, so although we heard them, we didn’t really see them very well which my husband was bummed about. I don't have good pictures of the flag ceremony since I was so far back. Here is just before they lowered the flag.



As we were watching the flag ceremony, I spotted Josh D’Maro so I made a beeline over to him after the ceremony. Then Josh and I walked around Disneyland together… okay, just kidding… he was hustling to get backstage and I was walking alongside him hoping to get a selfie with him, but he was whisked away by some gentlemen. Here is my paparazzi shot-

 

[VGCgroupie]

Day three – July 4rd: Our priorities for this day were California Adventure in the morning, rest, then do the flag retreat ceremony at Disneyland again, and Paint the Night. The fireworks weren’t our big priority anymore because we didn’t want to do the huge wait for a good view again.

My MagicTracker log for 7/4-
California Adventure: Arrive- 9:02 AM
California Adventure: Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout - 9:09 AM
California Adventure: Web Slingers - 9:43 AM – LL
California Adventure: Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout - 10:00 AM
California Adventure: Soarin’ - 10:29 AM - LL
Meal: Corn Dog Castle - 11:08 AM
California Adventure: Pixar Pal-a-Round - 11:29 AM
California Adventure: Incredicoaster - 12:03 PM - LL
Meal: Adorable Snowman - 12:21 PM
Rest Break - 12:41 PM
Disneyland: ARRIVE at park via Monorail into Tomorrowland- 2:42 PM
Disneyland: Tomorrowland: Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters - 2:45 PM - LL
DVC Lounge - 3:00 PM
Disneyland: Tomorrowland: Space Mountain - 3:25 PM – LL
Disneyland: Main Street: Photos – 3:40PM
Disneyland: flag ceremony and parade - 3:45PM
Disneyland: New Orlean’s Square: Pirates of the Caribbean - 5:09 PM
Meal: Rancho Del Zocalo – 5:50 PM
California Adventure: Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout - 6:55 PM - LL
California Adventure: Toy Story Midway Mania - 7:35 PM – LL
California Adventure: Route 66 Neon – 8:07 PM
California Adventure: Radiator Springs Racers - 8:15 PM
Disneyland: Main Street USA: Paint the Night - 8:41 PM
Disneyland: Main Street USA: Fireworks - 9:35 PM
Disneyland: Tomorrowland: Space Mountain - 9:51 PM
Disneyland: Tomorrowland: Monorail leave – 10:30 PM

We were tired so decided to sleep in and not rope drop. I’m sure if we had rope dropped we would have done so many more rides. We arrived just after 9am and within an hour had done Mission Breakout twice and Web Slingers once, all stand-by. The wait times weren’t bad all day long. Some people were speculating it was due to most Magic Keys being blocked out and others said it was due to the World Cup. We saw plenty of people all weekend long watching the soccer matches on their phones and TONS of people wearing soccer jerseys. It still felt like there were crowds, but I guess they just were not riding all the rides. Also, I don’t think I mentioned the weather was low-mid 80’s as the high, high 60s overnight all weekend long. We didn’t need jackets/sweatshirts or jeans.

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We are on the far left. My husband must be on the outside edge so he can hold the handle.

The new Soarin’ Across America had just debuted, so we saw that with a Lightning Lane. It’s my new favorite of the Soarin’ films. I’m not a big lover of Soarin’ in general but my husband likes doing it. After that, we enjoyed corn dogs and my husband also got a battered cheese stick.

We got on the Pixar Pal-a-round, which we had never done. It’s just always been one of the rides I had low interest in, but before this trip I decided I would try new things- rides and places to eat we’d always overlooked. For the sake of having just eaten, we chose the non-swinging gondola. It was fine, but probably will go back to being a ride we skip. After that, we hit Incredicoaster and then our first time at Adorable Snowman Treats. I picked the flight of lemon, raspberry, and mango soft serve and shared with my husband. His favorite was raspberry and my favorite was lemon. After finishing the treat, we headed back to VDH for an afternoon nap.

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I had been stacking lightning lanes for the late afternoon. That didn’t end up working so great due to rides going down, but then I had several experience redemption passes that we planned to use for Big Thunder in the evening. Unfortunately, Big Thunder didn’t ever come back online this day. We entered Disneyland by using the monorail into Tomorrowland. Our first lightning lane after the rest break was for Buzz, then we had a bit of time before the Space Mountain LL, so we went into the DVC Member Lounge at Star View Station. Unlike our Magic Kingdom experience, we were ushered right into the lounge. We grabbed a drink and snack. Sadly, my favorite bug graham crackers aren’t available here, but they had Oreos. It’s a nice lounge and had lots of available seating. We didn’t stay long because I wanted to knock out Space Mountain and then get over to the 4:15 flag retreat. We stopped for a picture in front of the castle. I liked they had props to celebrate the 250th.

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The swinging gondola is terrifying to me. And I’m usually not a ride whimp.

Non swinging if the line isn’t bad it’s a good way to relax for a bit.

That was a great 1st hour for entering at 9!