August 2017 Disneyland Check-In & Chat!

[disneymouse16]

I am late to the party but here I am!

Going to Disneyland/CA Aug 12-19 with myself, husband, DD age 5, DS age 4, grandma, grandpa, and my sister! My kids' first trip to Disney World was last July and they keep asking to go back. Hoping DL/CA is just as fun! Super excited for Cars Land!!

We booked a 2 bed suite at Staybridge at the Park which just opened recently. Mixed reviews on whether the walk to Downtown Disney to ride the tram to the park is "long." The kids will have strollers. The other option is Staybridge Anaheim Resort area which requires the use of ART or a rental car. ART itself gets some bad reviews but hotel reviews on using ART seem more favorable. I know sometimes the walk just inside the parking lot can be a haul too. Right now I lean towards the Park location but I'd love to hear what others think (this may not be the best thread to ask!).

I just booked dining reservations at Plaza Inn for 10:30am. They had 10:40 available... didn't want to push it too late. The cast member did assure me the characters will stay around till 11:30 and there will be plenty of food.

Can't believe this is coming up so quickly and happy to share my excitement (and planning) with every one!

We are going to be there some of the same days as you! We have reservations for 10:40 on Wednesday! Looking forward to this breakfast and hoping my kids enjoy it as much as I will

 

[caflygrl]

We are going to be there some of the same days as you! We have reservations for 10:40 on Wednesday! Looking forward to this breakfast and hoping my kids enjoy it as much as I will

Awesome! I booked Tues and Thurs just so we have some options on park days.

 

[ixmnrs]

Where are the hotel discounts for August?

They came out about this time last year; hoping that history repeats itself.

 

[Malcon10t]

We will be heading down Aug 3-7th.

 

[expatmama]

We will be there August 9-12! Our last trip was two years ago, and my kids are talking non-stop about going back!
Im so torn on park-hopping or not with little kids... And are the meals really worth it? Weve never done one before

 

[Gorillamac]

Better late then never, work has been crazy but DS(12) and I will be making our first DL trip Aug 27-29, we have done DW twice in the last 4 years. We are from WI and starting in San Diego on the 23rd and then catching the Coastliner up to Anaheim Sunday morning and doing 3 days at the parks. Staying at Desert Inn.

 

[lmhall2000]

We will be there August 9-12! Our last trip was two years ago, and my kids are talking non-stop about going back!
Im so torn on park-hopping or not with little kids... And are the meals really worth it? Weve never done one before

If you think this is your only trip, by all means splurge for the character meal, if you'll be back in 1-2 years, save it for the next trip to keep the excitement going We would always do Chef Mickey's at Contemporary every trip, but our older kids were happy to skip it the last trip. I don't parkhoppers, spending money saved on a nice dinner to get us out of the heat

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Better late then never, work has been crazy but DS(12) and I will be making our first DL trip Aug 27-29, we have done DW twice in the last 4 years. We are from WI and starting in San Diego on the 23rd and then catching the Coastliner up to Anaheim Sunday morning and doing 3 days at the parks. Staying at Desert Inn.

You might have read here that Sunday, Aug. 27th, is the annual CHOC Walk fundraiser at DLR. The parks and the ticket booths will be crowded that day. Do your research, make your plans, and use your knowledge to your advantage. If you can get your tickets ahead so that you can go right to the turnstiles, that will save you lots of time in line at the booths on Sunday.

 

[BriannaRuth]

We will be there August 9-12! Our last trip was two years ago, and my kids are talking non-stop about going back!
Im so torn on park-hopping or not with little kids... And are the meals really worth it? Weve never done one before

Are you talking about the character meals? YES, with little kids I'd definitely do a character meal. My kids have been doing them since they were 4 ... they're 17 and 13 this trip and they still want to do one!

 

[NorthernCalMom]

We (myself, husband, & 2 daughters) will be driving down from SF on the 2nd. We have three day park hoppers for the 3rd, 4th, & 6th, and are planning to drive to Universal on the 7th. We'll be staying at the Disneyland Hotel.

Edited to add: We're early risers, big on planning & taking full advantage of EMH/MM (before the heat & crowds get too intense). I'm not sure if we can keep up our commando style this time, because we're meeting up with relatives (incl two girls, 7 & 11), who might be more on the laid back side. We'll see what happens...

 

[NorthernCalMom]

For my park tickets I decided to go with just the 4 day single park tickets, I hope I won't regret not having hoppers but I think it should be alright.).

I'm late to the "August check in" party & reading from the front, so sorry in advance for redundancies & answering what has already been discussed. I'm sure your single park tickets will work fine. I was actually a bit bummed about having hoppers, when I found out that the two parks' Fastpass machines are now connected. I used to do a lot of FP running betw parks in the past. I guess I'll look @ the Max pass policies if that comes to pass before we go to see if that makes going back & forth more worthwhile. I'll miss my little speed walking breaks--a nice little workout and lots of fun people watching...

I know DL has lots of GF options but it seems like all the "iconic"/must-have foods have gluten in them (except for dole whip ).

Turkeylegs!!!!!

 

[caflygrl]

Would love to get some input from DLR veterans on our possible itinerary! Group of 7, DS is 4, DD is 5. Pretty much this is all our first time at DLR.

We have 4 day single park tickets so can utilize one early morning at DL.

My 1st thought was 2 park days (DL and CA), day off, then a 2nd day at each park. We will be doing a breakfast at Minnie and friends (10:30ish) so I want that to be on a day when we can get in to DL early which is Tues and Thurs. Based on my initial itinerary, the day that would work for us is Thurs, but I wonder if we want to do a character meal on the last day? Or we can push through 3 days of parks (Sun, Mon, Tues). Or we can swap park days to Mon/Tues and Thurs/Fri (the con with that is it leaves less time for packing).

Sat, Aug 12: flight from San Francisco
Sun, Aug 13: park day
Mon, Aug 14: park day
Tues, Aug 15: day off
Weds, Aug 16: park day
Thurs, Aug 17: park day
Fri, Aug 18: day off
Sat, Aug 19: fly home!

We are also considering dinner at Goofy's Kitchen. I am thinking put that on a day off.

I'd also like to sign my daughter up for Anna and Elsa's Frozen Boutique! Ideally that'd be a day before we see lots of characters so I can get lots of pics of her hair. Any one do this? We did BBB in WDW and her hair stayed up for at least 2 days!

I am basically the planner in my family so the only people to bounce my ideas off are you folks on the board! Thank you!

 

[dec2009mama]

looks like space mountain is going down for refurbishment starting Monday August 21

 

[dec2009mama]

what do you plan on doing on your "day off"?
personally I would have our last day on vacation be in the parks but it depends if you have other activities planned
what time is your flight saturday?

I have a boy so I can't comment on A&E or BBB for quality of work!

 

[delyrium]

looks like space mountain is going down for refurbishment starting Monday August 21
View attachment 251581

I am so bummed about this. I imagine Haunted mansion will start its annual refurbishment at that time, too. I knew about HM and had figured i'd just deal, even though the WDW one is my favorite ride, and I would have loved to see the original. I was excited to ride Space Mountain. I dislike the WDW version because it's so rough, but was eager to ride it, as I'd heard the DL version was better in that respect. This really puts a damper on my trip. If I hadn't already purchased my plane tickets, I would move it a week earlier, but that's not possible now.

 

[caflygrl]

what do you plan on doing on your "day off"?
personally I would have our last day on vacation be in the parks but it depends if you have other activities planned
what time is your flight saturday?

I have a boy so I can't comment on A&E or BBB for quality of work!

Our days off would be time spent at Downtown Disney or perhaps the pool. Maybe ride the monorail around - can you do that without a park ticket? My son is obsessed with the monorail. We don't plan to have a rental car.

Our flight isn't until 1pm but getting to LAX etc, I assume we'd have to leave the hotel around 9ish. It is easier to pack going home because basically you just shove everything in your suitcase!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Our days off would be time spent at Downtown Disney or perhaps the pool. Maybe ride the monorail around - can you do that without a park ticket? My son is obsessed with the monorail. We don't plan to have a rental car.

Our flight isn't until 1pm but getting to LAX etc, I assume we'd have to leave the hotel around 9ish. It is easier to pack going home because basically you just shove everything in your suitcase!

You will need to use your park tickets to ride the monorail. The DTD station counts as an entrance to DL. Maybe you could see a movie in DTD at the AMC? Or spend some time in the arcade upstairs at the ESPN Zone? You can also do another character meal since 3 of them are outside the parks in the on site hotels.

 

[dec2009mama]

I would do park days as mon/tues and thur/fri - JMO but I like to end my vacation in the parks if possible!
You could use Sunday to get yourselves set up for the week ahead in the parks ~~ pick up maps, entertainment schedules to get an idea of how you want to spend your park days!
On Wednesday, you can re-cap your first couple of days and see what you want to accomplish on your last two days!
Like I said I don't know anything about A&E or BBB but if the logistic of hair/makeup/outfit work I would book that for either Sunday or Wednesday then you are not using any park time, if going for A&E, then you have two days of park pictures all "princess'd" up!
Hanging by the pool is a great option too, if your hotel has a nice pool area!

 

[caflygrl]

You will need to use your park tickets to ride the monorail. The DTD station counts as an entrance to DL. Maybe you could see a movie in DTD at the AMC? Or spend some time in the arcade upstairs at the ESPN Zone? You can also do another character meal since 3 of them are outside the parks in the on site hotels.

That's a bummer on the monorail!

We will probably stick with 2 character meals because it gets expensive with 7 people! I was thinking an early Goofy's Kitchen dinner on an off day.

Slightly off topic - is there a place in DTD to get Mr Potato Head parts? We did that in WDW and it was a lot of fun!

I would do park days as mon/tues and thur/fri - JMO but I like to end my vacation in the parks if possible!
You could use Sunday to get yourselves set up for the week ahead in the parks ~~ pick up maps, entertainment schedules to get an idea of how you want to spend your park days!
On Wednesday, you can re-cap your first couple of days and see what you want to accomplish on your last two days!
Like I said I don't know anything about A&E or BBB but if the logistic of hair/makeup/outfit work I would book that for either Sunday or Wednesday then you are not using any park time, if going for A&E, then you have two days of park pictures all "princess'd" up!
Hanging by the pool is a great option too, if your hotel has a nice pool area!

Ideally ending on a park day means my kids would sleep the whole plane ride home right?? Also I should point out, we are flying back home to Boston, not a short jaunt to SF.

 

[Elima2015]

Would love to get some input from DLR veterans on our possible itinerary! Group of 7, DS is 4, DD is 5. Pretty much this is all our first time at DLR.

We have 4 day single park tickets so can utilize one early morning at DL.

My 1st thought was 2 park days (DL and CA), day off, then a 2nd day at each park. We will be doing a breakfast at Minnie and friends (10:30ish) so I want that to be on a day when we can get in to DL early which is Tues and Thurs. Based on my initial itinerary, the day that would work for us is Thurs, but I wonder if we want to do a character meal on the last day? Or we can push through 3 days of parks (Sun, Mon, Tues). Or we can swap park days to Mon/Tues and Thurs/Fri (the con with that is it leaves less time for packing).

Sat, Aug 12: flight from San Francisco
Sun, Aug 13: park day
Mon, Aug 14: park day
Tues, Aug 15: day off
Weds, Aug 16: park day
Thurs, Aug 17: park day
Fri, Aug 18: day off
Sat, Aug 19: fly home!

We are also considering dinner at Goofy's Kitchen. I am thinking put that on a day off.

I'd also like to sign my daughter up for Anna and Elsa's Frozen Boutique! Ideally that'd be a day before we see lots of characters so I can get lots of pics of her hair. Any one do this? We did BBB in WDW and her hair stayed up for at least 2 days!

I am basically the planner in my family so the only people to bounce my ideas off are you folks on the board! Thank you!

My opinion would be to do this:
Sunday: character breakfast at one of the 3 hotels (we've done Surfs Up! and are doing Goofy's during our August trip), walk around Downtown Disney, hotel pool or DTD movie in the afternoon, dinner around the Anaheim Garden Walk area. Consider doing Anna & Elsa boutique this evening (?? not sure how late they take appts and if the hair will stay in overnight, I just wouldn't want to spend park time doing it, but definitely to each their own. I know two families where all the DD cared about was meeting princesses, so this was perfect to do on a park day)
Mon: park day
Tues: park day
Wed: day off - we are land locked where we live, so I would head to the beach for the day. Come back late afternoon in time for the Anna & Elsa boutique if you didn't do it on Sunday
Thur/Fri: park days

If you have the budget for it, I would consider booking either a dinner package (world of color or Fantasmic!) or a character lunch at Ariel's Grotto to take a relaxing break and escape the heat for a little bit.

Monorail is a ride at DL so you will have to ride it on a Disneyland park day (no stop in DCA).

With young kids, I would also be sure to hit normal bedtimes on all non-park days and any days you aren't viewing nighttime entertainment. And bring a stroller - I'd do a double or two singles.