*August 2019 check in*

[billyjobobb]

Checked in for walk in Walt’s footsteps tour. Just waiting for our headpieces! Yesterday might have been the best park day ever. Low 80s!

 

[iMadHatter]

We checked in at the DLH earlier today, and there was a crazy long line to check in. Pool was busy from our arrival until close. Self-park lot still had plenty of room, though.

Oh, man! We are having the best time! We loved the beach, had the best fish tacos at Chronic Tacos, LOVE the DL Hotel- I think I finally get the "bubble" people speak about so much. Goofy's Kitchen was SOO fun- my girls loved it, and even my DH who said he gets awkwardly uncomfortable watching grown people interact with characters got into it! Pluto escorted the girls to our table, and they LOVED it. They thought Dale was the funniest thing ever. It's been great.

Tomorrow's our fist day. Even with the CHOC walk crowds, I'm still super pumped!

 

[Sjwillia]

July 29 to August 5 trip recap

TRAVELERS: Me (70), DD & DSIL (45ish), DGS1(24), DGS2(16), DGS3(15) DGD(12)

AIR TRAVEL: While I love flying into SNA or LGB there are few direct flights from Portland and the price has increased with the airports’ popularity over the years. This trip we decided to fly SWA into LAX and saved quite a lot of $$ on both tickets and baggage. We did not go to the parks on travel days.

LANSKY TRANSPORTATION: We used Lansky to and from the airport and also for a trip to Universal Studios and back to Anaheim. They were expensive but provided a clean, comfortable vehicle for 7 people and eliminated the stress of driving in LA traffic. Round trip airport transportation cost $312 and round trip Universal Studios transportation cost $300. Both costs included a 20% gratuity. The drive from airport to hotel at about noon on a Monday took 45 minutes. The return trip at 10:30 AM on Monday took 50 minutes. Traffic moved smoothly until actually getting to the airport and then it was very slow going to get to our terminal. We left a little after 7 AM on Friday for Universal. The drive took the expected hour and 25 minutes. The return trip back to Anaheim at 8 PM took an hour.

CANDY CANE INN: We had connecting premium rooms located at the back center of the property. The toilet/bath room was small and tight but the sink and large counter top open to the bedroom was convenient. The room had hardwood floors and was clean. The beds were comfortable and the air conditioning worked well. Knowing this was a motel built in the late ‘50’s, I took a power strip so we could plug in all our phones and electronics. The alarm clock in each room also provided 2 USB ports. We had breakfast delivered each morning which helped in the rush to get everyone out the door early each morning. For a continental breakfast there was a very large selection of food that included proteins. It was an easy walk on the same side of Harbor as Disneyland/DCA which offered more shade than the opposite side of the street. We rode the bus a total of 4 times during the trip. It was always on time. The landscaping is lovely. Don’t underestimate the value of mature trees and plants around the pool. It is so much cooler when watching kids swim than a parking lot or roof top pool with a few umbrellas and a couple potted plants. The pool is small. The kids swam on arrival day and during afternoon break the first two park days. After that I think they just wanted to put their feet up and rest during afternoon break.

THE VOID: We did this on arrival day. It was lots of fun, although I really didn’t know what I was doing. The equipment is heavy. I would do it again with teenage grandkids but probably not kids under 12 because of the equipment weight.

FOOD: Arrival day we ate at Naples. The lasagna and fettuccini were very good but no one liked the pizza. The kids are all picky eaters and did not want to waste much ride time eating. They also don’t like sweets that much so other than a churro and Mickey ice cream bar I did not get to try any of the desserts, candy, ice cream sundaes that look SO good. The kids liked the Bengal BBQ Beef skewers and we ate there twice. We tried Baos at Tropical Hideaway with mixed reviews. We ordered fish and chips or corn dogs at the Stage Door Café which were good. We had the Hungry Bear Fantasmic dinner. The kids all liked their salmon since they were able to get it without the mustard sauce. My son in law said the ribs were very good and I had the chicken which was ok. The potatoes were yummy and the carrots were crunchy. We stopped at Uva Bar for drinks and appetizers during one afternoon break. Everything was good, especially the carnita fries, and my daughter really liked the cucumber martini. We ate at Café Orleans our last evening. Everyone liked the steak and potatoes but the three of us who ordered Monte Cristos were very disappointed. I last ate one in 2015 and loved it but I don’t remember it having the very thick deep fried dough at that time. I thought it was a batter dipped bread. Anyone know if this has changed or am I just not remembering correctly? I wanted to try mobile ordering but we were not very organized and when we decided where to eat, the next open time was about 40 minutes out but regular lines usually about 10 minutes. So we never used it. Maybe next time.

SWGE: We had a 6:50 reservation at Oga’s on our first evening in the Park. It is a fun place and glad we got to see it. However we all agreed our drinks were too sweet. We enjoyed wondering around Batuu and taking in all the great theming. The kids had to earn their own souvenir money and no one wanted to spend the big bucks on a light saber or droid. We rode Smuggler’s Run with a 40 minute wait. Because there were 7 of us we divided up into two groups. I was a gunner. Perhaps the pilot position was more exciting. No one wanted to wait in even a short 40 minute line to ride it again during our 5 days. The boys enjoyed seeing Rey and we also saw Chewbacca.

MAXPASS: Love it! We rode all the big rides multiple times during our trip with short waits. However we did have one bad experience with it. If a ride breaks down before you enter the queue you get a replacement FP but if you have entered the line and scanned in you are out of luck. RSR went down right as we were a couple cars from boarding. We waited as they evacuated the ride but they could not give us an estimated time for getting it tested and running again. The announced several times that if you left the line you would not get a replacement FP. We waited about 40 minutes and inquired a couple times about getting a replacement as we had to be somewhere else soon.. The answer was always “no”. We finally had to leave and did not ride RSR that day. It happened again on GotG but two gantries started working right away so they announced the wait would be longer than normal but there would be no replacement FP if we left. We stayed and it took over 45 minutes in the FP line.

Let me know if I can answer any questions.

 

[Jimsig]

CANDY CANE INN:... The landscaping is lovely. Don’t underestimate the value of mature trees and plants around the pool. It is so much cooler when watching kids swim than a parking lot or roof top pool with a few umbrellas and a couple potted plants. The pool is small. The kids swam on arrival day and during afternoon break the first two park days. After that I think they just wanted to put their feet up and rest during afternoon break.

The landscaping all over the CCI made me think I was at a tropical resort at times. It really made a motel style property feel more upscale.

 

[NorthernCalMom]

What a great trip report, sjwillia! I better get around to writing mine, before it all becomes a big blur. Our park dates were July 30 through August 2. I‘m the one who posted the elaborate wait time statistics and travel plans further upthread. At that time I was laboring over the choice of getting or not getting Maxpass.

Arrival: We drove down from SF on the 5. Lots of traffic and a good amount of road work, so we arrived a little later than we had hoped (around 5pm). We settled in our room at the Disneyland Hotel, DD2 (11) used the rollaway, DD1 (13) one of the queen beds, and hubby and I shared the other queen bed. We lucked outbid regards of the view, because we were able to see the fireworks from our room (though the Matterhorn was hidden behind a big tree). Disneyland Forever is definitely one of my favorite fireworks shows, and there is a channel on the hotel TV that you can select, which plays the fireworks music, so each night that we were not in the parks, we put on the music, sat down by the window, and watched.

We ended up NOT getting Maxpass, and I took on my old, pre-Maxpass fastpass runner position. Even though I ate a lot during the trip, I didn’t gain any weight, so healthwise this worked out for me (as long as I put aside the fact that, despite changing shoes from day to day, I did end up with four different, rather painful blisters). Ouch! The main reason for not getting Maxpass was that Disney sent an app update right before our trip, which I obediently installed, resulting in my iPhone (5S, so definitely on the older side) no longer being able to open and run the app. I talked to customer service in the parks & asked if it were possible to undo the upgrade and go back to the previous version that had still worked. They said, no, that wasn’t possible, but IT was working in a fix that would come out shortly and that I wasn’t the only guest who was having app problems. Another app upgrade arrived after the day after that. I installed but which didn’t fix anything. Getting Fastpasses the old, traditional way worked out fine for us and I was able to get (crowd-sourced) wait and FP return times through Touring Plans’ “Lines” app. We even used mobile ordering once, on my older daughter’s iPhone 7 (she had no problem loading the app, so we could have used her phone for Maxpass if we Ahmad wanted to), at the Tiki Room side’s Dole Whip counter, where the two cast members who were supposed to take care of mobile orders had absolutely nothing to do and talked us through how to do it (while there was a huge line on the other side of people buying their Dole Whips the regular way).

We were able to get everything done that we had planned to do. We rode our favorite rides more than once.

We enjoyed SWGE and loved the ride, though I never got to be pilot—the one time we did the standby line both girls were our pilots, and they balked at doing anything but the single rider line after that, which, in my case, meant lots of gunning and engineering. I comforted myself with the thought that, hey, piloting is like being the rebel spy on Star Tours... you can’t force it—it happens when it’s meant to happen (though I did notice while waiting in the single rider line that some of the cast members allowed standby line waiters to request pilot (letting them wait their turn when they had already handed out the cards).

I enjoyed doing the ride with lots of different people with different attitudes and personalities. I also enjoy that in a world in which so much is centered around competition, this ride is actually collaborative in nature. If you have a good team, the ride actually lasts longer!

The GE theming is beautiful (I do like the used-universe, dingy look and the immersive feel). I love the restroom that picks up the Batuu radio station. One word of criticism about the restrooms: they used doors with springs that close rather than staying open when you leave the stall, so I ended up in bathroom lines behind people who didn’t realize that half the stalls were actually empty (but that the only way to find out which would be to bend or crouch down & find out which of them did and did not have feet).

For once I actually stayed longer in the parks by myself than the rest of the family did. Both girls were tired, so my husband took them back to the hotel, while I continued single-rider-ing MFSR. My favorite ride was when I was put together with four women friends and one other female single rider, all somewhere around my age (who might or might not have come straight from Oga’s). Though the flying was rather atrocious, we had the time of our lives with our all-girls-ship.

We didn’t do any of the high price items in Galaxy’s Edge (Droid building, Savi’s, or Oga’s) but really liked the place and were kind of happy to get to explore it now, before the second ride goes online and the place gets crazy crowded. Neither of us really got into the “Play” app stuff... it took too long to load, and the screens were hard to see, so we quickly lost interest (I’m sure it didn’t help that I had an older phone).

We finally did watch Frozen. I enjoyed the dynamic staging, interesting transitions, and good voices. We’re not a “Frozen” family, so we probably won’t watch it again, but it didn’t feel like a waste of time and we’re glad that we saw it once.

Our last day was the first day of the MSEP. Since I was wiped from three days of fastpass running I spent most of the afternoon (we pushed through day one and two from early admission to late in the evening but took midday breaks from noon to 3 on the last two days) snacking, resting, and people-watching at a Jolly Holiday table with a good view of the parade route, while my kids were doing rides (my husband was at his conference during those last two days). I enjoyed having prime seating for the electrical parade (though the people lining the street made it hard to see the lower stuff, so I’d you’re an absolute parade fanatic, who wants to see each and every detail, you’re probably better off with a dining package. It worked for us.

We made it a point to take an extended break in the Main Street Cinema. It is an endearing, delightful spot we found, especially now since they put in a few benches and removed the (much criticized) merchandise sales stand. The kids relaxed there while I got Starbucks, and then we spend some time watching old shorts while I savored my coffee before we felt energetic enough to rejoin the crowds and the heat.

I also finally got to see Lincoln! Any previous trip, my kids balked at that, but since we had a day more this time (and since there was also a Haunted Mansion original concept art exhibit in the same building), we did watch the “Great Moments.” My greatest moment of the trip was in this very Haunted Mansion exhibit. I got into a conversation with an elderly couple. It turned out that they were both retired Disneyland cast members and that the woman had been part of the original, opening day Haunted Mansion cast! A good reminder that, regardless of how much planning we do, the real magic happens on its own time line, whenever it wants.
❤

 

[iMadHatter]

CHOC walk craziness is in full force this morning! Line for regular entry gate for DL is already backed up to DCA. Magic morning line past first ticket booth. Glad we got here early!

 

[caribbeandream]

We checked in at the DLH earlier today, and there was a crazy long line to check in. Pool was busy from our arrival until close. Self-park lot still had plenty of room, though.

Oh, man! We are having the best time! We loved the beach, had the best fish tacos at Chronic Tacos, LOVE the DL Hotel- I think I finally get the "bubble" people speak about so much. Goofy's Kitchen was SOO fun- my girls loved it, and even my DH who said he gets awkwardly uncomfortable watching grown people interact with characters got into it! Pluto escorted the girls to our table, and they LOVED it. They thought Dale was the funniest thing ever. It's been great.Tomorrow's our fist day. Even with the CHOC walk crowds, I'm still super pumped!View attachment 424678

I love your family photo! We had brunch with Goofy this past Sunday and DS14 LOVED it! Chip and Dale were funny as heck. I'm with you on the Disney "bubble." We stayed at a motel right across the street on Harbor. Not doing that again.

 

[caribbeandream]

My greatest moment of the trip was in this very Haunted Mansion exhibit. I got into a conversation with an elders couple. It turned out that they were both retired Disneyland cast members and that the woman had been part of the original, opening day Haunted Mansion cast! A good reminder that, regardless of how much planning we do, the real magic happens on its own time line, whenever it wants.❤

I can't love this enough!

 

[caribbeandream]

I posted my quick review on the main DL page - https://www.disboards.com/threads/just-back-august-3-7.3764209/

I will have to say that I was a bit surprised at how "young" Disneyland is. I am so used to either young families or empty nesters at DW. Other than retail shops, the CMs all seemed to be in their 20s and there a LOT of young adults either on dates or in single-sex groups. No one behaved inappropriately but while waiting in lines I learned more about the young adult dating life in Southern Cali than I ever wanted to learn! LOL

 

[TXMNie]

My husband and I will be there August 30 - Sept 2 for our first trip ever to celebrate my birthday/moving to SoCal!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

My husband and I will be there August 30 - Sept 2 for our first trip ever to celebrate my birthday/moving to SoCal!

(Early) Happy Birthday! Make sure to get a birthday button, wear it proudly each day, and have a wonderful visit!

 

[CherylGonz]

What a great trip report, sjwillia! I better get around to writing mine, before it all becomes a big blur. Our park dates were July 30 through August 2. I‘m the one who posted the elaborate wait time statistics and travel plans further upthread. At that time I was laboring over the choice of getting or not getting Maxpass.

Arrival: We drove down from SF on the 5. Lots of traffic and a good amount of road work, so we arrived a little later than we had hoped (around 5pm). We settled in our room at the Disneyland Hotel, DD2 (11) used the rollaway, DD1 (13) one of the queen beds, and hubby and I shared the other queen bed. We lucked outbid regards of the view, because we were able to see the fireworks from our room (though the Matterhorn was hidden behind a big tree). Disneyland Forever is definitely one of my favorite fireworks shows, and there is a channel on the hotel TV that you can select, which plays the fireworks music, so each night that we were not in the parks, we put on the music, sat down by the window, and watched.

We ended up NOT getting Maxpass, and I took on my old, pre-Maxpass fastpass runner position. Even though I ate a lot during the trip, I didn’t gain any weight, so healthwise this worked out for me (as long as I put aside the fact that, despite changing shoes from day to day, I did end up with four different, rather painful blisters). Ouch! The main reason for not getting Maxpass was that Disney sent an app update right before our trip, which I obediently installed, resulting in my iPhone (5S, so definitely on the older side) no longer being able to open and run the app. I talked to customer service in the parks & asked if it were possible to undo the upgrade and go back to the previous version that had still worked. They said, no, that wasn’t possible, but IT was working in a fix that would come out shortly and that I wasn’t the only guest who was having app problems. Another app upgrade arrived after the day after that. I installed but which didn’t fix anything. Getting Fastpasses the old, traditional way worked out fine for us and I was able to get (crowd-sourced) wait and FP return times through Touring Plans’ “Lines” app. We even used mobile ordering once, on my older daughter’s iPhone 7 (she had no problem loading the app, so we could have used her phone for Maxpass if we Ahmad wanted to), at the Tiki Room side’s Dole Whip counter, where the two cast members who were supposed to take care of mobile orders had absolutely nothing to do and talked us through how to do it (while there was a huge line on the other side of people buying their Dole Whips the regular way).

We were able to get everything done that we had planned to do. We rode our favorite rides more than once.

We enjoyed SWGE and loved the ride, though I never got to be pilot—the one time we did the standby line both girls were our pilots, and they balked at doing anything but the single rider line after that, which, in my case, meant lots of gunning and engineering. I comforted myself with the thought that, hey, piloting is like being the rebel spy on Star Tours... you can’t force it—it happens when it’s meant to happen (though I did notice while waiting in the single rider line that some of the cast members allowed standby line waiters to request pilot (letting them wait their turn when they had already handed out the cards).

I enjoyed doing the ride with lots of different people with different attitudes and personalities. I also enjoy that in a world in which so much is centered around competition, this ride is actually collaborative in nature. If you have a good team, the ride actually lasts longer!

The GE theming is beautiful (I do like the used-universe, dingy look and the immersive feel). I love the restroom that picks up the Batuu radio station. One word of criticism about the restrooms: they used doors with springs that close rather than staying open when you leave the stall, so I ended up in bathroom lines behind people who didn’t realize that half the stalls were actually empty (but that the only way to find out which would be to bend or crouch down & find out which of them did and did not have feet).

For once I actually stayed longer in the parks by myself than the rest of the family did. Both girls were tired, so my husband took them back to the hotel, while I continued single-rider-ing MFSR. My favorite ride was when I was put together with four women friends and one other female single rider, all somewhere around my age (who might or might not have come straight from Oga’s). Though the flying was rather atrocious, we had the time of our lives with our all-girls-ship.

We didn’t do any of the high price items in Galaxy’s Edge (Droid building, Savi’s, or Oga’s) but really liked the place and were kind of happy to get to explore it now, before the second ride goes online and the place gets crazy crowded. Neither of us really got into the “Play” app stuff... it took too long to load, and the screens were hard to see, so we quickly lost interest (I’m sure it didn’t help that I had an older phone).

We finally did watch Frozen. I enjoyed the dynamic staging, interesting transitions, and good voices. We’re not a “Frozen” family, so we probably won’t watch it again, but it didn’t feel like a waste of time and we’re glad that we saw it once.

Our last day was the first day of the MSEP. Since I was wiped from three days of fastpass running I spent most of the afternoon (we pushed through day one and two from early admission to late in the evening but took midday breaks from noon to 3 on the last two days) snacking, resting, and people-watching at a Jolly Holiday table with a good view of the parade route, while my kids were doing rides (my husband was at his conference during those last two days). I enjoyed having prime seating for the electrical parade (though the people lining the street made it hard to see the lower stuff, so I’d you’re an absolute parade fanatic, who wants to see each and every detail, you’re probably better off with a dining package. It worked for us.

We made it a point to take an extended break in the Main Street Cinema. It is an endearing, delightful spot we found, especially now since they put in a few benches and removed the (much criticized) merchandise sales stand. The kids relaxed there while I got Starbucks, and then we spend some time watching old shorts while I savored my coffee before we felt energetic enough to rejoin the crowds and the heat.

I also finally got to see Lincoln! Any previous trip, my kids balked at that, but since we had a day more this time (and since there was also a Haunted Mansion original concept art exhibit in the same building), we did watch the “Great Moments.” My greatest moment of the trip was in this very Haunted Mansion exhibit. I got into a conversation with an elderly couple. It turned out that they were both retired Disneyland cast members and that the woman had been part of the original, opening day Haunted Mansion cast! A good reminder that, regardless of how much planning we do, the real magic happens on its own time line, whenever it wants.
❤

I told my kids that I wanted to see Lincoln this trip as it is something we always skip. Hopefully the HM exhibition will get them interested in stopping by.

Great trip report!

 

[lauritagoddess]

I told my kids that I wanted to see Lincoln this trip as it is something we always skip. Hopefully the HM exhibition will get them interested in stopping by.

Great trip report!

In all the times we've been to DL, we've only been to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln once. My son couldn't stand it and we never went back. I was always surprised about that since he's always loved the Hall of Presidents in WDW. Maybe I can get him to go back and try again this time.

 

[Aladora]

I'm in the final countdown now! 5 days of work (who am I kidding, if I get a solid day and a half of work done this week I'll be lucky!) left and we leave Saturday!

I *think* this is our final dining reservation list...although knowing us, it is entirely possible this will change in the next few days...

Aug 19
Oga's Cantina
LLL
WoC Dessert

Aug 20
Oga's Cantina
Hungry Bear F! On the Go dinner

Aug 21
Napa Rose chefs counter

Aug 22
Plaza Inn MSEP lunch
WCT dinner

Aug 23
SH55 breakfast

We were not planning on either Fantasmic! or MSEP but we have only seen MSEP once and have not seen F! since the 2017 refresh.

A few trips ago, DS and I succeeded in going on every single ride in DCA, DH got sick partway through the trip so didn't manage to. This trip we are going to try and go on everything in both DL and DCA. I've made a list on my phone of all the rides and a second list with other attractions such as the canoes and Great Moments. (Neither of which we have ever done, even in all our trips!) There are some that we may not get to like the ToonTown houses but we will see how many we can get done!

I noticed that there are now dates listed for closures during August so I have updated the first post with the current information.

 

[swimchick1984]

Enjoying our cooling off period in the hotel. Spent yesterday morning at DCA then moved over to disneyland. Ate at the blue bayou fantasmic package.

Started this morning at Disneyland, upset with the mint julep as I mobile ordered breakfast and it took them almost 20 minutes. But we were able to do 6+ rides and a princess makeover within 3 hours. This afternoon we are going to DCA, eating at carthay circle and then going to disneyland to build a droid.

 

[Bluewild79]

We're here!! Arrived in San Diego on Saturday for a few days of family and the Safari park. It took us longer to get here and grocery shop, return rental car etc so we had to skip DTD and ate at McDonald's instead. We start five park days tomorrow morning at 8 am for Magic Morning and a late breakfast with Minnie. SO excited!!!!

 

[FrazierFamily]

Trip Report!

Probably more detail than anyone wants except for myself but I making this for my records and it is much easier to cut and paste so I apologize it is so long. I add star reviews for my food that I based on overall taste and if I thought it was worth the money.

This trip was amazing. More than hoped for. I loved 98% of every moment. 1% sucked cause my body hated me, and the other 1% cause of people who just didn’t feel the magic. I won’t go into the negatives as I hope to just forget them as they mostly didn’t directly involve me but they did make me feel bad as I saw others not having such an amazing time.

I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express-Resort Area (not the one really close to the parks) I was beyond happy with my accommodations and the staff. I turned down the upgraded suite and fireworks view rooms because I knew I wouldn’t get any use out of them. I used the ART busses to and from and they worked perfectly and were usually only half full.

On a side note: One of the most interesting things was my ability to truly do some people watching since I had no one with me to divide my time. It was a very interesting glimpse into humanity. There are many things I saw and heard that I am still processing. Not in a bad way, just because I find it interesting.

Below is a play by play.

Friday

• Got to the parks at about 1pm. No Max Pass
• Grabbed a pork belly skewer from Bengal BBQ (4*) and did a round trip on the Train, it’s tradition.
• Indy
• Pirates
• Thunder
• Haunted and found all 4 ravens (got stuck under one staring at me)
• Indy
• Jungle
• Cafe Orleans, Monte Cristo (5*) Pommes Frites (2*)
• Small world
• Snow White
• Mr Toads
• Raspberry Macron. Omg (5*)
• Started sitting for the parade at 730.
• Electrical Street Parade
• FIREWORKS WERE NOT CANCELLED AND THEY WERE AMAZING!
• Haunted Mansion Display in the Opera House

Saturday -Max Pass

• I think I wasted early entry in DCA. They gave me a ticket when I was outside the gate drinking my coffee, but I thought it was only to get up to the ropes, I saw someone use the same ticket 5 minutes before opening. All good though. Did some people watching while eating my breakfast.
• Cars
• Toy story
• Soarin, I got a middle front seat!
• Monsters
• Red’s Hot Cone (3.5*) and the seasonal raspberry churro(4*)
• Blue Sky Cellar
• Zephyr
• Toy story
• Guardians of the Galaxy Dance Off. They were working on Marvel land directly next to the stage for this little show. It was kinda fun watching upper CM’s trying to get them to stop for the show as they were doing some loud work.
• Found Chris of Provost Park Pass, he was having lunch so I only quickly said hi.
• Got a beer at Smoke Jumpers it was the Strawberry Peak Lookout (5*). Even though it wasn’t 12 yet. My bad. Man was it good.
• Watched people get soaked on Grizzly while enjoying the beer
• Then I went on Grizzly and got soaked
• Green Army Man Skit
• It’s Lemon-Snow Capped (5*)
• Headed to Disneyland
• Took pictures of the Matterhorn damage but they were not taking single rides, and it was at a 90 min wait. No, Thank You.
• Pirates
• Haunted Mansion
• Headed to Batuu. Detailed and well done, not really my thing.
• Ronto Wrap (4.5*) but honestly not sure it was worth that much.
• Sadness, no single rider for Smugglers, Indy, or Matterhorn,
• Star tours
• Buzz
• Beauty and the Beast at the Royal Theater. I love this place. It was so funny and well done.
• Thunder
• Indy
• Smoke Jumpers Special Mac n Cheese (3.5*) Flavor was great, my pork belly was completely dry and overcooked. Frozen Jack and Coke (5*) Either they put a lot of Jack in or they use a Jack extract. This drink is strong and refreshing.
• PhilharMagic - Freaking Adorable
• Beast’s Library. Mrs. Incredible as always
• Watched the big screens while waiting for Animation Academy.
• Drew Simba. This experience was a bit ruined for me. A couple brought in a very young rambunctious child (2 or less) and was letting him play on the stairs on the row down from me. These are steep stairs, after the kiddo almost fell the second time the dad took him out. I couldn’t focus until then.
• Cars at night
• Got another beer to wait in line for WOC.
• World of Color Dessert Package. This was AMAZING. My best solo treatment of the whole trip. I ended up getting a table by myself and some pretty great service from a couple of the servers. The sweets were so good.
• Over 35k Steps today!

Saturday - Max Pass

• Lines seemed so long 30 min to opening but once inside most everyone went to SWGE leaving the rest of the park quite empty.
• Alice
• Storybook
• Matterhorn
• Autopia
• Buzz 2 times
• Matterhorn
• Clapped with Peter Tu Hi
• Teacups
• Breakfast Burrito from Galactic Grill (5*) This was an excellent deal for such a filling delicious breakfast.
• Thunder
• Haunted Mansion
• Pirates Lair
• Canoes
• Pooh
• Indy
• Smugglers. Went with a family and a little kid was the pilot and just sat there :/ I did not really enjoy this ride enough to try it again. Also had a gentleman hit on my while in line making me quite uncomfortable. Only because it’s not a common occurance and I didn’t want to be rude. When he asked if he could get to know me better (after explaining why he was single) I told him I am not local and that was enough to end the conversation. I am an overweight middle aged mom and I really didn’t care what I looked while I was there as long as I was comfortable, being hit on was the last thing I expected while visiting Disneyland. It turned out ok and now I can chuckle about a bit.
• Grey Stuff, cause, you know, It’s delicious
• Oga’s. Boy o boy, there were mad people who couldn’t get in because they didn't have a reservation. Fuzzy Tonton (4.5*) Outer Rim (5*)
• Great Moments with Abraham Lincoln. Haven’t seen this in 30 years. Not what I remember but I like it.
• Grizzly
• Goofys
• Paradise Garden Grill Gyro Frie(5*) and a Blue Moon
• Lion King Show but I left because it was too hot and no shade
• Grizzly… Our whole raft got soaked head to toe. The geyser started right before we hit it and didn’t stop until after we passed it. I had to ring out my hair and part of my clothes. Happily, I was prepared in my flip flops and had my phone and wallet in a ziplock. The others in the boat all had plastic bags for their gear so it was quite a ball.
• More Beer
• Bakery Tour
• Had to chill in the sun to try to dry off. Had someone come up to me and ask if my drink was a beer. When I said yes he was shocked they sold beer and asked where I got it. Pretty funny.
• Soarin’
• Sorcery Mickey milkshake (1.5*)
• Matterhorn, the front seat is awesome.
• Haunted Mansion (cause Thunder was down and I had a fast pass)
• Realized my body was done for the day so I got my food from Hungry Bear for my Fantasmic dining package. What a waste of belly space. Got the Ribs and they were a negative star. The mashed potatoes were standard the corn was old and hard as a rock.. I am not sure what was wrong with ribs but they just were yucky. The biscuit was inedible as it just crumbled it was so dry. I wish I picked Blue Bayou or River Belle.
• Got hooked up with some butt pads from someone leaving the first show.
• Wow. Fantasmic was awesome!!
• Over 30k steps today!

Sunday - Max Pass (not sure why I can't turn off the bold for this section)

Magic morning. I really didn’t make good use of it since I had already done so much the last few days.

• Matterhorn
• Buzz
• Carnation Cafe. Mickey Shaped Waffle (2.5*) Standard waffle. I was one of the first people seated and I am pretty sure I got a premade one. It wasn’t all that warm and the butter was cold so it didn’t melt. Not worth the money to me.
• Pirates
• Indy. Finally got the last option (the Future) I think it’s my favorite.
• Columbia
• Thunder
• Railroad from New Orleans to Main Street. It was the last stop before the Ward Kimball broke down for the day.
• Drew Pluto at the Animation Academy. The artist for this one was hilarious.
• Award Weiners. Mushroom Philly. I knew this one was a vegan option but I didn’t realize it had a dog in it, I thought it was just full of mushrooms. I wanted to like it more but it just wasn't seasoned enough. I had to add mayo and salt. It was still ok just not want I thought it was going to be (3.5*)
• Headed back to Disneyland and walked all around the park for a popcorn bucket that didn’t include refills. My legs at this point thought I was possessed by the devil. This was the only souvenir I planned to bring home as we have a popcorn machine at work that I use often.
• Bug took me down main street on the horse drawn carriage.
• Grabbed a couple treats for the trip home
• Said my goodbyes and headed for the airport.

 

[CherylGonz]

Trip Report!

Probably more detail than anyone wants except for myself but I making this for my records and it is much easier to cut and paste so I apologize it is so long. I add star reviews for my food that I based on overall taste and if I thought it was worth the money.

This trip was amazing. More than hoped for. I loved 98% of every moment. 1% sucked cause my body hated me, and the other 1% cause of people who just didn’t feel the magic. I won’t go into the negatives as I hope to just forget them as they mostly didn’t directly involve me but they did make me feel bad as I saw others not having such an amazing time.

I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express-Resort Area (not the one really close to the parks) I was beyond happy with my accommodations and the staff. I turned down the upgraded suite and fireworks view rooms because I knew I wouldn’t get any use out of them. I used the ART busses to and from and they worked perfectly and were usually only half full.

On a side note: One of the most interesting things was my ability to truly do some people watching since I had no one with me to divide my time. It was a very interesting glimpse into humanity. There are many things I saw and heard that I am still processing. Not in a bad way, just because I find it interesting.

Below is a play by play.

Friday

• Got to the parks at about 1pm. No Max Pass
• Grabbed a pork belly skewer from Bengal BBQ (4*) and did a round trip on the Train, it’s tradition.
• Indy
• Pirates
• Thunder
• Haunted and found all 4 ravens (got stuck under one staring at me)
• Indy
• Jungle
• Cafe Orleans, Monte Cristo (5*) Pommes Frites (2*)
• Small world
• Snow White
• Mr Toads
• Raspberry Macron. Omg (5*)
• Started sitting for the parade at 730.
• Electrical Street Parade
• FIREWORKS WERE NOT CANCELLED AND THEY WERE AMAZING!
• Haunted Mansion Display in the Opera House

Saturday -Max Pass

• I think I wasted early entry in DCA. They gave me a ticket when I was outside the gate drinking my coffee, but I thought it was only to get up to the ropes, I saw someone use the same ticket 5 minutes before opening. All good though. Did some people watching while eating my breakfast.
• Cars
• Toy story
• Soarin, I got a middle front seat!
• Monsters
• Red’s Hot Cone (3.5*) and the seasonal raspberry churro(4*)
• Blue Sky Cellar
• Zephyr
• Toy story
• Guardians of the Galaxy Dance Off. They were working on Marvel land directly next to the stage for this little show. It was kinda fun watching upper CM’s trying to get them to stop for the show as they were doing some loud work.
• Found Chris of Provost Park Pass, he was having lunch so I only quickly said hi.
• Got a beer at Smoke Jumpers it was the Strawberry Peak Lookout (5*). Even though it wasn’t 12 yet. My bad. Man was it good.
• Watched people get soaked on Grizzly while enjoying the beer
• Then I went on Grizzly and got soaked
• Green Army Man Skit
• It’s Lemon-Snow Capped (5*)
• Headed to Disneyland
• Took pictures of the Matterhorn damage but they were not taking single rides, and it was at a 90 min wait. No, Thank You.
• Pirates
• Haunted Mansion
• Headed to Batuu. Detailed and well done, not really my thing.
• Ronto Wrap (4.5*) but honestly not sure it was worth that much.
• Sadness, no single rider for Smugglers, Indy, or Matterhorn,
• Star tours
• Buzz
• Beauty and the Beast at the Royal Theater. I love this place. It was so funny and well done.
• Thunder
• Indy
• Smoke Jumpers Special Mac n Cheese (3.5*) Flavor was great, my pork belly was completely dry and overcooked. Frozen Jack and Coke (5*) Either they put a lot of Jack in or they use a Jack extract. This drink is strong and refreshing.
• PhilharMagic - Freaking Adorable
• Beast’s Library. Mrs. Incredible as always
• Watched the big screens while waiting for Animation Academy.
• Drew Simba. This experience was a bit ruined for me. A couple brought in a very young rambunctious child (2 or less) and was letting him play on the stairs on the row down from me. These are steep stairs, after the kiddo almost fell the second time the dad took him out. I couldn’t focus until then.
• Cars at night
• Got another beer to wait in line for WOC.
• World of Color Dessert Package. This was AMAZING. My best solo treatment of the whole trip. I ended up getting a table by myself and some pretty great service from a couple of the servers. The sweets were so good.
• Over 35k Steps today!

Saturday - Max Pass

• Lines seemed so long 30 min to opening but once inside most everyone went to SWGE leaving the rest of the park quite empty.
• Alice
• Storybook
• Matterhorn
• Autopia
• Buzz 2 times
• Matterhorn
• Clapped with Peter Tu Hi
• Teacups
• Breakfast Burrito from Galactic Grill (5*) This was an excellent deal for such a filling delicious breakfast.
• Thunder
• Haunted Mansion
• Pirates Lair
• Canoes
• Pooh
• Indy
• Smugglers. Went with a family and a little kid was the pilot and just sat there :/ I did not really enjoy this ride enough to try it again. Also had a gentleman hit on my while in line making me quite uncomfortable. Only because it’s not a common occurance and I didn’t want to be rude. When he asked if he could get to know me better (after explaining why he was single) I told him I am not local and that was enough to end the conversation. I am an overweight middle aged mom and I really didn’t care what I looked while I was there as long as I was comfortable, being hit on was the last thing I expected while visiting Disneyland. It turned out ok and now I can chuckle about a bit.
• Grey Stuff, cause, you know, It’s delicious
• Oga’s. Boy o boy, there were mad people who couldn’t get in because they didn't have a reservation. Fuzzy Tonton (4.5*) Outer Rim (5*)
• Great Moments with Abraham Lincoln. Haven’t seen this in 30 years. Not what I remember but I like it.
• Grizzly
• Goofys
• Paradise Garden Grill Gyro Frie(5*) and a Blue Moon
• Lion King Show but I left because it was too hot and no shade
• Grizzly… Our whole raft got soaked head to toe. The geyser started right before we hit it and didn’t stop until after we passed it. I had to ring out my hair and part of my clothes. Happily, I was prepared in my flip flops and had my phone and wallet in a ziplock. The others in the boat all had plastic bags for their gear so it was quite a ball.
• More Beer
• Bakery Tour
• Had to chill in the sun to try to dry off. Had someone come up to me and ask if my drink was a beer. When I said yes he was shocked they sold beer and asked where I got it. Pretty funny.
• Soarin’
• Sorcery Mickey milkshake (1.5*)
• Matterhorn, the front seat is awesome.
• Haunted Mansion (cause Thunder was down and I had a fast pass)
• Realized my body was done for the day so I got my food from Hungry Bear for my Fantasmic dining package. What a waste of belly space. Got the Ribs and they were a negative star. The mashed potatoes were standard the corn was old and hard as a rock.. I am not sure what was wrong with ribs but they just were yucky. The biscuit was inedible as it just crumbled it was so dry. I wish I picked Blue Bayou or River Belle.
• Got hooked up with some butt pads from someone leaving the first show.
• Wow. Fantasmic was awesome!!
• Over 30k steps today!

Sunday - Max Pass (not sure why I can't turn off the bold for this section)

Magic morning. I really didn’t make good use of it since I had already done so much the last few days.

• Matterhorn
• Buzz
• Carnation Cafe. Mickey Shaped Waffle (2.5*) Standard waffle. I was one of the first people seated and I am pretty sure I got a premade one. It wasn’t all that warm and the butter was cold so it didn’t melt. Not worth the money to me.
• Pirates
• Indy. Finally got the last option (the Future) I think it’s my favorite.
• Columbia
• Thunder
• Railroad from New Orleans to Main Street. It was the last stop before the Ward Kimball broke down for the day.
• Drew Pluto at the Animation Academy. The artist for this one was hilarious.
• Award Weiners. Mushroom Philly. I knew this one was a vegan option but I didn’t realize it had a dog in it, I thought it was just full of mushrooms. I wanted to like it more but it just wasn't seasoned enough. I had to add mayo and salt. It was still ok just not want I thought it was going to be (3.5*)
• Headed back to Disneyland and walked all around the park for a popcorn bucket that didn’t include refills. My legs at this point thought I was possessed by the devil. This was the only souvenir I planned to bring home as we have a popcorn machine at work that I use often.
• Bug took me down main street on the horse drawn carriage.
• Grabbed a couple treats for the trip home
• Said my goodbyes and headed for the airport.

Great report! Can’t wait for our trip this Sunday. Car picks us up at 3:45am

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... The main reason for not getting Maxpass was that Disney sent an app update right before our trip, which I obediently installed, resulting in my iPhone (5S, so definitely on the older side) no longer being able to open and run the app. I talked to customer service in the parks & asked if it were possible to undo the upgrade and go back to the previous version that had still worked. They said, no, that wasn’t possible, but IT was working in a fix that would come out shortly and that I wasn’t the only guest who was having app problems. Another app upgrade arrived after the day after that. I installed but which didn’t fix anything...

Great trip report and love the magic that found you at the HM exhibit! The one tip I know that has been posted for those with older phones when the updated app stops working is to uninstall the app and get the old version of the app from your iCloud backup. Of course, the problem is that you can't know ahead of time that the update is not going to work on your phone or you could choose not to download and install it in the first place. But others have tried the uninstall/reinstall the old version trick and said that it worked for them.

 

[caribbeandream]

The main reason for not getting Maxpass was that Disney sent an app update right before our trip, which I obediently installed, resulting in my iPhone (5S, so definitely on the older side) no longer being able to open and run the app.

We too had issues with MaxPass on the iPhone and my son has a new model phone (iPhone XR). I'm glad I have an Android.