kirstyfly
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2003
Long trip report...
Trip report 10th October to the 18thOctober. Flying over from New Zealand on a 12 hour flight arriving into LAX.
2 Adults and one child. First family trip to Disneyland. 5 day park hopper pass, OBB and 1 day Disneyland ticket.
This was a long awaited birthday trip which was meant to take place in 2020 for our girls 5th Birthday. Lucky for us we hadn’t told her so she didn’t know what she was missing.
I had been trying to plan it for 2021 but that didn’t work and so 2022 it was. I didn’t believe it was happening till we were leaving to go to the airport.
We booked fights and accommodation long before we needed to go. I had a booking at Candy Cane Inn and they were meant to open before we left. However I had seen the lack of progress on the remodel so went and booked back up accommodation in April for our October trip just in case they weren’t open. This was a great call as it turned out they were not going to be open.
Bought our Disneyland tickets and 2 nights Disneyland hotel stay through getaway today. I liked that I could cancel with the peace of mind insurance and get our money back if we could not go.
Car service:
Anaheim town car service return trip with grocery stop on the way. Great clean cars and friendly drivers on time and great communication.
Hotel:
I did A LOT of research on hotels and thought I had it sorted with Candy cane inn as it had great reviews, breakfast and private shuttle.
My back up hotel Suncoast came from watching a video on hotels. It looked like a nice hotel within easy walking distance, (also on the ART route) and big rooms. Paid $1027.26 US all up for 6 nights for a 2 queen bed room.
We ended up at Suncoast hotel which I was fine about as we saved $500 from our original booking. I booked this on expedia as it was a back up hotel so I could cancel without any fees. As the time got nearer to our stay the price skyrocketed up on the Suncoast website.
Check in was easy and Joey on reception was lovely he told us that he had a great a room for us. (turns out it has a fireworks view). I didn’t get to excited as I knew fireworks were only on weekends and we had checked in on a Monday. However it was Columbus day and there were indeed fire works which we were able to watch from our room.
The room was large and had a lot of space to spread out and store suitcases. You could easily have enough room for a porta cot.
Hotel pool area was nice and we spent our first afternoon there day of check in before we walked to downtown Disney to check out the area and have some dinner.
We walked to Down town Disney and had a look around and did a walk up for Tortilla Joes. I really enjoyed the food here and the atmosphere of being outside to people watch. They asked us if we wanted an inside or outside table. We said what ever comes available first as we aren’t bothered.
Tuesday
First day of Disneyland. Set that alarm early to try and make rope drop and it was a real struggle for us. We got into Disneyland walking main street bang on 8.05am. So didn’t make rope drop but did get in early. This was the only time we did early entry as we could not handle the early morning and time difference.
As soon as we walked into Disneyland we saw Mickey, Pluto, Minnie and Goofy up on the train station steps waving to everyone. We went over to wave hi and get a photo with them in the back ground.
We had planned that our first family ride for would be Dumbo as miss 6 wanted to do this first. Lucky we choose this as Peter pan was not open. We did Dumbo then the usual Fantasy land rides before trying to find first visit pins and birthday pins.
Turns out all the shops in main street had run out but we were told we could them at other shops around Disneyland.
Dinner reservations were for Carnation café and this was a great choice. The food was great and the atmosphere of sitting outside and people watching on main street was great. Then it rained! (the 10 day forecast and even the day before when I checked said NOTHING about rain). It didn’t last long. We were fine outside as were under a big umbrella.
I had read about the fried pickles and baked potato soup and they sounded amazing so I chose those. What great choices they were delicious. The sever also said I made a great choice when I ordered them.
We didn’t like anything on the dessert menu so headed to Gibson girl ice cream parlour and got ice creams for dessert.
We left the park before closing and took the art bus back to our hotel.
Wednesday 12th October.
Disneyland day after a sleep in. Got gennie plus this day and what a mission to get internet on it, it kept dropping off and not working on and off all day.
We did mobile order for food and when the app worked this was great.
Thursday 13th October
We did Princess breakfast at Napa Rose for our Princess loving girl 10am booking so we could sleep in. We also knew from reading the posts that this is the way to go to knock out a lot of princesses without having to wait in long lines at Disneyland and not knowing what princess are inside the royal hall.
This was super expensive with the exchange rate being so bad but it was a once in a life time experience and so worth it. ( I have read posts about people joking that when they come to Disney they are Disney rich) and this is true to an extent as everything adds up.
Our girl wore her own princess dress which I had bought before our trip especially for Disneyland from little adventurers. She decided to wear the dress as she was going to have breakfast with the Princesses so thought a princess gown would be a good idea. (I had warned her that we don’t actually sit with the Princesses for breakfast as that is what she thought it was).
We loved this experience and also seeing the expressions on our little girls face as she interacted with the Princesses. I even took time to stop and look at hubby’s face as he was delighting in the expressions on our little girls face. It is definitely a core memory moment type of breakfast.
The Princesses are so welcoming and easy to talk to. Our girl had her autograph book and each Princess signed by her name and picture (it is the Disney Junior animation book). She really enjoyed taking the time to talk to each Princess and we never felt rushed. When she asked Mulan where Mushu was she said he was in the kitchen working on her dessert and would she like her to ask Mushu to put extra cotton candy on her dessert. Our girl loved this as cotton candy is one of her favourites.
There is a photo pass photographer there who takes photos of 2 different princesses inside ( Ariel and Rapunzel) the photo pass is included in the price of the breakfast.
When we checked in they saw they asked as if were celebrating anything and we said yes our daughters birthday. When the desserts came they had written Happy birthday in chocolate on the bottom of the plate.
We left here feeling very full after eating all the good food.
Princesses we saw were Jasmine, Aurora, Ariel, Rapunzel, Belle, Pocahontas, Tiana, Mulan.
OBB BASH
We don’t celebrate Halloween here in New Zealand as they do in the states so this was going to be a new experience for us.
We decided to dress up as Day of the dead as they were easy costumes to pack and travel with.
We arrived just after mix in and went about exploring the park and riding rides. (This was our first visit to DCA, plan had been to park hop each after noon to DCA but it didn’t plan out).
We took advantage of the photo pass which was included in the OBB ticket to get some family shots taken and took the opportunity when we came across one and the line was short. We didn’t catch the parades just saw them in passing.
We rode Radiator Springs twice in a row as the wait time was very minimal about 30 mins. (This was the only time we rode RR as we knew it would be LONG lines during normal park days).
Treat trails were a hit with our girl and she loved getting lots of candy and eating her way around the trails meeting all the different villains. We skipped Villains grove as it wasn’t of interest to us and spent time riding rides and treat trails. The villains are so so witty and it is great to listen to them interact with the crowd. Would I do it again? Probably not for the price of it.
Friday 14th October
Disneyland again after a sleep in. We are not morning people with the time difference. Our little girl was still asleep at 9.30am so we let her sleep. (nothing worse than grumpy children).
We did Disney for an hour before we park hopped to DCA. Their was a massive line by some double gates where people were lined up that weren’t open. We went to the normal turn stile and were able to get in a slightly before 1pm.
We got some pixie dust here when my little girl who has taken to pin trading traded with a cast member outside the Disney junior dance party . (we had missed the time for that show and there we a lot of cast members standing near the door), After she had traded her pin and we were walking away one of the cast members came up to as and said “here are some more pins to add to your trading and produced 4 pins from his pocket and gave them to our little girl. She was so excited
We did WOC dessert party this night and it was amazing to watch. We had chosen the high up tables as had read that they had a great view. It was indeed a great view. We were sat at a table with two others who we got talking to before the show started and ate from our dessert plates and drank out drinks. The two ladies we were talking to were pass holders and locals and this was the first time they had done WOC dessert party. We didn’t eat/try all the desserts but it was a great experience to know we had a seat and could take our time to get there to watch the show.
I made a mistake here and thought I had booked the early show (I guess that is what happens when you get up in the early hours to make Advance dinning reservations). It said 9.15 pm reservations which I though was the first show but no it was when you go to check in for the later show. Hubby called it lifestyles of the rich and famous as felt a bit special sitting there knowing the effort I had gone through to get the tickets.
It was a late night for us so another sleep in the next day.
Saturday 15th October
This was our little girls 7th birthday so it was a packed day. We got Genie + this day for the photos.
We started the day with breakfast with Minnie and friends at 9.10am and just made it on time.
The plaza inn is lovely inside and it was great to choose what we wanted for breakfast.
Our little girl was crushing on Chip n dale so was excited to see them at the breakfast. She gave the best hugs to chip and dale and loved how soft and checky they were.
We had her autograph book with us and each character signed by their name (I had read about a large clickable sharpie and it was great).
All the characters came around our table a couple of times and each time they stopped for photos and hugs. Interactions were amazing and Pluto acted like a real dog shaking is leg when patted.
We saw Minnie at the start for a photo (included in the photo pass), Chip n dale, Pluto, Tigger, Sunny and Daisy duck. You also get pins here from the breakfast.
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at 12:00pm, We finally found where to check in for this it is not at the BBB store but a little store nearby. It was easy to choose the package and then they show you which dresses you get to choose from then you can choose the crown/wand or jewellery. They also explain the hair options to you.
We chose The Castle Package Starting at $199.95 Plus Tax it came with photos after at the carriage.
Our fairy god mother was really good with our daughter and she loved the experience, she was so excited when she was getting nail polish put on. As It was her birthday she got a BBB sash to wear that said Birthday Princess. She also got a bag to take home of all the stuff they had used on her as well as some shampoo.
After her make over we were taken to where they take photos with the carriage/horse. They printed off a couple of photos for us and the rest were on our photo pass.
Allow more time for this experience than you think you might need. Our time was 12.00 but we weren’t called in till 12.15pm then the time for waiting to take photos after wards.
Capture your moment photos at 2:15pm we booked this as we wanted photos of the 3 of us as well as our girl in her BBB dress.
This was a quick easy process and the photographers were great to work with. We were able to get a few family shots by the castle, and pumpkin. The rest were of our girl in different poses. They captured some lovely photos.
Hungry Bear on the go Fantasmic show- we got our take away meal from here and ate at Hungry bear as it was raining. Not only did it rain but it also thundered and lightening!! Where was this in my forecast it never mentioned it. I only had 2 ponchos and that was because I had bought them with me for Splash Mountain. The food we all ate, I had heard some people didn’t like the food but it was fine for us.
I found were the show check in was and asked them if it was till going to happen as I remember reading somewhere that rain can cancel shows. They didn’t know as they were hoping it was going to clear.
We went into Briar patch to look around and I overheard a man telling the store worker that the 9.am show was cancelled but they would honour your tickets to the later showing that same night.
We couldn’t make the later showing as our girl was struggling with the late nights/time difference so
I had the idea to go to guest services and see if by any chance they could exchange our tickets for tomorrow nights show at the same time. (it would mean we miss the fireworks over the castle).
I joined the long line at city hall an waited to talk to someone. When our time came outside city hall to talk to someone I explained the situation and they said they would talk to someone in side for me. A cast member came out and I explained to them how we have come from New Zealand and the later time wouldn’t work for us as our girl was struggling with the time difference. He said he would have to talk to the hungry bear manager to see if they could do it for us. He went away came back and said they can’t promise anything but let me take a photo of your park ticket and I suggest you get there early to check in to see if they can accommodate you.
We went back to the hotel and as we got off the ART the fireworks began to start so we watched from the street.
Sunday 16th October
We slept in and took our time as check out was 11am. I had wanted to get up earlier and check out and make the most of the EE at Disney but knew it wasn’t going to happen. ( I had to let go of my rope drops plans earlier in the trip as it just wasn’t going to happen). We had late nights and our girl walked everywhere she was a superstar.
We caught an uber to the Disneyland hotel for our 2 night stay.
Checked our bags with bag hold and went to explore Disneyland. Spent our time riding rides and waited till we could check in. Never got the email to say room was ready so checked back in at 3.30pm and room was ready. We were in Frontier tower.
Went back to Disneyland and rode some rides.
We checked in for Fantasmic and explained the situation they told us to go to Hungry bear and speak to a Manager there. We went to Hungry bear and I asked to speak to the Manager, the cast member asked me what it was about and I told her. She then went away and came back asked me how many in your party and I said 3 she then went away and came back with 3 tickets for Fantasmic that night at 9.00pm (this was some real Pixie dust as I didn’t not expect this to happen).
We checked in and were second row from the railing. While waiting for the show to start we chatted with the young family in front of us from Mexico. You do get wet from spray from the show which I must have missed as this was one tip I did not pickup or read. Lucky we had the poncho in our bag so pulled that out to spread across us. (tip bring some poncho’s to keep dry from the spray).
Absolutely amazing shows loved every minute of it!! After the show they told us we could watch the fire works from here, again you get wet with spray from the projections but great to see the fire works.
Monday 17th October
You guessed it we slept in again.
We had a 9.10 reservations for Story tellers (had planned to spend the time at Disneyland in the EE then head to storytellers.
We did storytellers for breakfast and once again got autograph (first time meeting Mickey) and lots of hugs from the characters.
After this we headed to downtown Disney while hubby took the auto graph book back to hotel.
While wating for him we were going to check out World of Disney but changed our mind and ended up getting a caricature done. I went first and miss 7 chose me to be dressed as Sleeping beauty as that was what she chose for her BBB dress, she was going to be Dale the chipmunk and dad was going to be Gaston. We got our pictures drawn then hubby turned up and got added into the picture. A very cute picture that we will treasure and remember our time from Disney.
Spent a bit of time at Disneyland riding rides, people watching, watched the short character parade down main street.
Went back to the hotel for a swim for a few hours which my girl loved the pool.
We had a 5pm lego build you own miniature which we had booked. Our little girl is just getting into lego so this was a great experience for her. You can make up to 2 figures in your time slot so she made 2 one as her and one as her friend. We then let her fill a cup up of different lego that she wanted. (I had especially not gone into the lego store all week as wanted it to be new when she went).
After that we had a Trader Sams reservation for 6.05pm. We checked in and while waiting a lot of people were walking up wanting to go on the walk up list. Times were between 1 to 1 and a half hour wait. (It made that early morning get up to get a reservation so worth it).
While checking in she asked us if we would like to sit inside or outside. I said inside please I hear that is where you need to be to see the ‘show’. Inside is small now I understand why it is so hard to get a table here. We had a meal and a drink each, we bought the souvenir mug to bring home. Would I do this again? Probably not as you can get the same food/drinks delivered to the hotel pool.
After this we went to Disneyland.
The security from Disneyland hotel is fast/easy and low crowds.
We loved being able to check into Disneyland at the monorail and ride straight into tomorrow land so quick an easy.
Crowds were the lowest we had seen them and felt great to be able to move around freely.
As this was our last night at Disneyland miss 7 and hubby chose to ride Splash mountain at the end of the night about 10am at night when the crowds were almost non existent. They went on it 4 times. One time they didn’t even have to get off they were allowed to stay on.
We rode the train to tomorrow land and caught the monorail back to our hotel to pack. We crawled into bed at 1.30am after repacking everything.
Check out day we had breakfast reservations with Goofy at Goofy’s kitchen at 9.25. Thankfully it is on site so we were able to get a bit of a sleep in. Hubby forgot to bring the autograph book but we were given a photo of goofy which he signed (I noticed when we got home it was signed on the back not the front of the photo).
The food here is unreal.. where else can you have pizza for breakfast, and ice cream.
I ordered chocolate milk for myself and miss 7 which was a hit. I tired the peanut butter and jelly pizza and he smores pizza. Where else can you have something so goofy for breakfast. They asked when checking in if we were celebrating and we said yes it’s our girls birthday trip. They bought her a goofy cupcake with candles. I forgot to get a photo of it. We cut it in half and shared it with a little girl from the table next door whose parent’s we had got talking to.
After breakfast we checked out of the hotel (I had packed a bag with swimwear/sunblock etc) on the off chance we could use the pool. Our car service was picking us up at 4pm for a 8.50 flight.
We asked at check out if we were able to use the pool and they said yes. So that is what we did we stored out bags with the bag hold and got chanced in the rest rooms into our swim wear and spent the next 3 hours at the pool. I even did the red monorail water slide, first and last time ever for me.
This was a great way to relax before our flight as it was the hottest day there yet.
Trip report 10th October to the 18thOctober. Flying over from New Zealand on a 12 hour flight arriving into LAX.
2 Adults and one child. First family trip to Disneyland. 5 day park hopper pass, OBB and 1 day Disneyland ticket.
This was a long awaited birthday trip which was meant to take place in 2020 for our girls 5th Birthday. Lucky for us we hadn’t told her so she didn’t know what she was missing.
I had been trying to plan it for 2021 but that didn’t work and so 2022 it was. I didn’t believe it was happening till we were leaving to go to the airport.
We booked fights and accommodation long before we needed to go. I had a booking at Candy Cane Inn and they were meant to open before we left. However I had seen the lack of progress on the remodel so went and booked back up accommodation in April for our October trip just in case they weren’t open. This was a great call as it turned out they were not going to be open.
Bought our Disneyland tickets and 2 nights Disneyland hotel stay through getaway today. I liked that I could cancel with the peace of mind insurance and get our money back if we could not go.
Car service:
Anaheim town car service return trip with grocery stop on the way. Great clean cars and friendly drivers on time and great communication.
Hotel:
I did A LOT of research on hotels and thought I had it sorted with Candy cane inn as it had great reviews, breakfast and private shuttle.
My back up hotel Suncoast came from watching a video on hotels. It looked like a nice hotel within easy walking distance, (also on the ART route) and big rooms. Paid $1027.26 US all up for 6 nights for a 2 queen bed room.
We ended up at Suncoast hotel which I was fine about as we saved $500 from our original booking. I booked this on expedia as it was a back up hotel so I could cancel without any fees. As the time got nearer to our stay the price skyrocketed up on the Suncoast website.
Check in was easy and Joey on reception was lovely he told us that he had a great a room for us. (turns out it has a fireworks view). I didn’t get to excited as I knew fireworks were only on weekends and we had checked in on a Monday. However it was Columbus day and there were indeed fire works which we were able to watch from our room.
The room was large and had a lot of space to spread out and store suitcases. You could easily have enough room for a porta cot.
Hotel pool area was nice and we spent our first afternoon there day of check in before we walked to downtown Disney to check out the area and have some dinner.
We walked to Down town Disney and had a look around and did a walk up for Tortilla Joes. I really enjoyed the food here and the atmosphere of being outside to people watch. They asked us if we wanted an inside or outside table. We said what ever comes available first as we aren’t bothered.
Tuesday
First day of Disneyland. Set that alarm early to try and make rope drop and it was a real struggle for us. We got into Disneyland walking main street bang on 8.05am. So didn’t make rope drop but did get in early. This was the only time we did early entry as we could not handle the early morning and time difference.
As soon as we walked into Disneyland we saw Mickey, Pluto, Minnie and Goofy up on the train station steps waving to everyone. We went over to wave hi and get a photo with them in the back ground.
We had planned that our first family ride for would be Dumbo as miss 6 wanted to do this first. Lucky we choose this as Peter pan was not open. We did Dumbo then the usual Fantasy land rides before trying to find first visit pins and birthday pins.
Turns out all the shops in main street had run out but we were told we could them at other shops around Disneyland.
Dinner reservations were for Carnation café and this was a great choice. The food was great and the atmosphere of sitting outside and people watching on main street was great. Then it rained! (the 10 day forecast and even the day before when I checked said NOTHING about rain). It didn’t last long. We were fine outside as were under a big umbrella.
I had read about the fried pickles and baked potato soup and they sounded amazing so I chose those. What great choices they were delicious. The sever also said I made a great choice when I ordered them.
We didn’t like anything on the dessert menu so headed to Gibson girl ice cream parlour and got ice creams for dessert.
We left the park before closing and took the art bus back to our hotel.
Wednesday 12th October.
Disneyland day after a sleep in. Got gennie plus this day and what a mission to get internet on it, it kept dropping off and not working on and off all day.
We did mobile order for food and when the app worked this was great.
Thursday 13th October
We did Princess breakfast at Napa Rose for our Princess loving girl 10am booking so we could sleep in. We also knew from reading the posts that this is the way to go to knock out a lot of princesses without having to wait in long lines at Disneyland and not knowing what princess are inside the royal hall.
This was super expensive with the exchange rate being so bad but it was a once in a life time experience and so worth it. ( I have read posts about people joking that when they come to Disney they are Disney rich) and this is true to an extent as everything adds up.
Our girl wore her own princess dress which I had bought before our trip especially for Disneyland from little adventurers. She decided to wear the dress as she was going to have breakfast with the Princesses so thought a princess gown would be a good idea. (I had warned her that we don’t actually sit with the Princesses for breakfast as that is what she thought it was).
We loved this experience and also seeing the expressions on our little girls face as she interacted with the Princesses. I even took time to stop and look at hubby’s face as he was delighting in the expressions on our little girls face. It is definitely a core memory moment type of breakfast.
The Princesses are so welcoming and easy to talk to. Our girl had her autograph book and each Princess signed by her name and picture (it is the Disney Junior animation book). She really enjoyed taking the time to talk to each Princess and we never felt rushed. When she asked Mulan where Mushu was she said he was in the kitchen working on her dessert and would she like her to ask Mushu to put extra cotton candy on her dessert. Our girl loved this as cotton candy is one of her favourites.
There is a photo pass photographer there who takes photos of 2 different princesses inside ( Ariel and Rapunzel) the photo pass is included in the price of the breakfast.
When we checked in they saw they asked as if were celebrating anything and we said yes our daughters birthday. When the desserts came they had written Happy birthday in chocolate on the bottom of the plate.
We left here feeling very full after eating all the good food.
Princesses we saw were Jasmine, Aurora, Ariel, Rapunzel, Belle, Pocahontas, Tiana, Mulan.
OBB BASH
We don’t celebrate Halloween here in New Zealand as they do in the states so this was going to be a new experience for us.
We decided to dress up as Day of the dead as they were easy costumes to pack and travel with.
We arrived just after mix in and went about exploring the park and riding rides. (This was our first visit to DCA, plan had been to park hop each after noon to DCA but it didn’t plan out).
We took advantage of the photo pass which was included in the OBB ticket to get some family shots taken and took the opportunity when we came across one and the line was short. We didn’t catch the parades just saw them in passing.
We rode Radiator Springs twice in a row as the wait time was very minimal about 30 mins. (This was the only time we rode RR as we knew it would be LONG lines during normal park days).
Treat trails were a hit with our girl and she loved getting lots of candy and eating her way around the trails meeting all the different villains. We skipped Villains grove as it wasn’t of interest to us and spent time riding rides and treat trails. The villains are so so witty and it is great to listen to them interact with the crowd. Would I do it again? Probably not for the price of it.
Friday 14th October
Disneyland again after a sleep in. We are not morning people with the time difference. Our little girl was still asleep at 9.30am so we let her sleep. (nothing worse than grumpy children).
We did Disney for an hour before we park hopped to DCA. Their was a massive line by some double gates where people were lined up that weren’t open. We went to the normal turn stile and were able to get in a slightly before 1pm.
We got some pixie dust here when my little girl who has taken to pin trading traded with a cast member outside the Disney junior dance party . (we had missed the time for that show and there we a lot of cast members standing near the door), After she had traded her pin and we were walking away one of the cast members came up to as and said “here are some more pins to add to your trading and produced 4 pins from his pocket and gave them to our little girl. She was so excited
We did WOC dessert party this night and it was amazing to watch. We had chosen the high up tables as had read that they had a great view. It was indeed a great view. We were sat at a table with two others who we got talking to before the show started and ate from our dessert plates and drank out drinks. The two ladies we were talking to were pass holders and locals and this was the first time they had done WOC dessert party. We didn’t eat/try all the desserts but it was a great experience to know we had a seat and could take our time to get there to watch the show.
I made a mistake here and thought I had booked the early show (I guess that is what happens when you get up in the early hours to make Advance dinning reservations). It said 9.15 pm reservations which I though was the first show but no it was when you go to check in for the later show. Hubby called it lifestyles of the rich and famous as felt a bit special sitting there knowing the effort I had gone through to get the tickets.
It was a late night for us so another sleep in the next day.
Saturday 15th October
This was our little girls 7th birthday so it was a packed day. We got Genie + this day for the photos.
We started the day with breakfast with Minnie and friends at 9.10am and just made it on time.
The plaza inn is lovely inside and it was great to choose what we wanted for breakfast.
Our little girl was crushing on Chip n dale so was excited to see them at the breakfast. She gave the best hugs to chip and dale and loved how soft and checky they were.
We had her autograph book with us and each character signed by their name (I had read about a large clickable sharpie and it was great).
All the characters came around our table a couple of times and each time they stopped for photos and hugs. Interactions were amazing and Pluto acted like a real dog shaking is leg when patted.
We saw Minnie at the start for a photo (included in the photo pass), Chip n dale, Pluto, Tigger, Sunny and Daisy duck. You also get pins here from the breakfast.
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique at 12:00pm, We finally found where to check in for this it is not at the BBB store but a little store nearby. It was easy to choose the package and then they show you which dresses you get to choose from then you can choose the crown/wand or jewellery. They also explain the hair options to you.
We chose The Castle Package Starting at $199.95 Plus Tax it came with photos after at the carriage.
Our fairy god mother was really good with our daughter and she loved the experience, she was so excited when she was getting nail polish put on. As It was her birthday she got a BBB sash to wear that said Birthday Princess. She also got a bag to take home of all the stuff they had used on her as well as some shampoo.
After her make over we were taken to where they take photos with the carriage/horse. They printed off a couple of photos for us and the rest were on our photo pass.
Allow more time for this experience than you think you might need. Our time was 12.00 but we weren’t called in till 12.15pm then the time for waiting to take photos after wards.
Capture your moment photos at 2:15pm we booked this as we wanted photos of the 3 of us as well as our girl in her BBB dress.
This was a quick easy process and the photographers were great to work with. We were able to get a few family shots by the castle, and pumpkin. The rest were of our girl in different poses. They captured some lovely photos.
Hungry Bear on the go Fantasmic show- we got our take away meal from here and ate at Hungry bear as it was raining. Not only did it rain but it also thundered and lightening!! Where was this in my forecast it never mentioned it. I only had 2 ponchos and that was because I had bought them with me for Splash Mountain. The food we all ate, I had heard some people didn’t like the food but it was fine for us.
I found were the show check in was and asked them if it was till going to happen as I remember reading somewhere that rain can cancel shows. They didn’t know as they were hoping it was going to clear.
We went into Briar patch to look around and I overheard a man telling the store worker that the 9.am show was cancelled but they would honour your tickets to the later showing that same night.
We couldn’t make the later showing as our girl was struggling with the late nights/time difference so
I had the idea to go to guest services and see if by any chance they could exchange our tickets for tomorrow nights show at the same time. (it would mean we miss the fireworks over the castle).
I joined the long line at city hall an waited to talk to someone. When our time came outside city hall to talk to someone I explained the situation and they said they would talk to someone in side for me. A cast member came out and I explained to them how we have come from New Zealand and the later time wouldn’t work for us as our girl was struggling with the time difference. He said he would have to talk to the hungry bear manager to see if they could do it for us. He went away came back and said they can’t promise anything but let me take a photo of your park ticket and I suggest you get there early to check in to see if they can accommodate you.
We went back to the hotel and as we got off the ART the fireworks began to start so we watched from the street.
Sunday 16th October
We slept in and took our time as check out was 11am. I had wanted to get up earlier and check out and make the most of the EE at Disney but knew it wasn’t going to happen. ( I had to let go of my rope drops plans earlier in the trip as it just wasn’t going to happen). We had late nights and our girl walked everywhere she was a superstar.
We caught an uber to the Disneyland hotel for our 2 night stay.
Checked our bags with bag hold and went to explore Disneyland. Spent our time riding rides and waited till we could check in. Never got the email to say room was ready so checked back in at 3.30pm and room was ready. We were in Frontier tower.
Went back to Disneyland and rode some rides.
We checked in for Fantasmic and explained the situation they told us to go to Hungry bear and speak to a Manager there. We went to Hungry bear and I asked to speak to the Manager, the cast member asked me what it was about and I told her. She then went away and came back asked me how many in your party and I said 3 she then went away and came back with 3 tickets for Fantasmic that night at 9.00pm (this was some real Pixie dust as I didn’t not expect this to happen).
We checked in and were second row from the railing. While waiting for the show to start we chatted with the young family in front of us from Mexico. You do get wet from spray from the show which I must have missed as this was one tip I did not pickup or read. Lucky we had the poncho in our bag so pulled that out to spread across us. (tip bring some poncho’s to keep dry from the spray).
Absolutely amazing shows loved every minute of it!! After the show they told us we could watch the fire works from here, again you get wet with spray from the projections but great to see the fire works.
Monday 17th October
You guessed it we slept in again.
We had a 9.10 reservations for Story tellers (had planned to spend the time at Disneyland in the EE then head to storytellers.
We did storytellers for breakfast and once again got autograph (first time meeting Mickey) and lots of hugs from the characters.
After this we headed to downtown Disney while hubby took the auto graph book back to hotel.
While wating for him we were going to check out World of Disney but changed our mind and ended up getting a caricature done. I went first and miss 7 chose me to be dressed as Sleeping beauty as that was what she chose for her BBB dress, she was going to be Dale the chipmunk and dad was going to be Gaston. We got our pictures drawn then hubby turned up and got added into the picture. A very cute picture that we will treasure and remember our time from Disney.
Spent a bit of time at Disneyland riding rides, people watching, watched the short character parade down main street.
Went back to the hotel for a swim for a few hours which my girl loved the pool.
We had a 5pm lego build you own miniature which we had booked. Our little girl is just getting into lego so this was a great experience for her. You can make up to 2 figures in your time slot so she made 2 one as her and one as her friend. We then let her fill a cup up of different lego that she wanted. (I had especially not gone into the lego store all week as wanted it to be new when she went).
After that we had a Trader Sams reservation for 6.05pm. We checked in and while waiting a lot of people were walking up wanting to go on the walk up list. Times were between 1 to 1 and a half hour wait. (It made that early morning get up to get a reservation so worth it).
While checking in she asked us if we would like to sit inside or outside. I said inside please I hear that is where you need to be to see the ‘show’. Inside is small now I understand why it is so hard to get a table here. We had a meal and a drink each, we bought the souvenir mug to bring home. Would I do this again? Probably not as you can get the same food/drinks delivered to the hotel pool.
After this we went to Disneyland.
The security from Disneyland hotel is fast/easy and low crowds.
We loved being able to check into Disneyland at the monorail and ride straight into tomorrow land so quick an easy.
Crowds were the lowest we had seen them and felt great to be able to move around freely.
As this was our last night at Disneyland miss 7 and hubby chose to ride Splash mountain at the end of the night about 10am at night when the crowds were almost non existent. They went on it 4 times. One time they didn’t even have to get off they were allowed to stay on.
We rode the train to tomorrow land and caught the monorail back to our hotel to pack. We crawled into bed at 1.30am after repacking everything.
Check out day we had breakfast reservations with Goofy at Goofy’s kitchen at 9.25. Thankfully it is on site so we were able to get a bit of a sleep in. Hubby forgot to bring the autograph book but we were given a photo of goofy which he signed (I noticed when we got home it was signed on the back not the front of the photo).
The food here is unreal.. where else can you have pizza for breakfast, and ice cream.
I ordered chocolate milk for myself and miss 7 which was a hit. I tired the peanut butter and jelly pizza and he smores pizza. Where else can you have something so goofy for breakfast. They asked when checking in if we were celebrating and we said yes it’s our girls birthday trip. They bought her a goofy cupcake with candles. I forgot to get a photo of it. We cut it in half and shared it with a little girl from the table next door whose parent’s we had got talking to.
After breakfast we checked out of the hotel (I had packed a bag with swimwear/sunblock etc) on the off chance we could use the pool. Our car service was picking us up at 4pm for a 8.50 flight.
We asked at check out if we were able to use the pool and they said yes. So that is what we did we stored out bags with the bag hold and got chanced in the rest rooms into our swim wear and spent the next 3 hours at the pool. I even did the red monorail water slide, first and last time ever for me.
This was a great way to relax before our flight as it was the hottest day there yet.
