HUGE thanks!!! Perfect 7/17 visit!

[my*gracie*girl]

I don't post much, but wanted to say thanks to those of you who do! Because of this board we had the MOST amazing day at Disneyland on 7/17 when we celebrated my daughter's 8th birthday, my mom's 56th birthday and Disneyland's 55th birthday! We got a lot of attention having TWO family members who share a birthday with Disneyland and my daughter had the "best birthday she will ever have."

It was hot and crowded, but I learned these things here that saved the day:
1. we *might* get more than 6 special fastpasses when we turned my daughter's GAD ticket in and we DID. They gave us 8...one for every member of our group! We rode every single ride we wanted to ride...most multiple times.
2. we could use our regular fastpasses any time AFTER the time on the ticket. This was awesome and even helped out complete strangers when we realized late at night that we had a billion fp's left over and started handing them out by the bunches
3. we *might* get picked to ride with the volunteer cavalcade in the parade if we were in the right place at the right time...we were and we DID! We got a visit with Mickey/Minnie and a chance to see backstage AND reserved seating for the rest of the parade. Amazing!

I've learned many other things from this board, but those were our highlights. We got super lucky and ended up with front curbside spots for the Happy Birthday sing along they did and were amazed to see 51 characters pour out of the backstage entrance and loved watching cast members from all areas of the park dance in the streets. And were SHOCKED when they dropped the ropes and let us mob those same characters. My daughter got pictures with her two favorite and was thrilled to also hold hands with Ariel as she was led away....all in all an amazing day and we wouldn't have had quite the opportunities or luck if it weren't for you all!!! THANK YOU!

 

[lisalisalisa]

What a wonderful day .

 

[Disney Dreams]

Glad to hear you all had a great time. Happy (belated) birthday to your Mom and your daughter. Here's to great memories from a wonderful Disney visit!

 

[SnowWhite09]

What a wonderful day! Disney magic at its best!

 

[QueenDoOver]

3. we *might* get picked to ride with the volunteer cavalcade in the parade if we were in the right place at the right time...we were and we DID! We got a visit with Mickey/Minnie and a chance to see backstage AND reserved seating for the rest of the parade. Amazing!

Very cool. Mind sharing where the right place at the right time is?

 

[jodeja]

Very cool. Mind sharing where the right place at the right time is?

We were also in the VoluntEAR Cavalcade; we waited by the stroller parking to the right of It's A Small World. There is a little gate that the cast members come out of. There was another mom + daughter waiting there too.
I believe the time is 5:45, but hopefully someone will confirm that.
I thought I had read on these boards that someone said to be there at 5:15, and we got there about 5:20 and after waiting 10 minutes I thought we missed it, but we decided to wait a bit longer anyway. Then the mom + daughter showed up and we found out that we were actually early.
We got to be on the float with Miss Piggy & Kermit!! Another huge fun surprise was that some DISers (Hawleys and Ginormous) were watching the parade and were kind enough to take pictures of us and email them to me.

 

[my*gracie*girl]

We were also in the VoluntEAR Cavalcade; we waited by the stroller parking to the right of It's A Small World. There is a little gate that the cast members come out of. There was another mom + daughter waiting there too.
I believe the time is 5:45, but hopefully someone will confirm that.
I thought I had read on these boards that someone said to be there at 5:15, and we got there about 5:20 and after waiting 10 minutes I thought we missed it, but we decided to wait a bit longer anyway. Then the mom + daughter showed up and we found out that we were actually early.
We got to be on the float with Miss Piggy & Kermit!! Another huge fun surprise was that some DISers (Hawleys and Ginormous) were watching the parade and were kind enough to take pictures of us and email them to me.

What day were you in the parade? That would be fun if it was the same day...especially since we are neighbors! lol

I read on here to be at the Small World roped off area about an hour before the evening parade. We staked out seats on the benches in case it didn't work out, but it was probably between 5:30-5:45 that you could see a bunch of voluntear cavalcade members (jumpsuits with paint splotches all over them) come out of the backstage door to the right of Small World. Good luck!

 

[jodeja]

What day were you in the parade? That would be fun if it was the same day...especially since we are neighbors! lol

HI Neighbor!
We were in the parade on Saturday, June 19th. What day were you in it?