**June 2016 check in**

[disneycat321]

I'm so excited to post here! We're tentatively planning on June 21-23. I'm SO excited. We were local AP holders for 5 years until we moved to northern California, so now our trips are much further apart than they used to be...but now it's that much more special when we do get to go. This will be our first time ever going 3 days in a row! When we were locals, we rarely even did full day trips. I'm looking forward to full immersion in the magic for awhile.

 

[xlsm]

New friends are added to the first page!!

Ok guys and gals, the countdown is on!

To answer the ADR question...my arrival day opened up today, but we STILL don't have concrete plans. I think we're going to make reservations for Carnation Cafe and Cafe Orleans. I think we've given up the idea of BB PTN. If we can't manage to see the parade and Disneyland Forever decently with 5 chances to do so, we've got problems, LOL!!

Here's another QOTD: Are you going to get PhotoPass??

We love it at WDW, and I wish DLR still had a multi-day option. Not for sure if we'll get it in advance, or just take a bazillion pictures at every stop and pick which days we want after we see how each day's pictures look.

 

[tlovesdis]

If we can't manage to see the parade and Disneyland Forever decently with 5 chances to do so, we've got problems, LOL!!

Is it playing twice a night while you are there? If so, definitely do a late one! We've done that several times and always get a great spot!

 

[luulu1999]

I absolutely LOVED the old PP+ I was so disappointed when it went away I am really torn on the new one I def wouldn't do it for all days but have considered maybe one day for ride photos and a few family photos and magic shots just try to get as many pics in that day as we could

 

[PoohsFan1]

Here's another QOTD: Are you going to get PhotoPass??

We love it at WDW, and I wish DLR still had a multi-day option. Not for sure if we'll get it in advance, or just take a bazillion pictures at every stop and pick which days we want after we see how each day's pictures look.

We love WDW's Photopass too, we get it every time we are there. The last time we went to DLR we did purchase Photopass and loved it, now with the changes, I wasn't sure what we will do. I think what DH and I decided on is that we won't get it for every single day of our trip because we don't plan on being in the parks every day. We definitely want to get them for when my DMIL will be with us (she will be there for a few nights of our stay) because this will be her first time at DLR, so we want to capture as much of the magic as possible with her. We also want to make sure we get it on the days that we are going to the character meals (yes, we are doing all 5....we are character obsessed) and we would love to have it for the ride photos. I don't think the cost per day is bothering my DH at all because for one, we don't go to Disneyland too often so we want to get as many pictures as possible, and two...my DH is obsessed with Photopass (especially WDW's photopass), he would literally stop at all of the photopass photographers in each of the parks if we let him .

 

[xlsm]

We love WDW's Photopass too, we get it every time we are there. The last time we went to DLR we did purchase Photopass and loved it, now with the changes, I wasn't sure what we will do. I think what DH and I decided on is that we won't get it for every single day of our trip because we don't plan on being in the parks every day. We definitely want to get them for when my DMIL will be with us (she will be there for a few nights of our stay) because this will be her first time at DLR, so we want to capture as much of the magic as possible with her. We also want to make sure we get it on the days that we are going to the character meals (yes, we are doing all 5....we are character obsessed) and we would love to have it for the ride photos. I don't think the cost per day is bothering my DH at all because for one, we don't go to Disneyland too often so we want to get as many pictures as possible, and two...my DH is obsessed with Photopass (especially WDW's photopass), he would literally stop at all of the photopass photographers in each of the parks if we let him .

I'm with your husband, I make my family stop at every one too!!

 

[bdub]

I don't know yet about photo pass. The last time we were there we used the pre-purchase one, and I'm afraid to get the one day pass on the off chance that it won't be utilized to the point that it will be a benefit.

I am considering an AP with the photo option though. I'm still working on the math. I found out about the AAPC (medical coding) convention at DLH in September after we booked this trip and got my time off request approved, so it makes financial sense to go that route. It's kind of a weird and exciting prospect, but airfare is cheap and hotel rates are typically 50% off during our conventions so this might actually happen...

 

[scschulla]

We will be there June 24-July 2!! Not all at Disneyland but will be staying at Best Western Pavilion the entire time! We are taking my 13 year old niece (who is a WDW Vet! has had an AP since she was 8) but this is her first trip to DLR! This is also my golden birthday trip! I have a deluxe AP but my actual birthday is of course on a Saturday and blocked out We have a lot to celebrate this trip and I am super super excited for it!!!

 

[alyssa810]

Psyched that we finally got our end-of-the-school year trip finally set, after snow days messed with our original plan! While the exact plan isn't ideal, we really wanted to squeeze in a 3rd trip with our current AP, and we are! We're flying into PHX and driving to DL from there, staying at Tropicana, but we'll be there for DH's birthday 6/23-6/26

 

[krispin41]

I haven't posted on the boards in a long while, but I will be taking my second solo trip from June 20th-26th, staying at DLH.

 

[firstdislander]

We're in...June 12-14, staying at HoJo's. DH, DS(7), and me.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Time for some up dates from me

I am doing a two part California trip, 6 days in Downtown LA and 4 days in Anaheim

I have now updated my ESTA (European Online Tourist Visa) Just an FYI for anyone doing ESTA in 2016. They changed the layout of the application and added some extra information sections.

Part One Downtown LA
My first hotel in Downtown LA is now booked and is 1 block from the Red Line Metro and 2 blocks from a bus route I want to use. I dont drive so I use public transport. Last year I got a TAP card so this year I will be using pay as you go and will just put the money on at a machine in the Metro station on my first day

While in Downtown LA I will use the Metro to visit Universal Studios. Very excited about this as the new Harry Potter Land is finally open. I have bought a one day ticket online from the Universal Studios website and plan to get the Metro direct to City Walk and the park. My plan is to get there around 9am and stay until park closing which is 8pm. Everything I have been reading about the new Harry Potter Land is that mornings are the busiest with long lines so I will do the rest of the park first and then head to Harry Potter Land after 3pm.

I will also use the Metro to go to Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Hollywood and Hyland shopping Mall.
I have checked out the bus routes and other places I plan to visit is The Grove and Farmers Market, as well as LA Live, Grammy Museum and Staples Centre in Downtown LA. I have everything mapped out on Google Maps

Part Two Disneyland
The second part of my trip is Disney. There is a direct bus from outside my hotel to Disney. It takes about 2 hours but thats ok. The drop off point is the Disney Transportation Center, where I will get the ART to my hotel.

I have booked the same hotel as previous years, Motel 6 Main Gate. Yes its basic but it suits me as I spent over 12 hours each day in Disney. I check in on June 28 and check out July 1

Just a few things left to do.

1. book Supershuttle from and to LAX
2. get ART 5 day ticket online
3. coordinate schedules with my LA friends to make sure they book days off
4. book ADR

Does your family enjoy character meet and greets?

I dont do character meets or character dining.

Here's my question of the day... So what restaurants are you all planning on booking? What are you all looking forward to?

Blue Bayou is one, I eat here on every visit. I am also thinking about Wine Country Trattoria. Most likely Earl of Sandwich and one other quick service too. I am in the park from early morning until around 11pm so I usually do one table and one quick service each day.

Ok TOURIST ALERT ,lol I am also looking forward to Cheescake Factory and Ihop. We dont have those chains here in Europe

QOTD : Are you going to get PhotoPass??

No I have never got PhotoPass as its not something that interest me. I prefer to take photos on my own small digital camera.

Waves hello to
@E&AsMom
@OregonMomToWDW
@greewe
@ddwlms
looks like we will all be in Disney on the same days. Anyone interested in a meetup, just something causal like a coffee somewhere, for a quick hello and maybe some pin trading??

 

[xlsm]

Ok guys, I'm finally doing some serious planning!
My sister-in-law lives and works in LA, and originally we had planned to spend a day with her, but then, her short film was selected for Cannes Film Festival AND the Edinburgh Film Festival, so she was going to be out of the country.
Things changed, and she will not be able to go represent her films at either festival (I feel really bad for her!!).

So.

What this means is, plans to meet up with her in LA are back on, so I had to stop wasting time and plan our days so she knew what days she needed to take off work (if any) to spend some time with us.

We have our days like this (as a reminder, we have 5 day hoppers):

Arrival Day 1:
Plane lands around 12:30 at SNA
pick up rental car
drive to the beach to see the ocean (!!)
drive to HoJo and check in
Downtown Disney for dinner and gawking

Day 2:
Disneyland

Day 3 (grad night):
DCA

Day 4:
open day
beach?
San Diego?
parks in the evening?

Day 5:
LA and Santa Monica

Day 6:
Disneyland/DCA hopping day, buying ticket for SIL

Day 7:
Newport Beach
Whale Watching
Marine Mammal Center

Day 8:
Disneyland/DCA

Day 9:
Departure Day

We're in the process of picking our restaurants, and we're letting SIL pick our sit down meal on the day she joins us at the parks. She has been to WDW once when she was 10 and even though she has gone to school, lived, and worked in LA off and on for the last ten years or so, she has never been to Disneyland. I want to make sure she has a fun time!

I have one big, giant question -- anyone who has been before from the central time zone, what time do you plan your meals?? We're struggling to choose a time for our reservations. What works best for your family? For an example, at home on weekends when we're all together, we either don't eat breakfast or the kids/DH have some cereal or something small, and we eat early around 11am. If we eat breakfast, then we won't eat a larger meal until 2 or 3, and then snack for dinner. On a school/work day, one kid has lunch at 1145, one kid has lunch at 1220, and we have dinner around 530pm.
Does it take you a long time to get used to being on west coast time? Do you find yourselves being hungry at your "normal" time, or do you end up eating at a later (on the physical clock, not your internal clock) time?

I hope the phrasing of my question makes sense, lol!!

 

[PoohsFan1]

I have one big, giant question -- anyone who has been before from the central time zone, what time do you plan your meals?? We're struggling to choose a time for our reservations. What works best for your family? For an example, at home on weekends when we're all together, we either don't eat breakfast or the kids/DH have some cereal or something small, and we eat early around 11am. If we eat breakfast, then we won't eat a larger meal until 2 or 3, and then snack for dinner. On a school/work day, one kid has lunch at 1145, one kid has lunch at 1220, and we have dinner around 530pm.
Does it take you a long time to get used to being on west coast time? Do you find yourselves being hungry at your "normal" time, or do you end up eating at a later (on the physical clock, not your internal clock) time?

I hope the phrasing of my question makes sense, lol!!

When I was planning out our June 2013 trip I scheduled our dining to a time based on our internal clocks. Since we normally don't eat dinner at our house until around 7pm, I scheduled our dinners for between 5/5:30pm. For breakfast, I would schedule it for the earliest hours that I could get, even if the breakfast started at 7am, it would be like us eating at 9am at home. I took the same approach when scheduling our meals for this trip. If we ever felt hungry, there are so many wonderful snacks that held us over until we ate...there is nothing that an ice cream cone or a churro couldn't fix .

As for getting used to West Coast time, the mornings were really easy to get used to, for instance, if you get up at 8am Central time, it is 6am Pacific Time. You sleeping in, is equal to someone from the West coast just getting up. We found the hard part is making it into the later night...we always made sure to come back for a break in the afternoon for either a nap or a swim, that seemed to help. Mind you, if DL Park is opened until midnight, your body is going to feel like it is 2am.

 

[luulu1999]

I have one big, giant question -- anyone who has been before from the central time zone, what time do you plan your meals?? We're struggling to choose a time for our reservations. What works best for your family? For an example, at home on weekends when we're all together, we either don't eat breakfast or the kids/DH have some cereal or something small, and we eat early around 11am. If we eat breakfast, then we won't eat a larger meal until 2 or 3, and then snack for dinner. On a school/work day, one kid has lunch at 1145, one kid has lunch at 1220, and we have dinner around 530pm.
Does it take you a long time to get used to being on west coast time? Do you find yourselves being hungry at your "normal" time, or do you end up eating at a later (on the physical clock, not your internal clock) time?

I hope the phrasing of my question makes sense, lol!!

It doesn't really affect us, I still usually have to get everyone up, I am the only one who wakes up at 5AM thinking it is time to get up lol so we just eat at our normal times but on west coast time, usually at home the kids get up eat breakfast (usually just cereal) then we eat lunch around noon or 1 and dinner around 6ish....at California they have the same routine, they get up get ready and eat at the hotel so they have the same routine and really don't notice the different time zone

 

[xlsm]

Thanks for your replies!!

We are all early risers, and I'm afraid we'll all be up and waiting to get moving at 3am! I'm so afraid we won't be able to make any of the fireworks, lol!! I'm really hoping that vacation adrenaline kicks in and we'll be so excited it will offset the exhaustion.

Keeping breakfast food/snacks in the room is not our normal M.O., but in this case I think it will be super helpful, because my kids feel like they need to eat multiple times a day for some reason,haha!!

 

[xlsm]

Ok, now I'm looking at breakfast times, which we weren't even considering, but I started thinking about complaining children after reading the replies to my post...so, this feels like a dumb question, but I'm asking anyway - We are staying at HoJo, so we don't have EMH, BUT, what if our dining reservation was in the park at 7:10? Would we get to stay in the park afterward?
I'm so used to how things work at WDW, it's hard for me to feel like I don't know what I'm doing. A sit down breakfast wasn't on our to do list, so I haven't researched that at all.


Thanks!!

**editing to add, the website keeps giving me the "sorry for the paws" message, so I guess I don't have to worry about it this morning! I'll keep trying.

 

[tlovesdis]

Ok, now I'm looking at breakfast times, which we weren't even considering, but I started thinking about complaining children after reading the replies to my post...so, this feels like a dumb question, but I'm asking anyway - We are staying at HoJo, so we don't have EMH, BUT, what if our dining reservation was in the park at 7:10? Would we get to stay in the park afterward?
I'm so used to how things work at WDW, it's hard for me to feel like I don't know what I'm doing. A sit down breakfast wasn't on our to do list, so I haven't researched that at all.


Thanks!!

**editing to add, the website keeps giving me the "sorry for the paws" message, so I guess I don't have to worry about it this morning! I'll keep trying.

Yes you will but you probably won't be done with the character breakfast until around 8 anyway. That is our experience with a 710 reservation. We usually finish up just as the park is opening to everyone.

 

[xlsm]

Yes you will but you probably won't be done with the character breakfast until around 8 anyway. That is our experience with a 710 reservation. We usually finish up just as the park is opening to everyone.

Thanks! That's what I figured. We're used to doing that with Crystal Palace breakfasts in Florida.
It's just funny what hits me as a panic moment for this trip, and thinking about adding a breakfast was one of those moments!

 

[xlsm]

Ok, another post from me today...got our 7:10am Plaza Inn breakfast reservation finally, tried to make a couple others and am getting "sorry for the paws" again. Then my excitement went away when I realized that was a magic morning. *sigh*
I really wish park hours for June were released so I know if this early breakfast will be any kind of advantage (even if it's just already being up Main St. when everyone comes in and being at the front of the pack) or if we'll be wasting time during magic morning hour. On the other hand, it means we'll still have our magic morning to use on Saturday.

Through this I've learned that I am not good at this laid back approach to planning, no matter how hard I've tried to embrace it. I am missing my months out WDW planning. Of course, I'll be rethinking that when I'm up at 3am the day we leave California because I have to make ADRs for our December WDW trip.