March Check-In Thread!

[jenjersnap]

Thanks for the FDP info, MikeRx. I hate calling them often. I was surprised F! Looks to be offered every night this year, it was only on weekends last March.

I was for sure getting PP+ but now I am waffling because of the castle situation. There are so many fewer attraction photos and most of those...Cali Screamin' and TOT, for example, most of my kids won't ride. Anyone holding out hope that it could be untarped (but the special effects just kept off)? Am I naive for still hoping this? The blogs can be wrong sometimes...they also said WOC wasn't coming back until May and that was incorrect.

I need to book our character meal and I just can't decide the day or which one! I like the randomness of the characters at Minnies - that surprise element is so much fun - but I don't like much else about it. Also, I hate using morning time for it (though we would book on our MM). Storytellers has some unusual characters but the food reviews aren't good at all recently. We have gone to WDW twice in the past 16 months so the character line ups at Surfs up and Goofy's are pretty boring. I guess I am leaning toward later brunch at Goofy's or latest seating at Minnie's.

We are having the worst round of luck. We had to put our 18-year-old cat to sleep last night and my kids are pretty inconsolable. . We may tell them about the DL trip to cheer them up.

 

[MikeRx]

Thanks for the FDP info, MikeRx. I hate calling them often. I was surprised F! Looks to be offered every night this year, it was only on weekends last March.

I was for sure getting PP+ but now I am waffling because of the castle situation. There are so many fewer attraction photos and most of those...Cali Screamin' and TOT, for example, most of my kids won't ride. Anyone holding out hope that it could be untarped (but the special effects just kept off)? Am I naive for still hoping this? The blogs can be wrong sometimes...they also said WOC wasn't coming back until May and that was incorrect.

I need to book our character meal and I just can't decide the day or which one! I like the randomness of the characters at Minnies - that surprise element is so much fun - but I don't like much else about it. Also, I hate using morning time for it (though we would book on our MM). Storytellers has some unusual characters but the food reviews aren't good at all recently. We have gone to WDW twice in the past 16 months so the character line ups at Surfs up and Goofy's are pretty boring. I guess I am leaning toward later brunch at Goofy's or latest seating at Minnie's.

We are having the worst round of luck. We had to put our 18-year-old cat to sleep last night and my kids are pretty inconsolable. . We may tell them about the DL trip to cheer them up.

Hang in there! DL should help with the loss. We to do at least 1 character breakfast at DLR. We usually choose Minnie's but do it on a day with a magical morning and do a late breakfast. We consider it brunch (10:40am) and get to enjoy the magical hour and lower crowds for the first 2-3 hours and then go off to a relaxing breakfast! We will be doing Goofy's on our last day as well with the same pattern (11:20am). In WDW we go to Tusker's and Plaza Inn to get in the park before it opens. Harder to do in DL as the park opening and first reservations are a bit too close most days, so we do the brunch trick. We aren't letting the refurbs affect us and hope to do things that we've skipped or missed over the past year while they dress up for the 60th. We hope to be rewarded with a great end of annual pass trip in June to see the celebration and then it's back to WDW! I have an amazing and tolerant wife (she has two boys when we go to Disney).

Mike

 

[jenjersnap]

That is our plan too, if we do Minnie's...MM and latest seating. We have done that before and it works great. I am afraid, especially with all these unforeseen medical costs, we can do only one character meal and the FDP this trip so I feel some pressure to choose the "right" one. It doesn't help that we almost always have done the DxDDP at WDW and do ALL the character meals, LOL.

Our situations are reversed...it is my husband who is the tolerant one and humors me.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

For those of you who have done a later seating at Minnie's, what is the character interaction like and how crowded is it at that time? We've done Minnie's twice, but each time we got the earliest seating and it was wonderfully empty, giving us tons of time with the characters. This trip I'm leaning towards a later seating, more brunch time, but I'd hate to be rushed with our character time.

 

[Ratherbeatdisneyland]

This is our first time at Minnie's too. We did Goofy's Kitchen last time and I was kind of Meh about the whole experience. But that was probably because it was just my Husband and I. I also have been going hummm about photo pass plus today. We won't be riding probably many if any rides together....it's still up in the air if my friend will be able to come with us, and so I don't think ride photos are a very good draw. No castle picture (probably) that we could frame...anywhere else we could just ask the Photopass people to snap a picture of us. So I dunno!

 

[Diszona]

For those of you who have done a later seating at Minnie's, what is the character interaction like and how crowded is it at that time? We've done Minnie's twice, but each time we got the earliest seating and it was wonderfully empty, giving us tons of time with the characters. This trip I'm leaning towards a later seating, more brunch time, but I'd hate to be rushed with our character time.

We did it with late seating in October and the character interaction was great, almost too great. The only issue was, because we were eating at the end of breakfast and we kept getting delayed with characters, we almost didn't get our full breakfast because they were very prompt about switching it out for lunch once breakfast is over. We realized what was happening and grabbed our last bit of food before it went away. I would have preferred starting closer to 10 just to make sure it was a more relaxed experience.

 

[sissyjane]

So I am hereby making a March thread since I've been waiting for one for quite awhile!

My family is making our last (for the foreseeable future) trip to Disneyland this March during our spring break. Leaving on the 20th and returning on the 28th! We're especially looking forward to this trip because it marks the conclusion of our "year of Disney", as we splurged and got APs last spring. It'll be me, my parents, and my two younger siblings! We're staying at the Howard Johnson Hotel. It's also sort of a celebration of my 18th birthday which is the day before we leave.

Anyone else going in March??

Probably going the first week of March and getting another AP! Excited!

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

We did it with late seating in October and the character interaction was great, almost too great. The only issue was, because we were eating at the end of breakfast and we kept getting delayed with characters, we almost didn't get our full breakfast because they were very prompt about switching it out for lunch once breakfast is over. We realized what was happening and grabbed our last bit of food before it went away. I would have preferred starting closer to 10 just to make sure it was a more relaxed experience.

Thanks for that report! Good to know...I'll definitely keep that in mind. DS loves Minnie's over Surf's Up and Goofy's, and asked specifically for this one for his character meal.

 

[Ratherbeatdisneyland]

I wonder what the reality of us being able to swim is at the beginning of March? I have been looking at the future forecast and it's putting the highs in the mid 70s. Not sure if that is warm enough to swim!

 

[jenjersnap]

I wonder what the reality of us being able to swim is at the beginning of March? I have been looking at the future forecast and it's putting the highs in the mid 70s. Not sure if that is warm enough to swim!

Mid 70s is swimming weather for us hardy Coloradans!

 

[Ratherbeatdisneyland]

True! We are in Utah so we will take the 70s! LOL I just wonder if DS will think it's too cold. That was a plan for our day off, letting him play in the kid's water area at Hojo.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

I suspect my water-loving boy is going to want to be in the pool no matter what the temp is! This is when I wish DH was coming with us - I'm going to freeze!!

 

[jenjersnap]

That is our plan too (well, at Hojo's or Candy Cane Inn, still haven't decided ) but I agree the spray ground is iffier if it is windy.

 

[sophies*mom]

I plan to soak in the hot tub! Doesn't that sound glorious? Especially in the evening.

Our park days are on the calendar! When the first day popped up, I said to my DH, OH! Our first park day is up!
He said, huh? I said our first park day! He was still confused. What? What's a park day?
Are you kidding me right now??? Our first day in the parks, you know, at Disneyland?
I often wonder about him...although I always have Disney on the brain so I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt lol.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

Our park days are on the calendar, but we still can't book the F! dinner package. I've been trying to get the reservations set up, but I can't do it online, and when I called in I was told that they aren't booking them past Feb 28 yet. I hope this doesn't mean they're getting rid of the dinner packages! We were really looking forward to taking our friends to BB, and combining it with the F! package seemed perfect for their first visit to DLR.

 

[sophies*mom]

Our park days are on the calendar, but we still can't book the F! dinner package. I've been trying to get the reservations set up, but I can't do it online, and when I called in I was told that they aren't booking them past Feb 28 yet. I hope this doesn't mean they're getting rid of the dinner packages! We were really looking forward to taking our friends to BB, and combining it with the F! package seemed perfect for their first visit to DLR.

I can't imagine they would, so soon after coming out with them! Did they give you any sort of time frame? Like only taking reservations so far out?

 

[jenjersnap]

MikeRX said the other day a CM told him the FDP were going to be loaded soon. I really hope so!

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

I can't imagine they would, so soon after coming out with them! Did they give you any sort of time frame? Like only taking reservations so far out?

They were booking through Feb 28, and nothing after that. All the rep could tell me was that they should have them in the calendar soon, so try calling again in a few days. That was on Friday, so I called again today and still not up. The rep today didn't have any news for me - either she didn't know or there was no news - so still waiting!

DS doesn't remember eating at BB - last time he went he was just a toddler and so obsessed with POTC that he sat and stared at all the boats going past, swaying back and forth and singing "yo ho, yo ho...me!" over and over. It was adorable and funny, and I wish the video we took of it had turned out. He's very curious to go again after I showed him the pictures from last time!

 

[sophies*mom]

They were booking through Feb 28, and nothing after that. All the rep could tell me was that they should have them in the calendar soon, so try calling again in a few days. That was on Friday, so I called again today and still not up. The rep today didn't have any news for me - either she didn't know or there was no news - so still waiting!

DS doesn't remember eating at BB - last time he went he was just a toddler and so obsessed with POTC that he sat and stared at all the boats going past, swaying back and forth and singing "yo ho, yo ho...me!" over and over. It was adorable and funny, and I wish the video we took of it had turned out. He's very curious to go again after I showed him the pictures from last time!

Aw! That's adorable! Hopefully you won't have to wait too much longer!!

 

[jenjersnap]

My youngest was a toddler when we last ate at BB and was similarly fascinated. He loves POTC and pirates, I think he will be so excited. I think we will eat there even if no FDP, but I would love to combine the two experiences.