*** May 2017 Disneyland Check-In ***

[julieheyer]

We'll be there the week of grad nites...trying not to go those days. I've heard it's wall to wall teena, running and creating a crowd and chaos. I'm sure DL cast members do their best to control it, but it's got to be a tad overwhelming!

We're not going Wednesday or Friday the week we're there, I'm hoping Monday, Tuesday day aren't too crazy!

 

[Fairy Floss]

when I was there last time - lots of older teenagers in groups - very loud and boisterous ( as they are when in groups) generally well behaved but the few that spoil it were annoying to the point that we chose not to go on some of the rides because of their noise and skylarking
Most posts I'm reading say go in the morning (while they're sleeping) as it gets busy and loud later

 

[tzeitel]

We only have 1 grad nite while we are there. Have to figure out what to do, if it was just DD, DH and I no biggie but with my ILs I like to have some stuff planned. We will definately go to the Farmer's Market for lunch and walk around the Grove. I've been wanting to go to the Griffith Park carousel but we always go off-season, during the week and they only open on weekends.
We might either go into the park in the morning or go to the Observatory.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Does anyone know if Goofys Kitchen will do anything special for a birthday? We arrive at the DLH on my sons birthday and plan to do Goofy's Kitchen. I don't expect much, but curious if it's possible to have someone sing to him?

Make sure that your son wears his birthday button! You should be able to get one at the front desk when you check in. That will let all CMs know it's his special day. Also, you can order a birthday cake to be delivered to GK. There is a cake thread on this board with lots of info and cake photos. I don't know if anyone will sing, but if your son wears his button, the characters and CMs will be able to wish him a Happy Birthday.

I wish that DL would put a warning about grad nights up when you're booking your package - like they do when there is going to be construction ...

A search for the dates on this board resulted in this: https://www.disboards.com/threads/2017-grad-night-dates.3583619/#post-57200897. That post has a link to Disney's website for the dates. I know that Mouse Planet has a list in their weekly DLR Update, too.

 

[DonnettaR]

We will be there 5/3-5/7

 

[Peteybob35]

Daddy daughter trip to the park on May 2,3 hope it's as dead as it's supposed to be

 

[Mom2Joce]

Daddy daughter trip to the park on May 2,3 hope it's as dead as it's supposed to be

We're going May 2,3,5,6 (hoping the same for at least 2 and 3)

 

[Fairy Floss]

A search for the dates on this board resulted in this: https://www.disboards.com/threads/2017-grad-night-dates.3583619/#post-57200897. That post has a link to Disney's website for the dates. I know that Mouse Planet has a list in their weekly DLR Update, too.

That's fine if you know to look there
I booked last September- a note on the booking page alerting you to activities that could impact on your stay similar to the one alerting you to works going on would be helpful
The grads have as much right o be there as I do but had I known, I would probably have chosen different dates to avoid them

 

[SMD]

That's fine if you know to look there
I booked last September- a note on the booking page alerting you to activities that could impact on your stay similar to the one alerting you to works going on would be helpful
The grads have as much right o be there as I do but had I known, I would probably have chosen different dates to avoid them

There are groups and events in the parks almost every day that could impact someone's trip if they encounter them. Disney's not going to warn people not to come to their parks.

 

[gsrieff]

Had a get together with our group today. (4 of us) We laid out an outline for the trip. I don't like a touring plan, but I like to know which part of the parks we will be in on certain days. We only have 3 park days, and so fitting in all of the entertainment we wanted to do was kind of a juggling act. Luckily we all agreed to cut seeing the Frozen show, and that made it easier. I showed the group 2 minute highlight clip and it was enough to see that we can miss it. This is what we came up with:

Saturday: Non Park Day- Downtown Disney, Dinner at Tangaora/trader sams, pool time
Sunday: Start at DL, hotel break, afternoon at DCA, Evening Fireworks and the 10:30 MSEP.
Monday: Start at DL, Map at 1 or 2, hotel break (if needed), free evening
Tuesday: Skip MM and start at DCA, free time, WOC
Wednesday: Fly home

We have no ADR's so food is going to be whatever we are in the mood for! Its a super flexible schedule, but allows us to avoid the "i dunno, what do you wanna do"

SO EXCITED! Tomorrow I am in the single digits!!!

 

[Rescue Pooh]

I'll be there the 22-24th

 

[MacMama0930]

Had a get together with our group today. (4 of us) We laid out an outline for the trip. I don't like a touring plan, but I like to know which part of the parks we will be in on certain days. We only have 3 park days, and so fitting in all of the entertainment we wanted to do was kind of a juggling act. Luckily we all agreed to cut seeing the Frozen show, and that made it easier. I showed the group 2 minute highlight clip and it was enough to see that we can miss it. This is what we came up with:

Saturday: Non Park Day- Downtown Disney, Dinner at Tangaora/trader sams, pool time
Sunday: Start at DL, hotel break, afternoon at DCA, Evening Fireworks and the 10:30 MSEP.
Monday: Start at DL, Map at 1 or 2, hotel break (if needed), free evening
Tuesday: Skip MM and start at DCA, free time, WOC
Wednesday: Fly home

We have no ADR's so food is going to be whatever we are in the mood for! Its a super flexible schedule, but allows us to avoid the "i dunno, what do you wanna do"

SO EXCITED! Tomorrow I am in the single digits!!!

Nice plan!
I'm working on mine, too! I love planning

Sunday we'll check into DLH and have a pool day, celebrate my sons birthday at Goofy's Kitchen at 7pm then off to bed.

Monday we'll do DCA early entry. Rumor has it some fast passes are available to pull during EE, so we'll hit up the major ones; Cars, Soarin, Toy Story and pull another Cars FP. I'm trying to take a much more leisure approach to this trip. Last time I took the kids it was Go Go Go, they've never even done Ariels ride or Animation Acamedy or Monsters Inc. hoping to enjoy these things.

We have BB MSEP reservations for Monday night. We plan to skip WOC this time. Got too spoiled with the DP and not willing to splurge on it again...so we'll just skip it.

I want to spend some time in Toon Town on Tuesday - another thing my kids haven't even seen!

I'm going to follow their lead and just do what they want instead of trying to do a hardcore touring plan. I did that in October and while it worked out great, I just don't feel the pressure this time!

18 more days!!

 

[gsrieff]

Nice plan!
I'm working on mine, too! I love planning

Sunday we'll check into DLH and have a pool day, celebrate my sons birthday at Goofy's Kitchen at 7pm then off to bed.

Monday we'll do DCA early entry. Rumor has it some fast passes are available to pull during EE, so we'll hit up the major ones; Cars, Soarin, Toy Story and pull another Cars FP. I'm trying to take a much more leisure approach to this trip. Last time I took the kids it was Go Go Go, they've never even done Ariels ride or Animation Acamedy or Monsters Inc. hoping to enjoy these things.

We have BB MSEP reservations for Monday night. We plan to skip WOC this time. Got too spoiled with the DP and not willing to splurge on it again...so we'll just skip it.

I want to spend some time in Toon Town on Tuesday - another thing my kids haven't even seen!

I'm going to follow their lead and just do what they want instead of trying to do a hardcore touring plan. I did that in October and while it worked out great, I just don't feel the pressure this time!

18 more days!!

Oohh I wish I had EMH! That's the reason we scheduled our mornings the way we did. We are starting DCA on our last day because that's the only day that onsite guests don't get in early.

I learned recently (from Fresh Baked) that Toon Town has its own rope drop. I had NO idea! It was really cute to see the fab 5 come out and mingle with guests before walking into TT together. We hope to time this out one of the days, because it was so cute.

Enjoy your relaxed trip! Last August was a relaxed trip, while October was go-go-go. They truly feel like different vacations. It's pretty great to experience the parks different ways. Some day I hope for a solo trip because I think that would offer another completely difference experience as well.

 

[julieheyer]

It's funny you're talking about relaxed vs uber planned...I'm debating this myself. I'm a planner and like to fit everything in as efficiently as possible. It's been 2 years since we were last in DL, and this may be our last trip as a family (oldest daughter will be 17!) and we're bringing a baby this time (fostering our little 6 month old sweetie). So, I'm trying to adjust my mindset to be more laid back and not running from ride to ride to show...

I'll get to try the rider switch and hope that will help us slow down a bit yet still enjoy the park fully . Our older daughters are old enough to go off by themselves if they want to, but I really want to see the MSEP, and we're not staying close by this time, so they'll be there until I'm ready to go home .

It's less than a month for me now!!

 

[MacMama0930]

Was told by CM that pools at GCH would be open on 5/15 so we switched (well we kept the DLH reservation as a back up for now) to The Grand!! Eeeek!!! I'm so excited. Stayed there twice and loved the close proximity and never stayed with the kids so that should be fun! Thank goodness for 40% pin codes. We wouldn't have been able to do this without them!!

 

[georgiesmum]

View attachment 231796


These are my new ears for the trip!! I ordered the ears themselves off etsy. The center necklace piece is a pin I ordered separately and then attached it using a locking pin back. I LOVE THEM! I took the picture using my Moana lithographs as the background for instagram lol

They are super cute! I love them

 

[georgiesmum]

We have just over a week until we leave. I haven't started packing yet but I'm checking off my lists of things to bring/do so we'll be ready on time. It's cold here in Australia at the moment but I've seen the weather is beautiful over there so looks like I'll be packing some shorts! So exciting!

 

[Meriweather]

We leave tomorrow!!

 

[Christina-B-Na]

Me too! Me too! We head out first thing in the morning! Its about a 6 1/2 hour drive for us. Soooooo excited to get there and surprise my 2 sweet little boys with this trip!

 

[Meriweather]

Me too! Me too! We head out first thing in the morning! Its about a 6 1/2 hour drive for us. Soooooo excited to get there and surprise my 2 sweet little boys with this trip!

we're about 6 hour drive......where are you?