**** Official 2014 AUGUST - Disneyland thread ****

[BriannaRuth]

QUESTION: (Not an official one!)

Who's going for the first time?

 

[wakica]

Can't believe I didn't reply to this thread before. We are going to DL on Wed, Aug 13 - Sunday, Aug 17. I won a trip though a radio station..airfare, tickets (4- 3 day tickets) and two nights at the Disneyland hotel. So we are staying at Holiday Inn the first night, DLH, then HOJOs on Saturday (our normal go-to place). Kids are excited about staying on property!

We are really looking forward to the trip, (although it marks the end of the summer for us. We fly back around 5 pm on Sunday, kids start school that Monday morning.)

Yah, August!

and wow!!! you are SO lucky!!!! Enjoy your amazing prize!!!

I have a bit of an update to our plans. I'm canceling Steakhouse 55 on our arrival day (August 11). I realized it has been a year since our last family pictures, so I found a photographer who does pics in DLR and booked a session with her. To get DH on board, I had to cancel something, so I let go of our fancy dinner. No regrets, though, as I love nice pictures of my girls, and I especially love doing them at places that mean something to us.

Now to decide what everyone will wear!

can i ask who the photog is you went with? I'm debating booking a family photo session while in California. I don't think I'll do DL but would REALLY love to have our pics this year while down there.

We are finally done! All TEN in my group have finally agreed to our dinning and touring plans!!!

We are in the parks from aug 2 to the 10th.. With hoppers.
We did get all our dinning choices..
Ariel's grotto, PCH grill, Minnie's Breakfast, goofys kitchen, story tellers, Carthy circle, carnation cafe, and the BBQ
We are going to be sooooo full!
I even got studio 365 appointments for all the girls in our group..

If you see us, feel free to stop us and say hi... We love meeting new people.

It's going to be hard to miss us.. (We will be the ten people arguing with each other. J/K )
All the adults have disney themed shirts ( not matching) and My girls have handmade costumes and dresses for each day.
They will be in Mary Poppins, Jane (from Tarzan) and even CARSLAND themed dresses.

Can't wait to get this trip started!!

I love seeing people in there disney clothes!!! One time we had matching Incredibles shirts - dh had the dad, I had the mom and dd had the daughter. With the I on the side of our arm which was perfect because our last name sarts with I IT was awesome!!

I think I am ready! At least my nails are! Leaving Friday at 11:30am. Can't wait!!!

NICE!!!!

This just happened to me! I got a $500 disney gift card as a gift. Used it to buy an AP. I used the AP to qualify for 25% off at DLH and made the switch from off site.

What??? So that's who the fairy got mother has been taking care of lately I was wondering why I havn't seen her around my neck of the woods. Could you send her my way next?

Hi everyone!

Huh, I never posted here either! We are going from 8/9 to 8/17--first half at the Candy Cane Inn, second half at the Grand Californian.

We have lots of fun stuff planned for the week, in addition to Disney--a morning at the beach, afternoon cabana rental, a day at Knott's, the Fantasmic dessert party, and what I'm most excited about--the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour. Recently I have gotten really into DL history (I'm reading a book about it right now) and I am just over the moon to see Walt's apartment. I'm just giddy!!

We have Storytellers booked for breakfast one morning, and dinner at Rainforest Cafe. My husband wants to do Goofy's but I've read mixed reviews, and for the price I'm not sure. Anyone have any input? Other than that, it's probably counter service for us (totally fine!). When I was there last Dec, we didn't eat at any table service places and we still enjoyed ourselves.

It sounds like you have a wonderfully full trip planned

Three more days and my niece and I will be sharing these bad boys! LOL

YUM!!!!!!!!!

Weird - I'm at work and our Trend Micro virus protection won't let me view the last page of this thread. All the other ones are fine, but suddenly the last page is malicious? Who is posting maliciously in our nice thread?!

That's strange!
I'm glad you figured out a way around it at least!

Ridemax has been updated through September 6th!!

FINALLY!!!!!! That took WAY TOO LONG

It's August tomorrow!!!

[URL=http://gifsoup.com/view/2745106/kermit-yay-flail.html][/URL]

AHHHHH!! YAY!!!!!

QUESTION: (Not an official one!)

Who's going for the first time?

ME ME ME ME ME!!!! WDW vet heading to DL for the first time.

 

[disneymath]

QUESTION: (Not an official one!)

Who's going for the first time?

Us!!! WDW vets, but first time to DL (or anywhere in the western US for that matter)!

 

[wakica]

phew!!! I think I have the first page all caught up again. Let me know of any errors and I apologize if i missed anything - if so, please remind me.

tiffjoy.... Is it just your anniversary dinner on the 20th?? Or is that your actual anniversary date? If it's not your date let me know when it is so I can put that on our calendar too.

 

[wakica]

Our trips are STARTING!!!!!

I wanted to take a moment to wish a wonderfully magical trip to the following August peeps who will be leaving in the next week....



dringster
disneyobsessed808
tlovesdis
gokdog
CaffeinatedMama
Ikeifer
Soccer_and_Swim Mom
beltane
herefishy
MermaidMommy
aliwas
cdntink79
Lorilais_mommie
rockiedave
DHSbutcher
KCoconut
Soccer and Swim Mom
CoachTIn (congrats to the honeymooners!)
fflmaster
cindyland
Random Ninja
disneyfamily4
laughingplace199
rizzle64
8lovesmickey
Made_Up_Name

Please remember us counting down our days til our precious trips and feel free to post from the world on how things are going so we can all live vicariously through you

 

[croach]

QUESTION: (Not an official one!)

Who's going for the first time?

First timer here. Getting excited.

 

[cdntink79]

QUESTION: (Not an official one!)

Who's going for the first time?

We are!! First time to Disneyland, we have been to WDW three times

Our trips are STARTING!!!!!

I wanted to take a moment to wish a wonderfully magical trip to the following August peeps who will be leaving in the next week....



cdntink79


Please remember us counting down our days til our precious trips and feel free to post from the world on how things are going so we can all live vicariously through you

Yay!!! We leave tomorrow for Minneapolis and fly to LAX on Saturday morning!!

 

[aliwas]

QUESTION: (Not an official one!)

Who's going for the first time?

We are! After many trips to WDW we are finally heading West!!! Drive to Dallas tomorrow for our direct flight 6AM Sat. morning to LAX. Taking my DM(75), DS(18), his best friend (18) and myself (50). Have an excursion planned to Hollywood and Venice Beach on Monday and 5 days in the parks.

 

[peterpanandwendy]

It won't be our first time to Disneyland, but it IS our first time going as parents! We are so excited to share the magic with our little ones I swear I had kids just to enjoy Disneyland with them

Actually, as soon as my daughter was born and my husband said "It's a girl" the first words out of my mouth were "Yay! Someone to go to Fantasy Faire with me!" lol.

 

[mirage0306]

It's not my first time to DLR, but it is for my younger son and I'm so excited for him.

 

[MPHARJ]

I have been working so much that I haven't had a chance to post on here. We will arrive on 8/12 staying at the DLH until 8/20 we miss DL go to WDW every year. It has been 3 years since we were out west! Getting so excited, time to pack we have to pick up my daughter at WDW first her 8 months with the DCP is ending!

 

[disneymath]

I may have come across the answers to these somewhere in all the reading I’ve been doing, but at this point I’m on info overload and confirmation would be appreciated!

1. What is the Gate 14 / 19 recommendation all about? As best I can understand, they seem to be less busy at park opening? Is this for both EE and regular opening? Is one for DCA and the other for DL?

2. We purchased our tickets through ARES ... can we pick up our actual tickets at the DLH since that is where we are staying the first few nights?

3. We have pre-purchased Photopass+, can it be redeemed at Goofy’s Kitchen in DLH or does it have to be in the parks?

4. Jedi Training Academy ... we have three boys who badly want to be chosen! We will be in the parks on a Saturday (triple block-out), Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Is there a better day and time we should aim for? (We will have them dressed in matching Star Wars outfits and will hopefully have a foldable sign.)

5. We have pre-purchased our DLRE roundtrip tickets. As I understand it, we just head out to the designated pick up area at LAX upon arrival. Upon departure (from VGC), do we call the day before to determine a pick up time or do we just show up at the bus stop? If the latter, how soon would you all recommend leaving for LAX on a Friday if our flight is at 1:45 PM?

Ok, think that’s it for now. Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[Anal Annie]

Just saw this thread and wanted to chime in. We are going for 3 nights (2 1/2 days) from Aug. 5-8 then we're heading to Aulani. This will be our 2nd visit to DL but it feels like our first time because it's been so long. The last time we were there was also for only 2 days - back in 2005. We're staying at VGC and are doing DL park our first afternoon after we arrive then CA on our 2nd day. Our last afternoon on 8/7 we will park hop as needed to finish getting everything in. We only have 1 ADR - Blue Bayou for dinner on 8/6. What did I forget to include?! Crossing my fingers we can muddle thru without having too many plans. We are WDW vets and own DVC so we're anxious to try VGC - just not used to not planning as much like we do for WDW. Everybody says DL doesn't need it so I guess we'll see!!

 

[Aladora]

I may have come across the answers to these somewhere in all the reading I’ve been doing, but at this point I’m on info overload and confirmation would be appreciated!

1. What is the Gate 14 / 19 recommendation all about? As best I can understand, they seem to be less busy at park opening? Is this for both EE and regular opening? Is one for DCA and the other for DL?

Gates 14 and 19 are on the DL side and they are hit and miss. I've used gate 14 and it worked ok for us but it all depends on whether or not they open that gate at opening. The reason it works is that about 10 feet back from the gate, right where people would normally line up is a tree so people don't know that there is a gate there. This is a case of YMMV.

2. We purchased our tickets through ARES ... can we pick up our actual tickets at the DLH since that is where we are staying the first few nights?

Not 100% sure but if you can't and you arrive before the park closes, you can walk through DTD and get your tickets at the ticket booths without entering DL.

3. We have pre-purchased Photopass+, can it be redeemed at Goofy’s Kitchen in DLH or does it have to be in the parks?

Sorry, no help here!

4. Jedi Training Academy ... we have three boys who badly want to be chosen! We will be in the parks on a Saturday (triple block-out), Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Is there a better day and time we should aim for? (We will have them dressed in matching Star Wars outfits and will hopefully have a foldable sign.)

My DS has not been interested in doing the JTA but from what I have read here, your ideas for getting them noticed should work. Just make sure they are REALLY enthusiastic, that is one of the key things.


5. We have pre-purchased our DLRE roundtrip tickets. As I understand it, we just head out to the designated pick up area at LAX upon arrival. Upon departure (from VGC), do we call the day before to determine a pick up time or do we just show up at the bus stop? If the latter, how soon would you all recommend leaving for LAX on a Friday if our flight is at 1:45 PM?

Again, no help from me on this, we either use a shuttle or a taxi.

Ok, think that’s it for now. Thanks in advance for any input!

Answers to the ones I have info for are above in red.

 

[gerilyne]

5. We have pre-purchased our DLRE roundtrip tickets. As I understand it, we just head out to the designated pick up area at LAX upon arrival. Upon departure (from VGC), do we call the day before to determine a pick up time or do we just show up at the bus stop? If the latter, how soon would you all recommend leaving for LAX on a Friday if our flight is at 1:45 PM?

So they have a fixed schedule for pick ups out in front of the hotel so you shouldn't need a reservation (we just waited out front for it last year) I don't have the brochure in front of me but you can get it from their website. When we flew out of LAX we arrived I think it ended up being 2.5 hours early just because a later shuttle would have cut it too close if there had been traffic. Maybe whichever one leaves during the 10am hour? Just depends on how early you want to be there.

 

[disneymath]

So they have a fixed schedule for pick ups out in front of the hotel so you shouldn't need a reservation (we just waited out front for it last year) I don't have the brochure in front of me but you can get it from their website. When we flew out of LAX we arrived I think it ended up being 2.5 hours early just because a later shuttle would have cut it too close if there had been traffic. Maybe whichever one leaves during the 10am hour? Just depends on how early you want to be there.

Thanks for the reply, we're flying domestic (to Buffalo), but are very much "it's better to be early than cut it close" people so sometime between 10 and 11 makes sense ... Hour to travel, 2 hours at airport give or take. I will check the dlre schedule.

 

[Rubygoose]

I may have come across the answers to these somewhere in all the reading I’ve been doing, but at this point I’m on info overload and confirmation would be appreciated!

1. What is the Gate 14 / 19 recommendation all about? As best I can understand, they seem to be less busy at park opening? Is this for both EE and regular opening? Is one for DCA and the other for DL?

2. We purchased our tickets through ARES ... can we pick up our actual tickets at the DLH since that is where we are staying the first few nights?

3. We have pre-purchased Photopass+, can it be redeemed at Goofy’s Kitchen in DLH or does it have to be in the parks?

4. Jedi Training Academy ... we have three boys who badly want to be chosen! We will be in the parks on a Saturday (triple block-out), Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Is there a better day and time we should aim for? (We will have them dressed in matching Star Wars outfits and will hopefully have a foldable sign.)

5. We have pre-purchased our DLRE roundtrip tickets. As I understand it, we just head out to the designated pick up area at LAX upon arrival. Upon departure (from VGC), do we call the day before to determine a pick up time or do we just show up at the bus stop? If the latter, how soon would you all recommend leaving for LAX on a Friday if our flight is at 1:45 PM?

Ok, think that’s it for now. Thanks in advance for any input!

Yes, you can exchange your voucher for actual tickets when you check in at DLH. It's all done by the same person, and your family can sit in the cute Tea Cup chairs while they wait.

My tips for Jedi training is to arrive early and make sure the kids behave well before the show begins. The jedi masters scope out the audience well before the show starts. Try to make sure the kids understand that they may not be chosen, but they'll still get to watch a fun show. You can always try again on another day.

 

[zanzibar138]

It's August tomorrow!!!

[URL=http://gifsoup.com/view/2745106/kermit-yay-flail.html][/URL]

 

[hyperminimalism]

I can't believe I'm leaving in one week and one day! Does anyone else get that nervous feeling before a big trip? Like, I don't know if I want to go! I'd have to leave my precious house and my kitties. T_T I know I'm being irrational and everything will be okay. This'll be a fun trip!

 

[zanzibar138]

I can't believe I'm leaving in one week and one day! Does anyone else get that nervous feeling before a big trip? Like, I don't know if I want to go! I'd have to leave my precious house and my kitties. T_T I know I'm being irrational and everything will be okay. This'll be a fun trip!

I am more than happy to leave my house

I definitely miss my animals though (dogs and cats) and feel pretty bad about leaving them for more than a week. It's part of the reason we try to keep our trips to 2 weeks or less. But we have a great house sitter who the dogs love and she looks after everything really well.

It's all worth it to be able to go away