***Official DLR September & October 2022 Check-in Thread***

[DreamtheImpossible]

I'm starting to get so nervous about park reservations! Ugh!!! We are going Oct 23-29th with 5 day park hoppers... No OBB. I'm hoping to start my day in DCA on the OBB days!

 

[OhioTony]

I'm starting to get so nervous about park reservations! Ugh!!! We are going Oct 23-29th with 5 day park hoppers... No OBB. I'm hoping to start my day in DCA on the OBB days!

We leave tomorrow morning for DL
Me and my wife, 1st trip to DL.
Spending one night and 2 days in Temecula 1st.
Downtown Disney Sunday night
Then we start at the parks monday-friday with hoppers.
We did not get Oogie tix.
Our plan on Tues and Thurs (Oogie nights) is to switch parks after 3, when Oogie guests are allowed in.
I'll post how that worked out for us when we get back next weekend.

 

[katyringo]

I'm starting to get so nervous about park reservations! Ugh!!! We are going Oct 23-29th with 5 day park hoppers... No OBB. I'm hoping to start my day in DCA on the OBB days!

Have you made your reservations? I would do that asap

 

[DreamtheImpossible]

Have you made your reservations? I would do that asap

We haven't yet -- we booked through GetAwayToday and are making our final payment on the 21st.

 

[becks59]

Anyone at the parks today and can give a run down of how the crowds are?

 

[Sarahyardley]

Anyone at the parks today and can give a run down of how the crowds are?

I second this question!

 

[ColoradoLime]

Wow - I have been so busy at work I'm exhausted by the time I come home so I haven't been on in what feels like forever! Glad to see so many new Oct peeps joining! We're 33 days away from our trip! I've been trying to stay off all the DL sites I follow because I want to experience things for myself and not be spoiled by what others are reporting.

 

[AquaDame]

Anyone at the parks today and can give a run down of how the crowds are?

Thirded! Didn’t get enough park time what with the expo. Wondering if crowds will stay as low as they were.

 

[jskiffington]

Thirded! Didn’t get enough park time what with the expo. Wondering if crowds will stay as low as they were.

Been at DCA today. Not super busy, but RSR and TSMM have been down all day. Really hoping they open at some point, because those were the main two attractions we’re interested in at DCA.

 

[AquaDame]

Been at DCA today. Not super busy, but RSR and TSMM have been down all day. Really hoping they open at some point, because those were the main two attractions we’re interested in at DCA.

TSMM was down a good portion Friday afternoon also. :/

 

[OhioTony]

Our 1st day in the Parks went brilliantly for rides!
Not so much food and service
Rope dropped DL.
Purchases Genie +
Selected LL for Indiana Jones.
Knowing it wasn't open yet.
Rode:
Toad
Peter Pan
Received a LL Select for Indiana Jones.
Reselected Indiana Jones for 9:30.
Hopeful for a 2nd LL Select to use, but OK to ride it if it opened.
Rode:
Snow White
Alice
Storybook Boats.
We were done in Fantasy Land.
Indiana Jones was working then, so we so we used our LL for it.
Then
Big Thunder LL
Booked Haunted LL for after lunch at Blue Bayou and rode Pirates standby before lunch.
Blue Bayou was ok.
The desserts were great.
We shared an entree then ate 2 desserts.
That's how we roll!
No mention of our 34th anniversary or 1st trip to DL.
Just a shuffling of customers.
We did Space Mountain LL, Small World LL, Smugglers Run LL,
Then drinks at Oga's Canteena.
We were not impressed in the least.
We were put at a table where three people were finished up. Told to order up to four way overpriced drinks.
The fuzzy Taunton was the best drink we had.
We had 45m to finish them.
We were then told that another party would be seated at out table as well.
Why would you sit people with kids with an adult couple drinking at a bar?
There was no themed interaction with any Batuu cast members that we noticed. Only the businesslike shuffling of the tourist "credit spenders".
No Disney Magic to be had here.
I had another reservation for Friday.
I just canceled it.
Earlier we purchased a LL+ for Radiator Springs Racers at 8:30pm at DCA, I also booked a LL for Soarin while in Oga's, so we crossed to DCA.
Rode Soarin
We used our LL Select for Incredicoaster.
We scored front seats!
Just stunning at night!
We explored Radiator Springs, used our Racers LL+.
again, stunning at night!
We then dragged our tiredness back to our room at Castle Inn and Suites.
We're loving the proximity of our hotel to the parks!
We were quite productive on our 1st of 5 days in the parks.
Tomorrow we'll open DCA with Genie + and hop to DL later. We'll slow down and do more Photo Pass opportunities.
Good Night.

 

[OhioTony]

Our DL Resort Second Day.
Starting at DCA with Genie+
Rope Dropped
Spider-Man we were on in 5 minutes.
Glad I didn't pay for it.
It's like...ok.
It's just missing something.
Monsters was down, so I booked a LL waiting in Web Slingers in hopes of getting a LL Select.
It opened, and is close to Guardians, so we just used it, and immediately booked Guardians upon checking in.
Guardians LL immediately followed.
Explored Avengers Campus a bit.
Midway Mania LL
Incredicoaster LL
Pixar Pal Around (swinging)
Goofy's Flight School LL

Shared a Mac n Cheese bread bowl and a beer for a light lunch.
Little Mermaid ❤
Shopping and photopas pix.
The Photopas Photographers were great!
We have some fantastic pix!
I filled out Cast Compliments on the DL App for several.
Mater"s Graveyard Jamboree
Luigi's Honkin' Halloween
Early ?dinner? at Lamplight Lounge at 3pm
Shared a Lobsta Nachos and a Potato Skins with a couple beers.
Food and service were great here!
Another Cast Compliment for our waitress.

Oogie Boogie guests are arriving and we didn't buy tickets.
So back to our Hotel by 4:30 for some downtime.
We'll be back in Disneyland park tonight for night time rides and the Halloween Screams projection show.
I already have a Haunted Mansion LL set for our return.

More to come...

 

[OhioTony]

Our DL Resort Second Day...part 2.
While eating at Lamplight before our afternoon break, I monitored Haunted Mansion LL return times, and at 4pm booked a return for 7:25pm.
We left DCA for our room at The Castle Inn and Suites for about a 2 1/2 hour break. During that break, I booked a 7:45 LL for Big Thunder.
Setting us up for evening rides.
At 7pm, we walked to DL.
WoW was it packed!!!
I guess everyone booted out of DCA was let in to DL.
Luckily I had set us up with my planning ahead.
DL did such a poor job controlling crowds, you couldn't find the end to the lightening lane line. They had no staff at the end so it blended in with people randomly walking.
It was frustrating!
We did Haunted in about 30m with the LL.
Made the Big Thunder LL.
I booked Splash for 9:55pm, after the Halloween projection show.
We rode Pirates standby in about 20m...after we figured out where the damned line started!
Then we found a spot for the Halloween Show.
I don't think that i have EVER attended one of these shows where I didn't witness a huge man look directly in the eyes of a woman with a good view, and then proceed to stand directly in front of her.
I JUST don't understand this???
She got at him though, and he moved far away from her!
After the show, we let the crowd die down, then made our Splash LL. Pooh was a 5 minute wait, so who wouldn't?
We did!
Back at our room by 11:10pm.
Even though DL was way too crowded, we managed with a little smart planning.

I'm trying to keeping positive as much as I can, but DL is making it hard for me to want to come back for another visit anytime soon.
Day 3 of 5 tomorrow.
Rope Dropping DL park again.
We have World of Color Dessert Party reservations as well.
Good night!

 

[OhioTony]

Our Castle Inn and Suites 5 Day Trip!

Day 3 part 1...

We rope dropped DL
Rode:
Rise of the Resistance (rope drop)
35 minutes
Millennium Falcon LL
Crushed a Dole whip!
Tiki Room
Rode the Railroad

We had a Cafe Orleans reservation for 11:50
We shared a Cesar Salad and a three cheese Monte Cristo.
Again...service was and food was meh. We were seated on the patio.
Park patrons tend to congregation en mass along the fence of the Patio, and the noise of parents yelling at kids made the atmosphere unpleasant.
Again...Disneyland takes your money and tells you to move on.
We decided to cancel our other sit down reservations forthe week, as they have been uneventful to date.
We'll do counter service and not have the expectation of Disney Magic.
So I did so on the App.

We then rode:
Buzz Lightyear LL
Star Tours LL
Small World LL
We decided to Monorail to Downtown Disney to shop and go back to our Hotel for a... rest.

We always buy Christmas ornaments on our vacations.
We thought Word of Disney would be our best option.
We noticed Ballast Point Brewery was not crowded, so we stopped in.
Ballast Point Brewery was excellent.
The best service we have had all week. The bartender acknowledged our anniversary and didn't charge us for a flight samplin, he was lind and personal.
We in turn ordered pints and tipped him the cost of our sampling.
Good service is just not that hard!
While sitting at Ballast Point, I checked my DL App prepping for tonight...and to my surprise the restaurants I canceled were still listed on the App.
Our reservation for the Word of Color Dessert Party WAS NOT!!!
We are now freaking out!
We rush through Downtown. Disney trying to find Customer Relations. Find out you have to enter the park to get to them. The CR Kid asks for the reservation #, looks at his laptop and says...I don't see any WoCDP reservation here...are you sure you didn't book it for the wrong day"?.
!!!
NO! It's been on my App plans for months!
He then checks with someone else.
Meanwhile our blood is boiling!
The someone else says "I don't see the reservation here, log onto the DL website using your password".
I do so...and there is the reservation.
The someone else then says "Well if it's there, then it should be OK, sometimes the App just screws up"
No apologies!
No sorry for your inconvenience!
No gesture to right the stress they created.
Our hearts are still racing and I'm PISSED!
We leave for our room to calm the hell down and regroup!

Part 2 to follow...

 

[taaren]

So excited! We just scored a cabana rental for the Grand Californian. I hear all the time that people have to call at midnight right at 60 days out to get one because the Grand has so few of them available, so I am shocked. I think the cast member was surprised too. Our flight time changed from morning to late afternoon so it worked really well for us!

I called at 60 days to get my cabana, but at 9am, and I got the last half-day at DLH. When I called back an hour later because my friend reminded me we wanted to try the GC cabana, all the cabanas were gone. (This was for Labor Day weekend.) As much as we love the cabanas I don't know if we'll be getting one again. Labor Day weekend 2021 they charged us $275 for a half day, and I swear when I made the reservation they quoted me $275 again, but when we got there the charge was $375 which seems a little too steep for a half day.

 

[RoseColored97]

Edited

 

[RoseColored97]

I called at 60 days to get my cabana, but at 9am, and I got the last half-day at DLH. When I called back an hour later because my friend reminded me we wanted to try the GC cabana, all the cabanas were gone. (This was for Labor Day weekend.) As much as we love the cabanas I don't know if we'll be getting one again. Labor Day weekend 2021 they charged us $275 for a half day, and I swear when I made the reservation they quoted me $275 again, but when we got there the charge was $375 which seems a little too steep for a half day.

I found the paper with the reservation details that I wrote down and the price we were quoted for a half day was $375 (I edited the post above because I actually thought we were quoted $418(!!!) for half day). This is for late October and the half day hours are 9:30am-1:30pm. The full day must have been close to $420 for me to remember that price.

 

[katyringo]

I called a couple weeks ago about a cabana at DLH for October 11th and it was 375 for half day and 425 for the full day.

 

[OhioTony]

Our Castle Inn and Suites 5 Day Trip!

Day 3 Wednesday part 2...

The Someone Else customer relations guy had told us "The World of Color Dessert Party starts at 8pm, show up around 7:30 to check in.
We planned on getting the an hour early because of the App fiasco.
We returned to our Hotel for pool, hot tub, a drink to settle down, and a cat nap.

We left for the DCA and found we didn't need any bag. Good!
We'll get in quickly through the no bag line!
EXCEPT...
Apparently Disneyland doesn't have a no bag security line.
You have to stand there forever while they frisk stroller families.
Then they say to you "WoW no bag! go right through"
Like THEY just did you a favor!
???
We got to the Word of Color Dessert Party check in at 7pm
30 minutes before Customer Relations told us to.
There was a line of about 20 people already ahead of us.
We stood there for 30m, and a lady with a pad check us in. She said she would get us a front row table since we were a Party of 2. "Wait here until I come get you".
So instead of waking around, we stood there for another 30m.
Uggg!
Standing in one place so long is the worst!
I looked to see if we had any ride options for after the 9pm show, and every Lightening Lane option was gone.
So around 8, we followed her to our table. It WAS a great view! and we had a married female couple join us.
They were so nice to talk to.
We had a lot in common.
That was perfect.
The staff was slow to get us our desserts and drinks.
One person asked of we were finished with our plates like 5 minutes after they brought them!
Are you kidding me?
They brought us to go boxes before the show started, and stressed that we exit immediately after the show.
Ahh the Magic here!
We noticed all the roped off viewing areas for various dining payment options, and wondered how a common park attendee is supposed to view the show?
Oh well...undesirables!
The show was sweet!
It didn't grab me emotionally like some from Disney World.
But it was a nice show and a perfect way to end the unnecessary stress that led up to it.
We retired to our hotel.

Day 4 Thursday up next...

 

[OhioTony]

Our Castle Inn and Suites 5 Day Trip!

Day 4 part 1...Thursday

We didn't set an alarm, but woke up in time anyway to rope drop at DCA.
I paid for Genie +.
The Photopas pix alone makes it worth the $20 per person!
We decided to go to Radiator Springs Racers 1st.
It wasn't opening in time.
Ugg!
So we casually rode
Mater"s Graveyard Jamboree
Luigi's Honkin Halloween
Incredicoaster LL
Midway Mania LL
Walked the entire Lake, hitting all the Photopas along the way.
We watched the
Spider-Man Show and paid the $12 per person to hit Web Slingers directly after the show. Skipping the 60m line.

I spoke about how we canceled our remaining Table Service Ressies for a lack of meeting our expectations.
We Mobile Ordered lunch at
Paradise Garden Grill
Two Plant-based Chorizo Quesadilla
Two Elote
(Roasted corn on the cob topped with chili powder, a cream sauce and other spices)
It was absolutely delicious!
We found a table in front of a bandstand, and watched the Mariachi Band, followed by The Mariachi Divas.
That was a fantastic lunch!

We hit Little Mermaid on the way to hop to Disneyland.
We intended to ride Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, shop and do some Photopas before going to the Hotel for a rest. I booked a Space LL during Lunch, and booked a Haunted LL immediately after it was scanned at Space.
On Haunted, we got to the buggies, and the ride broke down.
Uggg!
We stood still for 20m, and we asked a CM if we could leave and get our LL for Haunted back for later. He said no problem...exit this way and talk to the person at the gate.
The person at the gate then said he wouldn't give replacement LL, unless the cast members told us to leave the ride.
Whatever!
More bad service at Disneyland
Lynn was mad now!
So I went to Customer Relations...AGAIN.
I told the person at CR check in the issue. Her response was "That's usually handled at the ride, we probably ain't going to do anything for you, but I'll send you in anyway".
*** ?
Once inside, I explained to the CR Cast Member, and she quickly added a LL Select option.
No apologies for their cast members indifference.

We headed back to the Hotel for some rest.

Day 4 part 2 on the way...