**** official june 2015 thread! **** come check in!

[molitva]

2boysmom--so glad you had a great time! Thanks for checking back in with us. Glad to hear grad nights weren't as bad as feared.

3 more days before I leave! Need to start packing!

 

[VandVsmama]

Checked into the BW Plus Pavilions yesterday for one night. Beds are comfortable. Walk to GCH is quite short. I would stay here again. But next time would want to try BW Stovalls a couple doors down.

Kids spent their birthday money in DTD. I got a 60th anniversary pin that's really pretty. Met cast members at the Anna And Elsa store who have my kids' same first names and they have them birthday buttons adorned with glitter!

I woke up at 4:30 to use the bathroom and I am so excited that I can't go back to sleep.

DTD was mobbed with people yesterday evening. We went through the lobby of the GCH for the first time ever yesterday. It's so beautiful. Some day I will stay one night at that hotel.

I brought the wrong footwear. Planned on wearing my Birkenstocks to the parks today but after walking through DTD, realized that this is a really bad idea. So I am flip flopping it today. Should have just brought my sneakers instead!

 

[wsssup]

Checked into the BW Plus Pavilions yesterday for one night. Beds are comfortable. Walk to GCH is quite short. I would stay here again. But next time would want to try BW Stovalls a couple doors down.

Kids spent their birthday money in DTD. I got a 60th anniversary pin that's really pretty. Met cast members at the Anna And Elsa store who have my kids' same first names and they have them birthday buttons adorned with glitter!

I woke up at 4:30 to use the bathroom and I am so excited that I can't go back to sleep.

DTD was mobbed with people yesterday evening. We went through the lobby of the GCH for the first time ever yesterday. It's so beautiful. Some day I will stay one night at that hotel.

I brought the wrong footwear. Planned on wearing my Birkenstocks to the parks today but after walking through DTD, realized that this is a really bad idea. So I am flip flopping it today. Should have just brought my sneakers instead!

Let us know how the crowds go in the parks.

 

[Butterfly123]

Checked into the BW Plus Pavilions yesterday for one night. Beds are comfortable. Walk to GCH is quite short. I would stay here again. But next time would want to try BW Stovalls a couple doors down.

Kids spent their birthday money in DTD. I got a 60th anniversary pin that's really pretty. Met cast members at the Anna And Elsa store who have my kids' same first names and they have them birthday buttons adorned with glitter!

I woke up at 4:30 to use the bathroom and I am so excited that I can't go back to sleep.

DTD was mobbed with people yesterday evening. We went through the lobby of the GCH for the first time ever yesterday. It's so beautiful. Some day I will stay one night at that hotel.

I brought the wrong footwear. Planned on wearing my Birkenstocks to the parks today but after walking through DTD, realized that this is a really bad idea. So I am flip flopping it today. Should have just brought my sneakers instead!

Have a great time and bring some water...it's supposed to be hot out there today!

 

[2boysmom1998]

Checked into the BW Plus Pavilions yesterday for one night. Beds are comfortable. Walk to GCH is quite short. I would stay here again. But next time would want to try BW Stovalls a couple doors down.

Kids spent their birthday money in DTD. I got a 60th anniversary pin that's really pretty. Met cast members at the Anna And Elsa store who have my kids' same first names and they have them birthday buttons adorned with glitter!

I woke up at 4:30 to use the bathroom and I am so excited that I can't go back to sleep.

DTD was mobbed with people yesterday evening. We went through the lobby of the GCH for the first time ever yesterday. It's so beautiful. Some day I will stay one night at that hotel.

I brought the wrong footwear. Planned on wearing my Birkenstocks to the parks today but after walking through DTD, realized that this is a really bad

idea. So I am flip flopping it today. Should have just brought my sneakers instead!

Have a great day! No Grad Night this evening which will be nice for you! Get there early. We got a ton of things done in the morning last week. The afternoons/evening get pretty busy.

 

[marsh0013]

For anybody visiting the parks over the next few days I heard that Blue Bayou will be temporarily offering its Fantasmic package during lunch hours as a test run.

Ooh, is this something that can be booked in advance? We have a dinner booked on Sat June 13, but if we could do a lunch, that would be much preferred!

 

[KellaCat]

We got back from our trip on Saturday! Had a great time but yes it was CROWDED!
- Grad nights not really so bad. It was crowded but not sure if it was all grads or not. No obnoxious behavior or anything like that.
- Nighttime at DL is crazy with the parades and fireworks. 11:00 parade definitely easier to find a spot for on short notice. But the 8:50 parade gets filled up very quickly. We watched the 11:00 from Main St one night (right outside Plaza Inn) and got there at maybe 10:15. I saved our spot while DH and DS went on Buzz.
Watched from IASW one night. Got there at maybe 8:15? DH held our spot while I took the kids on the ride. We were a couple rows back and still had good parade viewing (you don't need to be right on the curb since the floats are huge). Tried to watch fireworks from there, but they were cancelled that night.
Watched the 9:00 F! show one night (Yellow FP, got there at 8:00, got a great spot right on the railing) and stayed there for fireworks. It was okay from there. Could see most of the fireworks and they did the projections on the water screen so you got the idea, but no where near as good as on the castle.
Our last night I decided I was not missing the fireworks! So we staked out a spot directly in front of the castle at 5:30. Yep, 4 hours early and we were certainly not the only ones! Dh again saved our spot and I took the kids to Toontown for an hour or so. By 7:00 the hub was packed so we didn't even leave for food or anything. Had a perfect view of the parade and OMG the fireworks!! So Amazing! Had the best view of the castle and the Matterhorn so it was totally worth the 4 hour wait.
- Overall, lines weren't too long throughout the day. We did go back to the hotel from about 2:00 - 5:00 everyday. But morning lines were short, and after the fireworks lines were short too. The big rides, mountains, etc had longer waits so if you want to do those, do them early and/or get a FP for sure.
- CA had very short lines when we were there, except for RSR of course. (Got up to 200 minutes one afternoon!) But we did it at rope drop and got a FP, so we ended up riding 4x over the course of our trip.
- FP for Olaf and Anna & Elsa were very easy to get. Picked up A&E at around 5:00pm one day and the return time was 5:30. Got a FP for Olaf but the CM let us in early, there was no line.

 

[Kansas Mom]

Thanks for all the good info, KellaCat. When you staked out your spot in front of the castle, were you between the partner statue and the castle? I've only been to Disneyland a few times and can't quite picture the best spot to be to see both parade and fireworks from in front of castle.

 

[KellaCat]

Thanks for all the good info, KellaCat. When you staked out your spot in front of the castle, were you between the partner statue and the castle? I've only been to Disneyland a few times and can't quite picture the best spot to be to see both parade and fireworks from in front of castle.

Yes, exactly. Right on the curb with a direct view of the castle, with the Matterhorn just to the right.

 

[KellaCat]

I was concerned about the Grads. They weren't too bad. It gets REALLY crowded in the evening, I don't think it's all grads. Yes they cursed and were pretty rowdy. My son used the men's room and said that one grad was in there and vomiting all over the floor after riding Space Mountain. My son was pretty sure that he had been drinking. That was the most unpleasant Grad experience we had.

Oh No! That's awful Thankfully we didn't experience anything like that!

 

[Angrose]

For anybody visiting the parks over the next few days I heard that Blue Bayou will be temporarily offering its Fantasmic package during lunch hours as a test run.

Ooh, is this something that can be booked in advance? We have a dinner booked on Sat June 13, but if we could do a lunch, that would be much preferred!

So, I just called Disneyland dining reservations and the CM I spoke to has not heard of this. She said that she exclusively works in dining and that she would have heard of it if it was happening. I'm wondering if it's only offered if someone walks up to the restaurant on the day of. We couldn't get a BB dinner reservation for this Sun, June 14th, so we have RBT booked instead. I would also love to do lunch at BB instead!

 

[mr.bungle]

Friday I will be there.

 

[marsh0013]

So, I just called Disneyland dining reservations and the CM I spoke to has not heard of this. She said that she exclusively works in dining and that she would have heard of it if it was happening. I'm wondering if it's only offered if someone walks up to the restaurant on the day of. We couldn't get a BB dinner reservation for this Sun, June 14th, so we have RBT booked instead. I would also love to do lunch at BB instead!

That makes sense. Guess it won't work for me, because I'm not giving up my dinner in hopes that I can do a walk up lunch, and in the hopes that they will offer the Fantasmic package with that walkup. No biggie. Thanks for checking!

 

[Angrose]

That makes sense. Guess it won't work for me, because I'm not giving up my dinner in hopes that I can do a walk up lunch, and in the hopes that they will offer the Fantasmic package with that walkup. No biggie. Thanks for checking!

No problem. I really wish they would offer the package at lunch!

 

[becks59]

We are taking a mid day break right now and really enjoyed our first morning. We got to the parks at 8am and there were lines at security. We went to the farthest left line and that one seemed to move quicker than the other lines. We got inside and took pictures with Goofy, who was decked out in his diamond celebration outfit. My four yr old "made him cry" and it was fun to see the interaction between them. After that we got our PP+ lanyard (no line and we had forgotten the voucher so that took a little extra time). The workers were very nice and gave my two boys Honorary citizens buttons.

Fantasyland was not busy at all. By 9:00, we had done Dumbo, Mr. Toad, andCasey Jr. Then we headed to Toon Town. We walked onto Gadgets Go Coaster, met Minny, Mickey, and Pluto and played at chip and dales tree house. My 18 month old went nuts for Mickey as he was just about getting ready for the meet and greet at the door of his house. Mickey waved him over and spent several minutes with him!

After this we got FP to star tours, rode small world, walked through the sleeping beauty castle, rode Snow White (yay for my kids not being scared!), then headed over for star tours. My youngest couldn't go so we did rider swap. My 4 yr old has never ridden it before and he absolutely loved it and was so glad he could ride it twice!

By this time it was about 11:30 and the parks were getting much busier and it was really heating up. So we headed out to get lunch at Mimi's Cafe. We will head back later today to see some shows and maybe try to see Paint the Night. I feel like we did quite a bit and can't wait for all the rest we get to do over our four days!

 

[becks59]

Just saw Mickey and the Magical Map tonight for the first time. It was a great show and my kids loved it too! We had great seats in the center section just behind the walkway that separates the from and back. Another first tonight was going to cafe Orleans to get the Monte Cristo sandwich. Boy was it good! The kids Mac and cheese, however, was not very good and we wasted $9 on that. We were seated right by the walkway and it was a crazy bottleneck area when we were there from about 7:45-8:30 due to fantasmic. By the time we left the restaraunt it had calmed down some and we were able to maneuver around just fine with our big double stroller. We thought about trying to see the parade tonight in one of the shops on Main Street, but the kids had fallen asleep already and we were pretty tired, not to mention that we have MM tomorrow. I was able to have a great view of the fireworks from the Camelot balcony though.

 

[molitva]

becks59, sounds like you're having a great time! It's making me so incredibly excited to be there soon! Keep checking in with us

 

[Kansas Mom]

Beck59, thanks for checking in. We are staying at The Camelot in a couple weeks. Do you have any tips for me about the motel?

 

[VandVsmama]

We were at DL yesterday...Monday. No grad night, but there were a few middle school groups there and some high school seniors with their families...they had on graduation Mickey ears. They were all well behaved. I like the non-grad nights, I've realized.

We stayed at BW Plus Pavilions on Katella. Beds were comfortable & parking was free. Walk to the gates was about the same as if you stayed at the DLH...but we cut through the GCH and that helped.

Ate dinner at Carnation Cafe and ordered the fried pickles. DH & I didn't care for them. It was a weird taste. Had lunch at Hungry Bear and food was good as usual! Very busy at lunch time.

We did not take a mid day break since we were just there for the day. I now have newfound appreciation for that midday break. I was pooped! Got to the Toy Story parking lot at 7:05 am and we got back to the car at 11:30 pm. It was a long day. I don't know how my 7 yr old and almost 9 yr old lasted that long, honestly! They got a second wind somehow. We went on Pirates 2x in a row with no wait at about 10:30 pm.

Tried 3x to go on Haunted Mansion and finally was able to ride it about 10:15pm. It kept breaking down and it would be closed for a couple of hours at a time. The hatbox ghost effect wasn't working quite right. His head wouldn't transfer to the hat box, so that part was a little bit of a bummer.

I just have to say...I love Disneyland. We saw the Clapping Man! In the morning first thing on Autopia. So excited. He's an 84 yr old Chinese man who goes to DL every single morning first thing for about 2 hours and he has this special handshake he does with every cast member. He was in line right in front of us at Autopia. It totally made my day.

My kids & DH had happy birthday buttons since they all have June birthdays and we were there to celebrate that. From the time we went into the park to the parking attendant at the Toy Story Lot at the end of the day, everybody wished my family a happy birthday. I'm going to write a letter to Disney about the parking lot Cast Member because it was just such a nice way to end what YDD called "the best day ever!"

I can't wait to go back.

 

[2boysmom1998]

We saw the Peter Pan couple while we were there. We saw them last year too. It's sad.