Questions about ABD California Backstage Magic

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Thanks for the response. I'm repeating this trip and forgot some of the details.

Welcome. We met in the lobby just outside the restaurant on the Mezzanine level of the hotel at 5pm.

 

[meryll83]

Do you usually eat at the hotel on the first night?

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Do you usually eat at the hotel on the first night?

As far as I'm aware the Welcome Dinner takes place at Preston's inside the hotel on all itineraries. Ours was even the itinerary that basically coincided with Oscar week and we still are at Preston's. Preston's is not open for dinner so this is something that is arranged specifically for this ABD.

 

[Miss SD]

As far as I'm aware the Welcome Dinner takes place at Preston's inside the hotel on all itineraries. Ours was even the itinerary that basically coincided with Oscar week and we still are at Preston's. Preston's is not open for dinner so this is something that is arranged specifically for this ABD.

During our trip, we had our Sunday-night meal in a hotel banquet/conference room. If the dinner has to be done in the hotel, I think Preston's is a better choice than a banquet room. Preston's has those nice windows that look out on Highland. Was it a buffet or did you order from a menu?

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

During our trip, we had our Sunday-night meal in a hotel banquet/conference room. If the dinner has to be done in the hotel, I think Preston's is a better choice than a banquet room. Preston's has those nice windows that look out on Highland. Was it a buffet or did you order from a menu?

Ours was a buffet inside a back room at Preston's. Preston's only serves Breakfast and Lunch so it was a private meal in the back room of the restaurant especially for our group. The food was decent, the wait staff left something to be desired because they were snarky and snarly about having to work.

 

[hilarys]

Do you usually eat at the hotel on the first night?

We just did the trip in June and we met in a hotel conference room and had a small buffet. It was just ok, definitely not the best hotel buffet that I have had, it did not have a ton of choices. Preston's would have been a much nicer setting. Because it was a small buffet and so early (we are from CA so did not have the time change hitting us), after our surprise evening activity I was starving but did not have the patience to wait in line for a sundae at Ghiradelli.

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

We just did the trip in June and we met in a hotel conference room and had a small buffet. It was just ok, definitely not the best hotel buffet that I have had, it did not have a ton of choices. Preston's would have been a much nicer setting. Because it was a small buffet and so early (we are from CA so did not have the time change hitting us), after our surprise evening activity I was starving but did not have the patience to wait in line for a sundae at Ghiradelli.

We must have had ours inside Preston's because it was during the lead up to The Oscars so all the meeting rooms were occupied. The hotel was pretty full that week with the press

 

[Miss SD]

Ours was a buffet inside a back room at Preston's. Preston's only serves Breakfast and Lunch so it was a private meal in the back room of the restaurant especially for our group. The food was decent, the wait staff left something to be desired because they were snarky and snarly about having to work.

Snarky wait staff?! Wow, way to make you feel at home. Not a good way to start the trip. Sorry you had to experience such unprofessionalism.

That said, I loved the breakfast buffets at Preston's. We stayed at the Loews for a few nights earlier this month, and I hit up the buffet every morning, even though I know it was a total extravagance. Those eggs are fabulous. Good thing we did a lot of walking around to burn those calories!

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

Snarky wait staff?! Wow, way to make you feel at home. Not a good way to start the trip. Sorry you had to experience such unprofessionalism.

That said, I loved the breakfast buffets at Preston's. We stayed at the Loews for a few nights earlier this month, and I hit up the buffet every morning, even though I know it was a total extravagance. Those eggs are fabulous. Good thing we did a lot of walking around to burn those calories!

Wow. You were lucky. I think the press must have gotten our buffet the. Cause our breakfast buffet left much to be desired. You could break a window with the pastries they were that hard. If I was doing this trip again I would be skipping breakfast at Preston's and going to Johnny Rockets and meeting up afterwards.

Let's just say the trip ended on the same note it started on.

 

[Miss SD]

That sounds like a nightmare. I have a friend who covered the Oscars for a wire service, and she said the Loews is crazy at Oscar time. We did the backstage tour of the Kodak Theater (or whatever it's called now) last year, and the guide brought us to the area where the Oscar winners are interviewed--it's in the Loews! Again, sorry you had to deal with this hassle. in general, our stays at the Loews have been great.

And when you say the trip ended like it started, are you talking about the Storyteller's breakfast buffet?

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

That sounds like a nightmare. I have a friend who covered the Oscars for a wire service, and she said the Loews is crazy at Oscar time. We did the backstage tour of the Kodak Theater (or whatever it's called now) last year, and the guide brought us to the area where the Oscar winners are interviewed--it's in the Loews! Again, sorry you had to deal with this hassle. in general, our stays at the Loews have been great.

And when you say the trip ended like it started, are you talking about the Storyteller's breakfast buffet?

No not Storytellers. That's actually one of our favourite DL restaurants. It has to do with an incident that happened on the last day of the tour before the farewell dinner. I don't want to get into it on the thread itself and derail it. Feel free to message me if you want the details.

 

[DisneyKevin]

This coming October will be my ninth Backstage Magic and we have always enjoyed Preston's breakfast buffet (well....since it has been Preston's).

 

[merfsko]

Hey fellow adventurer!

I expect we'll get welcome packs in a few weeks...

Ours arrived today! Five weeks and counting...

 

[meryll83]

Ours arrived today! Five weeks and counting...

Same!
UPS had actually tried to deliver it the day before, but no one was in!

We're in the UK, so thought we might have been a bit later getting it, so a nice early surprise!

 

[eah123]

I am booked for April. We are coming from the NYC area.

I have a question about the last day.
I understand that the park-hopper pass is still valid for the departure day, Friday April 6. Is it reasonable to spend the day at the parks, then take a red-eye flight back (9 or 10PM departure) from LAX? We would need to leave our luggage with the valet after checking out of the hotel. The ABD transfer from Grand Californian can be anytime that day, right?

 

[Cinderella's Slipper 2015]

I am booked for April. We are coming from the NYC area.

I have a question about the last day.
I understand that the park-hopper pass is still valid for the departure day, Friday April 6. Is it reasonable to spend the day at the parks, then take a red-eye flight back (9 or 10PM departure) from LAX? We would need to leave our luggage with the valet after checking out of the hotel. The ABD transfer from Grand Californian can be anytime that day, right?

Yes. We did this on our trip. We had a late flight out to Vancouver and the hotel held our luggage for us until the car arrived. We spent the day at Disneyland then met the driver at the valet area when it was our assigned pick up time.

 

[SingingMom]

We are *God-willing* booked on the February Adult-Only trip. (Hubby just had pulmonary embolisms out of the blue, so we hope he'll have clearance for air travel by then!) We are adding one pre and one post night. DD is a fan of Real Housewives of BH and Vanderpump Rules, and wants to have dinner at Lisa Vanderpump's restaurant "SUR" the evening we arrive. lol

 

[danv3]

I am booked for April. We are coming from the NYC area.

I have a question about the last day.
I understand that the park-hopper pass is still valid for the departure day, Friday April 6. Is it reasonable to spend the day at the parks, then take a red-eye flight back (9 or 10PM departure) from LAX? We would need to leave our luggage with the valet after checking out of the hotel. The ABD transfer from Grand Californian can be anytime that day, right?

This is exactly what we did a couple of weeks ago. ABD transfer was around 8:00pm so we got almost an entire day in the parks before we left.

 

[eah123]

What is the best strategy for choosing a dinner restaurant on the Disneyland day (Dinner/evening on your own)? Seems like a lot of the better places will have long waiting list for walk-ins, but I read sometimes that there are last minute surprise activities, so we shouldn't make reservations?

 

[SingingMom]

What is the best strategy for choosing a dinner restaurant on the Disneyland day (Dinner/evening on your own)? Seems like a lot of the better places will have long waiting list for walk-ins, but I read sometimes that there are last minute surprise activities, so we shouldn't make reservations?

There really are a number of choices in Downtown Disney. We made a lunch reservation (full disclosure - a friend pulled some strings) because DD wanted to try the monte cristo at Blue Bayou (only offered at lunch) so we just had drinks and appetizers later in the evening. There is so much to do that I'm glad we didn't make dinner reservations. There are some surprises that you might want to keep yourself open.