katyringo
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2017
- Messages
- 3,843
Here is my trip rundown!
Flights: southwest into SNA. Landed at 630 and was eating a lobster roll at Palm Breeze by 815.
Hotel: Castle inn and suites. Meh. I read lots of reviews and folks raving about this place. I knew it was motel vibes. My room itself was fairly updated and clean so that was a plus. But it's so run down otherwise and looks dirty around the grounds. Their gift shop/connivence shop was closed. That would have been handy. The walk started to get a bit old. The price I paid tho was about $160 a night so that really can't be beat. I probably will not stay there again.
Tickets: I had a 5 day park hopper with genie+. I wanted total freedom.
I used a solid mix of genie plus, rope drop, watching wait times, single rider, and modifying and refreshing. In 5 days I rode guardians 8 times, hyperspace mountain 6, incredicoaster twice, smugglers 3x, racers 3x, star tours 5x, webslingers 4x, everything else I wanted to at least once.
I tried hard to do the parks in sections and no zig zag and modifying and refreshing helped do that well. I also constantly used mobile ordering to put an order in at an area of a park I knew I was heading.
I dedicated an entire afternoon and evening to all things star wars. I wore my outfit. Rode hyperspace. Rode Star tours until I got all the versions, had dinner at docking bay 7, made a light saber, rode Rise, walked SWGE, and watched the Star Wars fireworks. It was so fun to immerse in it for a whole half day. I recommend this. The Star Wars fireworks are a new fave.
Fantasmic: see the fantasmic thread but I saw it twice. Once with a Riverbelle reservation and a second with the Rancho reservation. Still remains my favorite Disney show and I'm so glad I scheduled the trip around opening night.
Castle fireworks: so fun! I had hoped wonderous journeys would still be playing, so that's still on my list to see. The Pixar ones are cute! I found a spot in front of castle on frontier land side about 90mins before showtimes. One con to going solo is no one to hold the spot while you go to the bathroom or get a snack.
World of color: I did dessert party second show. I was nervous about being sat with strangers- turned out I think I made new friends! And then we saw each other the next day in the parks and hugged. I checked in at 9, chose a high top. They gave me a wrist band and said come back around 930. At 935 they walked us down. I have not seen it mentioned but for allergy trays they give a different colored wrist band. I enjoyed world of color one, but it seems to not flow as well as the original and I missed the wonderful world of color song. I did like the Star Wars segment, and there were some parts that were very moving.
Food: I ate all the things. But I have decided that I do not like Disney's cold brew- and I love cold brew. I finally gave up and just did Starbucks. The only one that I liked was the black calf in SWGE. Spice- I feel like Disney is in a spicy food era and idk about it. I struggled to find things that were not enhanced with spice. Highlights were the new taco salad at pym test kitchen, lobster nachos from LL(as always), docking bay 7, and I tried the plaza inn fried chicken for the first time and I am now a believer. Also that Pixar cake they have is really that good. Both my Fantasmic meals were just fine. The lobster roll from palm Breeze was excellent. The watermelon lemonade (I forget where)and the peach tea (red wagon) were the best drinks. I feel like Disney is getting too creative with the non-alcoholic mixed drinks- I found the simple ones to be better. And of course jolly holiday with that raspberry macaroon. I wasn't overly impressed with the Pixar food fest booths. I did a walk of them for lunch one day and nothing was really a "wow" for me.
Universal- I wrote about this on the California and the west board- but I did trip out there for half a day and really enjoyed Super Nintendo World.
Pixar fest- honestly other than food I didn't do much for this. Not my jam, however had my kids been with me, my daughter is obsessed with most of the new Pixar movies like turning red, elemental, etc. I've seen folks like me talk about why these characters and I'm gonna tell you that the young ones connect with them. I did see the parade and enjoyed the vibe.
Magic happens- this parade has been on my list for so long and I loved it. Absolutely my favorite disney parade I've seen. I saw the show twice. A tip- the beginning of the parade "dance" only happens at the beginning of the parade route. So both times I saw it, I saw the second showing and watched where I could see the big doors the performers and floats come out of.
99% of CM's were wonderful. I had a couple interactions with CM's that were off putting. One I wrote about - odd interaction at lamplight. The others were in ride lines where I felt like I was given mixed messages on where to stand and line up. I think they really need to give more CMs those microphone headset things. Maybe I need my hearing checked... I just struggled to hear the number they gave or whatever. But I always apologized nicely and just a couple were kind snotty about it.
Memorial Day flag retreat: I took time to see this special version and it was very moving. I'm a marine wife and my husband is a combat vet who lost fellow Marines in Iraq. They had the navy band from San Diego and the dapper dans. Throughout the park restaurants they had also set up tables of remembrance. That was very moving to me.
Merch- I didn't really have anything I was specifically looking for. I usually have a small list of things I've seen online that I want to look at in person. I didn't really have that this time, I just let the merch speak to me.. lol. I got the castle Starbucks cup and an ornament. The new Tomorrowland ears as well as the guardians ears. I got several t-shirts. If I'm not in my business dress for work I'm usually in a Disney tee. I shipped home a couple stuffed animals for the kids. I got rainbow popcorn for the kids. I finally bought a SWGE model from one of the shops. I've been eyeing that for a couple years. I got a ring, a sweatshirt, sweatpants and oh yeah... the $230 lightsaber. Disney needs to stock more larges and extra larges. Continuously they had shirts and or sweatpants I would have purchased but they only had smalls or 3x or 4x. I've noticed this on other trips. I almost got the Tomorrowland Loungefly.. but I had to practice some restraint. I was a bit disappointed to see the gallery was no longer in DTD. I found the art collections in the stores in DTD and the parks to not be as robust as usual. I usually always buy the post cards or even a larger print on a trip, but nothing caught my eye. I had hoped with Fantasmic returning maybe Disney would update Fantasmic merch.. but they were seeing the same sweatshirt I've seen for years (and own).
Departure- my flight left SNA at 430. I was off guardians around 1:30, back at hotel, Uber, and at my gate at SNA by 230. I love SNA.
And that concludes my solo trip adventure. Our next Disney trip is a cruise in March with stops at both Disney islands. For sure will be back to Disneyland in the coming years!
Flights: southwest into SNA. Landed at 630 and was eating a lobster roll at Palm Breeze by 815.
Hotel: Castle inn and suites. Meh. I read lots of reviews and folks raving about this place. I knew it was motel vibes. My room itself was fairly updated and clean so that was a plus. But it's so run down otherwise and looks dirty around the grounds. Their gift shop/connivence shop was closed. That would have been handy. The walk started to get a bit old. The price I paid tho was about $160 a night so that really can't be beat. I probably will not stay there again.
Tickets: I had a 5 day park hopper with genie+. I wanted total freedom.
I used a solid mix of genie plus, rope drop, watching wait times, single rider, and modifying and refreshing. In 5 days I rode guardians 8 times, hyperspace mountain 6, incredicoaster twice, smugglers 3x, racers 3x, star tours 5x, webslingers 4x, everything else I wanted to at least once.
I tried hard to do the parks in sections and no zig zag and modifying and refreshing helped do that well. I also constantly used mobile ordering to put an order in at an area of a park I knew I was heading.
I dedicated an entire afternoon and evening to all things star wars. I wore my outfit. Rode hyperspace. Rode Star tours until I got all the versions, had dinner at docking bay 7, made a light saber, rode Rise, walked SWGE, and watched the Star Wars fireworks. It was so fun to immerse in it for a whole half day. I recommend this. The Star Wars fireworks are a new fave.
Fantasmic: see the fantasmic thread but I saw it twice. Once with a Riverbelle reservation and a second with the Rancho reservation. Still remains my favorite Disney show and I'm so glad I scheduled the trip around opening night.
Castle fireworks: so fun! I had hoped wonderous journeys would still be playing, so that's still on my list to see. The Pixar ones are cute! I found a spot in front of castle on frontier land side about 90mins before showtimes. One con to going solo is no one to hold the spot while you go to the bathroom or get a snack.
World of color: I did dessert party second show. I was nervous about being sat with strangers- turned out I think I made new friends! And then we saw each other the next day in the parks and hugged. I checked in at 9, chose a high top. They gave me a wrist band and said come back around 930. At 935 they walked us down. I have not seen it mentioned but for allergy trays they give a different colored wrist band. I enjoyed world of color one, but it seems to not flow as well as the original and I missed the wonderful world of color song. I did like the Star Wars segment, and there were some parts that were very moving.
Food: I ate all the things. But I have decided that I do not like Disney's cold brew- and I love cold brew. I finally gave up and just did Starbucks. The only one that I liked was the black calf in SWGE. Spice- I feel like Disney is in a spicy food era and idk about it. I struggled to find things that were not enhanced with spice. Highlights were the new taco salad at pym test kitchen, lobster nachos from LL(as always), docking bay 7, and I tried the plaza inn fried chicken for the first time and I am now a believer. Also that Pixar cake they have is really that good. Both my Fantasmic meals were just fine. The lobster roll from palm Breeze was excellent. The watermelon lemonade (I forget where)and the peach tea (red wagon) were the best drinks. I feel like Disney is getting too creative with the non-alcoholic mixed drinks- I found the simple ones to be better. And of course jolly holiday with that raspberry macaroon. I wasn't overly impressed with the Pixar food fest booths. I did a walk of them for lunch one day and nothing was really a "wow" for me.
Universal- I wrote about this on the California and the west board- but I did trip out there for half a day and really enjoyed Super Nintendo World.
Pixar fest- honestly other than food I didn't do much for this. Not my jam, however had my kids been with me, my daughter is obsessed with most of the new Pixar movies like turning red, elemental, etc. I've seen folks like me talk about why these characters and I'm gonna tell you that the young ones connect with them. I did see the parade and enjoyed the vibe.
Magic happens- this parade has been on my list for so long and I loved it. Absolutely my favorite disney parade I've seen. I saw the show twice. A tip- the beginning of the parade "dance" only happens at the beginning of the parade route. So both times I saw it, I saw the second showing and watched where I could see the big doors the performers and floats come out of.
99% of CM's were wonderful. I had a couple interactions with CM's that were off putting. One I wrote about - odd interaction at lamplight. The others were in ride lines where I felt like I was given mixed messages on where to stand and line up. I think they really need to give more CMs those microphone headset things. Maybe I need my hearing checked... I just struggled to hear the number they gave or whatever. But I always apologized nicely and just a couple were kind snotty about it.
Memorial Day flag retreat: I took time to see this special version and it was very moving. I'm a marine wife and my husband is a combat vet who lost fellow Marines in Iraq. They had the navy band from San Diego and the dapper dans. Throughout the park restaurants they had also set up tables of remembrance. That was very moving to me.
Merch- I didn't really have anything I was specifically looking for. I usually have a small list of things I've seen online that I want to look at in person. I didn't really have that this time, I just let the merch speak to me.. lol. I got the castle Starbucks cup and an ornament. The new Tomorrowland ears as well as the guardians ears. I got several t-shirts. If I'm not in my business dress for work I'm usually in a Disney tee. I shipped home a couple stuffed animals for the kids. I got rainbow popcorn for the kids. I finally bought a SWGE model from one of the shops. I've been eyeing that for a couple years. I got a ring, a sweatshirt, sweatpants and oh yeah... the $230 lightsaber. Disney needs to stock more larges and extra larges. Continuously they had shirts and or sweatpants I would have purchased but they only had smalls or 3x or 4x. I've noticed this on other trips. I almost got the Tomorrowland Loungefly.. but I had to practice some restraint. I was a bit disappointed to see the gallery was no longer in DTD. I found the art collections in the stores in DTD and the parks to not be as robust as usual. I usually always buy the post cards or even a larger print on a trip, but nothing caught my eye. I had hoped with Fantasmic returning maybe Disney would update Fantasmic merch.. but they were seeing the same sweatshirt I've seen for years (and own).
Departure- my flight left SNA at 430. I was off guardians around 1:30, back at hotel, Uber, and at my gate at SNA by 230. I love SNA.
And that concludes my solo trip adventure. Our next Disney trip is a cruise in March with stops at both Disney islands. For sure will be back to Disneyland in the coming years!
