Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

[Is This Real]

I am sitting in the Lobby of The Grand Californian enjoying the ambiance (and cool air) while my kids enjoy their last hour in Disneyland and just wanted to thank everyone on here who helped make our trip the most wonderful time ever.

We arrived on Thursday and stayed at the Paradise Pier hotel for 2 nights before moving over to the Grand Californian for 2 nights. We enjoyed both hotels and did not think that the walk to the parks was too far from the Paradise Pier.

If the budget did not not allow for the GC we would be very happy to stay at PP, but my god, how good is the GC. Just loved everything about it.

We got to do eveything we wanted at the parks and many times over for a lot of them. Thank you for your suggestions for the best 1st ride for our family, The Pirates of the Caribbean was just perfect.

We managed to watch MSEP near It's a Small World and the fireworks right in front of the castle. I was unsure about booking the dessert party for WOC but based on the feedback from people on this site convinced me to do it. Well it was worth every cent. We had high top table with low table in front of us. Best view and nice food, some of which we are eating in the lobby now after taking them in a box last night.

My one piece of advice is to take advantage of the early opening. We got so much done early in the day, even when the park opened to to everyone else. Have a rest during the day and head back at night, when we also managed to get on rides fairly quickly. In our 5 days the longest wait we had 20 minutes today for the Storybook Land Canals. We used the fastpasses to our absolute advantage and the current system worked well.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Thank you,
Michael

 

[chickapin parterre]

thank you for writing....it would be interesting to read how you managed your early mornings. arrival times, priorities, when hour was over, where did you go?

how many hours out of Disneyland resting at lodging?

in terms of budget, why did you struggle with Desert for WOC? and now having done that, how would you prioritize that expenditure to other expenditures.

 

[calilou]

Great to hear all the positive! I'm curious to hear what the current GC lobby renovations are like? Is everything complete in the lobby or still a work in progress?

 

[Is This Real]

There is one corner with a black curtain up, but it does not take away from the beauty of the lobby and you'd hardly know any work was happening

 

[Angrose]

There is one corner with a black curtain up, but it does not take away from the beauty of the lobby and you'd hardly know any work was happening

This is how it looked yesterday afternoon when I passed through. It was mainly a black curtain in front of Acorn Gifts.

 

[Is This Real]

thank you for writing....it would be interesting to read how you managed your early mornings. arrival times, priorities, when hour was over, where did you go?

how many hours out of Disneyland resting at lodging?

in terms of budget, why did you struggle with Desert for WOC? and now having done that, how would you prioritize that expenditure to other expenditures.

We arrived at PP at 5pm on Thursday and went straight to Disneyland. 15 minute wait in standby for Pirates, wife and kids went single rider on Indiana Jones and waited 20 minutes while I went and got FP for BTM. Just as I pulled FP the ride went down. So we walked straight on to Jungle Cruise. Then got instant fast passes for Matterhorn for wife and kids. Had dinner and then used our BTM fast passes from earlier to ride Splash Mountain.

I can't remember the order after that but we got instant FP for BTM, 10 minute standby for It's a Small World and 5 minute standby for Haunted House. Most of this was done while the crowds were watching MSEP and the fireworks.

Caught the monorail to DTD and walked back to PPH.

We were a bit all over the place on our 1st night and soon learnt to plan out our order a bit better.

 

[Is This Real]

For the rest of the trip we really did not have any real plans other for each of the mornings. We had 3 CA early mornings and 1 Disneyland early morning.

We rode RSR twice by walking straight on, Guardians with 5 minute wait and Soarin.

As I mentioned in OP, we found the mornings very easy to accomplish a lot. We got there at 6.50am the 1st morning and right on 7.00am every other morning.

Had a bit of a queue at DTD the 1st morning but they only had 2 entries open. On second morning I went over to GCH at 6.00am and was able to checkin and our room was available. Went back to PPH, finished packing, called the bell man and got our luggage taken over to GCH. Because we had checked in we were able to use GCH entry to DTD to go to Disneyland.

Our strategy was pretty simple, get to park early, rest during the day (1.00pm to 5.00pm) and enjoy the night.
We also used single rider quite a bit, especially RSR and monitored the app to check wait times and return times for fast pass.

 

[BriannaRuth]

Sounds like you executed everything perfectly. Glad you and the family had a great time!

 

[Is This Real]

Sounds like you executed everything perfectly. Glad you and the family had a great time!

We got lucky with a couple of things.

For MSEP we were walking out of Toontown about 8.25pm and they had the ropes up. Everyone was sitting near the curb, but there was roped area which was going to be where the crossing was. No one was standing there and I asked the CM if we could stand there. We had a great view. This is a picture from there.

Once the parade finished we managed to get right behind the rope carriers and walked behind the parade the whole way to the castle. We ended up right in front of the castle about 5 from the front and with a view of the Matterhorn as well. The best seat in the house.

For Mickeys Soundational Parade we walked in the gates just after 4.00pm. We watched a big group of dancers. When they finished a lot of their families got up and moved so we got a bench seat under a shady tree.

And finally with WOC Dessert Party we got to the park about 6.45pm after having an early dinner at ESPN Zone. (Heaven for sports fans like me). The kids went off to ride Screamin so my wife and I went to check out where the Dessert Party was located. There were 2 CM there so we asked them about the best seats and they gave the usual answer of there is not a bad seat in the house. I told them that it was our last night at the park and our one special event for our stay. The lady asked me what name the reservation was under. We got back there 8.10pm and when we went to the desk she remembered my name. When we got to the tables the other gentleman who we meet earlier said we have a special seat reserved for you, his favourite table. And so it was, top table behind a short table, right in the middle. We were very grateful for them making our night extra special.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Wow! Sounds like you got a great dose of Disney magic on this trip. So happy to hear it. You got lucky with low crowds these weekend (albeit some big heat). We were there Sunday and the morning was magical!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Pixie dust and magic! Couldn't ask for a better combo in one trip!

 

[Butterfly123]

Loved your parade and fireworks pictures!!

 

[Is This Real]

Pixie dust and magic! Couldn't ask for a better combo in one trip!

Pixie dust, magic and some great advice from this forum.

Loved your parade and fireworks pictures!!

I was very happy with the photos that my Samsung Galaxy S7 produced.

 

[tarheelalum]

What areas of the Grand Californian were under construction? Just the lobby or other areas? How was the line in the morning to get into DCA?

 

[Rabb it]

Very cool, GCH is so amazing, glad you got to stay there!