*August 2019 check in*

Trip Report! Probably more detail than anyone wants.

Nope! I love me some detailed trip reports. In fact, I wish I had all those details in mine. I had even purchased a mini spiral notebook to take notes but (1) DS14 moved at the speed of light and it was hard to keep up and (2) I misplaced my notebook within the first few hours of our first day at the parks.

I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express-Resort Area (not the one really close to the parks) I was beyond happy with my accommodations and the staff. I turned down the upgraded suite and fireworks view rooms because I knew I wouldn’t get any use out of them. I used the ART buses to and from and they worked perfectly and were usually only half full.

How was the breakfast? We stayed at the Dessert Inn and it was awful. Although I had some good meals at DL park I was not happy about this added expense. Also, I'm a breakfast person and starting the day with a free breakfast just makes the vacation day run smoother.

Friday
  • Cafe Orleans, Monte Cristo (5*) Pommes Frites (2*)
Why two stars for the pomme frites?


Saturday -Max Pass
  • Soarin, I got a middle front seat!
  • Got a beer at Smoke Jumpers it was the Strawberry Peak Lookout (5*). Even though it wasn’t 12 yet. My bad. Man was it good.
  • Watched the big screens while waiting for Animation Academy.
    Drew Simba. This experience was a bit ruined for me. A couple brought in a very young rambunctious child (2 or less) and was letting him play on the stairs on the row down from me. These are steep stairs, after the kiddo almost fell the second time the dad took him out. I couldn’t focus until then.
  • Cars at night
  • Got another beer to wait in line for WOC.
  • World of Color Dessert Package. This was AMAZING. My best solo treatment of the whole trip. I ended up getting a table by myself and some pretty great service from a couple of the servers. The sweets were so good.
  • Over 35k Steps today!
Soarin' - the middle front seat is the only way to go!
Beer before noon - I mean, it's 5:00 o'clock somewhere and you are on vacation, right?
Animation Academy - DS14 would not sit still during our trip. I really, really wanted to do this. Next time. Sorry about the parents who did not control their toddler. Manners and common courtesy do not stop being important just because we are on vacation.
Cars at night - YES!
WOC - YES! It WAS amazing! I will never do WOC again w/o a dessert party.

Saturday - Max Pass
  • Breakfast Burrito from Galactic Grill (5*) This was an excellent deal for such a filling delicious breakfast.
  • Smugglers. Went with a family and a little kid was the pilot and just sat there :/ I did not really enjoy this ride enough to try it again. Also had a gentleman hit on my while in line making me quite uncomfortable. . . It turned out ok and now I can chuckle about a bit.
  • Grey Stuff, cause, you know, It’s delicious
  • Oga’s. Fuzzy Tonton (4.5*) Outer Rim (5*)
  • Lion King Show but I left because it was too hot and no shade
  • More Beer
  • Hungry Bear Fantasmic dining package. Got the Ribs and they were a negative star. The mashed potatoes were standard the corn was old and hard as a rock.. I am not sure what was wrong with ribs but they just were yucky. The biscuit was inedible as it just crumbled it was so dry. I wish I picked Blue Bayou or River Belle.
  • Got hooked up with some butt pads from someone leaving the first show.
  • Wow. Fantasmic was awesome!!
Breakfast Burrito from Galactic Grill - I agree! Five stars.
Smugglers - On our first ride we two had two little kids piloting. I'm not sure if it's the fact that they kept crashing (although not on purpose) but my motion sickness did not like this ride, at all. I had to giggle at the gentleman trying to hit on you. Are you sure you don't need a rich sugar daddy to support your Disney habit? LOL (;
Grey stuff - Ohhhh! I forgot about this! We only had breakfast there. On my bucket list for next time.
Oga's - I just had a beer. Will need to add the drinks to my bucket list for my next trip.
Lion King show - I agree with you. Terrible location. I feel bad for the performers out in this heat.
More beer - I like how you Disney. :-)
Hungry Bear Fantasmic! dining package - It sounds like Disney just doesn't do BBQ right since this was your second disappointing meal involving BBQ. We currently live in Texas so I figured Disney can't top what we get here at home. I had the salmon with mashed potatoes and veggies. It was delicious. Also, I can't speak highly enough of the location. The Rivers of America might not be a real river, but there is something about eating a meal, in the shade, with a water view.
butt pads - PIXIE DUST!
Fantamic! - Wasn't it amazing?!!!!!!

Sunday - Max Pass / Magic morning.
  • Carnation Cafe. Mickey Shaped Waffle (2.5*) Standard waffle. I was one of the first people seated and I am pretty sure I got a premade one. It wasn’t all that warm and the butter was cold so it didn’t melt. Not worth the money to me.
I'm sorry your breakfast meal was disappointing. We had lunch there and had an excellent meal. Not sure where else in the park you could have gotten a Mickey waffle but DS14 had Mickey shaped pancakes for breakfast at the Red Rose Tavern.
 
I'm in the final countdown now! 5 days of work (who am I kidding, if I get a solid day and a half of work done this week I'll be lucky!) left and we leave Saturday! :banana:

I *think* this is our final dining reservation list...although knowing us, it is entirely possible this will change in the next few days...

Aug 19
Oga's Cantina
LLL
WoC Dessert

Aug 20
Oga's Cantina
Hungry Bear F! On the Go dinner

Aug 21
Napa Rose chefs counter

Aug 22
Plaza Inn MSEP lunch
WCT dinner

Aug 23
SH55 breakfast

We were not planning on either Fantasmic! or MSEP but we have only seen MSEP once and have not seen F! since the 2017 refresh.

A few trips ago, DS and I succeeded in going on every single ride in DCA, DH got sick partway through the trip so didn't manage to. This trip we are going to try and go on everything in both DL and DCA. I've made a list on my phone of all the rides and a second list with other attractions such as the canoes and Great Moments. (Neither of which we have ever done, even in all our trips!) There are some that we may not get to like the ToonTown houses but we will see how many we can get done!

I noticed that there are now dates listed for closures during August so I have updated the first post with the current information.
We were at Steakhouse 55 Sunday for breakfast and I would have just walked out had there been a close option otherwise. We waited almost 20 minutes after our reservation to finally be seated. There were multiple open tables in the dining room. Food took FOREVER. It seemed that one table at a time got to eat. Almost an hour.... Did get some free fruit. No idea what the problem was, but it was just a poor experience overall. Hope you get quicker service. A 930 reservation took till after 11.
 
We were at Steakhouse 55 Sunday for breakfast and I would have just walked out had there been a close option otherwise. We waited almost 20 minutes after our reservation to finally be seated. There were multiple open tables in the dining room. Food took FOREVER. It seemed that one table at a time got to eat. Almost an hour.... Did get some free fruit. No idea what the problem was, but it was just a poor experience overall. Hope you get quicker service. A 930 reservation took till after 11.

That is really odd, I wonder what happened?

We've been to SH55 for breakfast on our last trip and I really enjoyed it. DH seems to get sick every trip and that one was no exception so he was a seriously grumpy p.i.t.a. which made the meal less enjoyable for sure!

I booked this breakfast for our last day in DL so we are not super panicked to get into the park. I arranged for our driver to pick us up at 3:30 but we may move that later if we want to stay in the parks a bit later. We are staying at an LAX area airport that night before flying out early the next morning.
 


Probably the Gods of BBQ punishing Disney for their having closed down Big Thunder Ranch BBQ to make room for Galaxy’s Edge... Even though I love GE, I’m still bitter about the loss of that amazing all-you-can-eat BBQ place. Can you tell?

I always have said that they should have used this opportunity to make a smart play out of the situation. Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue was one of our ADR must-do's back in the day... loved it! What I've been saying since they announced the closure is that they should have taken a page out of WDW's book with the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue at Fort Wilderness (maybe without the dinner show ticketing aspect) and port over the all-you-care-to-enjoy barbecue fare from Big Thunder over to the kitchens of the Golden Horseshoe and Stage Door Cafe (this would probably require Stage Door Cafe to be closed to devote the full attention of the kitchen to pumping out the delicious all you can eat chicken and ribs... which I don't think would be a big loss as I'm not sure that Stage Door Cafe is one of those "THOU SHALT NOT TOUCHETH!!!" kind of establishments in Disneyland).

From there, either simply keep your regular Laughing Stock Company show going throughout the day periodically (probably extend the amount of show times til later in the evening to accommodate the evening's dinner reservations) or roll out that tribute to the classic Golden Horseshoe Revue show they had during limited-time magic and make it more of a permanent fixture with the new menu. I would definitely make this a must hit dining venue for each trip if this ever came to pass. Of course, I'm sure there would be backlash from those who don't wish to pay for a meal to come in and enjoy the interior of the Horseshoe itself or the entertainment inside... but for the pros of the whole concept, I certainly wouldn't mind it myself. Throw in root beer floats as part of the included menu and I would be in heaven!!
 


I leave Thursday! I won’t be at Disney until Sunday, with my first park day being Monday though. These next couple of days are going to crawl - it’s like waiting for Christmas! At least I have plenty to keep me busy in the meantime :)
 
Probably the Gods of BBQ punishing Disney for their having closed down Big Thunder Ranch BBQ to make room for Galaxy’s Edge... Even though I love GE, I’m still bitter about the loss of that amazing all-you-can-eat BBQ place. Can you tell?
RIP Big Thunder Ranch BBQ. Family style dinner and a show? Should have never been removed. (I love SW:GE as well, but it doesn't need 3 entrances and exits.) What's worse is there's no other experience like it in the park that's comparable. Worst removal from the park, ever, in my opinion.

Would love to see it come back... either in Frontierland somehow... or be reborn at Grizzly Peak with Santa Maria style BBQ... would go great with the CA theme and land.
 
Disneyland day one was amazing. 21 rides in 11 hours. 17k steps. 3 hr hotel break. Breakfast with Minnie. Main Street Electrical Parade. Fireworks. Longest wait time was Millenium Falcon at 35 minutes. Adult beverage at Oga's Cantina in Star Wars. 4 utterly exhausted children. So much fun.
 
Disneyland day one was amazing. 21 rides in 11 hours. 17k steps. 3 hr hotel break. Breakfast with Minnie. Main Street Electrical Parade. Fireworks. Longest wait time was Millenium Falcon at 35 minutes. Adult beverage at Oga's Cantina in Star Wars. 4 utterly exhausted children. So much fun.

What time of day did you ride MFSR? I’ve been tracking wait times on the app trying to decide when we should try to ride.
 
What time of day did you ride MFSR? I’ve been tracking wait times on the app trying to decide when we should try to ride.
We were there around 545. We had reservations at ogas for 445 and were done there by 535. Then we hit up the restroom and saw it was posted 50 minutes but the Lines app said to expect 35 minutes and it was right.
 
We just got back and noticed something odd we've never noticed before.

Right around 7 pm, a bunch of ravens fly from southwest somewhere and hang out in the trees around the park. Then about 30 minutes to an hour later, they all fly back to wherever they came from. This happened all four nights we were there.

Our family joked that it was their dinner break from the Haunted Mansion.
 
I leave tomorrow! Woohoo! I’m about 99% packed, just waiting on a few things in the dryer!

Planning to pop in and leave updates (both here and my thread on the trip report board) when I’m at Disney - but if I don’t get around to updating here, I’ll be regularly updating my trip Instagram so feel free to follow there if you want! I’m disneymomtohms there :)
 
Planning to pop in and leave updates (both here and my thread on the trip report board) when I’m at Disney - but if I don’t get around to updating here, I’ll be regularly updating my trip Instagram so feel free to follow there if you want! I’m disneymomtohms there :)

I just followed you!
 
Sorry for the "pre-trip report," but with a little less than two weeks to go until we leave, figured I'd drop by to solicit a few more tidbits of advice if anyone has...some of you guys are experts at this :)

We have nothing planned for our arrival day on Tuesday, 8/27, except grabbing lunch and stopping off for groceries before checking in to our hotel. Our flight lands in LAX at 12:05p, God willing! My wife and I have discussed the possibility of doing a half-day at the parks. Our five y/o is really excited for "the parade," but she really wanted to see PTN. MSEP to the rescue, I suppose. Should I expect an issue waiting to buy our park tickets via the mobile app until after we check in and get settled? We planned on 3 days already, but the cost of a 4th day is negligible for the amount of extra time we might get. Still, I'd like to not waste the money if something pops up.

This will be both our daughters' first trip to DLR. Although, the oldest has been to WDW several times--she's more excited about a week in California. We planned to go to USH for a day, but really not sure what to expect. It really looks like we can get most everything done by mid-day if we show up at open. Do you all think going up to Griffith Observatory on a Saturday afternoon/evening is a bad idea? When my wife and I drove up that way from Anaheim in October (we cheated and did DLR without kids first!), it felt super far for us haha! We figured it'd be better to knock out all the northern stuff on the same day-less driving!

Back to Disney-related questions, we grabbed reservations for Blue Bayou/F! and a WoC dinner. However, a few bonuses from work left a little extra pixie dust in our budget. If there's a spot open for the dessert party, that's definitely a better choice than the reserved area from Wine Country Trattoria right? Go big or go home?

Last, we also learned in October that the character appearances are a little more ad hoc at DLR than the ones in Florida. This definitely leads to cooler interactions in our opinion. But...our little one is absolutely CRAZY about Moana. If we happen to see her pop up on the app, does she normally get mobbed? We don't want to lurk around the treehouse all day if we can avoid it! We also realize that she may not be there at all.

For us, DLR is all about planning for the best and going with the flow--but unlike WDW it doesn't require generating spreadsheets 6+ months in advance of our visit. We fully expect elbow-to-elbow crowds since it's the week before/Labor Day weekend. We've resigned ourselves to just being satisfied, walking around with fistfuls of churros and all!

Misc.: we cheaped out and booked Desert Inn and Suites. We stayed at the Castle Inn last year, but even that was super close for us. Four walls and a parking spot is all we were after...ha! We have a rental car the whole week, so we're not landlocked in the Anaheim resort area. We have nothing planned for Wednesday except a breakfast at Paradise Pier--we're probably going to Aquarium of the Pacific and beach after that day.
 
I’ve been using Disboards for Dland trip prep for years, but this is by far my favorite check-in thread ever! Thank you so much to all of you here, who are so generously sharing your ideas, insider knowledge, humor, excitement, and experiences. You rock, each and every one of you!!!
❤️❤️❤️
 

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