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
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.
re: hitting the parks on your arrival day.
Have you already bought your 3 day tickets? If so then upgrading them to add the 4th day can be done at any point in your trip so you can wait until a quieter time to head to the ticket booths. If you have not then I would look at ordering them online in advance. If you are not staying onsite then getting the tickets ahead of time will get you one Magic Morning access with a 3+ day ticket. As far as I remember, this is only available when you buy your ticket in advance and not for tickets purchased when you get there. (Staying onsite gets you access to EMH for both parks)
If the extra day is not out of your budget and you think that your daughter will stay awake for the parade then I say, why not! We used to fly in as early as possible and head right to the parks but we kept finding out that waking up at 3:45am, traveling from BC to CA and going right into Disneyland mode made for a grouchy kid so now we fly in later and head to the parks the next morning.
Not sure re: the Observatory but have you checked height restrictions at USH? You can check them out HERE. Our son was definitely not tall enough at 5 to ride some of the things there.
re: WoC dining vs dessert. If it is within your budget then definitely go for the dessert party! I've mentioned this earlier but we have done the dining package a few times and the dessert once and in our opinion the table and chairs at the dessert party is the only way to go! Unless they have changed the table placements, I would ask for a high top table behind a low top table when you check in. We ate a light meal around 4:30 last time and that was enough to tide us over until the party. Between the bread, cheese and desserts we did not leave hungry and even had a bunch ofd desserts left over!
Moana: I would not only check the Disneyland app but also ask at City Hall about when she is expected to meet or check the daily times guide.
We've stayed at the DI&S 3 times and the Castle Inn once. You are going to LOVE how close you are to the entrance this time! Breakfast is not much to write home about but the rooms have always been clean and the wifi has been great!
However, I think she's tall enough for everything except the HP simulator and the Mummy ride (which is probably too much anyway).
Second this! Also, LMT e-tickets come with a barcode, so they can be taken right to the turnstiles -- no visit to the ticket booth needed! LMT Club will ask you to buy a membership -- don't! Search on Google for a free code.
Easy to add it each day, right after you activate your ticket at the gates. Should only take a minute or two. Just have a credit card already on file in your app.
That was the look I was going to do tomorrow
She asked if he could complete a mission for her and give a message to her friend in the resistance who was keeping an eye on the first order. He said he would, so off we went on our "mission."
That’s so awesomeWe had something really cool and unexpected happen today in Galaxy's Edge that I thought I'd share.
We were wondering around the land, looking at some of the merchandise and taking in the theme of the area when DS was approached by a CM. She asked if he was part of the resistance and he said maybe.
We found our guy and he said he'd been waiting for us all day. We were to take our message to Hondo himself! Yep, we were escorted to Smuggler's Run and taken up the fast pass side with absolutely no wait!
We were completely shocked and so excited! Love the little things that keep us coming back to Disney!
