Backstage Magic August 18 - 23, 2019: Update 9.29.19 Day 4 finished

Hmm, think I will bring one of my bazillions of refillable cups from WDW as a to-go cup...
 
Hmm, think I will bring one of my bazillions of refillable cups from WDW as a to-go cup...

The Plaza Inn was self-serve for beverages, and Preston's at Loew's was only because the beverages were left on a long table. The beverages provided in the other restaurants were poured by the servers. However, at Storyteller's they did provide to-go cups of coffee (already filled).
 
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Hi, is it that you can’t take elevators at all or just use them to access floors higher up? Our room at Loews was on the 16th floor, but there were others who were staying on lower floors. We had to use the elevators at Loews to access guest areas. However, we split our group of 25 into 2 elevators and did not share with anyone else when we went to our welcome dinner so we had space around us.

At the GCH we used the elevators between lobby level and the 3rd floor; I am not sure if there are stairs you can use. The elevators were not crowded anytime we used them.

One member of our group suffered from terrible motion sickness. She was the first to leave the Dish at Imagineering. It is an enclosed room with an open doorway; you are not forced to stay in the room.

Would you be okay in The Haunted Mansion stretching room? It’s an optional group activity to ride together.
I can handle going up a few flights of stairs, but then I start panicking. I lived on the 9th floor of my dorm and could do that, but ideally I don't go more than 5 or 6 flights.
Even with plenty of space, I can't do an elevator. Haven't been able to since around 1995. The Stretching Room in WDW I don't do well in, even knowing it isn't really an elevator. There's no way I could do the Disneyland one. WDW is good on days when I just can't do it, they let me skip it.
For the Dish, if there is no door I can probably do it. I don't get motion sickness, just horrible claustrophobia (I pretty much avoid every ride with any kind of restraint at this point).
When it gets closer to booking (I'm not looking to do this for a few years), I will call Adventures By Disney and see if it would be possible to accomodate my issues. I'm thankful for your post so I know what aspects I may struggle with.
 
I can handle going up a few flights of stairs, but then I start panicking. I lived on the 9th floor of my dorm and could do that, but ideally I don't go more than 5 or 6 flights.
Even with plenty of space, I can't do an elevator. Haven't been able to since around 1995. The Stretching Room in WDW I don't do well in, even knowing it isn't really an elevator. There's no way I could do the Disneyland one. WDW is good on days when I just can't do it, they let me skip it.
For the Dish, if there is no door I can probably do it. I don't get motion sickness, just horrible claustrophobia (I pretty much avoid every ride with any kind of restraint at this point).
When it gets closer to booking (I'm not looking to do this for a few years), I will call Adventures By Disney and see if it would be possible to accomodate my issues. I'm thankful for your post so I know what aspects I may struggle with.

I am so sorry that you struggle with these feelings. There really isn't a way to avoid using an elevator at Loews. The Dish is a relatively large room (high ceiling, too), and we were positioned near the open doorway.

I do hope you are able to take this trip. My husband and I are trying to get the timelines in order so I may have to refer back to our ABD photos, which I just downloaded last weekend. (We've been busy with work and personal commitments.) The experiences of visiting the Walt Disney Studio and Imagineering were huge reasons why I wanted to take this ABD.
 


I am so sorry that you struggle with these feelings. There really isn't a way to avoid using an elevator at Loews. The Dish is a relatively large room (high ceiling, too), and we were positioned near the open doorway.

I do hope you are able to take this trip. My husband and I are trying to get the timelines in order so I may have to refer back to our ABD photos, which I just downloaded last weekend. (We've been busy with work and personal commitments.) The experiences of visiting the Walt Disney Studio and Imagineering were huge reasons why I wanted to take this ABD.

If you need any help with the timeline, don't hesitate to ask. I've got a pretty comprehensive review of our adventure on my blog, which I can't post here since it's on a travel agency website.
 
Day 4 continued...

Since I stopped taking notes, I will go over at high level what we did this day.

After breakfast, we visited Walt's apartment. We split into two groups--one group went to the apartment while the remainder went to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. Then we switched. We went behind the scenes of the Indiana Jones Adventure ride and rode as a group (take the opportunity to play with the vehicle controls--even as an adult), we rode the Matterhorn as a group, we rode the carousel as a group, we visited Toontown to have our pictures taken with Mickey, we rode Peter Pan as a group.

After bouncing from one attraction to the next, Shannon and Dean provided us each with a $25 meal card. I'm putting the next information into a spoiler because what happens the next day might not happen to other adventure groups.
They also told us we each had 5 Fastpasses added to our tickets.
We were now on our own (starting at around 1 pm). We had the option to meet up with the group later for the Fireworks and Main Street Electrical parade. We did not do the optional group activity.

Since we wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain, we chose to eat at Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante. We were able to find seating in the shade outside. Food was okay. I think I liked my meal better than Dan did his.

We then used up our gifted FPs and took time to check out Star Wars Galaxy Edge. When we saw the line for Millennium Falcon Smuggler's Run was about 35 minutes, we decided to get in line. The wait time did go up to 50 minutes while we were there, but we were fine with it. (Loved the ride!)

There aren't as many FP rides in DL as there are in WDW so we repeated some of our favorites. We didn't have an opportunity to visit many of the attractions; it was hot, and we were dragging.

For dinner we ate at Galactic Grill. One thing we learned here; even if the sign states that the meal comes with a side, you have to specify that you want it. Dan only mentioned the entree part, and that's what they gave him. We did have them add the side.

We wandered back to SWGE after the sun set; it was really pretty. Our exhaustion kicked into overdrive so we headed back to our room.

I will note here that I was not getting much sleep and purposely held off drinking too much water to reduce restroom breaks while with the group; it was taking its toll on me. I started feeling achy, and I could tell I was dehydrated.

Tomorrow is not as early for our character meal, and it will take place at the GCH, Storyteller's Cafe to be exact.
 
I apologize for the lack of photos. I do have them all organized on my laptop and will add them separately. Seeing the differences between my camera/guides' photos and my phone photos reminds me that my phone is long overdue for an upgrade.
 



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