Networth
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2013
So we finished the ABD portion of our trip Sunday. Brass tacks we had a fantastic time! We are currently staying in West Hollywood and fly home tomorrow. We skipped out on the first nights festivities due to fighting a cold and a bit of jet lag/travel fatigue. You can see above in my other post what we “missed”.
The second day was the Walt Disney Studios and WDI. We had breakfast at the hotel, food was tasty with plenty of options. Next we boarded the motor coach to the studios. It was very fun to get on the studio lot, see Mickey Ave/Dopey Lane, the Legends courtyard, the archives etc. Myself and other guests had wished to get behind a few more closed doors and see some “working studios” bits but alas.
Lunch was very good at the commissary, you get a voucher for an entrée, side, drink, and dessert. Once lunch is finished you get about 20 minutes to browse the Studios Store. After the store we boarded the motor coach heading for Walt Disney Imagineering.
WDI was amazing, I left my resume at the front desk I am sure I will get a call next week.... The behind the scenes tour at the WDI complex, seeing the history, and the process of making of attractions was right up my alley. Anything I write about WDI will be spoiler heavy, plus no photos so I won’t ruin anything, just know it was any Disney fans dream in my opinion. After the tour you get a chance to shop at Mickey’s of Glendale, we ended up buying some things and could of easily bought more. We found the selection here to be much better than the Studios shop. So my bit of advice is pass on shopping at the studios and wait for Mickey’s of Glendale (plus you get 40% off one item).
After that we had another “surprise” which got the whole group very excited. The way ABD pairs story & experiences, my wife and I believe is one of their strongest attributes (coming from first timers). This surprise after the WDI tour did just that.
We had dinner at Tam O’ Shanter the food was good, history of the place great, company we had dinner with, superb. We sat with a couple who were complete Disney fans and had a great two hour conversation while enjoying good Scottish food. We had a chance to see Walt’s booth and take photos. We than boarded the motor coach back to the GC. The traffic was terrible on the way back (an on going theme). LA gives ATL and NYC a run for their money when it comes to traffic.
The next morning was Disneyland Park and Disney’s California Adventure. We had early access to Disneyland and walked in at about 7:15 with park opening at 8:00. The masses of people were held back at the gate and let me tell you some people gave some nasty looks. Anyway we got photos in front of the train station, walked down Main Street alone, and got photos in front of the castle. By the time photos were all down the herd had been unleashed (I don’t say that to be mean, they literally sprinted and moved like wildebeest pushing fellow guests). Our grouped walked over to the Plaza Inn where we had a nice breakfast and met some characters. We had some behind the scene fun on attractions with front of the line access, both in DL and CA. Prior to leaving DL we visited Walt’s apartment which as you can imagine was outstanding. While there we had are normal ABD guides, along with two DL Plaids to provide history about the apartment and lay some ground rules (like please don’t steal the lamp etc).
After the apartment we went over to California Adventure where we did some more back stages areas and attractions with a 30 minute lunch break on our own. At around 2:00pm the guides gave us some any time fast passes and told us to have a great day and to meet them back in the lobby of the hotel at 7:00 for a farewell dessert.
The dessert reception was some cupcakes, Rice Krispie treats, and cookies. The guides gave us some final instructions about departure the following morning and told us how we could download the photos they had taken during the trip. They told us would see them one last time the next morning for a surprise in the lobby (spoiler - the surprise was the last pin). They provided VIP viewing of Fantasmic! after dessert party and let us loose for the night.
Overall it was a wonderful experience and the guides were great, we really enjoyed Lori. We are looking at booking Italy next year and Japan in 2020, feels like they may have us hooked. It was great having everything planned and being treated with many behind the scenes moments/VIP experiences (hence the steep price tag I suppose). I do wish we had a day for each park but I know we chose the short escape because we don’t really enjoy Hollywood.
Side note I was sick the whole adventure it got to the point that we called an in room doctor to come see me because I was pretty sure I had bronchitis, and sure enough I was right. I look forward to feeling healthy on the next trip. Pardon any typos I am typing this up in an Uber while on the way to dinner. If you have any questions fire away.
The second day was the Walt Disney Studios and WDI. We had breakfast at the hotel, food was tasty with plenty of options. Next we boarded the motor coach to the studios. It was very fun to get on the studio lot, see Mickey Ave/Dopey Lane, the Legends courtyard, the archives etc. Myself and other guests had wished to get behind a few more closed doors and see some “working studios” bits but alas.
Lunch was very good at the commissary, you get a voucher for an entrée, side, drink, and dessert. Once lunch is finished you get about 20 minutes to browse the Studios Store. After the store we boarded the motor coach heading for Walt Disney Imagineering.
WDI was amazing, I left my resume at the front desk I am sure I will get a call next week.... The behind the scenes tour at the WDI complex, seeing the history, and the process of making of attractions was right up my alley. Anything I write about WDI will be spoiler heavy, plus no photos so I won’t ruin anything, just know it was any Disney fans dream in my opinion. After the tour you get a chance to shop at Mickey’s of Glendale, we ended up buying some things and could of easily bought more. We found the selection here to be much better than the Studios shop. So my bit of advice is pass on shopping at the studios and wait for Mickey’s of Glendale (plus you get 40% off one item).
After that we had another “surprise” which got the whole group very excited. The way ABD pairs story & experiences, my wife and I believe is one of their strongest attributes (coming from first timers). This surprise after the WDI tour did just that.
We had dinner at Tam O’ Shanter the food was good, history of the place great, company we had dinner with, superb. We sat with a couple who were complete Disney fans and had a great two hour conversation while enjoying good Scottish food. We had a chance to see Walt’s booth and take photos. We than boarded the motor coach back to the GC. The traffic was terrible on the way back (an on going theme). LA gives ATL and NYC a run for their money when it comes to traffic.
The next morning was Disneyland Park and Disney’s California Adventure. We had early access to Disneyland and walked in at about 7:15 with park opening at 8:00. The masses of people were held back at the gate and let me tell you some people gave some nasty looks. Anyway we got photos in front of the train station, walked down Main Street alone, and got photos in front of the castle. By the time photos were all down the herd had been unleashed (I don’t say that to be mean, they literally sprinted and moved like wildebeest pushing fellow guests). Our grouped walked over to the Plaza Inn where we had a nice breakfast and met some characters. We had some behind the scene fun on attractions with front of the line access, both in DL and CA. Prior to leaving DL we visited Walt’s apartment which as you can imagine was outstanding. While there we had are normal ABD guides, along with two DL Plaids to provide history about the apartment and lay some ground rules (like please don’t steal the lamp etc).
After the apartment we went over to California Adventure where we did some more back stages areas and attractions with a 30 minute lunch break on our own. At around 2:00pm the guides gave us some any time fast passes and told us to have a great day and to meet them back in the lobby of the hotel at 7:00 for a farewell dessert.
The dessert reception was some cupcakes, Rice Krispie treats, and cookies. The guides gave us some final instructions about departure the following morning and told us how we could download the photos they had taken during the trip. They told us would see them one last time the next morning for a surprise in the lobby (spoiler - the surprise was the last pin). They provided VIP viewing of Fantasmic! after dessert party and let us loose for the night.
Overall it was a wonderful experience and the guides were great, we really enjoyed Lori. We are looking at booking Italy next year and Japan in 2020, feels like they may have us hooked. It was great having everything planned and being treated with many behind the scenes moments/VIP experiences (hence the steep price tag I suppose). I do wish we had a day for each park but I know we chose the short escape because we don’t really enjoy Hollywood.
Side note I was sick the whole adventure it got to the point that we called an in room doctor to come see me because I was pretty sure I had bronchitis, and sure enough I was right. I look forward to feeling healthy on the next trip. Pardon any typos I am typing this up in an Uber while on the way to dinner. If you have any questions fire away.
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