July 2023 planning and chat thread!

[1Disneylandfan]

We are flying in July 24th. 7 day stay with 5 day park hopper. Really wish DLR would offer more than 5. We are flying in early am, landing at LAX before 9:30am, and hope to be at VGC by noon. Currently, we have park reservations for Mon, Wed, Thurs, Fri, and Sunday. Tuesday we are hitting Universal Studios. We had left Saturday as a resort/recovery day. We are yearly WDW guests, but want to still ride just about everyone at DLR.

Question, should we stick with Monday reservation knowing we won’t make it into the park before 1ish, or bump it to Saturday, which was going to be a rest day? We have 3 days reserved at DL and 2 at DCA. Is 10 hours on a Monday better than a whole Saturday? We are planning to pass on Genie, except for maybe the last Sunday based on if we have missed anything we want to ride multiple times.

I would do the Saturday over Monday. Saturday will be a quieter day over Monday for the simple fact that all magic key holders are blocked with the exception of Inspire. And for single day ticket holders Saturday is the most expensive so people tend to go on the less expensive days which are Monday - Thursday. Just something to think about.

 

[LKing]

Question, should we stick with Monday reservation knowing we won’t make it into the park before 1ish, or bump it to Saturday, which was going to be a rest day?

I agree with swapping the full day over the half day. Use Monday to explore the hotel and DTD. If you are tired on Saturday, you can sleep in, go shopping and meander through the parks without trying to see and do it all.

 

[LilyJC]

Question, should we stick with Monday reservation knowing we won’t make it into the park before 1ish, or bump it to Saturday, which was going to be a rest day?

Completely agree with swapping Monday out for Saturday! Saturday is definitely the better option.

 

[Pluto468]

We'll be there July 5-9. Our park days are 6,7 & 8. I can't remember the last time we didn't go for 5 days! It will feel like such a short trip. I hope the weather won't be too bad. Last year I vowed to never go in the summer again because we were there during a heat wave, but our March and May trips fell through, so it's July or next year. I can't wait that long lol. I changed our hotel to Park Vue, I've always wanted to try it!

 

[Aladora]

We'll be there July 5-9. Our park days are 6,7 & 8. I can't remember the last time we didn't go for 5 days! It will feel like such a short trip. As of now I'm planning on 2 nights at Grand Californian, followed by 2 nights at either Grand Legacy or BW Anaheim Plus...or Camelot. I hope the weather won't be too bad. Last year I vowed to never go in the summer again because we were there during a heat wave, but our March and May trips fell through, so it's July or next year. I can't wait that long lol.

We really like to go at the end of August so we are used to it being hot but I am not sure what the crowds are going to be like in July. Really, if it was not for wanting to be there for our son's 18th birthday, we would probably not try July at all.

 

[Pluto468]

We really like to go at the end of August so we are used to it being hot but I am not sure what the crowds are going to be like in July. Really, if it was not for wanting to be there for our son's 18th birthday, we would probably not try July at all.

We'll be there for my DD's 13th!

 

[Aladora]

We'll be there for my DD's 13th!

That is such a great trip!

We are also going to be there for our 24th wedding anniversary the day after our son’s 18th. DH and I spent our honeymoon at DLH so it is a special place for us.

 

[zuzu310]

We are going to be there 7/8-7/13 for my birthday. This is the 40th birthday trip that never happened due to COVID. We plan on hanging out and settling in 7/8 with park days 7/9-7/12. I have a reservation for Cafe Orleans and Carnation Cafe.

Not sure what else to consider. We are WDW veterans. I really wish we could figure out a way to explore La Jolla or Huntington Beach and considered Universal Studios but wasn't sure it was worth the cost and hassle of a rental car. We've been to US Orlando and IOA a lot of times. We are staying at the Best Western Plus Park Place Inn across the street.

 

[lovethesun12]

We have not done Storytellers for years so no input on that one but we have done WoC dining and dessert party a few times so here are my thoughts.

We love Wine Country and are actually planning on grabbing lunch there this trip so I have nothing bad to say about their food. We have also done the WoC dining package at Carthay two or three times so I know what the experience is like watching WoC with a dining package.

We have also done the dessert package twice and even though none of us are big dessert people, we will chose the dessert party over dining package 100% of the time.

We had decent views with the dining package but there are a few negatives. You do have to hold you spot in the viewing area so when we did it, we ended up sitting on the ground for an hour or so to ensure we had a really good spot. Not a huge deal but sitting on the ground is not great. Then, everyone stands for the show which is ok if you have a spot near the front but if you are short like me and you don't get a spot early, you might not have the best view.

The dessert party, on the other hand, gets you a table and chairs. That, for our family, is worth the cost. You check in at whatever time they tell you to be there, get assigned a table, and then you can either sit down and relax or you can go on an attraction or two. We have done a combination of both, some of us sit while others went on Little Mermaid or whatever. The viewing area from the tables are really good, no worrying about whether or not you will be able to see. For us, the drinks, cheese, crackers, and sweet treats are just a bonus on top of the table and chairs, especially after a long day at the parks!

My sister has never seen WoC so we were always going to take her to the dessert party this trip. If she really enjoys it, we will probably do it again on our next trip as well.

Oh this is so hard. I'm almost convinced. Two of my issues are 1) desserts (DH does not like them, and I'm not a huge fan)...not to mention having no dinner after a 450 price tag 2) Having to sit with other people. I mean I do like meeting new people, but I also dislike potentially awkward conversation lol

I'm kind of wondering if we did the dining, but did the second show instead, if we might end up with a potentially less crowded area so wait less.

 

[Aladora]

Oh this is so hard. I'm almost convinced. Two of my issues are 1) desserts (DH does not like them, and I'm not a huge fan)...not to mention having no dinner after a 450 price tag 2) Having to sit with other people. I mean I do like meeting new people, but I also dislike potentially awkward conversation lol

I'm kind of wondering if we did the dining, but did the second show instead, if we might end up with a potentially less crowded area so wait less.

I totally get that! I remember that there are 4 of you so the dessert party would cost $356.00 USD for all of you. Not a huge difference but it does drop your price tag down by almost $100.

We typically skip having a full dinner when we do the dessert party and have a light snack late afternoon. Between the cheese and crackers plus the desserts that is enough for us. But then again, none of us have huge appetites and we always bring some of the desserts back to our hotel since there is way more than we can eat in one sitting!

Going to the second show will definitely help with both the crowds and the wait time, most people go to the first show for sure!

 

[Mama Bear Me2]

Following so I can learn! No plans to visit in July 2023 but hope to visit next year. Wishing everyone a wonderful visit to the parks!

 

[Aladora]

We are now just under 21 days until we leave! 20 days, 17 hours, and a bunch of minutes to be exact!

Does anyone else here Disbound on their trips? I've got a Snow White and a Belle one planned. Nothing super fancy, yellow shorts, blue tank top, red headband, and apple earrings plus necklace for Snow White. Belle is the same yellow shorts, a yellow tank top, and red rose earrings plus necklace.

I wore a similar Snow White one when we were there March 2022 and was running to grab food at Red Rose Taverne (I clicked the "I'm here, make my food" button a bit too early) and the CM at the door yelled to me "Hey! Where are the dwarfs?" I called back "Hey, if you fall behind, you get left behind and they fell behind!" Still one of my favourite memories from that trip!

 

[CaoilinnsMom]

We will be there the July 2nd thru the 9th. I was so excited to se the changed closure dates. My daughter will be really excited to ride Alice the first couple of days we are there!

 

[CaoilinnsMom]

List of July 2023 people!

June 28-July 2 - Blue32
June 28-July 3 - remyvisitsDLR - PPH
June 29-July 5 - E&Cmom - HOJO
June 30-July 5 - Snoopygirl - Holiday Inn Express
July 1-4 - Philsfan77 - GCH/VGC
July 2 - tlovesdis
July 2-7 - CandyMouse - CCI
July 2-8 - kj2mom - Good neighbour hotel
July 3-5 - Ned911 - PPH
July 3-7 - DisneyCatMom21 - CGH
July 4-11 - DisneyJac - BWPP
July 5-10 - Chami
July 5-9 - Pluto468 - GCH + ?
July 6-11 - Aladora - DLH
July 7-9 - J_GN - DLH
July 7-12 - Andrea0710
July 8-13 - zuzu310
July 9-11 - lblume91 - DLH
July 14-15 - Desert Girl
July 14-16 - abent
July 14-18 - SwirlyGirly
July 15-19 - freshstart19 - DLH
July 16-17 - mcbj - Home2 Suites
July 16-19 - KPeterso - VGC
July 16-19 - DizMe
July 17-21 - Zdog - CCI
July 18-21 - jimitrout - Dolphin Cove/FFI
July 21-24 - Kip Herner - Courtyard Park Entrance
July 24-30 - Rich Bastien - VGC
July 26-29 - pixiepowers - CCI
July 27-31 - modegard - BWPP
July 28-Aug 4 - Disney Ron - GCH
July 30-Aug 3 - Becx N Gav - VGC

Early July, no dates specified:
PrincessKL - VGC

VGC 7/2-7/9

 

[CaoilinnsMom]

We have not done Storytellers for years so no input on that one but we have done WoC dining and dessert party a few times so here are my thoughts.

We love Wine Country and are actually planning on grabbing lunch there this trip so I have nothing bad to say about their food. We have also done the WoC dining package at Carthay two or three times so I know what the experience is like watching WoC with a dining package.

We have also done the dessert package twice and even though none of us are big dessert people, we will chose the dessert party over dining package 100% of the time.

We had decent views with the dining package but there are a few negatives. You do have to hold you spot in the viewing area so when we did it, we ended up sitting on the ground for an hour or so to ensure we had a really good spot. Not a huge deal but sitting on the ground is not great. Then, everyone stands for the show which is ok if you have a spot near the front but if you are short like me and you don't get a spot early, you might not have the best view.

The dessert party, on the other hand, gets you a table and chairs. That, for our family, is worth the cost. You check in at whatever time they tell you to be there, get assigned a table, and then you can either sit down and relax or you can go on an attraction or two. We have done a combination of both, some of us sit while others went on Little Mermaid or whatever. The viewing area from the tables are really good, no worrying about whether or not you will be able to see. For us, the drinks, cheese, crackers, and sweet treats are just a bonus on top of the table and chairs, especially after a long day at the parks!

My sister has never seen WoC so we were always going to take her to the dessert party this trip. If she really enjoys it, we will probably do it again on our next trip as well.

so good to hear your review. I booked the dessert party for exactly this reason! Looking forward to it! Last time we saw it was almost 10 years ago.

 

[Aladora]

We will be there the July 2nd thru the 9th. I was so excited to se the changed closure dates. My daughter will be really excited to ride Alice the first couple of days we are there!

Hi, welcome to the thread! I've added you to the list of July trips.

So happy that your daughter is going to get to ride Alice, it is one of my favourites, sadly it closes before we get there.

 

[amlc]

Just booked GCH for our July trip for myself, DH, and DS1 and 2!! July 27th to the 31st. We've done DL so many times that we're going to try to do different things this trip, new (for us) restaurants and hopefully finally getting to see WOC (we kept missing it on previous trips). Looking into the Walt's history tour and maybe the dessert party just to get tables/chairs for WOC. Can't wait!

 

[GoHorns94]

OK finally officially joining this thread since we have surprised the kids with the news. Kids are older now so I didn’t want to risk them finding out via snooping around on this website.

We will be at DLR July 24-28, hitting the parks on our way home from our first family trip to Hawaii (Maui and Oahu), celebrating my big 50th bday Hawaii 5-0 style.

DD(16), DS(13), DW and myself are staying at Camelot Inn and Suites. We have stayed there before and love its park proximity and especially their family suites where we can really spread out, all sleeping comfortably.

2.5 park days will be enjoyed all day 7/25 and 7/26, then the evening of 7/27. Flying back home to NE Texas on 7/28 but will have plenty of time departure morning to hit Downtown Disney for souvenirs and a meal before our after lunch flight.

This is our 4th trip to DL/DCA and we are WDW veterans. So far I have an ADR for Blue Bayou (first time dining there FINALLY - it was closed our last trip for refurb), Lamplight Lounge (loved it last trip), Carnation Club and Ogas. Looking forward to seeing the revamped Toon Town and hopefully riding Radiator Springs Racers several times (last trip we rode it once only - later that same day there was a fire with one of the RSR vehicles and they unfortunately shut down that amazing ride for remainder of our trip).

We have Genie+ and park hoppers to maximize time efficiency since our stay is brief. Our final full day, we are going to sleep in a little bit (we are rope droppers so this means we will view 8:30 as ‘sleeping in’ haha), then finally explore Hollywood and take a tour of WB studios. If anybody has experience with the WB tour (standard tour is what we are doing) please let me know. I have rented a car just for that single day, since we can easily cab or Uber from Long Beach Airport like we did in May 2022.

We are pumped to be coming back to the original park again - Disney Magic simply never gets old for our crew and we always have the best times together when visiting DLR or WDW.

 

[Aladora]

Just booked GCH for our July trip for myself, DH, and DS1 and 2!! July 27th to the 31st. We've done DL so many times that we're going to try to do different things this trip, new (for us) restaurants and hopefully finally getting to see WOC (we kept missing it on previous trips). Looking into the Walt's history tour and maybe the dessert party just to get tables/chairs for WOC. Can't wait!

Welcome, I have added you to the list! As I posted above, we have done the WoC dessert party a few times and are doing it again this trip so I can 100% recommend it!

What new-to-you restaurants are you doing?

OK finally officially joining this thread since we have surprised the kids with the news. Kids are older now so I didn’t want to risk them finding out via snooping around on this website.

We will be at DLR July 24-28, hitting the parks on our way home from our first family trip to Hawaii (Maui and Oahu), celebrating my big 50th bday Hawaii 5-0 style.

DD(16), DS(13), DW and myself are staying at Camelot Inn and Suites. We have stayed there before and love its park proximity and especially their family suites where we can really spread out, all sleeping comfortably.

2.5 park days will be enjoyed all day 7/25 and 7/26, then the evening of 7/27. Flying back home to NE Texas on 7/28 but will have plenty of time departure morning to hit Downtown Disney for souvenirs and a meal before our after lunch flight.

This is our 4th trip to DL/DCA and we are WDW veterans. So far I have an ADR for Blue Bayou (first time dining there FINALLY - it was closed our last trip for refurb), Lamplight Lounge (loved it last trip), Carnation Club and Ogas. Looking forward to seeing the revamped Toon Town and hopefully riding Radiator Springs Racers several times (last trip we rode it once only - later that same day there was a fire with one of the RSR vehicles and they unfortunately shut down that amazing ride for remainder of our trip).

We have Genie+ and park hoppers to maximize time efficiency since our stay is brief. Our final full day, we are going to sleep in a little bit (we are rope droppers so this means we will view 8:30 as ‘sleeping in’ haha), then finally explore Hollywood and take a tour of WB studios. If anybody has experience with the WB tour (standard tour is what we are doing) please let me know. I have rented a car just for that single day, since we can easily cab or Uber from Long Beach Airport like we did in May 2022.

We are pumped to be coming back to the original park again - Disney Magic simply never gets old for our crew and we always have the best times together when visiting DLR or WDW.

Sounds like a great trip, happy 50th and welcome to the thread! We've never been to Hawaii but I did celebrate my 40th, 42nd, and 50th at DL!

We're also booked at BB, it was closed last time we went in March 2022 so my sister has never been. If riding together is not a huge deal, you might want to look at doing single rider for RSR. We paid for an ILL in March but then decided to do single rider and it was great! DS and I were in the same car, my sister was in the car we raced and DH was right behind us.

 

[THE3jsmom]

I'll be there on July 25 solo. Cant wait!