*August 2019 check in*

[michelle1177]

We are doing a quick trip August 14-18 and staying at the Desert Inn and Suites. It's been a couple of years since we have been to Disneyland and I am so ready to go back!

 

[Aladora]

I'm glad to hear of your positive experience. No DVC studios available to we are sticking with the Dessert Inn. I figure I'll take our savings and apply them to some extras we wanted to do in our earlier trips but never did, like the WOC dessert party and a character meal.

Thanks to advance planning combined with a lot of luck, I was able to secure a 1 bedroom DVC reservation for this trip. We are not DVC members so it involved having to find a member who had VGC as their home resort who had enough points to rent and who was willing to get online right at 11 months to make the reservation.

Regarding DI&S: The only kind-of downside to staying here is that the breakfast is not the best, although we have not stayed there for a couple of years so they may have improved it since then. The space for breakfast gets pretty crowded and iirc the food was toast, Costco-ish danishes, hard boiled eggs, cereal, oatmeal, muffins, fruit. Since we tend not to eat a lot of carbs at breakfast (nothing against carbs, I love potatoes!) but it is just not how we eat breakfast, we were not overwhelmed with the choices. We ended up grabbing a couple of pieces of fruit and then hitting Starbucks when we got to the park. Oh...and if you like coffee, don't drink the stuff at the hotel. Just don't.

Otherwise, we have had 3 decent stays there and once we got a small upgrade from a regular deluxe room to and executive suite.

As for our planning, I think that I am officially done with everything I can do at this time. June 19th is the next time I can plan anything so I will have to wait until then.

I hope you enjoy the WOC dessert party as much as we did. After doing the dining package a few times we tried the dessert party and it was so worth the $$$! Just being able to sit at a table after a long day at the parks made it totally with it for us.

 

[stegersaurus]

I saw the news today that Mickey's Mix Magic is ending in June and they are bringing back Disneyland Forever. Any thoughts from those of you who are familiar with both? My kids were excited for Mickey's Mix Magic after seeing some of it on YouTube...

 

[caribbeandream]

Thanks to advance planning combined with a lot of luck, I was able to secure a 1 bedroom DVC reservation for this trip. We are not DVC members so it involved having to find a member who had VGC as their home resort who had enough points to rent and who was willing to get online right at 11 months to make the reservation.

Lucky you! I figured that it would be hard to find a DVC room four months out but you know what they say, if you don't ask . . .

Regarding DI&S: The only kind-of downside to staying here is that the breakfast is not the best, although we have not stayed there for a couple of years so they may have improved it since then. The space for breakfast gets pretty crowded and iirc the food was toast, Costco-ish danishes, hard boiled eggs, cereal, oatmeal, muffins, fruit. Since we tend not to eat a lot of carbs at breakfast (nothing against carbs, I love potatoes!) but it is just not how we eat breakfast, we were not overwhelmed with the choices. We ended up grabbing a couple of pieces of fruit and then hitting Starbucks when we got to the park. Oh...and if you like coffee, don't drink the stuff at the hotel. Just don't.

I eat hard boiled eggs, oatmeal and fruit for breakfast anyway so I think I'll be just fine. I'll definitely have to do some planning for DS14 though because I sure don't want to start my day with a hangry teenage boy! LOL As for the coffee, I might just end up packing my own coffee, filter and individual creamers. I like Startucks but sometimes the lines are just too much.

I hope you enjoy the WOC dessert party as much as we did. After doing the dining package a few times we tried the dessert party and it was so worth the $$$! Just being able to sit at a table after a long day at the parks made it totally with it for us.

I hear you! I LOVE WOC but after two trips I am so over having to stand for the whole show after being on my feet all day at the park.

I saw the news today that Mickey's Mix Magic is ending in June and they are bringing back Disneyland Forever. Any thoughts from those of you who are familiar with both? My kids were excited for Mickey's Mix Magic after seeing some of it on YouTube...

My son's a teen who is just exited about Cars Land and Galaxy's Edge so I'm not worried about disappointing him but now I'm wondering if this also means that all the events related to "Get Your Ears On" will also be closing down?

 

[Disneyqueendenmark]

Yay! Booked flights for LAX last night It's my first trip to DL in a few years and a lot have changed!! Especially not that SWGE opens.
I'm planning on staying in Anaheim for about a week and then do 5 days in the parks. But I'm not sure if I should do Disney the start of my vacay (8/13-8/20) or last (8/22-8/29). What would you guys recommend? I haven't been in August before.

Any rumors of when ROTR will open??

 

[Aladora]

Yay! Booked flights for LAX last night It's my first trip to DL in a few years and a lot have changed!! Especially not that SWGE opens.
I'm planning on staying in Anaheim for about a week and then do 5 days in the parks. But I'm not sure if I should do Disney the start of my vacay (8/13-8/20) or last (8/22-8/29). What would you guys recommend? I haven't been in August before.

Any rumors of when ROTR will open??

No rumors about RotR, at least not that I have heard.

Re: earlier or later in August
Pro for 13-20 is you will likely miss the D23 crowds, con is that many schools still on Summer break.
Pro for 22-29 is the opposite, most school except those that go back after Labour Day, con is that you are going at the same time as the D23 crowds.

 

[caribbeandream]

I feel like a lot has changed in 3 years, so I have a lot of preparing and research to do.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way!

I know what you mean about planning! I keep trying to get some sort of vague plan together but it all keeps coming back to "we will have to wait and see what happens after GE opens and we know how access is going to be handled". It is driving me crazy.

This waiting to see about GE is driving me crazy too!

 

[caribbeandream]

Y'all!!! I just realized that we never got to see the Disneyland Forever fireworks! Although we visited Disneyland for the 60th anniversary, the night we went to DL Park the wind was so strong they cancelled the fireworks. I'm bummed to miss Mickey's Mix Magic but I'm happier that we are going to see the fireworks we missed three years ago. Also, WOC will be a new show for us. We've watched Winter Dreams (2013) and Celebrate! for the 60th Anniversary celebration, but have never seen the regular show. And I've also never watched the Disneyland version of Fantasmic! (I think it might have been closed for one of our trips.) Everyone tells me it's better than the WDW version so I'm looking forward to that too.

 

[3DisMunchkins]

Y'all!!! I just realized that we never got to see the Disneyland Forever fireworks! Although we visited Disneyland for the 60th anniversary, the night we went to DL Park the wind was so strong they cancelled the fireworks. I'm bummed to miss Mickey's Mix Magic but I'm happier that we are going to see the fireworks we missed three years ago. Also, WOC will be a new show for us. We've watched Winter Dreams (2013) and Celebrate! for the 60th Anniversary celebration, but have never seen the regular show. And I've also never watched the Disneyland version of Fantasmic! (I think it might have been closed for one of our trips.) Everyone tells me it's better than the WDW version so I'm looking forward to that too.

Looks like we’ll be in the parks the same time. I’m also really excited for Disneyland Forever to come back! Here’s hoping for no wind.
I haven’t seen the original WOC in years so that’s awesome too!
Hopefully they’ll start showing two shows a night over the summer. We always like the second show right up front. Always seems way less crowded to me.
I’ve only seen the DL version of Fantasmic but would definitely recommend it.

Now if they’d just bring back Paint the Night all would be right in the world (or land I guess)!
Hope you have a great trip!

 

[caribbeandream]

Now if they’d just bring back Paint the Night all would be right in the world (or land I guess)!

YES! I loved that parade. Would not mind seeing it again.

 

[NorthernCalMom]

This waiting to see about GE is driving me crazy too!

The good thing: by the time we go we’ll have great information about all possible GE strategies and pitfalls!

 

[Aladora]

Whoops, we dropped to the 3rd page!

So, DH and I have a bit of a running joke about dining planning and Disney trips. We start with just a couple of planned reservations but as we talk more about the trip, we remember other places we want to eat at and what starts out as 2 ADRs typically ends at 5 or 6!

This trip we decided that we absolutely had to do the WoC Dessert Party and Napa Rose chefs counter and that was it. Then we went it for a walk this evening with our son and we started talking.

Now we are looking at:
Dessert Party
Chefs Counter
SH 55 breakfast
Lamplight Lounge
Carthay Circle

Also planned but no ADRs needed:
Plaza Inn fried chicken (yum!)
Corn dog (missed this on our last 3 or 4 trips)
Bengal BBQ (not a must do but always good)

We have managed to take some places off of our list, Blue Bayou and Carnation Cafe for sure. We have done BB a few times and it has ranged from “meh, not bad” to “terrible” so that was an easy miss. DH really loves Carnation but I have been fairly underwhelmed so we can cross that one off as well.

What is on your list of “must do” restaurants?

 

[agamble]

Some changes to our plans. Looks like we'll just be going for 2 days as my husband was not able to secure more days off during the week I planned and school starts for the kids and I shortly after. We have a longer vacation near Sandiego this summer that includes Legoland and zoos, so this is just to get our Disney fix and end the summer with a bang. I'm just happy we found a time to go.

Change our plans to Desert Inn with check in on Thursday, August 8 and checkout on Sunday the 11th. We're planning for Friday at Disneyland and Saturday at DCA. Two day non-hoppers with max pass. Quite a different experience from having DAPs last year. We might do a character meal before heading home.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... I'm planning on staying in Anaheim for about a week and then do 5 days in the parks. But I'm not sure if I should do Disney the start of my vacay (8/13-8/20) or last (8/22-8/29). What would you guys recommend? I haven't been in August before...

... Re: earlier or later in August
Pro for 13-20 is you will likely miss the D23 crowds, con is that many schools still on Summer break.
Pro for 22-29 is the opposite, most school except those that go back after Labour Day, con is that you are going at the same time as the D23 crowds.

To add to this:
Pro for 13-20: earlier in Aug. will have lower AP blockouts and the peak schedule (i.e. longer hours, more staffing, more entertainment, nighttime entertainment every night, etc.), also should have HM running before the NBC refurb
Pro for 22-29: Some schools will have started, HM should be down for the NBC overlay (so if you hate that ride, now's the time to go), Deluxe APs allowed back (if this is your AP level -- yay!), D23 Expo (if you are an Expo attendee -- yay!)
Cons for 22-29: last week should have non-peak schedule (i.e. shorter hours, lower staffing, less entertainment, nighttime entertainment on weekends only, etc.), HM will be down for the overlay (if this is your favorite ride, go earlier), lower AP blockout starts lifting, not all schools back in session

 

[Disneyqueendenmark]

Thanks so much!
I have decided to stay in Anaheim (Kings Inn) 6 nights from 8/13 and then go back for another Disney day at 8/21
So excited!!!

 

[Aladora]

Some changes to our plans. Looks like we'll just be going for 2 days as my husband was not able to secure more days off during the week I planned and school starts for the kids and I shortly after. We have a longer vacation near Sandiego this summer that includes Legoland and zoos, so this is just to get our Disney fix and end the summer with a bang. I'm just happy we found a time to go.

Change our plans to Desert Inn with check in on Thursday, August 8 and checkout on Sunday the 11th. We're planning for Friday at Disneyland and Saturday at DCA. Two day non-hoppers with max pass. Quite a different experience from having DAPs last year. We might do a character meal before heading home.

Sorry the longer trip is not going to work out but at least you managed to fit in some Disney this summer!

Thanks so much!
I have decided to stay in Anaheim (Kings Inn) 6 nights from 8/13 and then go back for another Disney day at 8/21
So excited!!!

Sounds like a great choice but either way you were going to have a great time!

 

[Slickd23]

We will be there from 8/25-30. Definitely concerned about the increased crowds and being able to enjoy SWGE. We have been to DL the last 3 years and my family loves it there. Will most likely stay at one of the Hilton properties by the Toy Story lot.

 

[LoriLovesDisneyland]

I think I've added everyone to the list but please let me know if I have missed you! I suspect that this thread will be getting busier now that the SW:GE opening date has been announced.

Hi, I forgot to check this forum out until now. My family (me, DH, DD19, DD15, & my mom) will be staying at GCH August 14-24. We are celebrating as DD19 graduates HS in June 2019! Looking forward to whatever we can see of SW:GE!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I saw the news today that Mickey's Mix Magic is ending in June and they are bringing back Disneyland Forever. Any thoughts from those of you who are familiar with both? My kids were excited for Mickey's Mix Magic after seeing some of it on YouTube...

As an overall "show," DLF is the superior production, no questions asked. More emotionally connected, more moving, feels more complete as a show. But MMM is fun for the kids and can run with the projections only if the pyrotechnics have to be cancelled. Check out DLF on YouTube -- the music, the pyrotechnic choreography, the whole feel of the show -- I think you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

[stegersaurus]

As an overall "show," DLF is the superior production, no questions asked. More emotionally connected, more moving, feels more complete as a show. But MMM is fun for the kids and can run with the projections only if the pyrotechnics have to be cancelled. Check out DLF on YouTube -- the music, the pyrotechnic choreography, the whole feel of the show -- I think you'll see what I'm talking about.

Cool--I think we'll love it! My boys were excited for MMM because it looked different than anything we've seen at WDW—but they'll be so much to do that is new and different for us that I don't think they'll miss it. I sure would love if they would bring back PTN before August, though!