February 2015 - Our Son's First Visit

[AZMermaid]

We are planning on jeans/pants and short sleeve shirts with hoodies for morning and evenings. We live in AZ though. It was 82 last week. Anything below 75/80 is pants weather for us! Plus, I think in the winter, it swings more between high and low. I teach first grade and even on that 82 day, it was pretty cold at morning recess at 10:00! All my kids had their jackets. Well, by jackets I mean hoodies. When we went on the Alaska Disney Cruise I read up and everyone said "Don't buy anything special. Just use what you have for winter." I was like "You don't understand. My kids do not own a coat. They each have 2 hoodies." I found a couple used coats for the trip and that worked well!.

Anyway, if it happens to be really cold.... uh.... we will make do I guess. DH and I went a few years ago in early December and had to buy hats and gloves at the parks we were so cold. The weather is tricky in the winter I think. Like here, 90% of the days are pretty mild but then you will have a week or two of really cold weather mixed in. But, you never know when that will hit between Dec-March!

My daughter is in this really awesome phase where she only wants to wear dresses. It is annoying- she has all these adorable shirts and wants dresses all the time. My son wears whatever I set on his dresser for the day. She only had like 4-5 dresses and those were kind of pricey so I didn't want her wearing them to daycare. So, I went to Goodwill a few times and I have bought her like 4-5 dresses for $2.99 each. It is awesome. Now, I realized you have to be patient because they (at least here) group everything infant together- which is size newborn-3ish. But, I bring it home, wash it, and she is thrilled to have a "new" dress and I don't care if she gets paint all over it! You could do that for summer clothes if you have to. But, if you have some 18 month and some 24 month, I would think you could piece something together.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Our wind chill here was -25 degrees F the other day. So 70 degrees is quite hot for me. When the sun is down it feels cooler for sure though. We'll probably pack a little of everything. Well, probably not long-sleeved tees. Just short-sleeved and some hooded sweatshirts.

We were out shopping today (I'm trying to find new glasses...ugh!) We ended up at Gymboree (children's clothing store) and we found swim trunks for Henry for $3. Woohoo! We also got him a couple pairs of 18 month size shorts for $3 each.

 

[AZMermaid]

Love Gymboree! That is my go to store for my kids (well, until Miss Dressy Pants got picky. She likes twirly dresses and they never have good sales on their dresses). Most of my son's "nicer" clothes are from there.

 

[minneylovesmicky]

Is anyone getting Photopass+? We'll be getting it and I'm looking forward to not dragging my big camera around.

We have got it, got it before all the closures...can i mention that word here??? lol

Not sure now if it will be a waste of money though.

I emailed Disneyland regarding the castle being covered before I phoned them a week ago and just got a reply today.

"Regretfully, the information you have requested has yet to be
determined. You are invited to contact us again in the near future."

I know it's luck of the draw with who you speak to on the phone, but I'm getting annoyed at selected people receiving some sort of 'we're sorry' gesture. I phoned from Australia and that wasn't even enough. I know it's probably some tiny offering but they need to be consistent.

I emailed the other week and got a response along the lines of "sorry to let you know that the castle will be undergoing refurbishment from 19th January to march (can't remember that date), when it does get refurbished, it does get covered in a tarp. It may be half covered or all covered, that will remain to be seen". She was quite apologetic to me

 

[minneylovesmicky]

Did I talk about clothes yet? I can't recall. I have no clue what the weather will be like while we're there. I do know that I get hot easily. Pretty much anything over 68 degrees and I'm a sweaty mess. So I'm guessing I'll wear shorts. If I get cold at night, I'll put a sweatshirt on.

Disneyland weather is bizarre to me. Because the temp can change drastically from afternoon to night...the evening temps seem even cooler than they really are. So when the sun goes down and it drops 15 degrees (or whatever) it seems quite cold.

we are packing a bit of everything, not knowing what the weather will be like, is so hard. Packing for a teenager is even harder. We started to pack yesterday (19 days to go today!!!!)...gave her her list of what to pack, she chucks in a t-shirt, pair of shorts and some socks....seriously for 14 days!!! she said "it is ok, I will wash them, besides I am going clothes shopping over there" yes we are going shopping for clothes...BUT not the second we land....KIDS!!!

 

[minneylovesmicky]

I emailed Disneyland regarding the castle being covered before I phoned them a week ago and just got a reply today.

"Regretfully, the information you have requested has yet to be
determined. You are invited to contact us again in the near future."

I should email and ask if both castle walkways are closed. Pretty sure I know the answer, but maybe I'll get a consolation prize...




On this calendar the Sleeping Beauty Walk through is listed as being open from now right the way through February, is that the walkways you are talking about??

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/attractions/

 

[ClaraOswald]

That link is just taking me to a 'reply' page for this thread.

 

[ClaraOswald]

This calendar lists it closed....(the date in the link is February 4th, just because that is our first day and what I have bookmarked...)

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/calendars/day/2015-02-04/

The woman I spoke to also said it would be closed.

If you go to youtube, you can see what the walkthrough is. I've only been through it once, quite a few years ago.

 

[minneylovesmicky]

That link is just taking me to a 'reply' page for this thread.

Don't know what happened there have changed it now.

I will have a look at youtube, might be the only way i see it...lol

 

[ClaraOswald]

That list makes me really, really nervous. I put in my first date - February 4th. And at the bottom has a "schedule unavailable" list. I am really worried all of those will also be closed. That would be ALL of Toon Town. I will seriously lose it if they do that. They can NOT close TWO entire lands.

 

[AZMermaid]

I should email and ask if both castle walkways are closed. Pretty sure I know the answer, but maybe I'll get a consolation prize...




On this calendar the Sleeping Beauty Walk through is listed as being open from now right the way through February, is that the walkways you are talking about??

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/attractions/

No, I mean the side walkways. There are walkways to the side of the castle. One has a sign that says To Tomorrowland and heads out by the wishing well. The other side says To Frontierland and heads out next to the old stage area (I think this is where Fantasy Faire is now?) If those are closed (and I suspect they are) the only way in and out of Fantasyland is by going around Big Thunder Trail or walking past the Matterhorn and going in by the teacups.

 

[AZMermaid]

That list makes me really, really nervous. I put in my first date - February 4th. And at the bottom has a "schedule unavailable" list. I am really worried all of those will also be closed. That would be ALL of Toon Town. I will seriously lose it if they do that. They can NOT close TWO entire lands.

I am not seeing what you mean? I see schedule unavailable listed for DTD and in the Park Atmosphere section (which I think is stuff like the Dapper Dans and the Miner 49ers). I don't see anything about Toontown.

 

[ClaraOswald]

I am not seeing what you mean? I see schedule unavailable listed for DTD and in the Park Atmosphere section (which I think is stuff like the Dapper Dans and the Miner 49ers). I don't see anything about Toontown.

If you click that attractions link and then select February 4th...it shows a list of attractions with hours, a list of refurbishments, and then a list that says "schedule unavailable."

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/attractions/

The unavailable list starts with Big Thunder Ranch, Captain EO, and goes on and on.

 

[AZMermaid]

Oh I see it now. I know Toontown opens after the rest of the park. I think it's usually an hour- sometimes 90-120 minutes. So hopefully that is why. Like they autofill the stuff that opens with the park and they have to manually enter the other stuff, maybe.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Yeah, I hope so. I know some places close earlier because of fireworks and Fantasmic too.

 

[minneylovesmicky]

No, I mean the side walkways. There are walkways to the side of the castle. One has a sign that says To Tomorrowland and heads out by the wishing well. The other side says To Frontierland and heads out next to the old stage area (I think this is where Fantasy Faire is now?) If those are closed (and I suspect they are) the only way in and out of Fantasyland is by going around Big Thunder Trail or walking past the Matterhorn and going in by the teacups.

gotcha,

 

[ClaraOswald]

Looking for a photo for today's countdown on Instagram and I came across this beauty I took of the view down Main Street in January 2009. Haha!

 

[AZMermaid]

Yikes! Is that from when they were refurbing the trolley tracks? That looks worse than a themed tarp! Did you read this yet? I thought it was pretty informative.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Nope. I'll go check it out.

Yeah...I think that's what they were doing in that photo. I can't remember. You could still see the castle from other angles but I just had to take one like that because it cracked me up. We have a lot of refurb wall photos from that trip. We plan to get many more this trip because we're nerdy like that.

 

[ClaraOswald]

oops. Double post.