Articles | Disneyland | Walt Disney World
Results 1 to 12 of 12

Thread: Pammer ~ April 24-28, 2018 ~ Offsite

Threaded View

Previous Post Previous Post   Next Post Next Post
  1. #1
    Self-Proclaimed Disney Queen! Pammer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Sacramento, CA

    Pammer ~ April 24-28, 2018 ~ Offsite

    Travel dates: April 24 28, 2018
    Travel method: Southwest
    Resort: Anaheim Desert Inn (Off-site)
    Accommodations: Standard
    Ages Represented in Group: Adult
    Disney Resort Experience Represented in Group: Veteran
    Comments: A spring trip to the Resort!
    Cast of characters:
    • Pam, 57: trip planner/writer/self-proclaimed Disney Queen!
    • James, 58: Pam's hubby who likes Disneyland but is not as fanatic as Pam!


    The Planning

    While planning trips to the Disneyland Resort with James this year, I came up with April 24-28 and then another one in mid-November. Pixar Fest will be in full swing, and we will have multiple chances to see both the new fireworks show and the Paint the Night Parade again! Fantasmic! is also playing on our last night; James has not seen the updated show yet, so we will try to see that together as well.

    Lodging: I booked a C-1 Parlor Family Suite in January at the Anaheim Desert Inn on Harbor Blvd. (a 5-minute walk from the parks); our sleeping habits are so different nowadays that this arrangement works very well for us (James could stay up as late as he needed to and I wouldn't disturb him when I left early for the parks each morning!), although it is a lot more expensive. 

    Transportation: I booked airfare on Southwest Airlines from Sacramento to Orange County for both of us using points at the equivalent cost of $69 each leg ; the total TSA fees & Early-Bird option for all flights came to $82.40 (without points the total cash cost would have been $336).

    I also made reservations with SuperShuttle for travel to/from our motel in Anaheim.

    Tickets: I had activated a Deluxe Annual Pass with MaxPass on a recent trip to the resort in February; we have another voucher to activate for James when we go this trip.

    Priority Seating: I only made two dining reservations for our visit; the rest will be counter-service, although we will probably try to eat at Rainforest Cafe one last time before it closes to make room for the new hotel:

    • April 26: Blue Bayou @ 11:30am
    • April 27: Fantasmic! On-the-Go Package @ 5pm (1st show)


    Disney Visa Rewards Card: I transferred $66.68 out of our rewards balance on our Disney Visa Rewards Card (DVRC) to help cover our Disney park meals and any park incidentals! 


    The Itinerary

    The pre-planning was done very quickly, and here was the result:

    • April 24: Fly down in the afternoon; check-in to the Desert Inn; Disneyland/DCA
    • April 25: Disneyland/DCA; Rainforest Cafe
    • April 26: Disneyland/DCA; lunch at Blue Bayou
    • April 27: Disneyland/DCA; Fantasmic! picnic package
    • April 28: Check-out of the Desert Inn; fly home in the afternoon



    Sunday, April 22, 2018 (2 days before departure)

    Actual: Because of a problem I had with the Anaheim Desert Inn cancelling my reservation once last year because the deposit didn't get authorized, I now call 2 days before to make sure it does! I confirmed with Juliana that all was in order and then spent the day doing laundry & packing.


    Monday, April 23, 2018 (1 day before departure)

    Actual: I worked all day and went to Arby's at lunch to pick up some roast beef sandwiches, one of which I would eat tomorrow at the airport. I then printed off our Early-Bird boarding passes at 3:25pm (A46 & A47) and later stopped at Subway on my way home to get James his veggie foot-long sandwich for tomorrow.

    We spent the evening getting ready (last-minute house cleaning & packing), and I was in bed around 11:30pm; James couldn't fall asleep until after 3am!


    Tuesday, April 24, 2018 (72o)
    Plan: Fly down in the afternoon; check-in to the Desert Inn; Disneyland/DCA

    Actual: I got up around 7:15am, fed & medicated our kitty Sidney, and then worked 3 hours until James got up around 10:15am. We finished getting ready and left around 12:45pm for the airport; we had light traffic and then James scored a great end spot in the economy lot across from the 41H bus stop!

    We caught the next bus to the terminal and I checked our big bag in (35#); the lines weren't too bad at TSA and we both were through the Pre-TSA queue by 1:50pm. I refilled our reusable water bottle while James ate his Subway sandwich (I had ended up eating my Arby's sandwich at home around noon).

    We headed up to our Gate B15 around 2:25pm; it was very crowded so we sat at B17 to wait for our flight. James walked over to check out the Brookstone store while I sat with the bags, listened to Disney music on my MP3 player, and ate some goldfish crackers.

    We boarded and left on-time (FULL flight); I sat in a window exit row and James sat across the aisle in the window seat with no seat in front of him. They served peanuts and I had my usual Diet Dr. Pepper and James had his usual ginger ale.

    We arrived 5mins early, collected our big suitcase, and walked down to catch our SuperShuttle van; we left around 5:25pm with 3 other ladies and had VERY heavy commute traffic to Anaheim. They were dropped off first and then we were dropped off at our motel, where we checked in and got room #211.

    We dropped our stuff off and left around 6:30pm to walk down to The Pizza Press for dinner; I got their cheese pizza, James got a veggie pizza without cheese, and we shared a Coke Zero Sugar ($24, after they honored an old 10% coupon I had from a couple of years ago). Their pizza is SO YUMMY!!!

    We took our leftovers back to our room and left for Disneyland around 7:10pm, where we first stopped at the ticket booths so James could activate his Deluxe Annual Passport and add MaxPass ($75); we then headed over to DL.

    Note: I had originally planned for us to go into Disney California Adventure tonight, as I wanted to see the Paint the Night Parade again; however, I had learned from a co-worker that there was 8000 Future Farmers of America students there for a private party until 1am (her daughter was one of the students), so I had wisely changed our destination to DL for tonight!

    I was surprised that James' previous picture came up when he went through the turnstile, as mine hadn't when I activated my pass two months ago & I had to have a new picture taken; this made me concerned that his pass had the same expiration date as mine so I checked online and confirmed his date was a year from today ~ whew!

    I also saw that his new pass was automatically linked in the app (NICE!), so we walked over to Peter Pan's Flight for a return time (8:02pm at 7:30pm) and then I booked a MaxPass for Haunted Mansion for 7:35pm! We walked over there and rode around 7:45pm and then walked back to ride Peter about a half hour later.

    The park was very busy (darn Pixar Fest!) so our MP options were very limited and regular queues were quite long; we decided to go to Jungle Cruise, where we boarded through the exit and rode the Suwanee Lady with Skipper Jen around 8:35pm.

    We were tired so we decided to leave at this time; on the way out, we noticed long lines at the popcorn cart in Town Square (we later learned that a new AP Little Green Alien popcorn bucket had been released today; we debated buying one, but felt that it might break on the way home! They were out-of-stock two days later).

    James walked over to The Cove Market to buy two gallons of water, while I got in a long line at Cold Stone Creamery; James joined me and we finally had two Love It Skinny Vanilla milkshakes after 25mins!

    We finally made it to our room around 9:30pm, enjoyed our treats, & unpacked; I also iced my knee, showered, said good night to James when he went to his room, and I was in bed around 11:30pm.

    Steps: 14,879


    Wednesday, April 25, 2018 (74o)
    Plan: Disneyland/DCA; Rainforest Cafe

    Actual: I had taken a Tylenol PM last night and slept very well, albeit with a ton of dreams! I got up around 7:20am, had a protein shake, got ready, and left the room around 8:25am. I stopped at the breakfast room to make two slices of buttered toast, and ate them on my way over to the parks.

    There were long lines for bag check, so I went to the far left; I jumped in the extra line when they opened one and our line split. The CM was VERY thorough, but I was later waved to bypass the metal detectors, so I headed to the short lines to get into DL.

    I was through just before 9am and rented a small locker ($7) to store my outer shirt and extra battery charger; the welcome message was playing as I exited the building. I made a MP for Space Mountain (8:50am) and headed over to get a return time for Peter (9:34am), then I rode Mr. Toad's Wild Ride with a 2min wait (Mr. Toad).

    I walked around to Alice in Wonderland, but it already had a long queue, so I went back to ride Snow White's Scary Adventures (15mins; Sleepy). Before CM Lorie dispatched my vehicle, she handed me a current Disabilities Guidebook and told me to go to the exits for all Fantasyland attractions (except Peter & Alice, where I can just get return times) due to my knee brace; I thanked her and enjoyed my ride until it stopped, three feet from the exit!

    I was evacuated by the CM and I went over to ride Peter since it was time for that, and then I got a return time for Alice (10am @ 9:40am). I walked over to Pinocchio's Daring Journey, but it was down like Snow White still was, so I walked over to ride Space with my MP at 9:50am. There were several people in front of me, so I didn't get into a vehicle for 25mins; however, I had a wonderful time on my favorite DL attraction!



    While waiting for Space, I made a MP for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (10:10am @ 10am) and then after I finished riding Space, I was able to book a MP for Star Tours (11:15am @ 10:25am) ~ I truly love the flexibility of MP!

    I rode Alice around 10:30am, and then walked to the exit of BTMR to ride with my MP; later I was feeling hungry and needed to kill some time before my next MP so I went to the Red Wagon for a corn dog, chips, & large Diet Coke ($12.37, after the 10% AP discount).

    I sat down on a bench across from First Aid to eat and watch the CMs go to & from backstage; there was also a mama duck with her ducklings walking around ~ so cute!



    I made a MP for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (11:40am @ 11:15am) and then went to ride ST with my MP around 11:30am (Stormtroopers; Jakku; Maz; Crait/Batuu). When I came out I checked my phone and saw that James had called a few minutes before; I called him back and told him that I was about to ride Buzz with my MP. He was ready to leave and wanted to go to the Rainforest Cafe to eat lunch! Darn it ~ I never know when he is going to be rested enough to join me; if I had, I wouldn't have eaten less than an hour ago!

    I offered James my Buzz MP since it was his favorite DL attraction, but he told me to ride and then take the Disneyland Monorail over to meet him at the restaurant. I got in a long MP return line to ride Buzz, and there was no score on my picture at the end.

    James went through security and then in & out of the turnstiles at DL to activate his MP for the day, before heading over to the RFC; he called me as I was exiting Buzz to touch base, and then I rode Monorail Orange (walk-on) over to Downtown Disney to meet up. Along the way, I made a MP for Guardians of the Galaxy ~ Mission: BREAKOUT! (4:55pm @ 12:10pm).

    I checked us in with my Landry's Select Club card and we were sent immediately upstairs; I took the elevator & met James at the top of the stairs, where we were seated a couple of tables away. I ordered the chicken tenders appetizer for my entree, along with a Diet Coke, and James ordered the Cobb Salad and iced tea; everything tasted great, but we had trouble using our gift cards when we went to pay ($48.13, after the 10% AP discount) ~ it was a problem with their system and they had to call to determine the cards' value and then redeem them in full, but not give change (which meant that I also had to leave some cash)! It was a pain ~

    While we were waiting for all of that to get worked out, I made a MP for Soarin' Around the World (5:35pm @ 1:45pm). 

    We later walked through the retail store; we were interested in getting some "Downtown Disney"-specific merchandise before the location closed. They had some BOGO offers and items on clearance; we ended up with 5 shirts and again had problem using a gift card. I ended up having to use a credit card and they gave me a free DD-specific hurricane glass for our trouble.

    We rode Monorail Orange back to DL around 2:30pm; the Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple show was in progress so we stopped to watch for a few minutes from the back side of the stage. We then went to see Darth Vader at the Chase Disney Visa Star Wars meet & greet inside Star Wars Launch Bay around 3pm.



    When we came out, I looked to the right and sure enough, Boba Fett was there doing a meet & greet too!



    I then stopped to get my stuff organized and there was a PhotoPass photographer nearby with a couple of light sabers, so we stopped to take a few pictures.





    I booked a MP for Buzz (3:50pm @ 3:20pm) and we walked over to get a return time for Alice (4:03pm @ 3:40pm). James then went to put our RFC purchases into the locker and later met back up with me to ride Buzz; however, it was down, which gave us a MP for any other attraction at DL! We decided to ride ST with it and got the same scenes I had this morning (Stormtroopers; Jakku; Maz; Crait/Batuu)!

    While waiting for ST, I booked another MP for Buzz (4:35pm @ 3:55pm), even though it was still down; after ST, we went to ride Alice and then sat down on a bench across from the Matterhorn Bobsleds entrance to take a short break while waiting for our next MP.

    Buzz was still down at 4:35pm, so we went to use our MP at the Indiana Jones Adventure; there was a malfunction with our vehicle (James said the headlights stayed on the whole ride, but I never noticed!) and they had us exit the vehicle and then put us on the next one so we got to ride twice!

    We left DL and went over to DCA to ride GotG with our MP; that took 30mins and James ended up leaving at the last minute because he didn't feel up to being dropped multiple times after just getting shook up riding Indy twice in a row (he should have taken a ginger pill, but didn't think he would need it at the time). I sat in the front row and thoroughly loved my favorite DCA attraction (Free Ride)!





    We met back up and went over to Smokejumpers Grill to get dinner around 6:10pm; I ordered a hamburger & fries, James ordered a chicken sandwich & fries, and we shared a large Diet Coke ($27.12, after the 10% AP discount). It was a LONG wait for our food to come out, and later orders came out before ours! Not sure what happened there, but we had to eat very quickly so we could make it to Soarin' before our MP expired at 6:35pm!

    After Soarin', we walked over to Ghirardelli for a free chocolate sample (milk chocolate caramel) and then to Boudin Bakery Tour for a free piece of sourdough bread (YUM!).

    We next went over to the bathrooms in Cars Land & I sat on a bench to rest my barking dogs (feet!) while James went to check out the single rider line wait for Radiator Springs Racers; it was about 30mins, so we decided to go see the Pixar Pier preview at the Blue Sky Cellar, only to find that it was already closed for the day!

    We were plenty tired, so we walked through Elias & Co., and then James went over to DL to empty out our locker; I sat down to rest for a few minutes on Buena Vista Street and then found a bench across from Esplanade Stroller to wait for James.

    We met back up and walked over to Harbor; I then went to the room while James went to McDonald's for BOGO Big Macs for him and a hot fudge sundae for me ($6.87). He got back just after 8pm and we watched Survivor while eating (he saved one of the Big Macs for later); however, the sundae didn't sit well with me for some reason & I ended up getting sick later on! 

    I iced my knee, showered, said good night to James, & went to bed around 11:30pm.

    Steps: 20,859


    ...to be continued
    Last edited by Pammer; 05-28-2018 at 11:42 AM.
    Pam
    DL trips: too many to remember actual dates, but they began in the 60s!
    WDW trips: 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2021



Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •