***May 2018 Check-In Thread***

[Darkhaund]

We are arriving TOMORROW OMG... cant belive it went by SOOO fast
I just called the paradise pier hotel.. and was setting up some welcome gift surprises for my wife and son.

And the converstation led to me finding out that at DCA, for Grad night.. they kick you out of the park... at 9 or so...

I WILL STILL BE ABLE to see PAINT THE NIGHT right.. i dont have to buy any silly grad night ticket.

OMG plz tell me that isn ot the case

 

[Kender]

We are arriving TOMORROW OMG... cant belive it went by SOOO fast
I just called the paradise pier hotel.. and was setting up some welcome gift surprises for my wife and son.

And the converstation led to me finding out that at DCA, for Grad night.. they kick you out of the park... at 9 or so...

I WILL STILL BE ABLE to see PAINT THE NIGHT right.. i dont have to buy any silly grad night ticket.

OMG plz tell me that isn ot the case

Yes, you'll be able to see it.

You're not even immediately kicked out. The park is still open for shopping at the front. It's much like a standard closing except rides are still running for the grad party and they check wristbands after 8:59pm to access the lines. WOC often runs after closing too even without grad nights.

You wouldn't be able to buy a grad night ticket anyways as a regular guest.

 

[Darkhaund]

Ok... thaks for the explanation..so it seems that every day of next week we will get kicked out at 9pm... as long as i get to see PtN at least twice.. i am good

 

[Kender]

Ok... thaks for the explanation..so it seems that every day of next week we will get kicked out at 9pm... as long as i get to see PtN at least twice.. i am good

Yeah, the 9pm closing time isn't that unusual to be honest even on nights with no grad night (and not every day next week is a grad night that it closes at 9pm). Don't sweat it at all. You should be able to catch PTN no issue*. It's a lot easier to find a spot to watch it in DCA than it was when it was in DL.

*Exception is if it rains. If the ground is wet, the parade can't run (learned this around the time of the actual 60th birthday when it kept getting cancelled despite the rain having stopped). This past weekend when I watched it for the first time since it left DL, the CMs were a little nervous because it started misting slightly for a few minutes. I was chatting with one about the operational issues since I've recently gotten into working with LEDs and EL wire with costumes and I was curious about the weight issues I'd heard rumors about.

Good rule of thumb is don't wait for the entertainment that's important. Always try to watch it the first night you can. If you save something towards the end of a trip, you might miss out.

 

[Darkhaund]

Thanks for the input... the weather looks ok for next week

 

[Just Peachy]

or winnie pooh 17 times hehehe

My 19 year old DD still will do Pooh multiple times while the rest of the family does Splash Mountain. Been her favourite ride since she was 7. We will be there in Tuesday and I expect it will be the same thing!

 

[superme80]

We leave in less than 12 hours! I have gone a little nuts at Target lately! So excited!

 

[BlueFairy]

Here now . . . it's been cold for 3 days and there's no end in sight. Bring your sweatshirts!!!

Busy DL day today. Taking a break and then headed back for PtN and hopefully fireworks!!

 

[wallawallakids]

Here now . . . it's been cold for 3 days and there's no end in sight. Bring your sweatshirts!!!

Busy DL day today. Taking a break and then headed back for PtN and hopefully fireworks!!

Thank you for the update! Hope you are having fun. I noticed the forecast is looking a bit chilly. Thanks for the reminder to pack extra layers though! We will be arriving Wednesday and can't wait. Enjoy PTN!!

 

[Darkhaund]

Crazy cold...
but PAINT THE NIGHT WAS BEEEE YYYY OOO NNN DDD amazing

btw. DCA was super crowded on a crayz monday

 

[BlueFairy]

Yes!! Lots of CMs in coats and characters in their winter best. I wore 2 layers all day.

Love PTN!!!!

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... PAINT THE NIGHT WAS BEEEE YYYY OOO NNN DDD amazing...

Where did you find your viewing spots? How much time did you have to wait for them? Was it worth it without a dining package? I know you were worried about that. So glad you liked PTN!

 

[Pamela M]

Crazy cold...
but PAINT THE NIGHT WAS BEEEE YYYY OOO NNN DDD amazing

btw. DCA was super crowded on a crayz monday

I'm convinced that weekdays are busier than weekends. It seems Disney always has a special event or special event tickets for the week days. When I was there the beginning of May it was the last week for special firefighter tickets so the Monday was packed. I thought the weekend was manageable - Friday seemed the worse to me and that was a grad night.

 

[blakefamily]

We will be arriving on Sunday and leaving Wednesday. Plan is to do DLR on Sunday and Tuesday and DCA on Tuesday Currently have a reservation for F! RBT Sunday @ 530 and then a BB F! on Tuesday @ 4:50pm. Going to be cancelling one and leaning towards keeping Blue Bayou as I've heard great things about it. It will be me and my daughter (11yrs) Have never seen fantasmic so we are very excited. Thinking Fireworks from main street sunday night and then F! on tuesday. Any reason we should go with RBT on Sunday instead ? Want to be sure i'm not missing something in my planning SUPER EXCITED for next week Weather forecast is looking great

 

[Lilsia]

We will be arriving on Sunday and leaving Wednesday. Plan is to do DLR on Sunday and Tuesday and DCA on Tuesday Currently have a reservation for F! RBT Sunday @ 530 and then a BB F! on Tuesday @ 4:50pm. Going to be cancelling one and leaning towards keeping Blue Bayou as I've heard great things about it. It will be me and my daughter (11yrs) Have never seen fantasmic so we are very excited. Thinking Fireworks from main street sunday night and then F! on tuesday. Any reason we should go with RBT on Sunday instead ? Want to be sure i'm not missing something in my planning SUPER EXCITED for next week Weather forecast is looking great

We arrive on Sat, leaving Tuesday morning. We have Sonoma Terrace Paint the night reception booked for Sunday and River Belle Terrace Fantasmic seating on Monday. Super excited to go to Disneyland. I have been a couple of times but it has been years and my daughter went once when she was 4 so does not remember much.

 

[AndreAggie]

One week from today we'll be in the parks! We'll be there Tuesday through Friday or Saturday. We have 3 day park hoppers (bought CityPass tickets) and we will add on a fourth day for sure. Just not sure if we'll add on the last day. We fly out that afternoon, but out of SNA. So in theory, we could go to the park(s) that morning with our extra hour. Just not sure if we'll want to take it easy and sleep in that morning or hit the parks one more time. Leaning towards going once more on Saturday since it's so inexpensive to add on one more day. We have a character breakfast booked for Thursday morning at 10:00. That will give us time to go hard in the parks that morning, take a break and eat a very late breakfast, then we can either go back to the room or continue on. We're staying at the Grand Californian so going back to the room will be easy peasy. I can't wait!!

 

[Darkhaund]

Where did you find your viewing spots? How much time did you have to wait for them? Was it worth it without a dining package? I know you were worried about that. So glad you liked PTN!

Hello.
I got a spot on 1st row hehehe, on the side walk.. just across Award Weiners, (the restroom were behind us) and it was a very good spot. We were there like 1 hour before and were ok.... i stood there saving the spot, with my kids and the wife went shoping (NOT RECOMMENDED BTW.. to let them shop alone lol). The place filled up quickly... one thing i did notice was that right about the time the parade was about to start, they made ALL the people move that were sitting in Award Weiners... iMO it was a shame, since some people had been there for quite a while... CMs should have let them know....

We will go see PtN tomorrow again... i will think the same spot will do.

BTW.... THE MSEP was amazing.. but Ptn IS NOW MY FAVORITE WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW AND MORE WOW

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... We will go see PtN tomorrow again... i will think the same spot will do.

BTW.... THE MSEP was amazing.. but Ptn IS NOW MY FAVORITE WOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW AND MORE WOW

So glad that everything worked out for you and your family! And finding good spots near the restrooms is always a plus, especially when waiting with little ones. Have a great time seeing PTN tomorrow night! It really is a great parade!

 

[MonocularVision]

Where did you find your viewing spots? How much time did you have to wait for them? Was it worth it without a dining package? I know you were worried about that. So glad you liked PTN!

On Sunday night we showed up with about 30 minutes to go and got up front across from the corn dog place, right in front of the DCV stand.

 

[DL_Forever]

Just returned last night from our Adult Only trip 5/18-5/22. Friday was the best day as far as crowds were concerned and Monday was THE WORST! There were Grad Nites on Friday and Saturday of our trip and I didn't feel that impacted by it. We did take advantage of EMH to DL on Saturday, and got a lot done even though we had a hiccup with our MaxPass. We were scanned in at the gate, but when I went to make our first MaxPass after the mad dash to Peter Pan, it said we hadn't entered the park that day. Was told by a CM to go to City Hall to have it fixed. We decided to ride a few rides first as we did not want to waste our EMH at City Hall. The CM outside of City Hall told us it would be faster just to go to one of the CM's at the gate and have them rescan our tickets. Was pretty easily fixed.

We had 3 ADR's for our trip - Splitsville 5/18, Carthay Circle 5/19, and Napa Rose Chef's Table 5/20. I was not very impressed by Splittsville, food and atmosphere were meh. I don't think this will be something we try again. Carthay Circle was amazing! When we arrived I asked if we could sit outside over Buena Vista Street and they accommodated us. We did not do the PTN package, but we took our time eating, and as the place was clearing out we asked our waiter if we could order a bottle of wine and watch the parade. He was more than willing to let us do so. We had a great view from the balcony and once the parade was over the fireworks started shortly after. The music from the firework show was piped into the balcony. AMAZING. We also splurged on the Chef's Table at Napa Rose as this is not something we would ever do with our kids! It was an amazing experience, the food was great, the chef was so nice, just a really great time.

Overall a great trip. Was fun to have an Adult Only trip with my DH, but there were certainly times I missed having the kids there.