I'm going to Disneyland!

[Kevy Baby]

Would Mom be interested in riding in the Lilly Belle? Normally I would try to make this a surprise, but it sounds you are going to carefully plan with no room for surprises.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

Would Mom be interested in riding in the Lilly Belle? Normally I would try to make this a surprise, but it sounds you are going to carefully plan with no room for surprises.

Nonsense! I love surprises! As long as it's between 2:30 and 3:00pm. If that works Yea! If not, no problem, Mr. Lincoln will be happy to visit with us for awhile.

We are planning to knock out Fantasyland during Early entry, hop to DCA at 9:00am for opening (or close to) Carsland, General DCA'ing (Toy Story, Soarin, etc...), Addadin at 11:55am, Lunch at Carthay 1:20pm, and then hop back to DL.

Katiesue and Maddie have also signed on as helpers so this trip is going to be ridiculous!

[Kevy Baby]

I was just reading Al's 7/31 update and was rather surprised by this:

What actually has happened in the last six weeks is something far more dramatic and far more impactful to Disneyland Park and the entire resort itself than anyone could have imagined. Instead of DCA increasing attendance by 5,000 to 8,000 and Disneyland staying flat at its breaking-point numbers, DCA has seen its daily attendance figures skyrocket by 14,000 to 23,000 compared to the same dates last summer. Even more dramatically, next door at Disneyland the attendance has declined by 7,000 to 15,000 per day compared to last summer, and the reduction of those crowds have made a huge impact on the overall feel at the 57 year old park with its much older facilities and much narrower walkways. There are now several days per week, often on Saturdays, when DCA gets higher daily attendance numbers than Disneyland.

[innerSpaceman]

"Hop back to Disneyland" being the key to those attendance numbers Kevy quoted from Al. As I understand it, they are all based on which park a guest enters first - and it's no surprise far more people head to DCA first this summer. That's NOT to say Disneyland stays far less crowded than DCA. Everyone wanders back and forth.

Heck, with nothing but the tiny Esplanade between them, let's stop even pretending they are two different parks.

[Moonliner]

Humm...

We arrive LAX at ~6:30pm on Friday. Which should put us at the resort around 8:00-8:30p. Enough time for a late dinner and perhaps the fireworks.

Is the current fireworks show worth the effort? (We'll have multid-ay passes anyways....)

[innerSpaceman]

Yes, current fireworks is "Magical" and wonderful and beautiful. Definitely worth seeing.

[Kevy Baby]

My $0.02? Magical is good but not worth going out of the way for. It's a Disneyland fireworks show, so it's better than anything else out there. However, since this is a bit of a reminiscence trip for your Mom, she may want to see it.

One thought may be to get premium seating for the first Fantasmic! show, watch the fireworks from there (not the best spot, but helps to get all the shows in), then head over to DCA for WoC (where your helpers long ago secured Fastpasses for a good viewing area for you).

If F! isn't a priority, catch Magical from the special LoT fireworks viewing zone (in front of Main Street Photo), then head over to WoC.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

My $0.02? Magical is good but not worth going out of the way for. It's a Disneyland fireworks show, so it's better than anything else out there. However, since this is a bit of a reminiscence trip for your Mom, she may want to see it.

One thought may be to get premium seating for the first Fantasmic! show, watch the fireworks from there (not the best spot, but helps to get all the shows in), then head over to DCA for WoC (where your helpers long ago secured Fastpasses for a good viewing area for you).

If F! isn't a priority, catch Magical from the special LoT fireworks viewing zone (in front of Main Street Photo), then head over to WoC.

I checked with Mother Moonie and she is up for a little Disney magic Friday night before we hit the park early (7:30am'ish) on Saturday.

We land at LAX at 6:30pm where a driver will be waiting to wisk us to the resort via the NA approved route that should get us to the park by 8:00pm.

We already have Fantasmic seating for Saturday, so we will save that for then.

I'll see if I can make reservations at the Plaza Inn for 8:20pm'ish which should get us out just in time to park ourselves in front of Main Street Photo for the 9:30pm fireworks. I think we'll skip WOC for a little extra sleep to better prepare us for Saturday.

[Alex]

My $0.02. Take her to Knott's and see if she notices. The Folger's Crystals Instant Coffee of theme park visits.

[innerSpaceman]

One word about the NA-approved route that might help.

Both the north/south 710 and the more easterly north/south 605 head down a short distance from the east/west 105 to the east/west 91 (which gets you to the all-important 5 freeway) .... and the 605 is indeed a shorter distance by a quarter mile or so. BUT - traveling on the 105 once you pass the 710 heading for the 605, the freeway goes downhill and travels below street level. This has a weird effect on traffic - which tends to slow down drastically because four idiots have a problem going a down a tiny hill without hitting their brakes.

This causes a multiplier effect and generally the entire 2 miles below street level to the 605 is a clvsterfu<k. It's generally better if you're in the carpool lane - BUT the 105 ENDS at the 605 and there's no carpool lane transition to the 605 south - so you'd have to join the general population of crawlers in the regular lanes.


So I recommend taking the 710 south from the 105 to the 91. Just a piece of advice from someone who knows the perils of rush hour traffic from the LAX area to Disneyland. If I'm feeling insane enough, I will also brave that drive to see you and mom for a while, even though I'm heading to the Bay Area early the next morning.