SoCal ABD Backstage Magic Oct 24th 2021

No advice, but dh and I are booking the 2/14/21 trip. I would also like to hear anything anyone can share.
 
This is an awesome trip - my only concern about booking anything at this time is COVID related. I would wait until there have been some trips and read the trip reports.

That said - it is awesome. Depending on where you are traveling from, you might want to get there (Hollywood) a day early. There is a ton of stuff to do in LA depending on your preference. We live in FL and spend a few days in Vegas before going to LA. Definitely try to get to the Grove. The farmers market there is awesome.

Save up for shopping at the Disney Studios and MOG. At MOG, each person will get a 10% off one item coupon. The quality and selection was great when we went.

Pay for the one post night. As part of the ABD you will get a 4 day park hopper pass. The last day is just a breakfast - we were on our own by 830am. I think we also got one fast pass the last day too. Since we did so many rides during the ABD we were able to take our time and really enjoy the parks on our own.

You may want to go and read the last few years of trip reports - they are an awesome source to set expectations.

My son and I are going on this ABD again this OCT (I am expecting it to be cancelled).
 
@atlmgm-One of my friends and I were thinking about doing this trip in a year or two after there is vaccine and life returns to a new normal. What is "MOG?" It is an abbreviation that I am not familiar with. We were planning on extending our trip for a night or two. Do you know if we can stay in the same room if we extend and book a room in the same hotel or if we would have to change rooms and/or hotels? When you are exploring the park on your own do you get fastpasses for specific rides or are they multi-experience fastpasses (you get to pick which ride to use them on.)
 


@atlmgm-One of my friends and I were thinking about doing this trip in a year or two after there is vaccine and life returns to a new normal. What is "MOG?" It is an abbreviation that I am not familiar with. We were planning on extending our trip for a night or two. Do you know if we can stay in the same room if we extend and book a room in the same hotel or if we would have to change rooms and/or hotels? When you are exploring the park on your own do you get fastpasses for specific rides or are they multi-experience fastpasses (you get to pick which ride to use them on.)
MOG is Mickey's of Glendale - its a store to buy all kinds of special Disney items that are not available to the public.

If you book pre or post nights you stay in the same room. We did one pre night in LA at the Lowes Hotel. As a side note, when you book pre and post nights thru an agent or directly thru Disney you will still get to keep the free transportation to/from the airport/hotel.

Fastpasses - you get one the first day (Tuesday) but you only get to DL about 4pm, on Wed and Thurs you will get 5 Fps per person each day , and on Friday you will get one FP per person. Thurs was the California Adventure day and we all got one extra FP specifically for Guardians at a specific time. All other Fps could be used on any ride (in either park) that accepts Fps and you could ride the same ride with all Fps if you wanted. That said I doubt you will be able to use them on Star Wars - I expect them to treat SW like they treated Guardians.

Hope this helps - let me know if you have more questions. This is a really awesome trip.
 
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@atlmgm-One of my friends and I were thinking about doing this trip in a year or two after there is vaccine and life returns to a new normal. What is "MOG?" It is an abbreviation that I am not familiar with. We were planning on extending our trip for a night or two. Do you know if we can stay in the same room if we extend and book a room in the same hotel or if we would have to change rooms and/or hotels? When you are exploring the park on your own do you get fastpasses for specific rides or are they multi-experience fastpasses (you get to pick which ride to use them on.)
If you book the extension yourself, it's a "maybe" on being able to stay in the same room. Same thing with post-trip transportation to the airport. The room thing is up to the hotel, and the policy on the transportation changes all the time and from trip to trip. You'd have to check with ABD for your specific situation. If you book the extension through ABD, you'll get to stay in the same room and get the transportation from there to the airport for sure.

Sayhello
 
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I agree with pp about saving up for Mickey's of Glendale. I spent a ton and wish i bought more.

I would also recommend doing pre/post nights...especially post nights. Having that wonderful pool at the Grand Californian to unwind from a busy trip is fantastic. If you wanted to do more park time you could add that on (in addition to checkout day which your ticket from ABD will include) but honestly, I enjoyed just having access to the pool and the ability to have one more great meal at either the hotel or in DTD.

You will have some on your own time in Hollywood. I would do some research on where you may want to eat, shop, or visit. There is an In and Out Burger semi-close by if that is something you are interested in.

Regardless of any of the above...you will have a fantastic time. I booked this same trip again for 2021.
 
I just booked myself for October 15-18th 2021!

I am going by myself, as my family is not THAT interested so it would worth spending money on them :) And it's my birthday on October 15th, so it's going to be my birthday present to myself from myself, and from my family too. So they don't have to figure out the presents, I already took care of that: big relief for my husband - except maybe the price :))))

It's so far away, I know. But I still am happy and excited, especially with all those travel disappointments of this year. Something to look forward to!

Thank you to everybody who gave advice! It is really appreciated!
 
If you book the extension yourself, it's a "maybe" on being able to stay in the same room. Same thing with post-trip transportation to the airport. The room thing is up to the hotel, and the policy on the transportation changes all the time and from trip to trip. You'd have to check with ABD for your specific situation. If you book the extension through ABD, you'll get to stay in the same room and get the transportation from there to the airport for sure.

Sayhello
The ABD Rep told me that if I want additional days, I would have to book them by myself, but I would like to let ABD know - so they can provide the transportation for me.

I most likely will do pre-stay in Paradise Pier - not in Grand Californian. I have some memories which make Paradise Pier kind of special for me, and I just love the view of the parks from there. And ABD Rep told me I can stay in the other hotel - just let ABD know the details.
 
Weare booking our first ABD trip for the Backstage Magic Oct 24th, 2021. Anyone have any tips, good advice any help for first timers?
Cool thread. I just looked at this adventure and thought it’d be a really fun one to do someday. Seeing the history of Disney would be amazing. Gonna follow along and soak up the advice and stories from others.
 
Does anyone have thoughts or experiences of doing this with a young child (5, 5.5 years old)? We were originally planning to to DL in May 2021 but now 2022 due to Covid and the border situation (we are Cdn). We were planning on doing an ABD in Europe in 2025 (it will be our 15 year anv., and we got married at WDW), but after reading about the California one, I kinda want to do it when we go to DL.

If I hear back that it is not of interest to a 5 year old we will just do DL and area on our own!
 
We have done four ABDs with the first when our kids were 11 and 9. I know some on the board have done it, but I think 5 would be a tough age for any of the ABDs due to the fast pace and fairly fixed schedule. The DL ABD in particular would be tough with that age as the child would likely want to run off and experience rides and the parks right away rather than doing the backstage tours with narration that happen before you experience the attraction on this tour. When we did the Backstage Magic Trip my kids were 13 and 11 and had been to DL many, many times. They are also very much "Disney Freaks" and interested in the history. I think the kids bonded the most on this trip than any of our ABDs as they all shared the deep love of Disney History. I highly recommend this trip, but personally I would not do it with a kiddo that age. I would do a splurge trip to Disneyland and stay at the Grand Calif. Hotel (our favorite and so convenient for coming back for a rest) and use some of the money you would have spent on the ABD to hire a private guide for the day - not the same as the ABD experience but it will give you a deluxe experience and you can tailor the day to your and your kids interests.
 
We have done four ABDs with the first when our kids were 11 and 9. I know some on the board have done it, but I think 5 would be a tough age for any of the ABDs due to the fast pace and fairly fixed schedule. The DL ABD in particular would be tough with that age as the child would likely want to run off and experience rides and the parks right away rather than doing the backstage tours with narration that happen before you experience the attraction on this tour. When we did the Backstage Magic Trip my kids were 13 and 11 and had been to DL many, many times. They are also very much "Disney Freaks" and interested in the history. I think the kids bonded the most on this trip than any of our ABDs as they all shared the deep love of Disney History. I highly recommend this trip, but personally I would not do it with a kiddo that age. I would do a splurge trip to Disneyland and stay at the Grand Calif. Hotel (our favorite and so convenient for coming back for a rest) and use some of the money you would have spent on the ABD to hire a private guide for the day - not the same as the ABD experience but it will give you a deluxe experience and you can tailor the day to your and your kids interests.

Thank you so much for this - it is really helpful. I emailed ABD and they basically said the same for the Cali trip (which does make me wonder why they don't raise the age....). We would totally have a blast in California and DL on our own!

What age do you think is good generally for ABD's? We have travelled quite a bit on our own in Europe, but never with our child [in Europe], and like the idea of something kid friendly.

She is actually a great traveller (she forced us to wait in looonnngg lines for her 3rd bday when in WDW this January - so despite being a stubborn and energetic child she has more patience than us!).
 
Does anyone have thoughts or experiences of doing this with a young child (5, 5.5 years old)?
IMHO, this wouldn't be a good fit for the youngsters. We've done it ~5 times and, while there are certainly things they will find interesting, on the whole its aimed at a bit older crowd. Yes, there is much, especially DL/DCA that will appeal to them, but even then there is lots of back-stage technical stuff that won't be of interest.
 
Thank you so much for this - it is really helpful. I emailed ABD and they basically said the same for the Cali trip (which does make me wonder why they don't raise the age....). We would totally have a blast in California and DL on our own!

What age do you think is good generally for ABD's? We have travelled quite a bit on our own in Europe, but never with our child [in Europe], and like the idea of something kid friendly.

She is actually a great traveller (she forced us to wait in looonnngg lines for her 3rd bday when in WDW this January - so despite being a stubborn and energetic child she has more patience than us!).

Hi there sorry for my delayed response - we were hosting family that had to evacuate from the fires here in California this weekend. They were able to go home with everything safe and sound yesterday.

I know there are several different opinions on the best age for first ABD here on the boards, and much of it really depends on the travel style of your kids. For us, I really wanted to try an ABD, but we waited until they were 11 and 9. They were experienced travelers and used to long flights, eating in restaurants etc but the best fit of vacations for us were beach vacations, cruises and the Parks. All are types of vacations that allowed us to have flexibility and retreat for down time when a melt down was coming on or sleep in day was needed. ABD trips are generally very tiring with early mornings and sometimes late nights. There are many times when you are out with the group going from point A to B so even if you wanted to, you have to stay with the group for the day. There are also a lot of group dynamics and it can be harder for some kids at the younger age to go with the flow. Even at 9 my daughter and one other 9 year old were the youngest on our first trip in Europe and I felt it was pushing it for her - however the other 9 year old was already an ABD veteran and was a real pro.

All that being said, once you reach that right age for your child, ABDs are a great way to travel as a family. My kids love them - they love the guides, they love making new friends, they love that everything is planned out and there is no standing around saying what's next. Of our four trips London/Paris and Alaska had some kids on the younger spectrum (Alaska also had a lot of teens).

Happy to share my thoughts further - we are huge fans (my son has picked an ABD river cruise for his high school graduation celebration trip, if we get to travel to Europe next summer)
 

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