Southern California (& Disneyland): Backstage Magic Meets Thread

We are on the trip before you. We are planning to stay in Santa Monica for a few days before and head to Universal Orlando on one of those days. I am excited to hear about everyone's pretrip plans.

I saw that and was hoping that my husband would pick your trip. I think he wanted to pick the one closest to Labor Day without actually being away for Labor Day.
 
We've booked the Sept 22, 2019 trip. Anyone else? This is our first ABD. It is also our first "real" trip to Disneyland. I went as a child and my DH and I went for one night many years ago. I'm really looking forward to this trip and the beginning of many more!
 
I just booked June 9, 2019, this will be our second backstage magic abd... I plan to go to universal afterwards.
 


Post Days and Pre Days
I was able to go ahead and book my post day for our August 2019 Adventure at the Grand Californian. It was pricey but not horrible and I am worried about prices going up (and room availability going down) if I wait.

For our pre days, we were thinking of spending 4 days in Santa Monica either at Shutters or the Fairmont Miramar. Both are pricey. Is that too long a stay in Santa Monica? My son loves the beach but I worry that Santa Monica beach may not be a great place to swim. Would it be better to stay in LA and head to Santa Monica for the day? Or, is Santa Monica an ideal home base?

Any advice appreciated (it's been long time since I have been in LA).
 
Santa Monica is convenient to LAX (it's pretty much a straight shot up PCH). Cute little beach town, great shopping, lots of cool little restaurants. great walking beach, cool pier. I don't know about swimming; I haven't swum in that area since I was a kid.

Whether Santa Monica is an ideal base or not depends on where you plan to go from there. It's not what I'd call centrally located, but there are a lot of freeways you can get on from there.

Sayhello
 


Anybody booked for 6/17-6/22. Excited for our first one and we just booked the Pixar Fest Premier night to end our trip.
 
:)
Where are you travelling from? We are heading over from the UK a few days before - getting very excited now
See you in Hollywood in a few days
We are travelling from Northeast Ohio. I hope your trip over goes well—see you soon!
 
Looks like there is a pretty good chance that Galaxy's Edge will be open for those of us going Summer 2019! I am super excited (and glad I already booked my post day). Crowds should be crazy! I am glad we will be getting some special treatment!
 
Looks like there is a pretty good chance that Galaxy's Edge will be open for those of us going Summer 2019! I am super excited (and glad I already booked my post day). Crowds should be crazy! I am glad we will be getting some special treatment!

^^^This! I told my husband about the opening timeframe and that we have a good possibility of being there when it's open. We also booked a post-day (with ABD) and thought it was expensive but might pay for itself in the long run. We haven't stayed at the Grand Californian since 2001.

I went to LA with a friend (also in 2001), and we stayed in Santa Monica. We took a day trip into Hollywood to do the touristy stuff, went to Venice Beach, and took in an Angels vs Yankees game. We did not stay near the beach so it was less expensive, but it did not take us long to get anywhere (except to the baseball game). Our pre-days are going to be based on whether the Dodgers or the Padres are in town since I promised him a baseball game (but just one). If the Dodgers are in town, I'd like to get our pre-stay at the Loews. If they aren't and the Padres will be, our game plan is to fly into San Diego, stay there for the game, and then head to LA. I've already told him that if we going directly to LA that I do not want to rent a car. I think he would love to go to the Griffith Observatory (which I've done) as well.
 
Looks like there is a pretty good chance that Galaxy's Edge will be open for those of us going Summer 2019! I am super excited (and glad I already booked my post day). Crowds should be crazy! I am glad we will be getting some special treatment!

Awesome timing! I just booked an end of October 2019 Disney Cruise. We’re going to book two pre-nights and HOPE we are there for the late fall opening at WDW. I’m already trying to figure out when to do BSM again to see Galaxy’s Edge at DL. I’d love to hear from those of you who get to experience Galaxy’s Edge and how much time you get there with BSM! Have fun
 
I am interested in the 5 night Disneyland and Southern California ABD trip with my husband and daughter, who will be 11. I am a WDW fanatic, but this will be my first trip to Disneyland. Not knowing when I might get to go back, I am going to want to do "everything" there is to do in both parks while I'm there. With this itinerary (two mornings in the parks with the group, two afternoons on your own, and two evenings on your own), is it possible to experience every attraction? If not, will one more day of park hopping be enough to finish everything off? Also, does this trip include a visit to Walt's apartment? It is mentioned specifically in the trip at a glance for the short escape, but not for this one. Thanks in advance!
 
I am interested in the 5 night Disneyland and Southern California ABD trip with my husband and daughter, who will be 11. I am a WDW fanatic, but this will be my first trip to Disneyland. Not knowing when I might get to go back, I am going to want to do "everything" there is to do in both parks while I'm there. With this itinerary (two mornings in the parks with the group, two afternoons on your own, and two evenings on your own), is it possible to experience every attraction? If not, will one more day of park hopping be enough to finish everything off? Also, does this trip include a visit to Walt's apartment? It is mentioned specifically in the trip at a glance for the short escape, but not for this one. Thanks in advance!
I find it hard to believe the short escape would include a trip to Walt’s apartment and the longer version wouldn’t. IIRC, at one point it wasn’t included in the original trip because of ADA concerns, and at another point it wasn’t on the itinerary because ABD didn’t want to kind of guarantee it by putting it in writing. My guess is they copied and pasted old itinerary information that didn’t include Walt’s apartment. God knows they keep using the same stale pictures, like the one with the female guide in a yellow shirt at Jim Henson studios.
 
I find it hard to believe the short escape would include a trip to Walt’s apartment and the longer version wouldn’t. IIRC, at one point it wasn’t included in the original trip because of ADA concerns, and at another point it wasn’t on the itinerary because ABD didn’t want to kind of guarantee it by putting it in writing. My guess is they copied and pasted old itinerary information that didn’t include Walt’s apartment. God knows they keep using the same stale pictures, like the one with the female guide in a yellow shirt at Jim Henson studios.

@Miss SD We are doing the full BSM trio in July. Walt's apartment is listed as an activity on day 4.
 
They're doing Walt's Apartment now as an advertised part of the Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour, so I can't imagine they'd include it on that tour and not on the BSM tour!

Sayhello
 
I am interested in the 5 night Disneyland and Southern California ABD trip with my husband and daughter, who will be 11. I am a WDW fanatic, but this will be my first trip to Disneyland. Not knowing when I might get to go back, I am going to want to do "everything" there is to do in both parks while I'm there. With this itinerary (two mornings in the parks with the group, two afternoons on your own, and two evenings on your own), is it possible to experience every attraction? If not, will one more day of park hopping be enough to finish everything off? Also, does this trip include a visit to Walt's apartment? It is mentioned specifically in the trip at a glance for the short escape, but not for this one. Thanks in advance!

We just did this ABD in February. We added an additional night in Disneyland and it was well worth it. The normal departure day of the ABD includes a full day of park admission, so it's worth it to stay. You can choose to fly home the next day, or take a late flight like we did and spent a few more hours at the parks with our own tickets. (DD is a CM so we did use her guest passes) But even if you didn't want to purchase admission, you can fully enjoy that last day of the ABD and shop and lunch throughout Downtown Disney before your departure.

Walt's Apartment was included on our trip and it was the highlight for me. So touching to be there. A special treat for a true Disney fan!
 

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