Trip Report Disneyland and D23 Expo 2017 Completed

Hello! Okay, I guess I didn't think of the most creative title but it does the job.

My husband (Brad) and I (Amy) decided last year in July while riding Mickey's Fun Wheel at California Adventure to attend the D23 Expo in 2017. Why? We were looking over at the Convention Center from the top of the wheel and I told him that's where the Expo would be held and how it might be fun to go. He agreed.

When we returned from California I book our hotel rooms and in December 2016 on Christmas Eve I purchased our 3 day tickets (with early bird pricing) to the Expo. Somewhere on some unimportant date I also bought airfare! Ha! We had renewed our premier pass in September, so admission was covered for Disneyland.

Fast forward not to July 2017 and our travel dates were July 12 to July 18, 2017. Hey look at that, we would be there on Disneyland's birthday too! We were hoping that the train and boats would be back in operation (spoiler alert...) they weren't, but Fantasmic did open while we were there.

So here we go!

I'm tagging a few people that have followed my past reports. If I missed you, sorry, but please follow anyway. If you are new, welcome. And if I tagged you and you don't want to read, no problem!

@figmentfan423 @MinnieM123 @Cesar R M @donaldtoo @MySmallWorldof4 @MOXOMUMD @JenniferS @PacNWTigger @Tuvalu @Gabe1 @betty rose @Songbird76 @sheriffwoody @bee @blgauger @BuddyThomas @fractal @93boomer @MouseDreaming @ @Wrangler-Rick @PUSH @Mr Ferret 88 @amjt660 @Minnesota disney fan

 

[Doc Disney]

I can't wait to hear about D23!! I'm so jealous!!! I hope to go to D23 someday Loving your report so far

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I've read your past trip reports & have really enjoyed them! I'm excited for this one. I'm contemplating a trip to Disneyland in the spring(I've never been there) & I'm sure this is going to have me convinced to go!!

Thanks so much! Disneyland is a very special place, as much as I love WDW sometimes Disneyland just feels more like home.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I can't wait to hear about D23!! I'm so jealous!!! I hope to go to D23 someday Loving your report so far

Thanks! Maybe you'll be able to go to the 2019 one.

 

[bee]

And our table was right next to the painted parasol booth, so that was kind of cool to watch the lady painting them work.

We must have sat at that same table earlier this month, or a table very nearby, because we were right by the parasols as well!

By the time we got off the Matterhorn we had 5 minutes to get to our Big Thunder fastpass before it expired. In WDW it would be unthinkable to get from Fantasyland to Big Thunder in under 5 minutes, but we made it with 1 minute to spare walking at a decent rate. Brad didn't think we could make it but I said it would be no problem.

DW and I kept saying to each other, "Can you imagine getting from ___ to ___ in Magic Kingdom this fast?"

A family of 5 entered the Big Thunder fastpass line before us and there were four scan machines (I think) and they stood in front of them all and guess what, they didn't have a fastpass for the attraction but stood there talking to the cm's and didn't seem to understand why they weren't allowed to go any further and just continued to stand firmly in front of the machines. I wanted to shout MOVE, but I didn't and waited patiently, then another cm told us to keep the line moving. I wanted to snap back that I couldn't move through these people, so I just nudged one of the people out of my way (because excuse hadn't worked before).

We experienced a lot of that as well. Sooooo many people were confused and blocking the FP scanners! We eventually had to just shove past several people because they wouldn't get out of the way.

 

[DryerLintFan]

Here, and so excited to hear about D23!!

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Thanks for the tag!! Still have not finished the double dip trip report! Lately feel like I cannot catch up with school having started and kids at the gym 10 hours a week. I will try my hardest to get back on track though.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Here, and so excited to hear about D23!!

Thanks for the tag!! Still have not finished the double dip trip report! Lately feel like I cannot catch up with school having started and kids at the gym 10 hours a week. I will try my hardest to get back on track though.

I'm glad to see you both following along as well!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Now for the important attraction, we had to go to Main Street for that....the Dapper Dans! We love both sets of Dapper Dans equally, although the ones in Disneyland seem to be mic'd up better and are easier to hear. They were also joined by a special person....

This guy was especially entertaining. Brad was taking video, or doing a Facebook live, and he kept hamming it up in front of Brad.

Hey look a special guest is in the crowd, nope it isn't hubs (although he is special). It's Donald Duck!

Donald performed a song with the Dans and that was fun to watch.

After the Dan's we decided to try to get a spot for the Soundsational parade. There were no spots on Main Street, at least not in the shade so we decided to keep heading up along the parade route, but we got distracted by the All-American College Band performing in front of the castle. We love this group, they always have a lot of energy in their shows.

When they were done, we both thought we had no hope of finding any decent spot let alone a spot in the shade. It was okay though because we had seen the parade before and we would be okay with a walk up view. As we rounded the corner by the Matterhorn we saw there was a large space on the bench that stretches along the rock work there and it was kind of near the Alice bathrooms and in the shade. SCORE! So this was my view during the parade, not too shabby!

While we were waiting the Queen of Hearts wandered by.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Here's a couple scenes from Soundsational. This by far is my favorite daytime parade ever from Disney. It has such a fun soundtrack, and I love how the parade starts with the Mickey Mouse Club March (it makes me think of my mom) and Mickey is actually playing the drums too! Our spot was just perfect too, I got some decent shots of the parade and a good one of Rapunzel (my favorite modern Disney princess). I just wish Flynn/Eugene was on the float too. But it seems like whenever I try to get pictures of Rapunzel she moves and my picture turns out blurry.

Ariel (Brad's cartoon girlfriend! I have Flynn Rider so it's only fair.)

Hi Raps!

Tiana gave me a nice pose too.

When the parade finished by us we followed the parade to the theater that houses the show Mickey and the Magical Map. It is a great show and we both were looking forward to seeing it, so we followed the parade and waved at people like we were part of the parade. When we got to the theater we were surprised to see there weren't many people around it, well apparently we can't read the times guide because it doesn't show on Wednesdays! Ugh!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

We headed to Mr. Toad. I guess I was channeling my inner @Tuvalu and doing some sort of pose. I really can't remember why I posed this way!

The line was short for Pinocchio was we did that and then walked through the Red Rose Taverne (Pinocchio's Village Haus restaurant that was rethemed this spring for Beauty and the Beast.) Then meandered down the recently reopening Big Thunder Trail, which is a lifesaver in terms of traffic flow in that park. And rode Big Thunder.

I attempted a picture of the Star Wars construction.

We headed to Tomorrowland to use our Space Mt fast pass, and we picked up a Buzz and a Star Tours one. Well Space was down so let's use the Buzz one since that one had an immediate return time....nope that is down too.

Okay, let's go eat dinner. Luckily even though it was prime dinner time the Plaza wasn't very busy. We were even lucky enough to find a table inside. Brad got the fried chicken. I wasn't feeling fried chicken and I enjoy the pot roast there so I went with that. Brad teased me that I was a traitor for not getting the chicken, but I took a bite out of his chicken and taught him not to tease me. Both are good. As you can see I went for an extra scoop of potatoes instead of veggies. The biscuit there was dry as usual, but we don't usually eat the biscuit anyway.

After dinner we used our Tomorrowland trifecta of fast passes. Hubs said he was doing his Zurg pose, so I guess we both did dorky poses today!

I mentioned before that Brad doesn't really care for Space Mountain and it makes him ill. He said it wasn't too bad this time but he wasn't in a rush to ride it. I was determined not to have my eyes closed on the picture. The resulting picture, I look like an over excited dweeb and Brad looks like he is going to hurl.

 

[Tuvalu]

Another WI Disney fan following along (Metro Milwaukee, here)... I'm interested to see if my bf shows up in any of your D23 pics. He was there and he really enjoyed it!

Keep an eye out for Woody. He's in Milwaukee now.

 

[Tuvalu]

I know I'm late, but I'm here!! (Been a little busy this past week .)

The Storybook boats are a fave of mine too. Such a quintessential DL attraction.

Your Mr. Toad pose CRACKED ME UP!

I could never pass up the fried chicken at the Plaza....so, so good!! (Apparently you really couldn't either, seeing as how you had to have that "spite bite"!)

The DL Space Mountain pic is 1000x better than WDW. And Brad does look like he's going to hurl!

Looking forward to reading more.....

 

[dizfan917]

Keep an eye out for Woody. He's in Milwaukee now.

What is he doing here? Crazy... I'm flying to Birmingham tonight at 6:15p for a family event. Will I see him at the airport possibly?

 

[Tuvalu]

What is he doing here? Crazy... I'm flying to Birmingham tonight at 6:15p for a family event. Will I see him at the airport possibly?

Business with Northwestern Mutual. He flies out tomorrow afternoon.

 

[susan lees]

Sorry I'm so late but enjoying your report. We are planning a west coast trip in 2020 including Disneyland so very interesting for us

 

[MinnieM123]

This is priceless!!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Sorry I'm so late but enjoying your report. We are planning a west coast trip in 2020 including Disneyland so very interesting for us

Welcome aboard!

 

[fractal]

Brad looks like he was in Dapper Dan heaven!

Then Space Mountain

 

[Kiwiduck]

Now for the important attraction, we had to go to Main Street for that....the Dapper Dans! We love both sets of Dapper Dans equally, although the ones in Disneyland seem to be mic'd up better and are easier to hear. They were also joined by a special person....
View attachment 224959


View attachment 224960
View attachment 224962
This guy was especially entertaining. Brad was taking video, or doing a Facebook live, and he kept hamming it up in front of Brad.
View attachment 224963

Hey look a special guest is in the crowd, nope it isn't hubs (although he is special). It's Donald Duck!View attachment 224964

Donald performed a song with the Dans and that was fun to watch.

View attachment 224971

After the Dan's we decided to try to get a spot for the Soundsational parade. There were no spots on Main Street, at least not in the shade so we decided to keep heading up along the parade route, but we got distracted by the All-American College Band performing in front of the castle. We love this group, they always have a lot of energy in their shows.
View attachment 224966

When they were done, we both thought we had no hope of finding any decent spot let alone a spot in the shade. It was okay though because we had seen the parade before and we would be okay with a walk up view. As we rounded the corner by the Matterhorn we saw there was a large space on the bench that stretches along the rock work there and it was kind of near the Alice bathrooms and in the shade. SCORE! So this was my view during the parade, not too shabby!
View attachment 224967

View attachment 224969

While we were waiting the Queen of Hearts wandered by.
View attachment 224970

Donald just hanging out watching the Dapper Dans is the cutest thing ever!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

So the rest of the night we wandered around doing a couple attractions here and there. We ended up watching the fireworks from the area by Rivers of America where Fantasmic is done. I wanted to spend some time in this area because with Fantasmic down it has been a very relaxing area at night and since Fantasmic was due to start again in a few days I wanted to enjoy the quietness of New Orleans Square at night.

We were pleasantly surprised when the water screens used in Fantasmic came on to show projections during Remember Dreams Come True. I didn't get the best pictures during the fireworks but they are good enough to remember the fireworks. Both of us like this area as well as the space by small world for fireworks because it isn't as crowded as the Main Street/Castle area.

After the fireworks we were suddenly super tired, it had been a long exciting day though. So we headed back to the Best Western and enjoyed that short walk. We are always pleased at Disneyland with a short walk from the park to the hotel, it is a big point in Disneyland's favor that we don't have do do a walk to a bus stop, then a bus ride, then walk to the park. Our room was close to the lobby too which made our walk even shorter!