Backstage Magic Guinea Pigs - DLR and More! Apr 19-27, 2008 - REPORT COMPLETE!! 5/2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Well, I was going to wait til we got our final documents/itinerary, but since they keep pushing that back....
Scott and I are going on the first session of the Adventures By Disney: Backstage Magic tour next month! We're celebrating both our 15th wedding anniversary and Scott's 40th birthday this year, so we wanted to do something really special. We're actually flying out to California the weekend before and spending a couple of days at the parks before our tour begins.
During our "preview weekend", we plan on seeing the new Pixar Play parade, visiting the Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, FINALLY seeing Fantasmic! again (it was 101 on our last trip and too crowded the trip before)and standing in line for however long it takes for the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage!
We'll also visit our favorite only-at-Disneyland attractions such as the Indiana Jones Adventure, Alice in Wonderland, Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, as well as making a trip or two on Space & Big Thunder Mountains and visiting the 999 haunts at Haunted Mansion as well. We have a reservation at the Blue Bayou - I am so looking forward to a Monte Cristo! We'll be staying at the Howard Johnson - a little further down the street than the Tropicana, but hopefully still within walking distance at the end of the day.
Tuesday morning will be an early start, as we'll have to get from the Anaheim area back to LAX in time to turn our rental car back in, then meet the tour folks around noon. I'm very curious as to how this experience is going to work ... we've never done an Adventures by Disney (or any other organized tour) before; considering this being the first session, things could get... interesting.
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3 weeks til our trip and we're still waiting for our travel documents! At least 4 other people have reported getting their goodies -- I have to say I am NOT impressed with Adventures by Disney at this point...
On a more cheerful note, we found a couple of possible activities for our free time in the Hollywood area:
The El Capitan theater is showing The Little Mermaid: 3:00 PM - 5:30 PM - 7:45 PM VIP Balcony = $24/ticket
The Petersen Automotive Museum is running an "Art of Cars" [the Pixar movie] exhibit thru November 2nd, 2008. The museum is located at 6060 Wilshire Blvd.(at Fairfax,) Los Angeles, CA 90036. Admission is $10/adults & $3/children - hours 10a-6m, closed Mondays. Exhibition Information: (323) 930-CARS (2277).
i can't remember, did you book through a TA? ABD gives the option of the TA having things sent to alternate addresses (so my stuff goes to me) but I remember someone saying they were going through a TA
i haven't gotten the bag yet but my mail is all messed up.
Up to this point, we've gotten nothing more than the original folder of paperwork & then a second set of papers to sign when our tour dates got bumped. No box, no tags, no bags.
Things are looking brighter, tho - just got an e-mail from our TA that the our Disneyland & AbD paperwork & goodies finally all arrived & she'll be sending our a nice big box to us later today or first thing tomorrow. Whew!
i guess they were waiting for the backpacks to consolidate the shipping. the backpacks were just sent out as you know. turns out mine was delivered yesterday to the store in the building i live in, but they're closed right now so i have to wait until tomorrow.
ETA: nvm, just checked and they re-opened. i got it. opening the box now. i'll post a pic on my ABD blog later if anyone's interested
We got our box of goodies today - the Disneyland paperwork, the Adventures by Disney paperwork and the AbD bags - which are more a messenger-bag style than a backpack. I'll be posting a photo of the swag in a bit...
We also got a gift card from Dream Come True Vacations - thanks, Liz & Joe!
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We'll be staying at the Howard Johnson - a little further down the street than the Tropicana, but hopefully still within walking distance at the end of the day. 
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