Dapper Day Countdown Has Begun!
The count down has begun! With less than 30 days until
takeoff I am excited to let everyone know what we have doing to prepare.
@sarahemm and I have been working on the finer details for our Dapper Day trip
for months including hotel and ticket reservations, Advance Dinner Reservations
(ADRs), disneybounding, and organizing our trip with the Disneyland App. This
will be the last solo Disney trip my hubby and I take for a while (potentially)
and I am determined to get the most out of it. Especially since the last time I
was at Disney California Adventure (DCA) I was in the experiencing
appendicitis! Don’t get appendicitis… trust me.
We will be arriving into Orange County airport on Friday
afternoon. It is a 20-30 minute Uber from the airport to the hotel. Our friends
who will be traveling with their almost 1 year old Mouseketeer are planning to
take the Disneyland Resort Express. This bus service is organized by Coach USA
and reservations can be made online but according to the Disneyland website are
not required. Free for a two way trip for two adults is $70. Our tickets for
the Dapper Day event include Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Our first day will
start in the afternoon after we offload our luggage at the hotel. I’ve never
started a Disney day in the afternoon but it will be exciting to take advantage
of 7 hours at the park since Disneyland Park closes at 11 pm on Friday,
November 1st. DCA will be our first full park day on Saturday.
Rounding out our trip on Sunday will be our last full day in Disneyland Park
complete with Dapper Day costume. The Dapper Day Expo will also be occurring on
November 2nd and 3rd at the Disneyland Hotel and will be
a fun opportunity to hear retro music and add vintage fashions to my closet.
Our accommodations for this trip include a three night stay
the Disneyland Hotel. The hotel was originally opened in October 1955 in what
was an Anaheim orange grove. At the initial opening it only had seven rooms
ready for guests! By its grand opening in August 1956 it had over 200 guest
rooms, an Olympic sized swimming pool, a cocktail lounge, several restaurants,
and a string of shops. It has been continuously expanded over the years with a
monorail station, more rooms, and recreation. In 2009, a major renovation of
the hotel’s three towers began and was completed in 2012. The renovation of the
Never Land Pool was completed in 2012 with an additional pool, two water slides
designed to represent monorail trains, a replica of original Disneyland park
signage, and six new cabanas. Currently, the Disneyland Hotel rooms have
magical touches with fireworks in the headboard. Its full service restaurant,
Steakhouse 55, offers an Old Hollywood theme with an additional lounge for
drinks or less formal meals. Specialty dishes such as the 24 layer chocolate
cake and classic steakhouse fare is great for special nights out and late night
snacks. One of the locales I am looking forward to is having a tropical drink
at Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar. Similar to Trader Sam’s in the Magic
Kingdom, it has more magical touches and blessings from the Polynesian gods to
look out for! Keep reading for more of the Disneyland hotel spots on our itinerary.
Our itinerary might be a bit bursting with food stops for
the blog, but we are excited to sample as much of what is on offer at the
Disneyland Parks during the fall season! Our first day is a half day in
Disneyland Park with a focus on Star War’s Galaxy’s Edge. My hubby wants to eat
his way through Black Spire Outpost instead of a structured lunch and dinner
after our arrival. We are also planning to hitch a ride on the Millennium
Falcon for Smuggler’s Run as the line dies down late in the day after shopping,
“scrap metal” building at Savi’s Workshop, and enjoy the
entertainment at Oga’s Cantina. Still waiting to make reservations for the
cantina as we get closer to the 14 day window! And as the sun goes down the
views of Black Spire Outpost become even more spectacular and are ideal for
photos. Check out this post for more information on how I’ve planned out trip!
Dapper Day is all about fashion – from whatever era you
choose – with most folks representing the 50s/60s when Disneyland opened its
gates. Disneybounding means picking a Disney character or theme to represent in
your fashion. Lots of people go to the parks in Disneybounding street clothes.
Adding a character spin to your Dapper Day outfit adds a great element for
photos and creating a vintage style from a classic or current character. My
hubby and I are still sticking with our Donald and Daisy Duck outfits with a
planned “day” and “evening” versions for added pizzaz for our Disneybounds on
Dapper Day. Elements of our outfits have mostly come new from shops like
H&M, Macy’s, Esty, and Amazon. Head over to my Disneybounding post for the
full details on our outfits and some of the other exciting things I’ve found
for our trip!
Our tickets are loaded into the Disneyland App. Our Advanced
Dining Reservations are listed on the app to keep up organized. Any information
regarding park hours, wait times, and park activities (including characters) is
only a few taps away. I also have the Disney Play app loaded up to my phone so
that if we do end up waiting in line we can check out the trivia and fun games –
some of which are only accessible through the app while in the park! Along with
my phone, camera stand, and our reusable straws I will be carrying a
rechargeable, portable battery to ensure I am charged all day long! No one
wants to lose out on perfect pictures or a FastPass with a dead phone.
What is your countdown for your next Disney trip? Leave a
comment below!
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