DATE CHANGE! We have decided to postpone Pixelmania West 2025 from March to May, 2025. Room rates are cheaper and crowds are lower in May. The second edition of Pixelmania at Walt's original park is now scheduled for May 12-16, 2025. There are no holidays or special celebrations during that time of year, so we'll get to see The Haunted Mansion and it's a small world in their original, non-holiday mode. We recommend purchasing a 5-day park hopper ticket with Lightning Lane Multi Pass (formerly known as Genie+) when they become available in September. The current price is $776. (You can purchase tickets from Disney for May 12-16 starting November, 11, 2024.) If you'd like to save a few dollars on your park ticket, Undercover Tourist frequently offers adult tickets at child prices which saves you $50. Most of us are once again staying at the Candy Cane Inn, a short 15-minute walk from the park entrance. Rooms start at $350/night. If you are a member of AAA or AARP, use promo code DIS for a $10/night discount. (You must present your membership card at check-in.) You are of course free to stay at any of the many hotels nearby, most of which are Disney Good Neighbor hotels. You can even pay the big bucks or use DVC points to stay at one of the three Disney hotels. The closest airport is John Wayne Orange County Airport (SNA). In non-rush hour traffic, it's usually a 15-20 minute trip to Disneyland. The next closest airport is Long Beach Airport, 30 minutes from Disneyland. If you fly Southwest, you can make reservations now. Mark your calendar and watch this space for further announcements.
I'm in. I'll be staying at the Candy Pain Inn. My arrival date will be Saturday May 10th and I'll probably run around California with my brother after Pixelmania West and hit the National Parks.
Reminder: Southwest reservations for March can be made starting Thursday, August 22 at approximately 7 am. Book early for the best price!
Anaheim Regional Transit has a new shuttle service between Orange County Airport and the Disneyland area called EVE (Everyone Ventures Everywhere). They use professional bus drivers and 9-passenger electric vans. You have to load your own luggage but the fare can't be beat: $30 round trip for adults and $15 for seniors. I keep looking for more information but there doesn't seem to be much out there.
You can now purchase Disneyland tickets and make your park reservations for March 17-21. We recommend making park reservations for Disneyland on Mon/Wed/Fri and DCA on Tue/Thu. As we get closer to the 60-day window in January, we may change park reservations depending on planned activities.
Don't wait too long to make your airline reservations. For example, many of the Southwest flights that I have looked at don't have any of the cheapest fares available. I hope they're just holding them back for later. (I'm glad I made my reservations in August.) Is anyone besides Joanie and me going to Disneyland in March?
Disney finally increased their ticket prices. Undercover Tourist still has tickets but you might want to act fast. This is truly the last call before you can no longer take advantage of any cheaper pricing before the price increase tickets.
while i am profoundly disappointed to not be able to attend pixelmania west, it is for a good cause. i will be doing a lerro photo charter in september 2025 in skagway alaska, on the white pass and yukon railroad, under steam. i have been in skagway on a cruise port call, and on this railroad under diesel, and the scenery is beyond compare. alaska is literally a fresh shot in each of four directions. only place i have ever been that i got a keeper rotating 90 degrees around a circle each shot. michael will also be attending. and that accounts for much of my 2025 disposable income.
I’ll have to wait to decide until the reenactment events get scheduled for the spring to determine if I can attend the new dates. I plan on attending East Broad Top Goes to War this year and it was the weekend before Memorial Day this year. I’ll also have to see if I can get Walt’s Barn to open a week early since we won’t be there on the 18th when it’s opening May and I won’t have the vacation days to stay until Monday.
Disneyland's 70th anniversary celebration starts on the final day of the rescheduled trip, Friday, May 16. The good news is we'll be able to see the return of the glorious "Paint the Night" parade. The bad news is that the place will be jammed with bloggers on top of the usual Friday night crowd, so we'll have to think about getting our viewing spots around noon. With luck, they'll run two parades as they did before; maybe the crowds will drop a little for the second one.
