Pixelmania West - Christmas 2023

I'm in the middle of shooting the women's rowing championships for Washington College and the NCAA, so I am a bit booked at the moment.

We should probably start the discussion for when in June would be a good time to have that Zoom meeting.

I know Southwest opens up their flights at the beginning of June. So afterwards might be good for the meeting when people have more information about their flights and dates of arrival and departure.

Chime in with the dates that you are available. I'm thinking that Friday night might be good but it depends on the group consensus. What's say he Pixelmania West attendees?
 
Joanie Eddis-Koch said:
I'm in the middle of shooting the women's rowing championships for Washington College and the NCAA, so I am a bit booked at the moment.

We should probably start the discussion for when in June would be a good time to have that Zoom meeting.

I know Southwest opens up their flights at the beginning of June. So afterwards might be good for the meeting when people have more information about their flights and dates of arrival and departure.

Chime in with the dates that you are available. I'm thinking that Friday night might be good but it depends on the group consensus. What's say he Pixelmania West attendees?
Click to expand...

Any Friday works for me.
I will probably fly Southwest or Delta bc of my reward miles. After @gary mentioned American Airlines, I looked and flights are a little cheaper plus a closer airport(1 hr vs 2 hrs).

I called DL and was told the MagicBand+ can be used at both(Sorry, I believe @ddindy mentioned this). Just have to make sure to unlink from WDW and then link to DL
 
I am available June 9, 16 and 30. I should have my flight reservation on June 8, assuming Southwest doesn't change their schedule release date again.

At this point, these people are pretty definite unless something changes:
  • Dennis
  • Joanie
  • gary
  • Nancy
@PolynesianMedic also expressed interest but has not committed yet.
 
i am available pretty much all fridays, i like the idea of 6/9 since most are going to be looking at southwest on 6/8 and while i have my flights booked i am still at the mercy of american airlines, them and delta have changed every flight i have taken with them at least once in the last two years, come to think of it southwest has changed a few in that time, but they are just annoying little changes of 15 or 20 minutes, delta and american go for the real changes of 2-4 hours
 
@Joanie Eddis-Koch @Nancy AK Southwest schedules are live. Book now!

I arrive at SNA at 4:05 pm Sunday and leave at 8:20 am Saturday.

Be sure to check flights to Long Beach (LGB) as well. Most of the flights that I see are the same price as the cheaper ones to SNA, and returning flights look cheaper.
 
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I arrive at SNA (John Wayne) on Tuesday Dec 5th at 10:10 am after dancing through Denver for a connecting flight.

My Brother lives in Escondido so I will be visiting with him and touring LA and regions south until I check into the Candy Cane on Saturday 12/9. Depending on my brother's family schedule I may be adding days at the 'Cane or using my Wyndham rewards point to book other motels until the Candy Cane check in.

I check out of the Candy Cane Inn on Sunday Dec 17th and my flight back to neverland leaves from John Wayne (SNA) at 9:05 am

I used my Frequent Flyer Miles and paid for Wanna Get Away Plus in case of flight conniptions and bought the early bird so I'm not sitting next to the toilet.
 
you'll be fine on 12/10, but you are going to be up and waiting in the cane lobby somewhere between 3 and 4 am probably on friday 12/15
 
i will be late if at all for tonights zoom meeting, i have a firemans funeral at 7 pm. for anyone coming into sna on sunday 12/10 and looking to share a shuttle, i arrive american flight 2459 from jfk at 12:17 pm, and on saturday 12/16 i depart american flight 2626 at 8:47, so i am figuring the shuttle pickup 6:15 to 6:30?? pretty sure a couple of us can shuttle share on 12/16, if michael makes it he is going to book to arrive close to dennis and depart around same, he didn't want to have to be on the road to bwi at 4 am on sunday, and the bwi connects at austin, with 4:05 arrival, so if he does go he will probably be on the same aus to sna as dennis
 
Michael changed his mind? That's great news. Did another railroad charter get cancelled? ;)

Be aware that ABC Shuttle pick up everyone who has reservations for the same time window, so you may or may not be riding with strangers. The number of riders shouldn't affect the price. At least, that's how it worked pre-COVID.

I also heard about a new EVE Shuttle between SNA and the Disneyland area, which is somehow affiliated with the Anaheim transit system. It costs $15 each way and they drop you off at a bus stop. Fortunately, there's a stop on Katella just around the corner from Candy Cane. That's all the information that I've found.

Do we want to postpone the Zoom meeting until 8 pm to accomodate gary?
 
@gary , @ddindy @Joanie Eddis-Koch. I talked to my TA and she thinks she should be able to make our ADR for December for us. She will check it out and let me know, in the past it was just a phone call to do it.
I rebooked my trip and I’m staying till Saturday morning instead of coming home Friday. I still get into Detroit at 515, But my flight out of LGB isn’t until 815, I change planes in St Louis instead of Denver.
 
I haven’t changed my mind. I’m still a maybe. Waiting to see how next year fills out vacation wise. It’s looking like I’m going to have 4 week long trips next year, plus Reading, Thunder and Conneaut. Gotta have enough carryover to cover all of those plus at least one air to air attempt.
 
photolist-TkFgmW-pn2M1V-2myuE28-6RhehC-2o1bS22-c3Pnjf-frLNpT-2hjqyae-sCfWVf-sDcjnL-fs27v5-anJNcG-mCs3nx-fKfFLJ-fJXY46-odpXB2-fJYmpz-fJYeB4-fKfZXG-wAo7cU-fJXSNH-C9xNvq-soVEa9-2mfoLA3-fs27wu-sFwadT-6YEKqn-BYLNwu-wZyfN1-sF9c8D-xapXXX-aqtjwF-2k7tQcm-33i3-syhWyk-vwT1eU-8xhHAK-2o182Cx-95wcJX-6Rdbrp-LPQKf7-iVUiB1-pcMfQu-66V7nZ-LHJdwo-xQztGx-6Y7y6M-7pLZSU-tFQ4Z9-doTqpY

this is a link to a photo on flickr of the hatbox ghost. the photographer is a george landis, i couldn't remember his name on friday, he has some great disneyland photos, including some from a trip in december 2022, and he posts the exif data so we can se the times he was shooting the parades.
 
mSummers said:
I haven’t changed my mind. I’m still a maybe. Waiting to see how next year fills out vacation wise. It’s looking like I’m going to have 4 week long trips next year, plus Reading, Thunder and Conneaut. Gotta have enough carryover to cover all of those plus at least one air to air attempt.
Click to expand...
Not that it will make it any easier, but @donsullivan, and separately @Jeff Krause are possibly interested in attending parts of Pixelmania West. So we have additional maybes.

Does anyone think it's feasible to torture @Tim about this trip. If true we will have to hide the shovels from Karen.
~Joanie
 
The following is a summary of our Pixelmania West Zoom meeting held on Friday June 10th. The author of this post makes no guarantee of its accuracy or usefulness as plans will change or have to be determined at a later date.

Generally, the weather is daytime highs in the upper 60's and nights are cool in the 40's or 50's. That being said, we will pack accordingly only to experience the heat and humidity of hell followed by hell freezing over.

Dennis recommends the following:
  • Take ABC shuttle from John Wayne Airport (Orange County/Santa Ana) if you are using that airport. http://www.abcshuttleatjohnwayne.com/abc-shuttle-reservations/
  • If you are renting a car it's cheaper to rent from car rental places that are not located at the airport. For example there is an Alamo rental car place ( 711 west Katella Ave, Anaheim Ca ) right around the corner from the Candy Cane Inn (the sort of official hotel of Pixelmania West). https://www.candycaneinn.net/

  • August 17th is the ticket sale date if you are buying tickets from Disney. Other sellers may have tickets earlier. If you buy tickets from Disney you have to pick a park of the day & Park Hopping starts at 11am. We are buying and using Genie for this trip. We will have to download and use Disneyland's version of My Disney Experience.

  • Our Park days are Monday Dec. 11th to Friday Dec. 15th.
EDITED 6/17 Gary advised that the park of the day for reservations purposes is Monday, Wednesday and Friday we are starting in Disneyland and Tuesday and Thursday We are starting at California adventure. Keep in mind park hopping starts at 11:00 a.m.
We will also probably stack genie reservations to use in the afternoon and evening when the parks get crowded with locals.

  • The Candy Cane Inn has a free breakfast each morning, as well as a pool (Open in December) and a hot tub (also open) in December. Take ~THAT~ Grand Californian!

We started talking about Dining reservations/locations
Our 60 day Dining reservation window opens
October 11th. for Trader Sams. 7pm Joanie makes ressie 9am
Oct 12 reserve Carthay Circle, 1:00pm Dennis makes ressie
Oct 16th Jazz Kitchen coastal grill and patio 6pm Dennis makes ressie

This dining schedule is approximate and is subject to change:
  • Sunday we are hoping to get a reservation for about 7pm at Trader Sam's at the Disneyland Hotel
  • Monday we want to dine at Carthay Circle at 1:00pm
  • Tuesday Xmas Tour 4:30?? with Prefered View of Xmas Parade at 6:30 (Dennis does Xmas tour ressie for all)
  • Wednesday day Xmas parade at 4:30, World of color dessert party 8:45 (Joanie prepays for the group)
  • Thursday Hungry Bear, Bengal BBQ counter service
We talked about dining at Cafe Orleans and Bengal BBQ but I forget when how we were thinking of fitting this in. We are not interested in the Riverbell terrace dining package for Fantasmic because they make you sit up front and you get wet.
I found information about Fantasmic Dining packages. here are some reviews and recommendations:
https://mickeyvisit.com/dining-review-blue-bayou-fantasmic/
https://mickeyvisit.com/hungry-bear-fantasmic-review/


Of course we are just spitballing the Dining "schedule" because as soon as Disney releases more information about offerings during the time period that we are going we will have to rethink what works.

  • The Xmas parade usually runs at 3:30 and 6:00pm.
  • We will have to figure out if there will be fireworks on the schedule
We should probably have another Zoom meeting at the middle of/end of August.
~Joanie
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/dining/disney-california-adventure/lamplight-lounge/
 
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