The D23 Ultimate Fan Event is next week and we are BEYOND excited to be going for the first time! This will also be our first time in Disneyland and California Adventure. I thought this week I would fill you in on our itinerary and what you can expect from us here at Dancing to Disney as far as live streams, posts and live stories throughout the event. We don’t have all the details just yet and of course you never know what will happen once we are there but we are trying to plan ahead as much as possible. Of course the master plan is simply to do it all but there are so many things to do and see we had to narrow it down a little to be more realistic. So enjoy our plan and stay tuned for how it really goes! Haha!
Wednesday, August 7th
This is our travel day! We land in California at around noon and plan to get checked into the hotel and relax a little before heading to Disneyland. We are staying at the Grand Californian which we are super stoked about and want to take some time to really walk around and see the resort. Once we have checked that out we will be heading into Disneyland for the evening to catch a few rides and see the fireworks show. Other than posting on the social media and maybe one live on Instagram, I will probably keep it low key this day just to enjoy the moment of being here for the first time and watching my kids enjoy it all too!
Thursday, August 8th
It’s D23 Day in Disneyland for the first time ever! We will have early entry into Disneyland and they are passing out special Mickey Ear Hats for the first ever D23 Day!! We hope to get a virtual queue for the Haunted Mansion Holiday since it has opened early and finish up any other rides we didn’t do the night before. We will probably get the Lightning Lane Multi Pass for this day just to make sure we can get it all in since this is our only full day in the parks. We are prioritizing rides and attractions that we do not have here in Walt Disney World, if we have time we will add some of our favorites in but other than Haunted Mansion and Pirates we don’t plan to ride anything we could ride at home. Later in the day we plan to hop to Disney’s California Adventure and get started over there on our list of must do’s! We will stay to watch their nighttime show as well. I will be posting throughout the day to show all the fun D23 Day things since this is the first time that is happening and will go live to show a few things as well. There will also be a LATE blog post recapping the first ever D23 Day. With the time difference and all the business of the day it will be really late! Haha!
Friday, August 9th
This is the first day of the D23 Ultimate Fan Event! We start out at the Anaheim Convention Center early in the morning and plan to pack in as much as possible. We will start to find out this Friday if we got any advance reservations for the panels we requested. Fingers crossed we get some so it makes things a little easier. There are panels about everything on this day! From Phineas and Ferb to 30 years of Toy Story to Muppets with Miss Piggy and everything in between! On top of the show floor offerings, special performances on different stages, giveaways and more! I have a feeling my head is going to be spinning. I plan to try and go live for any panels we are allowed to do so and will be posting throughout the day. That night at the Honda Center will be the Disney Entertainment Showcase. This according to Disney is a “star studded showcase featuring exclusive looks at the movies, series and stage shows you love and a glimpse into what you can look forward to.” They go on to say we will get a look at upcoming projects, surprise announcements and exclusive new content coming! I am so excited for this panel and you can watch it live as well on D23’s YouTube channel!
Saturday, August 10th
This day is also jam packed with all the things we want to do! The Mousequerade costume contest is first thing in the morning and I cannot wait to see people’s incredible costumes, there will definitely be some posts about this!! Funny enough though, our main priority this day is everything related to Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Our youngest is obsessed with all things Percy Jackson and loves the Disney+ series. There is a panel with the cast and a photo op with them so reservation or not we will be waiting in line for this so he gets to see them, we are celebrating his birthday while we are there too so his wish is our command I suppose! Haha! At the Honda Center that night is probably the showcase I am most excited for, the Disney Experiences Showcase. Disney says this is “an immersive celebration of Disney Experiences around the world. Accompanied by a special lineup of musical numbers, surprise appearances and more.” This showcase is hosted by Josh D’Amaro and the description says we can expect updates on new and highly anticipated projects across Disney Experiences. I am hoping for Magic Kingdom park expansion news, Animal Kingdom park expansion news and maybe even an announcement of a 5th park in WDW?! I have high hoped for some concrete announcements and will share them all! You can also watch this showcase at home on D23’s YouTube Channel.
Sunday, August 11th
This is a shorter day where we hope to really explore the show floor more than be in panels. With the exception of Donalds 90th Quaktacular….that is a must do! I plan to try and go live on the show floor to give you all a look at how it is at the D23 Ultimate Fan Event when you’re not in panels and all the cool things being shown and offered here. That night at the Honda Center is the Disney Legends Ceremony and my head might really explode when I realize I am in the same room with Harrison Ford! Unreal! He is one of my all time favorite actors who plays some of my most favorite characters. There are tons of other amazing Legends being inducted as well including Jamie Lee Curtis, Angela Basset, James Cameron and Miley Cyrus. I read yesterday that Miley Cyrus will be singing Best of Both Worlds from Hannah Montana at the ceremony……wonder if she will be blonde?! No matter what this is going to be an epic night I will not soon forget and is our last event for the Ultimate Fan Event. You can watch at home on D23’s YouTube Chanel!
Monday, August 12th
Once my head has come back together from seeing Harrison Ford in real life and I get some sleep we will be up early on our last day to do early entry into Disney’s California Adventure to try and finish up anything we didn’t get to enjoy on Wednesday. Our flight is so late so we have a full day to really enjoy this park and can even hop back over to Disneyland if we wanted to for one last walk through. I’m sure we will also chip at the hotel some before we head to the airport. We have a red eye home that I am praying everyone gets some sleep on so send up all the sleep and relaxation vibes this night!
Conclusion
It is going to be a whirlwind of excitement next week and I hope you all come along for the ride here on the blog and on all the social media channels. I am planning to do a short recap of the day each night on the blog and socials but that all depends on how late everything goes and how exhausted I am. I feel like I am going to just be so excited I won’t want to sleep anyway but I am also not as young as I used to be soooooo. Our week when we get back is fully packed with family events so rest is the top priority when we get back on Tuesday. If there is anything you really want to see or know about, feel free to reach out on our social channels and I will do my absolute best to show that for you! Thank you all for being here and reading along, have magical day and buckle up for next week!