Ok Plaza Inn sounds great with Storytellers a runner up. I’m more for rare/unique characters. Princesses aren’t usually my thing unless Princess Leia was included 
. Though Mulan, Belle and Pocahontas are faves. I may have to look into the Plaza Inn. Thanks everyone.
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Does Plaza Inn ever do walk ups for breakfast?
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I would not chance a walk up there, it is very popular as the only character meal inside either park. That being said, it never hurts to ask.
Personally I think the breakfast food is better at Storytellers.
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We’ve not been successful in getting a walk-up on our last several attempts (this year) but have been able to (last time was in 2019). But it’s one that’s usually not too hard to get if you plan out far enough in advance.
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Stalk the ADR site. I got mines like 10 days before. Which day are you going? I wouldn’t mind going again! Hint, hint. 
The characters don’t have photographers or CMs following them around.
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not sure yet. I’ll let you know tomorrow which day(s) I’ll try for. There wasn’t anything when I randomly checked but stalking as we get closer I can do, or use mouse dining etc. if needed.
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If I set any res finders ( tonight when should be sleeping) I’ll go for a 4 top because I can always modify down!
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You are currently my favorite person in the world! Absolutely amazing! I cannot even express how grateful I am. Thank you! 
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So I am more or less going to just do what @lolabear_la tells me to do. But, I need some opinions on how to spend the day on arrival day.
I know we need to eat pretty much when we arrive. QS at Craftsman seems like a good idea. But I also think we will need to rest since we have such a late night planned with fireworks and F!. Anyone stay at GCV lately that was successful getting an early check-in? If we can’t get an early check-in, is there a good place at GCH to just chill for a bit? Or should we go straight to DL for an hour or two, and then go back and rest up in the evening before dinner (Blue Bayou) and the nighttime shows? So like DL 1 - 3pm, rest until maybe 6, then dinner and shows? I do not want to wear everyone out on the first day!
Thanks for your thoughts! Y’all have all been immensely helpful!
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Another question:
Is there a length of stay advantage for booking ADRs? Or are they all right at 60 days (or whenever they decide to drop them)?
Does this look like I’m covering all my bases for ADRs?
| 4-Dec | DL | |
|---|---|---|
| Dinner | Hungry Bear (F! Package) | DL |
| DP | Plaza Inn (Fireworks Package if available) | DL |
| 5-Dec | DL | |
| Dessert | Blue Bayou | DL |
| DP | WOC Dessert Party | DCA |
| 6-Dec | DCA | |
| Brunch | Storytellers | GCH |
| Drinks | Trader Sams | DLH |
| Dinner | Wine Country Trattoria | DCA |
| 7-Dec | DL | |
| Breakfast | Plaza Inn | DL |
| Dinner | Carnation Café | DL |
| 8-Dec | DCA | |
| Brunch | Napa Rose Princess Adventure | GCH |
I know Lamplight Lounge is missing, but I really only wanted brunch, and it just doesn’t fit in.
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You’re welcome @kerrilux_625778 Could you tell I was hankering to plan? I do actually have a trip coming up in Dec but until I saw your plans I’d been a rut on where to start so having your list of wants gave me the inspiration to at least jot down what meals we may want to do, so thank you right back!
The lobby has a variety of seating in the lobby, including by a fireplace. It’s usually very busy midday but if you can get seats, it’s a gorgeous place to relax. If you want something not right in the middle of it all, then I believe the he 2nd floor of the main area overlooking the lobby has some seating as well (but we didn’t go investigate when we stayed). Also, along the way to our room, our wing had some little nooks of seats near-ish to the elevator. So you could brave walking into some corridors to investigate for a more quiet set of chairs to chill.
I am definitely in camp take-a-midday-break & as soon as feasible to last through F! (and if it has to be 3-6pm, then so be it). I would still plan to eat lunch at the GCH to see if perhaps you get a room, & then if you don’t, head to parks but don’t start heading back towards GCH until 3 (unless you get your room ready text). When we went in Aug they were running behind on getting rooms all ready by 3 & let us know it might not be right at 3 and when we showed up at 2:30pm to be ready to go just as soon as we got our text, it was a very painful 50 minutes of trying not to fall asleep sitting up while waiting for the text. Hopefully it’s not the same for you, or maybe they do better on the DVC side.
This one.
Yes it does! I’m sorry about the Lamplight brunch. We recently discovered we are huge Lamplight dinner fans but we still need to plan brunch as well.
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Coming back in to mention one thing that I forgot last night: your first day is Day 2 (of only 2) days of the Disneyland Candlelight processional.
It is something that we’ve never had the opportunity to see as we’ve never timed a trip over the exact weekend they do it (and it’s just the Sat/Sun of one weekend that they do it). So all of the below is second-hand knowledge, but maybe helpful for you.
DL’s Candlelight processional is setup right in Town Square of Main Street with the choir & narrator staged on the train station platform & steps. They build up extra bleachers too around the stairs to fit the whole choir and the whole center area of Town Square is dedicated to VIP seating. The curbing around the area is for guests who wish to view standby and it gets staked out early in the day for the first show which is at 5:30pm. There is a second show at 7:45 that people will start getting curb spots for after the first one finishes. The choir proceeds down Main St (starting at the central hub end) & ends up on the train station platform & bleachers.
So all this to say, if you walk into a mad zone of people on Main St. that day, that’s what that is. From my understanding it gets really chaotic there, but once you get through Main St the rest of the park is normal crowd levels. So this definitely adds a wrinkle to the DL from 1-3pm and break to 3-6pm as that puts you coming back right during (or maybe close to the end of) the first processional. I would probably still take the break & plan for 10-15 extra minutes to navigate to wherever you want to be first when you get back after your break.
And I will be sending all the good thoughts & pixie dust that your room is ready early so you can take a break so you do have the option to just get into DL before the 1st processional and then just stay put in the park (which you have all the things scheduled already there so it will be easy to do) to avoid crossing back over the madhouse Townsquare area.
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This is great intel! Thank you!
I have mousewatcher dining alerts set up now. I did them for tables of both 4 and 8. Hopefully some will come through for 8. Otherwise, I’ll just have to use my husband’s account and book a second table for 4. And hope it all works out. I should probably try to figure out the times I actually want the reservations for now!
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@kerrilux_625778 I remember you mentioned wanting to maybe do Walking in Walt’s Footsteps tour.
Just saw that it looks like there is a new tour (no rides, but still covers Walt & park history & ends in Walt’s apartment). Checked availability & right now they only have it open to book through Dec 2. But your dates should come out shortly, if you still wanted to consider this in your plans.
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/events-tours/disneyland/walts-main-street-story-tour/
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That looks awesome! Looks like I’ll be stalking the site for it to become available for my dates.
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It does look awesome! We did the old tour but it was when we had a DS7, DD5 and DS1. We now have DS11, DD9, DS5 and DD2 so we want to do it again (maybe next year?) so they have more memory of the experience since it’s a pretty cool one.
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Your kiddos ages are very similar to mine - DS10, DS7 (turning 8 two days after our trip), DD5, and DD21mo! Did you find it was difficult with the 1yo?
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Four is a most awesome number of kids to have! I want to say he wasn’t quite 1 yet because he definitely wasn’t mobile (but he also didn’t crawl until just before 1 so he was close). For the walking around part he was fantastic & easy-going and it wasn’t too much different for him than being in DL in general (the rest of us had a little headset to hear the tour guide on).
For the apartment because he was a VERY spit-uppy baby, I spent that portion of the tour with his “burp cloth” (a big receiving blanket) at the ready & the main thought running in my head was “Please don’t spit-up all over Walt’s historical decor,” and breathed a huge sigh of relief when we made it out without incident.
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Agreed, and will add:
This is correct and also there are several other small lounging areas on various floors. Explore the hotel a little and you will definitely find a quiet area somewhere, even if the main lobby is bustling and full!
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