MegEliz
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2014
Hey all!
Just got back last night from a 6 night stay and visit to Disneyland and Universal Hollywood. I thought I would share our experience and some tips etc for those planning or thinking of planning a trip!
We did our preflight antigen tests at Bon Voyage medical in Coquitlam. There were 6 of us getting tests (DH and I, DS x 3 and my mom) we had our results in around 30 mins which they emailed to us and I was able to print off, though I know you can also use your phone and show them. I just like having paper copies.
The cost was $110 per test.
We were booked on a direct flight with WestJet from YVR to LAX. Check in and security was a breeze and really no different than before (I would say it was even more relaxing than normal because the airport was pretty quiet)
US customs was easy as well. We said where we were going and why and that was it.
Our flight was great. It wasn’t full which was nice and when we landed at LAX (my least favourite airport ever) our rental shuttle was quick (Alamo) and our pick up was a breeze.
We ended up renting a townhouse just behind downtown Disney. It was great. It had 3 bedrooms and three bathrooms and it was about a 10-15 minute walk to the gate.
Our first night we hung out at DT Disney. I was a zoo! I couldn’t believe how many people were there! We ended putting our names in at Tortilla Joe’s and it took WAY longer than the time they gave us but we stuck it out because there were line ups everywhere. The food was meh and the service was alright. I think they were understaffed. But oh well! We were just happy to be hanging out at DT Disney. It was so surreal to be there!
We had 4 day passes at Disney with park hoppers and did rope drop every morning. The first few days were really busy but we were very happy that we did rope drop as we were able to get quite a bit done in the mornings before 11. I managed to get on ROTR every day we started at Disneyland and my two oldest were super excited because we had to do child swap for our youngest (he’s 2) so they were able to ride a few extra times each day.
Pretty much everyone was wearing masks inside and in lines I would say about half of people. In the park outside about 1/3 of people were wearing their masks. I felt pretty good about that.
We did our return home testing on Wednesday the 29th. I had booked a Walgreens on Brookehurst and had back ups at CVS. We showed up at our Walgreens appointment and the pharmacist said our results would take 3-5 days (which it didn’t say on their website, it said 1-2 days) so we quickly headed it over to our CVS appointments on W Katella. THANK GOODNESS WE DID! We had to preform the tests on ourselves while the pharmacist directed us through the window. She was very friendly and helpful. I also had to preform the tests on our two older boys.
We had our results in 24 hours. Getting the results for the kids was a bit annoying. Canadian cell phones don’t accept their text messages so we had to call a number to get their results and then on our second to last day, I went to the FedEx store in the Anaheim Hilton and had them fax the kids results there. It only took a few minutes and cost $5usd for the two faxes (way cheaper than paying $200 a test! I printed our other tests results as well which I could access on the CVS My Chart account they set you up with via email before your appointment.
Our day at Universal was good. It was really hot that day which is unfortunate because as per LA County rules, you have to wear a mask at all times in the park inside and outside. But it wasn’t very busy there so we were able to get the whole park done (minus Water world because I can’t stand that show lol) by 3 and rope drop started at 9:45 (15 mins early)
The park was really clean, staff was great and we had dinner at Bubba Gump around 430. It was really good and the service was awesome.
Our last day at Disney was awesome. It was finally a bit quieter that day and we didn’t have to wait longer than 20 minutes all day in both parks for anything.
Returning our rental van was quick and check in and security at LAX were very quick and easy (probably for the first time ever
)
Customs at YVR empty and only took a few minutes.
All in all, I’m really glad we went! It was a lot of fun and really go go go, but we knew that going into it.
The testing processes were easy but a bit nerve wracking to think about. I was relieved when we got our negative test results to head home with.
The Disney parks were very crowded the first few days (I had been watching wait times leading up and they seemed to really explode once we got there) but if you go early, you’ll be able to get everything done)
Let me know if there’s anything else you want to know! I’m sure I left a bunch out but I didn’t want to go on writing a novel
Just got back last night from a 6 night stay and visit to Disneyland and Universal Hollywood. I thought I would share our experience and some tips etc for those planning or thinking of planning a trip!
We did our preflight antigen tests at Bon Voyage medical in Coquitlam. There were 6 of us getting tests (DH and I, DS x 3 and my mom) we had our results in around 30 mins which they emailed to us and I was able to print off, though I know you can also use your phone and show them. I just like having paper copies.
The cost was $110 per test.
We were booked on a direct flight with WestJet from YVR to LAX. Check in and security was a breeze and really no different than before (I would say it was even more relaxing than normal because the airport was pretty quiet)
US customs was easy as well. We said where we were going and why and that was it.
Our flight was great. It wasn’t full which was nice and when we landed at LAX (my least favourite airport ever) our rental shuttle was quick (Alamo) and our pick up was a breeze.
We ended up renting a townhouse just behind downtown Disney. It was great. It had 3 bedrooms and three bathrooms and it was about a 10-15 minute walk to the gate.
Our first night we hung out at DT Disney. I was a zoo! I couldn’t believe how many people were there! We ended putting our names in at Tortilla Joe’s and it took WAY longer than the time they gave us but we stuck it out because there were line ups everywhere. The food was meh and the service was alright. I think they were understaffed. But oh well! We were just happy to be hanging out at DT Disney. It was so surreal to be there!
We had 4 day passes at Disney with park hoppers and did rope drop every morning. The first few days were really busy but we were very happy that we did rope drop as we were able to get quite a bit done in the mornings before 11. I managed to get on ROTR every day we started at Disneyland and my two oldest were super excited because we had to do child swap for our youngest (he’s 2) so they were able to ride a few extra times each day.
Pretty much everyone was wearing masks inside and in lines I would say about half of people. In the park outside about 1/3 of people were wearing their masks. I felt pretty good about that.
We did our return home testing on Wednesday the 29th. I had booked a Walgreens on Brookehurst and had back ups at CVS. We showed up at our Walgreens appointment and the pharmacist said our results would take 3-5 days (which it didn’t say on their website, it said 1-2 days) so we quickly headed it over to our CVS appointments on W Katella. THANK GOODNESS WE DID! We had to preform the tests on ourselves while the pharmacist directed us through the window. She was very friendly and helpful. I also had to preform the tests on our two older boys.
We had our results in 24 hours. Getting the results for the kids was a bit annoying. Canadian cell phones don’t accept their text messages so we had to call a number to get their results and then on our second to last day, I went to the FedEx store in the Anaheim Hilton and had them fax the kids results there. It only took a few minutes and cost $5usd for the two faxes (way cheaper than paying $200 a test! I printed our other tests results as well which I could access on the CVS My Chart account they set you up with via email before your appointment.
Our day at Universal was good. It was really hot that day which is unfortunate because as per LA County rules, you have to wear a mask at all times in the park inside and outside. But it wasn’t very busy there so we were able to get the whole park done (minus Water world because I can’t stand that show lol) by 3 and rope drop started at 9:45 (15 mins early)
The park was really clean, staff was great and we had dinner at Bubba Gump around 430. It was really good and the service was awesome.
Our last day at Disney was awesome. It was finally a bit quieter that day and we didn’t have to wait longer than 20 minutes all day in both parks for anything.
Returning our rental van was quick and check in and security at LAX were very quick and easy (probably for the first time ever
)Customs at YVR empty and only took a few minutes.
All in all, I’m really glad we went! It was a lot of fun and really go go go, but we knew that going into it.
The testing processes were easy but a bit nerve wracking to think about. I was relieved when we got our negative test results to head home with.
The Disney parks were very crowded the first few days (I had been watching wait times leading up and they seemed to really explode once we got there) but if you go early, you’ll be able to get everything done)
Let me know if there’s anything else you want to know! I’m sure I left a bunch out but I didn’t want to go on writing a novel
I’m not sure of other locations but the W Katella store was free
