What’s better than spending time in Disneyland & California Adventure? Try visiting the two Disney parks when it’s only you & a few other people. No queues, just fun.
A group of Australian Travel Agents practically had Disney’s California Adventure Park to themselves this week as part of the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Mega-Fam.
Disney Parks is going ALL OUT for Agents.
The 40 consultants and their hosts from Disney Parks, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Australia, were up with the Anaheim sun on Thursday morning for ‘Extra Magic Hours’ – an exclusive experience available to guests of on-site Disney properties that allows them to enter the park one hour before the general public every morning of their stay.
Unbelievable right?! It really was!
“It was so nice,” said Linda Franses from Travel Partners who had heard of Extra Magic Hours through her clients but never experienced it for herself.
“It was great to be able to walk around and have the park practically to ourselves.”
Linda Franses, Travel Partners
Marie Holeman of Travel Associates concurred, saying that experiencing Extra Magic Hours and other on-site perks first-hand makes it easier for her to see the value of booking Disney hotels.
“Most of my clients book off-site hotels,” Holeman said. “But now that I’ve stayed there, I’ve seen the extra hours, the location, the delivery of purchases, it’s great value.”
“I’d probably recommend that my clients do it like we did – a couple of days on-site and if they can’t afford to stay longer, move to a nearby hotel – because it’s epic to be able to wander around during Extra Magic Hours.”
Marie Holeman, Travel Associates
At the stroke of 8.00am, the public entered and attraction lines filled but Disney Parks were generous enough to provide incentive winners with six FastPasses for rides such as Star Tours, Splash Mountain, Hyperspace Mountain and more.
Consultants screamed their way through the morning and most of lunch before meeting up inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge for their first look at Disneyland’s newest and most immersive land.
“It was pretty amazing,” said Melanie Heaphy of Flight Centre. “The detail was phenomenal. Everything has been thought of like the rust being painted on certain objects.”
“Even wait staff from the photographer to bar tenders, they were so in character doing their thing that even when you talk to them about your day and what you’ve done, they’re like ‘what’s Disneyland?'”
Melanie Heaphy, Flight Centre
During their visit to the remote planet of Batuu, Agents were fast-tracked onto Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run (the land’s motion simulator ride) before tasting out-of-this-world cocktails and mocktails at Oga’s Cantina.
Sam Mylrea of Flight Centre admitted that although she isn’t a Star Wars fan, the land was what she was most excited to see during her first Disneyland visit in 14 years.
While inside the new site, Sam took part in a Droid-making workshop during which she could select what parts she wanted for her droid, personalise the colour and design the shape of the body, legs and top.
“The Droid-making was a really cool activity to take part in. It’s one of those experiences that you can’t just do anywhere and it’s a unique present for my son.”
Sam Mylrea, Flight Centre
Delta Air Lines and Virgin Australia helped wrap an incredible day with dinner and drinks at California Adventure Park’s Wine Country Trattoria.
If the early park access, free rides, Galaxy’s Edge exploration and delicious dinner wasn’t enough, hosts rewarded Agents with a Mickey ears with their names embroidered along the back.
New hats on heads, the group headed to Pixar Pier to check out the World of Colour show, which left many in tears thanks to that Lion King scene (you know, the one where Mufasa…).
Winners of the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge incentive will spend five days in Anaheim, during which times they’ll experience Disneyland California, check out surrounding properties, shop, dine, and attend the annual Disney conference, D23.
Click here to catch up on Day 1 of their journey, or keep an eye on KARRYON‘s Facebook page for more pictures and stories from the ‘journey’.