#12: Ariel shares with Stef what it was like to go back to Disneyland after a pandemic kept her away for 532 days. From experiencing nostalgia, awe at the Avengers Campus, and learning the tips of her new “legendary” pass.

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Stefanie Bautista 0:11
Hello, everyone, welcome to the happiest pod on Earth. I’m Stephanie.

Ariel Landrum 0:15
And I’m Ariel.

Stefanie Bautista 0:16
And we are Disney fans but really so much more than that.

Ariel Landrum 0:19
So much more.

Stefanie Bautista 0:20
So much more. Today we’re going to be talking about our visit. Actually Ariel’s visit, I did not go. Ariel’s first visit back to the park. She did a park hopper a couple days ago. So she’s going to give you the lowdown on how that was like, so that you’re all prepared for your trip back home. Back to our parks. First and foremost, Ariel, how are you? How did it feel to go back to Disneyland?

Ariel Landrum 0:47
It was amazing. Like, in retrospect, it was amazing being there too. But I mean, just it, it did feel like going home. It it felt very shiny and brand new. And some of it was shiny and brand new. So but there was the nostalgia was immediately there. I rode all my familiar rides that are my comfort rides, and I, I didn’t realize how much I missed the parks until I was there. I, I did have like, like a little catch my throat moment. Just like “I’m here!” And, seeing Mickey. Like just walking in. I saw Mickey and Minnie and Goofy right away. And I was just like, “This this is this is this was supposed to be how life is meant.”

Stefanie Bautista 1:43
That’s awesome. I mean, I guess with all of those emotions, how about we kind of backtrack a little. And tell us about your experience buying the tickets. I know that it’s a whole new process. You can’t just go to the parks and go up to…

Ariel Landrum 2:01
A whole new world!

Stefanie Bautista 2:02
A whole new world. You can’t just go to the parks and like stand in line at the kiosk. And pretty much set your day up there. You have to do it months in advance. Right?

Ariel Landrum 2:15
So what? So we first called to see if we could order ticket. We were like, “No one’s gonna call, let’s do this old school!”

Stefanie Bautista 2:25
No one is gonna call girl. What? And you got somebody on the other line?

Ariel Landrum 2:29
We did, we got someone and she told us to sign up for the email blast, because there was going to be some changes in regards to the Legacy Passes what they’re calling it now.

Stefanie Bautista 2:42
For previous Annual Pass Holders, right?

Ariel Landrum 2:44
Previous annual pass holders. I kept calling it the ‘Legendary Pass,’ but it’s Legacy.

Stefanie Bautista 2:49
So for all of our listeners out there, you’re gonna, like hear Ariel call things just one notch off of what it’s supposed to be.

Ariel Landrum 2:58
Always.

Stefanie Bautista 2:59
It’s supposed to be a Legacy Pass. Just case in point she called it; what did you call it?

Ariel Landrum 3:03
A ‘Legendary’…

Stefanie Bautista 3:04
A ‘Legendary Pass.’ So maybe we can keep a tally of the things you say? Because I feel like it’s a common occurrence. But anyway.

Ariel Landrum 3:14
Yes, just tweet at us @happiestpodgt, “I found another one!”

Stefanie Bautista 3:19
Yeah, we’re gonna keep tabs. So that’s one Legacy Pass is the previous Annual Passholders. Ariel you have been an Annual Passholder for quite some time. Right? I know I was but since I am privileged enough to be able to take advantage of the military passes. I haven’t been one. So whenever we do go to the parks, I go, “Oh, I am not getting 10%. But my friend here can get 10% so she can get these things for me.” So what did they tell you about Legacy Passholders?

Ariel Landrum 3:55
So what she said specifically is that when you check your app, you will see that that there’s an end date on it, and it just renews every month. That’s just the way that they have to set it up in the system. So it doesn’t mean it ends in that like you have to be at the park and use it before you know the end of July otherwise you won’t have it again. No, it’s anybody who was an Annual Passholder they have this Legacy Pass in and it’s broken in A and B so those tiers of the how much percentage you get off. And really it can only be used for merchandise and, and food areas that could have been used for the Annual Pass. And sometimes at the park they would have little Annual Pass like, like corners or nooks or events. They have them now for the Legacy Passholders and they had a food event a specific wine tasting food event at in…

Stefanie Bautista 4:52
California Adventures?

Ariel Landrum 4:53
Yeah, what was the restaurant? Yeah, it was the one wine country? Torta…?

Stefanie Bautista 5:01
Trattoria.

Ariel Landrum 5:01
Yeah. So I ate there, I was able to get food reservations there. But I couldn’t do the wine tasting event there. It was all sold out. But I thought maybe like if I already had reservations, and I showed them, I thought I could do something sneaky.

Stefanie Bautista 5:15
You thought you could finagle it? But nope, Disney knows.

Ariel Landrum 5:18
They knows.

Stefanie Bautista 5:20
It’s okay, you tried.

Ariel Landrum 5:21
Yeah, but so so to get the emails for that, so that you can start booking those things. That was one thing, that there was going to be those little special nooks. So when we went to and we’ll talk more about this later, but the Adventure Campus, there was a specific photos that we were allowed to take that was just like only for people who this pass. And so the other thing that she said was, if you try to buy the tickets on the app, for some reason, the app doesn’t load as fast as the website. So you want to get your tickets on the website.

Stefanie Bautista 5:52
The go fast.

Ariel Landrum 5:52
So she wasn’t gonna sell us any on on the phone call. But she said, One thing you’ll see is you’ll see like maybe all these days taken that you want. She said, “Actually refresh it throughout the day or the next day, because people have been canceling their tickets very last minute, often.” But the the app isn’t going to get it as quickly as the website.

Stefanie Bautista 6:12
Good to know.

Ariel Landrum 6:16
Yeah. And there have been other issues with the app. And we’ll talk about that some more later. But that that was the ticket process. And so I…

Stefanie Bautista 6:24
And you went It’s July 3 right now you went? How long ago?

Ariel Landrum 6:33
How do I know? I went last weekend, didn’t I?

Stefanie Bautista 6:37
Last weekend? Yeah. So okay, so she went the last weekend?

Ariel Landrum 6:41
I went on the 27th.

Stefanie Bautista 6:43
Yeah, on the 27th in June. And you bought your tickets when?

Ariel Landrum 6:52
I bought my ticket May 4th.

Stefanie Bautista 6:55
May the 4th!

Ariel Landrum 6:56
Yes. Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 6:57
You bought it on May the 4th. Okay. For additional context. I am going at the end of August. But I bought my tickets early June. But that’s just because I want to go when all the kids...