Pixelmania West 2026

Mission complete:

Lamplight Lounge
Thursday, Sep 24, 2026
Lunch at 1:10 PM
Table for 6

Celebrate the creativity of Pixar animation over gastropub cuisine, signature cocktails and panoramic waterfront views—downstairs at Lamplight Lounge.

Artisanal Cuisine Inspired by Artists
Please your palate with the ultra-tasty Guest-favorite Impossible Burger at lunch or dinner. During brunch the Lamplight Chilaquiles and the juicy Brunch Burger are crowd pleasers too.

Creative Cocktails
In addition to nonalcoholic beverages, adults can choose from a copious selection of California draft beers, hard cider and specialty drinks bearing names with a nod to filmmaking—Over Budget and The Sequel.
 
Good news: Park hours are beginning to appear for our trip. Disneyland 8 am to 11 pm, DCA 8 am to 9 pm (6 pm on Bash nights).
Bad news: It looks like Indy and the Tea Cups are down during our visit.
 
So from my perspective, I'd like to set some sort of itinerary goal at least for our first day.

@ddindy mentioned a couple times about rope dropping Fantasyland. It looks like that is the general consensus to do quite a few rides in the first hour of the day. It also sounds like LLMP does not really need to be booked the second you tap into the park, with the goal of getting your first LL for a return window starting at 8:30.

From DTB, the Fantasyland list is the below, and unless someone says different, I'd say we can skip 6, 7, and 9. (Or maybe #7 was mentioned in the zoom call as worth it?) Touringplans predicts that we can get through the remaining 6 in an hour.
  1. Peter Pan’s Flight (skip if you’re not near the front of the rope drop pack)
  2. Snow White’s Enchanted Wish
  3. Alice in Wonderland
  4. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
  5. Storybook Land Canal Boats
  6. Dumbo
  7. Casey Jr. Circus Train
  8. Pinocchio’s Daring Journey
  9. Mad Tea Party
I actually put a list of rides into Touringplans to get us to about 1:30 and it came up with this itinerary for the morning/early afternoon. It uses LLMP 4 times which seems quite good, just not sure how realistic it is when it comes to LLMP distribution. Take a look and let me know if the itinerary is realistic in terms of what touringplans suggests. I understand that it is VERY aggressive with zero slack time and I wish it didnt put those 3 Fantasyland attractions at the end, but I couldn't do any better manually. Gillian and I may try something like this even if the rest of the group wants to be more leisurely. Let me know what you think.

After the morning in DL, we need to hop to DCA for Carthay Circle Lounge arrival by 2PM. Thoughts on Monorail from DL to DCA?
 
ExploringWDW said:
So from my perspective, I'd like to set some sort of itinerary goal at least for our first day.

@ddindy mentioned a couple times about rope dropping Fantasyland. It looks like that is the general consensus to do quite a few rides in the first hour of the day. It also sounds like LLMP does not really need to be booked the second you tap into the park, with the goal of getting your first LL for a return window starting at 8:30.

From DTB, the Fantasyland list is the below, and unless someone says different, I'd say we can skip 6, 7, and 9. (Or maybe #7 was mentioned in the zoom call as worth it?) Touringplans predicts that we can get through the remaining 6 in an hour.
  1. Peter Pan’s Flight (skip if you’re not near the front of the rope drop pack)
  2. Snow White’s Enchanted Wish
  3. Alice in Wonderland
  4. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
  5. Storybook Land Canal Boats
  6. Dumbo
  7. Casey Jr. Circus Train
  8. Pinocchio’s Daring Journey
  9. Mad Tea Party
I actually put a list of rides into Touringplans to get us to about 1:30 and it came up with this itinerary for the morning/early afternoon. It uses LLMP 4 times which seems quite good, just not sure how realistic it is when it comes to LLMP distribution. Take a look and let me know if the itinerary is realistic in terms of what touringplans suggests. I understand that it is VERY aggressive with zero slack time and I wish it didnt put those 3 Fantasyland attractions at the end, but I couldn't do any better manually. Gillian and I may try something like this even if the rest of the group wants to be more leisurely. Let me know what you think.

After the morning in DL, we need to hop to DCA for Carthay Circle Lounge arrival by 2PM. Thoughts on Monorail from DL to DCA?
Click to expand...
I'm fine with the skipped rides but I think the timeline is overly aggressive. It doesn't allow for bathroom breaks or snacks. Also, depending upon the weather, we may need to go to the lockers. When Dennis and I went we rope dropped the "Locker Ride" first followed by the "Restroom Ride" so our bladders were locked and unloaded.

The other thing is that I will have a scooter because of my knee replacement, so I'll need time to park it in what ever stroller scooter parking area there is. I am perfectly fine parking the scooter in a land and walking from attraction to attraction in that land.

I've been walking almost 3 miles 3-4 times a week but my Ortho doc wants me to be conservative with the walking/ standing in lines all day so we both thought a scooter would be a smart idea. The last thing I want is to hold up the group, so If we have to split up I'm fine with that. I do want to do the touring plans itinerary with you if that works.
 
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Yes, it's definitely aggressive. We can drop things off and pick up at the next ride to give us some free time, its not like we won't be back to this park. I just thought it was interesting that we could get in 4 LLMP rides in a half day and we can probably make that work regardless of how many other rides we skip from that itinerary.

And like I said, Gillian and I may want to do things differently for our first trip compared to you west coast veterans, at least for one or two of the days. We will have Sunday to do our own thing in the parks, so we'll go commando that day as well. We'll just be starting in DCA since it's an OBB night.
 
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With a 5-day ticket, you'll have time to do everything at least once and many things multiple times.
My normal Fantasyland rope drop is Pan, Toad, Alice, Snow and Pinocchio. Pan is the most popular followed by Alice and Toad. Snow and Pinocchio usually are walk-ons in the morning.
But since we're starting on a Saturday, things may be different. I don't recall if I've ever been in the parks on a weekend.
Casey Jr. gives you a different view of the buildings that you see from the Canal Boats, so it's nice to do as a time filler.
The monorail has two stations, Tomorrowland and Downtown Disney; using it to avoid the 100-yard walk from DL to DCA is not possible. It is a nice way to get to the Disneyland Hotel for a quick drink.
 
I'll reserve final judgement until we see what the blogomaniacs report on tonight's party, but it does look interesting. The Memento Mori float was in the parade I saw in 2022, with the hitchhiking ghosts on the front and Constance on the back.
 
I'm assuming that we can link our park tickets in the my Disneyland experience so that we can all get the same fastpass. I'm not quite sure exactly how to go about this though. Is this something that we want to do, and if yes, if someone could help with that I'd appreciate it.

I know most of the Pixelmaniacs are linked in the Disney world My Disney experience like a family of rural country cousins.
 
The best way is to gather on Friday and scan each other's tickets in the app. The other option is to share our ticket numbers on-line in a secure manner, but since some people won't have their tickets until a few days before arrival, the first method is easier.

We'll also want to get a Photopass card that we can also scan into the app so we can all get our photos after being scanned once. Photopass is included in our Lightning Lane purchase.
 
I watched a video of the dance party, and it does look entertaining. Like prior dance parties, it moves through the park like a parade, stops for an extended dance routine, then moves on. It sounds like the stops are at the Little Mermaid, San Fransokyo waterfront and Hollywood Land. The party starts at Little Mermaid at 8:05 pm and at Guardians of the Galaxy at 10:15 pm.

The Headless Horseman starts at the gate next to Guardians of the Galaxy and, presumably, walks towards the Little Mermaid. Appearances are at 7:45 and 10:05 pm.

Following up on the Zoom call, here is a link to the view of the Hollywood Land gates.
And here is a similar view of the DHS copy.
 
This is from Tom Bricker's Disney Tourist blog. He went to the first party:
Oogie Boogie Bash Haunted Mansion party

" According to Cast Members, Madame Leota’s Swinging Wake stops in three locations: The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, Wine Country Trattoria and Sonoma Terrace (dessert party viewing), and around Award Wieners in Hollywood Land. The street party pauses in each spot for roughly 10 minutes.

Everywhere else, it passes fairly quickly, in the span of only a couple minutes. In these locations, it’s definitely more like a portion of Frightfully Fun Parade plus a few additions. The choreography is still good, but you miss the over-the-top dance sequences. You need to watch from a showstop spot.

I watched the first performance from Hollywood Land and the second from Little Mermaid. (Technically, I followed the second down the Performance Corridor taking photos along the way and stopping with it in front of Paradise Bay.)

:cool:I definitely preferred the Little Mermaid, both in terms of lighting and crowds. The second showtime was dead, and it probably helped that the second street party ends at Little Mermaid, whereas the first starts from there."

Also:
"Prior to Madame Leota’s Swinging Wake, Ichabod Crane hurries through Disney California Adventure evading the sinister specter of the Headless Horseman astride his dark steed at select times throughout the evening.

This is essentially the same as before, with what seemed like an even longer gap between the Headless Horseman and arrival of the Haunted Mansion Street Party to its final stop. Disneyland’s Headless Horseman also has showstops. But they’re random and unintentional ones. It’s amusing, and great for photographers."

~You know how we're suckers for photos of an entirely black horse moving quickly in very low light conditions :rolleyes:

Also:
"This year, I did Cruella roaming around Hollywood Land and heard (but didn’t see) that Maleficent was doing the same. More free roaming characters for spontaneous interactions would be a fantastic thing, if this is part of a concerted effort for that. Cruella was perfect. "
 
I just watched the TouringPlans OBB video and the thing I took from it is that ride times are very short during the Bash, with the exception of Guardians Monsters After Dark. If we can find a hole in the schedule, we should try to ride Radiator Springs Racers. We can ride Monsters any other evening, and if I recall correctly, it's a separate Lightning Lane from Mission Breakout, so we should be able to ride both versions in the same day. Or we can ride them on different days - whatever works best.

For the newbies: If you haven't watched Cars in a while, I recommend watching it right before flying to California, paying special attention to the Radiator Springs scenes so you can compare them to what you see in DCA. You'll be amazed.
 
Update on Guardians: Monsters After Dark: Mission Breakout closes at 2 pm and Monsters opens at 3 pm every day of the week. There are separate Lightning Lanes available for both, so you can ride both in the same day if desired. Both LLs are very popular, so we want to jump on them as soon as they become available on the day(s) we want to ride.

Did we decide whether or not to do the Happiest Haunts guided tour for $130 plus tax? Times are 1:30, 2:00, 4:30, 5:00 and 5:30 pm. There is probably a Disney Visa discount available.
 
ddindy said:
Update on Guardians: Monsters After Dark: Mission Breakout closes at 2 pm and Monsters opens at 3 pm every day of the week. There are separate Lightning Lanes available for both, so you can ride both in the same day if desired. Both LLs are very popular, so we want to jump on them as soon as they become available on the day(s) we want to ride.

Did we decide whether or not to do the Happiest Haunts guided tour for $130 plus tax? Times are 1:30, 2:00, 4:30, 5:00 and 5:30 pm. There is probably a Disney Visa discount available.
Click to expand...
From Disney's website:

"A Frightfully Fun Time Awaits
Journey through Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure Park—decked out in spooky and delightful Halloween décor—while listening to eerie Halloween stories.

Discover what's included during this 2-hour guided walking tour:

Halloween history and Disney-inspired tales
Lightning Lane entry to Haunted Mansion Holiday
Access to the reserved viewing area for Halloween Screams, a nighttime spectacular
A delicious treat—Happiest Haunts Dirt Worm Crispie
A commemorative Disney's Happiest Haunts Guided Tour key
Only Guests with a park reservation, valid park admission and a valid reservation for Disney's Happiest Haunts Guided Tour may enter the reserved viewing area for Halloween Screams."

Are there any reports as to where the reserved section for parade viewing is?
 
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