Hoping we get updated details about event food and this year's characters soon. I'm am crossing my fingers for Tarzan and Aladdin or Charming this year, since we got Gaston and Hercules last year. Who are you hoping to see?
If you get early entry for 6pm, don't expect to meet Sailor Moon or the early entry m&g for their 1st or 2nd m&g. Fans started lining up at 2:30PM for the first m&g on 05/14/2026, and line closed prior to 5:15PM. Line for 2nd m&g was already at capacity 10 minutes after it was announced. I had to beg to be let into 1st m&g line and was let in. I watched multiple ppl, a person in a scooter, full cosplayers, and kids get turned away and told to wait for the other m&g's. If you want to be first, you gotta opt for the 2pm ticket in the future. Just saying.
I made the decision to go to celebrate my birthday at FFN after having to cancel a Vegas trip. First off, I want to compliment almost the entire staff that day. After receiving my birthday button, almost every staff member no matter how tired they were during their shift told me "Happy birthday!" in the kindest and most excited tones. And during D&D, the actress who was guiding the activation made it a point to make me a part of the action by calling my name out and including me in her script. That was very cute.
Really happy I took the advice from this sub to choose the 2pm entry ticket. Entered right on time after making a quick stop to both Cinnabon for my free bday cold brew and the Habit for my free bday Charburger. As soon as I entered, they had a line for combo tix holders and gave us our wristbands at the gate which was great. I headed straight to Hollywood and Dine for my FFN dining package lanyard, but they weren't stocked yet. I swung by Waterworld to ask about some general info about where line would start that evening for One Piece. I will be upfront and say due to not planning too well, I missed the show. They only had 3 showtimes since it was a light crowd on Thurs, and I was all over the place downstairs lot to come back up the escalators on time to line up.
Back to my review, I took some time to enjoy Kung Fu Panda, Pets, Minions and Harry Potter Forbidden Journey and bought a Lard Lard donut all before running downstairs late for my 4pm reservation at Toadstool. As soon as I get in line for ordering, it's packed. I waited for about 20 minutes and once I got to register they tell me that the Apple Melon smoothie was sold out. They only had Blueberry. I was bugged, and asked if they would have any at night. Cashier informed me they would have a limited amount for the event. Looking at the time, I went back up to upstairs lot and went to pick up my lanyard. When I passed by Sailor Moon M&G at 4:45, there had already been a small line forming, so I decided to cross one of my entrees off my list and bought the Katsu at Sanji's Galley (sp?). I also impulse ordered Luffy's strawhat cheesecake since I wasn't going to use the plan for my Yoshi smoothie anymore. The katsu itself was good with moist chicken and a nice crunch on the potato chip crust. The sauce was a nice mix of spicy and sweet. The rice and slaw were hella bland, and there was a minimal scoop of rice overall. Luffy's strawhat cheesecake was good enough but the chocolate center was still frozen. Overall the meal was a 5/10 combined.
As soon as I finished eating I dashed to the line for Sailor Moon m&g and right as I got there at 5:15PM, it closed. I begged the attendants if I could please join the line since I was alone and it was my bday. They were kind enough to push the line up a little to let me join. I felt bad because people attempted to line up, but at that point they were strict w the closed line and informed ppl they could line up for the 7:15 m&g. So many ppl attempted and some ppl complained that they got early entrance just to line up, but they were strict w it. Almost as soon as second line opened at 5:45PM for the 7:15 m&g, it was filled. Then I watched another wave of ppl told they could line up at 6:45PM for the 9/9:30PM m&g. I was so relieved and felt so lucky I didn't have to go through that. After waiting in line for an hour and a half, I got to meet Usagi! I was nervous because as it approached closer to 6:45, the attendant was giving the Usagi actress a countdown. I was scared after all the begging I did that I wouldn't make the cut to see her. Luckily, I met her. I took a couple pics and recorded a vid of the actress saying hi to my OOT friend and ran directly to the Sailor Moon show line. I was happy because Sailor Moon m&g and show were my original priorities next to Scooby & Universal Monsters. By the time I got out of Sailor Moon show, I got my glitter pink SM churro and then ran straight to Harry Potter search for the hippogriff. I thought I was lucky because I ran through 3/4 of the line pretty quickly and then hit the line where the mandrake plants are. Surprisingly I was only in line about 30ish minutes before my tour group were led in to the activation. I will say, it was a little disappointing. Literally that long line to see a dude in horse legs and the hippogriff animatronic.
Directly after, I ran to Scooby Doo to try the mystery and get my Scooby Snacks. OMG I loved Scooby Doo so much! It was great to see both Fred and Shaggy live in front of me! And both actors were so hot especially Shaggy! I was a little miffed cuz I thought I solved the mystery, but it was the wrong person! I also was being a jester because I kept calling Frankenstein's monster "Jacob." People got the joke though. I really enjoyed the Scooby Snacks. They were surprisingly moist! Though I am bugged I paid $12 for 4 cookies. After Scooby, I made sure to get on the Simpsons ride to ensure I rode it before they officially close Simpsons' land soon for deconstruction. Lines were going so quick! I was so happy. After that I went downstairs lot to attempt to get my smoothie at Mario land--but no luck. Fully sold out of them. So I rode Mario Kart and luckily it was the last round of the night. I also picked up a crown and enjoyed seeing the different colored Yoshi's around.
I decided that I wasn't going to make it to any of the One Piece shows, so I stayed in Downstairs Lot to ride Transformers a couple of times, and Mummy Coaster. I also checked out Raptor Encounter w the hottest raptor wrangler who filled out his pants well. I also checked out Jurassic Park activation which had a "live" triceratops! I also yelled at Wayne "Where's the Barbasol can?!" and he shushed me! I also shook John Hammond's hand and thanked him for creating the park. I also checked out D&D. As I mentioned earlier, I thoroughly enjoyed myself because the actress involved me so much into the activity. After, I ran to the D&D cafe, and bought the chicken wings and dragon's egg cheesecake. Both tasted really off like they were spoiled. I was scared I was going to get food poisoning from those wings. I really wish I didn't waste my meal plan on either item. The cheesecake was frozen and tasted off as well. By that point, I was all done w my meal plan. I was really disappointed in the food options. Luckily I rode all the rides I wanted to ride, and enjoyed the activations minus the One Piece show.
On my way out at the end of the night, I rode Simpsons Ride one more time for good measure and took plenty of pics of Simpsons land. Then I decided last minute to get the Sailor Moon Sprite/Boba drink and the Tuxedo Mask macaron. I reaaaally should've left well enough alone as both were not good. BUT the clerk was nice and gave me a birthday discount which def helped.
Overall I had a good experience at the park. I accomplished my original goals of seeing Sailor Moon and Scooby Doo; and I rode my favorite rides. I will reconsider the food choices at the park next year, because honestly overall they weren't too pleasant. (And cuz of all the coloring, they made my poop green.) All in all, I give the night 4 stars. Lesson to take away, if you want to meet Sailor Moon early, line up at 4:30PM.
I've been mulling over going to Dreamstate since the good vibes at CORE left me w wanting more. What are your thoughts on and experiences at Dreamstate SoCal?
Salute is this Saturday at Aurora Warehouse and is supposed to go on til 4am. But for the CORE afterparty w Honey D, the show got shut down at 2. You think the same will happen for Salute?
I've been 3 years in a row, and it can be kind of hood tho fr. Like I was inspired by CORE to wanna take some glitter and trinkets for sharing, but after witnessing the crowd 3 years running, idk about that. What are your thoughts?
I know Insomniac was Tomorrowland's US partner in producing CORE. And I know we have multiple events like DayTrip, Skyline, etc in LA. But CORE was so different in stage production, and vibe, and even the DJs allowed themselves to be more experimental. The crowd for the most part was more mature and had great vibes. Of course there was the occasional rude twat mixed in, but the interactions w them were minimal. We need more events that are heavy on super positive vibes, w beautiful tangible cinematic stages, and an overall theme that allows for DJs to not be so mainstream and allow themselves to be the artists they truly are.
In my 20s literally starting in 2000, I used to work at Old Navy. Style was boot cut, long sleeve thermal under the short sleeve button down or t-shirt, and chunky shoes or Pumas and of course the razor curt shag. I started rewatching What I Like About You, and Henry makes me want to dress like that all over again. I swear I had the same orange and brown striped polo. I really like that the stylist on the show reuses their outfits like in real life too. Dressing like that isn't even some far fetched idea considering it's not some excessively young way of dressing making me look delusional in my 40s.