I'm home and I'm STILL tired!! I went to the 2013 event, arrived at 5:15am or so, no problems. I went to the 2014 event, arrived at 4:20am or so, got one of the lanyards for the first 2,000 peeps, no problems. This year, we arrived about 2:40am and WOW. I knew it would be crowded, but just wow.... Yeah, no chance of getting any free giveaway this year, and at one point I wondered if we would even get into the park before 6am. It was crazy. I was literally in line for an hour and a half without moving at all. THOUSANDS of people were lined up. We were staying at the Hotel Menage, so came in on the Harbor side. We heard from the people around us who came from the Downtown Disney side that they were all walked thru the Esplanade and made to line up on our side and were told that no one would be let into the Esplanade to line up from the DTD side. Well, a little after 4, while we still had not moved, the people in front of us heard from their friends that had just arrived that they entered thru DTD and were in
Disneyland lining up at the Emporium. Suffice to say people were pissed. Self included. It just seems like EVERY TIME Disney pulls crap like this that just pisses people off. I can see how they haven't mastered crowd control yet.... I mean they've only had 60 years of practice.... ;-) ANYWAY, even though we were running on only 2 hours sleep (one friend couldn't get off work very early, so we left the Bay Area about 2:30 pm, got to Anaheim about 10, then had to deal with a not sleeping because of noisy hotel neighbors), and it took us almost 2 1/2 hours to get in, were surprisingly not cranky!
We got in to Disneyland at 5am, took a picture at the big Mickey, and headed to Main Street. We couldn't even get to the end of Main Street by the Emporium because of huge circling lines to get into the store. We were told that they weren't letting any more people onto Main Street until 6. At this point we realized that we would not be able to see the castle and any opening ceremonies, so we decided to start our day at DCA. WHAT A DIFFERENCE. There was barely anyone in line for the 5:30 opening. We got in and I was able to get in line at Elias & Co for 24 Hour Event merch and I was like 10th in line!! After that it was rope drop. Racers didn't open until 7, so one of us got in line for WOC FP and the other 2 headed to Starbucks! FPs secured, it was ride time: Toy Story, Screamin', Racers, Mater's Jamboree, Tower of Terror. Along the way we took pictures for every hour with the big clocks at the photo stops. We also got a Sully photo, when he went to put his arm around my friend he punched her face. Hard! Oops! We stopped for something to eat at Pacific Wharf, and I took the opportunity to check Disboards and saw that Disneyland closure was expected by 1pm! We didn't want to risk being locked out of Disneyland, so we left DCA and were back at DL just before 12.
We made a point of posting a picture to Facebook every hour, with the clocks when we could. We found that there were less clocks photo stops in DL than DCA. We also got several character photos. Our first DL ride, and longest line of the day, was Matterhorn. Ah.Maz.Ing. Loved it. Then we hit Pirates and Indiana Jones, then stopped for the special chocolate mocha funnel cake at Stagedoor Café. Yum. Headed to Critter Country for Pooh, bought some hats, and had dinner at Hungry Bear This was 6pm, and no line for dinner and no problem finding a table! Went on Haunted Mansion and saw the AWESOME Hatbox Ghost, then made our way across Main Street to Star Tours. After that, we scoped out a spot for fireworks at Small World; this was about 9:15 and it was crowded but doable. The show was phenomenal, my favorite thing being Mount Wannahockaloogie!! After fireworks we rode Small World, which was a great plan because there was no line and it gave time for the area to empty out. Then Astro Blasters, Carousel, Teacups, a photo at the castle, Space Mountain, and back to Small World for a spot for the 1am Paint the Night. We waited about an hour for the parade, and it was REALLY good. We decided not to hop for the 3am WOC after hearing about the huge crowds on the Esplanade. Instead we did Matterhorn again, caffeinated at Starbucks, hit Toontown's pajama party, and enjoyed a 3am Dole Whip! Last rides of the night were Big Thunder, Jungle Cruise, Storybook Land, and Alice. We had a light saber photo op in Tomorrowland, then headed to Main Street for the character goodbye.
It was a way bigger crowd control cluster than past years, but it wasn't so bad in the parks. We had a great time. I'm ready for next year!!! My two girlfriends, not so much... lol Per fitbit, we did 41,000 steps and 17 miles!