Disneyland Resort Crowds and Questions Feb 17-21

[David Raguso]

I was just there and a few things took me by surprise, especially in comparison to WDW florida where i go much more often...I kept being told that February was considered an "off season" but in reality it didnt feel like an offseason. I wanted to get some feedback from others who have gone to disneyland during presidents week in the past. Also im confused why some of the great processes that happen at the WDW resort in florida are lacking in california.

Fairly large crowds - Ok the parks werent at capacity but so many wait times were 45 mins to an hour. I was at the resort labor day weekend 2012, 2 months after carsland opening and during the half marathon weekend and that was much less crowded with less wait times compared to last week and trying to figure out why.

Extra magic hours in Disneyland not so magical - What a huge disappointment, when i was there a week ago the Disneyland park had the morning extra magic hour but only Tomorrowland and Fantasyland were open..the rest of the areas of the park are closed..is that normal? Its definitely not like that at the magic kingdom in florida and at disneyland what happened was the few rides you could get on had wait times of like 45 mins or so which defeats the purpose of the extra magic hour..to keep wait times down. The other strange thing was that you couldnt get fastpasses for any attraction in either disneyland or california adventure park during the extra magic hour, you can only get them when the parks officially opened to everyone when the extra magic hour ends...is that normal? in florida you can get fastpasses for rides during the extra magic hour so why wouldnt that be done in california?

Major rides missing the fastpass option..cant believe its not available for popular rides with long waits like Peter Pan and Toy Story Midway Mania. You can get them in florida,,why not california?

Ride Wait Time Apps - Again, in florida disney has an awesome app for all park info including ride wait times..why is this missing in california? I know labor day 2012 disneyland still utilized the mobile magic app and it was great but confused why disney would rather do nothing than keep that??

Lines not well managed - I guess because Disneyland wasnt prepared for crowds but thought it was strange that disneyland would rather take staff off of shift and make lines significantly longer. For example, the autopia had a 10 minute posted wait so i got on the line. When i was on the line they closed so many of the driving lanes and the the new wait time posted was now 40 minutes...why not just keep people on shift another hour or so, if for no other reason, then to get people done and out of the park especially since the parks werent even open that late? The same thing happened on the matterhorn bobsleds..they closed 1 whole side and the line turned into a 45 minute wait.

Short Park Hours - Except for actual presidents day, the rest of the week the parks were only open to 8 and 9 for CA and disneyland respectively..seemed short for a holiday week but is that normal?

Let me know if anyone has POV on these items from past experiences.

Thanks

David

 

[HydroGuy]

Extra magic hours in Disneyland not so magical - What a huge disappointment, when i was there a week ago the Disneyland park had the morning extra magic hour but only Tomorrowland and Fantasyland were open..the rest of the areas of the park are closed..is that normal? Its definitely not like that at the magic kingdom in florida and at disneyland what happened was the few rides you could get on had wait times of like 45 mins or so which defeats the purpose of the extra magic hour..to keep wait times down. The other strange thing was that you couldnt get fastpasses for any attraction in either disneyland or california adventure park during the extra magic hour, you can only get them when the parks officially opened to everyone when the extra magic hour ends...is that normal? in florida you can get fastpasses for rides during the extra magic hour so why wouldnt that be done in california?

EMH/MM has always been FL and TL. At MK the EMH does not include all rides either in my experience.

Also, I have never seen the ability to get FPs during EMH at WDW. Not sure to what you are referring.

As for wait times of 45 minutes during EMH/MM, I have only ever seen that for RSR. If you had multiple rides at 45 minutes that was unusual.

Major rides missing the fastpass option..cant believe its not available for popular rides with long waits like Peter Pan and Toy Story Midway Mania. You can get them in florida,,why not california?

At DHS TSMM has wait times of 120 minutes. At DHS it is rarely over 60 minutes and often under 40.

The DLR parks are smaller and have less room for FP machines and FP return lines. On the other hand the DLR parks have more headliner rides per park than do the ones at WDW. So the FPs they do have are more handy.

Lines not well managed - I guess because Disneyland wasnt prepared for crowds but thought it was strange that disneyland would rather take staff off of shift and make lines significantly longer. For example, the autopia had a 10 minute posted wait so i got on the line. When i was on the line they closed so many of the driving lanes and the the new wait time posted was now 40 minutes...why not just keep people on shift another hour or so, if for no other reason, then to get people done and out of the park especially since the parks werent even open that late? The same thing happened on the matterhorn bobsleds..they closed 1 whole side and the line turned into a 45 minute wait.

Typical for off-season to run rides at reduced capacity.

Short Park Hours - Except for actual presidents day, the rest of the week the parks were only open to 8 and 9 for CA and disneyland respectively..seemed short for a holiday week but is that normal?

Pretty much.

See "Historical DLR Park Hours, Entertainment and Refurbs" www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2291124

 

[Girimama33]

I was just there and a few things took me by surprise, especially in comparison to WDW florida where i go much more often...I kept being told that February was considered an "off season" but in reality it didnt feel like an offseason. I wanted to get some feedback from others who have gone to disneyland during presidents week in the past. Also im confused why some of the great processes that happen at the WDW resort in florida are lacking in california.

I don't think it is fair to compare the two...

Fairly large crowds - Ok the parks werent at capacity but so many wait times were 45 mins to an hour. I was at the resort labor day weekend 2012, 2 months after carsland opening and during the half marathon weekend and that was much less crowded with less wait times compared to last week and trying to figure out why. There isn't much as an off season any more. I think this really happens in the winter time when there are several rides down for refurb...all those people have to go somewhere. Plus, I know quite a few friends who had children that had the entire week off. It appears that crowds are getting progressively worse each year during the off season.

Extra magic hours in Disneyland not so magical - What a huge disappointment, when i was there a week ago the Disneyland park had the morning extra magic hour but only Tomorrowland and Fantasyland were open..the rest of the areas of the park are closed..is that normal? Its definitely not like that at the magic kingdom in florida and at disneyland what happened was the few rides you could get on had wait times of like 45 mins or so which defeats the purpose of the extra magic hour..to keep wait times down. The other strange thing was that you couldnt get fastpasses for any attraction in either disneyland or california adventure park during the extra magic hour, you can only get them when the parks officially opened to everyone when the extra magic hour ends...is that normal? in florida you can get fastpasses for rides during the extra magic hour so why wouldnt that be done in california?
You must not have done your homework in this area. Only FL and some of TL are open for EMH/MM (this has always been the case). Also, FP's are only available after the park opens. I guess I don't understand why it has to be the same as WDW. There are a lot of things that are different.

Major rides missing the fastpass option..cant believe its not available for popular rides with long waits like Peter Pan and Toy Story Midway Mania. You can get them in florida,,why not california? They don't have to do everything like WDW. On these boards, most suggest heading to Peter Pan first when at DL and heading to TSMM first in DCA because these rides do not offer FP. I am happy that FL and CA do things differently, because I am not all that excited about FP+ and MagicBands.

Ride Wait Time Apps - Again, in florida disney has an awesome app for all park info including ride wait times..why is this missing in california? I know labor day 2012 disneyland still utilized the mobile magic app and it was great but confused why disney would rather do nothing than keep that??
Mousewait and Touring Plans Lines offer ride times for DLR. I have no idea why they got rid of Mobile Magic. I preferred that app.

Lines not well managed - I guess because Disneyland wasnt prepared for crowds but thought it was strange that disneyland would rather take staff off of shift and make lines significantly longer. For example, the autopia had a 10 minute posted wait so i got on the line. When i was on the line they closed so many of the driving lanes and the the new wait time posted was now 40 minutes...why not just keep people on shift another hour or so, if for no other reason, then to get people done and out of the park especially since the parks werent even open that late? The same thing happened on the matterhorn bobsleds..they closed 1 whole side and the line turned into a 45 minute wait. I imagine there may be a method to their madness...either they were under staffed of maybe were having technical difficulties.

Short Park Hours - Except for actual presidents day, the rest of the week the parks were only open to 8 and 9 for CA and disneyland respectively..seemed short for a holiday week but is that normal? This is not considered a holiday week at the resort...that's why they have shorter hours.

Let me know if anyone has POV on these items from past experiences.

Thanks

David

Sorry you found so many issues with your trip. Hopefully the good out weighed the bad.

 

[DarthMole]

For some of this, it sounds like you were just not well prepared, which is strange if you were at the resort in 2012 because not much has changed. I can't compare to prior years specifically, but I will note that the hours in 2013 were longer than 2014. I noticed this when the hours were first posted after researching prior years data. Also to note, reports about President's week last year had the crowds being moderate. This is probably why they reduced the hours this year. I think the crowd levels caught them off guard a bit. In addition, at DL they had four big attractions down which just adds to the congestion on other rides. 35 minutes for Pirates... only with Splash and BTMRR down. We're used to Summer crowds and it certainly felt like summer this week, just with reduced hours which was a bit of a bummer.

EMH - I agree. Not so magical during the week at DL (Tues & Thur). Yes, only FL and Tomorrowland is open. Nothing new there. Fastpasses are also not available during early entry. Again, nothing new there. Except for Peter Pan, I'm not sure what rides had 45 min waits during the early entry. I didn't see any that long, but they were pretty busy regardless. I noted in another thread that reduced hours defeats some of the benefit of Early Entry because it gives people more time to rest and get to the park "early". Early entry in the summer with 8am - 12pm regular hours seems a lot easier to manage than what I experienced this week. Actually Saturday's 7am early entry was great in comparison to the prior days.

Rides wo/ FP - Space is the primary issue. Peter Pan does not have the space to provide for a FP and Standby queue. TSMM does and should have a FP. This is debated often.

Wait Time App - Yes, it would be nice to have a Disney supported wait time app available. Mousewait has worked well on our prior trips but it was useless for us on this trip and is a battery hog on my Nexus 5 for some reason so I deleted it on Day One. Disneyland Wait Times worked okay but I'd like one that had more accurate info and FP return times posted. Come on Disney... get on it.

Lines - Hard to know why they closed off Autopia lines. It may or may not have been due to staffing. As for Matterhorn, one side or the other can go down and have the other still operate. Sat morning both were running. We took the short wait on the right side during early entry. When we were done we hopped in the line on the left side and it went down so they funneled everyone to the right side. Regarding staffing, I'm sure they do their scheduling far out based on park hours and they can't just have people stay over to deal with a long line on a ride. The gripe should go back to them not being prepared in general for the crowds last week. Holiday week + Dapper Day rates = lots of people. The hotels were booked so they should have expected the crowds.

 

[DarthMole]

This is not considered a holiday week at the resort...that's why they have shorter hours.

This is not really true. Hours are expanded during President's week. Typical hours this time of year are 10-8, like today.

Hours in 2013 (DL / DCA)
M 8-11 / 8-10
T 9-10 / 9-9
W 9-10 / 9-9
T 9-10 / 9-9
F 8-12 / 8-11

Hours in 2014 (DL / DCA)
M 8-11 / 8-10
T 9-9 / 9-8
W 9-9 / 9-8
T 9-9 / 9-8
F 9-12 / 9-10

To update my other comment, you can see they reduced the hours this year. They had 9-10 hours in 2012 at DL as well.

 

[perlster]

Regarding staffing, I'm sure they do their scheduling far out based on park hours and they can't just have people stay over to deal with a long line on a ride. s.

"They" not only can, but "they" have kept the entire park staff working an extra hour by extending the closing time.

 

[sherilaine]

It is too bad you did not have a great trip.

I have to say though, I really get the impression you were expecting DLR to be WDW but in California. Coming in with set expectations like that is just setting oneself up for disappointment.

 

[DarthMole]

"They" not only can, but "they" have kept the entire park staff working an extra hour by extending the closing time.

That's a little different than saying "let's keep crew A on Autopia around for another hour so the wait time doesn't go up" which is what the OP seemed to be complaining about.

 

[perlster]

Whatever ... the fact stands ... I was there when it happened.

 

[MillauFr]

Our family has been at Disneyland for President's week for the past eight years. This year was by far the most crowded I have ever seen it. The park was jammed packed all week. Not sure why they were only open on Tue, Wed, Thu, from 9:00a to 9:00p. I remember in years past Disneyland was open until 10:00 or 11:00 on these days. One year I think they had planned to close at 9:00 but then announced they were going to keep the park open an hour later.

The only reason the park works for our family when it is this crowded is that we get a DAS pass that allows us to still go on rides like Radiator Springs Racers.

 

[twilightsparkle]

It is too bad you did not have a great trip.

I have to say though, I really get the impression you were expecting DLR to be WDW but in California. Coming in with set expectations like that is just setting oneself up for disappointment.

I agree with this. A few years ago DH and I had 1 day at WDW. We went to MK, I went in expecting to have the exact same experience I have at DLR. I hated every min of MK, bc I was expecting to to be DL. Sorry you were disappointed.

 

[silence]

I swear it seems every year people expect this week to be light and are surprised by the crowds. With so many schools out for the week throughout the state, no wonder the park is busy.

Add in an extra ride or two being down for refurb this year, and it even makes the park FEEL more crowded with more people in walk ways instead of lines for rides.

The past several years I have thought about going during this week, but I always remember the reports of crowds, so we don't go.

Yes, I imagine it is disappointing to those that went in thinking it was going to be "slow", but I don't think it's Disney's fault. I think if visitors did some research, they may have opted for a different time of year.

 

[DarthMole]

I swear it seems every year people expect this week to be light and are surprised by the crowds. With so many schools out for the week throughout the state, no wonder the park is busy.

Add in an extra ride or two being down for refurb this year, and it even makes the park FEEL more crowded with more people in walk ways instead of lines for rides.

The past several years I have thought about going during this week, but I always remember the reports of crowds, so we don't go.

Yes, I imagine it is disappointing to those that went in thinking it was going to be "slow", but I don't think it's Disney's fault. I think if visitors did some research, they may have opted for a different time of year.

I don't see anyone saying they thought this past week would be "slow" and reports from last year were the crowds were moderate. Take a look a couple posts up from someone who has been the past eight years during this same week. To suggest the crowds were normal compared to past President's weeks is simply inaccurate. Heck, I even posted about my expectation that the crowds would be summer-like before we left and my prediction was right.

 

[silence]

There were several threads over the past week about crowds and people not understanding why it was so busy as it was supposed to be "off season". My apologies, my reply was in response to not just this thread, but my observation of several postings over the past week or so.

 

[DarthMole]

Well you're right. If people were wondering why last week wasn't "off season" then they certainly didn't do their homework. I think most expected it to be moderate and even they maybe didn't take everything into consideration, including the fact that the parks have just simply been more busy lately. Combined with concentrated closures at DL and the good Dapper Day rates, nobody should have been too surprised.

 

[rtfelt]

There were more local schools closed the whole week than in the past. I also understand from some CMs that I know that they were not expecting the bigger crowds (surprised Disney was not more on top of this) and were staffed for a much slower days. In my experience that is the worst time to be at DLR--when they expect and staff for slow days and get crowds. It ends up feeling worse than summer. Of course the best are those lucky days when higher crowds are expected but for some reason, fewer people go--high staff ratio with everything running and fewer guests--priceless.