So glad I cancelled!

[Chiomaca]

I arrived at 5:30 and stayed in DL until after the fireworks (well after - I walked onto Pirates right after them, even though I got there from Small World) and grabbed a snack before heading over the DCA for the rest of the party. When I arrived, I walked right up to bag check and waited behind maybe two groups of people to get through the turnstiles, but I heard that shortly after that, they kept people out, so my timing was good. Once rope drop happened and the mass of humanity dispersed (which I got around by ducking into the stores and walking straight through to the Hub), it didn't feel any more crowded than a normal busy weekend. I made some good choices by going straight to the single rider line for Matterhorn (10 min wait, maybe) and getting FPs for Space Mountain, Star Tours, and Haunted Mansion, all of which had stupid long lines. I walked onto or had short waits for everything else but BTMRR, which I think I waited 45 minutes in the stand-by line. My best decision was to make reservations for restaurants, so I never waited in a food line other than for breakfast at the Plaza Inn. (No line at all for Dole Whips on the Tiki Room side around noon, which was nice.)

Overall, I think most of the people went in knowing it was going to be crowded but that nobody was being malicious if they bumped into you. I shared seats on the train with a group of teen girls who were adorable, and funny as only girls that age can be. I grabbed a spot near small world on the raised area around 6:30, and ended up sitting around several nice groups. The only annoyance were the two pre-teen boys who kept bumping into me while waiting for the 3am WOC, and protested when I asked them to stop...then were mildly horrified to realize that they were, indeed bumping into me and apologized.

Not sure I'd do it again, but it was fun. I also did it alone because I couldn't think of a single person that could (1) take the time and (2) enjoy themselves, so I get that some people could not have handled the crowd. I'm a pretty strong introvert and I'm not sure I could have done it had I had to worry about someone else.

 

[disneymom0104]

I keep hearing that the ride times weren't so bad, but the crowds everywhere else (Main Street) were pretty bad. I thought it was interesting that Touring Plans predicted it would be a 10/10 but the next day said it was actually only an 8. We were there Saturday the 16th and like I said in another thread it was the most crowded I had ever seen a Disney park. Touring plans predicted that day as an 8 and after the fact said it was actually a 9. I wonder if it is all just based on ride times and not actual park capacity? Last Sat. evening Space was at 110 minutes at 6pm with no FP remaining for a 12am closure, as one example (they were all bad). I don't think I could ever do it for 24 hours- but it looked great from 10pm-6am from the vlogs I have seen!

 

[sophies*mom]

That castle pic is beautiful! That's definitely a rare treasure.

I saw a pic of the crowd on twitter and also was glad I wasn't in that mob! I watched the live feed online but it definitely wasn't the same. Kind of cool to see it live, though.

 

[sheetz]

Touring plans predicted that day as an 8 and after the fact said it was actually a 9. I wonder if it is all just based on ride times and not actual park capacity?

Yes, it says so on their website:

We at Touring Plans define a 'crowd' as the average posted wait time for the key attractions between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm.

Which can make it somewhat misleading for DLR because of the nature of the crowds. For instance, on Fridays the parks are more crowded in the evenings due to locals coming in after work.

 

[Fantaluminishes]

It seems to me that it was just main street and parade route that got really crowded, but the rest of the park seemed manageable and wait times not too bad, based only on my observation from outside the park. Was that the case?

Also, lines to get in the park were supposedly hours long?

This is almost exactly right. I spent most of the event at DL. The parade route was packed for most of the day. Rides lines were short. I was there solo, and the longest lines I stood in were Cozy Cone Motel (30 mins) and Main St Starbucks (45 mins). I saw all of the new shows, AND Fantasmic.

Lines to get in the parks got extremely long when Disneyland reached capacity at 1:50pm. By around 5pm, DL was completely closed, and remained that way until 2am. Some have questioned this. Because of the Main Street situation, this was completely necessary and justified.

 

[Creaking Crypt Door]

That looks like my worst nightmare!

Here's to hoping there's a mad rush early on for the celebration and by the end of June it will have died even a LITTLE bit...

 

[Canuck16]

Crowds like that would drive me crazy

 

[Chiomaca]

I went nowhere near Main Street for most of the day - aside from the occasional walk across the Hub to short cut between Lands. I think I'd have gone home had I had to stay in the spots that were most crowded. So many people were in line for food, popcorn buckets, and limited edition items that those of us who were uninterested had the run of the park. I never felt overcrowded, even during the parades and fireworks.

 

[undertheseas]

I get very anxious around crowds so once I heard there would be a 24 hour day during our trip I almost rearranged our schedule to go to the beach that day. We arrived at 4:30 AM and stood in line outside the park for 30-45 min before waiting in front of the train station for another 45 min. At first the park was just crowded but it did get worse as the day went on. Driving a stroller was very difficult, especially since the back tires are suddenly don't working right and not turning correctly. But it honestly was very do-able. We never stood in line for more than 30 minutes and hit all the big attractions. We never waited more than 15 minutes for counter service. We didn't stay as late as we hoped only because our youngest pooped out at 5:30 and we were worried about the stroller kicking the bucket while she was asleep. I never once felt panicked at the crowd (irritated yes). I would do it again once my youngest is a bit older. My biggest complaint really was the camping out for fireworks that started so early.

 

[taniahappy]

I LOVED it! We did the complete 24 hours and it was an amazing experience, hey you only live once, right?

 

[theluckyrabbit]

We didn't do the full 24 hours, but we did have a really fun time. Managed to miss all the drama outside the parks and enjoyed being with friends. Avoided MS and never really ran into any super crowded situations. Longest line of the night was at Starbucks. Looking forward to next year's party!

 

[SomeGuyInOz]

My experience was quite different. I arrived from Australia in the morning so couldn't get to the parks until just before 4pm. By that stage there was no more entry into Disneyland, which I kind of expected might be the case, so I eventually got into DCA. By that stage, the line at the bag-check had gone out to Harbor Blvd and things were getting a little chaotic.

DCA was very busy compared to usual. The lines were longish, but only got longer as the evening went on. The park kept filling up with guests who were unable to enter Disneyland and in the end all the lines were crazy long. We expected Disneyland crowds to start to disperse after the fireworks, and indeed they did. But they did not reopen Disneyland! As the crowds in Disneyland thinned out and many attractions became walk-ons, the crowds at DCA became ridiculous. Tower of Terror at one point had a posted wait time of 150 minutes!!! By 1:30am there was a massive crush at people near the exit of DCA, as well as a massive line of people waiting at the stalled bag-check in Downtown Disney.

There is a full and very accurate report on Mice Chat today that's worth reading. That's exactly what I was caught up in. I think for many people who got to the parks in the afternoon, or who didn't enter Disneyland in time, the day was probably not fantastic. Don't get me wrong - I loved seeing the return of the Mad T Party, but there were also a lot of dramas I won't even bother to post about here. By 1am it was no longer fun.

At about 3am we could finally enter Disneyland, but a lot of attractions were closed by then and of course the final Paint the Night parade was over. I stayed until 5ish, because my friends wanted to, but I couldn't wait to leave. Not my best DL experience.

 

[ludari]

I attended the 24 hour event and I was in with those masses hours before the park officially opened. Luckily I was staying at Grand California so I was able to travel back and forth between the parks and my hotel to rest when I needed to. I really enjoyed my four day visit to the parks during this past weekend and although it was a bit more crowded than normal I still had fun.

 

[Davey Jones II]

This event is completely out of control, and I honestly don't see the appeal of sleep deprivation combined with sardine can overcrowding. But Disney must make such a fortune from merch and food sales that they probably will never cancel it.

 

[Gisele]

[QUOTE="ludari, post: 537 although it was a bit more crowded than normal......[/QUOTE]


Understatement much?
LMAO

 

[agamble]

We were there from about 8am to shortly before 4pm. As others said the ride lines were manageable, and in the morning they were actually very light, except Matterhorn which had a 90 minute wait at 9am. We wanted to see the parade an fireworks, but it was too crowded as people began staking out spots before 9am. Many people were simply standing in lines to buy merchandise and food. Being in the parks we did not know that the parks were closed and we were not informed of that when we left or told we would not be allowed reentry. Okay for us as we didn't plan to reenter, but not great for other guests who may have planned to. When we entered the esplanade we were shocked to see thousands of people standing in line, it was difficult to get out though we were able to at that time. I am glad we left when we did because it sounds like if we'd left an hour later we may not have been able to get to Harbor.

 

[taniahappy]

I would prob do it again but not like we did it this time... I would stay at one of their hotels and just go back and sleep, rest when we felt like it... it was just something we needed to experience

 

[john398]

I am so glad I went too, I wasn't there for the rides and honestly what I rode had no lines (small world at 2am and we had a boat all to ourselves)

The song from the video is from the parade right?

 

[RKKUNK]

We stayed at DLH and did not leave DL once we were there. We didn't want to get locked out because of capacity. We got up about 4:30 am and were in the park at 5:15 am. My husband had wanted to wait to go until about 7:00 am so we could get more sleep and knowing what I know now, I would have done that. I wanted one of the 24-hour shirts and you can still get them online!

 

[mr.bungle]

Wow! We call that butts to nuts.