Christmas time capacity

[cp11]

While I imagine this question has been asked bear with me while I may ask it again. I can see myself hunting forever to answer it. LOL

We will be at DL for our first Christmas experience. We have been planning this trip for probably a year and a half to two years. Last year I was reading on how the park reached capacity and they had to stop letting people in.

Here's my question. If we go early when the park first opens, can we get a hand stamp and come back in later even after they close the park because of limit capacity? When they reach capacity I'm not sure if I understand how it works exactly. Is it limited only to people that come in later in morning/day or does it include the people that have been there first thing in the morning and received a hand stamp and want to come back say after a nap/rest at hotel?

I am trying to make my question as clear as possible and probably am not doing a very good job.

Any help/suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

Capacity has several steps including stop selling tickets, only letting re-entries, and just not letting anyone in at all. If its at capacity you will not be allowed back in until a certain number of people leave. It usually is around early/mid afternoon, and reopens after the parade. The exception is New Years eve where it often closes and stays closed because no one leaves. What days are you going to be there?

 

[cp11]

We will actually be in the park Dec 21 throught the 27th. I will take any info and advice!!! Thank you.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

We will actually be in the park Dec 21 throught the 27th. I will take any info and advice!!! Thank you.

I think the busiest day will be the 27th. Capacity may be reached on the earlier part of your trip, but it will likely be brief. We went Dec. 18-23 in 2009 and although it was reported capacity was reached on a few of those days, we NEVER experienced it because it happened after we left for an afternoon break and was back open before we came back. Crowds are the worst after Christmas. We've done the 26th and 27th once and it was nuts. But we were also unprepared. On the 27th they stopped selling 1 day tickets to Disneyland (could still get one to go to DCA only) by 11 am.

 

[cp11]

Well, we don't have to worry about buying a one day ticket. And I was kind of thinking maybe we would try to do universal on the 26th or 27th just because of the capacity issue. I hope we don't regret our decision to spend our Christmas here. We have always gone at other times of the year just because of reading the horror stories. But right now we are having trouble getting our kids there with their sports schedules anymore! Thanks for insight.

 

[GenGen22]

We went to New Years Eve and we had a ADR in DTD and was told if we leave the park we may not be able to re-enter because they expected the park to reach capacity so, we ate at a QS restaurant called Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante. It was awesome. We sat outside and sat under the xmas lights. If it's expected to reach capacity, I would not leave.

 

[Malcon10t]

The busiest of your days will probably be Christmas. If the park hits capacity, with the exception of New Years Eve, the park will reopen after the parade, as people tend to leave for the day. If the park is at capacity, you can head to DCA or DTD for a bit. It will usually reopen when enough people have departed.

And to clarify, you MUST have a handstamp during this time, and if the Fire Marshal closes the park for capacity, no one is allowed in until enough people leave to safely reopen.

We are there every year from about Dec 22 to Jan 3-4. We love going in this time frame, but it is busy. Closures are normal, but if you know it might happen, and understand when it might reopen, it is easier to deal with.

 

[3Minnies1Mickey]

The busiest of your days will probably be Christmas. If the park hits capacity, with the exception of New Years Eve, the park will reopen after the parade, as people tend to leave for the day. If the park is at capacity, you can head to DCA or DTD for a bit. It will usually reopen when enough people have departed.

And to clarify, you MUST have a handstamp during this time, and if the Fire Marshal closes the park for capacity, no one is allowed in until enough people leave to safely reopen.

We are there every year from about Dec 22 to Jan 3-4. We love going in this time frame, but it is busy. Closures are normal, but if you know it might happen, and understand when it might reopen, it is easier to deal with.

I thought it got busier after Christmas. I'm not saying Christmas won't be busy, but is it usually busier than say the 26th and 27th?

 

[Malcon10t]

I thought it got busier after Christmas. I'm not saying Christmas won't be busy, but is it usually busier than say the 26th and 27th?

I usually does, but Christmas usually has turnstile closures, and with the Rose Bowl not being played until the 2nd, most of the Rose Bowl crowds won't be happening until the 28th most likely instead of the 27th (that was what they did the last time they played on the 2nd.) (Bands from the Rose Bowl parade play the parade route, and with that comes all their families, the football teams are usually introduced at the park 5 days prior to the game, and with that comes all the school rah rah squads and parents, etc...) The day the Rose Bowl teams arrive will be the busiest of that week...

 

[Disney Dreams]

Okay, December 21st - 27th...

The Park will be less crowded prior to the 25th than after. If you are planning on a day at Universal, I would go either the 26th or the 27th.

As for Christmas itself, I cannot recommend going to Universal on Christmas because I have no idea what the crowd is like there, but it might be something to research. As for Disneyland, it will be quiet (relatively) in the morning and get exponentially busier as the day goes on, typically turning into arguably the second busiest days of the entire year.

The Parks will then get busier and busier throughout the next 6 days, leading up to NYE, which most agree is THE busiest day of the year.

The entire key is to NOT LEAVE the Parks once you are in during the days you are looking at going if there are signs up near the exits cautioning about Park capacity. I know many people like to go to their hotels for a mid-afternoon break. On the days between Christmas and NYE, this is a mistake. You may not get back in. Take your break inside the Park.

Now this is the confusing part, so hang with me. Christmas Day (many believe) is the 2nd busiest day of the year, but in any case, it IS very busy. However, as I explained above, it's busy later in the day. The 26th - 30th are busy days overall throughout the entire day, each day getting increasingly busier, leading up to THE day, the 31st. Unlike Christmas, they are busy starting from the beginning and just get more so as the day moves along.

I DON'T agree with the comment made about the Rose Bowl teams, UNLESS, both teams are relatively local (west coast), then, there is a huge impact.

The key for your trip will be to get the most done PRIOR to Christmas Day and just know that in the days after Christmas, it's more about enjoying the atmosphere and just having fun doing whatever you can, not having a checklist and a massive "to do" plan.

HTH,
Dreams

 

[Malcon10t]

The entire key is to NOT LEAVE the Parks once you are in during the days you are looking at going if there are signs up near the exits cautioning about Park capacity. I know many people like to go to their hotels for a mid-afternoon break. On the days between Christmas and NYE, this is a mistake. You may not get back in. Take your break inside the Park.

While the park may close, it has always reopened by 5pm during the week. We have never had a problem taking a break and reentering the park during this week. (Been doing this week every year since 1999, except for 2003.)

I DON'T agree with the comment made about the Rose Bowl teams, UNLESS, both teams are relatively local (west coast), then, there is a huge impact.

We have found the opposite. When USC played in 2006 and 2007, the park was actually quieter. Last year TCU played Wisconsin and had one of the biggest turn outs. The park hard closed every day from the 27-29th. And all you could see everywhere were Horned Frogs and Badgers. The previous year was the Oregon Ducks and the OS Buckeyes, and both teams were very well represented, with the Ducks forming LONG lines to meet Donald...

And lets not forget the bands and their groups. You will see 4-6 bands march Main St each day. They are GREAT to watch, but realize they come with a lot of family too, as it is a big deal for them!

 

[larina]

I didn't even think about the bands.

 

[cp11]

Thanks so much everyone. This is exactly the kind of comments I was hoping for so that I can take it back to my group and we can plan on what we're doing and when.

 

[Disneyqueendenmark]

Hi... Sorry for kind of stealing your thread But I just didn't see any reason for making a new thread with almost the same topic... Hope you don't mind

My mom, 80-year old grandmom (in a wheelchair) and I will spend our Christmas eve at DL and DCA. In some of the comments it seamed, that many people will leave the park in the afternoon and not stay all day? I just can't figure out how to do DL and DCA that day! DL first thing, DCA mid-day and DL afternoon and evening? But i'm not sure to be let in because of capacity!!! Any help?

Does any of you know or have a guess of which day would be the best day to visit other than Dec. 24. We are thinking about dec. 23 OR 25. Maybe we can drive from Venice Beach on Dec. 21 OR 22, but then we won't be at the park from morning

-Thanks in advance ;D
Rebekka

 

[cp11]

Disneyqueen - absolutely steal away! That's how I get all my great info. I don't mind at all because I love to get responses. Hope you get your questions answered.

Have a great trip. I can hardly wait to spend time with my family.

 

[Disney Dreams]

...We have found the opposite....

And lets not forget the bands and their groups. You will see 4-6 bands march Main St each day. They are GREAT to watch, but realize they come with a lot of family too, as it is a big deal for them!

As you mentioned, "lets not forget the bands and their groups." this is precisely why the crowds are worse if the two teams are local. If both teams are So. Cal. teams there is a higher percentage of family members and friends of those that are in the parades, including those aforementioned bands and accompanying groups, that come to Disneyland. If they do not have to fly to come see their family member/friend perform, they are more likely to come to the Park. Multiple by two schools and it results in higher crowds than if the teams are not local.

- Dreams

 

[Malcon10t]

I'm not really talking about the college band that is playing, remember there are bands that come from all over the world to play in the parade. We love the mariachi band that comes annually form Mexico to play. The college bands only make up 2 of the bands. This year expect to see the Lubbuck High School marching bands, Marching Giants from Indianapolis, the Swedish Navy band, Crestview HS band from FLorida, etc... Expect a huge turn out for the Green Band from Kyoto, Japan. These will bring considerably more visitors than the LAUSD Honor marching band. While many local parents will turn out to see their child, more won't because many will have SoCal passes and won't buy the block out ticket for a 10 minute march, whereas they will watch them on the actual parade route. The families coming from Japan, will have it all included in their package.

I can see where people would think that having USC bring more because they are local, but more people think "Its going to be crazy and I can see them at the Rose Bowl itself", whereas the bands from out of town definitely draw a bigger crowd. I am actually hoping for a USC game, simply because in 2006-2008 crowds were considerably lighter and had fewer turnstile closures (I believe is was 2007 there were NO gate closures that entire week..)

We will just have to have differing opinions.