Company Only Disneyland Visits

[disneygogetter]

My parents had told me that back in the 70's at Disneyland they had a time where they had it for companies like one day was only for the California Gas Company employees to go to the park for the day.

Other times other companies had their own day for their own employees. Does Disneyland still do this sort of thing for companies only to have their own day or does this no longer exist?

 

[Belle Ella]

Yes and no. The whole park wont be closed for a day for a private party for a company, but they can potentially close down an entire 'land' during park operating hours (usually towards the evening) - but most of the time they will have private access to areas of the park after closing.

 

[HydroGuy]

My parents had told me that back in the 70's at Disneyland they had a time where they had it for companies like one day was only for the California Gas Company employees to go to the park for the day.

Other times other companies had their own day for their own employees. Does Disneyland still do this sort of thing for companies only to have their own day or does this no longer exist?

From what I remember, at one time DL was closed two days a week. They also had tickets for day time separate from night time. So that allowed them to do things like what you are describing. Today it is very rare to be able to do things like you discuss and usually it has to happen later at night after Disney closes the park early.

 

[disneygogetter]

Yeah sounds like fun but none of those were during the day time?

 

[HydroGuy]

Yeah sounds like fun but none of those were during the day time?

Maybe when DL was closed two days a week?

 

[sharonabe]

We went every year from around 1967 to 1976 on McDonnell Douglas' day. The whole park wasn't closed, but we had free tickets to get in. I don't remember if we had to buy our own coupon books or if one book was also a part of the deal. The best part was the park closed to all other guests sometime in the early evening (4:00-6:00), and ONLY Douglas employees were left in the park. At that point, no coupons were needed and we could ride any and all rides as many times as we wanted with relatively no wait. Back in the day of having only one or two E-ticket coupons, this was heaven!

 

[Fantaluminishes]

My company had a private party at DCA one night in 2003. The entire park was closed to the public, and Condor Flats to Paradise Pier was open to us. We also had entertainment and multiple food buffets and open bars along the walkways. It was a really cool evening.

 

[disneygogetter]

So they don't do this sort of thing for any other company do they? Like the school district employees for the L.A. Unified School District or anything like that? And why do they only do it at night? Do the characters roam the park at night or no?

 

[starry_solo]

So they don't do this sort of thing for any other company do they? Like the school district employees for the L.A. Unified School District or anything like that? And why do they only do it at night? Do the characters roam the park at night or no?

The company would have to buy the park for the day/night so unless LAUSD did that, it wouldn't happen. If LAUSD did that, there would be too much controversy, etc.

 

[Vintage Mouseketeer]

So they don't do this sort of thing for any other company do they? Like the school district employees for the L.A. Unified School District or anything like that? And why do they only do it at night? Do the characters roam the park at night or no?

That would be a joke!

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Yes, once upon a time Disneyland was closed on Monday/Tuesday in the off season. That time was dedicated to ride/park maintenance. There are times that rides and areas of the park must be totally not running or blocked off to tear down and do work on them. Some of that has suffered since DL is 7 days a week now.

They used to have what they called "private parties". These usually occurred after hours (at night) in the off season mostly, when regular operating hours were shorter. Tickets sold for these events were strictly limited to those companies/organizations who "rented" the park for the night. The park would close and then re-open for those people holding party tickets.

Then there were what were called "mix-in parties". These also, typically were in the off season. The park would be open regular hours that day (say, 10:00 am - 7:00 pm). The organization/company who had rented the park for their party would typically have their party from 4:00 pm - 11:00pm. So the hours between 4 and 7 anyone holding either regular tickets or party tickets could enter. After 7:00 only those holding party tickets could enter, but any guest already in the park could stay and ride until 11:00, or whenever they left the park.

Then, when the park started being open every day, mix in parties started not allowing those with regular park tickets to ride after the regular closing time. So the ride operators would be checking tickets to make sure only those people with the party tickets were getting the benefit.