Disneyland fire trap

[JaneJetson]

Main Street on a busy night usually looks just like that after fireworks. We duck into a shop for 15 minutes, let the crowds disperse and then wander to wherever is next.

I think this is a great place to address the ever re-occurring New Year's Eve question, however. That picture is what Main Street looks like for HOURS on NYE - plus more. Imagine hanging out in that crowd for hours, not just for a brief time after the fireworks end. As I've said before - never again.As for the OP, sorry you found the crowds panicking. It does get bad after fireworks because:
1. most everyone is going to the same place
2. those going elsewhere are going in the EXACT opposite direction
3. people do not listen to CMs who are routing them the long way (although there is a reason for it: crowd control)

You mentioned that you left through a Cast Members only door. I am not going to comment on whether you should or should not have as I was not there, but I would like to offer this thought: Having no idea where that exit takes you, you could be creating a great issue as you may have placed yourself back stage where you do not know where anything it, where paths lead, or how to get out of the park. Also, there are not the same safety aids for you there (such as CMs directing traffic) to help you and your family.
Just a thought, not judging your choices since I was not there.

- Dreams

We decided to stop by Disneyland once to New Years Eve. I think it was 2005. Never again for us either.

 

[Hofmanns4]

I've seen this done last year. I don't remember what month it was. But they were directing people through backstage on the Plaza Inn side of Main Street. It was right after they cancelled the fireworks and there was a huge mob of people trying to leave.

I wanted to get in that mob just to be able to go backstage and see what was back there. Probably nothing interesting if those hallways are just to direct people.

We were directed this route during the taping of the Christmas parade over Veteran's Day weekend last November.

It was actually pretty cool. You could see the back side of parts of the Jungle Cruise.

 

[Sherry E]

We decided to stop by Disneyland once to New Years Eve. I think it was 2005. Never again for us either.

Ditto me on that. The New Year's Eve crowds are actually WORSE on Main Street than what we saw in those photos posted earlier on this thread! I am even afraid to go to DLR close to New Year's Eve by a few days, but on the actual night, it is ridiculous. The fireworks are nice - we were able to escape with our lives and get over to Tomorrowland to watch the fireworks without the mob scene like on Main Street - but that quantity of people is just TOO much to deal with!

 

[Gisele]

The crowds are actually worse from those photos, regarding NYE? OMG! (faint!) I have read posts in the past, regarding crowd levels during that time frame. However, I did not know, until now, that the crowd level, is that horrendous! (EEK)

 

[hoosiergirl7]

The only thing I can agree with the OP on is the rudeness at DL. We were AP holders while we lived there and went as frequently as we could. People pushed and were not very nice trying to get around the park and the teenagers by far were the worst. Extremely foul mouths, cutting in line...

The rest, well that's what can happen when you go to the parks when they close early for a hard-ticket event. It's a little easier at WDW since there are a total of 4 parks to go to. So if one closes, there are 3 others unlike DL which only has DCA as the additional park. What we do is just wait it out until the mass exodus is finished - even if it means waiting 20 - 30 minutes.

An FYI, the food in the parks is going to be expensive. That's just the way it is. If I want to eat somewhere bad enough, I pay what the prices are on the menu. There's also a wealth of info on the net to give you info about restaurants. The best place to find info on price and menus at DL & WDW is allears.net

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

The only thing I can agree with the OP on is the rudeness at DL. We were AP holders while we lived there and went as frequently as we could. People pushed and were not very nice trying to get around the park and the teenagers by far were the worst. Extremely foul mouths, cutting in line...

Ick, speaking of rude, this past Sunday we were on Star Tours and the man behind us was totally DRUNK, I mean just tossed and he was so rude and loud. You could smell the alcohol on him, it was disgusting. We were looking for a security guard after we got out of the ride, but couldn't find one fast enough. The guy could barely walk, his girlfriend/wife/whatever had to pull him. I thought it was so so rude, especially on the girlfriend/wife/whatever's part, she was not drunk and for staying and letting him stay in the park was stupid on her part.

 

[Gisele]

That is most unsettling, PrettyPrincessBelle! Rude people are bad enough, however, what is worse is a loud,obnoxious,cretinous, drunk! Disneyland is not a proper place for that kind of behavior to be exhibited. If said drunk was going to become drunk at his home, fine. But at Disneyland! That is just not right!

 

[The Blue Parrot]

Maybe you should plan to go somewhere else next time?

 

[rszdtrvl]

I kind of agree with the double stroller thing. KIND OF.

When we were at Disneyland, we somehow managed to get in back of 5 women walking side-by-side with strollers. We were stuck in back of them for a while because they were not moving very fast, and there was no way around them.

And.....

We got bopped in the back of the legs numerous times by people with the mega strollers who were either a) trying to get us to walk faster, or b) not paying attention.

That being said, I think the rudeness is mostly in the person in control of the stroller, not the actual stroller.

(And those double strollers hurt more than the single strollers when they hit that sensitive area between your foot and your calf....)

 

[LittleBlackRaincloud]

I can see frustration about crowd levels. I don't do well in crowds like that, and usually find a spot to sit, and wait for the people to thin a little before adding to the chaos.

I've heard more than once around here that double strollers should be banned. This was coming from all sides. I have not been yet, but understand that pathways and stores are narrow. I am planning on taking two single strollers so that DH and I at least try and not block whole passageways.

I doubt our OP will respond, but I wish him a happy vacation elswhere.

 

[Sherry E]

The crowds are actually worse from those photos, regarding NYE? OMG! (faint!) I have read posts in the past, regarding crowd levels during that time frame. However, I did not know, until now, that the crowd level, is that horrendous! (EEK)

Gisele, in my experience, the one time I was at DLR for the NYE-NYD holiday, the crowds on Main Street were worse than in the photos on this thread - and they stayed like that for HOURS! The closer it got to midnight, the thicker the crowds got and there was no space to walk in the street, on the sidewalks, on the rooftops, anywhere!!! People were packed shoulder to shoulder and not moving, because they all wanted to stake out a hot spot on MS for midnight! It was crazy, and one of my friends suddenly developed a 'sore throat' and went back to the room. But I knew she just secretly got panicked by the crowds and didn't want to get caught up in them - and I couldn't blame her, though I stayed there with my other friend, and we somehow clawed our way over to Tomorrowland, which was much less crazy! I don't know what the NYE crowds are like now, 8 years later, but I would be afraid to find out!!!

If anyone ever does go on NYE, stay away from Main Street - that is my advice. Go anywhere else in the park but there!

 

[Gisele]

Sherry..... Yikes! ( big faint! )
I do not blame your friend for going back to her room either. If I could not make it to an area that I was relatively comfortable with, I would be leaving, most likely too.

 

[Rainforest_Elf]

I kind of agree with the double stroller thing. KIND OF.

We got bopped in the back of the legs numerous times by people with the mega strollers who were either a) trying to get us to walk faster, or b) not paying attention.

That being said, I think the rudeness is mostly in the person in control of the stroller, not the actual stroller.

(And those double strollers hurt more than the single strollers when they hit that sensitive area between your foot and your calf....)

I think strollers are the devil. They take up so much room in the parks and I too experienced people running into my heels because they thought I was walking to slow.

Now, I know this is extreme and most people are responsible stroller users, but really, any time I got in front of someone with a stroller, I got hit in the heels. It was at least 2-3 times a day over the course of 4 days in the theme parks. Too much, if you ask me. If people had any idea what personal space is, it wouldn't happen at all.

 

[JaneJetson]

I think strollers are the devil. They take up so much room in the parks and I too experienced people running into my heels because they thought I was walking to slow.

Now, I know this is extreme and most people are responsible stroller users, but really, any time I got in front of someone with a stroller, I got hit in the heels. It was at least 2-3 times a day over the course of 4 days in the theme parks. Too much, if you ask me. If people had any idea what personal space is, it wouldn't happen at all.

Do you have children? Or have you ever taken small children to someplace like Disneyland or the zoo or anything?

If not, if you plan on having children and taking them to Disneyland when they are young...will you use a stroller?

Just wondering.

I've been hit by many strollers at Disneyland. Usually when it's super crowded. And most of the time people apologize. Sure, there are people that are just being jerks and bumping into people. But for the most part, it's accidents. When we have kids, you can bet we'll be renting a stroller when they are young (but no more strollers when they are close to 4 or 5 years old, tops.) My pet peeve is seeing giant children in strollers. give me a break. My cousin did WDW at the age of 4 with no stroller. I did it at the age of 6 and was fine.

I'm rambling.

 

[jernysgirl]

As a mother of 2 who are in strollers, I know that it is sometimes hard to gauge where the front of your stroller is at times. Especially when crowds are heavier, and people are pushing you from behind which causes you to push the stroller forward and hit someone else.

BUT, it is no more annoying than the people walking around with their noses in their maps as they carelessly block the path and bump into others, or the teenagers who decide to gather a group of their friends for gossip sessions in the middle of the path either, IMO.

As a PP stated, I think it has more to do with the person pushing the stroller. I ALWAYS try to be sensitive of people's personal space, especially when in places like DL. The last thing you want is someone "tailgating" you, or breathing down your neck while waiting in line. I am sure that everyone has experienced these things while at the park. If I ever happened to accidentally bump into someone with my stroller, I always apologized. But it has rarely ever happened.

I am smart enough to realize, that with strollers and the multiple people in our group, we are often in other people's way. We usually attempt to wait the crowds out in situations like this. Waiting 10 minutes could mean the world in terms of how thick crowds are.

Try being there 4th of July night, which I have. It was VERY crowded then too. Or being there on the bridge in NOS as Fantasmic lets out on a summer night, I've done that too. I knew there was going to be crowds. It was obvious.... a huge mass of people all wanting to move in one direction spells nightmare!

But I think that things like this have to be expected. It was a 3-day holiday weekend, MTOTP was that evening too. And it was the end of the night when people start to head home. I think that everyone, not just the OP, needs to be patient when it comes to situations like this. Panicking, pushing to get through, trying to cut in front of others, or taking paths that go the wrong direction or into CM only areas is most likely only going to make the situation a lot worse. There are thousands of other people that are doing the same thing as you (trying to get through the crowds) that are probably feeling the same way.

Please don't be selfish if you can help it. Think about all the children who are more terrified than you that are in those crowds. Or the ones in the strollers who get pushed by people. Or what about all the pregnant women who get elbowed in the side by someone trying to get through. It seems that they think they are more deserving of getting to their destination than you are..

Sorry for the rant, but come on.... common sense would have taken care of a lot of these issues.

 

[Gisele]

No, I do not think that you were rambling. And if you were, so what! I like rambling, and run on sentences ( my offense still, a thousand pardons to the run on sentence police! )

 

[Gisele]

I can imagine, oh say a 3 year old child in a stroller, thinking OMG! whose humongous booty is this in my facial? I do not recognize it! Nor do I wish to, either! I hope that I do not have nightmares tonight! I wish my parental unit, would stop tailgating, they always do that, with my stroller, when they are driving me in our car, with the grocery cart in the store........OMG! I will need therapy if this continues to happen! Ohhh, Dr. Phil, when may I be penciled in for an appointment? Please!

 

[bumbershoot]

Yeah, it's some of the stroller-pushers that are evil, not the items themselves. And some of the seemingly evil stroller-pushers are just clueless. My husband hasn't a single clue as to where the front of our jogging stroller is. And he's tall enough that he can see the front! I can't, but I can manage not to get my own spouse's achilles heel with the dingdang thing (unlike a certain male adult that lives in my condo).

Doesn't make it any less painful, and I still hold a grudge against the lady in Alexandria Virginia during the Scottish festival who got my achilles more than twice and had no idea she was doing it, but they aren't all using the stroller as a battering ram.

It's why we don't bring the jogger to disneyland and why hubby doesn't even push the Volo in crowds.

 

[bonita_babe232]

I think its a kinda half half thing..... cause if i have a 1 yr old and 3 yr old i need my double (specially if i were alone) or else i would be stopping all the time to worry about the 3 yr old and then getting in peoples way! But as has been said u have to watch where ur going, hitting someone once with a sorry is ok 2+ isnt!!!! my DH is the same way bumber!!! i hate letting him drive cause he always hits me.... hes a people watcher so to many distracting people i guess

 

[Katiebell]

I guess I'm just confused by this OP because it's titled "Disneyland fire trap" and it has almost nothing to do with that -- the OP is complaining about the price of food, and not enough Mickey Mouses, and banning double strollers, and opening everything for early entry, and ejecting rude people??? Who would make the decision about what constitutes "rude enough to be kicked out of Disneyland"? Isn't that rather subjective?

Yes, the crowds can be insane at times, especially after fireworks or a parade, much more so during a holiday. Ducking into a shop or finding a bench to sit and wait for a while has always worked for us, no need to muscle our way through. Even so, we've always experienced very competent crowd control by the CM's -- I'm sure there are times when it's much worse, but we've never experienced it as an out-of-control madhouse.

The OP wasn't "trapped in the ice cream parlor for over 40 minutes" -- they left the BB because they were upset about the high prices, found themselves diverted into the ice cream parlor area and decided to wait in line for ice cream. The line wasn't moving very fast and the place was crowded so the left through a CM exit.

Other than the huge crowds, most of the complaints in the original post are all over the map, and most are not valid. Yes, prices are high -- they are at every amusement park. Yes, you will need to wait in line for your child to meet a character -- that's one reason character meals are so popular. Yes, there will be strollers in use, and in crowds they can be unwieldly and you may get bumped (hopefully on accident). Yes, there will be rude people...there are rude people everywhere. Ah well, sounds from their post like it's their first visit to DL -- and their last.