Does staying On Site give you an automatic 'in' on New Years Eve?

[Lollipop's Mom]

Thinking about braving DL for new years this year! Wondering if staying on site guests get any priority to guarantee getting into the park?

 

[Tinkerbell19672]

Do you mean if parks hit capacity? I doubt it. I’ve stayed onsite when parks closed, 60th anniversary for one, and couldn’t get in. Although we did ask at the booth and were refunded a day of our 5 day ticket.

 

[Jerryp49]

Staying at one of the Resort Hotels you get Extra Magic Hour so you get into the park one hour before General admission...and I believe if they hit capacity you can be readmitted if you leave and come back, but I would ask before leaving

 

[StarWarsNerd24]

I to would imagine that you would have to be in the park early on that paritcular day/night.

 

[ParkHopper1]

It does to a small degree.

Capacity closures happen in several phases starting with no new ticket sales then a few other steps all the way to one in/one out. One of those steps is readadmissions and resort guests, no new entrants (except for resort guests)

In reality they usually fly right by that phase and jump right to one in/one out...and that has only been for a few years off and on and only for a few hours late afternoon then gates reopen early evening.

Is it worth staying on site IMO?...absolutely.

Is it worth staying on site solely to gain an advantage for NYE...not at all.

 

[gelatoni fan]

It does to a small degree.

Capacity closures happen in several phases starting with no new ticket sales then a few other steps all the way to one in/one out. One of those steps is readadmissions and resort guests, no new entrants (except for resort guests)

In reality they usually fly right by that phase and jump right to one in/one out...and that has only been for a few years off and on and only for a few hours late afternoon then gates reopen early evening.

Is it worth staying on site IMO?...absolutely.

Is it worth staying on site solely to gain an advantage for NYE...not at all.

There was a day last December that park hoppers were not allowed in but Annual Passholders were. To my knowledge, people staying in a Disney hotel but holding park hoppers were told to go to DCA even if trying to re-enter Disneyland. Having a confirmed dining reservation inside of Disneyland can also help in getting in.

In recent years, it seems like December 27/28 are the days most likely to reach capacity and New Years Eve doesn't really reach capacity.

 

[Malcon10t]

No. Once the park hit capacity, the only way to get in is if you are on a VIP tour. People say "Dining reservations" or "Staying onsite", but when the park hits the hard close, neither will help. If you are on a VIP tour, you are classified as "In the park" even if you exit to go to the other park or to DTD.

 

[mentos]

Some of my worst Disneyland memories involve being there on NYE by the french fry rocks. Never again.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Thinking about braving DL for new years this year! Wondering if staying on site guests get any priority to guarantee getting into the park?

Keep in mind that this NYE may be totally different -- "hitting capacity" may not happen like in the old days if there are new rules and procedures on how many guests are allowed in the parks, social distancing, etc. And who knows if people will even want to risk NYE celebrations packed in like sardines on Main Street? I can't really see Disney planning something like that for this year now...

 

[gelatoni fan]

No. Once the park hit capacity, the only way to get in is if you are on a VIP tour. People say "Dining reservations" or "Staying onsite", but when the park hits the hard close, neither will help. If you are on a VIP tour, you are classified as "In the park" even if you exit to go to the other park or to DTD.

It's kind of confused because a lot of people say the park has "hit capacity" as soon as they end ticket sales which is not the same as "hard close". The level of restrictions can also change throughout the day so that re-entry may be allowed when they first cut ticket sales but no longer allowed later on in the day. I don't think Disneyland uses the same phase system as WDW but at phase 3 closure, WDW still allows people who have booked tours but not currently on the tour, resort guests and people with dining reservations enter the park. Tokyo Disney Resort guarantees hotel guests admission as long as the park is open which means staying at a hotel is more powerful in Tokyo than WDW in terms of getting in to the parks when capacity restrictions are in place.

I don't have any data points of guests using their hotel stay to gain access to Disneyland when capacity restrictions are in place but I do know of one time a few years ago when the park "hit capacity" (one of the 24hr parties) where there was line for people with dining reservations to get in (CMs checked for dining reservation confirmations). Later that day, they actually hard closed the entrance so people with dining reservations were no longer allowed in.

 

[Nonsuch]

Some of my worst Disneyland memories involve being there on NYE by the french fry rocks. Never again.

"Never again" is a certainty, since the french fry rocks have been moved to Yesterland

 

[Malcon10t]

Disney can plan for a smaller NYE, but the issue is if it is there, people will come. I have been doing NYE at DIsneyland since 1997 or 1998. There are 5 "phases" (which includes phase 1 which is all open.). I used to check the front gate before going out to see where it was. Yes, many people hear "It hit capacity", when all that happened was ticket sales of 1 day tickets was stopped. But I've seen the front gate closed many times. And with the exception of NYE, if we do hit a hard close, it generally lifts shortly after the second parade finishes. Also, depending on how close it is to capacity, I've seen the gates stop allowing entry when the parade is going on to slow the back up at the walkways.

 

[Malcon10t]

Tokyo Disney Resort guarantees hotel guests admission as long as the park is open which means staying at a hotel is more powerful in Tokyo than WDW in terms of getting in to the parks when capacity restrictions are in place.

Here is the issue with saving space for all the hotel guests. Disneyland capacity is around 60K. THere are about 2500 on site hotel rooms. Each room would need to hold space for 4 people. So, Disneyland would need to keep capacity at 10,000 admissions below capacity at all times to allow for hotel guests, even if all guests were in park, because there is no way to know when a hotel guest has exited the park. So, fewer guests will be allowed in the park, to keep space for the hotel guest who may or may not be in the park.

 

[Pamela M]

Some of my worst Disneyland memories involve being there on NYE by the french fry rocks. Never again.

I had a similar experience at Epcot at WDW on NYE many years ago. After that I said I'd never do a Disney park on NYE.

 

[mentos]

Here is the issue with saving space for all the hotel guests. Disneyland capacity is around 60K. THere are about 2500 on site hotel rooms. Each room would need to hold space for 4 people. So, Disneyland would need to keep capacity at 10,000 admissions below capacity at all times to allow for hotel guests, even if all guests were in park, because there is no way to know when a hotel guest has exited the park. So, fewer guests will be allowed in the park, to keep space for the hotel guest who may or may not be in the park.

Do we know (officially) if DL capacity is higher now with the addition of SWGE? That added like, ~15 acres? This is from LAT 12/27/2019:

The new land expanded the size of the park from 85 acres to nearly 100 acres. Disney representatives have never publicly disclosed the capacity of the park, but before the expansion opened, insiders said its limit was 80,000. Disney doesn’t release daily attendance figures, but longtime Walt Disney Imagineering director Kim Irvine revealed a few months ago that Disneyland attendance of 65,000 is a “normal” day.

Article

 

[Malcon10t]

Do we know (officially) if DL capacity is higher now with the addition of SWGE? That added like, ~15 acres? This is from LAT 12/27/2019:

I don't know if anyone knows anything "officially". What I know, I learned off the record. Prior to the expansion, capacity (DL alone) was in the neighborhood of 58K if everything is open. Even small pathways being closed can drop attendance. I figure with the expansion, it should now be closer to 70K. (If all is open, take down any ride, numbers drop.)

 

[CastAStone]

Attendance and capacity aren't interchangeable. Since so many day guests just stay for 4-6 hours (and many visiting guests take breaks midday), you can and do have attendance far exceeding park capacity for the day. That's why Disney counts the number of people leaving

 

[dina444444]

I've been on NYE 4 of the last 6 years. I've never encountered a capacity closure issue. However usually they do have capacity closures between the 26th-30th and its usually around the parade times.