First Day at DL in 31 years...8-18-09 power outages and CROWDS!

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Went to DL today. Got a little pixie dust and a CM let me in for MM when we didn't have passes.

Park was deserted this morning and up until about 11am. About that time, crowds slowly escalated until it was wall to wall people!!! I have NEVER seen a Disney park as crowded at Disneyland today!

Won't spend a lot of time detailing the negative encounters I had but the morning was awesome! And I really enjoyed "Walt's Park" despite the crowds. Didn't get a chance to ride everything I wanted but rode A LOT (by 11am) and am really glad we went.

We stayed at Sheraton Park Hotel and it was really nice and fairly convenient. Stayed on SPG points (same as Swan/Dolphin) so that was a really good deal.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

I also wanted to note there were power outages at DL yesterday and that caused rides to go down all at once that caused the crowd issues. At around 1:30pm, Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Buzz, BTMRR, and Indiana Jones were all down at the same time and earlier Splash was down. When Splash came back up it posted a 90 minute wait.

 

[oc_tony]

I was there too and can add to the list. Monorail and Star Tours went down for a bit. My DW, DS, and MIL also got stuck on the Jungle Cruise for 10 minutes. They were never told the problem, but all the audio-animatronics just stopped and the skippers were told to hold their positions.

 

[Disney Dreams]

There was a power surge in Anaheim yesterday.

 

[DTDkettleCORNfan]

Black out dates just ended for DL Annual Pass holders, so BIG crowds were expected this week....possibly even reaching capacity. I'm glad you were able to enjoy the quieter morning and had a good day.

 

[Albort]

DCA park hours are extended to 22:00.

All CMs are forced extended by an hour at DCA. :\

definitely a HUGE difference than summer.

 

[50sjayne]

DCA park hours are extended to 22:00.

All CMs are forced extended by an hour at DCA. :\

definitely a HUGE difference than summer.

Just wanted to say I really appreciate your input Albort.

 

[Amy&Dan]

OP, I remember you and your thread about spending one day at DL! I am so glad you went, what a bummer about the power outages. But your post reiterates what I always say about getting there early, esp. during the crowded times. Its amazing how much you can get done before the masses arrive.

I have been to WDW during Christmas week and other peak times, and I do agree, a crowded day at DL is like nothing I have ever seen at WDW. You just feel the people more in that smaller, more compact park.

Thanks for posting!

 

[Hound 109]

Went to DL today. Got a little pixie dust and a CM let me in for MM when we didn't have passes.

Park was deserted this morning and up until about 11am. About that time, crowds slowly escalated until it was wall to wall people!!! I have NEVER seen a Disney park as crowded at Disneyland today!

Won't spend a lot of time detailing the negative encounters I had but the morning was awesome! And I really enjoyed "Walt's Park" despite the crowds. Didn't get a chance to ride everything I wanted but rode A LOT (by 11am) and am really glad we went.

We stayed at Sheraton Park Hotel and it was really nice and fairly convenient. Stayed on SPG points (same as Swan/Dolphin) so that was a really good deal.

Wait a minute...... Grace,....we're not going to let you off that easy.

I also remember your little "we're gonna be at DLR one day & need a little advice" post..... & the thread morphed into multi page collection of a dozen or so regulars here posting various thesis's on the optimum one day touring plan (with & w/o ridemax imput included).

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2222620


One of the few threads where you had regular posters here who ALWAYS agree.....actually disagreeing....calling each other out.....threatening to let the air out of each other's tires & stuff.




Our little Grace (from Texas i might add) ....owes us a little trip report. If nothing else a one page bullet point recap of what they rode & where they ate.


& I want it toot sweet.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Ok, ok. I'll try to do a recap. First of all I'd like to thank all of you here on the DL boards for all of your help leading up to this trip!

We drove up to Anaheim and arrived about 5pm. Checked into the Sheraton Park Hotel on SPG points and didn't have to pay for anything except for parking! A really great deal! And we really liked the hotel. Here is the room:

I really wanted to head off to a park, but we only had 1 day hoppers and were on Texas time (so it felt like 7pm to us) and my dd doesn't do well when she's tired at all!

Here's the view from our room:

So we swam in the pool and enjoyed the wonderful CA weather. We ate a pizza in the room for dinner and fell asleep around 8:30pm. At around 9:30pm I awoke to thunderous booms (very, very loud!) and opened the drapes to see all of the fireworks show! LOVE the smilie face fireworks! Fell right back to sleep and set my alarm for 5:30am (7:30 TX time).

Awoke at 5:30 very rested thanks to the heavenly beds. Got ready and we took our bags down to the car around 6:30am. The Sheraton allows you to park in their lot until 10pm on your checkout day so I had planned just to shuttle to the park.

We walked down to the shuttle and it had just left so I decided to walk to the park. VERY easy walk and we arrived at the gates at 6:50am. The lines were fairly long and I knew we didn't have MM passes so I just thought we'd wander around, take photos and soak in the atmosphere.

Not long after gates opened the Breakfast in the Park CM came up to me and we started chatting. I told her this was my dd's first time here and we were super early to the park because we didin't have MM passes and she gave my dd a "First Visit" button and some other fun buttons. We chatted awhile and she left. Then, a few minutes later she came up to me and said she had some "pixie dust" for us and she was going to let us in now! WOW! What a way to start the day! We got in the gates about 7:15am and wandered down MS which seemed so much smaller in scale than WDW but so magical nonetheless.

We really took our time soaking in the walk and I had my dd cover her eyes until I unveiled Sleeping Beauty Castle (her favorite character)! It was a great moment. First off we rode Buzz with no wait at all! I had a very poor score and couldn't get the feel of the laser compared to WDW. We then went towards Space, but it was down so walked on towards Matterhorn. My dd heard the growling and wouldn't ride so we went and had a 5 min wait for Alice.

Then we did Mr Toad's Wild Ride (I loved this ride!). We rode Pinocchio, then Snow White. Then my dd was really wanting BTM so we headed that way and were at the rope drop to Frontierland at 8am.

We almost got ran over by the stampede of running (and I DO mean RUNNING) people to BTM, and we proceded to ride BTM 5 TIMES IN A ROW with no wait at all!

After 5 times on BTM it started to get somewhat of a line so we headed off to Fantasyland. Can you tell I completely tossed my intinerary and just went with the flow? The Ridemax plan just went totally unused! Anyway, we stopped to ride Casy Jr Train:

Then went back to check out Splash. It was down (starting a trend for the day?) so we took the train to Toontown.

Once in Toontown, we rode Roger Rabbit (ok I'm not really a fan of spinning rides! ) then rode Gadget's Go Coaster with a minimal wait. Toontown was basically deserted at this point and it was about 9:15am. I was waiting on a call from my mom, brother, SIL, and nephew who were driving up from San Diego and got the call about this time that they were arriving on the monorail in Tomorrowland so we headed that way. BTW my Brother paid $34 for parking at DD! Crazy!

It was my brother's birthday and he wanted to ride Nemo so we waited 30 mins for that ride just so my dd could fall apart once we were locked down in the sub. It was scary for her but she is very sensitive to dark loud confined places. BTW I didn't mention I had been picking up FP's all morning and had 4 BTM FP and 2 Buzz FP's in my pocket.

After Nemo, I had PS for Minnie & Friends Breakfast so we all headed over there. I have to say: Food-not so good Characters-excellent!

Sorry about pic size and camera quality! Continued on next post...

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Ok, so we ate and played with the characters for about an hour. Even at DL, the character meals imo are so worth it just for the character value alone.

We headed off to do Buzz as a group. My score was better but nowhere near what it is in WDW (I can score 650,000 in WDW but only scored 50,000 in DL). Anyway (excuse my brief boasting there...) we then headed for BTM and rode as a group. It started to get VERY crowded at this time. It was about 12 noon. We headed to see if Splash was up and no, it wasn't so once again we took the train to ToonTown. This is where it fell apart a bit. My nephew didn;t want to ride anything so they played at the boat, etc in Toontown (while I was tapping my toes wanting to hit some RIDES). We then rode IASW and about then is when the power outage occurred-around 1pm. Matterhorn was down. We walked to Space-it was down. We walked to Buzz-it was down. So we went to the tip board and they told us it was an outage. MAN I wish I had thought to take a pic of the tip board EVERYTHING was down EXCEPT Splash! So we headed that way through the painfully crowded paths. My Brother and his wife went to Cafe Orleans for a Monte Cristo and Pomme Frites and my mom and I took the kids to Splash and waited 90 minutes to ride!

It was about 3pm, kids were melting down, parade was setting up and crowds were horrendous. So my brother and his family decided to leave and my dd, my mom, and I wandered down Main St and shopped a bit. We were going to hit DCA but they said power was out there too so we wandered back to the hotel and headed back to San Diego.

So, in closing, the morning was GREAT, the power outage was a freak occurrence that really spoiled the afternoon but overall I had a really great time. I loved DL. I don't want to even begin to make comparisons to MK, that wouldn't be right imo, but I am so glad we went and if I lived closer I'd go a lot more. Maybe this will inspire us to drive up everytime we visit my brother in San Diego.

We got back to San Diego around 6pm and we were tired! Really sorry I missed Space and Matterhorn and all of DCA but other than that I am really impressed with all we did. And the weather was wonderful!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Great fotos ~ looks and sounds like a great time.

 

[jacs1234]

I loved reading about your day. I'm so glad someone pushed you to share

 

[edit1]

I enjoyed reading about your trip. Too bad about the power outage, but sounds like you had a great time anyway.

 

[aprincess@mail.com]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us! Loved the photos!!

 

[bumbershoot]

Thank you for the report!


Maybe this will inspire us to drive up everytime we visit my brother in San Diego.

You know how that quote goes...."it all started with a mouse"? Yeah, for me, it started with "maybe we'll do a one day visit while visiting my brother in San Diego."

You can see how that's gone by my signature!

 

[Amy&Dan]

I am so bummed about that power outage, I remember how you waffled a bit on the DCA thing and then it was all moot!

Disneyland will be there for another visit. I think the fact So. Cal Ap's were back, plus the power outage just stacked the deck against you a bit.

Our experiences at Minnie's have always been like that, as far as food and characters. I am glad you got that one though so you were in the park since your time was cut so short.

Thanks for posting!

 

[Hound 109]

I'm so glad someone pushed you to share

Pushy Disers?

(hound <----loves corny dogs & being pushy. )


Yay.........Great report & recap!


Comments below:

Ok, ok. I'll try to do a recap. First of all I'd like to thank all of you here on the DL boards for all of your help leading up to this trip!

We drove up to Anaheim and arrived about 5pm. Checked into the Sheraton Park Hotel on SPG points and didn't have to pay for anything except for parking! A really great deal! And we really liked the hotel.

I really wanted to head off to a park, but we only had 1 day hoppers and were on Texas time (so it felt like 7pm to us) and my dd doesn't do well when she's tired at all!

So we swam in the pool and enjoyed the wonderful CA weather. We ate a pizza in the room for dinner and fell asleep around 8:30pm. At around 9:30pm I awoke to thunderous booms (very, very loud!) and opened the drapes to see all of the fireworks show! LOVE the smilie face fireworks! Fell right back to sleep and set my alarm for 5:30am (7:30 TX time).

Awoke at 5:30 very rested thanks to the heavenly beds.

GOOD TO KNOW.


Got ready and we took our bags down to the car around 6:30am. The Sheraton allows you to park in their lot until 10pm on your checkout day so I had planned just to shuttle to the park.

We walked down to the shuttle and it had just left so I decided to walk to the park. VERY easy walk and we arrived at the gates at 6:50am. The lines were fairly long and I knew we didn't have MM passes so I just thought we'd wander around, take photos and soak in the atmosphere.

Not long after gates opened the Breakfast in the Park CM came up to me and we started chatting. I told her this was my dd's first time here and we were super early to the park because we didin't have MM passes and she gave my dd a "First Visit" button and some other fun buttons. We chatted awhile and she left. Then, a few minutes later she came up to me and said she had some "pixie dust" for us and she was going to let us in now! WOW! What a way to start the day! We got in the gates about 7:15am

THAT IS SO AWESOME....YOU BASICALLY WERE ABLE TO ENJOY ALL OF MM (W/O PP)


...and wandered down MS which seemed so much smaller in scale than WDW but so magical nonetheless.

I TRY TO TELL ALL WDW VETS TO IMAGINE THE SMALLEST CASTLE IN THE WORLD.....& THAT SB'S CASTLE IS SMALLER (so they don't have their mind's eye looking for Cindy's castle) .....but you're right...when you get right up to SB's Castle it IS magical & charming.


We really took our time soaking in the walk and I had my dd cover her eyes until I unveiled Sleeping Beauty Castle (her favorite character)! It was a great moment. First off we rode Buzz with no wait at all! I had a very poor score and couldn't get the feel of the laser compared to WDW. We then went towards Space, but it was down so walked on towards Matterhorn. My dd heard the growling and wouldn't ride so we went and had a 5 min wait for Alice.

Then we did Mr Toad's Wild Ride (I loved this ride!). We rode Pinocchio,

AREN'T ALICE, TOADY & PINOCCHIO CUTE? (yeah i know some say Pinocchio is TOO dark & scary, but i love the story AND the ride)....& none are at WDW


...then Snow White. Then my dd was really wanting BTM so we headed that way and were at the rope drop to Frontierland at 8am.

We almost got ran over by the stampede of running (and I DO mean RUNNING) people to BTM, and we proceded to ride BTM 5 TIMES IN A ROW with no wait at all!

YOU RODE 4 RIDES IN FANTASYLAND AND 5 TIMES ON "THE WILDEST RIDE IN THE WILDERNESS" ALL BY 8:40am!! VERY, VERY COOL!


After 5 times on BTM it started to get somewhat of a line so we headed off to Fantasyland. Can you tell I completely tossed my intinerary and just went with the flow? The Ridemax plan just went totally unused!

BUT I BET THE FACT THAT YOU MAPPED OUT & PLANNED OUT GAVE YOU COMFORT & KNOWLEDGE EVEN AS YOU WERE DITCHING....PLUS YOU JUST RODE BTMRR 5 TIMES!!! EVERYTHING ELSE IS GRAVY .


.... Anyway, we stopped to ride Casy Jr Train:

SHE'S A CUTIE PATOOTIE.


Then went back to check out Splash. It was down (starting a trend for the day?) so we took the train to Toontown.

NO POOH BEAR ride? (or bakery items in the HUNY POT?)


Once in Toontown, we rode Roger Rabbit (ok I'm not really a fan of spinning rides! ) then rode Gadget's Go Coaster with a minimal wait. Toontown was basically deserted at this point and it was about 9:15am. I was waiting on a call from my mom, brother, SIL, and nephew who were driving up from San Diego and got the call about this time that they were arriving on the monorail in Tomorrowland so we headed that way. BTW my Brother paid $34 for parking at DD! Crazy!

It was my brother's birthday and he wanted to ride Nemo so we waited 30 mins for that ride

VERY GOOD TO KNOW. I'M A FIRM BELIEVER IN NOT WASTING 3/4ths OF MM ON NEMO....WHEN IT CAN BE RIDDEN AT OTHER TIMES WITH A 30 MIN. WAIT.


....just so my dd could fall apart once we were locked down in the sub. It was scary for her but she is very sensitive to dark loud confined places. BTW I didn't mention I had been picking up FP's all morning and had 4 BTM FP and 2 Buzz FP's in my pocket.

5 BTMRR + 4 MORE?? YOU'RE MORE OF A BTM JUNKIE THAN PADEWAN ALEC & ME.


After Nemo, I had PS for Minnie & Friends Breakfast so we all headed over there. I have to say: Food-not so good Characters-excellent!

GREAT START.....THANK GOODNESS YOU GOT THERE EARLY (given what happens later).

Thanks for posting.


hound

 

[Hound 109]

Ok, so we ate and played with the characters for about an hour. Even at DL, the character meals imo are so worth it just for the character value alone.

We headed off to do Buzz as a group. My score was better but nowhere near what it is in WDW (I can score 650,000 in WDW but only scored 50,000 in DL). Anyway (excuse my brief boasting there...) we then headed for BTM and rode as a group. It started to get VERY crowded at this time. It was about 12 noon.

This is why many here will recommend hopping to DCA once it starts seeming more crowded.....normally between 11am - 1pm.


We headed to see if Splash was up and no, it wasn't so once again we took the train to ToonTown. This is where it fell apart a bit. My nephew didn;t want to ride anything so they played at the boat, etc in Toontown (while I was tapping my toes wanting to hit some RIDES). We then rode IASW and about then is when the power outage occurred-around 1pm. Matterhorn was down. We walked to Space-it was down. We walked to Buzz-it was down. So we went to the tip board and they told us it was an outage. MAN I wish I had thought to take a pic of the tip board EVERYTHING was down EXCEPT Splash! So we headed that way through the painfully crowded paths. My Brother and his wife went to Cafe Orleans for a Monte Cristo and Pomme Frites and my mom and I took the kids to Splash and waited 90 minutes to ride!

It was about 3pm, kids were melting down, parade was setting up and crowds were horrendous.

Yep....11am - 1 (or 2)pm at DCA & then time for a mid day break.


So my brother and his family decided to leave and my dd, my mom, and I wandered down Main St and shopped a bit. We were going to hit DCA but they said power was out there too so we wandered back to the hotel and headed back to San Diego.

So, in closing, the morning was GREAT, the power outage was a freak occurrence that really spoiled the afternoon but overall I had a really great time. I loved DL. I don't want to even begin to make comparisons to MK, that wouldn't be right imo, but I am so glad we went and if I lived closer I'd go a lot more. Maybe this will inspire us to drive up everytime we visit my brother in San Diego.

We got back to San Diego around 6pm and we were tired! Really sorry I missed Space and Matterhorn and all of DCA but other than that I am really impressed with all we did. And the weather was wonderful!

Great report. That's crazy about the power going down.....thank goodness you got alot done in the AM.

A one day trip is definitely "do-able" (i've done it twice....see my link below). But 2+ days (& at least two nights at a hotel so you can take the mid day break) is far preferrable.....not because one "has to see it all", but because it makes it easier to zig when others are zagging & allows one to rest when the parks are most crowded.

Thanks for posting Grace....you've had a taste.....I suspect you might be back.

 

[DisneyDork1969]

Thanks for the trip report...I always stay at this hotel (because of a GREAT employee rate), its a great place and its only walking steps away from the parks!!...I'll be there this Thanksgiving for my 40th B-Day...CAN'T WAIT!!

Jon C / DisneyDork69 on TWITTER