Gate closure today

[Nevada Jen]

I believe it was limited to readmits. But that was only for people who had been at DL that day. Those at DCA and hotel guests were not allowed in if they had not already been in. Despite this, the lines to get into DL were insane. Basically merged with the line for DCA about 3/4 of the way back. And they knew this was going to happen. They had staff parking at Angels stadium first thing in the morning.

 

[Gillbob316]

I expect Monday to be crazy. That is part of why we decided to go on Sunday. Monday is NOT a blockout day. Make sure you get to the parks early every day, should be easy with your time change. If you didn't buy parkhoppers I would consider doing so, and I'm not a big pusher of parkhopping. I'm going with the attitude that it'll be fun regardless. But we're starting an AP year, so we get to go back for a longer trip in a month. Do a lot in the mornings and you should get everything you need to done. Have fun!

I'm less worried about me, and more worried about my sister. I'm going Thursday through Monday. I anticipate I can get a great deal done Thur/Fri, and hopefully even more over the weekend. Staying within walking distance (but not on property) so thankfully no traffic to fight. And I do plan to be up as early as possible each day. (And yes, it should hopefully be easy because getting up early on California time is like sleeping in on Chicago time, haha)

My sister on the other hand, couldn't get weekdays off, so she's arriving midday Saturday, and only spending the latter half of Saturday and Sun/Mon in the parks. So not only will she have the benefit of far less mornings than I will, but she's showing up midday, on a Saturday, the day a new ride opens... which strikes me as a recipe for disaster. I want her to have a good time, but I worry it will kick things off for her on a bad note, and that will somehow roll into Sun/Mon.

I figure Saturday she'll be lucky to get a few good rides in and see World of Color. Hopefully fastpasses will still be available for a couple good rides, and she can wait out a few others in-between. (I'm now also worried World of Color fastpasses will hit capacity before she arrives, due to these crowd reports from this weekend. I'm trying to gently encourage her to make a lunch reservation at WCT for that reason, to secure viewing... but ultimately can't force her to.)

We're basically going to have to try to get her on all the top tier rides at one park Sunday morning, and all the top tier rides at the other park on Monday morning... and HOPE it actually works out.

Ugh. My last minute travel stress is getting the better of me right now.

 

[Angrose]

I'm less worried about me, and more worried about my sister. I'm going Thursday through Monday. I anticipate I can get a great deal done Thur/Fri, and hopefully even more over the weekend. Staying within walking distance (but not on property) so thankfully no traffic to fight. And I do plan to be up as early as possible each day. (And yes, it should hopefully be easy because getting up early on California time is like sleeping in on Chicago time, haha)

My sister on the other hand, couldn't get weekdays off, so she's arriving midday Saturday, and only spending the latter half of Saturday and Sun/Mon in the parks. So not only will she have the benefit of far less mornings than I will, but she's showing up midday, on a Saturday, the day a new ride opens... which strikes me as a recipe for disaster. I want her to have a good time, but I worry it will kick things off for her on a bad note, and that will somehow roll into Sun/Mon.

I figure Saturday she'll be lucky to get a few good rides in and see World of Color. Hopefully fastpasses will still be available for a couple good rides, and she can wait out a few others in-between. (I'm now also worried World of Color fastpasses will hit capacity before she arrives, due to these crowd reports from this weekend. I'm trying to gently encourage her to make a lunch reservation at WCT for that reason, to secure viewing... but ultimately can't force her to.)

We're basically going to have to try to get her on all the top tier rides at one park Sunday morning, and all the top tier rides at the other park on Monday morning... and HOPE it actually works out.

Ugh. My last minute travel stress is getting the better of me right now.

I think you will be fine. You can do the Disneyland headliners on Sunday morning and/or grab fastpasses for the afternoon. Do the same thing for DCA on Monday. I'm not sure if it's OK to post links to other blogs, but Casey at Disneyland Daily (formerly Disneyland Prep School) has great plans here: https://disneylanddaily.com/how-to-start-your-day-at-disneyland/
For Saturday afternoon, you'll just have to go with the flow. Don't forget about the single rider lines, which are extremely helpful when FPs have ran out. I was there with a friend in April (spring break season) and we didn't arrive to the parks until 2:30pm. We only did Disneyland but we were quite happy with what we got accomplished: POTC, Dumbo, IASW, BTMRR (w/FP), Indy (single rider). We also did the Blue Bayou MSEP dining package and saw the parade. Not bad for only spending 7 hours in the park!
Have fun!!

 

[Epek]

It was pretty crazy yesterday. I knew it would be bad when it took about a half hour to get into the structure from the freeway exit before the park opened! It's rarely like that so early on a Sunday! But we still got a lot done and were able to get a great spot for MSEP not much more than an hour ahead of time!

 

[Doug Lewis]

We picked a horrible weekend to venture from our "home park" of WDW and visit Disneyland from here in Texas. We had fun but longed for WDW more than once. We stayed at the Hilton Anaheim and that walk back after a long day at the park is pretty rough. We are back at home in Texas now and planning our December trip to DisneyWorld. We do plan on visiting Disneyland again someday but we've had our fix for now.

 

[GatorChris]

Hey Disney.......BUILD A THIRD PARK!!!!!!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Hey Disney.......BUILD A THIRD PARK!!!!!!

I wrote an article as a contributor for wdwinfo on the argument to build a third park in Texas. I really don't think it'd take too much attendance away from WDW and DL. Heck, if crowds went down at DL more locals would probably just start to go again.

I really feel there is a point where the parks are just too crowded and Disney might actually start to lose a lot of money and goodwill. At first it doesn't seem like Disney would lose money. If I was at DL and the parks were just wall to wall people and lines for food are insane I'd probably just leave and find food outside the parks. I also wouldn't be in the mood to go shop in Main Street stores for souvenirs at the end of the day. I'd just want to get out of there. Sure, Disney would have my ticket money for the day but they'd probably see precious little other money spent by me on a crowded, miserable day.

 

[DLgal]

Hey Disney.......BUILD A THIRD PARK!!!!!!

Seriously, even a water park would help at this point. I imagine Star Wars land will make things even worse.

 

[Nevada Jen]

We already decided we are not renewing our passes for next year. It is too crowded to be fun multiple times a year with a 6 hour drive each way. I'm not sure what they were thinking with selling 3 day socal passes that cheap. That is really has driven the crazy crowds this year. And I would venture to say most those people are not going to fall in love with Disney when it has crowds like this and want to buy full price passes. Plus, I am assuming they are losing lots of business from people like me who drop 10K plus a year on the parks between tickets, merchandise and food. Oh well. It was good while it lasted!

 

[juxtapose]

Anyone know if they do the special 3-day passes for SoCA residents every year? We are wanting to go next year in May, but maybe not if they are doing the special passes to drive up attendance.

 

[SMD]

Anyone know if they do the special 3-day passes for SoCA residents every year? We are wanting to go next year in May, but maybe not if they are doing the special passes to drive up attendance.

They vary the promotion. In the past it has gone into June and they've offered more than just 3 days, so there's been an option to get 2 days before, just not this year.

 

[MacMama0930]

Not only did they sell those 3 day so cal tickets, they also sent out a ton of 40% pin codes for onsite hotels to ca residents. If anyone was on the fence about going, it pushed them ALL to go for it!

 

[whoever]

Plus, I am assuming they are losing lots of business from people like me who drop 10K plus a year on the parks between tickets, merchandise and food.

Nope, they still have me. I just renewed my Signature AP and booked DLH for Fall Dapper Day. The enticement of not only a cost-break but a 13th month pushed me over the edge. I was going to not renew, but ended up paying the price.

 

[Snap Crackle Pop]

We already decided we are not renewing our passes for next year. It is too crowded to be fun multiple times a year with a 6 hour drive each way. I'm not sure what they were thinking with selling 3 day socal passes that cheap. That is really has driven the crazy crowds this year. And I would venture to say most those people are not going to fall in love with Disney when it has crowds like this and want to buy full price passes. Plus, I am assuming they are losing lots of business from people like me who drop 10K plus a year on the parks between tickets, merchandise and food. Oh well. It was good while it lasted!

Honestly they probably won't really notice that they lost your business. They make enough with other people visiting that you're money is not even a blimp on their radar.

 

[whoever]

Honestly they probably won't really notice that they lost your business. They make enough with other people visiting that you're money is not even a blimp on their radar.

There are theories that the 13 month incentive as well as all these discounted tickets are a sign that Disney DID notice the loss of high spending APs. They have to make it up somehow. We are one of those five-figure-annual-spend Disney families and I was ready to just let my AP expire in two weeks. They had to hold the price point AND give me 13 months to sway my decision. The fact they jacked the November Dapper Day Hotel rates was taken into consideration, which is why we are at the DLH vs. the Grand as the price difference was an entire day-worth.

 

[agamble]

There are theories that the 13 month incentive as well as all these discounted tickets are a sign that Disney DID notice the loss of high spending APs. They have to make it up somehow. We are one of those five-figure-annual-spend Disney families and I was ready to just let my AP expire in two weeks. They had to hold the price point AND give me 13 months to sway my decision. The fact they jacked the November Dapper Day Hotel rates was taken into consideration, which is why we are at the DLH vs. the Grand as the price difference was an entire day-worth.

I think Disney is mostly OK with the crowds. They probably would like them a little less crazy, and opening the rivers will help some with that, but Disney wants crowded parks. They want to justify the cost of every attraction, every CM, every open restaurant. More guests means more money. Of course there should be a balance in that too many guests makes for unhappy guests. That's why they offered us 13 month APs and discounts. They want to incentivize people to visit more frequently.

 

[BobearQSI]

I just went to Touring Plans and double checked this for myself. Yes, they predicted 9/10 and "saw" 9/10 for a day that was at maximum capacity. It begs the question of what a 10/10 would be according to their algorithms.

I read this thread this morning and hopped over to touring plans to see what they had reported for the crowd calendar. It was only a 9 according their calendar. How can the park be at max capacity and only be a 9/10? I am losing faith in touring plans.

Touringplans describes it in the fine print you have to dig for in their website, which most people probably don't. They only consider attraction wait times, and only between 10am to 5pm. How hard it is to move around isn't considered at all. I experienced this first hand during the diamond celebration - in the afternoon, Main Street and the hub were packed, and it was very difficult to get to Frontierland, but once we did, we rode Big Thunder 3 times in a row because waits were under 20 minutes.

I took a look at Touringplans for Saturday, and many waits were WAY over their 10 level - but they cap it at 10. And the morning of that day was busy, but not crazy. So average the morning waits from 10 to 1, with the crazy 10's from 1pm to 5pm, and that's how they get a 9.

I also heard a few major rides were down throughout the day - pushing people out into the park instead of in line. The Fire Marshall can call for a gate closure when pathways get too crowded, even if the actual attendance numbers are far below the park's full capacity when everything is open.

Touringplan's average ride-wait-time accuracy for a whole year isn't too bad (and they use this argument in their blogs to claim reliability), but they do have single days and even entire weeks throughout all times of the year where they are way off, making it a gamble to rely only on their numbers.

 

[tarheelalum]

Anyone know if they do the special 3-day passes for SoCA residents every year? We are wanting to go next year in May, but maybe not if they are doing the special passes to drive up attendance.

If Disney expects it to be crowded they won't offer the three day special. They only seem to offer it when they think attendance will be down from the prior year. With all of the closures from the Star Wars land construction and the BIG price increases Disney has been pushing out the past few years, Disney felt they needed to bring back the SoCal special to keep the parks crowded and their profits up. I recall they also offered the special during the DCA construction of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street.

 

[BayouQueen]

If Disney expects it to be crowded they won't offer the three day special. They only seem to offer it when they think attendance will be down from the prior year. With all of the closures from the Star Wars land construction and the BIG price increases Disney has been pushing out the past few years, Disney felt they needed to bring back the SoCal special to keep the parks crowded and the their profits up. I recall they also offered the special during the DCA construction of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street.

This is what I've observed over the years as well. I think this year they miscalculated demand. It made for a very "awkward" spring season at DLR.

 

[kkmcan]

We've always thought if we can do the rides we want and still have fun (not be miserable), we would continue to visit DL. We went in Jan and while we still had fun, it was one of those times we do not want to repeat so we won't be visiting in Jan during winter break every again. We are trying this June. We'll see how that goes. Not really interested in GOG so we won't wait for that unless for some reason we can get on without too much fuss. If crowds are insane and we don't feel satisfied with our trip we won't be going back for a very long time. I get tired of spending so much for your family of 4 ( all adults now) to go and not feel totally happy and satisfied with our trip.

We used to go in Oct for fall break and that got crazy crowded and super hot (100+ degree temps) so haven't done in that in 2 years. I know Disney won't notice a difference if we go or not but I want to feel like we enjoyed our trip and we certainly don't enjoy when its wall to wall people.