Here Now - few thoughts/observations

[DisneyJamieCA]

We drove down from the Bay Area EARLY this morning, arriving at the resort at 9:30am. After checking into the hotel and walking over there (staying at Hojo), we were through the gates of DCA by 10am. My first to do was to see if we could still get FP for Olaf - walked straight there and they said we could get right in line, no FP needed. There was only one other family in line. Same thing happened when we went to see E&A about 45 mins later. I did ask there if they would use FP later in the day and they said they probably would. Checking Mousewait this afternoon and the return time for both was over an hour. We went to see the Frozen sing a long, which I HIGHLY recommend - when I asked where to get the FPs for this they told me they were no longer using them. This might be common knowledge already, but it was news to me.

Since there was a recent thread about parade rules and etiquette, I found our experience watching the Pixar Play Parade interesting. My youngest had fallen asleep, so I found a bench along the route in the shade and sat with her while the rest of my crew went to the Animation Academy. It all worked out well, not being as popular a parade and the Inside Out pre parade is cute. During the real parade the people next to us stood up, blocking our view so I asked them to sit down. They were very polite, but a CM happened to be walking by and told me there are no rules for parade watching, people can sit or stand and if we can't see, we should stand on the bench. This very well may be their policy but aside from not being safe, I find it interesting that it would differ so much from how they run things over at DL. They also made everybody sit for the Inside Out pre parade. Curious, is this the policy for DCA or did I came across a misinformed CM?

It is hot here, but the crowds aren't as terrible as I was expecting - although we haven't ventured to DL yet! If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

 

[beachdreamr1229]

I think the parade policy is different because it's a much less popular parade--it definitely fits with my experiences. We've been a few times and found front row seating as the parade is starting. Not the case for Paint the Night at all. Anyway, have a great time. I was just there yesterday and it was beautiful if a bit hot.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

I think the parade policy is different because it's a much less popular parade--it definitely fits with my experiences. We've been a few times and found front row seating as the parade is starting. Not the case for Paint the Night at all. Anyway, have a great time. I was just there yesterday and it was beautiful if a bit hot.

We were lucky enough to see Paint the Night last month, so know the craziness surrounding it!! I would just think that in order to avoid confusion, they would have a standard rule of a) front row sits, behind stands or b) do what you want, but not a mix of the two. But to have two different sets of rules seems to add to the problem. It wasn't really a big deal, the gentleman I asked moved back as to not block us. We did have people sit in front of us on the ground, which is great, but I would have been upset if they came right as it was starting and stood in front of us. The CM's solution was to have us stand on the bench.

On an aside, there are signs that DCA closes at 9 tonight. Does anybody know why? Last year, grad nights were over by now.

 

[lovebug33]

DCA is much less crowded than Disneyland. Just givign you a heads up . Huge shocker for us.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

DCA is much less crowded than Disneyland. Just givign you a heads up . Huge shocker for us.

Thanks. I was kind of figuring that, but hoping for the best. Were the mornings still quiet or was it bad all day?

 

[lorijohnhill]

I'm thinking the CM was misinformed. I find it very hard to believe that Disney would endorse encouraging people to stand on a bench to see a parade. That is a huge safety hazard. I've seen CMs in DCA scolding children for standing on the low cement walls near the bathrooms by the carousel and that would be safer than standing on a bench. Not to mention the fact that I don't want sit on a bench where people have stood on it after walking through God knows what in the parks and the bathrooms. Yuck!

 

[BGinCali]

On an aside, there are signs that DCA closes at 9 tonight. Does anybody know why? Last year, grad nights were over by now.

It closed early tonight for a private party for Pampered Chef Distributors per Mouse Planet tweet.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Just wondering what time you left the Bay Area to arrive in Anaheim by 9:30 a.m. We're planning an early morning drive in August (only going as far as Universal on the first day). I'm trying to figure out what time to start driving to make it into the park at a reasonable time.

 

[Disney Dudette]

You asked the same question I was planning to ask, Luv Bunnies

 

[coaches24]

Just wondering what time you left the Bay Area to arrive in Anaheim by 9:30 a.m. We're planning an early morning drive in August (only going as far as Universal on the first day). I'm trying to figure out what time to start driving to make it into the park at a reasonable time.

I drive from Sacramento so it's just under 6 hours non stop. But that's means it takes us closer to 7 when you add in potty or stretch breaks (or gas if you need to stop on the way for that). I have left Sac between 2 and 3 am and made it to the PPH a little before 9:30 am.

Now it is likely a little shorter drive from the Bay Area I would guess but still depends on where you are leaving from and what freeway you have to take. But you would likely have to leave in the middle of the night to get down to Anaheim that early in the morning.

 

[lovebug33]

Mornings weren't bad. At about 11, all the people were there!

 

[kylie71]

Hi Jamie,
Did you see any road construction on the 5? I have heard its holding people up for about an hour on the weekdays, not sure where though...

Yuk, about standing on the benches, I cannot believe Disney is OK with, I think the CM was being a snot.
Have a Blast!

--Lori

 

[lorijohnhill]

5 is torn up in several places (at least between Sac and Kettleman City). Lots of rough road. When we came down in Thursday (to Atascadero) there was a six mile back up just past Kettleman City.

 

[coaches24]

I didn't have any trouble on 5 going down there. The last 20 miles before the Katella exit was filled with LA traffic but not construction. But that was last Sunday.

Coming back it took us almost 2 hours to go 40 or 50 miles as traffic heading north was horrible till we got to Magic Mtn. Then the rest of the drive was ok. We got on I5 about 2 pm near DL on Friday.

 

[marsh0013]

It closed early tonight for a private party for Pampered Chef Distributors per Mouse Planet tweet.

Yeah those pampered chef people were all staying at the Grand Californian and one of them told us about the private party. Otherwise we wouldn't have known until we walked into the park yesterday. I thought we should have been told when we checked in on Wednesday that the park would be closing early. Or at least put a note in our room.

 

[mgd]

There was construction on I5 north in the MIDDLE OF THE WEEK DAY?!?! last week. They are paving stretches, and close one lane causing about an hour delay. Not sure about south, but I remember seeing half paved sections there too. I don't know why they do this in the middle of the day, but factor that may happen into your plans. I would think it is even more likely to see closures at night or really early morning. 101 might actually take about the same time if you hit the worst delays on I5. But with no traffic and no stops, a trip from the bay area should take about 5.5 hrs on I5.

 

[TechGuy]

Driving down from Sacramento tomorrow morning. I will be using my WAZE application to see what is the best route. I have saved hours using it.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

It closed early tonight for a private party for Pampered Chef Distributors per Mouse Planet tweet.

I saw some people in Pampered Chef shirts last night walking to the parks - makes sense now!

Just wondering what time you left the Bay Area to arrive in Anaheim by 9:30 a.m. We're planning an early morning drive in August (only going as far as Universal on the first day). I'm trying to figure out what time to start driving to make it into the park at a reasonable time.

We are in the North Bay and left at 3am. We were checked in at the Hojo by 9:30. We only stopped once for gas/bathrooms (kids ate breakfast pastries in the car). We didn't hit any traffic on the entire drive.

Mornings weren't bad. At about 11, all the people were there!

This morning was great! There seemed to be a lot of people in Tomorrowland fairly early, but the rest of the park was nice. By late this afternoon, there seemed to be a lot of people, but lines remained fairly short.

Hi Jamie,
Did you see any road construction on the 5? I have heard its holding people up for about an hour on the weekdays, not sure where though...

Yuk, about standing on the benches, I cannot believe Disney is OK with, I think the CM was being a snot.
Have a Blast!

--Lori

I saw places where the was construction, but since I wasn't the driver, I couldn't tell you where. We were lucky that they weren't working when we went through. We sailed through the entire drive.

---------------

Spent today in DL. Like I said above, crowds weren't terrible. Just some thoughts from today

- Indy went down A LOT. Twice while we were in line and twice when we tried to use FPs.

- Watched Fantasmic using yellow FPs. The FP system works better than I thought it would and I have to say I like that you don't have to hold spots hours ahead of time. The FP says to come back between 8-9pm; we showed up at about 7:45 and a line had already formed down by the boat dock. They walked us in in a fairly orderly line - first 200 people can sit and we ended up in the 2nd row. This is my kids' first time seeing it and they loved it.

- We stayed to watch the fireworks from here although A LOT of people cleared the area. We moved up to the railing to watch. You get a decent view from here, but having seen them from IASW, I prefer the latter. I still love these fireworks. They had exit to Main St. via Adventureland and then if we were leaving the park, use the overflow area (backstage). It worked so well.

- There are lots of celebrities here. DDs recognized a girl (Trinity I think is her name) from KC Undercover in front of us at a M&G. I think I saw the guy who plays Danny on Mindy Project getting off the Matterhorn and then there was two large groups, both escorted by 2-3 plaids getting on the Matterhorn with us. Editing this part because I figured out it was Kevin Durant with one of the groups. I have pictures on my phone that I'll post when it's not dead. Poor guy barely fit in the Matterhorn car. (while googling this - I'm not a huge basketball fan - I realized there were a bunch of Disney stars filming a commercial here today and we had no idea!).

 

[Bubblegum1286]

We were at DLR on Saturday as well. Like you, I didn't find the crowds to be that bad. Indy was down when we went to get a FP too, but we came back an hour later and got one. Buzz was also down a few times, but again, we did get on it. Pirates was down when we went to ride it (during Fantasmic, which my children are terrified of). We didn't make it back over there to see if it was up and running again. Maybe later this week we'll get to it.

It's hot, but not unbearable. When someone in our group complains about the heat, I just whip out my phone and check the triple digit temps in Orlando to remind them we could have gone there instead.

 

[TechGuy]

Hey... is was 105 this last week and was only 91 today, kind of nice, in my book.

Low to mid 80's sounds great.