Here now- gates closed?

[RainyDayPixie]

We just left for a hotel break and both parks had their gates closed and long lines awaiting re-entry. Do parks hit capacity with the reservation system? Or do they periodically pause entry for crowd control?

 

[smartlabelprint]

I wonder if there’s an emergency.

 

[Wesley815]

Everything seems fine from guests in park. You said you just left, if it was around the 1pm "park hop" time they will hold back guests who try to enter early. I think that's what you might of saw, as everyone who started at Disneyland can hop to DCA at 1pm and DCA to DL at 1pm.

Main Gate CM's will direct guests to certain lines to wait for 1pm so it can make it look like entry gates are closed when it's just park hoppers arriving early.

I saw this last weekend when I was entering DL around 12:45 (not park hopping, DL was my starting park) they sent me to a certain gate since most of the gates were PACKED with guests trying to enter from DCA before 1pm. Would be nice if smart phones or watches existed and people knew how to tell time.

 

[RainyDayPixie]

Everything seems fine from guests in park. You said you just left, if it was around the 1pm "park hop" time they will hold back guests who try to enter early. I think that's what you might of saw, as everyone who started at Disneyland can hop to DCA at 1pm and DCA to DL at 1pm.

Main Gate CM's will direct guests to certain lines to wait for 1pm so it can make it look like entry gates are closed when it's just park hoppers arriving early.

Oh, I bet you’re right! It was right about 1:00. I was worried about getting back in later (or some sort of emergency), but I bet that was it!

This is my first trip back after the restricted hopping. (Not a fan!).

 

[Wesley815]

This is my first trip back after the restricted hopping. (Not a fan!).

I agree!

Would be funny to setup a time-lapse camera in the esplanade around 12:45 to 1pm, it can go from empty to beyond packed within a few minutes. Good tip for those who haven't been yet, try to wait until around 1:15/1:30 to park hop unless you don't mind crowds.

 

[gottalovepluto]

… Would be nice if smart phones or watches existed and people knew how to tell time.

Would be really nice if Disneyland re-evaluated their idiotic 1pm park hopping rule.

 

[ktlm]

Yep, our arrival day in October, our flight was late so we didn't get to the parks until right around 1:00. The gates were crazy. Took me a minute to figure out why. Lots of people waiting in line for the 1:00 p.m. hop- those trying to enter their first park like us couldn't get to the gates because of the waiting hoppers, and the lines to get in were really long. Learned from that to wait to hop until about 1:20, unless you absolutely need to go right at 1:00. Our other days, we waited until that crowd was gone to hop and the lines were very short again. We absolutely despise the 1:00 hopping rule. It needs to go away-- it was a big pain for us on multiple days. It started being a pain even before our trip ,when I was trying to book ADRs and the only available Ogas was before 1:00 at on a day we started at CA.

 

[Wesley815]

We absolutely despise the 1:00 hopping rule. It needs to go away-- it was a big pain for us on multiple days.

Yes!! Disney is creating an issue that was never an issue before, as we've learned though- only the rules from corp offices matter now, not actual operation experience.

 

[midnight star]

Everything seems fine from guests in park. You said you just left, if it was around the 1pm "park hop" time they will hold back guests who try to enter early. I think that's what you might of saw, as everyone who started at Disneyland can hop to DCA at 1pm and DCA to DL at 1pm

Yes this is the reason. I haven’t been to DLR since November. But when I was there I hopped right at 1pm to DCA and it was crazy! The line cleared fast though. I was inside DCA by about 1:10pm. Unless you need to to hop right at 1pm for whatever reason, I say wait until 1:30pm.