Holy Closures Mickey!

[Texasfam4]

Well I'd say our first trip to Disney was a huge success. Night 1 we went to DD for a few hrs. We ate at ESPN. My BBQ Brisket sandwich to awesome! Day 2 we went to DCA. The entire day was MAGIC! First of all, nobody was there! We went on Sunday...got to the park 10 minutes before it opened and by 11:00am we had ridden almost everything we wanted (some things more than once). We had lunch then went to our room for about 3 hrs to rest. After resting, we rode a few more rides, got a great spot for the parade (15 mins before it started), then got nice and wet during the awesome WOC show. And omg, the cream cheese pretzels! I want one every day for the rest of my life!! My 9 yr old got to ride California Screaming 4 times, thanks to child swap. We didn't get to ride River Run. It was closed for a long time, and couldn't get it in by the end of the day.
Yesterday we went to DL. It was a great day, but so many attraction closures and it was PACKED!! The first 2 hrs of the day were easy. Again we got there 10 mins before the park opened and w/i an hour we rode Star Tours, Hyperspace, and Autopia. By 11:00, it was a sea of people. The closures were getting aggravating. We were THE NEXT ones to get on Splash Mt, and they closed it. We were walking up to Haunted M, and they announced a closure, we walked up to the Monorail, and they announced a closure. Luckily SM gave us a FP to use at any time, but when we came back, we got in line...another closure! The people standing next to us were about to explode. They said every FP they tried to use was closed...all day. I believe their words were "****iest park ever." We didn't have THAT much bad luck. The most aggravating thing is that they give you ZERO info. It could be 10 mins....it could be 3 hrs. My son was so bummed that we came to DL and didn't get to ride the Monorail. Our plan was to ride it at night, and by the time we got there, and saw it was closed (with absolutely no indication as to whether it was a quick fix or a 2 hr project), we were just too exhausted to stand around a wait for an unknown amount of time.
However...despite the closures it was a day filled with amazing family memories to last a lifetime!
I just wish that they could give people a little bit of an exclamation as to what's going on, instead of just say "it's temporarily closed." And I really wish DCA had a monorail station, too. We could have EASILY been able to ride it at that park, but there is sooooo much more to do at DL. Oh well.

 

[kylie71]

Was it hot? The close the Monorail when its hot, because it has no A/C.......

Happy you had a Magical time, despite the rides going down.
--Lori

 

[row]

I was there Thurs-Sat, and I agree, there were a ton of rides (RSR, Hyperspace, Splash, Matterhorn, etc) that were temporarily down all throughout the day(s). I think that was the most ever throughout all the times I've been to Disneyland.

 

[bethbuchall]

We found a lot of closures when we were there, too. My son and I finally got to ride California Screamin' once on our last day because it was down more than it was up when we were there. The monorail was down often, too, and it was hot but I didn't realize that was the reason for it. We never got to ride Grizzly Run Rapids because it was down every time we were wanting to ride. Nemo subs, Mattherhorn, Tower of Terror, Radiator Springs Racers, Luigi all went down when we were in line or had Fast Passes. Fortunately, Tower of Terror allowed us to take our Fast Pass back and then use it later that day. Radiator Springs Racers allowed the use of the Fast Pass the next day, since the ride wasn't going to be back up that night, but Grizzly Run Rapids told us we were out of luck. It seemed like there were more closures at Disneyland than we've encountered at Walt Disney World.

On the bright side, we had an awesome four days and were able to ride almost everything we wanted to!

 

[smartlabelprint]

They'll probably have a lot of closures this fall. They may have put off closures during the anniversary.

Bummer for my November trip. We haven't ridden grr in years due to closures.

 

[beachdreamr1229]

It's the end of the summer season. As there's more wear and tear during the summer with such an influx of guests, this happens. Happened last summer when we were there this time of year, too. It's no fun, but it happens at a lot of theme parks.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Remember that not all closures are due to mechanical issues. Many times it's due to guests who don't/refuse to follow the rules. If a guest won't keep hands, arms, feet, and legs inside the vehicle at all times and tries to touch something on a wall or sets off a sensor, then the ride goes down. If a guest doesn't load or exit the ride quickly enough, the ride goes down so the system can be reset. Sometimes on BTMRR, a bird can fly through a tunnel and set off a sensor. That's happened while we've been in line. The whole system has to reset, which can take a while. CMs don't give out lots of detail or info because they don't always know all the answers themselves.